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HOST:
Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC — a program in VOA Special Englishabout music and American life. And we answer your questions.
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This is Doug Johnson.
On our show today, we have country music from Joe Nichols. And weanswer a question about Americans who seek office in foreigncountries.
But first, we tell about some of the diet programs that Americansare using in an effort to lose weight.
Diet Wars
HOST:
Recent studies show that Americans know they weigh too much. As aresult, many are changing the way they eat so they will lose weight.Gwen Outen tells us about a few of these popular diet programs.
ANNCR:
One is the Atkins Weight Lossprogram. It was developed more than thirty years ago by medicaldoctor Robert Atkins. The diet comes from the idea that the humanbody burns both carbohydrates and fat for fuel. People on the dietstop eating carbohydrates like pasta, bread and potatoes, as well assugar. The result is that the body burns fat and the person losesweight.
People following the Atkins diet can eat as much protein andanimal fat as they want, including red meat and bacon. Experts saythis plan should not be followed by anyone suffering from diabetes,heart problems or kidney disease. That is because dangerous fluidloss can result when the body uses fat or muscle for energy. Foodexperts have said for years that the Atkins diet could lead tohealth problems like heart disease. But studies have not shown thatto be true. In fact, many people say the Atkins diet has loweredtheir cholesterol levels.
Another popular weight loss program in the United States iscalled the South Beach Diet. It was developed by a heart doctor wholives in Miami, Florida. This plan calls for eating foods known toprevent heart disease, like chicken, nuts, fish, olive oil, grains,fruits and vegetables. The plan says that this way of eating willimprove heart health as a person loses weight. The South Beach Dietalso restricts carbohydrates, but not as much as the Atkins diet.
A third popular weight loss program is called Weight Watchers.People pay to join a group. Then they meet every week to weighthemselves and discuss their progress. The program does not restrictany foods, but assigns points to each food. The more fattening foodsare given a higher point value. Each person is permitted to eatfoods that add up to a total number of points each day. Each personchooses how to use his or her points in order not to feel hungry andto lose weight.
American eating places and food companies have begun to providespecial products for people following these diets. For example,American food stores now sell low-carbohydrate breads and pasta. Andmany Americans are trying to lose weight by not eating potatoes,bread or rice.
Americans as Foreign Leaders
HOST:
Last week, in answering a question, we told how Americans havelittle reason to fear losing their citizenship if they vote inforeign elections. Today we answer the second part of that questionfrom Thomas Corcoran in Sweden. He wants to know if the UnitedStates permits its citizens to become foreign leaders.
The answer is: yes. In fact, several already have. And onenative-born American hopes to very soon.
George Papandreou was born inSaint Paul, Minnesota, in nineteen-fifty-two. He lived and studiedin the United States for many years before he moved to Greece. Mostrecently, Mister Papandreou was foreign minister, until last month.Now he is seeking to become prime minister after elections onSunday.
So, we wrote to his Web site. His media center told us that hegave up his American citizenship when he became a lawmaker inGreece. Mister Papandreou was first elected to Parliament in thenineteen-eighties.
Another person is Valdas Adamkus, the former president ofLithuania. Mister Adamkus fled the Soviet occupation innineteen-forty-nine. He became an American citizen. In time, hebecame a high-level official in the Environmental Protection Agency.Mister Adamkus lived in America for almost fifty years. He returnedto Lithuania in nineteen-ninety-seven. Six months later, he waselected president. He, too, chose to surrender his Americancitizenship.
And so did Golda Meir when she became leader of Israel. She wasborn in Ukraine in eighteen-ninety-eight. She came to the UnitedStates as a child. At twenty-three, she moved to Palestine. Thestate of Israel was established in forty-nine. Golda Meir went towork for the government. Twenty years later, she was prime minister.
So, Americans have the right to lead another country. But doesevery American have the same right at home? The Constitution saysthe president must be, in its words, “a natural born citizen.” Somethink it is time to amend that. A senator has proposed to includepeople who have been naturalized citizens for at least twenty years.
The new governor of California recently said this idea sounded”really good” to him. Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in Austria. Hebecame an American citizen in nineteen-eighty-three.
Joe Nichols
HOST:
Joe Nichols was nominated for aGrammy Award earlier this year for best male country vocalperformance. He did not win that award. But the Country MusicAssociation named him the best new male vocalist last May. Who isJoe Nichols, you ask? Phoebe Zimmermann has the answer.
ANNCR:
Joe Nichols is twenty-seven years old. He was born and grew up inthe southern state of Arkansas. After high school, he worked atdifferent jobs during the day and wrote songs at night.
He released his first album in nineteen-ninety-six. It was called”Joe Nichols.” It did not sell well, although one song on the albumwas popular. Here it is, “Six of One, Half a Dozen Of the Other”.
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Joe Nichols’ second album was released in two-thousand-two. It iscalled “Man With a Memory.” Its lead single record is called “TheImpossible.”
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Last year, Joe Nichols had his first country music hit song. Itis also on the album “Man With a Memory.” We leave you now with thatsong from country music singer Joe Nichols — “Brokenheartsville.”
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HOST:
This is Doug Johnson.
I hope you enjoyed AMERICAN MOSAIC. Join us again next week forVOA’s radio magazine in Special English.
Our program was written by Nancy Steinbach and Caty Weaver. PaulThompson was the producer. And our engineer was Tony Pollock.