Archive for April, 2010

WEIGHT LOSS AND DEPRIVATION

Friday, April 30th, 2010

“But not all overeating is emotional….” I blogged on March 21.  In part I’d reacted to a headline stating “What Are You Hungry For?…It’s Not Food…In Fact, It’s Everything But Food.”  While I bristled at that, it did precede some good wisdom in the form of an excerpt from Geneen Roth’s Women, Food and God.  In fact, with sane eating  in mind, I turn now to a Roth quote highlighted in the pages beyond that headline.  She says “To change your body, you must first understand that which is shaping it.  Not fight it.  Not force it.  Not deprive it.  Not shame it.”   This is saying a lot. To start with, let’s consider the “Not deprive it” part.  How in the world can that support healthy weight?  Isn’t deprivation a built-in part of losing weight? 

People indeed report feelings of deprivation as a primary reason for abandoning weight loss efforts.  Often these feelings lead to overindulging in sweets, high-fat, and junk foods and in gorging on large portions.    To lose weight, to maintain a good weight, to make changes for the better, does require eating less of such things.  Is feeling deprived, then, inevitable?  I think to make changes that last, that become part of us, the answer has to be “no”.
Part of what has to happen, I think, is a change in perception, in how you think about and conceive of these foods in your life.  People who come to successfully manage their weight start to recognize the role of choice.   Their inner dialogue will tend to some form of:   “Yes, of course I can have that slab of mud pie…but do I really want all that goes with it—feeling stuffed, guilty, and then struggling forever after with the weight?”  Taking care of themselves, then, is doing what leaves them feeling more peaceful and on track with longer-term goals, not what immediately pleases the senses. (more…)

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HEALTHY EATING AND WEIGHT LOSS: Good Advice

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

 I’m always combing the media, looking for both the useful and the absurd on food and diet and eating.  There’s certainly never a shortage of either.  Much of what populates the print and other media is not particularly helpful.  But it is possible to glean some excellent advice and guidance.  The best pieces can help us navigate what journalist Michael Pollan has called the “truly treacherous landscape” of our food world.  Or, as I’m more apt to put it, to help us find and stay on our path to sane eating.

This past week, I’ve encountered three such pieces.  For starters, I point to the most recent Nutrition Action newsletter (www.cspi.org), and its cover interview with Kelly Brownell, Ph.D., of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity.  Here, in just a few brief passages, Brownell sums up how the food industry keeps us eating too much, and too much of the stuff that makes us fat and unhealthy.  (See also David Kessler’s book The End of Overeating,  Rodale Press; 2009.)   A big part of EatSanely’s premise—“It’s Not Your Fault”—emerges clearly here.  So does the question that inevitably follows, “So what should I do about it?” (more…)

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RESTAURANTS AND WEIGHT: Socializing, Stress Relief, and Other Challenges

Friday, April 16th, 2010

 We all know that restaurants pose big challenges for people concerned with weight.   This week I spoke to someone who got me thinking about how the “just order a salad” type of suggestion doesn’t target the challenges well enough.

It’s hard to eat well and not overdo it when eating out.  Restaurants usually serve way-too-big portions and offer bread and other fillers along with the food.  Routinely, they add salt, fats, and other ingredients that make the food taste great—using much more than any home cook would.  Fast food and popular chain restaurants are especially bad in that department.

Since we don’t get ingredient lists in restaurants, we can’t really know what we’re getting.  While this messes up any intake-watching effort, it also seems to open the door for lack of restraint.  Being in a restaurant, in other words, means not having to keep track.  So then we may not bother to register much at all.  The restaurant setting then becomes a place where you eat and keep on eating without thought of consequences.  Done once in a while, this wouldn’t pose a problem.  However, many of us now eat out pretty regularly.  And that does pose a problem. (more…)

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THE WEIGHT LOSS “JUMP-START”

Friday, April 9th, 2010

From time to time, I’m asked about the weight loss “jump-start”.  And what is this?   When people use this term, they’re usually thinking something like this:  “It’s so had to lose weight….I want to go away to some program (or start a severe liquid diet, or something else removed from normal routine) and then lose the weight.  Then I’ll just have to work to maintain it.” 

It’s a very appealing idea.   Is it realistic?  Well, sort of.  But not necessarily.  Here are two major problems to consider.  First, as many studies have shown, when we reduce calories—which we certainly do in a two-week weight loss program or on any fast-loss diet—our bodies compensate by lowering metabolic rate.   That is, eat less, and then the body uses less.  Now you’ve got to work even harder to lose or maintain.   It’s hard to take this into account when thinking,  “Then I’ll learn how to maintain.”

 Next—and this is at least as big a challenge—you must remember those stresses and habits and routines and cravings and temptations that cause trouble in the first place.  Whether you have weight to lose or are “just maintaining”, it takes time, effort, and practice to deal with these effectively.  There’s no way around that.   If your own experience has not shown you how easily you can regain after a jump-start, just ask someone else.  Regain will happen without new behaviors and coping skills.  And they do take time and effort and practice to solidify.

So where does the “Well, sort of” come in?  How can a weight loss jump-start work?  I don’t think a severe calorie restriction diet can work unless you can somehow stay on that small number of calories forever.   On the other hand, programs like weight loss “boot camps”, if done right, can help.  That’s because they usually do stress the new (more…)

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