Post by Brittany Gowland
Just like so many of my fellow Americans, I partake in the guilty pleasure of reality TV, usually with a smile on my face, but I can’t stop myself from becoming saddened by the television shows that chronicle the weight and body image struggles of celebrities like Carnie Wilson and Kirstie Alley. Many people can relate to these women and feel relieved knowing that even when you’re famous, you can fall victim to a fad diet and experience yoyo-like weight loss and weight gain.
Carnie Wilson underwent gastric bypass surgery to “solve” her weight problem, only to have gained weight in the end, and is now struggling (in front of millions of people) to try to figure out what to do.
Kirstie Alley has been in the spotlight for years, always because of her weight. After losing 75 pounds and becoming the spokesperson for Jenny Craig, she regained that weight plus some. Recently, Kirstie Alley has vowed “to lose 100 pounds again!” which I suppose she will attempt to do with the help of a weight loss product that she is currently endorsing.
The missing element in both Wilson and Alley’s solution is that they do not address their underlying relationships with food, weight, and body image. This portrays the message to all individuals watching that they too can ignore their own food issues. Newsflash: No weight loss plan/diet/exercise regimen, etc will ever be successful without first resolving other issues.
Carla Wolper, a researcher at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York, states exactly what I’m thinking when she says, “It would be nice if there was somebody out there doing it the right way”. But then again, I guess that wouldn’t make for a very interesting TV show.
On the contrary, I commend actor and comedian Jeff Garlin who wrote about his struggles with food in his new book “My Footprint”. It is not very often that a male, especially a famous one, speaks out about his insecurities. I applaud his honestly as he discusses his compulsiveness with food and his never-ending diet plan. It is comforting to those suffering to know that anyone, regardless of gender, can face these issues that he has identified, and will hopefully overcome.
I just watched Geneen Roth on Oprah, discussing her new book Women, Food and God. Bravo to Oprah for addressing the real reason people struggle with weight and eating. Finally she is getting off the diet roller coaster and getting to the source of the problem.
I just read this book last week. It was a very enjoyable read. I’ve long loved Geneen Roth’s work, as she has written many books on the topic of overeating. She declares this book to be the culmination of the message she has been trying to convey for years.
While she does not address her ‘guidelines’ throughout the book, she slips them in at the back of the book for reference. The meat of the book is really looking at why we use food. Food is the drug of choice for many people in this country, largely due to the fact that it is not actually an illegal substance, so we can easily get away with using it to alter consciousness.
She doesn’t discuss how food makes us feel better, but anyone who has used it for reasons other than hunger knows its effectiveness all too well. There is an actual neurological response to food that promotes feelings of calm and pleasure. It can activate Serotonin in the brain (just like Prozac), as well as endorphins, etc. So it actually is an effective tool for soothing ourselves. Except when it becomes the primary method of doing so, which often leads to weight gain and self-loathing.
Her guidelines are as follows:
Someone commented on my last post that I just seem to bash all healthy eating advice, but offer no solutions. Actually, I have written extensively on my main website, linked to this blog, about the non-diet approach I use with my clients and in my own life. I do bash typical healthy eating advice since it does not seem to be helping anyone. In fact, as the traditional healthy eating chatter has grown louder, there has been a steady increase in obesity as well as eating disorders of all kinds. That makes it pretty bash-worthy in my book, and to do otherwise would be unethical.
Ms. Roth is one of many voices of the non-diet movement. Early adopters included Jane Hirshmann and Carol Munter in Overcoming Overeating and Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole in Intuitive Eating. This approach is the only effective treatment of eating issues I have seen either in research or in practice. This method allows people to normalize their relationship with food, which greatly decreases binges, overeating, and non-hunger eating. This can allow the gradual process of the body moving toward its set-point weight. Weight loss is not the focus or the goal, but rather it is the relationship with food that is the problem to be solved.
I can tell you that there are many days where I still marvel at the fact that I can (and do) eat whatever I want, and my body maintains a stable, natural set-point weight. I do not have to think about food, weight or my body. I can enjoy the pleasure of eating, but it does not rule my world. In the past I was certain (because of the pervasive message in our society) that I would have to actively manage my weight for my entire life. I thought my body was some untamed beast ready to spring out of control with exponential weight gain if I lost vigilance for even a moment.
I didn’t know this was a problem, and I lost many years to this belief. Those years were lost because all thoughts were about food and body. I couldn’t enjoy being present in my world. It was only when I woke up to the idea I could trust my body that I found the freedom to really live again. I am constantly grateful for this liberation, and I work passionately to help others liberate themselves. So a great big, juicy Thank You to Geneen Roth and the power of Oprah to spread this word to the masses.
Most people will tell you that ‘diets’ are not good for you. Those same people, though, will tell you that ‘healthy eating’ and ‘lifestyle change’ are the real ways to manage weight. Those terms are often just new cover-ups for what they all have in common: food restriction.
On pretty much any plan you find, there is some limitation of calories as the goal. This is either done with counting points (like Weight Watchers), calories, or grams of fat or carbs. Whatever the details, the methods are all basically the same: You are not going to get to eat what you want. The message is: What you like is making you fat. Sorry. Good luck!
I was discussing a research study during my Intuitive Eating 101 group today. The very famous experiment was done by a researcher named Ancel Keys during WWII, using conscientious objectors as human subjects. It was called a starvation study. I think you might find the results, well…very interesting.
After sorting through 100′s of volunteers, and subjecting them to psychological and medical screenings, he chose 36 mentally and physically healthy college-educated males. He began with a 3-month standardization phase of feeding them approximately 3200 cals/day, followed by a 6-month semi-starvation period, and completed with a 3-month refeeding phase.
The men were supposed to lose 2.5lbs./week, to a total of a 25% of body weight lost. Initially the men were pretty upbeat about the experiment. Soon, though, they were struggling with temptation. After one participant broke the diet and was dismissed from the study, they implemented a ‘buddy system’ to keep participants on track (sounds like Weight Watchers or AA).
One participant was so tempted by the smell of a bakery, he ran inside, bought a dozen donuts and passed them out to children just to watch them eat. There was one man who purchased over 100 cookbooks during his time in the experiment. Another participant was chewing up to 40 packs of gum a day. The inability of one participant to tolerate the starvation led him to cut off several of his fingers to get out of the study.
Some of the symptoms the men experienced were:
One man’s experience:
I don’t know many other things in my life that I looked forward to being over with anymore than this experiment. And it wasn’t so much…because of the physical discomfort, but because it made food the most important thing in one’s life…food became the one central and only thing really in one’s life. And life is pretty dull if that’s the only thing. I mean, if you went to a movie, you weren’t particularly interested in the love scenes, but you noticed every time they ate and what they ate.
Keys found the recovery period to be surprisingly difficult. He found he needed to double the calories in order to really repair the damaged tissues; otherwise protein, vitamins and minerals were ‘of little value’. Many found this period to be the most difficult of all because they were so slow to recover. After initially adding only 400 cals to some of the men, Keys found he had to increase it substantially because they showed no improvement. Issues like tiredness, loss of sex drive and weakness were slow to improve even given further increases in calories.
Upon refeeding the men complained of eating to the point of making themselves sick. One man stated he had a ‘year-long cavity’ that needed to be filled. There were many men who reported continuing to eat excessively even after the experiment was over, with recovery ranging from 2 months to a full 2 years. One man said he “simply couldn’t satisfy [his] craving for food by filling up [his] stomach”.
If you haven’t connected the dots to the common symptoms and sentiments the majority of dieters experience, then maybe you’ve never restricted yourself. It is awful. What these men experienced is common to what people experience all the time on restrictive plans. This study shows us that these symptoms are predictable patterns which are biologically associated with restriction.
Maybe you are thinking, “Well, they were starving those guys, of course they felt that way and had those issues.” Guess what…the semi-starvation period was a daily intake of 1600-1800 calories. This is at or above the recommended intake for the majority of the weight management plans available today. Remember, the next time you are being enticed by the lure of a diet…the damage will follow.
Five a day, Eat your fruits and veggies…we’ve all heard it. We’ve all felt guilty for not doing it perfectly. I can hardly look at a fruit or vegetable without experiencing post traumatic stress disorder from making myself eat so many in my past life of disordered eating. Now I read this:
“A large study of over 400,000 people living in ten western European countries found only a modest link between high intake of fruit and vegetables and reduction in overall cancer risk: thus failing to confirm the widely held belief enshrined in the World Health Organization’s recommendation that people should eat five servings of fruit and vegetables a day to prevent cancer and other diseases.“
Listen, I am all for eating fruits and vegetables, if you like them. But if you don’t, I am opposed to the notion that you have to eat certain foods deemed ‘good’ in order to live long and prosper. As long as you get adequate amounts of carbohydrates, fats and protein, what foods you choose from those categories is up to personal preference. Certainly feeling the stress of guilt for not ‘eating right‘ is not good for you.
I am also very tired of fruits and vegetables acting like they are so virtuous and constantly being condescending towards saturated fat. This disrespected genre of fat has been vindicated of late, so the whole notion of healthy eating is being turned on its head. This is a good thing for people to see. The American Dietetic Association has long said foods should not be categorized into good and bad columns. All foods can fit within a balanced diet.
As an advocate of intuitive, or non-diet eating, I find a balanced diet can be had by listening to your body. You will crave what your body needs, if you have developed a healthy relationship with food. This can be a bit of a process, though, if you’ve been living with the diet-mentality for a while. In the meantime, pretend everything you think you know about food is wrong. Chances are it’s true.
“Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Overall Cancer Risk in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC).” Paolo Boffetta, Elisabeth Couto, Janine Wichmann, Pietro Ferrari, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, H. Bas Bueno-de-Mesquita, Fränzel J. B. van Duijnhoven, Frederike L. Büchner, Tim Key, Heiner Boeing, et al J Natl Cancer Inst, Advance Access published on April 6, 2010 DOI:10.1093/jnci/djq072
What? After all the fuss that has been made over saturated fats over the years, how can we believe these fats are nothing but pure evil? It’s true, sat fat has been vindicated.
All fats perform essential functions in the body. Many of my clients have been so brow-beaten into believing fats are bad that many of them are not getting enough. This leads to hormonal imbalances, mood disturbances, and even overeating as the body seeks to meet its needs.
Now we discover that the most villainous of all nutrients, saturated fats, can actually prevent heart disease. It goes to show, once again, there are no bad foods–only bad information about food. Apparently listening to your body is much better than listening to your head (or those that fill your head with misinformation).
So if saturated fats don’t cause weight gain and heart disease, what does? Overeating, of any kind of food, is the real culprit. The way to avoid overeating is to understand the cause (typically emotional eating, stress eating, boredom eating, binge eating, etc.), and deal with that directly. Trusting your internal hunger and fullness cues as well as legalizing all foods will be the most effective tools for promoting healthy eating.
Skeaff, C. Murray and Miller, Jody. Dietary fat and coronary heart disease: Summary of evidence from prospective cohort and randomised controlled trials. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, 55 (2009): 173-201.
German, J. Bruce, and Dillard, Cora J. Saturated fats: what dietary intake? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 80 (2004): 550-559.
Ravnskov, U. The questionable role of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids in cardiovascular disease. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 51 (1998): 443-460.
Ravsnskov, U. Hypothesis out-of-date. The diet-heart idea. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 55 (2002): 1,057-1,063.
Ravnskov, U, et al. Studies of dietary fat and heart disease. Science, 295 (2002): 1,464-1,465.
Taubes, G. The soft science of dietary fat. Science, 291 (2001): 2535-2541.
Zarraga, Ignatius, and Schwartz, Ernst. Impact of dietary patterns and interventions on cardiovascular health. Circulation, 114 (2006): 961-973.
Mente, Andrew, et al. A Systematic Review of the Evidence Supporting a Causal Link Between Dietary Factors and Coronary Heart Disease. Archives of Internal Medicine, 169 (2009): 659-669.
Parikh, Parin, et al. Diets and cardiovascular disease: an evidence-based assessment. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 45 (2005): 1,379-1,387.
Hooper, L., et al. Dietary fat intake and prevention of cardiovascular disease: systematic review. British Medical Journal, 322 (2001): 757-763.
Weinberg, W.C. The Diet-Heart Hypothesis: a critique. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 43 (2004): 731-733.
According to a new study, there is hope in the recovery from binge eating disorder. The study found people to be successful in decreasing binge eating behaviors with the following program:
It appears utilizing both an educational component and a support component is the key to overcoming this disorder. Binge eating disorder may be the most common form of eating disorders in the population. Until recently it has lacked its own diagnosis in the DSM manual. Hopefully now that it is getting some respect, it will be more widely understood and treated appropriately (say no to diets!).
If you feel you may be struggling with BED, there is help. It is critical to find a support team that understands eating disorders. Ideally you would have a therapist, nutritionist, and physician on your team. To find out more about emotional eating the criteria for binge eating disorder, check out my main website: Healthy Lifestyle Balance.
It is not unusual for calorie counting to become an unhealthy addiction. Eating disorder statistics show an alarming number of dieters end up with eating disorders. To make matters worse, the internet and cell phones have ushered in a whole new level of obsession.
Here is an article discussing app-orexia, using i-phone apps to count calories through the day. Having those numbers available all day long can increase a person’s reliance on them–often to feel they are ‘okay’, and to relieve anxiety. Focusing on calories, like all eating disorder behaviors, serves a much deeper, emotional purpose.
I have had many clients who rely on sites like Fitday.com or constantly look up the calorie content at restaurants before they go. Unfortunately our society has set people up to have this kind of hyper-focus on numbers and manipulation of our intake.
The most important characteristic that determines one has an eating disorder is the obsessive thoughts about food, weight and body. Behaviors and weight vary widely among those who suffer, but the thoughts are quite consistent. It is not fun to live in the head of a person who suffers this way.
The belief that we have to vigilantly monitor every morsel that enters our mouths is a fallacy. It is a lie. We have been taught we cannot trust our bodies. This is where we lose our way.
We don’t need to know how many calories we are consuming. We don’t need to count grams of this or that. I used to buy into this belief like everyone else. I have since learned calorie counting is pointless, and even harmful.
Eating well is about listening to your body. If you are eating according to your hunger cues, your body gets exactly what it needs throughout the day. Some days your body needs more, some days less.
So put down the iphone. Stop going to the online calorie counters. What you need to know in order to eat healthy is not outside of you.
That last one I threw in because I don’t really know why preservatives are so feared. So much food information is thrown at us that has no merit whatsoever, and it brings a deep, pervasive fear. The fear mongering should be illegal because it is very dangerous–more dangerous than any food could dream of being. I’ve recently discovered something so startling, I am ready to file a class action lawsuit (with 300 million plaintiffs) on the spreaders of the lies.
Google it–it is a real thing. I had not heard the term ‘nocebo’ before, but I understood the concept. In the same way placebos cause a person to feel better (even though there is no physical cause), a nocebo has the opposite effect. You can actually feel bad (and become truly ill) just because you believe something is bad for you.
I have been perusing Junk Food Science and have found evidence of multiple stories showing the dangers of belief in harm. One recount is of a town paper informing the community of plans to add floride to the water. People began calling in saying they felt sick or had headaches, etc., a full two weeks before the floride was added. A town in France also experienced the effect of the nocebo. Cell phone towers were erected, and calls began coming in with complaints of physical symptoms. Again, the towers had yet to be turned on.
So how does this relate to food? It is pretty easy to see that if you are constantly told the food you eat is killing you, you are going to start feeling pretty sick. People have complained of all sorts of ailments related to food. There is a huge industry for diagnosing allergies to foods using a blood test (which was deemed by Quack Watch to have no medical value). People will begin to associate those foods with a response or not eating them with not having the response. Even if they avoid the foods and still feel bad, they will assume maybe some of the suspects snuck into what they ate. Common ailments linked to food:
If you believe sugar is bad for you (despite the fact it is the body’s fuel: blood sugar), but you eat it…you may live in constant fear of giving yourself diabetes (not possible). If you believe everything you eat is in some way not good for your body, you may believe you are dying when you are quite healthy. It is very easy in our culture to think everything you eat is bad for you.
Debunked food ‘facts’:
These common beliefs have been debunked, yet many people still believe them. Beyond these few beliefs, there are thousands of other myths regarding healthy eating that are continually touted as truth. Be very skeptical of what you read.
It is important for your health to realize what you are eating is nutritious. Every food in existence has some kind of nutritional benefit. I remember as a newbie dietitian thinking about things being ‘empty calories’ or ‘junk food’. These are oxymorons–calories are nutrition. Calories all come from either carbohydrate, fat or protein–and our body needs all three of these macronutrients to be healthy. Vitamins and minerals are great, but it is the macronutrients that keep you alive and functioning.
In America, no matter what you eat, you will likely be getting your needs met for vitamins and minerals. So many of our staple foods are enriched with vitamins and minerals. You would have to make an effort to not meet your needs. However, I have seen many clients who were not getting enough fats or carbohydrates. This is largely due to the misinformation about their benefits.
One of the most important things you can do for your health is to legalize food. It is not bad food that will kill you… it is believing there is such a thing as bad food that will kill you.
*World Health Organization, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Archives of Internal Medicine.
My views on nutrition were not always like they are now. I was a hardcore health nut for many years. There is even a term Orthorexia, which I would say accurately describes my past. That fanaticism is why I chose to be a dietitian in the first place. As I went through school, my attitudes began to shift. This was largely due to the fact that it seemed unethical to put people on diets, knowing 98% would regain their weight.
So it’s late, and I’m too tired to come up with major wisdom right now. However, it seemed neglectful for me to not start posting on my blog. I didn’t want it to be naked. This is where you come in. Ask me a question–anything related to a healthy lifestyle. Well…you can ask me about anything. I just want you to take responsibility for forcing me to make stuff up if it is outside of my areas of expertise.
If you don’t have a question, you can just tell me something delicious you’ve eaten lately. Please not anything about barley, salads, or dry tuna–that is not how we roll around here.
Q: So 2 years ago I stook to a weight watchers type diet, and got down to 117 and was very happy. I would fluctuate 3-5 bi-weekly, but then lil by lil my bad habits took over again and I’m back at my heaviest 140! ((( You used to love me please help, Lol… Should I try the weight watchers again? At my now weight, the book is allowing me 19 points a day with every 50 cal(s) being a point, plus 35 points allowance a week to use at my leisure. Sounds smart? It worked last time, will it again?
A: All programs like that typically result in weight loss…in the short term. So while you say it worked, it really didn’t–statistics show 98% of those who lose weight in this way will regain it (usually within a year). They artificially restrict your intake, but do not address the real issues with food. Weight gain is caused by non-hunger eating… Q: Hey, I started my food journal today. Do I have to write absolutley everything down? Like even the sample bite of red velvet cupcake that I had at Starbucks this morning when I was picking up my triple shot latte and the 2 or 3 “New Moon” conversation hearts (one of which said I heart E.C.) that I popped in my mouth on the way to a meeting?? A: No–it is not a guilt food journal–it is used as a tool to determine if you need to make any changes in your typical day. So if you go 6hrs between lunch and dinner and then overeat all night–that is a clue you need an afternoon snack. And if the snack doesn’t hold you, you can look at your journal to see you need to add protein, etc. If you do think you are taking lots of little bites and it is an issue, then you might think of saving those things until snack or when hungry. People emotionally eat, but don’t feel emotional–it just is soothing through the day to snack, it eases anxiety.
A: All programs like that typically result in weight loss…in the short term. So while you say it worked, it really didn’t–statistics show 98% of those who lose weight in this way will regain it (usually within a year). They artificially restrict your intake, but do not address the real issues with food. Weight gain is caused by non-hunger eating…
Q: Hey, I started my food journal today. Do I have to write absolutley everything down? Like even the sample bite of red velvet cupcake that I had at Starbucks this morning when I was picking up my triple shot latte and the 2 or 3 “New Moon” conversation hearts (one of which said I heart E.C.) that I popped in my mouth on the way to a meeting??
A: No–it is not a guilt food journal–it is used as a tool to determine if you need to make any changes in your typical day. So if you go 6hrs between lunch and dinner and then overeat all night–that is a clue you need an afternoon snack. And if the snack doesn’t hold you, you can look at your journal to see you need to add protein, etc. If you do think you are taking lots of little bites and it is an issue, then you might think of saving those things until snack or when hungry. People emotionally eat, but don’t feel emotional–it just is soothing through the day to snack, it eases anxiety.
Optimized by SEO Ultimate
