By In the news recently Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch told the world that he doesn’t consider overweight women to be ?cool enough? for their brand, and doesn’t want them shopping in his stores.
Governor Chris Christie took his share of jokes and bashing after undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Jokes from talk show hosts emphasized that he couldn’t even control his own eating behavior, would you trust him to make decisions about important world matters?
Unfortunately, we’ve been so brainwashed by the Diet/Medical Industry, that overweight people are often the brunt of jokes and sarcastic remarks from those who think that fat people deserve the scorn they receive. ?Politically Correct? doesn’t come into the equation when it comes to the overweight.
We have a myth-informed public that insists you got overweight from being undisciplined, lazy and that you lack the moral fiber to maintain any weight loss you achieve. Sadly, overweight people are also quick to accept this castigation, and are frequently first in line to blame themselves for getting overweight in the first place.
The fact is, there is something that the vast majority of overweight people have in common. STRESS is the common denominator. Unless you are a very unusual person, a stressful change or event in your life precipitated weight gain. It could be the break-up of a relationship, financial pressures, being afraid of losing your job, illness or death of a close fried or family member, abuse or even humiliation. And there are others effects from stress that may be chronic, like a continuous white noise that you don’t notice, until it’s turned off.
Stress changes how your body metabolizes food. Oftentimes people won’t even change their ?normal? eating patterns and start gaining weight from its effect. Dieting and over-exercising to overcome overweight also throws the body into stress. And the stress of self-condemnation, depression, and difficult emotions puts your body in a state where it doesn’t feel safe. All of these factors work against any permanent weight loss. This will not change until the stress is managed; or better yet, eliminated.
If losing weight were so easy as claimed by talk show hosts and people who have never dieted, wouldn’t there be just one diet that people would go on, and then they would be ?cured? of their overweight for good?
Have you ever tried to eat more when you were already full? It doesn’t feel good. No matter how great that chocolate brownie sundae looks, or how great that garlic bread smells, when you are full, your body should be screaming at you: ?You’ve had enough! Don’t open your mouth again. When people continue to eat when they’re full, it’s a symptom of a broken mechanism. It can be because you don’t feel full because you are multi-tasking and not paying attention to your body; or you are using food as the drug of choice to deal with an emotional need.
The great news is that feeding yourself the food you love can be used as effective stress relief. ?When you eat mindfully, you spend
time nurturing yourself eating and enjoying and experiencing tasting your food. Exclude all distracting events, such as reading, watching TV, driving a car and any other way behavior other than eating! Mealtime then becomes an enjoyable revitalizing event where you start to re-establish your connection to your body’s natural hunger/satiation signals. Often, this change alone will lower your stress levels, and allow your body to feel safe enough to give up that extra weight. Give yourself this gift of self-nurturing. You deserve it.
I think the points this article makes may have been over-emphasized here. I don’t agree with them; however, they are not always true.
First of all, the stress in my life has been more or less constant. It certainly hasn’t gone up since I started eating large amounts of carbohydrates. I am presently about 15-20 pounds over what I consider to be a good weight for me. I am a muscular person, and a good weight for my frame is between 200-215 pounds. I am now at between 230 and 235. This weight gain began when I started eating Peatarian and it has continued with the high carb diet that a lot of us here are eating. I really can’t blame it on anything else. Now, the question is what do I mean by a “good” weight. Obviously that is subjective. Those are weights that I feel good at. I also look good at those weights. However, it isn’t based upon the need to appear ripped or anything like that.
The second point about “eating all the food you love” reducing stress may have been exaggerated. The problem is that there are a lot of reasons why we get stress. If you eat a restrictive diet, it will definitely contribute to your stress. In my case at least, I wouldn’t say that eating carbs has dramatically reduced stress. The problem, unintended I am sure, is that people might think that eating mass quantities for long periods of time will be a solution to their stress problems. I could definitely imagine this turning into an addiction (especially since like most people who have a history of orthorexia, everybody here probably tends toward an addictive personality). Don’t get me wrong. For somebody who has been severely restricting their diet, eating everything in site could be a necessary corrective for a certain amount of time.
However, be careful about turning “over-eating” into another dietary religion.
typo (or freudian slip) in first paragraph. Should read: I do agree with them.
Thomas- glad to see it was a “Freudian slip”!
What I mean by mindful eating is that you will eat all you need according to the signals from your stomach. When you are paying attention to it by eating mindfully, you don’t end up over-eating – just eating enough.
I don’t believe in under-eating (that’s what got ME overweight!). But eating mindfully, is an actual stress relief practice. So often people say they don’t have enough time to do meditation. Combining mindfulness and eating is an activity you do at least 3 times a day, so you “have you cake, and eat it!”
Looks like in my haste to be an asshole, I overlooked your main point: eating mindfully. It’s a good point and why is being mindful of eating any less of a spiritual practice than the traditional Vipassana of “scanning” the body?!
This reminds me. I once did a week-long Vipassana silent meditation retreat (you couldn’t talk, read, write, watch TV or listen to radio for a week). You were supposed to be like a Buddhist Theravadan monk and so could not eat after 12 noon. I was SOOOOOOOOO hungry the entire time. I don’t know how I could even meditate.
Excellent point.
Whether “mindful eating” is effectivly de-stressing, depends imo on the person’s basic relationship with food.
If food is routinely used as an anti-stress drug, to distract, numb and to bring temporary relief, advising somebody to “eat mindfully” will not work, regardless of the best intentions.
Well, it can be done, employing discipline, just like following through with a diet, and – quite likely with the same bleak outcome.
True “mindful eating” is a result of a healing process, it is not “the cure”.
I don’t know, the first step of mindful eating is being aware of why your eating (which means acknowledging your emotions). This awareness can help break the distracting and numbing use of food, because you are processing the emotions instead of simply numbing them.
You are right, awareness is key. However, how exactly is then processing of the emotions/trauma/stress ecc. achieved, when the usual outlet – in this case “eating un-mindfully” – is chosen not to be an option any longer?
What I try to point out (English not being my first language) is, that before being able to let go of whatever self-sabotaging behaviour one is practicing, there needs to be a new way on the horizon on how to deal with the pressure of negative emotions and their origin. Otherwise’the whole mess may just shift elsewhere (f.e stopping to smoke and starting eating more instead) but will not be solved.
And this “new way” cannot consist in zooming in on the behaviour I want to change, because it in itself?is “only” a symptom.If one just tries to block/manipulate the outlet that so far served as giving relief, without finding a possibility to experiencing relief in a different and not self-harming way, whatever method used will backfire eventually.
Part of us (soul, concsciousness, self….whatever you want to call it) will not relent, give in or accept anything less as solution than our truth.
Mindful eating actually got in the way of my ED recovery. I should’ve been simply just eating as much as I wanted to recover, instead I was worried about how full I should feel, whether I was eating under of over my comfortable fullness point, etc. I can finally eat normally now, but I had to drop all of the Geneen Roth stuff before I could get where I am.
I think it’s a problem when people think in terms of absolutes. Sometimes stress causes weight gain, sometimes it doesn’t. Depends on the person and depends on the circumstance. But here is a perfect example of thinking in absolutes as being a hindrance… from Gina Kolata…
“There is no psychiatric pathology that spells obesity. And there is no response to food that is not shared by people who are not fat. You can’t say you got fat because you, unlike thin people, are unable to resist temptation. Both fat and thin people are tempted by the sweet smell of brownies or the sight of a dish of creamy cold ice cream. You can’t say you got fat because there is a lot of stress in your life. Thin people are just as likely to eat under stress. You can’t say it was because you used food as a reward. If that is the reason, then why do thin people, who also use food as a reward, stay thin??
She is basically saying that if a stressful situation triggered a fat gain of 50 pounds in an individual, that stress cannot be the cause of that fat gain because lots of other people don’t gain weight under stress. But this is flawed thinking. Everything is so highly individual that it is pretty pointless to even be investigating matters like this in a purely scientific manner.
As far as fat gain eating “x” way, I think weight gain is highly likely anytime a person decreases the number of dietary restrictions and/or increases the palatability of their diet. But this is also why increasing dietary restrictions and decreasing palatability of one’s diet to lose weight is a catch 22.
Thank you for this post. I think stress can absolutely cause changes in weight both gain and loss.
I was wondering if the readers here have any advice for someone who is obese and a compulsive dieter. Most of the information I can find tends to assume someone will be underweight if they have this problem.
A few days ago I decided to stop restricting and last night I was hyperventilating and chanting “Oh my God, I am going to get even fatter! What am I going to do? IhavetodietIhavetodietIhavetodiet…..” And really realized fully for the first time that being obese is the least of my worries. The real worry is that I’m nuts!
I have never thought of myself as a binge eater because my binges are what most people would call a normal intake. Anyway, if anyone could point me towards some good books, information, supportive forums etc. I would really appreciate it.
Thank you.
Stacey,
I too, was addicted to dieting, and each diet I went on led to weight gain. Your mindset needs an adjustment! The wonderful thing is, you can use eating as a mindful, stress relieving practice. It’s almost like a “moving meditation”. It’s a very successful method to lower stress and anxiety. It connects you with your body’s signals of hunger and satiation, and can work to help you adjust your weight – without dieting! That fear you express IS stress, and a mindful practice of slowing down, and experiencing your food as a first step will help alleviate it.
I love that: eating as a moving meditation.
Thank you. That makes a great deal of sense.
Stacey, you can check out my blog for a lot of good information on this issue. I compiled the information I’ve learned here, and elsewhere, on my blog so that it’s easy to access the information in one location. Good luck to you.
Thank you Emma. I appreciate the help.
Stacey,
One of the biggest shifts for me was starting to look at food as nourishment and something to be enjoyed rather than something that I had to be punished for later. I’ve never been obese, but trying to be “healthy” through conventional means downward-spiraled me into the orthorexic category. Normal intake used to make me feel like crap, which was my wake-up.
This is not food related, but a sweet article that deals with day-to-day life stuff:
http://www.xojane.com/healthy/things-no-one-will-tell-fat-girls-so-i-will
Hope it helps!
Thank you Lindsey. I think viewing food as something to be enjoyed is something I need to do. Right now it is more a source of anxiety. Too many conflicting food dogmas in my head. That article was fun. I wasted way too much time on that website! : )
Hi Stacey, you sound a lot like me…….I found this site great for help and advice. Have a look also at My Fitness Pal’s Eat More to Lose Weight Forum and the Fuck-it Diet site which I love. I walked away from a life long addiction to dieting in November after i was finding it difficult to maintain my 200lbs on 1200 cals along with exercise and although I initially gained quite a bit of weight very quickly on account of an oppressed metabolism I am finally levelling out (it has taken 6 months). I am eating normal enough amounts of (mostly) good food (around 2000 cals) and exercising and no longer feeling guilty if I have an extra biscuit or 2. I am 216lbs which is about 50lbs from where i want to be but am hopeful my body will finally trust me one day and let go of the fat but I’m not going down starvation and deprivation again as that has just lead to misery and frustration (hey…and I’ve got a sex drive again!!
I also never have ‘real binges’ by the way……I know where you’re coming from
Jax, thank you so much. Those sites are excellent resources. I hear you on having difficulty maintaining at ridiculously low calorie levels. The deprivation does lead to misery and as I keep reminding myself ultimately more weight. If I am going to gain weight, it might as well be from actually eating, right?
Absolutely! I didn’t eat butter or oil for years…..used artificial sweeteners instead of sugar in my tea and coffee and everything was fat free! It sure didn’t get me anywhere. Food is more satisfying with fat ( I generally stick to butter and olive or coconut oil) and it hasn’t made me gain anymore weight than I already have. I find I don’t crave stuff anymore as if I want it I generally have some. I ended up with all sorts of deficiencies caused by fad diets…. Life wasn’t worth living
Stacey- I think you would find the Eatopia site amazing,
Gwyneth gives a mass of info through her blogs and forum that would help you.
And also- the Uzuli forums ( which are an offshoot of the Eatopia site),
http://www.uzuli.com.
Heaps of good support and advice can be found there for anyone who has dieted and exercised themselves into a bad situation.
It sounds like your metabolism is massively suppressed, and the only way out of that is eating!
Gwyneth Olwyn (eatopia) gives very good advice about the path to recovery
from dieting.
As does Matt..
But Gwyneth sets out specific numbers of minimum calories needed – which is important for some.
Gwyneth makes the point that anorexia is not about being thin,
but about the act of dieting , exercising, food restricting and starving, to lose weight-
and this can apply to overweight and obese too!
Thanks Nola. Lots of good information there.
The Eatopia forums have started up again Stacey- with a hiss and a bang!
Plenty of people you will be able to relate to, and buckets of experiences..
Stress is likely also part of the explanation why poor are more often overweight. The elephant in the room, the libertarian paleos do not like talking about.
I like the fact that you pegged Paleos with Libertarians. When I was doing Paleo and posting to Paleohacks, I was part of the left-wing that created an uproar over there. Most of us got kicked-off. It was a lot of fun.
Spectacular!
Interesting. I think that you mean right-wing Libertarians, as there are also left wing libertarians. Thomas, I would be interested if you could provide a link to what you are referring to about the uproar. My issues are in reverse; on political fora, I often have to counter VLC promotions on health made by right wing Libertarians among others. It is like talking to a brick wall, so I am not doing it for their benefit but for the benefit of other readers. It is so hypocritical how they criticise people who disagree with them for allowing their prejudices influence them politically, only to accept the paleo morphed into low carb myth without question. Also, the libertarians who post where I do are well behaved and advocate these standards, yet some of them promote and follow some right wing Libertarian Paleos who have not contributed anything signigficant to the political/economic debate and have had their abusive behaviour publicaly documented.
It is bad enough that this fad has influenced the health sphere, but unfortunately it’s influence is now creeping into other arenas and even though I have had some small victories, I do not feel equipped to effectively call “foul!”
I should mention that I was never part of the dieting or health community. I am only here because I was looking for answers after wrecked my health by eating low carb while I was travelling, I wasn’t dieting.
Pink, usually when I use the word Libertarian, I am referring to Right-Wing Libertarians. I understand there are Left-Wing libertarians. I count myself among them. However, when I write of Left-Wing Libertarians I will usually be more specific, using terms like Anarchist, Autonomist, Libertarian Socialist, etc.
I will see if there is anything of the uproar left on Paleohacks. I believe Patrick deleted the whole exchange though.
Pink, every time I see a post by you, I want to tell you that I like the way you covered the 4 Non-Blondes “What’s Up” :)
Ok, thought so but good to clarify terms. Thanks for looking, it would be an interesting read for me and may help me avoid some traps now this crap is spreading to my usual hangouts. Can’t wait for the fad to wear out.
Lol about “What’s Up” it was perfect for her voice. I am also a muso and had been using the name well before the other Pink appeared. It’s short for Pink Noise.
Pink, I just did a search on my name over there at Paleohacks. Pink, by the way, is any of your music online? If so, could you provide links?
There are still some posts of mine up over there at Paleohacks (you can just do a search on my last name “Seay”) but the political ones (that happened at the very end of my Paleo stage) have been taken down. I think the one that caused the uproar and revolt was, Do Paleos suffer from false consciousness?
By the way, is any of your music online? If so, could you provide links?
Pink, Thomas & Victor, stop using the term “Libertarian” as none of you even know what Libertarianism is. A true Libertarian is neither Right-Wing nor Left-Wing. It has nothing to do with Paleo dieting or any other dieting scheme. If you are going to associate diets with political philosophy, then lets talk about how all those looney Democrats are Raw Vegan idiots!
Jon, I know American “Libertarians” like to think they are outside of the ambit of Right/Left politics, but that’s a daydream, in my honest opinion. It’s true that American “Libertarians” don’t share the same values regarding certain things, like militarism and fundamentalism, as others on the Right, but it is also no mistake that their veneration, glorification of the Free Market System has become a cornerstone of the Republican Party platform and, for that matter, of the Democratic Party’s, as well.
Despite your insistence to the contrary, I am, indeed familiar with Libertarianism as it is currently defined here in the United States. Remember that it’s just a word and is defined differently according to time and place. Many of those who first coined the term “Libertarian” were, in fact, what would be considered Leftists. They wanted to get rid of private property, the state and wanted to replace the wage system with a system of mutual self-help. They would NOT have been very fond of Milton Friedman or Ayn Rand :), though certain aspects of Hayek may have appealed to them (had he been around).
Obviously there is no strict relationship between Paleo and Libertarian. I do believe to have observed that a large number of Paleos consider themselves Libertarian. Maybe my observations are faulty here. I won’t deny it. Diet nuttiness seems to go across political lines, although I agree that most Vegans will probably be Democrats. On the other hand, I have often thought (and stated) that “the Sally’s” book, Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats , sounds like a slur against Democrats. Sally, oh Sally!
Thomas and Pink,
True Libertarianism is based on the political philosophy of Thomas Jefferson (Federalist Papers). So in that sense someone might view it as having Liberal ideals as Jefferson would have been seen as a Liberal in 18th Century European politics. However, in today’s political landscape, Libertarianism can be summed up as being simply: Fiscal Conservatives/Social Liberals, that is why the labels “Right wing” and “Left Wing” do not apply to a Liberatarian. Pink labeled Penn & Teller as Right wing Libertarians when in fact Penn Gillette is simply being a true or maybe “hardcore” Libertarian (Don’t know about Teller as I never hear him speak LOL!).
Thomas,
The Free Market system is what made America the richest nation, as practiced in late 19th Cent America (post Civil War ’til 1920’s). However, neither the Republican nor Democrat Parties of 21st Cent America have this as their cornerstone. Today both parties embrace “Crony Capitalism” that borders on Socialism (Freidman and Ayn are rolling over in their graves). This is why America is in a steady state of economic decline (i.e. we have lost our way).
JonO,
cough, cough Republican Ron Paul cough, cough
I agree that dieting has nothing to do with polilitics, so how do I stop these people spamming political fora?
Pink,
Thomas Jefferson not Ron Paul (although he is correct about the FED).
Fart, fart Socialist Obama crap, crap.
Well… Lew Rockwell is FOREVER linking to Mark’s Daily Apple, and Mercola dot com. :P He even posted this article once, about how all these overweight people are going to be in huge trouble during the economic collapse. -.-
Oh and also, Tom Naughton is a libertarian. He’s not paleo, though. xD But yeah, it seems really common in the LC/paleo community.
Hunt Gather Love has an interesting post on how paleo became the libertarian diet.
puddleduck,
Yes, I knew that Lew Rockwell regularly publishes the views of Sisson and Mercola, as well as number of many other non mainstream views on health. I don’t think anyone would say that fiscally conservative Rockwell was socially liberal by any stretch!
Victor Venema,
Thank you for that article, it was very informative.
Not all fiscally conservative Libertarians are paleo, nor would they behave like JohO and worse. Perhaps since they are a small group that the most vocal and obnoxious seem to speak for all of them.
puddleduck,
I forgot to mention that I had forgotten about Rockwell and that I am glad that you pointed that out. :)
I know, the correlation is not 100%. Fortunately.
By now I have found some friendly paleo sources. The exuberant animal, Freedom to learn and Earthropology.
Maybe as an European, I am more sensitive, allergic to such stuff. There are some well-meaning anarchists around, but you do not see that kind of weirdness around here. You can probably get used to it to some extend.
Thanks for the info, Thomas. Pity they have been taken down. I make my music with others and it is not online afaik thanks for asking :)
I’m going to skip right over the paleo and libertarian stuff and just point out that the poor being overweight is a modern phenomenon, so I don’t think stress is necessarily the main cause there. Being poor has been stressful throughout time, but traditionally they were skinny and the rich were fat.
Amy,
There are many studies that link not only socioeconomic status, but executive jobs to health and weight issues. Apparently, the more control you have at work, the less overweight is an issue. And, the rich and poor considerations you mentioned can be life long conditions that effect people with chronic stress. There’s a lot of intervening variables that can confuse the issue! That’s for sure.
In past times, fat was healthy, fat was sexy. The rich were fat and the poor were thin. Thin first became cool in the Twenties, but it really took off in the Sixties. Barbie and Twiggy were pulled out of the social hat just as Women’s Lib and the Pill were threatening to bring us some freedom. And as cheap junk food became available to the many, obesity unfolded on a scale never seen before. We’ve been dieting ever since. Norms change, but human obsession with the pecking order lives on, and our bodies respond to social forces largely beyond our control. We’re not helpless, but yes, we do need to learn mindfulness, at the table and elsewere, if we want to thwart these forces.
Maybe a better formulation is that stress leads to weight problems (and other chronic deceases). In other words, it does not have to lead to overweight, it may also lead to underweight.
I know someone who is already quite skinny and loses appetite in stressful periods and reduces in weight.
And like other people already noted, in the past you would always eat a whole food diet and avoid many other lifestyle problems.
I think the association of socio-economic status and weight problems is undisputed. The question that remains is why?
Exactly, Amy. What foods are available to poor people? Cheap, processed, junk. What’s always on sale? Junk. And by junk I mean food riddled with HFCS and MSG and soy and poop. Poor people who are working two or three jobs, stressed to the hilt, still not making ends meet, don’t have time to garden or raise chickens. So they shop at the cheapest store, buy the cheapest junk, and stay sick and fat, and are blamed by society.
If it was just stress they were dealing with, but were still eating raw milk, butter, eggs, and food with no nasty stuff in it, they would be thin.
Supporting the idea that food system changes make contemporary poor folk more likely to be overfat than overthin is this really fascinating article about the British mid-Victorian diet:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2672390/
Despite the British working-class during this time (1850s appx) being poor and, in many cases, recently pushed off the land and or threatened by debtor prison (think Dickens!), their diet was much better than a typical poor person’s today, partly because *almost all foods were whole foods, by default.* I think a pre-electricity circadian rhythm would’ve also played a big part.
[Here’s the summary I wrote when I posted it to FB a while ago:]
British Mid-Victorians (1850-1880) had equal or better life expectancy to modern people living in the UK, and 10% of the degenerative disease. Obviously contrary to popular belief; we think they died young because infant and young-child mortality was high, but those who survived their first years lived as long as us, and — more importantly — in more robust health.
This was partly accomplished by eating *twice* as many calories as modern first-worlders, and likewise expending that many in the activities of daily living and work. Eating twice as much food, in itself, means that more nutrients can be acquired, but their food was also more nutritious: much more fruit and vegetables eaten in season and of necessity grown organically, much more seafood, and much more “nose-to-tail” meats like organs and bone-in meats. They also drank plenty of low-alcohol beer (1-2% vs modern 4-5%).
It’s fascinating food history and research through a social-history lens, and astonishingly well-written and strongly worded for a scientific paper.
Ironically, I first saw it on Mark’s Daily Apple … props to them for posting because it basically says we don’t really need paleo, that neolithic can be healthy!
This is really interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Another reason may have been that, since three out of every ten babies died before their first birthday, natural selection was at work, i.e. those with a weak constitution were simply eliminated at an early age.
Possibly, except the paper makes the case that when nutrition worsened in the late 1800s, all of the health outcomes worsened and degeneration increased. Natural selection was still in full effect at that point.
Some of the changes that occurred when nutrition declined: people’s height shrank, their strength decreased – all of this is suggestive of nutrition issues. They did not decrease calories, it is worth noting. They moved from eating a diet of whole, fresh foods, to one of canned, refined, processed foods. It’s all very similar to what Weston A. Price observed as traditional groups moved from a fresh diet to a processed, junk diet.
No, I don’t think natural selection was in full effect in the late 1800’s. I’m sure infant mortality had improved a lot by that point, due more hygienic conditions, better pest control, more readily available medical services, elimination of childbed fever and so on.
Well, to be fair, infant mortality did decline during the 1800s but there is such a clear line here (which also coincides with changes in nutrition) that I don’t think it explains the changes. They also differentiated between the middle/upper class (more rural, did not have same nutritional decline) and working class (urban, decline in nutrition and health). Both classes would have been affected if the changes in infant mortality were really making such a difference. In fact, I would argue that the middle/upper-class infants would be more likely to survive when born with a weaker constitution. Yet, they did not see the health declines that the working class did.
There were still a ton of diseases that weeded out the weakest anyway, don’t forget. It really wasn’t until the advent of antibiotics and other medical emergency care that the truly weak could survive to adult-hood.
I just looked it up and apparently infant mortality in England rose in the later 1800s. Here’s a paper with some charts:
http://www.google.com/url'sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CC0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ashgate.com%2Fpdf%2FSamplePages%2FInfant_Mortality_A_Continuing_Social_Problem_Intro.pdf&ei=-euoUeTaJoHE4AOKh4H4Bg&usg=AFQjCNFvd1EfI5Le698XDBjekel8TcPJeg&sig2=ayBEuBX-1m6ILySnh1-jlg&bvm=bv.47244034,d.dmg&cad=rja
(It declined in France, but rose in the UK)
I have been mulling over the question of how much PUFA can be in the diet without weight gain for a while. My partner gets way too skinny without PUFAs in his diet. Of course, he’s an overly tall skinny white guy who looks to be of Netherlandish dissent. So this got me thinking that his ancestors would have always had a diet with PUFA in it and to cut this out interferes with his normal weight regulation. Then the thought process is that people with ancestors closer to the equator, do not have these same adaptations. Following that logic, people with darker skin are more prone to becoming overweight with the current thinking on saturated fat. Of course, the food chain is more disrupted for poor people, but the demographics is different (in general) as well, so I wonder if certain populations are suited to handle a fat supply with a higher percentage of saturated fat. I write this in part, because Matt has previously written that people of non-European dissent are more prone to becoming overweight, but I don’t think he speculated as to the cause.
“Matt has previously written that people of non-European dissent are more prone to becoming overweight, but I don’t think he speculated as to the cause.”
That is because they are eating food that is not right for their biology/metabolism. People of non-European descent are not more likely to be obese in their native environments eating foods that are very similar to what their ancestors ate.
People of European descent are considered the norm in America, and what is good or bad for them is assumed to be good or bad for everyone else. This is to the detriment of non-European descended people. Many people of non-European descent–for example African Americans–would be better-off eating lots of fruit, cooked vegetables, meat from land animals and saturated fats like coconut and palm oil, with less or no grains, chicken, starch and PUFA because their ancestors are from tropical climates and were hunter gathers long after the Europeans and Middle Easterners became agriculturalist and started eating lots of grains.
Of course not all African Americans have trouble with starches, PUFA and grains, but a very large percentage of them do and yet the government pushes starchy food and PUFAs onto them. And the more obese they become, the more they are condemned for being fat.
I have always believed that people whose ancestors are from colder climates can eat more PUFA and still be healthy. That is why the Inuit can eat so much PUFA and still have relatively good health. But should an African or an East Indian person eat a lot of omega-3? I don’t think so. And I don’t care what anyone says, Asians can eat more starches without getting fat.
I think most of Matt’s readers are of European descent, so I would not expect him to focus on the problems of non-Europeans. Non-Europeans need to take everything that Matt and others say with a grain of salt and figure out what is right for them.
Yes, and then you have the problem of what is African-American and what is Euro-American. How many African-Americans are purely African? And what about sub-divisions within that group? Ethiopians eat a lot of grains, I think. I also think that there are other populations in African that historically have eaten a lot of grains, like millet.
A lot of Euro-Americans, especially in the South, have African-American bloodlines. And a lot of grains, like wheat, were introduced quite recently into Russia (and probably Finland, and all the surrounding countries). So, it gets rather difficult to sort out.
Asians? Which ones? Yes, a lot of populations in Asia eat lots of grains, but I don’t think that’s the case with Mongolians. In Northern China to this day, the Chinese eat a lot of wheat, whereas in southern China, they eat mostly rice.
Have you been to Africa?? They eat lots of grain! And these are rural people, not ‘westernized.’ Corn (a grain) is a main crop, and they eat plenty of other starches, including bread.
I totally agree with your post. Now if I could just get off the internet to put it in practice….No, I am not being cheeky, I really do have this issue and I do not believe that I am alone. We are surrounded by so much more to stimulate us and we have to take in and process so much more information than previous generations, which is not easy to adapt to in a healthy way.
On dieting: Penn and Teller (right wing Libertarians!) did an episode of “Bull3h1t” about the how the evidence does not support the claims made by the dieting and fitness industry and that diets do not work.
Pink-
As the quote goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. You are absolutely NOT alone in this pursuit. As with meditation practices, being gentle and accepting of yourself is paramount. Start with a small meal that you really enjoy, and turn your total attention to enjoying it completely, to the exclusion of all other things. You’ll find it becomes easier, and something that you actually look forward to. Make sure to give yourself credit, even if your attention lasts 10 seconds. It’s forward motion!
One of my clients said she now feels that it would be “rude” to her food, and all the people who had some part in bringing it to her, if she didn’t pay attention to it with gratitude. That was a real awakening for her!
You can do it!
Thank you Lianda, what you said about gratitude hit home.
On the issue of Abercrombie & Fitch’s hateful policy, I suggest that people find out who owns the company/who the company is owned by and let them know that you refuse to buy all their products. I heard that some high fashion labels can afford to continue to snub women who don’t look like teenage boys because while they don’t buy the clothes, they buy the accessories. I believe that, for example Gucci handbag sales are 25% of its revenue. Abercrombie & Fitch sell perfume for both men and women. If this information was compiled, then women could snub them back with their wallets and support brands that treat them with respect.
I have found out that this same comapny also retails children’s clothes, was criticised for offering girls padded bras and paid out a settlement due to its racism. They seem to have ad campaigns that court controversy, so perhaps a low key refusal to buy their products may work best, if possible. Hollister is owned by Abercrombie & Fitch as well as Gilly Hicks. This is as far as I have gone with my research.
If only I could sit and mindfully eat a meal for ten minutes! With 5 little ones every.single.meal is a stream of interruptions, and it’s been that way for none years and will be for the next nine. And if I’m not interrupted for some strange reason and I sit and wait for little ones to finish I accompany that waiting with more eating! Then there are of course all those unfinished plates to polish off. And the food that noone else liked but i put thought and effort into that cant be thrown away! Poor me. Poor poor me. :-) any suggestions, please? Turning into a football!
Haluna, you might find this book useful: http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0345533267 “French Twist” by Catherine Crawford. She implemented strategies the French use, and was able to get her children to enjoy a meal in a civilized way. It is most certainly doable. I actually thought it was one of the best parenting advice books I’d ever read (I didn’t always love her writing style, but it’s worth it still). “Bringing Up Bebe” is another that might help you with getting the family on board with this way of eating.
This is all very much in the arena of “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” That book changed my relationship with food 180 degrees!
(I’m a total Francophile if you can’t tell, but that culture knows food!)
Thanks I’ll take a look! They’re not (usually) naughty/really I disciplined it’s just that baby usually needs help with eating, dd3 starts hanging off me wanting to go to bed, dd4 wants water and no one has brought the glasses, ds8 can’t find the ketchup, etc…. I remember my mum refusing to stand up again/go back to the kitchen, but even if I’m not physically up and down I can’t be mindfully present on my eating! Lunches with just me and three preschoolers are best/most relaxed…
Haluna, I relate!! I have six young kids and I so want to do this mindful eating thing but it is hard!! Even if you followed that book to the T you wouldn’t be able to mindfully eat because of all the chatter and questions and unforeseen spillages etc!! I am right there! I think the thing is to start small. Be aware of taking some breaths during a meal and maybe sometimes when you get a little space you can enjoy a snack or something. I am not giving up on this. I do what I can. I try to slow down my eating too, when I remember. What to do with good left overs though??? Give them to hubby for lunch at work???
Thank you so much for your article!
Stress has definitely contributed to me being obese.
I absolutely LOVE the idea of eating mindfully and working to listen to the body’s cue’s. However, because I’m obese, I need to eat more calories and when I eat mindfully, I don’t get the calories that I seem to need. I’ve been using the calorie counter that Amber at Go Kaleo encourages people to use and it seems to put my daily calorie usage at much higher than other calorie counters use.
I don’t want to stuff myself in order to eat all the calories I need (3600 on the days I weight lift) and would rather eat mindfully (which is usually about 2200-2500 a day, depending on if I work out).
I also like the idea of eating mindfully instead of counting calories. What do you think?
Beth- I think that you cannot solve the weight issue by just filling yourself with food. Yes, eating is important, but if you are still stressed out, that’s still going to effect your metabolism! The stress aspect must be addressed, or you’ll have the same issues, but just be eating more!
I use visualization, and other energy techniques along with eating mindfully. Research shows that visualization is very powerful, and for example, it has actually helped Olympic athletes attain their gold medals when they cut down on physical practice of their sport, and substituted more visualization!
I think it’s time to let go of focusing on the calories, and get back in touch with listening to your body’s signals. I know it works.
Hi Beth,
On that particular calorie counter that you mention- I know it seems much higher than others, but, from personal experience, I have found that eating less like the others suggest makes me tired and ill, eating roughly what that one tells me to eat does not make me put on weight, but improves my energy, skin, hair etc. I think that the others are generally going along with the whole ‘2000 max for a woman’ BS. That is just my experience, of course, but it would be interesting to see what others find!
cheers,
Nat
I would work myself up to what the calculator says, be sure you are accurate with you input- don’t over or under estimate. Chronic undereating can reduce your appetite, because it reduces your digestion. After you eat what your body needs to run in an optimal metabolic state, it should rise up to to it and then you will find eating what you were before leaves you starving! Then you can trust yourself. You may also find your hunger goes above the calculators estimation for a while. This is bwcause it needs extra for repair work- skelatal, digestive, etc. Raising your intake slowly will reduce your weight gain though I just went crazy because I was starving and ate like a pig and gained ten lbs in three weeks (but my weight then kinda stabilized) It may take a while to starting losing and you may lose size before weight. It took me maybe two months but then a stressful few weeks reversed my loss. After that was over, I’ve started getting a bit smaller again and seeing a bit more muscle (which I genetically gain readily). I also feel LIKE A MILLION BUCKS!Ii don’t think I’ve had so much energy since I was like a little kid!
A great book that covers this idea is Charles Eisenstein’s “The Yoga of Eating”. It might have been referred to on this blog before, but I’m fairly new here so I just may not have seen it. It’s the gentlest, most empathetic approach to these kinds of issues (incorporating mindfulness and pleasure in food) I’ve ever read. Thanks for the article Lianda.
Jude- you are so welcome!
I agree! I gained weight when I was on a zero sugar diet, actually just a few weeks after taking sugar away completely I gained 3 kilos.
A few years back in at the height of my orthorexia, I was in the throws of one the worst adrenal crashes I had ever had. I had 3 major life events happen in a short time frame, I was knee deep in low calorie/low carb crazy town, AND I was 84LBS! I literally had to take time off of work because I was in such a bad way. My adrenals were in super overdrive, and already exhausted from years of extreme under eating. But I learned something during this time period……
So I would wake up, feel like absolute shit and throw hoards of clothing on my stickly little cold body, hobble to work if it was one of the few days a week I worked, and struggle to barely get through the day, while everyone would ask me what was wrong. I would immediately come home from a relatively short shift, and crash on my bed as if I had run a friggin’ marathon. Waking up only to barely feed myself before retiring to bed. All in all I was up about 7 or 8 hours, and needing to lay down and rest for 16 hours. It was hell. On my days off I figured out a trick that would stop my incessant hunger, and adrenal restlessness…….not doing a damn thing. Literally laying in bed all day. Now I know this seems very simple, but it forever changed me. It was how I healed during that time and regained my strength. Literally RESTING as much as humanly possibly. No tv, computers, socializing, going out, etc. Just laying down. I knew that if I layed in bed all day, I could actually sleep through the night without waking needing to eat a half a jar of peanut butter, and peeing like a race horse.
I never looked at obesity the same way since that time period. Overeating absolutely is a stress response, and a natural stress response at that. I actually encourage people who are stressed to eat freely, and they will rebound so much faster.
P.S. That was 2.5 years ago, and I’m 100lbs heavier.
I have a tendency to lose weight when stressed too, so I am trying to be mindful to eat enough when under stress. Perhaps it is overly simplistic, but I think of weight loss from stress as bone and muscle loss and from relaxation as body fat. Conversely, I associate weight gain from stress as body fat gains and from relaxation as bone and muscle.
Wow. That’s crazy. I’m glad you’re doing better now.
So interesting that rest during the day improved your sleep. People are always telling me, “go outside for a run, then you’ll sleep!” And I’m like, “no, that doesn’t even work. Then I don’t sleep all night, and am TWICE as tired. ” xD
Might have to try more rest. Thanks for the idea. (I know it’s in Matt’s books too, I just, am really bad at resting even though work exhausts me, so yeah. The reminder is helpful. xD)
Hunger is the main thing preventing my sleep these days. I’ve been mindfully eating whatever I want, as much as I want, for a little over a year now (was restricting before that). But strangely, my body wasn’t wanting to as much as I thought I probably needed. I’d get full after eating a potato and two mouthfuls of chicken. The only think that really improved my appetite somewhat, was sugar. xD (My blood sugar levels were tested, and found to be perfect.) I ate Ice Cream with meals, which helped on the calorie front, but I still wasn’t enjoying food much. It was frustrating and weird.
Then I started taking liquid zinc. And shazam! My appetite became an uncontrollable monster, after like, two days of taking the zinc. It’s been a couple weeks now. I cannot handle it. I just ate a hamburger and a bowl of pasta, and I’m still hungry. It’s like, the more I eat, the hungrier I get. D:
Oh right, might be important to note that tests indicate my body has too much copper, and not enough zinc. :P
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21846317
I think mindful eating is definitely a big thing for me. I know when I try to eat without reading or watching something, I feel anxious. It’s like this painful withdrawal that I really struggle to stop with. Crazy! I also notice how sweet things are, how boring it is to chew when you’ve piled the plate up. Strangely enough, it still takes a long time for me to ‘feel’ full. Good article – thanks.
Yeah, that can be a problem for me, also. Partly because I didn’t have much of an appetite for a while. I’d watch or read something while force-feeding myself, just to keep my mind off of how gross or scary I found eating. xD I look forward to being able to practice mindful eating more in the future. :)
How much sugar do you all eat compared to starch? I am trying to find a baseline that works well.
Puddleduck,
What I’m trying to present is mind over matter. Yes, you can take different supplements to try to change some aspect of your eating and/or health. But the basic difference comes from what’s in your mind and your heart. That’s what is really in control of your body. When there’s a disagreement between your thoughts and your emotions, your body shows a signal. I’m “hearing” your fear about eating , perhaps because of the effect on your weight.
Thats what I’d encourage you to explore first. Energy medicine, EFT Tapping, Heartmath tools are excellent to get your thoughts and emotions in alignment. Then eating will become a positive action for self-nurturing. You DESERVE to eat! Does that make sense to you? I hope so. : )
Hi Tanya,
Thanks for your comment. I think in part, we are “addicted” to multitasking. That’s the “painful withdrawal” you speak about when trying to focus on eating alone. And you are seeing that you are tasting food more when you are paying mindful attention to the food.
Don’t focus on the pile on your plate (maybe just start with a small amount of food instead of a mountain on your dish), focus instead on the taste, texture of the food- what you enjoy about it.
And also focusing on gratitude, and realizing in your mindset, that you are taking time to nurture yourself; relaxing and doing something good for yourself. Only YOU can do that for yourself. It’s an attitude shift. If it takes longer to feel full, maybe you NEED that extra time, and your body is talking to you in it’s own language! FULL-Filled?
I think the other thing this can be is loneliness. Humans have evolved to eat together, mostly, and eating by yourself can be lonely, which is why it’s tempting to watch TV or read. Eating in a group addresses a lot of these issues, but of course is not always possible for those who live alone.
I don’t think so, when I know I am stressed. My body loses weight instead. I guess it depends on how people deal with their problems.
Granuflo – You make an excellent point. Some people eat to comfort themselves from stress, and others lose their appetite. I encourage you to think about the “story” of how you respond to stress- For example: is it by feeding and attempting to “nurture yourself”, or is it about withholding, and perhaps self-punishment?
Again, energy medicine, EFT tapping is a wonderful way to deal with the emotions from stress, and get you back on the right track of eating what your body needs.
Why would you think losing your appetite during stress is self-punishment? I think it’s just a physiological reaction and stress-hormone-oriented. The same thing happens to me, and although I try to feed myself because I know I need to, it’s hard to eat much when you are nauseous and feel like you’ve been kicked in the stomach. I think it’s just that the body cannot digest well when stress hormones spike. If you try to eat too much in this state, your stomach will rebel in other ways. It’s not self-punishment. I think shoving piles of cupcakes down your throat in a binge could be viewed as far more self-punishing (and I have experienced both, so I speak from personal experience).
Amy,
I said what is “your story” about why you are not eating? and gave possible examples. But I do want to mention that stress is an reaction to a “stressor” and we all have different things that bother or stress us, and different ways our body responds to stress. Our body is not mechanical, but is directly responsive to our emotions and thoughts. For more about this view, read Louise Hay; Dr. Bruce Lipton, and so many other well known and respected authors. Everyone has their own unique pattern of dealing with stress. The best thing is to identify your stressor, and deal with that first.
Ok, it sounded to me like you were saying that people who overeat when they are stressed are nurturing themselves, and people who undereat when they are stressed are self-punishing, and I consider that to be untrue.
Amy- that may be “their” story – the food people eat when they are stressed is even called “comfort food”. People eat it to comfort themselves. Withholding food from yourself is a kind of punishment for being overweight – for MANY people.
That may not be the way you do it… you’d have a different story. But it doesn’t mean that it’s right or wrong- it just is the way people behave based upon their unconscious or subconscious thoughts.
Lianda, apologies if this is not the right forum but I recall an earlier post on your success with this approach as an older woman? If so, how long did it take you? I’m being patient – nearly 2 years now of weight gain etc and some things just not getting better (including weight gain in spite of now regular weight stuff in gym!) but mostly sleep. Sle-e-e-eep. 2 people are affected, my husband a zombie today because of my poor sleep. He thinks it’s my breathing or let’s be honest my snoring. I think it’s all the tossing and turning and waking. I can be patient – I spent 7 years (yes, sad!!) on low carb. I just don’t want to be wrong again and waste more of my life. I’m 49. And a bit discouraged to be honest. Thank you for reading this.
Sue- I feel your pain. But you can see that just changing your eating alone is not the cure. Lack of sleep is STRESSFUL, and can cause a vicious cycle! Snoring may be pointing to another problem. Patience is good, but moving towards a solution is even better! Contact me, and I’ll give you some suggestions.
Thank you Lianda, I will. How do I do that?
Here’s how to contact me. And if you fill out the questionnaire, it will help me focus our conversation to get started.
http://www.makeitsomindset.com/contact/
This is OT (well maybe not, seeking of balance…), but too beautiful not to share:
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=r8PfP1YY6xQ
Approaching menopause, I find stress to be correlated with weight gain. Until recently, I always lost weight during stressful times.
Kristine- The same thing happened for me! Yes, menopause can turn everything upside down.. But again, if there’s stress, that means it needs to be addressed, or the weight will continue to pile up!