Pritikin Infographic Really Tells a Story

If anyone in this complicated world of weight loss can be trusted, it is the Pritikin Centre.  And they've very kindly represented it in clear pictures which are backed up with empirical evidence.  Worth a little journey down the green path below to get a clear picture about what's going on.  Enjoy.  (sorry its too wide for my blog space so there's a little overflow on the right hand side.).  6/6/13 - Had an email this morning from Pritikin's PR people who said they loved my blog, and would I be kind enough to link it to the Pritikin site.  My response:  "Of course!" www.pritikin.com

Persistence is EVERYTHING - and 30 days can be a magic number.

Persistence IS everything.  It embraces the 'change in behaviour' component of real change (change in thinking is the other, companion, component).  We often give something new a try (e.g. a gym membership) but don't persist (I am guilty as charged).  Or we embrace a new idea but don't put it into action. So it remains just a theory.  

One of the main purposes I serve for my clients is to help them keep plodding forward.  You don't lose 50kg in a month but you can really embed the new healthy behaviours that will eventually lead to a 50kg loss in that month.  And, remember, you don't have to like it (i.e. its not easy, change makes me uncomfortable, its not my "normal" etc.) - you just have to do it.  

I love the Calvin Coolidge quotation below (and you don't usually see it in its entirety.)  Emphasis is mine.  


"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race. No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

Read more:http://www.quoteworld.org/quotes/3186#ixzz2RRdmT91p

Now, on to a more modern (i.e. still alive) person who is putting things in his life into 30 day challenges and reaping the rewards.  He is PERSISTING (see above) and getting to feel and see more satisfaction and excitement in his life.  What can you commit to changing for 30 days?  It could be as simple as eating an extra piece of fruit a day, getting off the tram one stop early for 30 days, writing a food diary for 30 days.  Think of something that will be challenging, yet rewarding, and GO FOR IT.

What am I going to do?  I am going to walk Charlie every day for 30 days (rain, hail or shine).

30 days to change your life

Amy Molloy 
Published: April 24, 2013 - 8:45AM

In 2009, Matt Cutts, an American engineer who works for Google, felt he was ''stuck in a rut'', so he set himself a 30-day challenge. He vowed to walk 10,000 steps every day for a month - and he accomplished it.

Three years later, he has transformed his life in one-month intervals doing things such as following a vegan diet, learning to play the ukulele, getting eight hours' sleep a night, and doing something nice for his wife every day. Recently, he underwent a 30-day technological detox, abstaining from reading news online or checking emails after 9pm.
He has even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of a 30-day makeover.

''It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract one,'' Cutts says. ''I noticed, as I started to do harder challenges, that my self-confidence grew. I went from a desk-dwelling computer nerd to the kind of guy who bikes to work for fun.''

He also found the challenges made him live more in the moment. ''Instead of the months flying by forgotten, the time is much more memorable,'' Cutts says. ''I challenged myself to take a picture every day for a month and I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I look at every photograph.''

He is not alone in his quest. In the past few years, the popularity of 30-day challenges has grown. Many yoga studios offer discounts if you clock up 30 classes in a row, and there are 30-day programs for meditating, quitting sugar and improving self-confidence.
So, why is 30 such a magic number? If you believe in the theory of biorhythms, everyone's body clock has the same cycle of renewal. Our physical body works on a 23-day cycle, our emotional body on a 28-day cycle, and our intellectual body a 33-day cycle. This makes one month ideal for self-improvement, although it's worth noting that this ancient theory has no scientific proof. Many medical studies show that repetition is the key to making lasting changes.

''We can actually lay new neuron pathways in our brains by repeating an action or way of thinking,'' psychologist Meredith Fuller says. ''The aim is to transform a new activity into an automatic habit. With repetition, it becomes something we do without thinking; in fact, we experience discomfort if we don't do it.''

The odds for successful behaviour change are stacked in your favour when you undertake an organised challenge as part of a group.  ''That sense of camaraderie is key,'' Fuller says. ''It heightens motivation and the resulting pride in your achievement. We respond well to cues - whether that's a gold star next to your name on a noticeboard or a hug from a friend after a workout. It's far harder to let someone else down than yourself.''

The majority of challenges featured are fitness-based. A recent study from the University of Michigan found that working out with a virtual partner is just as motivating as doing it with a real-life fitness buddy.

Business adviser Wilson Lunar wrote the best-selling self-help guide Save $30,000 in 30 Days and insists that's all the time you need to get your budget in order. ''It's the simple things done consistently that make the biggest difference,'' Lunar says. Cutting small costs, such as buying a coffee, can add up to big savings. ''One of the reasons people yo-yo after a crash diet is because they've felt deprived,'' he says. ''Challenges are tough but you still need to enjoy them.'' Lunar suggests adding variety to the month by tackling a different area of your outgoings every week, such as utility bills and entertainment costs. ''Don't underestimate the power of the small things done repeatedly,'' he says. And if you do miss a day, don't catastrophise it into a failure. A missed day doesn't mean you need to go back to day one.

And when the final deadline arrives, manage your expectations. Rather than telling yourself, ''I'll now follow this regime forever'', set small sub-goals, extending the plan by one month and then another.

In Cutts' words, ''What are you waiting for? I guarantee you that the next 30 days will pass, whether you like it or not, so why not think about something you've always wanted to try and give it a shot.''

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/life/30-days-to-change-your-life-20130420-2i6gw.html 

Ajay Rochester - the Human Yo-yo.

Article in today's paper about the former host of The Biggest Loser and the winner of Excess Baggage.  Whilst I think its written in a somewhat sensationalist style (ah...the joys of alliteration!), she conveys the problems associated with working on the effect (the excess weight) and not the causes (emotional eating etc.).

Use the link if you want to see what some of the (numerous) comments have to say.  There's very little compassion there.  

What do you think?  Can you feel for her?  Have you experienced that cycle of weight gain......panic..... emotional eating.......weight gain?

If you're reading this, Ajay, get thee to a psychologist immediately, if not sooner.  Bypass the lemon detox diet and personal trainers.  Learn to feel your feelings (good or bad) without trying to eat them away.  I'm praying (in a non-Christian way, of course) for you.

http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/i-am-eating-myself-to-death-20130417-2i0g9.html

'I am eating myself to death'

Published: April 18, 2013 - 8:23AM

She's had her ups and downs, but Ajay Rochester fears her compulsive eating will kill her.
"I am eating myself to death," she told 2Day FM's Kyle and Jackie O on Wednesday morning.
In the interview, the former Biggest Loser host opened up about the emotional stranglehold food has on her. Her obsession with food is so strong "I would want to marry it," she told the talk show hosts. "If junk food was a sex aid I would be a very satisfied woman."

Despite dropping pounds to win last year's weight-loss reality show Excess Baggage, she said it was not sustainable.

"I would do the stupid lemon detox diet before I'd go on air, so I'd drink lemon juice for 3 weeks and lose 15 kilos and then just eat nothing during production." It didn't work "because then out of production you are just like 'Oh yeah, all you can eat buffet, are you ready!'''
This has led to a 48 kilogram weight-gain in the past year.

"So it's breakfast for 3 people. Two pancakes, big plate-sized pancakes, three bacon strips, a plate sized hash brown, a plate, I'm not talking the little Macca's ones, two eggs, two sausages. So I'll eat that," the 43-year-old said. "Then I just lie down all day because I can't move because my arteries are so clogged. And then I drive past 'Karl's' and get a burger and fries. I'm laughing about it. But it's really serious because I am eating myself to death."

It is the latest confession in a sad saga of yo-yo dieting and emotional eating. "I have always battled my weight and it has always been an emotional baggage kind of thing," she said. "If there is an emotion, I'll use that to eat. Any emotion. If I'm extremely happy, I celebrate by eating crap food, If I'm really sad and depressed, I'll eat crap food. That's why I was really looking forward to a show that actually delved into that issue. Obviously Biggest Loser is a fat camp. Let's lock up the fridge's and lock you up and train you X amount of hours a day and punish you and make you feel humiliated and give you a 200,000 dollar carrot to do anything to your body to get to that finish line. Of course you'd do whatever it takes! But it doesn't fix anything."

Previously Rochester, who rose to fame after writing about her 50 kilogram weight-loss, has spoken about where the compulsion comes from. "I was seriously obese and, when I lost my mum, I spiralled even further,"she said"There were lots of punishments around food. If I didn't eat everything on my plate, my adopted mother used to force the food into my mouth and hold it closed. When my birth mum died, I used food as it was the only support system I had."

Psychologist Deborah Thomas, who specialises in disordered eating, says the cycle Rochester finds herself in is "scarily common".

"What she is experiencing is really quite typical," she says. "It's a shame spiral... Intense shame about weight leads to deprivation, which leads to binging, which leads to shame."

While many people are not as extreme or as publicly exposed as Rochester, it is common even for those who want to lose a small amount of weight. "It starts with feeling bad about ourselves," Thomas says.

Breaking out of the spiral involves acceptance and a reality check. "It's having to accept 'this is where I am now.' It's not going to change quickly," she explains. "It's having to take a long-term view and building your life so that you have other things to focus on, not just weight and diet."

As well as taking individual responsibility, Thomas believes that we need to take a look at our societal obsession with weight and the pressure to look and be a certain way.

"If we could have a lot less shame about our bodies and just focus on being healthy, it would go a long way to solving this problem for a lot of people."

WHAT A STATISTIC...

87% of Australians over 15 have a long term medical condition The impetus of the statistics are about overweight and obesity.  But the above statistic really took my breath away. I almost opened a block of chocolate....but I decided to just feel the feeling of overwhelm and concern. http://www.obesityprevention.com.au/obesity Step away from the Cadburys.

Body Image - How distorted is it?

Well, really, facial image.  This Dove video illustrates how we see each other, and how others view our facial features.

If the discrepancies in face awareness are so high, how much higher would body discrepancies be???

Do you think you are beautiful?

http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-wellbeing/the-body-image-video-every-woman-should-watch-20130417-2hz3v.html

The body image video every woman should watch

Samantha Murphy

This article originally posted at Mashable.com

Dove posted on Monday a three-minute ad on YouTube that teaches a vital lesson about how we view ourselves compared to how others see us. Trust us, it's worth your time.

A former forensic artist for the San Jose police department met a series of women and asked each to describe the way they look. He had no way of seeing them behind a curtain. He prompted them to detail everything: hair length, facial structure, their most prominent features. He then sketched each participant from their self-description.

Each woman was asked before the study to get to know one of the other participants. The forensic artist then prompted each woman to describe the other's face.

At the end of the video, the artist reveals two sketches — one from the participant itself, one from their partner. The differences are remarkable.

We won't ruin the effect for you, but we'll leave you with this comment from Dove posted below the video:

"Women are their own worst beauty critics," Dove says. "Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful ... we decided to conduct a compelling social experiment that explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what others see."

Mashable is the largest independent news source covering digital culture, social media and technology.

What's next in the Eat THINK and be Merry WORLD DOMINATION STRATEGY???

Next, of course, will be the launch of the Eat THINK and be Merry e-course, due on 31st April (yes, THIS year!).  I am putting the finishing touches on it, will distribute it to my cohort of trusty readers and editors, totally rewrite it at their advice and then work out how to run an e-commerce website - all in the next 19 days.  EASY!

Well, after ETBM e-course 1, will come ETBM e-course 2.  This will be a logical follow up to the first six week e-course program and cover more areas that will contribute to the body of knowledge about how to address the CAUSES of overweight and overeating, not just the effects.

But I'm asking you, dear reader, what you think could or should be on my agenda?

I have some ideas....

1.  The Chat Room.  i.e. a real room, with real people sitting in it (not the virtual type of chat room where you think you're talking to a 21 year old busty cheerleader and its actually a 55 year old pervy man!).  I'm thinking of making the chat room a weekly or fortnightly event (probably a Monday evening) where we sit around in a circle and sing Kumbaya (ooops, got carried away - too much earl grey tea coursing through my veins this morning!).  We sit around and go with the topic flow, with me being a facilitator, educator, encourager, debater and supplier of one Lindt Ball per person, per evening (so that we can do a mindful eating exercise).

2.  ETBM training courses.  For psychologists and other allied health professionals so they can spread the gospel according to ETBM about dealing with the causes of overweight, not the effects.

3.  Public speaking.  This one causes my stomach to drop to my shoes.  They say that people fear a bed of poisonous snakes LESS than they fear public speaking.  Let me tell you, I LOVE SNAKES.  I think I must have been an overweight snake in a previous life.  Public speaking, not so much.  But if forced....

4.  Something dear to my heart is the E.A.T. Foundation.  That stands for "Eat and Think".  I want to get this not-for-profit off the ground soon.  Its purpose is to provide group programs on eating, weight and emotions to socially and economically disadvantaged groups who would not normally have access to individual counselling/coaching due to their financial circumstances.  This group is looking for volunteers, so please let me know if you have any skills that a (currently) non-existent foundation could use.  I am especially interested in learning how to write great funding proposals (or have someone else write them for me).

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All the rest are your ideas.  Allan Sugar (the British gazllionaire with a rather large personality in a rather small body) used his Twitter account to ask those following him to suggest content for his second book 'The Way I See It'? Alan Sugar received a survey of feedback to ensure his book contained content which was relevant for todays culture.  The key point of this exercise seems to me to be giving people what they want and/or finding out which issues are critical to those who are interested in the area of eating, weight and emotions.  So please get those comments flowing in through the blog or contact me at coachc@ozemail.com.au.  I'm looking forward to your input.  CHALLENGE ME!!!

The Biggest Loser - we are all "losing" as a result.

There's so much being said about The Biggest Loser ("TBL") at the moment, that I just HAD to throw in my own two cents' worth, given that I have strong opinions on the subject.  Speaking of strong opinions, there's a couple listed here below mine that are worth reading.

What's my opinion?  Well, fancy you asking that!  I shall list my point(s) below:

• TBL reminds me of the Christians being thrown to the lions, whilst thousands of Romans watch on and cheer.  Christians were the disgusting, barely human dogs of their day (we make similar judgements about obese people) and the lions are the pumped up, bullying personal trainers who look as if at any minute they are going to devour their contestants. And we are the Romans.
• TBL is a competition.  Its "The Weakest Link", "The Amazing Race", "Bachelorette" etc etc.  The contestants are going to do what the TV station tells them to do, so that they get to stay on the show long enough to potentially win a gazillion dollars.  This may be reality TV but it is not a representation of real life.
• Anyone can lose weight if they are sequestered, bullied and put into competition with others.  Most people can lose weight on a diet, too.  But it is temporary for the vast majority.  Why you ask?  Well, I'll tell you.  And, yes, I'm shouting.  BECAUSE DIETING AND BEING LOCKED AWAY AND EXERCISING 25 HOURS A DAY IS NOT ADDRESSING THE CAUSES OF OVERWEIGHT, MERELY THE EFFECT.
• TBL humiliates and badgers people who have a particular unhelpful coping strategy, i.e. using food to control mood.  The rest of the population drinks, smokes, does drugs, spends vast amounts of money they don't have, is promiscuous or pulls their hair out.  EVERYONE has coping strategies for dealing with uncomfortable and negative emotions.  But the others don't wear the effect of their coping strategy on the outside of their body.  (When was the last time you saw a compulsive spender with their bright red credit card statement pinned to their chest?)  But we vilify the obese as if we had no connection to them.  "They" ARE us.

And here are some other opinions about the program.

But weight, there's more

Ben Pobjie
Published: March 23, 2013 - 3:00AM

Isn't it great that The Biggest Loser is back? Such a marvellous, heart-warming show, isn't it? Inspirational. Seeing people fulfil their dreams, of not being disgusting freaks who don't deserve to be a part of normal society. It's beautiful seeing these creatures, who have forfeited their right to be considered human beings, being brought back to the bounds of decency by the gentle mercies of Michelle ''run you fat pig'' Bridges, Shannan ''more sit-ups, Lardy!'' Ponton and The ''I'm so tough my face can't move'' Commando.

I'm not saying The Biggest Loser is a negative influence; I'm just saying that letting your kids watch it should bring you to the notice of the authorities.

It's not often I worry about ''messages'' in TV - as far as I'm concerned the message of Family Guy is ''Funny!'' and the message of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was ''Sexy Fights!'' - but TBL claims to be transmitting a message it's not.

The message the show purports to be sending is: ''Anything is possible: if you work hard and believe in yourself, you can turn your life around''. However, the message the show is actually sending is: ''Ew! Look at these horrible fatties! Aren't they gross! Look at them try to run! Look at their big, wobbly bellies and stupid, red, sweaty faces! See their pain! Hahahahahahaha!''

The Biggest Loser is, to its credit, a show that knows what it does and does it well. It's just that what it does is incredibly loathsome. The average episode is divided into four segments: the Working Out While Obnoxious Skinny People Yell; the Being Given a Pointless Task by Hayley Lewis; the Tinkly Piano Music While We Talk about Your Childhood; and the Ridiculously Elongated Weigh-In. At the beginning of the series we are also introduced to the contestants by going to their houses and seeing them serve up absurd, elephantine portions of food, inflatable pools full of mashed potato and whole cows stuffed with Coco Pops, because the producer told them to.  But we quickly shift into the normal routine.

Except for The Twist! Last season's twist was that all the fatties were losers who didn't deserve loving relationships. This season's is that they are fat parents and the fat children whose lives they've ruined. So we can expect a whole lot of emotional chats with the children, making it clear they have to stop blaming their parents for their blubberiness, and also with the parents, making it clear that it's their fault their child is a repellent, socially unacceptable specimen of megafauna. And, of course, a lot of emotional chats with everyone about how if they don't get back on that treadmill and let Michelle bark like a coked-up seal in their ear for another hour, they are going to die next week.

And there you have it - The Biggest Loser, the show for everyone who believes being overweight makes a person worthless, and that anyone who refuses to lose weight deserves loneliness, derision and an early death. And that anyone can get into shape, as long as they have a personal trainer working on them full-time and cameras on them 24/7 to prevent them ever straying from their prescribed diet. But I'm sure most people can manage that.

Oh, isn't it great to have it back? Don't forget to point and laugh!

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/but-weight-theres-more-20130322-2gk6e.html

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Dangerous prescription for health

There can be fewer shows that are potentially more toxic than The Biggest Loser: the Next Generation. The inclusion of children as young as 15 has the potential to have harmful effects on both the physical and psychological health of these young contestants. 

Furthermore, young viewers may be negatively influenced, setting them up for a lifetime of body-image issues and an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. I don't think anyone would argue that healthy eating, exercise and maintaining a healthy body weight are behaviours we should be promoting. 

However, the guilt, shame and fear tactics used on the show are not the way to go about ''changing the shape of Australia''. A warning should be provided at the beginning of each episode stating the excessive nature of the activities and the potential health risks, and that these activities should not be attempted at home without medical advice.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, Balwyn

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/green-guide-letters-20130403-2h5ld.html