Obesity ain't no place for sissies.

I have recently had cause to imagine the future and it is not all that bright.  Last Thursday night I lost my grip on the handrail and fell backwards down my stairs.  Plenty of soft tissue damage, nothing broken. But since then I've been in quite a bit of pain, having to move slowly and struggle with everyday tasks, something I can't remember ever having experienced before.  

At first I was commenting that "I felt about 90 years old", but after thinking more about it I believe this must be what morbid obesity feels like.  Everything is a huge chore:  getting dressed, putting away the dishes, feeding the dog, walking the dog, getting up and down the stairs.  My concentration is poor because sitting at the computer hurts.  My sleep is low quality and sporadic.  I have to plan things ahead, and then I don't know if I'll have the energy to do them. Generally, I feel pretty bloody miserable.

Some of you experience this kind of pain and physical limitation every day. They probably crept up on you, just like the weight did.  However, in a moment I shifted abruptly from none of it to heaps of it and so the difference is quite startling.

Think about what life would be like without those creaking joints, those sore spots, those 'lacks'.  What would it feel like to run for a tram, tie your own shoelaces, use a regular toilet?  And if you are not yet in this "pain space", this is where you can end up after gaining just a few kilos each year.

What one thing can you do today to move closer to a healthier life?  

Bette Davis said "old age ain't no place for sissies".  I say "obesity ain't no place for sissies".  Whilst old age is inevitable (if we're lucky enough to survive), dragging oneself through each and every day is not.  

Do something different - it can't be worse than staying in that painful, heavy prison.

Emotional Eating - You Just Don't Understand (if you're slim)

This is an article that I've been working on for a few decades (ha ha) but have finally dug it out, finished it off and may now try and get it published.

You Just Don’t Understand (if you’re slim)

How often does this happen.  You cry to your friend that your latest diet has failed and that you’ve put back on the weight you’ve lost.  How many times have you heard them say “well, just stop eating so much”.  When you hear this from those slim and trim friends they move up to the top of your “if only I could afford a hitman” list.  Unfortunately, it’s as useful and effective as saying to a clinically depressed person “snap out of it” or “pull yourself together”. It’s absolutely pointless and indicates a lack of comprehension of what the real problem is. In other words, they just don’t understand.

If you could “stop eating so much” you would because it makes you miserable and, if you’re obese, unhealthy.  The real difference between fat and slim people is not what they eat, but why.  Hands up if you eat when you’re happy, sad, stressed, tired, bored, angry, overworked, resentful etc. etc. etc.  Lots of people do.  However, slim people generally don’t do this.  If you gave them a Tim Tam the next time they are telling you how stressed they are at work, they’d look at it in a puzzled fashion, unclear as to how a biscuit could fix their anxiety levels.  Overweight people, however, see the humble, much-maligned Tim Tam (and many other fatty, sugary, salty foods) as a rather large chocolate-coated Valium; calming, soothing and rewarding.  Well, there’s a real reason we reach for food to help us deal with mood.  The truth of the matter is that it does work, albeit very short-term.

“Research has shown that emotional (or non-hungry) eating, i.e. the use of food to control mood, is one of the main causes of overweight and obesity” says Christina Derbyshire, coach, counsellor and creator of the Eat THINK and Be Merry™ program.  “Unless you tackle the causes of that eating, any weight loss program is destined to be short term.”

Slim people don’t understand the basic difference between them and fat people.  But the truth is that overweight people eat for reasons other than hunger.  Once they realise this and address the causes of overeating, they can tackle the effect (i.e. the weight).

So what’s the answer?  Hang out with a bunch of people who understand where you’re coming from.  Studies have shown that group weight loss programs where you not only have the expertise of the leader, but the support and encouragement of your peers are much more effective ways of improving you health than going it alone. 

Christina, a qualified coach, counsellor and psychologist has now structured her 12 week individual Eat THINK and Be Merry™ program into an 8 week group program, delivered at her St Kilda Road location.  “I discovered that whilst some clients prefer to work alone, others enjoy the camaraderie of being part of a group of people with similar experiences and an understanding of why we keep eating for reasons other than hunger.  The group program is my way of encouraging more people to take a step towards losing weight for the LAST time.”  Clients learn how to change their thinking and behaviour around food.  And your fellow “groupies” understand.

Next time you reach for the Tim Tam packet and it’s for reasons other than hunger, try and S.T.O.P.:

S – STOP what you are doing, even if that Tim Tam is in mid-air on its way to your mouth.

T – TAKE a couple of slow, deep breaths and acknowledge that you are about to take the less healthy and supportive option.  Don’t feel guilty or stupid, because you aren’t. But you deserve better.  Remind yourself that what you eat will satisfy you for a few minutes at most and that you’ll feel guilt and shame afterwards.  Plus you’ll still have your mood to deal with.

O – look at your OPTIONS that don’t involve eating.  What else could you do?  It may be uncomfortable to put the biscuit down and step away from the cupboard, but it won’t be unbearable and the feeling will be temporary.  There are a million other things you could do.  You can DEAL with it, DISTRACT yourself or DO NOTHING i.e. sit with the feeling. 

Firstly – try dealing with the problem directly.  For example, if you are tired, take a nap.  If you have a dispute with your spouse – talk to them about it.  You can’t eat the feelings away for any more than a few minutes– it doesn't work.  If you eat rather than addressing the issue, its still there after you eat.

Next – find a non-food distraction.  I bet you can think of 20 within five minutes - put your brain into gear.  For example, phone a friend, read a magazine, walk around the block, have a cup of tea, chat with a colleague, cry, deep breathe, pat your dog, check your emails, sing, dance, balance a ball on your nose!  As you engage in the distraction you’ll get….wait for it….distracted!  From the issue you have or the mood you feel, as well as the urge to eat.

Finally – if you can’t do either of the above, just try and do nothing and sit with it.  That feeling of anxiety and urgency, the notion that you must eat to soothe the feeling or you’ll explode is just a perception caused by distorted thinking.  You definitely won’t explode if you don’t do anything about it (people rarely explode).  In fact, as time passes the anxiety doesn’t continue to skyrocket; it plateaus and will decrease over time.  So doing nothing is just as effective as trying to eat the problem away.  Same result in the end, except you aren’t uncomfortably stuffed with junk food and feeling guilty.

And then

P – PLAN to act differently, both now and in the future.  Intention creates direction.  It will give a sense of control and self-efficacy – and you might be surprised at how good that feels.  There may be some discomfort at doing things differently or moving away from the quick fix (e.g. Tim Tams) but they will be short-lived, especially after taking the first few leaps into the unknown.  

Obesity - they're all out to get us.

And I thought we knew all the risks of obesity - diabetes, hypertension, joint wear and tear, increased prevalence of cancer, inability to get stylish clothes, yobbos shouting out rude things in the street etc. etc.  Well it appears there's another one.  Obese people face a higher risk of dying in a car accident.  Geez, as if it wasn't tough enough....

Should the bridge be raised, or the river be lowered?  Given that the majority of the population is overweight or obese, perhaps it would be wise for car manufacturers to take into account the bulk (pardon the pun) of their clients' needs.  If seatbelts and airbags are designed for so-called normal weight car occupants, aren't they discounting the needs of 2/3rds of their customers/passengers.

Lessons: 

1.  People - no matter what your weight - put on your seatbelt.  If it doesn't fit - get one that does.  Understand that there is now evidence of another compelling reason to reduce weight - obese people suffer more complications and greater mortality as a result of car accidents.  

2.  Car manufacturers - please put some research and development dollars into safety equipment that meets the needs of the majority of the population.  Whichever company does it first - it will win you kudos and perhaps even a bigger market share.  A win/win in any language.

Obese more likely to die in car accidents: study

Published: January 23, 2013 - 7:41AM

The cause could be that safety in cars is engineered for people of normal weight, not for the obese, they said. Obese people face a much higher risk - of up to 80 percent - of dying in a car collision compared with people of normal weight, researchers reported Monday in a specialist journal.

Transport safety scientists Thomas Rice of the University of California at Berkeley and Motao Zhu of the University of West Virginia delved into a US databank on road accidents, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

They dug out data from 1996 to 2008, covering more than 57,000 collisions that involved two cars. This was whittled down to cases in which both parties involved in the collision had been driving vehicles of similar size and types.

The team then compared the risk of fatality against the victim's estimated body mass index (BMI), a benchmark of fat, which is calculated by taking one's weight in kilograms and dividing it by one's height in metres squared.

An adult with a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered of normal weight. Below this is considered underweight. Between 25.0 and 29.9 is considered overweight; and 30.0 or above is obese.

The researchers found an increase in risk of 19 percent for underweight drivers compared with counterparts of normal weight.

For those with BMI of 30 to 34.9, the increased risk was 21 percent; for BMI of 35-39.9, it was 51 percent; and for the extremely obese, with BMI of 40.0 or above, it was 80 percent.

Obese women were at even greater risk. Among those in the 35-39.9 BMI category, the risk of death was double compared with people of normal weight.

The estimates were made after potentially confounding factors -- age and alcohol use, for instance -- were taken into account. Further work is needed to explain the big differences, but the researchers noted that obese people suffer different injuries from normal-weight individuals in car accidents.

Data from intensive-care units say that obese patients tend to have more chest injuries and fewer head injuries, are likelier to have more complications, require longer hospital stays -- and are likelier to die of their injuries.

Another question is whether obese people properly use their seat belt, rather than leave it unbuckled or partially fastened because it is uncomfortable -- and whether safety designs in cars are flawed.

Crash tests, conducted with cadavers, found that in a frontal collision, people of normal weight lurched forward slightly before the seat belt engaged the pelvis bone to prevent further movement, says the study.

But obese cadavers moved substantially forward from the seat, especially in the lower body. This was because abdominal fat acted as a spongy padding, slowing the time it took for the belt to tighten across the lap.  "The ability of passenger vehicles to protect overweight or obese occupants may have increasing important public health occupations," says the study, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal.

In the United States, "currently more than 33 percent of adult men and 35 percent of adult women are obese," the paper notes. "It may be the case that passenger vehicles are well designed to protect normal-weight vehicle occupants but are deficient in protecting overweight or obese patients."

The final dataset used in the study entailed 3,403 pairs of drivers for whom data on weight, age, seat belt use and airbag deployment were available. Almost half of these drivers were of normal weight; one in three was overweight; and almost one in five (18 percent) was obese.

AFP

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/drive/motor-news/obese-more-likely-to-die-in-car-accidents-study-20130123-2d5v8.html

Negatrive Body Image - the gift that keeps on giving.

This is an interesting website - www.naturaltherapyforall.com - worth taking a look.  Here is a recent article in which they talk about the societal and personal pressures that lead to body dislike, or even hatred.  If we can only love our bodies if they are perfect, that means we can never love our bodies.  They will never be perfect...or good enough.  It is often the case that when a person goes through a life or death crisis (illness, accident etc.) they modify their attitudes and are less judging of their appearance.  They now value themselves more in an overall sense.  Perhaps we can try and get this great insight without the crisis.

Enjoy, Christina

Why Do Many Women Dislike Their Bodies?

By Lisa Franchi on January 18, 2013

 Obesity in Europe is on the rise. Scotland for instance, has the highest obesity rate in Europe and top 10 in the world. For years, the severe implications of obesity in health and economy have been underestimated which resulted to the increasing number of people developing serious illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. But other than these life-threatening effects, obesity also hares a big portion in the rising depression rate in European countries. That’s because many people, especially women, are starting to hate their bodies.

Unrealistic Societal Norms

There are lots reasons why many women tend to dislike their body so much. First off, we can put a big blame to the media. Videos and photos of celebrities and models flaunting their ‘extreme figures’ give many women a reason to hate their bodies. Unknowingly, these women seen on screens and on magazines already meet the criteria needed to establish a chronic health condition called anorexia. Because of their big desire to achieve this ‘ideal’ fitness, a lot of girls, especially the teenagers’ are engaging in ‘diet at all cost’ schemes that feature harmful (even deadly) ways of losing weight. What is more alarming is that despite the intense awareness campaigns against such kinds of eating disorder, many women are risking their lives to achieve the unrealistic figure that the media has portrayed.

And because everybody thinks being thin is what defines beauty, ladies are being pressurised by their peers, colleagues and society to hate their bodies and strive to lose excessive weight.  

Negative Thinking

Psychologists also believe that the negative thoughts women aim at their bodies may also have something to do with the unpleasant events they experience in life. It’s not just the ‘fats’ on their belly, but the dissatisfying relationships they’ve had, the careers they’ve lost, the failures and rejections they’ve encountered, and so on. All these things greatly contribute to poor body image, self-hatred, and dissatisfaction in life. Studies also found that negative feelings such as boredom, stress and loneliness make women start berating their looks.

You are beautiful as you are

Hating our bodies is not going to help us achieve the image that we want. Every one of us can break the cycle of self-criticism and learn the art of self-appreciation. This does not mean that we should stop caring for our body, eat as much as we can, and spoil our health. I guess the real message here is – we’ve got to accept who and what we are first before trying to create changes. Don’t ever think that just because you don’t have that ‘stick figure’ like those women in the magazines, you are no longer beautiful. Our body is not really the problem here. It is our negative perceptions – all those worries, fears, concerns and similar emotions that we fail to confront. And when we couldn’t beat them, we shift our attention to our bodies and we start to hate even the slightest flaw or imperfection that we have. Remember, even the most confident women have doubts on their looks. I think we all have to appreciate our body primarily for what it does, and not only for how it looks.

Healthy Weight Week - 20 - 27 January

Happy Healthy Weight Week!  Sorry my announcement's a little late.  I've been faithfully working on the Eat THINK and Be Merry e-course, due to my widely announced vow that if I don't complete it by 31st March, everyone can throw rotten tomatoes.  Yuk!  But, if I do complete it (and publish it) by then, the idea is for the gang to (gently) throw Lindt chocolates.  Guess which option I prefer?

The words below are clear, backed by research and lead the way to more reasonable expectations around weight, eating and emotions.  Take the time to have a read.

Cheers, Christina

The battle to lose the kilos can be a tricky one fraught with undesirable effects, writes Sarah Berry.

Life's a laugh ... loving ourselves as we are does away with the stress of being perfect and can have a positive impact on health.

Around and around the weight-loss merry-go-round we go. Another year, another resolution to shed the kilos.

A survey by the Dieticians Association of Australia reveals 42 per cent of young women are resolved to lose weight this year.

Nothing new here. They had the same resolution last year. Around the developed world, the situation is the same. One study found 95 per cent of 16- to 21-year-olds in Britain want to change their body shapes while about 63 per cent of American women want to lose weight.

In Norway, a study of 3500 young women showed 49 per cent wanted to change the way they looked and would consider cosmetic procedures, such as liposuction, to do it.

While many of them may succeed, 95 per cent of those who lose weight will regain the weight within a few years, and many will gain more weight than they originally lost.

These are sobering statistics and it raises the question: why do we keep doing it to ourselves? Why do we keep rehashing the same goal, a goal that rarely works and simply serves to make women – and men – feel bad about their bodies and berate themselves when they do not succeed?

"It's tricky," says the psychologist Deborah Thomas, who will run a "psychological perspective" course on weight loss at Sydney University next month. "On the one hand, it's important for us all to be healthy and if you're too overweight then it's healthy to lose weight. But putting an emphasis on perfection and not loving ourselves as we are [is not healthy]."

Tara Diversi, a dietitian and author of The Good Enough Diet, agrees. "By constantly telling yourself you're fat, you're not going to get thinner, you're just going to make yourself unhappy and [then probably] dull the anxiety with food."

Such thinking offers an insight into why it is such a sorry cycle and why so many people tell Diversi and Thomas they would be happy if only they could lose weight.

Many people delay getting on with a l plan until they have reached their desired weight but experts say the constant self-criticism is taxing.

Many dieters convince themselves their emotional "weight" would be lifted along with their kilos.

However, it rarely is. "If you lose weight is your life going to be better?" Diversi asks. "Will you be more attractive? Not necessarily. Will you be smarter? Definitely not. Will you be better at your job? No."

Ironically, placing yourself under pressure to lose weight and lose it fast can have the opposite effect. There are two reasons for this.

First, Thomas says, women and increasingly men are shamed by the weight-loss industry into thinking losing weight is easy. "Shame is a hidden emotion and a classic way of dealing with shame is to eat. It's a losing battle," she says.

Second, she points to a passage from Brian Wansink's book, Mindless Eating, which says it is not always easy or fast.

"Our body and our mind fight against deprivation diets that cut our daily calorie intake from 2000 to 1200 calories a day," Wansink says.

Being extreme in your approach "becomes stressful and stress is one of the things that make weight loss hard", Thomas adds.

'The stress response . . . includes insulin and leptin [the 'satiating' hormone] resistance, along with the increased production of neuropeptide Y.

"These changes collectively stimulate the appetite and make it incredibly difficult to maintain the low calorie intake. Moreover, we are likely to turn to comfort foods [those high in sugar and fat] in order to relieve this stress response."

The key is taking a gradual approach and looking at our lives in general.

"Happiness doesn't lie in external factors," Diversi says. "Particularly not in your body. People need to have a look at what they think will make their life better. It might be having the courage to do something for yourself . . . taking time for yourself, painting, swimming or playing soccer. I think weight loss should be a byproduct, not the goal."

Contradictory though it may seem, in focusing the goal away from weight, the results are often found. When we feel good, we care more about our health, we treat our bodies with more kindness and we produce different hormones more likely to lead to weight loss.

"Eating is nice, it's very, very pleasurable," Thomas says. But "often we're seeking to fill something other than hunger.

"I often say [to new clients] 'forget about weight loss, exercise and nutrition. Let's look at what's making you unhappy.' It can take quite a bit of time to get past the idea that weight is the problem.

"[But] it's important to be really honest with yourself about what's going on and try to be a bit kind to yourself. I often find that when [my patients] make these changes and have sorted out their relationships, improved their self-esteem and started to live their lives more fully, then the weight just drops '

Healthy Weight Week is January 20-27.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/weighed-down-by-excess-worry-20130116-2cu5k.html#ixzz2IBIx7HNv

Self worth is not dependent on weight. THIS IS THE TRUTH.

Just found this wonderful quotation from Geneen Roth who has written about weight and emotions for decades.  

Read it, read it carefully, absorb it, feel it, believe it, live it.

“It’s never been true, not anywhere at any time, that the value of a soul, of a human spirit, is dependent on a number on a scale. We are unrepeatable beings of light and space and water who need these physical vehicles to get around. When we start defining ourselves by that which can be measured or weighed, something deep within us rebels.” 

Geneen Roth

Diet - the curse of "all or nothing" thinking

Happy New Year - lets hope we all become more healthy, wealthy and wise in 2013.

In her latest email, Dr Beck of Beck Diet Solution has come up with some great examples of the uselessness of all or nothing thinking.  Check these out:

If you were walking down a flight of stairs and stumbled down a few, would you think, "Well, I've really blown it now!" and throw yourself down the rest?

If you were washing your fine china and dropped a plate, would you throw the rest of your plates on the floor?

If you were driving on the highway and missed your exit, would you continue to drive 5 more hours in the wrong direction?

Whilst these examples may look silly and something we would never do, think about our attitude when we, say, overeat at lunchtime.  We think to ourselves "Well, that's ruined my day/diet/week/year/life, I may as well just keep going".  So the two Tim Tams turns into a whole packet, or the extra scoop of ice cream turns into a whole tub of Ben & Jerry's.  

A better, kinder, more helpful attitude is to pick ourselves up after "stumbling down" those first few Tim Tams and accept that we made a mistake.  Everyone makes mistakes. Welcome to the human race.  

Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.  It worked for Fred and Ginger, it'll work for you!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUsRGuZb6k