Getting a grip on emotional eating
Time & time again we hear our clients talk about emotional eating - turning to food to soothe emotions related to major events & daily stress.They say things like, "But I was really stressed..." "I just felt sad..." "It calmed me down" Emotional eating is reported as one of the most common reasons our clients sabotage their weight management attempts. While occasional overeating, like letting go on Christmas Day, is not too much of a worry, doing it more often than not drags you into a destructive cycle of using food to manage your mood, cope with stress, or overcome feelings of anxiety or boredom. We are ‘psychologising’ food when we use ...
How Stress & Over-exercise Can Prevent Weight-Loss
Possibly one of the most unexpected reasons for being unable to lose weight is TOO MUCH EXERCISE. And, the culprit? Cortisol. Cortisol is the body's primary stress hormone and is secreted by the adrenal glands in response to stress. It may surprise you, but the body interprets high intensity, frequent exercise as a stress. Exercising too much, too often, & without a break, leads to consistent high cortisol levels, and can negatively affect weight loss attempts. How does this come about? Under stress, cortisol functions to help the body produce blood sugar and pour it into your bloodstream. The blood glucose provides you with the ...
To Add Years To Your Life You Need to Exercise – Here’s Why!
Get Off the Couch! Many people say time appears to be moving faster, and they feel older than they are. They complain about their knees, lower back, feet and energy levels when they are overweight. They say their bodily ailments are a constant reminder of their age! Many studies have proven a commonly held belief – to add years to your life you need to exercise! For example, researchers at the King’s College in London measured the length of telomeres – the DNA cap at the end of your chromosomes – in 2401 twins. These ‘DNA bookends’ ...
Eating Mindfully
One of the most helpful habits for managing your weight and health involves paying attention to WHAT and HOW much you eat. Below are some DietPsyche top tips for transforming yourself from a mindless eater to a MINDFUL EATER! 1. Take the Time Allocate time for your food – eating on the run, snacking at your desk, and/or rushing through a takeaway only promotes mindless eating. Eat slowly because it takes around 20 minutes after you start eating for chemicals in your stomach to travel to the satiety centre in your brain to tell you that you are "full". So, eating too quickly often ...
Gastric Sleeve Surgery – a 2009-2011 Success Story
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! If you are thinking about having weight loss surgery then hearing someone else’s story is a great way to start. Jenny underwent a gastric sleeve procedure on the 26th October 2009. She agreed to chart her progress in this blog. So, be aware that as this blog gets longer, Jenny... [Read more]
Does obesity cause cancer?
Unfortunately, body fatness does contribute to cancer and for some types of cancer the evidence is extremely strong. The most convincing link between obesity and cancer is for cancers of the following organs: Oesophagus (adenocarcinoma) Pancreas Colorectum Breast (postmenopausal women only) Endometrium Kidney There is evidence of a probable link between... [Read more]
Does your risk of death increase as you get fatter?
Sadly yes. Your risk of death does increase as you gain fat weight, and this goes for both men and women. Many researchers use Body Mass Index (BMI) to assess your degree of overweight. To calculate your BMI divide your weight in kilograms by your height in meters, squared. The normal weight range is considered to be in the range 18.5-25. Overweight is 25-30,... [Read more]
Why We Put on Weight & How Managing Hunger is the Key
The most common cause for obesity is eating too much and not exercising enough. Over the years the energy density of foods has increased markedly. Take a look at the journey of the humble corn cob. Stage 1: Cob of Corn (146gms), 155kcals, 3.4gm fat, 32gm carbohydrate Stage 2: Corn Tortilla (42gm), 100kcals, 1gm fat, 18gm carbohydrate Stage 3: Change the consistency... [Read more]
8 Key Guidelines for Weight Loss
1. Accept slow incremental progress to your goal. Rome was not built in a day, and nor will your ideal body be achieved as fast as you would like. Rapid weight loss usually means that you will end up a smaller but flabbier version of your former self because you will lose muscle tissue and tone. A more reasonable short term goal is to aim for a 5-10% weight... [Read more]
What else are scientists looking at as causes of obesity?
While the most common cause for obesity is eating too much and not exercising enough, a number of other causes and factors associated with obesity are being looked at and these include: The role of micro-organisms (the bugs that live in your gut change with your weight and scientists are investigating why this occurs and what impact it has on appetite and weight... [Read more]
It isn’t weight management, it’s fat management
The previous blog post discussed BMI and how having a BMI in the normal range does not necessarily mean you don’t carry unhealthy levels of fat. The previous blog also indicated that some people in the obese range (heavily muscled athletes) do not always carry excessive levels of fat that meet the criteria for obesity. BMI can be further informed by doing... [Read more]
