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, and anything over a BMI of 30 is
considered obese.

The biggest cause of death is coronary vascular disease, and obesity amplifies this. When you get
fatter your blood pressure and cholesterol levels increase. And, if you smoke as well, then the
situation becomes even worse. If you are a normal weight smoker (>20 cigs daily), your mortality
rate (risk of death) is the same as being an obese non-smoker! Smoking and obesity amplify risk
of death. People must give up smoking, and even if they gain weight it is better than continuing to
smoke.

High cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking are the three big factors contributing to heart
attacks. And, obesity makes all of these worse.

Even gaining a modest amount of weight can precipitate chronic disease, making it even more
important to watch your waists.

The normal weight range is a BMI of 18.5-25, but even at a BMI of 21 there is an astonishing increase
of Type 2 Diabetes. The risk of all the obesity related health conditions begin to increase before you
get out of the normal weight range (eg increased risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease
and colon cancer. So don’t kid yourself that you can escape obesity related conditions because you
are in the normal weight range. A BMI band can be up to 16kgs, making it possible to actually be
fat, in the normal BMI range! Asians and Mexicans tend to get obesity related health conditions at
a lower BMI than Caucasians which is why experts are thinking of reducing the top of the normal
weight range for these populations to a BMI of 23.

So, what’s the moral of the story?

The more fat we have, the more likely it is to contribute to our eventual cause of death. Keeping our BMI in the lower part of the normal range optimizes our health and longevity.

Image Source:  http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1199930

Related posts:

1. The Pros and Cons of Measuring Fat

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Weight loss is a maths equation managed by choice! Make better choices!

Take the Stairs?

Or Escalator

Related posts:

1. Our Obesogenic World
2. Why did the world get fat

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Fat cells can enlarge to three times their size but when they do the profile of chemicals they secrete alters and ends up in places like the liver, muscle, pancreas and endothelial tissue as depicted in the picture of the blood vessel. This causes problems. Take fatty liver for example. In the US an increasingly common reason for liver transplants is not because of cirrhosis caused by alcoholism but by Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). Refer to http://www.acg.gi.org/patients/gihealth/fld.asp.

Fat cells on a body are not just aesthetically unattractive when deposits are high it has been linked with the following medical and psycho-social conditions:

Psychosocial complications of obesity include but are not limited to:

• Obese children and adults are targets for societal stigmatization – peers, educators, parents, health care professionals
• It hinders social emotional and academic development
• It effects self-esteem (your self-worth as compared to others)
• There is an association between weight and exposure to bullying
• Depression

Medical complications of obesity include but are not limited to:

• Metabolic conditions: insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes, blood pressure, high blood fats
• Heart disease
• Nutritional deficiencies such as vitamin D and iron
• Orthopaedic complications – knee and other joint pain, higher incidence of fractures, bow legs in children
• Osteoarthritis
• Endocrine complications e.g. polycystic ovarian syndrome
• Some forms of cancer. Research suggests that in both men and women, higher BMI is associated with higher death rates from cancers of the oesophagus, colon and rectum, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, and kidney. The same trend applies to cancers of the stomach and prostate in men, and cancers of the breast, uterus, cervix, and ovaries in women. Obesity (BMI>30) is also associated with breast cancer in post-menopausal women.
• Gallbladder disease
• Heartburn and reflux
• Sleep apnoea

Related posts:

1. Some Scary Facts on Fat
2. Why did the world get fat
3. The Pros and Cons of Measuring Fat

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A study was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald suggesting that cutting our calories in order to lose weight would only result in an automatic reduction in our exercise output, meaning that we would maintain weight. And, why did they draw that conclusion? Because that’s what happened in an experiment with 18 female rhesus monkeys!

Basically, we shouldn’t believe everything we read. Because it happens to monkeys does not mean it will happen to us. Monkeys are primates, we are humans. And, before telling humans something completely unhelpful like ‘cutting calories doesn’t result in weight loss’ they should replicate the study on humans before releasing it in the media. Better still, they should read the research literature on humans, which unequivocally proves that cutting calories DOES result in weight loss.

Like it or lump it, weight loss is a maths equation, albeit a very complex one because it is moderated by our minds, and our minds are not always rational. We eat when we are not hungry and don’t stop eating when we are full. We get fat as a result, and even though we don’t like the extra fat, we don’t change our behaviour.

Unlike humans, animals in the wild don’t gain excessive weight and become overweight and obese. When they kill their prey and sit down to dine on the spoils they stop eating when they are full and wander away. They maintain a homeostatic weight, or a perfect weight for their frame. No wonder the monkeys in the experiment automatically reduced their activity output when their calorie intake was dropped. That is what they are designed to do, to maintain weight homeostasis.

Humans unfortunately have the facility to take appetite and weight control into their own hands and make conscious decisions about how much they will eat and exercise. More unfortunately, most humans don’t always make the best food and exercise decisions and put on more weight than they want.

So, what’s the moral of this story:

a) don’t read everything you read

b) manage your mind to get the body and life you want

Photo credit:  iStockphoto

Related posts:

1. A Bit of Motivation from Buddha for Those Who Have Lost Their Weight Loss Mojo or Think Losing Weight is Just Too Hard
2. How Stress & Over-exercise Can Prevent Weight-Loss
3. Does eating six small meals a day produce more weight loss than eating three meals a day?

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Unfortunately the factors spawning the obesogenic environment are not only complex, they are here to stay and do not support our waist lines. They include:

· a readily available and expanded food supply

· technological and economic advancements which reduce energy expenditure such as cheap transport and outsourcing of tasks like gardening and cleaning

· food advertising

· a decline in physical activity

· increased sedentary behaviour such as TV viewing and computer games

· time constraints and dependence on convenience foods with short preparation times

· having easier access to food with the emergence of a supermarket society and the explosion of fast food outlets

· increased access to and consumption of alcohol

· a socio-cultural food focus as evidenced by the relationship between food and special occasions such as Easter and Christmas, as well the increasing numbers and variety of cooking shows on television and the emphasis we place on the positive relationship between food and socialising.

What makes economic and technological progress worse is the associated impact of living in societies saturated with a persuasive and invasive mass media supported by marketing genius that seduces even the most hard-nosed individual to take the path of instant gratification. We want what we want (and, don’t necessarily need) and we want it now, and are prepared to pay for it later, if at all.

In our obesogenic world, eating has become a leisure pursuit and a sedative. Food is no longer thought of as a substance for sustenance and survival, it has been bestowed a social, psychological and physiological significance that has become a major barrier to treating obesity.

Once we could say that weight loss was a simple maths equation of eating less and exercising more, but with the evolution of this more complex and technological society and the birthing of an obesogenic environment our consumption extends not just to food but to the media and marketing messages, our thoughts, beliefs and emotions, the substances we consume and even the chemicals and energies we are exposed to.

In acknowledgement of the obesogenic environment we now marinate in, some researchers refer to obesity as ‘a disorder of convenience’ and suggest that unless interventions are designed around the environmental issues impacting on individuals presenting for weight treatment, interventions are likely to be unsuccessful. However, the power of the mind in managing obesity should never be overlooked as effectively nothing is consumed by the body without the mind’s permission and it is the mind that determines if someone moves or exercises their body, and whether they comply with or give up on healthy eating plans. Therefore, unless we also address the vagaries of a mind that has maladapted to the obesogenic environment by using food for purposes such as managing emotions like stress and depression, to relieve boredom, or as a reward, then we are not addressing some of the major obstacles to weight management.

Weight loss is no longer simple. We live in an obesogenic environment that is here to stay. We must learn to adapt to the complex obesogenic world we live in if we wish to optimise our health and quality of life.

Related posts:

1. Our Obesogenic World: ADJUST or BUST
2. Why did the world get fat
3. Life in the Fast Lane- Fast Food, Fast Medicine, Fast Surgery

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Changing behaviour and ways of thinking is not easy, but it is not impossible either.

We have all heard the saying:

“If you keep on doing what you are doing, you will get more of what you’ve got”

Well, nothing could be truer than this sentence when it is applied to weight loss.

We all know what we need to do to get the body we want. We simply don’t lose weight if we don’t exercise our body or exercise self-discipline over our mad monkey minds and the bad eating habits that prevent us from losing weight.

Behaviors become habits when we do them over and over again. Similarly, thoughts become beliefs when we think them over and over again. Habits and beliefs become so well practiced that we relocate them to the automatic part of our minds and allow them to operate without thinking. Unfortunately, many of our habits and beliefs are what sabotage our weight loss attempts.

Think about it.

How many times have you popped some ‘deadly’, high calorie morsel of food into your mouth before you have even thought about it? And, how many times have you looked in the mirror and automatically said to yourself, “I’m too fat?”

It’s not rocket science; it is cold hard reality. What we think and what we do becomes our reality, especially when we do it over and over again. We become fat because we think we are fat. We then cement the belief in that we are fat by doing the things that make us fat, like eating too much and exercising too little.

There is no magic pill to dissolve fat, and bariatric surgery, while it ensures weight loss does not necessarily teach you to change your behaviour or your beliefs, but certainly reduces your ability to eat an optimal food intake for good nutrition (refer to the blog on pros and cons of bariatric surgery).

The good news is, that with a bit of grit and determination you can change your thoughts and behaviors.

Think of a thoughts or behaviours as setting up neural routes in your brain. If you think a thought once, or do a behaviour once, it is only a track and will grow over and be difficult to find if you don’t walk down this path again. However, if you keep thinking the thought (e.g., “I will never lose weight”) or doing the behaviour (e.g., eating a chocolate from the dispensing machine every afternoon at 3pm) then you start to build a road, making it easier to repeat the thought or behaviour because the pathway is easy to find and travel along.

By repeating these unhelpful thoughts or behaviours we build a superhighway of neurones that entrench us in habits and ways of thinking that stop us from getting what we want. Basically, as we think, and as we do, is what we become!

So, how do we undo these beliefs and habits that don’t help us? How do we pull down these superhighways of automatic thoughts and actions?

We STOP travelling these pathways! What we don’t use falls away, it loses power. All bad habits need attention to be maintained.

So, practise resisting the urge to go to the snack bar and buy a chocolate at 3pm. Either learn to get by with a hot beverage or glass of water or bring a healthy alternative such as a piece of fruit.

Change the pattern! You weaken habits when you do something completely different.

Stop, and think before you act. Automatic thoughts and behaviours are just that; they are knee jerk reactions that usually don’t serve you. Make considered choices. We all have options. For example, we have an option to binge or an option to jump on our exercise bikes and watch half an hour of a favourite show. We all know which option our body would prefer.

The longer you practice NOT DOING the habits that don’t assist you in getting the body you want, the less power those habits will have over you.

And just like you repeatedly trod a path of thoughts and behaviours that turned into negative belief systems and bad habits that didn’t serve you, by treading paths of more positive thoughts and behaviours you will be more likely to get you what you want.

Practice makes permanent so make sure it is positive thoughts and behaviours you are practicing.

To get you started on changing the unhelpful beliefs and habits you have that stop you from getting the body and life you want, identify what needs starving, and what thoughts and habits need feeding. It will be different for each one of you.

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The top ten countries, from highest to lowest, in prevalence of obesity between 1980 – 1998 will probably surprise you.

They were:

1. Samoa

2. Kuwait

3. UK

4. New Zealand

5. Mauritius

6. USA

7. Australia

8. Germany

9. Switzerland

10. Netherlands

FACT:  Obesity, particularly morbid obesity (BMI>40) may reduce life spans by up to 9 years.

FACT:  Obesity also significantly increases the risk of diabetes type II, high blood fats and heart disease and high blood pressure, as well as some cancers, to name just a few.

The most shocking possibility however is, that if obesity trends increase at their current rate, children could die before their parents. Childhood obesity since 1998 has accelerated, and continues to accelerate.

Fat is expensive. In the UK it was projected that by 2010 (this year) the annual cost to their economy of the indirect and direct costs of obesity would be a whopping 3.6 billion pounds.

For your own sake, and that of your children, or the children of the planet, model the behaviour you wish to encourage and….

eat, think, speak, listen and do mindfully

master your mind

move more

mindfulness  —  mastery —  movement

Reference:

Wilkinson, J. R., Walrond, L.J., & Summerbell, C. D. (3007). Obesity Reviews, (8, Suppl.1), 23-29.

Related posts:

1. Fightening Facts About Fat
2. Why did the world get fat
3. The Pros and Cons of Measuring Fat

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Over the last few decades we have simply eaten more than we needed.

While the increased rate of obesity can be attributed to changes in the food supply and eating behaviour combined with a reduction in physical activity it is obvious that underpinning changes in human energy balance are inter-related factors spawned by a world that is changing rapidly on a technological, psychological, sociological and economical level.

Here is an overview of what factors I came up with that have contributed to our obesity epidemic. Can you add some more?

Genetics and Hormones

As already noted, there is no way the obesity epidemic can be attributed solely to genetic factors; the epidemic has crept up too quickly to blame genetic mutations! While twin studies have clearly demonstrated a genetic risk for obesity, other research has proved that our genes are not destiny. It has been demonstrated time and again that even those with a genetic risk of obesity can manage their weight if they eat properly and exercise!

Similarly, while hormones have been identified that impact on satiety, appetite and fat distribution and that may predispose people to obesity risk we can’t blame our metabolisms either. There is no way that the 67% of overweight and obese men and 56% of the overweight and obese women in Australia have metabolic issues.

So, let’s look at more likely culprits contributing to the changes we have experienced over the past few years to see what affected the maths equation that determines our weight.

Energy in> energy out -> weight gain

Behaviour, Environment & Technology

When I looked at factors contributing to obesity it seemed to me that technological and economical progress have perhaps had the biggest impact on our environment, our social norms and how we live.

When I looked at what factors appeared to be impacting on our activity levels the most glaringly obvious perpetrator was technology.

Read the summary below.

a) Reduced physical activity appears to be due to a number of changes including:

• Technology. Technology has definitely reduced our activity levels.
• Electronic appliances and toys often have a stationary component. Examples include:
• Computers, laptops, notebooks, netbooks
• The internet
• Computer games
• Electronic games such as playstations and the x-box
• iPods, the new ipad, smart phones

b) Social networking on line involves sitting. People spend hours in a stationary position on internet sites like Facebook, My Space, Bebo and Twitter and on internet forums, blogs, dating sites and just ‘surfing the net’

c)Television and cable TV also keep us in a stationary position.

d) Elevators and escalators, electric doors, travelators in airports and aeroplanes offloading passengers straight into the terminal instead of on the tarmac have further eroded opportunities to burn a few calories.

e) We choose automated car washes over the hose in the backyard, particularly in areas experiencing water shortages

f) We press buttons to wash our clothes when a few years ago we struggled with twin tubs, wringer washers and hot coppers

g) Instead of burning up calories hanging the clothes on the line, then taking them off, we throw them in the dryer

h) We buy and eat pre-packaged food rather than growing our own vegetables or shopping for the food fresh then chopping and preparing it from scratch

i) We do things quickly, like cooking in the microwave as opposed to chopping, cutting, stirring.

j) Lack of physical safety in public areas has caused parents to be reluctant to allow their children outside. Similarly, many females may feel unsafe walking or running outside alone

k) Changing social norms when it comes to fraternising with neighbours has reduced our opportunity to “do” things with our neighbours. We keep our children indoors, reducing play time that burns up those extra calories. One in five children are now obese. They are electronically baby-sat and this makes them fat!

l) Better transport services mean that people take buses, trams and trains to work or school or drive. I have seen in my own practice that people who don’t have cars burn more energy because they are forced to walk more and often have lower weights.

m) Higher incomes mean that most people own labour saving devices such as cars and can drive places. Others can afford cleaning ladies and gardeners

n) With the decentralisation of some cities those that cannot afford inner city living tend to live in suburbs meaning they are required to drive to shopping centres and other venues

o) Apartment living is on the rise and often involves less energy expenditure that would be devoted to cleaning larger living spaces and caring for gardens

p) Longer work hours means we have less time to devote to physical activity and are more likely not to spend time shopping for and cooking food, so we eat more fast food and convenience foods

q) Growth of entrepreneurial business to save labour time for busy professionals has made us fatter. We have everything from dog washing services, cleaning services, complete meal services, house washers, gardening services and let’s not forget places like MacDonalds, Hungry Jacks and KFC.

r) Unemployment often means people stay at home and watch TV because they cannot afford to go out.

s) Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety are on the increase. One of the symptoms of these conditions is low energy and they tend not to do the thing that helps their condition most, which is to exercise. They have lower motivation and energy levels.

t) Increased food intake has also made us fatter.

• people are eating larger portion sizes
• access to food has become much easier. It was reported during the recession that three industries that did not suffer were fast food, grocery stores and the weight industry. Better food access is demonstrated by the following facts:
• we are a supermarket society
• fast food outlets abound
• we can dial in takeways or order them online
• some companies deliver the week’s food
• there are school tuckshops, and workplace canteens
• supermarkets offer more than 50,000 food choices, many of them prepackaged foods
• all shopping centres have food courts and you never see an empty food court
• we can access food at any time from 7/11 stores, 24 hour petrol stations and cafes
• we have unashamedly evolved into a cafe society; instead of going for a walk in the park,we go out to drink coffee, eat cake and watch people
• Bottle shops make the purchase of high calorie liquor easy
• Nightclubs are open till 3am giving ample opportunity to consume zillions of liquid ‘empty’ calories
• We have transport to travel to purchase food
• We have the money to buy takeaway food or eat out
• Most social functions involve food and the more extroverted of us may struggle with our weights purely because we are out and about and eating so much
• Having a food focus has become a part of our society
• Going out to a restaurant is a leisure activity
• We not only have cooking shows, we have taken cooking to reality TV levels
• There are travel tours based around cooking
• Cooking is regarded as an acceptable leisure pursuit or hobby
• We live to eat, not eat to live

u) Food technology

• We have a bigger range of soft drinks, sports drinks and milk drinks to choose from
• We have a larger range of tastier, higher calorie pre-packaged foods
• Food manufacturers get to put words like “lite”, “no fat” and other labels on food so we think we can eat more of it, but the truth is putting low fat on fruit juice while technically correct only distracts you from the fact that it is full of carbohydrate and has the same calories as cordial!

v) Increased alcohol consumption

• the easiest way to put on weight is to drink it on, particularly alcohol which is 7kcals or 37kjs per gram.
• We have become a planet that accepts alcohol consumption. In fact, cultures are recognised by their alcoholic preferences eg Aussies drink beer, the French drink wine, the Russians drink vodka….
• high binge drinking in women has increased
• people drink in order to be more accepted socially
• anxious people drink to calm their nerves so they can actually relax and manage to socialise
• some people even think they can’t have fun and let go unless they have had a few drinks
• night clubs open till 3am so we can drink all night
• both the pub and club culture provide an opportunity to consume more calories
• the tradition of visiting take-away food outlets after a night of drinking only adds to the overall calorie intake
• alcohol is a disinhibitor so after a few drinks people cease to monitor how much they eat or drink
• if your alcohol use becomes addictive the care factor for your health becomes even lower
• bottle shops have made access to alcohol easier
• wine clubs ensure we have heaps of the high calorie liquids in the house
• it’s legal
• it’s socially acceptable to offer it at social functions

w)  Change in work hours

• We live in time famines and have the excuse to take the easy way out when it comes to food – takeaways, fast food, pre-packaged food
• Working long hours also means we exercise less

x) Media and advertising

• research has shown that TV advertisements affect food choice
• research has also shown that TV advertising and the print and electronic media have been involved in eating disorders
• it is easy to condition ourselves to eating. For example, it has been shown that people who eat in front of TV, will cue themselves to wanting to eat each time they turn the TV on!

y) Environmental factors

• Increased population density in cities has led to smaller yards
• Apartment living, as noted above means we burn fewer calories gardening and cleaning, and if we have an elevator direct from the carpark to the apartment, well, there goes another opportunity to burn calories.

And, my list is not finished. I just got sore arms because the only energetic movement I made in the last hour or so was to type. I think typing is the most common exercise most of us are doing in the 21st century!

So please respond to this list with your comments on what you think has made the world fat. I am doing research at a tertiary level and I would rather hear it from you than read it in a research article!

Related posts:

1. Our Obesogenic World
2. Some Scary Facts on Fat
3. Fightening Facts About Fat

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Maintaining change, be it weight loss, good exercise habits or remembering to be more positive and less reactive is difficult.

Scott Peck warned us in the first sentence of his famous book, The Road Less Travelled, “Life is difficult”.

Buddha also obviously knew a thing or two about life as well, and the first of his Four Noble Truths, “Life Means Suffering”, isn’t that much different to Scott Peck’s first sentence.

I’m not a Buddhist, but figured that as the world’s fourth largest religion, the estimated 350 million Buddhists on the planet must be on to something. So I took a look at the Four Noble truths because they are designed to end suffering, and we could all do with a bit of that!

First Noble Truth – Life Means Suffering

We don’t have to be Einstein to know we all suffer, and on many levels.

• On an emotional level we suffer anxiety, depression, stress, fear, grief, rejection, disappointment, and betrayal to name just a few.
• On a physical level we suffer injury, illness, disease, disorders, pain, exhaustion, overweight and obesity, starvation and malnutrition, eating disorders and body image issues, the ageing process and inevitabilities like menopause, wrinkles and death.
• On a social level we suffer loneliness and isolation; relationship conflicts, break-downs & break-ups; issues with children, friends and family; and the list goes on.
• On an occupational level we suffer job dissatisfaction, workplace bullying, unemployment, workplace investigations, workplace stress and many more pressures.
• On a legal level we suffer divorces replete with custody issues and property settlements, litigation, investigations and all others things that allow the lawyers to get richer as we get poorer!
• In the weight loss area we suffer again, but I don’t need to expand on that because you probably wouldn’t be reading this blog if you had not suffered in some way, in relation to weight-related issues.

When you look at the list above, ‘suffering’, or struggling with life and what it throws at us, seems inescapable. However, ‘bad times’ are punctuated by ‘good times’. A practical way to avoid getting too caught up in the downside of life is to perhaps assume that we are here to learn from life’s ‘hard knocks’ and to get ‘better and better’ as a result. Maybe life is just one big winnowing process, separating the chaff from the wheat? And, anyhow we have learned that for every downside there is an upside, which is why we know the difference between emotional states like happy and sad!  As they say, nothing ever stays the same; a constant in life is change. There is always something to look forward to!

It seems that once we accept that ‘life means suffering or struggling’, that no one escapes this inevitable truism and that highs and lows are just part of the living process, we can just get on with living which includes ‘rolling with the punches’ and living life, ‘warts and all’.

Second Noble Truth – the origin of suffering is attachment & constant craving for highs and pleasures

Attachment to our belief systems is possibly one of the biggest contributing factors to suffering.

Examples of belief systems that I commonly see in practice that do not support our cause for a worry free or stress free existence and successful behaviour change be it weight loss, or any other goal you have set yourself include:

• I should worry about what others think
• It is selfish to put myself first
• I am not enough, not good enough, smart enough, talented enough, thin enough, good looking enough!
• I don’t deserve good things to happen to me so no wonder I don’t lose weight, have a partner, have a job I love!
• Everyone else gets what he or she wants but not me!
• It’s too hard, I can’t do it!
• I need to be right, all the time!
• I must stay “high”, on the go, busy, goal oriented, and be constantly achieving all the time. Of course, this is an exhausting way to be but generally serves the purpose of never having to confront yourself or  what your life is really like.
• A final example is that, “The world, events and the people in it should behave like I want them to and it’s upsetting when that doesn’t happen”. This belief is operating when you hear people blame the current status of their life on their parents not being who they needed them to be when they were growing up, even when this was years ago. Another example is when people attribute their inability to lose weight to their partner not supporting them when really, no one else can lose their weight for them.

This list could be longer but we would be here forever. Life is about perception, if we want to change our lives, usually this involves changing our perception of it, and our belief systems are a great place to start.

Look at weight loss. We want to lose weight, but constantly sabotage our weight loss attempts, and in the process become professional ‘yo-yo dieters’. We automatically assume that we cannot lose weight, that weight loss is difficult and that we are unlikely to ever permanently lose weight. All belief systems, a self-created reality! So we spend our lives unhappy about our weight and blame our weight and looks for what is not right in our lives. In short, we suffer because we hold onto beliefs that don’t serve us.

If we could murder our attachment to our unhelpful beliefs, we could start hanging out with more constructive perceptions and realise that if we want change then we must be, do and think that change. Life is full of opportunity and potential, we just need to grab it. Suffering, it seems, is optional! Read on for the Third Noble Truth and the end to suffering.

Third Noble Truth  – The cessation of suffering is achievable

Well, it looks like there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we don’t have to murder our unhelpful beliefs to achieve freedom from suffering and struggle, we just have to stop connecting with our suffering. This is consistent with psychological research. The Buddhists say we need to become ‘dispassionate’ about our beliefs and other habits that create suffering. Hanging out with our negative belief systems and feeding them just makes sure the unhelpful beliefs keep coming back for more attention, glory and control. If we keep feeding negative beliefs we just get – same stuff, different day, or for some “same stuff different decade”. So, the new rule is  “no feeding belief systems that don’t serve you!”

Now becoming detached or ‘dispassionate’ to beliefs we have nurtured, fed and used as excuses to continue unhelpful behaviours like over-eating, under-exercising, screaming at our spouse or children, or just generally procrastinating, is a challenge, but it appears that there is no easy way out, consistent effort will be required.

I like what Vince Lombardi had to say:

“The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.”

We don’t need to consult Einstein to confirm that persistence and perseverance pay off; none of us get what we want without intention and some form of effort. However, it seems that the goal for Buddhists is to achieve “nirvana” and in so doing release themselves from suffering. I am not Buddha, and did not spend decades under the Bodhi tree discovering how to become enlightened and pain free. This blog is ‘food for thought’, and hopefully motivating you to realise that “If anything is to Be, it is up to Me”.

Fourth Noble Truth – The way leading to the cessation of suffering

I like this Truth, it talks to us about taking the ‘middle way’, the road of moderation – not being super ‘in control’, like a dieter, or totally out of control like a binge eater, but finding a balance that sensibly and practically gets us what we want.

So, it looks like we don’t have to sit in a cave, in a loin cloth, in the forest, living off nettles to find the antidote to suffering, but nor should we rest on our laurels and eat what we like and assume that a magic pill will come on the market and dissolve all our fat before we die of a heart attack, or spend what we like because our retirement plan is to win lotto. Moderation and being-on-purpose is the key. Old news really!

Life is like a big school with a higher purpose. We are on a path of gradual self-improvement, and there is a lot to be said for doing it in a way that is kind and graceful and not too pressuring for ourselves.

Look at how Kaizen worked for the Japanese. Kaizen relates to continuous incremental improvement as reflected in Japan’s transition from a nation once reputed for “Japanese junk” to being a highly regarded “technological giant”.

Another useful concept relevant to the middle path is ‘slow living’. It fits in with the Buddhist concept of mindfulness, which is being incorporated into many eating programs.  Slow living is an art, and is related to moving slowly and purposefully, so you can appreciate life. We don’t live forever, and get easily sedated or distracted by 9 to 5, Monday to Friday and the shopping sales that take place at the different seasons of the year, and forget to live with awareness and clear intention. “Slow Living” forces us to Be Here Right Now, getting the full juice out of life, and doing and thinking the things that we know will get us what we want, be it weight loss, appreciation of the food we are eating right now or the sun shining.

Buddha apparently developed a game plan for ‘the middle way’ known as the Noble Eightfold Path. This will be reviewed in another blog to avoid drowning you in an ocean of information and ideas.

I hope you enjoyed this blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. We all have a bit of avoidance and I recall the first time I ever went to read the Four Noble Truths. When I saw the first one, “Life is suffering”, I stopped reading. I thought, “Wow, this is a spiritual philosophy based on doom and gloom, I get enough of this when I watch the news!” Of course, my reaction was ignorant and ill informed. We should all read or listen to the whole story before forming opinions.

I found it somewhat liberating to have read ALL Four Truths, but make a clear disclaimer that I am not an expert on Buddhism. What is provided here is a light-hearted treatise on some ideas that could help you with any struggles you may have, using the Four Noble Truths as a framework. As you know there is a whole religion based on the subject, so for more information consult a Buddhist Centre.

NOW…it is easy to read something, it is quite another thing to put ideas and insights into action, and to keep using them in your life with positive effect. Following are some suggestions to minimise suffering.

First Noble Truth – Life Means Suffering

• To address this nobel truth get acquainted with where suffering shows up in your life. Look on all levels – emotional, physical, social, occupational and legal as well as your weight loss history.

• To make yourself feel better, and to balance all that suffering, list the highs or good things in your life, and do it daily. An attitude of gratitude goes a long way to cultivating positivity in your life.

• Create a meaning of life that empowers you as opposed to one that gives you permission to whinge about your lot in life.

Second Noble Truth – the origin of suffering is attachment

• Too often we go through life with beliefs that don’t serve us. An example would be, “I don’t have a girlfriend because I am too fat”. Now no one has probably told this man that he is too fat. It is simply a belief he has taken on and created into a self-fulfilling prophecy because unfortunately we humans tend to search for evidence to substantiate the stories we tell about ourselves. So, get up close and personal and list down all the limiting and self-defeating beliefs you have about yourself that hold you back.
• Practise changing your life by changing your perception of it.
• And, never forget, suffering optional, and is not that constructive.

Third Noble Truth  – The cessation of suffering is attainable

• List out the ways you are sedated in your life – is it 9 to 5, Monday to Friday because you have to pay your mortgage (in Old French, mortgage means ‘death pledge’)? Is it reading magazines and knowing more about celebrities lives than your own, watching endless hours of TV,  playing video games, internet surfing, downloading porn, relationship recycling, moving from project to project, or addictions to busyness, shopping, sex, food, alcohol, illegal substances, prescription drugs, falling in love, gambling, cigarettes, exercise, ….. and the list goes on.
• Now to rise above doing “same stuff different day or deccade” it is important to start living mindfully, to be here right now, to live slowly, to know immediately which decisions you make that are not empowering or adding value to your life. for example is buying a gossip magazine to find out whether Brad and Angelina are really breaking up, or whether Brad is still talking to Jen, or seeing if there is a celebrity who has more cellulite than you really worthwhile?
• Detaching is difficult. It requires something few of us have – discipline. It means you have to see your thoughts just as thoughts, and your emotions just as emotions. Notice them, but don’t get down and bogey with them, or they will have you stuck in a belief or emotion that doesn’t serve you. Remember, persistence and perseverance pay off. Write daily affirmations about your ability to get what you want in life. Keep a gratitude journal where every day you write down 5 things you are grateful for, and if you are too lazy to write them down, then just think them.

Fourth Noble Truth – The path to the cessation of suffering

• Google kaizen and how to do it. Google slow living and think about doing it. Practise mindfulness. Be ordinary, and if you can’t be ordinary, be extraordinarily ordinary.

• Google the Noble Eightfold Path – Wikipedia says it is about: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration – sounds like fun!

• Life is difficult but ‘the show must go on’

Photo Credit: sxc.hu

Related posts:

1. Is Cutting Calories Sufficient for Weight Loss?
2. How Stress & Over-exercise Can Prevent Weight-Loss
3. 8 Key Guidelines for Weight Loss

© anita for DietPsyche: Making Life a Healthy Habit, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Body image, eating disorder, Four Noble Truths, Health, Road Less Travelled, Shopping, Vince Lombardi, weight loss

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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 food to fix psychological issues such as stress. Of course, most of us know that food does not resolve stress and depression, and not surprisingly ends up making us feel more stressed and depressed when we gain even more weight. But, do we stop doing it? No! We stay stuck in the cycle of emotional eating!

As boring and blindingly obvious as it sounds, food is an energy and nutrient source. It supplies our body with  protein, fat and carbohydrate and vitamins and minerals.

Technically speaking, we should be eating to live, not living to eat!

Two-thirds to three quarters of Australians eat more than their body needs and as a result deposit excess body fat. And, it is not just Australians that are getting fatter, it has become a planetary problem!

We are actually designed to maintain our body weight in a range that is appropriate for our skeleton and body build. We have a feeding and satiety centre in our brains that if we listened to it, would keep us at an ideal body weight all our lives. Unfortunately, our emotions and thoughts can override a natural tendency to manage our weight through appetite regulation. So instead of eating when we are physiologically hungry we eat emotionally – when we are sad, when we are happy, when we are stressed, when we are angry, when we are bored and when we couldn’t care less. And, because we are such emotional creatures, we just get fatter as we eat in response to emotions.

We also allow our more unenlightened thoughts and beliefs to determine what we eat. Typical examples include: “Go on, eat that dessert, you can start your weight loss program tomorrow!” or “I’m on holiday, so I’ll eat what I like, and start my weight loss program when I go back to work”, or “I deserve it!”.

How Does Food Relate to Mood?

1. Eating some foods like chocolate  releases small amounts of mood & satisfaction elevating hormones, meaning you want to eat them again.
2. For those who psychologise their food, the ”pleasure” of eating can offset negative emotions, and even though the effect is usually temporary, it is powerful enough to cause the person to repeat the exercise, making it a habit.
3. Food can be a distraction from worry, anxiety, sadness and other negative emotions. Unfortunately, the distraction is only temporary & when you are done overeating, your attention returns to your worries. On top of that, you’ll probably be feeling guilty too, which could start the whole eating cycle again.

Following are Some Tips to Get a Grip on Emotional Eating…

Firstly, know your triggers…

We all react to different things. For some of us, being stressed leads to over-eating, while for others, it leads to under-eating. Tracking what & how much you eat, when you eat, how you’re feeling when you eat & how hungry you are will allow you to identify triggers of overeating & deal with them before emotional eating takes hold! Creating awareness of your motivations for eating is crucial to weight loss success. We call it self-monitoring.

Secondly, know your hunger…

Learn to recognise true hunger. Is your hunger physical or emotional? Some signs of emotional hunger include:

• It comes on suddenly – you go from being not hungry at all to starving
• It is stimulated by pleasant food smells and, you were not hungry before you smelt the food
• It is stimulated by pictures on TV of food
• It begins in the mouth & the mind, not the stomach
• It often craves specific food a favourite being chocolate
• It often accompanies an unpleasant emotion such as a feeling of agitation or being unsettled
• It involves mindless eating
• It isn’t satisfied when you’re full
• It makes you feel guilty
• It co-occurs with self-sabotaging mental chatter such as “One won’t hurt”, “I earned it”
• It occurs outside your normal eating times
• Once you start eating you can’t stop

Thirdly, to control emotional eating find comfort elsewhere or in diffierent ways… Soothing or sedating yourself with food isn’t going to get you anywhere! Instead of opening a packet of chips, do something positive for your health, such as taking a walk, taking time out to see a movie, drinking water, listening to music, reading, or calling a friend. If your stress is about a particular thing, try talking to someone because food will not support you, fix your problem or talk back.

Fourthly, have healthy snacks within a balanced food plan…

Bt filling up on basic, healthy food you are more likely to feel fuller, for longer. Eating at regular times and not skipping breakfast will help you maintain control throughout the day. Snacks should be low-joule foods, such as fruit, vegetables with fat-free dip, or multigrain crackers. Research has shown that missing breakfast contributes to difficulty with weight loss. Small, frequent, healthy meals are the key to appetite control.

Fifthly, take care of other factors

Remember, things like sleep and exercise also affect your mood, and taking care of these things can make your mind & body better able to cope with stress. People will often confuse tiredness and low energy for hunger. Be rested.

Finally, lose the guilt…

We all stuff up sometimes. The problem is when you run around with guilt for days & let you Mad Monkey Mind tell you to give up! If you give in to emotional eating, forgive yourself & get back on track ASAP. Most importantly, try to learn from the experience, and make a plan for how you can prevent it or manage it better in the future. Focus on the positive changes you’re making in your eating habits and give yourself credit for making changes that ensure better health.

Overall, it’s not about a diet failing, or your emotions mucking you up, YOU need to take responsibility for your actions and eat more mindfully and consciously. Remember, you eat to live, not live to eat!

Food does not solve emotional issues!

Photo Credit:  sxc.hu

Related posts:

1. Eating Mindfully
2. Does eating six small meals a day produce more weight loss than eating three meals a day?

© anita for DietPsyche: Making Life a Healthy Habit, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: emotional eating, Overeating, weight loss

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