Escaping the Obesity Trap 

  

                                    If you have dieted on and off for most of your life, and still struggle with weight, my latest research is for you.  

    The truth is that our bodies and brains consider fat to be our most precious resource.  And when we send our bodies the signals that we are stressed, facing danger, exhausted, or perhaps facing isolation or lack of access to food, our bodies start storing fat.  When we send our brains the signals that stress, lack, too much activity, and social isolation are upon us in any combination, they think winter is coming and start preparing.  By making sure that you eat, conserve energy, and stay focused on food.

 

Why????

This may be the question you have asked yourself many times. Because you have dieted.  Indeed, you may have done all of the diets.  And you don’t need to be told that junk food is bad for you and fruits and vegetables are good.  Or that you should walk more, exercise more, or reduce your stress.  You know these things.  

The truth is that obesity is complicated.  And the advice we are given to solve the problem just makes the problem worse.  Because obesity is caused by a disruption in the systems that regulate appetite, metabolism, and the feelings of reward we get from food.  

Obesity is a result of many complex biological systems that have been honed over millennia to keep us alive.   If you are struggling with obesity, chances are that you have also struggled with exhaustion, extreme stress, dieting or caloric restriction, social stressors, trauma, and loss.  

Our brain’s number one goal, its only job, is to keep us alive. And that is a tricky job.  Starvation, from our brain’s perspective, is a number one enemy.  Trauma, social isolation, deep stress, and loss, are also signals that we are in danger.  Our brains are designed to go into protection mode when any of these things befall us.  The more we have suffered from any one or any combination of these factors, the more likely we are to be obese.

Obesity is not a moral, intellectual, or behavioral failure.  It’s a symptom of an ancient survival mechanism that is getting triggered because of the signals we are sending to our brains.  Unfortunately, the advice we have been given to address obesity only adds to the problem.  When we are eating less and moving more, our bodies and brains think we are in danger.  And so they work together to hoard fat.

Why would they hoard fat?  Because it considers fat to be its most precious resource.  Fat heals.  It warms. It renourishes. It regrows. And it fuels.  It’s a treasure trove of health, wellness, and survival.  When we don’t eat enough, our brains think that is because there is not enough food.  When we are stressed, traumatized, or isolated, our brains think that we may be in danger.  The answer to both of those situations is to horde fat.

The only way to turn this process around is to allow our bodies to become resplendent with nutrients, and convince it that all is well, we are safe, happy, rested, and connected to our world. How do we do this? 

By following the steps in this book.   Add them in one at a time.  Modify them to adjust to where you are at and what you are capable of doing right now.  No one can make all of these changes all at once, especially if they are vastly different than what you are used to doing.  Maybe try picking the first habit in each category to begin.  Or, begin only with the food category, and then move on as you feel ready.

Be kind to yourself.  You did not become obese overnight.  And you have suffered from years of bad advice.  We can unravel this problem one step at a time, together.  Be patient, be kind, and adjust as you see fit. 

As I explained in my other two books, The Short Guide to OverEating and The Daily Hearth,  when our appetites, our metabolisms, or our sense of reward from food get out of whack, we can become obese.   These forces: appetite, metabolism, and our reward system, exert power over your behavior.  They have to control your food intake: their only job is to keep you alive.  Starvation, exhaustion, stress, and loneliness or social isolation are seen, by your brain, as significant threats to survival.  When survival is threatened, these systems are cued to increase appetite and store fat.

We are programmed not to starve, indeed, to avoid starvation at any cost.  These systems are impossible to fight, but the good news is that once we understand them, we can work with them to our benefit.   This program will allow your appetite, your metabolism, and your feelings of reward from food normalize.  Once you have those systems under control, coming to a healthy weight becomes automatic.

Appetite:

Appetite is the feeling of hunger and desire for food.  Chemically and hormonally regulated by our hypothalamus, our appetite can be turned down or up depending on the signals the brain is getting about our environment.  Signals that turn up appetite, or drive us to want more food and to feel more hungry are: calorie restriction, exhaustion, and stress.  

Calorie restriction invigorates our appetite because when we do not get enough food, our brains worry that we might starve.  So it increases our appetite to make sure we eat whatever happens to cross our paths.  When we are extraordinarily hungry, our brains may make us extra ravenous for anything that will provide quick, easily eatable, and digestible energy, such as sugars and starches.  Having a history of food restriction or dieting may set us up to be especially susceptible to these types of cravings.

Our brains also want to make sure we get the right nutrition.  So, if we are low on important nutrients, our brains do not shut our appetite down, even if we have eaten.  This is why we can be starving again after eating dinner and then having an after-dinner snack or dessert.  If our meals have been lacking in the most essential nutrients, our hunger, or our “food chatter” or constant underlying thoughts about food, do not shut off.  Again, this is because our brains want to make sure we eat something that contains the nutrients we are lacking, should they appear in front of us.  

To shut down our appetite, we have to eat enough of the most essential nutrients.  Those nutrients are largely amino acids, B vitamins, selenium, iron, and zinc.  And they all exist in meat.  High-quality protein is the answer to shutting down the appetite.

Metabolism:

Metabolism is the process by which our bodies burn and store energy.  When we are very hungry, very tired, or very stressed, our bodies slow down our metabolism.  This means that we burn fewer calories as fuel and store more as fat because our brains think that we may be in danger, and they save up our fat to use later, once the danger has passed.

Having a slower metabolism can also make us feel more sensitive to cold, more tired, and less motivated.  When our metabolisms are struggling, we can have a hard time understanding how others have the energy to go out and do things, or why they would choose to when they can stay home wrapped in a blanket watching movies.  Metabolism issues slow us down, make us feel less motivated and possibly depressed, and colder.  We can also get to the point where our bodies are storing fat first, even before we get those calories to be used for energy, our immune systems, and our muscles.  We can be continually hungry even as our bodies are storing fat.

The only way to increase metabolism is to first rest and eat adequate amounts of nutrient-dense foods so that our bodies know we will be fed and famine isn’t lurking around the corner.  Once we are rested and fed regularly the right amounts of appropriate food, then we can build some muscle to increase the amount of energy our bodies burn. 

Sense of reward from food:

When we reach a goal, we feel good.  When we work hard and complete a task, we feel good.  When we solve a problem, we feel good. Those good feelings are caused by a neurotransmitter called dopamine.  Dopamine is designed to reward us for doing things that keep us alive or make our lives better so that we are motivated to do things that ensure our survival.  From our brain’s perspective, nothing is more important than food.   We feel rewarded when we eat food.

Our brains know that life is tricky, though.  And that sometimes food is harder to come by than at others.  So, it has a plan.  When it thinks that the signals we are sending it are showing that food is scarce, or is in danger of becoming scarce, it INCREASES the reward we feel from procuring and eating food.  Food can become a huge motivating factor for us, and we can experience an exaggerated feeling of reward from it under certain circumstances.

What are those circumstances?  Starvation or calorie restriction, exhaustion, and severe stress or trauma.  Especially psychosocial stress or trauma if we are feeling lonely, isolated, humiliated, or not in control of the quality of our own lives.  These stressors are interpreted by the brain as harbingers of doom.   And the brain responds by making sure that taking care of finding and consuming food is of utmost importance.

Psychosocial stressors are particularly effective at making us feel more motivated towards and rewarded by food.  Why would this be?  Because, hundreds of years ago, it was almost impossible to survive on one’s own.  You needed the support of your tribe.  Even if you were the strongest hunter in the group, you could still get sick, break a leg, or encounter some kind of mishap.  Then, you would be dependent on your friends and family to feed you.  Social isolation was almost certain starvation.   

So, when we undergo psychosocial stressors, such as being left out, isolated, humiliated, overlooked, made to feel less than, etc, we can trigger this response.  Because, in the past, we had one group and one group only, and if we were being edged out, it would make sense to pack on the pounds to help increase the chances that we would survive until we could improve our situation.  

We can turn this around by doing what we can to reduce the stress in our lives. We can also reach out to connect with those we know who have always been kind and foster positive friendships. We can also take time to add things we love to do into our daily routine and take the time to notice the good things all around us, to prompt our brain to make more dopamine in response to things that are not food. We can also take note of our accomplishments and work towards goals that are not food.  

To correct our appetites, our metabolisms, and our sense of motivation and reward from food, we need to develop a specific set of self-care habits.   As we improve our self-care, our weight balances out.   We reach our ideal weight when we are taking the best care of ourselves that we possibly can.

  What are those steps?  I have identified three different categories of steps. As we adopt changes in all three categories, we allow our appetites to abate, our metabolisms to stoke, and our focus to move off of food and onto engaging and connecting in other areas of life. Those three areas of habits are: Nutrition, Activity, and Self Care. When take a hard look at how we are feeding ourselves, how we are taking care of our bodies, and how we are taking care of our mental health, and make the necessary changes, weight management follows naturally.