Two fascinating pieces of information came to me today through the magic of cyberspace. Both carried the message that the key to successful weight loss is food choice, not eating less and exercising more.
I've been suspicious of the eat-less-exercise-more-ohm mantra ever since I trained for and completed a triathlon and remained overweight. And then I trained for a marathon and remained overweight. And then I became a yoga teacher and remained overweight. I have lost weight by calorie counting, eating low-carb, eating nothing and drinking all my nutrition, eating nothing but what was delivered to my front door in boxes -- you know, all the usual methods. But the weight has never stayed off.
Further adding to the mystery of why I've continued to gain weight over the years despite all this is what happened when I did a whole foods cleanse last summer. I wasn't trying to lose weight. I was trying to get my body ready to have a baby, so I stuffed myself with all the greens, sweet potatoes, lentils and brown rice I could stand and lost 12 pounds in a week. Twelve pounds! All of this begs the question, "WTF?!?!"
So the first clue to what may be going on came in the form of a survey at Peer Trainer that looked at what their members who lost weight in 2011 did and what the members who didn't lose weight did. The members who lost weight most often cited eating different foods and eliminating, as opposed to moderating, some foods. In contrast, the members who didn't lose weight usually expressed that their plans for 2012 involved more focus on eating less food overall and exercising more. Interesting.
Now we come to the second clue, a talk by Dr. Doug Lisle at the Forks Over Knives You Tube channel. This is quite a long talk, about an hour, but it presents a fascinating perspective that may just change your life. I sincerely urge you to give it a look. In short, he says our bodies are designed to perfectly monitor our caloric intake, just like the bodies of all the millions of species on the planet. So why, out of all the millions of species, are there only three species struggling with their weight?: us, our dogs and our cats.
Dr. Lisle certainly had my attention at this point. The reason, he says, is that many foods we're eating now are unnaturally concentrated in calories and our bodies aren't able to accurately keep tabs on our intake. So let's say I eat a bowl of rice and vegetables that's 500 calories. My body has receptors in the stomach, and there's something about the hypothalamus, and then through evolutionary perfection my body is able to say, "Hey, thanks for the 500 calories." But, if I eat that same bowl of food with two tablespoons of oil added, my body will most likely say, "Hey thanks for the 500 calories," even though it just had 700 calories. He cites some good studies that have me totally convinced that this is an idea worth looking into. If you can cut down the concentrated sources of calories in your diet, then you'll naturally eat the optimum number of calories without even thinking about it. Just like every gazelle, crocodile and hawk out there.
Of course, you'll still have to fight with your biology to choose the less calorically dense foods over the high-reward foods like ice cream. But that's totally different than ignoring your hunger drive completely and just not eating, which is what most diets put people through. I know I've certainly cried at the end of a day because I've used up all my Weight Watchers points and was still hungry. There's just no way that's ever going to be sustainable.
I'll let you know how my experiment goes. I'm thinking of posting a weigh-in soon. Let me know how your path to optimum health and fitness is unfolding.
Yours in good health,
Summer
I've been suspicious of the eat-less-exercise-more-ohm mantra ever since I trained for and completed a triathlon and remained overweight. And then I trained for a marathon and remained overweight. And then I became a yoga teacher and remained overweight. I have lost weight by calorie counting, eating low-carb, eating nothing and drinking all my nutrition, eating nothing but what was delivered to my front door in boxes -- you know, all the usual methods. But the weight has never stayed off.
Further adding to the mystery of why I've continued to gain weight over the years despite all this is what happened when I did a whole foods cleanse last summer. I wasn't trying to lose weight. I was trying to get my body ready to have a baby, so I stuffed myself with all the greens, sweet potatoes, lentils and brown rice I could stand and lost 12 pounds in a week. Twelve pounds! All of this begs the question, "WTF?!?!"
So the first clue to what may be going on came in the form of a survey at Peer Trainer that looked at what their members who lost weight in 2011 did and what the members who didn't lose weight did. The members who lost weight most often cited eating different foods and eliminating, as opposed to moderating, some foods. In contrast, the members who didn't lose weight usually expressed that their plans for 2012 involved more focus on eating less food overall and exercising more. Interesting.
Now we come to the second clue, a talk by Dr. Doug Lisle at the Forks Over Knives You Tube channel. This is quite a long talk, about an hour, but it presents a fascinating perspective that may just change your life. I sincerely urge you to give it a look. In short, he says our bodies are designed to perfectly monitor our caloric intake, just like the bodies of all the millions of species on the planet. So why, out of all the millions of species, are there only three species struggling with their weight?: us, our dogs and our cats.
Dr. Lisle certainly had my attention at this point. The reason, he says, is that many foods we're eating now are unnaturally concentrated in calories and our bodies aren't able to accurately keep tabs on our intake. So let's say I eat a bowl of rice and vegetables that's 500 calories. My body has receptors in the stomach, and there's something about the hypothalamus, and then through evolutionary perfection my body is able to say, "Hey, thanks for the 500 calories." But, if I eat that same bowl of food with two tablespoons of oil added, my body will most likely say, "Hey thanks for the 500 calories," even though it just had 700 calories. He cites some good studies that have me totally convinced that this is an idea worth looking into. If you can cut down the concentrated sources of calories in your diet, then you'll naturally eat the optimum number of calories without even thinking about it. Just like every gazelle, crocodile and hawk out there.
Of course, you'll still have to fight with your biology to choose the less calorically dense foods over the high-reward foods like ice cream. But that's totally different than ignoring your hunger drive completely and just not eating, which is what most diets put people through. I know I've certainly cried at the end of a day because I've used up all my Weight Watchers points and was still hungry. There's just no way that's ever going to be sustainable.
I'll let you know how my experiment goes. I'm thinking of posting a weigh-in soon. Let me know how your path to optimum health and fitness is unfolding.
Yours in good health,
Summer
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