Are the Barriers of Dieting Psychological or Physical?
million web pages of diet plans, pills, potions and dieting
tips from health institutions, diet companies, nutritional
professionals and otherwise - from all over the world. And
yet we are approaching the peak of an obesity epidemic
which is causing untold mental misery and depression, aside
from the ever increasing debilitating diseases being linked
to those overweight or obese. With such an abundance of
information available - how can this be?
The trend is unforgiving and is second only to smoking in
terms of the cause of self-inflicted premature loss of
life, but left to its own devices within the next five
years obesity is sure to take the number one slot. Mother
Nature is ruthless in her approach to life, in that she
only allows the fittest to survive and the trend we see
today is her reaction to the effects of a diet that is
clearly not suited to the well-being of the human body and
mind. We only have to stop, take a step in back and look
around us to see that there is one hell of a serious
problem. There is no need for statistics, reports or media
news to tell us such. It’s clear that we as individuals
have to make a change in what we do if we have any
intention to reverse the current obesity trend. The
ultimate responsibility lies with each and every one of us
to act for the benefit of ourselves.
We have to accept the fact that the grocery industry is a
host of contradiction in that it sells both dietary
products along side the very products that cause us to be
overweight or obese in the first instance. This is so
obvious in our supermarkets today. It has become human
nature that profit has a higher weighting than human
health, and this is evident in many industries around the
world, and is far from unique within dieting circles. We
must also bear in mind the diet companies, whilst they
portray an air of interest and concern, in reality they are
totally dependent on your failure to diet for their very
own business survival. If they were good at what they do -
their businesses would surely fail. So who can we trust
aside from ourselves. The evidence is clear -there is no
debate.
We may have one reprieve but it will be sometime in the
future, but not now. Science and technology is getting
nearer and nearer to the possibility of a wonder drug with
the ever-increasing understanding of the human genotype and
genetic engineering. But in reality, who would ever wish
or want to be dependent on diet drugs, potentially an
ongoing daily basis, simply because of a lack of
understanding about the relationship between the food our
body has been designed for, and the food we eat. Why is
it, we knowingly overeat when we know it is bad for us and
that we are doing harm to ourselves? Why is it, that the
only time we choose to ignore our food is the time when we
are eating it!
So, is it a psychological thing, a physical thing or is it
both?
In order to answer this we must first look at the change in
our diet over the last 50 years. Consumption trends of
refined carbohydrates such as sugar has risen dramatically,
but at the same time the consumption of fats and proteins
has remained reasonably stable. Saturated fats has indeed
become and still is a problem although thankfully now
overall consumption of saturated fats has dropped slightly,
but still remains an issue.
Many studies particularly those associated with research in
how the Atkins diet worked revealed that the effect of
refined carbohydrates and fats both have a form of
addiction associated with them. Studies have shown that
refined sugars have the effect of playing havoc with the
fine balance of maintaining the level of glucose in the
bloodstream. This in turn has a detrimental effect on our
hormonal activity, such as insulin and glucagon which are
both responsible for maintaining the level of glucose to
its normal level following a ’surge’ intake of refined
carbohydrates in our diet. These acceptable levels of
glucose in the bloodstream are maintained at surprisingly
narrow margins.
Refined sugars therefore induces excessive hormonal
activity in its attempt to restore homeostasis. These
unnatural ’swings’ in hormonal activity often causes
differing mood swings from that of being happy and content
to being sad, on edge, and even feelings of anxiety or
panic. Prolonged exposure to these hormonal swings can
often lead to the whole process becoming less effective and
subsequently diabetes can be the end result.
Other studies have shown surprisingly that the effect of
eating significant quantities of fats actually leads to an
unexpected human reaction in terms of nutrition. You would
think that eating food rich in fats would have the effect
of satisfying feeling of hunger. But amazingly medical
research has shown the opposite to be true. Clinical
trials have shown that foods rich in fats actually induces
people to eat more not less. At the time the results from
such experiments were groundbreaking as they completely
contradicted the nutritional thinking of the time.
It is also interesting to learn that further medical
studies have suggested that foods rich in protein have been
linked to the response that indicates that you have
consumed sufficient food. In other words, it is believed
that proteins in some way, triggers the ‘I am full’
response.
And then of course there is the massive change in our
energy expenditure. We used to hunt and gather food but now
we happily pop to the local supermarket to buy it, or at
worse, have it delivered to our front door. Food has
changed from being scarce to being in abundance (at least
for us), and we have changed from being ‘active’ to
relatively ‘dormant’. Move less and eat more.what should we
expect?
And many believe that even the act of not exercising can
trigger the bodily response to lower the metabolism and
build fat layers under the skin for 2 key reasons, both
being linked to human survival. In evolutionary terms, it
may be that you are unable to ‘hunt’ and therefore unable
to secure food. Reducing the metabolic rate of your body
makes total sense to preserve energy. Secondly, if food is
available during a spell of non activity, does it not make
a whole load of sense to lay down fat layers under the skin
to retain bodily heat and secure an energy source during
potential ‘lean times’.
Perfect sense, perfect design and yet we don’t understand
ourselves and if we do, many choose to ignore the warning
signs out body is offering. In essence therefore, it is
very clear that part of the problem within the dieting
world that we humans face is certainly a physical one that
is linked to the interaction of the food types we eat with
that of our body. And clearly, over the last 50 odd years
our diet has changed out of all recognition and yet our
body is doing the same as it has been doing for well over
the last 100,000 years. We are in the 21st century, our
body is still in the ‘Stone Age’. Evolution is a slow slow
process but over millions of years, the relationship and
reaction of chemicals in our food with the cells of the
human body has been cemented and cast, for eons of time.
So it is us that need to change.because Mother Nature will
not entertain us for thousands of years to come.
Run with it, eat what your body has been designed for and
successful weight loss will follow for sure.
Author:
Jeff Garcia
For more information please visit:
http://www.glycemicsuperfoods.com
Email: jeffgarcia@glycemicsuperfoods.com
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