Why you should be an intuitive eater and NOT a dieter.

Remember in my previous post I wrote about 'jiggling' the thermostat? After reading this book I really thought back over my life and wondered what size I'd be if I had never played along in the dieting game. I bet I'd be healthier.

I remember bouts in college and high school of basically long term fasting. Bouts of insane exercising. And somehow still gaining back the weight that would briefly leave. Sometimes more to boot.

In fact many of my diets were the first few symptoms of an eating disorder:

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• Refusing to eat and denying hunger
• An intense fear of gaining weight
• Negative or distorted self-image
• Excessively exercising
• Flat mood or lack of emotion
• Preoccupation with food

Come to think of it - those things seem pretty status quo these days - I mean you should be doing those or you are gluttonous right?

I wish instead that I had had more knowledge to focus on being an intuitive eater.

What your body does when you diet:

Your body wants homeostasis BADLY. When you diet your "hypothalamus reacts to the messages it receives by signaling other body tissues to release hormones, enzymes, and other chemicals to push you back into homeostasis."

Of course, sometimes we're able to temporarily override the hypothalamus's efforts to restore homeostasis. For instance, if you're trying to lose weight, you may be able to consciously overcome feelings of hunger through your own willpower. People on diets manage this - albeit not for long.... So then your hypothalamus gets more aggressive, affecting systems beyond your conscious control." - excerpt haes.

There is a lot of scientific evidence in the book that basically boils down to this:

You start to diet.

Just the mere thought process of "I am going to restrict calories" starts chains of activity in your brain.

Then you do restrict eating and your body strikes a counter attack.

First - it increases hormones and enzymes to increase your hunger.

When you do eat there are enzymes and other chemical functions that actually make the food taste better to you.

Just to be sure it turns down all natural responses to satiety. So food tastes better than usual and you are not getting cues of fullness like you normally would.

But if you manage through sheer willpower to continue to restrict calories:

Your body tweaks your metabolism and sloooows it down.

And just to insure you won't waste away - more powerful chemicals come into play to literally slow you down. Your body instigates feelings of weakness and lethargy to reduce caloric output.

so to compare, what if dieting was like budgeting:

You'd say I am going to spend less money this month.

Well all of sudden everything would break in the house so you'd have to spend money.

But if you still refused to spend money the bank would just let someone come in and steal your debit card.

People who do stick to a diet LONG TERM, even if they are strictly following it will gain weight back. The diet industry ignores this fact and popular opinion says well they are 'cheating'.

But in controlled long term studies this has been proven to not be the case. Even with very controlled amount of calories the human body is amazing and can get you to be at that set point it wanted in the first place.

Now your body is very concerned if you are below the setpoint but a-ok with you being OVER the setpoint. So when you frequently diet it just raises that setpoint to protect against future diets. So years of dieting can make you weigh more than you would have been just listening to your body's natural cues.

"No one profits from internal trust, except of course the individual - trust that your body knows what it wants and it will guide you" - Linda Bacon.

I do wonder about all the success stories that you hear of dieters who kept it off forever... if they were chronic over-eaters, who, with awareness, became intuitive eaters and naturally reached their setpoint.

You can. not. look at a person and assume anything about their eating habits. I bet fat people eat a lot less than you think, and I bet there are thin people who can put. it. away. Just look at my adopted brother. Same home, same meals, he ate way more than me and my sister. But was thin as a rail.

a letter to those who have lost weight can be found here

"Please don’t promote the belief that if someone is disciplined

enough, they can choose to be thin. This is not true for the vast

majority of people. Many fat people face a great deal of discrimination and stereotyping because of the false belief that weight loss just takes discipline."