Diet Rehab, Dr Mike Dow (pgs 36-43) Addiction, Yo-Yo, Reward Response

Continued From Previous Post:

How Stress Can Make You Fat:
When we're stressed, our adrenal glands produce cortisol.  Cortisol is intended for the times when we have to jump into action...part of the "fight or flight" response.  It raises our blood pressure.  It tells our cells to store fat, to create fat reserves.

If we combine the rush of cortisol with sugary, starchy foods we crave under stress, and we have a recipe for insulin resistance.  This is is a condition where our bodies stop efficiently metabolizing blood sugar.  As a result, more calories are stored as fat.  We have trouble losing weight and we start gaining.

Cortisol and other elements of our adrenaline rush speed up our metabolism initially, which suppresses our appetite so we can focus on the task at hand.  When the rush wears off, we're super-hungry because our body expected us to burn off all that extra blood sugar and fat.  It creates hunger to compensate for this supposed activity.

If you've had some "pitfall" thoughts that have created additional stress, your stress and subsequent hunger-- will increase. 

Cortisol also suppresses our immune system and deplete our serotonin and dopamine levels, sending us into a state of anxiety and eventually send us toward depression.

The fat cells around our body are particularly sensitive to cortisol and to high insulin levels.  This area of our body is also very effective at storing energy.  This is why when we stress, it leads to weight gain on our bellies. (pgs 36-37)

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Addiction and Yo-Yo Dieting: (pg 37)

We need to maintain healthy serotonin and dopamine levels to feel good, and if we are not eating the right foods or engaging in the right activities, our levels will fall too low.  We may force ourselves to forgo our "medication" for a few weeks or even months.  Unless we genuinely learn to replace it with something healthier, we will always be tempted to come back.

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Getting to Know Your Hunger: (pg 39)

When Do I Feel Hungry?
x_after something upsets me.
x_after something wonderful happens.
x_because I am bored.
x_when I feel like I deserve a reward.
x_based on a cue: after a TV show is over, when I get home, etc.

How Do I Feel Hungry?
x_suddenly I am ravenous
x_gradually, my hunger goes from being small, to a pressing one.
x_I crave particular foods or types
x_I feel desperate
x_I feel calm and pleasant anticipation
x _I am constantly hungry.
x_I am constantly looking forward to my next meal.
x_I look forward to the food itself
x_I look forward to some other aspect of the  meal: the break, the time with family or friends, the chance to get away from work or out of the house.

If you are hit with constant hunger, there could be a huge emotional hunger in your life that is not being met.  If you are eating healthy meals and snacks filled with booster foods, usually we will feel gradual hunger every two or three hours.  If we have stuffed ourselves with a big meal, we may not feel physically hungry for at least six hours, as physical hunger usually comes on slowly and gradually.  Eating when you are bored, to give yourself a break, on a set schedule, or in response to a cue might mean that you're eating food you do not really need.

Just restricting your access to food does not change the reasons that you were eating excessively in the first place.  If your brain chemistry remains unbalanced--if your brain is still looking for dopamine and serotonin--keeping yourself from eating too much at one time will not change the dynamic.

The Reward Response: (pg 42)

Sugar and starchy foods relate to our hunger for serotonin and the high-fat foods feed our need for dopamine.  Whenever anything pleasurable happens to us, we get a little shot of dopamine, a tiny burst of Yes!  That little bit of dopamine serves as a reward for anything we do that feels good.

This dopamine reward is one of the reasons addictions are so hard to give up, even when we have physically detoxed from them.  Even when the physical addiction is broken--when there are no more withdrawal symptoms and our body is back to normal--that dopamine reward beckons and it can be very hard to resist.

End of Chapter 2.  To be continued.

Diet Rehab, Dr Mike Dow (pgs 1-35)

I decided to begin another book, and I'll be doing it slowly, like TCE.

Introduction:
"I'm going to make a confession: I used to have a food addiction.  Although I've since kicked the habit, every so often I want one of the foods I used to be addicted to."  Dr. Mike Dow

From me:
"I have a confession to make: I have a food addiction.  I crave different foods and haven't figured out how to get control over it yet."  ~ Me

Introduction:
Self-medicating (with food) is not just a metaphor.  Anti-depressants like Wellbutrin lift dopamine levels, as do nicotine, amphetamines, cocaine, bacon, potato chips, and other high-fat foods.  Serotonin and dopamine are helped by Prozac and Zoloft and street drugs.

We do not want to feel as bad as we feel, so we turn to our addiction to self-medicate.
Just as you can form an addiction to alcohol, nicotine and drugs, so can you become addicted to food.

When your life is full of serotonin-and dopamine-boosting activities, and when your thoughts trigger big doses of serotonin and dopamine and the self-esteem, optimism, and energy they bring, you will no longer crave the fix of different foods.  (This is a "light-bulb" moment for me.)

Part One:  Understanding Food Addiction
~Willpower is not the problem.

If your life is stressful or if you feel chronically anxious and unsafe, your serotonin levels probably have been low for a while, making you all the more vulnerable to the power of sugar and carbs.  Like wise, if your life feels boring and restricted, if you chronically feel blue and lethargic, your dopamine levels have likely dropped even before you started worrying about your weight. (pg 25)

When you do weight-loss surgery, if you do not address the patients' brain chemistry, they'll continue to feel miserable and deprived.  They'll still crave the foods that make them feel good--that did, actually, generate the brain chemicals that we all need to feel good-and then, as happens to most people who have weight loss surgery, they aren't able to stick to the recommended behavioral changes for one year after the procedure.  (pgs 25-26)

We all have to feed our brains with the right foods and activities or we'll never be able to be free from the addiction.  (pg 26)

Two: How Food Addiction Makes You Fat:

~Discover Your Food Habits
01- Is there at least one unhealthy food that you consume every day?
Butter, Salt, "White" foods.
02- Do you panic if you think you might not have access to this food everywhere?
No.  I do, however, think about when & how I will get it next.
03- Have you ever felt you might need to cut down on this? Yes.
04- Has anyone suggested you change your eating habits? The doctors.
05- Do you ever feel guilty after eating or drinking? Yes.  I also feel a lot of discomfort.
06- Is this unhealthy food on your mind within an hour of waking up? Yes.
07- Do you feel powerless when you have a craving? Yes
08- Have you tried, but failed, to cut back on this item in the past? Yes
09- Do you turn to this food when you're feeling low or high, or when you're not even hungry? YES!
10- Have you felt as though your self-esteem and relationships might be better if you didn't have these cravings? YES!
11- Do you seem to think about eating most of the time? Yes
12- Is there a difference between your private and public eating?  Yes
13- Do you tell yourself you could quit consuming this item whenever you want, even though you've never been able to?  Yes
14- Do you look forward to the time when you can eat this item?  Yes
15- Are you envious of people who have a casual attitude toward food?  Yes
16- Do you sometimes enter a translike state when you are eating?  Yes
17- Does most of your eating occur late at night?  Yes

The Dangers of Tolerance:

One of the key hallmarks of an addiction is tolerance: when you keep needing more to get the same high. (pg 32)

* First you enjoy "something".
* Then you need the "something".  You still enjoy, but it "hurts" not to have it.
* Finally, you need "something" desperately, just to feel normal.  You feel lousy without it.

Making It Through Withdrawal:

The other hallmark of addiction is withdrawal--the pain of giving up an addictive substance that the body has come to rely on.

Withdrawl symptoms:
* Problems with memory
* impaired concentration
* changes in sleep patterns
* anxiety
* depression
* fatigue
* increased reliance on other addictions
* moodiness
* irritability
* headaches

Because of tolerance and withdrawal, food addiction is not a stable solution to the problems of unbalanced rain chemistry.  You are always going to keep wanting more--and you're always risking withdrawal symptoms the moment you cut back.  It is hard to revel in the pleasures of food when food feels like your jailer.  (pg 35)


To be continued.

Investing In Tomorrow!

I forgot to enter my food for yesterday, so here goes:
Day 2 - Ultimate Reset
Breakfast: Strawberry Shakeology
Lunch: Vegan Chocolate Shakeology
(I was not hungry, if no shake, I probably would have skipped lunch altogether)
Dinner: SouthWestern Veggie Taco.  Only had flour tortillas, so I skipped the tortilla.

Day 3 - Ultimate Reset
Today's menu: 
Breakfast: Vegan Chocolate Shakeology
Lunch: gonna be Strawberry Shakology.  Did not care for the lentil-lime salad.
Dinner:  gonna be a switch day, the leftover SouthWestern Veggie Taco.
I'll be running to WalMart, so I'll pick up the corn tortillas.
I'm actually really looking forward to more home-made salsa.  :)

So the quote above "When you wake up each morning with a burning passion to accomplish a goal, you've already won the day!" is the thought behind my post title "Investing In Tomorrow!".

I woke up today with the thought that I have two choices: 1- I can choose to continue to make the same choices that have gotten me to where I am today; or 2- choose to invest in tomorrow and make better choices.  I may not get immediate results, but slowly but surely I will gain ground and get to where I need to be.

The reality is that I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!

Amazing How One "Noun" Can Change Things!

Determination - noun:
      1- The act of making a decision.
      2- Firmness of purpose; resolve.
      3- A fixed intention, or resolution.

I found my "determination".
I finally found what was missing, and knocking out my chance of success!

Breakfast:  Tropical strawberry Shakeology.
Lunch: Yogurt with strawberries and granola.
Dinner:  Spinach & Feta cheese pie (I didn't eat the crust).

I am having those urges, the urge to eat out of habit.  I went to grocery store today and bought things that are "calling me", as well.  I love feta cheese, and I could snack on that really easily right now.  That's one of the thoughts that comes to mind, with the urge.

I'm not going to cave in tonite.  I just checked, because I wanted to know what time, and I find that the doctor appointment I thot I had tomorrow, is not until the 10th of May. Yay!  This gives me more time to get back to the weight I was 6 months ago.  Right now I'm about 8 pounds to much.

This is actually good news and more opportunity to get things squared away before the Doctor appointment.

 This is my thought for today.  

I AM doing what I know I need to do, even though it would be so easy to snack and give into the cravings.  I'm gonna stay strong.  I'm going to stay on-course.

The First Day of The Rest of My Life!

I started "Slim in 6" today.   I'm not gonna lie, it's gonna take some mental willpower to keep me invested in this, and I'm going to TRY.  They say it takes 6 weeks to build a new habit, and this program is 6 weeks long, but I may have to take it slower and lengthen it.  The reality is that I am out of shape.  I need to work into it slowly, and not hurt myself.

There are some things that happened in my past, that have contributed to my dislike of exercise.  I'm not looking to place blame or point fingers.  To explain a little:  For some years, I was put into an exercise program, something that I call "extreme" exercise.  It wasn't like the amount of exercise you do in school, it was magnified. 

An example of what an exercise session would consist of, toward the end of this time in my life, was:  200 Jumping Jacks, 300 Sit-ups, 180 female push-ups (or 90 male), 90 4-count leg-lifts, 90 8-count leg-lifts, 180 count "point-rock", 90 (on both sides) knee-bends, and sometimes an additional amount of jumping jacks.  These were usually done in the early morning, but they were occasionally called for during the day, in addition to the morning routine.

The positive side of this is that this kept me in relatively good shape.  A high-light in that time of my life, was being able to break the school record for number of sit-ups done in one minute.  My high was 76 sit-ups in one minute, which was over the number 67, the school record.  It was in gym class, and they made me do it a second time, because they thought they miscounted.  I did it twice in a row.

Anyway, part of changing is dealing with the things in the past that have upset you, caused you stress, and which contribute to negative mind-sets and bad habits.  I am at a point in my life today, that I really do NOT care to hear the negative remarks that I could face for posting this.  I'm being honest and I'm trying to let go.  I have to talk about what happened to me, to be able to deal with it and let go.  Hiding it inside, or from the public, is not releasing.

The negative issues in my past, are what is holding me back.  You have to understand that holding things in and hiding the problems, are what has contributed to the physical state I am in now.  I never took up smoking, drugs, alcohol....I began a food addiction.  I HAVE A FOOD ADDICTION.  Unlike the other destructive habits, I cannot quit this habit cold-turkey.  I cannot walk away from food and say "I am not going to do this anymore!"  Somehow I have to learn to find a way to co-exist with food in a healthy manner.  On the same token, somehow I have to learn how to incorporate exercise back into my life.  I am not going to get healthy again, without finding a healthy balance of diet and exercise.

I have waited way too long to begin the steps necessary to change my life.  I have let people and fears dictate my actions, and look where this has gotten me.  It is time to believe in myself, invest in myself and to begin anew, the first day of the rest of my life. 

With that having been said, I will close this blog entry.
 Have a good day everyone.

P.S.  There are some people who may find issue with some of the information that I have shared in this post.  You're entitled to your opinion and I respect that, but I also am entitled to the right to express myself.  I am hurting no one with my honesty.  What I shared, was my history and is my reality.  Until you have walked a mile in my shoes, you cannot possibly understand how experiences in my life have formed me, shaped me and impacted me.  I won't apologize for being real.