Over the past few years our family holiday dinners have provided more left-overs because we're eating less.
What hasn't changed is the anticipation of getting together, and the warm-fuzzy feeling you get with family hugs.
There is such a strong association with overeating during the holidays that many feel like the quality of family gatherings might be threatened if the multi-plate eat-a-thon is abandoned for sensible eating.
This is where we can conflate the legitimate importance of compassion with the perceived need to overeat. It's easy to miss the mindfulness step and feel overwhelmed by tradition and perhaps even indoctrination, and not make the connection that those lovely hugs and happy reminiscing moments are not made better by eating too much, and are strong enough to be enjoyed on their own merit.
Here's a thought that might help.
There are a few acute responses to really big meals:
Acid reflux
Poor sleep
Constipation
mmm.. Good 'ol constipation. Serve me up some of that!
What's maybe a little weird is that we normalize these side effects and actually pervert them into being accomplishments. Having to unbuckle your belt and succumbing to moving with expediency of a sloth are seen as podium worthy. We assign a reward association to something that harms us. Why? Because thats how the reward centres in our brain conspire with our learned habits to allow us to feel justified in behavior that isn't exactly all that rewarding in the long term, but is in the short term.
No doubt about it, many of us have experienced the reward of munching down a few plates of colon-stuffing holiday food, relishing every bite.
But with so many of the population suffering from weight gain, and with the acute displeasure of the above mentioned esophagus-burning etc, maybe it's time to retire this idea, and just go for the family bonding, while enjoying sensible servings of our favorites.
Cris LaBossiere
Strength training and mountain biking. My two favorites
Showing posts with label christmas eating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label christmas eating. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
How I survived Christmas without overeating
For regular readers you'll know that I'm always on about changing our reward association with overeating and working on making the same reward association with healthy food choices.
A favourite example of mine is; picture this, you're at the office and the boss walks in with a box of donuts and says, "you're all doing a great job and I wanted to show my appreciation". The boss presents the donuts. How do feel?
You may be thinking, "hey great! I love donuts". Mmm..
Same scenario, boss says the same thing, but has a plate of broccoli. Are you feeling that?
No? Not feeling the little green trees?
How about a plate of oranges and bananas? Some feeling for this but not as much as for the donuts?
There you have it. That's what reward association does. Reward association makes you feel compelled to do things that you perceive will be rewarding in some way. The stronger the reward association the more intense the reward seeking will be.
One little snafu is that some of that which we associate reward with can also get out of hand cause negative outcomes. Like scarfing down 1000 calories from donuts that nobody needs.
And so it goes for Christmas dinners. Personally I've been getting better every year. I don't do three or four plates anymore, plus buns, plus desert.
Years ago when I cut down to 2.5 plates and desert I felt like I had accomplished a lot. I was only consuming 1500 calories more than I needed instead of around twice that. (3500 calories in a pound of fat in case you wondering about the scale impact of so much overeating)
Cutting down to two plates I felt physically much more comfortable. Not so much of a bloat-on. I also had less of the post Christmas overeating guilt-on. Another bonus is I didn't have to think about all the extra cardio I'd have to do to repent my indulgence.
Exercising to compensate for excessive eating is not a healthy exercise or eating strategy.
This year I thought about how good I would feel emotionally and physically if I didn't overeat. I knew that whenever I eat healthy I feel good about it. I didn't always feel this way. Years ago I scoffed at the idea. I looked forward to the stuffed gut. Having to loosen your belt was a sign of success. At that time I didn't bother to think about why I believed this. It was just something you did. It was tradition.
Then I had to go and become a cycling coach in 1987, which involves among other things, learning about proper nutrition. I learned that I didn't really know how to eat. Sure, sure, I was an expert at the selecting, chewing, and swallowing, but was pretty clueless when it came to understanding my actual nutritional needs.
I really liked a lot of crap food that wasn't that great for me.
Being a bit slow it took me years to gradually change my eating habits so that my eating reflected what healthy reconditions are.
As I ate healthy more consistently I grew further from wanting unhealthy foods but still found myself feeling rewarded by overeating. Yes you can eat too much healthy food. Calories are calories.
Over time this changed too. As overeating became less frequent each time I did dive into calorie bomb meals I was more attune to the after affects. I was getting used to what it felt like to eat satisfying healthy meals. I didn't feel bloated or lethargic. There is no brick in the gut. I slept better. I didn't have to deal with feeling remorseful for overeating. I actually felt pretty damn good. Better than I knew I could.
Over time I had developed a new reward association with eating healthy to the point of instead of looking forward to overeating at holiday meals I started to regreat these meals in advance. I regretted feeling obliged to fulfill the custom of overeating. I really wanted to eat healthy but there was social pressure to overeat as well as my own pressure because some of the old reward seeking was still there. I knew the food would certainly taste good and that I could make excuses to keep eating.
Afterwards I'd feel not so good. When you eat healthy most of the time your digestive system gets used to high fibre low fat foods. When you suddenly burden your GI tract with high fat low fibre traditional foods in large volumes, you get constipated. You feel like crap, literally.
So this Christmas I felt compelled not to overeat because I didn't want to deal with the uncomfortable aftermath. I felt incentive to eat what I need because I knew this would feel more satisfying.
This year was different because I had done enough work on my thoughts, feelings, and eating habits that it all came together and was easy.. And oh so satisfying.
Christmas dinner with family was great. That value did not change. The food still tasted great and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the company and good times. I didn't feel the need for extra food being a prerequisite for enjoying Christmas with my family.
The Christmas dinners two days in a row were the best I'd had because there was no underlying food drama. I think I have it better than many though. Eating healthy at Christmas dinner doesn't always go over well. I've had friends tell me that when they try the same thing they get questioned by family and friends.. "Are you sick? Don't you like the food? Are you on some kind of diet?" Many are ostracized for not overeating. There is societal pressure to be thin for some but there is more social pressure to overeat and if you don't comply someone will point it out to you.
The things that enabled me to feel completely satisfied without overeating at Christmas dinners (or whatever dinners for those who don't say Christmas), were:
Completing a long path to adopting an appreciation and sense of reward from healthy eating while at the same time unlearning my previous reward connection with overeating.
Having family that is happy I'm there no matter how much I eat.
This didn't happen overnight so don't expect instant results if you try the same. If you hang in there though change will come. You'll adapt. After a while wanting to eat healthy will feel good instead of being misinterpreted as feeling restrictive. Ironically if you think about it, chronically overeating is restrictive. We restrict ourselves to only overeating and are not open to healthy options, perhaps even offended by the idea of eating healthy because eating unhealthy is so practiced, so naturalized, that eating healthy is perceived as interfering with the status quo.
I really had a great Christmas this year and eating healthy made it even better.
A favourite example of mine is; picture this, you're at the office and the boss walks in with a box of donuts and says, "you're all doing a great job and I wanted to show my appreciation". The boss presents the donuts. How do feel?
You may be thinking, "hey great! I love donuts". Mmm..
Same scenario, boss says the same thing, but has a plate of broccoli. Are you feeling that?
No? Not feeling the little green trees?
How about a plate of oranges and bananas? Some feeling for this but not as much as for the donuts?
There you have it. That's what reward association does. Reward association makes you feel compelled to do things that you perceive will be rewarding in some way. The stronger the reward association the more intense the reward seeking will be.
One little snafu is that some of that which we associate reward with can also get out of hand cause negative outcomes. Like scarfing down 1000 calories from donuts that nobody needs.
And so it goes for Christmas dinners. Personally I've been getting better every year. I don't do three or four plates anymore, plus buns, plus desert.
Years ago when I cut down to 2.5 plates and desert I felt like I had accomplished a lot. I was only consuming 1500 calories more than I needed instead of around twice that. (3500 calories in a pound of fat in case you wondering about the scale impact of so much overeating)
Cutting down to two plates I felt physically much more comfortable. Not so much of a bloat-on. I also had less of the post Christmas overeating guilt-on. Another bonus is I didn't have to think about all the extra cardio I'd have to do to repent my indulgence.
Exercising to compensate for excessive eating is not a healthy exercise or eating strategy.
This year I thought about how good I would feel emotionally and physically if I didn't overeat. I knew that whenever I eat healthy I feel good about it. I didn't always feel this way. Years ago I scoffed at the idea. I looked forward to the stuffed gut. Having to loosen your belt was a sign of success. At that time I didn't bother to think about why I believed this. It was just something you did. It was tradition.
Then I had to go and become a cycling coach in 1987, which involves among other things, learning about proper nutrition. I learned that I didn't really know how to eat. Sure, sure, I was an expert at the selecting, chewing, and swallowing, but was pretty clueless when it came to understanding my actual nutritional needs.
I really liked a lot of crap food that wasn't that great for me.
Being a bit slow it took me years to gradually change my eating habits so that my eating reflected what healthy reconditions are.
As I ate healthy more consistently I grew further from wanting unhealthy foods but still found myself feeling rewarded by overeating. Yes you can eat too much healthy food. Calories are calories.
Over time this changed too. As overeating became less frequent each time I did dive into calorie bomb meals I was more attune to the after affects. I was getting used to what it felt like to eat satisfying healthy meals. I didn't feel bloated or lethargic. There is no brick in the gut. I slept better. I didn't have to deal with feeling remorseful for overeating. I actually felt pretty damn good. Better than I knew I could.
Over time I had developed a new reward association with eating healthy to the point of instead of looking forward to overeating at holiday meals I started to regreat these meals in advance. I regretted feeling obliged to fulfill the custom of overeating. I really wanted to eat healthy but there was social pressure to overeat as well as my own pressure because some of the old reward seeking was still there. I knew the food would certainly taste good and that I could make excuses to keep eating.
Afterwards I'd feel not so good. When you eat healthy most of the time your digestive system gets used to high fibre low fat foods. When you suddenly burden your GI tract with high fat low fibre traditional foods in large volumes, you get constipated. You feel like crap, literally.
So this Christmas I felt compelled not to overeat because I didn't want to deal with the uncomfortable aftermath. I felt incentive to eat what I need because I knew this would feel more satisfying.
This year was different because I had done enough work on my thoughts, feelings, and eating habits that it all came together and was easy.. And oh so satisfying.
Christmas dinner with family was great. That value did not change. The food still tasted great and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the company and good times. I didn't feel the need for extra food being a prerequisite for enjoying Christmas with my family.
The Christmas dinners two days in a row were the best I'd had because there was no underlying food drama. I think I have it better than many though. Eating healthy at Christmas dinner doesn't always go over well. I've had friends tell me that when they try the same thing they get questioned by family and friends.. "Are you sick? Don't you like the food? Are you on some kind of diet?" Many are ostracized for not overeating. There is societal pressure to be thin for some but there is more social pressure to overeat and if you don't comply someone will point it out to you.
The things that enabled me to feel completely satisfied without overeating at Christmas dinners (or whatever dinners for those who don't say Christmas), were:
Completing a long path to adopting an appreciation and sense of reward from healthy eating while at the same time unlearning my previous reward connection with overeating.
Having family that is happy I'm there no matter how much I eat.
This didn't happen overnight so don't expect instant results if you try the same. If you hang in there though change will come. You'll adapt. After a while wanting to eat healthy will feel good instead of being misinterpreted as feeling restrictive. Ironically if you think about it, chronically overeating is restrictive. We restrict ourselves to only overeating and are not open to healthy options, perhaps even offended by the idea of eating healthy because eating unhealthy is so practiced, so naturalized, that eating healthy is perceived as interfering with the status quo.
I really had a great Christmas this year and eating healthy made it even better.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
95% Fail to lose weight. What are the 5% doing?
You'd think the person with the answer to this question would be heralded as modern societies saviour, the person who solved the mystery of why we gain weight and can't seem to lose it. Or perhaps at least this person would be rich in finding a way to capitalize on such a discovery.
There are indeed many who have become wealthy in selling their solution to the weight loss problem but in doing so another mystery arises; if all these people with the solution to weight loss do have the answer, why is it the population of the entire planet continues to become more overweight every year?
When humanity learned how to eradicate smallpox it was the end of smallpox. We have the antidote for excessive weight gain, but don't use it.
More of the population is overweight. This seems a logical explanation for why more weight loss clinics classes, blogs, news stories, and apparently novel weight loss concepts would materialize.
It's a question of supply and demand.
Interesting that the more this problem spreads the more full-proof solutions are propagated and sold.
Maybe at some point sock makers would sell so many socks that all the worlds people would have socks so no more socks would be needed. Too simplified. The population grows, socks wear out, and maybe people want to upgrade from $5.00 socks to $10.00 socks and so on.
Is fat loss the same way? Does one weight loss strategy wear-out requiring another strategy to continue weight loss? Is the more costly fat loss option more effective?
This can't be true because fat loss is about eating fewer calories than expended. There isn't another strategy. It is that simple, but complexities arrise in achieving that simplicity.
The National Weight Loss Registry, an ongoing study of what people who successfully lose weight and keep it off actually do has found the following:
To register people must have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for one or more years.
Registry members have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for more than 5 years.
The study is open to US residents and has published it's findings to date.
Here is what those who have lost weight and kept it off have in common:
45% lost weight on their own and 55% lost weight with the help of some kind of program
94% increased their physical activity with walking being the most common exercise, and one hour of exercise daily being average frequency and duration.
98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
78% eat breakfast every day
75% weigh themselves at least once per week
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week
The increase in physical activity increases calories out and the modification of food intake decreases calories in.
I'm writing this during the Christmas holiday season, but what I'm saying is relevant anytime of the year.
A common strategy that people tell me about when they are about to enter a social feeding frenzy, be it a birthday, an after the game or after the whatever chow-down, is this:
Since we're going to overeat anyway, why bother trying to mess with that since it won't work. Why not simply concentrate our efforts on what to do after we're finished the overeating celebration?
Makes sense. Christmas dinners? I've already bought the ticket to that train and I'm going to ride it out. Plus; why ruin Christmas (or whatever)?
"I just want to have a good type two diabetes with my family". Crap. Freudian.
What I meant to say sarcastically is, "I just want to have a good time feeling bloated and regretful for overdoing it and gaining even more weight". Whoops, I did it again.
The flaw in this strategy is that it is completely denial based and is merely used as an excuse to justify more overeating. Hardly anyone is actually going to follow through with the "I'll deal with it later" self afflicted con-job.
What is the expected outcome of never preventing overeating and always thinking about what to do after overeating?
Most will tell you the expected outcome is successful weight loss.
Crazy-talk.
We are crazy about overeating, even when we know better.
Like I've said before in previous ramblings, the current consensus is that decisions surrounding eating are largely bound to seeking gratification. Not just any gratification, but the kind that has greatest power to amputate our better judgment.
Instant gratification.
This is ultimately what the 5% of the population are tapping into when they successfully lose weight and keep it off; understand the source of instant gratification and doing something about it.
They modify their behaviors and feelings about food and eating to such an extent that they no longer fall prey to their self-generated compulsion to overeat. Indeed the compulsion itself is greatly diminished down to a realistically manageable state.
Everyone who loses fat does it the same way. They consume fewer calories than expended.
The 5% who keep it off do so not by short term dietary and exercise habit changes, but rather over very long periods of lifestyle management.
The success is in realizing that overeating is just not worth the trouble.
We can all follow the habits of the the study subjects in the National Weight Control Registry.
If we did we would all permanently lose weight and keep it off. It's the "permanently" part that get most people (95%), as within mere weeks of implementing these proven habits, most people will feel like they are missing their doses of instant gratification. Most will feel compelled to fall back into the habits and social practices that promote and celebrate overeating.
When you surly love overeating there is nothing in the world that will break that love.
Wait.. There is one thing. It's the relationship killer.
Cheating.
No, I'm not talking about "cheat days" where you overindulge to cool your heals during a diet phase.
I'm talking about your love partner cheating on you. I'm talking about overeating stabbing you in the arteries while making love to your tastebuds and that part of the brain that allows you interpret the sensation of "wow, this is really good".
I'm talking about the epiphany the 5% get when they realize that the way they are living is not really making things better, but worse.
The hardest part about changing to healthy living habits is letting go the reward association with overeating and inactivity and making new reward associations with healthy eating and exercise.
If you don't fall for healthy living like falling in love you will forever be chained to the old relationship. The abusive relationship where you beg for those few moments of feeling good only to be burdened with lethargy, weight gain, and health issues surrounding unhealthy living.
Call me preachy if you like. I'm just telling it like it is and have no intentions of being a lifestyle judge and jury or diet zealot / guru.
I only write what I feel and what I have learned through reading research. My delivery is what it is.
Implement what I say though and you won't be doing what I say, but rather doing what research suggests we can do to escape one of the greatest societal plagues ever: the love and celebration of chronic overeating.
There are indeed many who have become wealthy in selling their solution to the weight loss problem but in doing so another mystery arises; if all these people with the solution to weight loss do have the answer, why is it the population of the entire planet continues to become more overweight every year?
When humanity learned how to eradicate smallpox it was the end of smallpox. We have the antidote for excessive weight gain, but don't use it.
More of the population is overweight. This seems a logical explanation for why more weight loss clinics classes, blogs, news stories, and apparently novel weight loss concepts would materialize.
It's a question of supply and demand.
Interesting that the more this problem spreads the more full-proof solutions are propagated and sold.
Maybe at some point sock makers would sell so many socks that all the worlds people would have socks so no more socks would be needed. Too simplified. The population grows, socks wear out, and maybe people want to upgrade from $5.00 socks to $10.00 socks and so on.
Is fat loss the same way? Does one weight loss strategy wear-out requiring another strategy to continue weight loss? Is the more costly fat loss option more effective?
This can't be true because fat loss is about eating fewer calories than expended. There isn't another strategy. It is that simple, but complexities arrise in achieving that simplicity.
The National Weight Loss Registry, an ongoing study of what people who successfully lose weight and keep it off actually do has found the following:
To register people must have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for one or more years.
Registry members have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for more than 5 years.
The study is open to US residents and has published it's findings to date.
Here is what those who have lost weight and kept it off have in common:
45% lost weight on their own and 55% lost weight with the help of some kind of program
94% increased their physical activity with walking being the most common exercise, and one hour of exercise daily being average frequency and duration.
98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight.
78% eat breakfast every day
75% weigh themselves at least once per week
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week
The increase in physical activity increases calories out and the modification of food intake decreases calories in.
I'm writing this during the Christmas holiday season, but what I'm saying is relevant anytime of the year.
A common strategy that people tell me about when they are about to enter a social feeding frenzy, be it a birthday, an after the game or after the whatever chow-down, is this:
Since we're going to overeat anyway, why bother trying to mess with that since it won't work. Why not simply concentrate our efforts on what to do after we're finished the overeating celebration?
Makes sense. Christmas dinners? I've already bought the ticket to that train and I'm going to ride it out. Plus; why ruin Christmas (or whatever)?
"I just want to have a good type two diabetes with my family". Crap. Freudian.
What I meant to say sarcastically is, "I just want to have a good time feeling bloated and regretful for overdoing it and gaining even more weight". Whoops, I did it again.
The flaw in this strategy is that it is completely denial based and is merely used as an excuse to justify more overeating. Hardly anyone is actually going to follow through with the "I'll deal with it later" self afflicted con-job.
What is the expected outcome of never preventing overeating and always thinking about what to do after overeating?
Most will tell you the expected outcome is successful weight loss.
Crazy-talk.
We are crazy about overeating, even when we know better.
Like I've said before in previous ramblings, the current consensus is that decisions surrounding eating are largely bound to seeking gratification. Not just any gratification, but the kind that has greatest power to amputate our better judgment.
Instant gratification.
This is ultimately what the 5% of the population are tapping into when they successfully lose weight and keep it off; understand the source of instant gratification and doing something about it.
They modify their behaviors and feelings about food and eating to such an extent that they no longer fall prey to their self-generated compulsion to overeat. Indeed the compulsion itself is greatly diminished down to a realistically manageable state.
Everyone who loses fat does it the same way. They consume fewer calories than expended.
The 5% who keep it off do so not by short term dietary and exercise habit changes, but rather over very long periods of lifestyle management.
The success is in realizing that overeating is just not worth the trouble.
We can all follow the habits of the the study subjects in the National Weight Control Registry.
If we did we would all permanently lose weight and keep it off. It's the "permanently" part that get most people (95%), as within mere weeks of implementing these proven habits, most people will feel like they are missing their doses of instant gratification. Most will feel compelled to fall back into the habits and social practices that promote and celebrate overeating.
When you surly love overeating there is nothing in the world that will break that love.
Wait.. There is one thing. It's the relationship killer.
Cheating.
No, I'm not talking about "cheat days" where you overindulge to cool your heals during a diet phase.
I'm talking about your love partner cheating on you. I'm talking about overeating stabbing you in the arteries while making love to your tastebuds and that part of the brain that allows you interpret the sensation of "wow, this is really good".
I'm talking about the epiphany the 5% get when they realize that the way they are living is not really making things better, but worse.
The hardest part about changing to healthy living habits is letting go the reward association with overeating and inactivity and making new reward associations with healthy eating and exercise.
If you don't fall for healthy living like falling in love you will forever be chained to the old relationship. The abusive relationship where you beg for those few moments of feeling good only to be burdened with lethargy, weight gain, and health issues surrounding unhealthy living.
Call me preachy if you like. I'm just telling it like it is and have no intentions of being a lifestyle judge and jury or diet zealot / guru.
I only write what I feel and what I have learned through reading research. My delivery is what it is.
Implement what I say though and you won't be doing what I say, but rather doing what research suggests we can do to escape one of the greatest societal plagues ever: the love and celebration of chronic overeating.
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