It’s been about ten years since I gave this talk at Ursuline College in Cleveland, Ohio. That’s quite a long time. I remember there weren’t enough spaces for the whole title, so it was changed from Your Health to Our Health. That also works. There’s a lot here that I still use, Continue reading
Tag Archives: obesity
Musings on Obesity & Malnutrition
In sharp contrast to the common perception of obesity as an overindulged state, I have come, over many years, to understand obesity as a manifestation of a malnourished state. It was partly through the act of fasting on Yom Kippur that my thoughts on obesity began to evolve in this direction. I wrote an earlier version of today’s post many years ago, as I was beginning to formulate my thoughts on this issue.
Once a year, on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Jews around the entire world fast from sundown to sundown. This year, Yom Kippur begins tonight, on Sunday the 24th of September, and continues through tomorrow night. Putting aside for now the reasons why we do this, I’d like to talk about the results of such an endeavor, the what happens when you fast. Continue reading
Try Nourishing Yourself with Joy
Today we’re talking about diets. To diet is to restrict oneself, to deny oneself pleasure. Well that sounds kind of miserable. No wonder diets don’t work. Who would want to do something that makes you feel bad?
Dieting is a logical consequence of the assumption that overweight is due to overindulgence. But there is a fault — a big, fat one — within this assumption: If it were true that overindulgence were the cause of overweight, then denial would be an effective and viable option for losing weight. But it is not, of course, which is why you have probably noticed that diets virtually never work. Continue reading
Is Obesity an Overindulged State? NO
I want to speak once again about a massive misconception, namely that obesity is an overindulged state. It is not. If obesity were an overindulged state, then diets would work. The reason that your appetite increases right along with your waistline is that the bigger you are, the more malnourished you become. And the more malnourished you are, the hungrier you get. Obesity is caused by malnutrition.
Have you ever said to yourself, “Why, oh why, did I drink so much olive oil?” Have you ever heard someone say, “Wow, I shouldn’t have eaten so much fruit salad!”? Of course not. Foods that are nutritious send signals to our brains to put the brakes on automatically when we’ve had enough.
In contrast, items without nutritional value send no such signal. So it’s easy to eat too much candy, too many potato chips, half a pan of brownies, a sleeve of Thin Mints, and two full orders of deep-fried whatever. Even on the same day.
That’s why the solution to overweight is not to eat less but to eat better. It’s why I want a lot of peanuts (or edamame or walnuts or almonds or chickpeas) in my salad. Because that salad is going to fill me up and stick to my ribs a lot more if I add plenty of nutritious oils and protein to that gorgeous, colorful salad. And I also want the salad dressing to be made with something rich and nourishing like olive oil or tahini, either of which will make the salad taste fabulous and satisfy me for hours. Fat-free salad dressing is not food. Neither is anything else made with corn syrup.
Portion control is a separate issue from nutritional density. Eat more nutritious food, and there is a good chance that your portions will begin, slowly, to take care of themselves. This means that portion control is not a solution, but rather a consequence of improving your nutrition. It happens by itself when you begin to eat in a way that supports your good health. The more nutritious food you eat, the better nourished you become, the more weight you “release,” the better your pants fit, and the more reasonable your appetite gets. What you weigh is a reflection of the choices you make. You don’t get to choose your weight. You don’t get to dial in what you want to weigh every morning. But if you begin to improve the nutritional value of the things you choose to eat, your weight begins to reflect the new choices.
Stripped Carbs: The Emperor’s New Clothes
I promised a friend that I would write another post about stripped carbs and processed edibles. Sometimes stripped carbs are called simple carbs, but there’s nothing simple about them. Stripped carbs include white flour, white rice, corn starch, corn syrup, sugar, fruit juice, and beer. It’s not that you can’t eat them at all; it’s that Americans are drowning in them. Continue reading
Body Maps for Healing Obesity
Do you know anyone whose faint accent or slight lisp becomes pronounced only when they are excited, or distracted? I think that something similar is happening to people who were once obese, but whose weight is now closer to the normal range. Continue reading
Black Stockings in Vegas
I presented two talks at a conference on Preventive Medicine in Las Vegas a couple of years ago, and awoke the first morning to discover that my black tights had not made it into the suitcase. This did not jive with my plans to present myself as a black-tights-wearing professional. Ugh. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 6 o’clock in the morning, I left my hotel room in search of a new pair of black tights. Continue reading
Body Maps: Do You Know What Yours Looks Like?
Early one morning, decades ago, I looked down a long hallway and saw two obese women walking toward me. Backlit by the rising sun, the two women appeared in outline; all I could see of them was the dark shapes of two bodies, surrounded by golden rays. I stood, transfixed, watching their movements as they walked, their arms swinging far out from their shoulders like ribbons on a maypole. Instead of moving easily, to and fro, with each step, their arms flew back and forth like propeller blades. The force of these arm rotations supplied energy to fling their hips and torsos forward, while their legs, stiff and straight, worked to catch up with each step. Frankly, it looked like hard work. I looked away. Continue reading
The Glycemic Index
Many people have heard of the glycemic index (GI), but they are not exactly sure what it means, or how it works. A low glycemic index diet is thought to significantly lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, coronary heart disease and even certain cancers. This is probably true, but not for the reasons people think. Continue reading