The Four Habits That are Keeping (or Making) You Fat

Monday, April 27, 2015

Erin Brockmeyer, GoLocal Worcester Natural Health Expert

My acupuncture practice revolves around food. I talk with patients daily about their eating habits, their cravings, how food affects their overall health, how certain foods can help or hurt their specific health issues, and many days I talk with people about weight loss. The perception seems to be that if you are just strong enough, disciplined enough, you can lose weight and keep it off. But low will power isn’t the problem — it’s the symptom.

You know you can’t eat at McDonalds regularly and be thin. You also know that eating chips and ice cream every day is not going to help you get into your skinny jeans. It isn’t so much about knowing the right things to do, but knowing how to set yourself up to succeed that is the problem. It is about knowing what your triggers are and what will sabotage you. If you can’t resist the candy on Mary’s desk and you pass her desk 8 times a day, you don’t need to be stronger, you need be mindful and take a different route to the bathroom. If your boyfriend is constantly bringing over pints of ice cream to eat while you watch Netflix and you find yourself heartily joining nightly, you need to tell him to quit bringing over ice cream. You know these things. Losing weight is not just about calories — it’s about why and when and how you consume your calories. Weight gain often happens because you find yourself eating all the wrong things in all the wrong quantities.

Lack of will power stems from one (and sometimes all), of the following four things:

1. Not getting enough sleep

When you are tired your body joneses for simple carbs. The simple carbs i.e, white flour and sugar, give you a quick burst of energy and can help you stay awake during the meeting that is threatening to make you snore. The problem is that what goes up must come down, and when you feed your fatigue simple carbs the ensuing short jittery burst of energy is quickly followed by a crash. That crash might even leave you more tired than you were before, so you reach for more sugar and more carbs, and before you know it you’ve eaten 1000 calories of junk just in an attempt to stay awake. Given the fact that 2/3 of Americans routinely do not get enough sleep, it stands to reason that you are putting quite a few needless calories into your body every day merely in an attempt to get by.

A sleep-deprived brain also has very poor impulse control, so when the chocolate bars are staring at you from the checkout line, you may feel it nearly impossible to say no. Top that all off with the fact that the more tired you are the less you pay attention to what and how much you consume, and sleep deprivation is a perfect recipe for weight gain.

2. Not eating mindfully

This has been mentioned numerous times in GoLocaL articles, and you see it again here because it is such an important issue. With all of the amazing food there is to eat in Worcester, it is criminal to eat mindlessly in front of the tv or to eat so fast that you spend no time savoring your food. A bigger issue for your health is that when you eat mindlessly you eat a lot more. 25% more to be exact. The choices you make when you eat mindlessly tend to be worse in both calories and in flavor. If you are going to put 1500 calories in your body at one sitting, it should be in the form of the most decadent food you can get your hands on.

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3. Not drinking enough water

The majority of you are not drinking enough water. Water is the source of life on this planet and it is also one of the main things that keeps your body going. When it comes to weight, there are several reasons that upping your water intake could help you lose weight.

The hypothalamus communicates with your body when you are hungry. It also communicates with your body when you are thirsty, and often the signals it sends are very similar. Both hunger and thirst may feel like weakness or an empty gnawing sensation in your stomach. If you are not accustomed to paying attention to your body’s cues you may have a hard time deciphering which signal is which. You could find yourself eating unnecessary calories when really all you needed was a glass of water.

Another part of the inadequate water intake = weight gain equation is that many of you are drinking high calorie beverages instead of water. Some estimates show that the average American is getting about 1/3 of their daily calories from beverages. That is not an issue as long as you are decreasing your food calories by the same amount as your liquid calories increase, but that is not usually the case. Most of the liquid calories people consume are extra calories. Try switching up a latte for a coffee, some cucumber water for a soda or some raspberry-infused water for your juice.

4. Not managing your stress

Emotional eating is a huge problem when it comes to weight loss sabotage. Eating high calorie foods for comfort during times of depression or high stress is a common habit, and one that you may not even realize you have. If you suspect that you may be an emotional eater, first and foremost you need to find a healthy way to manage stress. The best way to do this is to be proactive about it — commit to exercising, journaling or meditating daily. Don’t wait until the stressful moments happen, but find a better way to manage things overall. While you are in the beginning stages of finding more productive ways to deal with stress, it would be wise to take all of your go-to comfort foods out of the house so that the choice is taken out of your hands.

Whether your scale has been slowly creeping up, your pants suddenly too tight, or you have been struggling with weight issues for as long as you can remember, don’t try to just will your way thinner. Overeating hundreds of calories a day is an easy thing to do when you aren’t aware of these mostly subconscious saboteurs. Pay attention to the issues behind your struggles with will power and you will set yourself up for weight loss success.

Erin Brockmeyer, LAc, is owner and acupuncturist at Solstice Natural Health in downtown Portland, Oregon. She creates custom health plans for patients to help them tackle their most complicated health concerns, including infertility, prenatal care, fibromyalgia, thyroid conditions and chronic and acute pain conditions. Visit her website for more information and to download her free e-book 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Health Today.

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