Dear Readers,
The advent of a new year always brings resolutions of weight loss and many people reach out with various dieting questions. Invariably, people want to know which diet is best and which will give the fastest results. We all want fast results, right? This isn’t just because we are impatient, but also because results motivate us to keep going. We feel empowered! Our efforts are working!
And for some people - those who have not been long overweight, were naturally athletic or active and just gained the weight due to a recent baby or menopause or due to a season of bad eating or sickness or travel - fast results are doable and likely going to be more easy to maintain. The body’s set weight hasn’t been high for too long and it is less resistant to losing the weight.
For many people - perhaps the large majority, however, the slow and easy route to weight loss is likely better and more realistic. Why do I say this? Well there are people who will lose weight quickly and then stick with the dietary plan to continue along at the healthy weight. But there are far more that will diet by restricting foods they continue to crave in order to lose weight, then return to those foods after they have lost the weight because the diet was so restrictive. Then you get this yo-yoing of weight that is very hard on the body and psyche. A tense relationship with food ensues. This is an additional stressor none of us need in our lives.
A much more sensible approach for many people is to learn how to eat for optimal health and longevity and learn how to make new meals we enjoy to adopt those new, healthy eating patterns. Doing it gradually can help acclimatise our bodies and taste buds to these new foods. It can also help us change our habits to make these new foods, so that the changes are more permanent. But this approach requires us to make shifts in our thinking. And that’s what I want to focus on today.
How We Think About Weight
First, we must stop thinking of our diets (food habits) in terms of our weight. We should not diet simply to lose weight! A healthy weight (and body composition) is a natural consequence of good eating habits over time. Being healthy is the goal! Being able to move with ease, have abundant energy, have a clear, razor sharp mind as we age, have zest for life, have longevity, have strength to walk and bike and swim, have strong bones, remain cancer free, keep our hair, enjoy healthy skin, have strong resilience to stress, have a good sex life, have good digestion, have no disease - these are the goal! Weight loss (if needed) is simply a natural consequence. It may motivate you, but equating weight with health can be dangerous.
A healthy weight naturally follows eating for optimal health. When it doesn't, that is our signal that
a) what we thought to be a healthy diet was not, or
b) there is an underlying health problem to address, like insulin resistance or thyroid problems or digestive problems leading to imbalances in the body. For these we continue to eat healthy, but also seek professional help to bring our bodies back into a state of balance.
Do you see the difference there? Often we are told that if we lose a little weight it would benefit our diabetes or our hypertension. This is actually a complete misrepresentation of health. If we instead focus on getting our health in order through a healthier diet, our blood sugar will drop, resulting in lowered need for diabetic or hypertension medication (or complete reversal). The disease process will be improved and that will result in weight loss. Weight loss is the consequence of our actions! It is not the reason our health improves!
I see many skinny people who are tremendously unwell in my practice. I used to be one! I was full of inflammation and had very little muscle mass. I was anxious, depressive, acne ridden, and full of arthritis. I was tired all the time and had no strength. I was a raw food vegan who watched what I ate meticulously. I was so unwell I didn’t realize I was unwell! But skinny does not always equal healthy!
That is not to say that being obese is healthy either. It isn’t, no matter how much the media strives to normalize it. An obese body is struggling internally with blood sugar regulation, hormone regulation, appetite, energy, detoxification, and more. Type II diabetes is skyrocketing, as are Alzheimer’s, cancers, and mental health problems. And all of these have their roots in the poor dietary habits that drive obesity, namely the overconsumption of sugar and processed foods.
How We Think About Food
Let me share a few analogies that may help you better understand the role of sugar and processed food in our health decline as a society. They may help you with your relationship with food.
Sugar and processed food are to the body what porn is to the mind. This includes 60-80% of what’s in our grocery stores at present and almost all take-out. Just think about that for a moment. Now most people argue a little isn’t bad for you. That is absolutely true if it’s not hyper addictive. If it’s not all around you all the time. If it doesn’t destroy your body’s ability to regulate its appetite. But sugar and processed foods are all of these things! Yes, you can get away with a little without being addicted. If you aren’t susceptible to addiction. If you aren’t in a bad place in your life. If you don’t get too much dopamine from it. If you are active and healthy overall. If there are restrictions around you that could help you stop if you couldn’t help yourself. But what if those aren’t there and it’s all around you all the time and it’s normalized to use it? What’s to stop you then? And what’s to pull you back when you go over the cliff?
Let’s think about it in a different way. Let’s think about sugar as an addictive drug. Let’s say meth. Both are about equally as addictive for certain people. Both are stimulating. Both create a desire for more to get the same high. Both stimulate dopamine centres of the brain. Of course, one is far more readily available and socially acceptable. But does that make it safer or more dangerous, really?
You may not realize it, but sugar creates far more death and disease (and likely criminal behaviour) than meth ever has. In fact, sugar is bankrupting our healthcare system and robbing our children of health (and the health of their parents) more than any food substance in human history. Is it really safe? Is it really benign? Or is it a potent drug we just don’t want to recognize as such?
Of course, once in a while is not a problem for sugar. But the skyrocketing rates of type II diabetes and cancers and obesity and metabolic syndrome don’t suggest we’re only using this drug once in a while.
It’s true there was always sugar around and people weren’t chronically ill at the rates they are now, but it was not in everything at the time! The consumption was far, far less, in part because processed foods were not available like they are now. Additionally, someone (a parent or grandparent usually) was at home, meal planning and cooking homemade food. When we make food ourselves, we know not to pour tons of corn syrup into it! Corporate food producers have no qualms about it. Too, schools never used to contain vending machines with sugary junk food for students. Pizza and donuts were not eaten at school. Candies were not passed out except maybe on a rare holiday, one per student. Children were more active and processed, sugary snacks were limited at home. That was just part of responsible parenting.
Let’s think of it in yet another way. The shareholders in the companies who make the processed and sugar-laden foods are the very same ones that make money off the drugs to treat the diseases their foods create. With current patent laws, the sales from blockbuster drugs are astronomical. Are these foods really created for our benefit? Or are they like cigarettes and opioids - intentionally pushed on the public to maximize shareholder profit?
Good health is our birthright. Cancer should not be a natural phenomenon. Neither should type II diabetes. Nor hardening of the arteries or arthritis or dementia. We should not have to anticipate these as we age. We absolutely should not accept it in children! With all the technology we have, all the research dollars, there is no way we cannot prevent these diseases - if the industry wanted to. We need to wake up and say NO! When we get angry about how food companies are seducing our good health away from us - and realize all the suffering and money and public resources that costs - maybe then it will be easier for us to refuse to allow it to happen to our families.
What we eat has the power to bring healing or pain. Perhaps instead of resolutions to lose weight we might start instead with resolutions to:
Refuse processed foods in our homes and replace with whole foods
- Know how our meat/ eggs/ seafood is sourced and to ensure it is ethical and healthful
- Refuse pesticide-laden vegetables and fruit where possible
- Swap sugar for healthier, low glycemic substitutes and make our own goodies with those
- Create co-operative cooking arrangements for working parents to spread meal prep to help with healthier meals at home
Mindset Matters
We know that how we think about things influences our actions and our energy. Let me give you two examples:
- Don’t eat products containing wheat or sugar. Now think of 5 products. What do they all have in common? Right, wheat and sugar.
- Eat more whole foods like natural meat and vegetables. Now what came to your mind?
How we think sets us up for success or failure with any new habit. Diets are the same. If we think of healthy foods as boring and unmotivating we will not learn exciting new recipes for them. We will continue to have to force ourselves to eat them. And we will continue to crave the food that, over time, makes us unwell and overweight.
When we get excited about whole fresh food, about the lack of factory intervention in it, about the agriculture behind it, about the environmental impact of it, about the way it makes our bodies feel, about growing it ourselves - then we get excited about finding recipes for these foods. That excitement gives us energy to make the small changes to our grocery shopping, to do some meal prep, to change our pantry staples. And all of these combined help us change our eating habits for life.
I promise you, once you eat a homemade salsa from organic, locally grown veggies with organic chips, the old snacks will seem boring. Ditto homemade ice cream with healthy sweeteners. And homemade low sugar, grain-free muffins. The same is true for almost any food you crave. And there is no excuse now! We have access to thousands of cooking videos online now for healthy, whole, natural foods. Starting to explore cooking with whole foods can be a complete game changer in your relationship with food and ultimately, for your health.
I encourage you to make that your resolution this year instead of another restrictive diet. Get excited about whole, organic foods. Get excited about quality meat and dairy. Explore fermented foods. Take your 5 top meals and find the lowest glycemic, healthiest version of them you can. And master those recipes. Then take your 5 top cheat foods and do the same! Warning, your food cravings will never be the same again!
As always, if you have your own health issue or question, just send me an email at [email protected]. And if you’re looking for more specific health information check out my website at hopenotdope.ca.
Namaste!
Nonie Nutritionista
