15. Stress and Comfort Eating

I don't know about you, but there have been a number of times in my life where I have stuffed some highly flavored or sweetened desirable in my mouth, in an attempt to cancel out a cry or a shout or to simply make me feel better about life.  That, I suppose is comfort eating and it worked for me, at that moment, when I needed it. Little did I know that I was simply reacting to the release of a stress response chemical.

Stress is a natural psychological response to a threat.  It's the body's natural response to danger , the time when the body decides on "Flight or Fight".  When you feel under threat, the adrenal glands pump out the hormone Cortisol and this chemical is released into the blood stream, it alerts the body that it's going to need an energy boost, it quickens the heart rate, constricts the blood vessels to speed up the blood circulation and quickens breathing, all very necessary when you are going to require swift action.

Hopefully we won't find ourselves in real danger and if we did we wouldn't have much time or inclination to think about reaching for a bar of chocolate or some other goody, but there are other things in life that cause us stress and our adrenal glands still respond by pushing out cortisol that will produce the same responses in our bodies as at the time of real threat.

As I said earlier, stress is a natural reaction to a challenge and ideally we would look for solutions to that challenge and cope.  There may be times when we feel overwhelmed and can't or don't look for a solution and it is at these times that some may turn to "comfort food" as a form of self-medication. These foods generally have little or no nutritional value and are full of sugar and fat, just calorie bombs.  They do make us "feel" better, reduce the feelings of anxiety and panic - this could have something to do with the body's preparation for action and the drive to consume a fast energy bundle of calories, but with chronic stress there is a danger that you will continuously turn to these foods for comfort and that you will develop an eating habit and gain weight in the process.

Research has shown that there is a connection between stress and higher levels of visceral fat (fat around abdominal organs), that people with more visceral fat actually produced more cortisol, prompting more feelings of anxiety, a vicious cycle. Cortisol also instructs enzymes to store fat, in preparation for the challenge and this fat will be stored mainly in the abdominal region, increasing your risk of ;

• Obesity
• Fatty Liver Disease
• Type 2 Diabetes
• High Blood Pressure
• High Cholesterol
• Cardiovascular disease

All of these factors can be a serious risk to your health.

Stress Reduction Tips

• Face your problems - look for solutions and ask for help if you need it.
• Exercise - reduces stress, burns stored fat. Do something you enjoy and if you haven't found that yet, keep searching!  Commit to trying something that you like for 5 sessions, attend regularly and it will become a healthy, enjoyable habit. Don't make excuses, make changes.
• Sleep - aim for 8 hours a night of unbroken sleep.  Fatigue increases cortisol levels.
• Enjoy life - listen to your favorite music, socialise, join groups, allow yourself some time away from stress.
• Keep a journal - you may be able to identify the stressors in your life and plan a solution.
• Laughter - reduces cortisol, improves alertness, keeps you calm and relaxed.

Live, laugh, eat well and move - find your comfort from those you love and those that love you and don't forget to love yourself!!

CLUB MOTIVITA CARES

14. Water Retention and False Fat

Did you know you may be carrying up to 15 pounds of water trapped in your body tissues?Waterlogged tissue is known as "False Fat" and is usually found under the eyes, around the face, the abdomen and thigh areas. A reduction diet will not help release this fluid, instead you will need to look at your current nutrition and hydration.             

Drinking Too Little Water
Surprisingly, drinking too little fluid can make your body retain fluid! Look at post 5 "Water and Weight Loss" for advice on fluid intake. When your fluid intake is low, your kidneys start to "panic store" fluid so that it may have an adequate supply to flush your body of waste products. Also, too little fluid intake slows down your lymphatic system (system that monitors fluid levels in the body as well as filtering toxins and bacteria) fluid is not excreted and as with the "panic storing", the fluid is stored in fat cells, swelling the cells to bursting point whereupon the fat cells multiply.  It is widely believed that this is what causes cellulite.

Not Enough Protein
The protein that we eat plays a very important role in effective water balance between the cells and the blood circulating around your body.   A diet low in protein causes fluid to leak through blood vessels into cells, where it becomes trapped. Sadly we have all seen the images of  severely malnourished people, with their bloated abdomens.  This bloating is caused by an extreme lack of dietry protein.The daily Recommended Nutrient Intake of protein for adults is 45g for women and  55g for men, more if you are athletic. 

Vitamin Deficiency
Vitamin B1, B5, B6 and Potassium are known to reduce the effects of water retention. These nutrients are food in fruit and vegetables - another reason why our bodies need a balanced diet.  Please refer to post 8 "Essential Vitamins for Life"

Food Sensitivity
Some of the symptoms caused by food sensitivity are water retention around joints, abdominal bloating and facial puffiness.  If you suffer these symptoms in conjunction with the other common symptoms of sensitivity, you should seek advice from your doctor.

Hormonal Cycles
Most women experience water retention or an increase in retention, just before their period, but this usually corrects itself within days.

Massage and Lymphatic Drainage
If you have addressed nutrient and fluid intake and would like to help things along, a little massage will certainly help.  These 2 instructional videos by Vichy are certainly worth a viewing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4qbnQQLg_M   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7EVsjabKn8

Let's make our wobbly bits a thing of the past!! www.clubmotiva.com 

13: Slow and Steady or Fast and Furious

If you want some motivation for healthy eating and weight loss read this;

How you behave in the first 6 weeks of diet change will determine your success at adhering to these changes in the future.  Clinical studies show that people who experience a greater weight loss in the first 6 weeks of healthy eating, were 5 times more likely to have successful weight loss at 6 and 18 months, than those who lost weight at a slow rate. Statistics showed that they were also more likely to keep the weight off, long term.

So the theory that slow and steady is the best way to lose weight has been disproved.

"Across the world, guidelines recommend gradual weight loss for the treatment of obesity, reflecting the widely held belief that fast weight loss is more quickly regained," study lead author Katrina Purcell, a dietician at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said in a journal news release. However, the new study shows that "achieving a weight loss target of 12.5 percent is more likely, and drop-out is lower, if losing weight is done quickly," Katrina Purcell. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

How much weight you need to lose weekly very much depends on your starting weight.  A very obese person may lose up to a stone per week, initially, whereas an overweight person may find it difficult to lose 2 pounds.  Please contact me if you would like some free advice on how much you should be losing initially and how long it will take you to reach your ideal weight contact me at  terri@clubmotivita.com

The 10 Rules of Healthy Eating

1. Drink at least 2 litres of water a day.
2. Eat plenty, plenty vegetables and salads, they will fill you up and are so good for you with vitamins, minerals and fibre!!
3. Try and avoid  "fast carbs" white bread, white rice, pasta
4. Eat beans, oats, barley and wholegrains for fibre, vitamins and minerals.
5. Eat at least 2 pieces of fresh fruit a day, not juiced. Your gut needs to break the fruit fibre down itself, it needs the "digestive work out".
6. Avoid sugary drinks - fruit juices and drinks containing sugar and fructose.
7. Avoid sugar, fructose, cakes, biscuits, desserts and pastry " the carbofat timebombs"
8. Avoid animal fats, hydrogenated fats - these fats leave hard deposits in your arteries.
9. Avoid processed meats - sausages, deli meats, smoked meats "Part Foods" these contain so much saturated fat, chemicals and additives and are toxic on your liver and deliver a package of fat straight to your body fat cells!
10. Alcohol, no more than 1 alcoholic drink a week, if you must.

If you need a little boost to rethinking your commitment to healthy eating, please read post 12. "Why Do You Want To Lose Weight?"  Any questions, please contact me at terri@clubmotivita.com



www.clubmotivita.com