Monday, August 31, 2015

Taubes and....

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/opinion/diet-advice-that-ignores-hunger.html

So now that hunger is a factor to consider in diet....

Anyways, I was at a archery demonstration, give it a try thing, ( I am a recreational traditional style archer) and I realized that many of the obese people who came along have personality disorders. Looking back, I realized that I also have one, but not as severe as one native lady. Not listening to anything, my god. Archery can be dangerous to the self and others, but mainly to the self, if a few items are not followed. All a coach can do is step back and let them risk themselves if they will not listen and hear. Oh, well, that is the native way.

Some old researcher said something about "if you want to see the problem clearly, study the extreme case first." Not hearing, not considering, treating anything said as noise, as a personality disorder, well I am not sure but it is a useful trait sometimes. We never need to consider anything we do not want to. Our ignorance continues, our beliefs become ossified, even the wrong ones.

But what do I know.

    

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Willpower

Sarah had a definition of willpower the today. http://everydaypaleo.com/sleep-mood-and-willpower/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EverydayPaleo+%28Everyday+Paleo%29 

But I will provide a working definition: willpower is that rational conscious force that allows us to overcome habit, physical desires and cravings of the body or unconscious mind. It is a short term, rather weak force. Signaling from willpower is also weak. We need to pay attention to even pickup on it, unlike the scream of the unconscious or body. Many of us live in our unconscious, most of the time. Other defenses are also required, especially if food addiction, maladaptive eating behaviors, habit, environmental factors, physical issues that cause no satiation and poor food knowledge are present. Some things sold as food are just not food.

First willpower must be conscious and active. Do not expect to not eat and sit in front of food or where food is available. We need to eat, but is small amounts, with much work that we enjoy between.  Eating cannot be a social activity, it is for energy collection only.  This is a major attitude change for most of us, and will be resisted by the family.

Sitting where food is available will just grind on the mind until the will power is defeated. Getting up and go away may be the only solution. Then comes exhaustion and sleep.

But then, what do I know?

Friday, August 21, 2015

Fung


https://intensivedietarymanagement.com/my-journey/ 

Aetiology is a medical term that means ‘the underlying cause"  but it is a chain and the doctor has only seen the first link.  High insulin. Maybe. We also know that just reduced calories is also enough to cause weight loss, if you can do it.

  OK, but the cause of obesity is overeating. The cause of overeating is at least one of  lack of food and physiological knowledge, physical cause of excess appetite, environmental conditions, and maladaptive eating behaviors as eating disorders and food addictions.

The real question is finding and addressing each of those drives to overeat.

And then hunger....

And then there is dealing with cravings.....

And food pushers....

And crap meals, where we do not have control....

And the food rich environment we live in....

And habit...  And  and  and....

So all these issues are nested together, and what get through is what we are, so to speak. It is all about teasing the nests apart, and understanding ourselves. Fung's high insulin is the physical response to overeating, but it is the stopping of overeating that is required. High insulin drives the overeating, after the overeating starts. Does the mind just need a problem to pick at?

But then, what do I know?

Thursday, August 20, 2015

More on not understanding the problem

Keven Hall is trying to do the disproving on the insulin/carbohydrate without realizing that we live in a free range world, and his metabolic ward study did not address two big issues: the ability to stay on the diet, and secondly, the time frame to lose substantial amount of weight.  

http://www.weightymatters.ca/2015/08/guest-post-dr-kevin-hall-asks-is.html

We need to train ourselves to live on single digit percent of diet in carbohydrates, and that is tough to do if we do not cook our meals. There is a human craving for carbohydrates also, so we likely do better if we get a few, but that is not the issue. We exobese have a damaged metabolism I assume. We are not quite normal. It also takes time to adapt to fat, and especially if we go to the keto level of fat intake.  The fastest way to get to keto is fasting. No intake. After into, a few greens and a bit of meat is all. It requires effort and is not sustainable once our BMI gets to a 'normal' point, perhaps 20 for Asian, 25 for most, 30 for weight lifters and big working males. It is that non-sustainability at normal BMI that signal the end of the diet, and then we need to increase our fat intake to balance weight. That is where the difficulties in understanding lie, and where suitable food is problematic.

Just a reminder of the numbers; 50 grams of carbs is 200 calories, based on 2000 calores, that is 10 percent. I live on less than 2000 calories, and require much less than 50 gms of carbs to stay in single digit carbs, but I would like much more carbs. 

To lose weight, calories must be low and insulin must be low to reduce hunger. Cravings are an issue of one of the other causes of overeating. Adequate food knowledge is only one of the solution. The groups of causes of overeating: food addiction, environmental issues including Pavlovian, maladaptive behaviors, and physical problems must be each separately addressed.

Keven Hall has missed the problem, and has not touched the carbohydrate/insulin issue at 29 percent carbohydrates with 8 percent sugar. This is not low carb. His subjects were not exobese. His study demonstrates a lack of understanding of the real problem we exobese face, that is not regaining. Losing weight is tough, granted, but keeping it off is where the battle really begins. 

But then what do I know?  

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Locus of Control

Maturing, in part, is switching from an external sense of control to an totally internal locus of control. As children and youths, we were provided external locus of control, and through the aging, education, training, experience, and the like we gradually became more internally controlled, or should have. In some careers we learn to follow rules, procedures and the like that provide external control; we may never have the need of developing internal control over some things. In addition, there organizations like religions that provide organized external control that thwart the development of internal locus of control.

Our subconscious mind also operated in this manner, as an low energy automatic response that is resistant to change. The first thing in recovery from eating behaviors is to develop a willingness to change, widely and in other areas that relate to the causes of overeating. Clues that cause hunger, sights, smells, offers, presentation of food and junk food all cause the appetite to start. This Pavlovian response occurs in humans, and is accompanied with a release of insulin. This an external control that that must be replaced or other modified to internal control, that is also logical and rational. Without recognizing the issue, we can laze along in some form of external control, never actually living a deliberate life.

It is in this automatic start that we spend most of our life, not in the deliberate mode. Mindfulness may be about this aware state that all input/output passes through the rational 'directing' mind. It is the act of bringing all consumption, all behaviors, into the 'directing' mind that will cause change, and not allowing myself to be drawn into those situations of external control.

The biggest single cause of allowing myself to slip into external control is that damn TV.

A change in our locus of control from external to internal is a change in our nature which could bring our (my) problem to an end. It is this change in my basic nature that any 12 step  program hopes to create, but they do that by giving one's self over to an external control of a non-existent deity of some form. Stoic philosophy does it by increase my internal locus of control.  Only nature and man exist, all else is unnecessary and there is no evidence of anything beyond man and nature. Anyone wishing to sell me on the concept will first need to provide evidence of the existence of a god.

This may be what Peele called or/and observed the maturing out of the opioid problem, but a different human desire, human need, human craving. 

But then what do I know? 




























































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Friday, August 14, 2015

Who controls my behavior? and cunning idiots

Over the last while there has been discussion of the Soda industry attempt to keep on pushing sugar, and the too little exercise based hypothesis.  
http://www.foodpolitics.com/2015/08/lets-ask-marion-can-exercise-balance-out-soda-drinking/
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2015/08/13/big-soda-fights-back/ 

Really, it comes down to the problem is the behavior of overeating.   It is a behavior and who is ultimately responsible for our behavior? _________ I will not answer that rhetorical question.

The first requirement of any weight loss program is to take in less energy than we burn. Calories are just the unit of measure for accounting. Lower carbohydrate and higher fat may make following the diet easier for some. Others of us have no appetite control and have to monitor by the numbers our intake, regardless of those who promote not counting calories. Anything that raises insulin is not suitable for Fred food. So be aware to avoid the sugar industry marketing garbage, and remember that processed carbohydrates are the enemy.

Overeating is a behavior. It is not a disease. I am responsible for my behaviors. Choose what I want to be and do that behavior. Our body may have something to say about it but the only line of defense is my behavior. It is similar to the gay issue, it is a behavior that some people wish to embrace and to others it is a prevision of life, we wish to have nothing to do with.

I can coach myself that overeating is a prevision, and I should have nothing to do with it. It is not rational, and I choose to become a even more rational person. 

Other may peddle their verbal poison, but I should not let that sway me from the reality that Sugar is sweet, and deadly poison. So is wheat and most processed carbohydrates. I have no place supporting these industries.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/08/14/scientists-sort-of-settle-debate-on-low-carb-vs-low-fat-diets/

So 5 days, the higher carbs are glucose repeat, and the low carb have expended the disposable glucose. The high carbs have just approached the hunger issue, while the low carbs are just starting to adjust to fat burning. This shows a wonderful design that will logically place the plant based diet ahead, so what has this proven? nothing other than as expected. If you want to prove something, start with the obese high insulin producing, in all four phases and see what happens.

Insulin is released in four phases: basal, per-prandal (Pavlovian), prandal, and post prandal. Different people have high release in different phases. The worst case is all four high release. Now what? We are always ready to eat. 

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Yah Sure Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJhNnbRHCbE

but here is the problem Bob, How long does it take for the hunger to reduce?  Well Bob, how long? 6 months, one Year, two years, So how do I maintain motivation to eat very little that long  

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Misconception theory

The first time I ran across the misconception theory, was in a self help book by John Powell, perhaps 30 year ago. The difficulty with his approach is in figuring out what the misconception we carry really is, and then what is the correct or better conception. We store these conceptions among our beliefs, so we react automatically to these through the unconscious memory part of our brains, without thinking. When these are wrong, the result is wrong. It takes time to sort out and overwrite all these wrong beliefs.

Just to summarize the triune brain scheme, we have a primal portion, with interfaces to the senses, and reflex actions. Above that we have the unconscious brain where our beliefs are stored and our automatic reactions arise, and above that we have the conscious part where rational action can be planned, where reason and logic are the operating system. The logic may be twisted, or true, or with the  wrong weighting, but it is logic based. It can be over ridden with passions, but keep in mind that passions are delusions or expectations being frustrated or blocked.

This all fits with the Stoic concept of being in control of our mind, our beliefs, our own values, opinions, thoughts, motives, desires and aversions. We are not in control of places, people, things, and even our body. At best we can only influence a few things outside of our minds. We are therefore not impacted by events, but only our thinking about events. Knowing the few things we are logically responsible for, and that we are separate from the events, makes us free.   of all responsibility for the worlds happenings, even if others would like to load us with those responsibilities.

Yesterday some commentator said that alcohol related traffic events are preventable. If she thinks so, let her do the preventing. It is a guild shifting statement, not reality. For anyone who has lived with an alcoholic, this will be self evident. There is nothing preventable with alcohol. There concept of preventable is a blame shifting devise. 

CBT in it's various forms are all efforts to change the underlying beliefs that we react to automatically, and not logically to. There is space between the sensory input and our output. Training ourselves to take the time to examine the situation is what is required. There is much bullshit in this world in the public media. It is better to assume it is all bullshit until it is proven or demonstrate to be true in our application. God is man made, but what do I know.      

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Change

Change is a process. In the beginning we are just as happy as a pig in mud, living life. We are just ignorant of any need of change, although we may be aware of the occasional difficulty or desire, but these are mild. Life goes on. This is the pre-contemplation stage. 

The next stage is contemplation stage, where we might think we should lose a bit of weight. We have no idea how, but we might develop a bit of motivation to do something.

Preparation is where the work starts, as we examine the situation, perhaps make a decision to do something, and start exploring the possibilities, causes, drives of say overeating. There is much not being said about the problem. At this point in my development, I will say that there is no consensus beyond eat less and move more. Eating less is more important, but it is essential to eat well, take a few vitamins and minerals, water, and the like. There are five groups of causes of overeating, poor diet resulting from poor or wrong food knowledge including delusions, physical issues that drive appetite, environmental issues including life style, maladaptive behaviors including eating disorders, and food addiction. Each is an area of study to it's self.

Then there come action, where we test each concept on ourselves, and examine each concept for truth and validity. Some concepts do not work for us at this time, but may later have major impacts. This where we learn that this is and will be an ongoing battle for the remainder of our lives. Fortitude is required, now and in the future. Programs like OA, FA, FAA can help for those inclined. Philosophy, the art of reason can help others. Integrity, honesty with ourselves, commitment, and understanding of ourselves is critical.

Once we have gotten to where we want to be comes an ongoing maintenance, which does not mean going back to the old ways, but sticking to the new way. This is the most difficult of processes, and where "our diet" often lose toleration by others. The objective is not to overeat, and wonderful tasting and beautiful presentation do not make this easy. 

Many of us spend our time yo-yo ing around in the last three stages, never at rest, never out of the problem completely. But then what do I know?