Insulins

From my reading, it appears that we humans make two different insulins, one based on Omega 3 and one based on omega 6. The omega 3 based insulin is more efficient at clearing glucose from the blood than omega 6, so if we have mainly omega 6 in out diet, we need more insulin to get the glucose out of the blood. That may explain the general rise in insulin levels. But the other functions of insulin, getting fat into fat cells and keeping it there are not as effected by omega 6 base insulin. So when we get insulin resistant, fat can not get out of the fat cells until insulin gets lower, and our poor mitochondria get hungry, and send out the craving signal.

Another one suggests it is mono 18 and or total amount of fat. The first step in weight loss is to get Omega 6 and all manufactured food products our of our diet. That includes transfats, oxidized fats, glyconated fats, and hydrogenated fats. 

This implies that not only do we need to keep carbohydrate down, we need to keep omega 3 up to produce strong insulin, so that the insulin level can be low enough to release fat. Or perhaps it should be total fat that we need to keep down. What we need is insulin meters like glucose meter.

Something is not right in the literature. There is a relationship between cravings and fats, but what that relationship is is not clear. We have a three component equation, fat, carbohydrate and protein. This is a surface, not a line. In addition, the surface changes over time and exercise. It also depends it we are weight stable, losing, or gaining. It appears to me that weight stable is a knife edge we just need to keep crossing.

But what do I know? Reverse Engineering a diet is no easy task.

Insulin

Julianne at http://paleozonenutrition.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/nz-scientists-call-doctors-to-do-routine-omega-3-tests/  on a study calling for omega 3 testing. One quote is:

Their studies had shown omega-3 made insulin more effective and therefore improved carbohydrate and fat metabolism. That means people taking the right amount of omega-3 for their body could be less prone to developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, or both. 

Does this imply that insulin does not have a uniform structure and is made from omega 3 or omega 6, but the stuff from omega 3 works better. Is this the "cause of obesity", more omega 6 based insulin required, aka, insulin resistance, and you know the rest of the story?

Just one more piece likely. The difficulty in maintaining a weight loss is more social- ever present food, and ever present hunger/cravings. The cravings are the worst, and nobody has a solution. Many will not even acknowledge there existence. Tobacco and alcohol cravings leave, but not food cravings. They may go for a day or two, but then these return, with a vengeance. It is the cravings that create the problem. Perhaps I must go live as a hermit, without eatable food present. Then I would be only me to drag any food home. No temptation, no cravings, no weight issue. Well maybe. 

In the weight loss cycle (lose, gain, repeat), the meals are small, far apart,and hunger is a constant companion. It is easier to deal with then the cravings. The meals are low reward, consistent, boring. That is how it must be for me to lose weight. Short cycles may be the answer to weight stability.  

Waste to Hip ratio

The waste to hip ration provides a good fat/ok evaluation. For men waste/hip should be < 0.95, and for the ladies <0.8 or perhaps <0.75 for the shapely, or <0.9 for the straights. At those levels, the size of the love handles will be apparent.

Dopamine

Dopamine is the feel good chemical that we crave. If we have available receptors, and the receptors are not blocked, any stimulus will do. We are simple addicted to stimulus. It does not matter what that stimulus is. Sound, TV, work, people, music, food, drugs; the effect is the same; stimulation. Some of the stimulus, also have unwanted effects... food, drugs, alcohol, in addition to stimulus. We just want the stimulus.

So why are we addicted to the stimulus? Well it produces dopamine. That is just the nature of the human, we want more dopamine. Perhaps that is the problem, we need other method of stimulation, perhaps work, or thinking, writing, to provide ourselves non-caloric stimulation.

Or perhaps, we should just let go of the need for stimulation. Meditation. The ultimate in letting go of stimulation.   What ever the solution is, I do not think using chemicals to increase the dopamine is a solution, long term. We become resistant to the stimulus, and is that not the definition of addiction; chasing a declining effect of a substance. We can move on to a new chemical with greater effect. Cleaner effect. But that is just changing our addiction to a different drug. We need to get back to getting high on just life.

For weight control, we could fast for stimulus.

Perhaps we should just look at all this as addicted to stimulation.

The percription

http://thatpaleoguy.com/2011/10/25/saturated-fat-carbohydrates-and-cardiovascular-disease-clever-dutchies

concludes


Dietary [saturated fats] belong to the many false triggers of inflammation that result from the conflict between our slowly adapting genome and our rapidly changing lifestyle, but among these many factors they are not the most important. A reduction in the consumption of [carbohydrate] with a high glycaemic index, trans-fatty acids and linoleic acid, and an increased consumption of fish, vegetables and fruit, and a reduction of inactivity, sleep deprivation and chronic stress seem more realistic approaches to fight the current pandemic of cardiovascular disease resulting from chronic systemic low-grade inflammation.


ELCMM once again

Insulin resistance

Dr, Su at http://www.carbohydratescankill.com/2863/carbohydrate-addiction describes it like this:


I think of it as carbohydrates produce insulin resistance, (high insulin) which also blocks leptin signalling, locks fat into the fat cells, sweeps the blood of energy, and leaves me craving. Keep insulin down is the solution. to do that, I cannot eat carbohydrates.

Sharma

Dr Sharma knows a great deal about the treatment of obesity, but when it comes to recover and a cure, perhaps, he is weak in a couple of areas outside of the medical field.  His post here raised the points I will cover.

http://www.drsharma.ca/clinical-assessment-nutritional-status.html

• Inadequate protein intake can reduce satiety and promote the loss of lean body mass.

Right. We need 1.2 gm/kg of lean body mass/day. That is all. Satiety is a concept that does not apply to the obese and ex-obese. If we felt it, we would not be obese. We need to stop eating long before satiety, as soon as we are able to stop eating.

• Inadequate intake of complex carbohydrates can lead to B-vitamin deficiencies.

Hold on here. We can live quite well without sugar and grains, especially wheat. Wheat, ground whole wheat has a greater GI & GL that sugar, and all the vitimins are added chemicals. Modern processing, mineral depleted lands, and fertilizer has produced barren carbohydrates. Just take the chemicals and forget the carbohydrates. Add a bit if psyllium and manganese if necessary,  Many "complex carbohydrates" contain nothing but glucose strings. Or just ban the term  "complex carbohydrates" and replace it with whole vegetables. If you eat vegetables, there is little danger of being short on the Bs. If in doubt, take a heavy daily vitamin - mineral mix, a have a nice day.
• Inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables can lead to deficiencies in folic acid, magnesium and other minerals. 
right but cross out the fruits. Modern fruit is mainly carbohydrates; an occasional taste is ok. OH, by the way, folic acid is a B vitamin found in spinach, chard, turnip greens, liver, and in most green vegetables. Not so much in any normal factory farm fruit. 

• Inadequate intake of dairy products, together with decreased exposure to sunlight, can result in clinically significant calcium and vitamin D deficiencies, resulting in secondary hyperparathyroidism and loss of bone mineral mass.

Processed dairy has no natural vitamin D remaining after processing, and most of the minerals are bonded to the lactose after processing. This statement is true for raw milk, but not so true for processed milk. Take vitamin D, as it is added anyway, skip the lactose, and take calcium & magnesium. Vitamin D is found in rose hips and pine needles. Pine Tea anyone? Rose hips were pounded into late fall pemmican. Vitamin D and fiber, more and fat vector.

• Avoidance of red meat can result in iron deficiencies in women.

• Nutritional deficiencies are particularly common in people adhering to fad diets, individuals from lower-income strata, and following bariatric surgery.

Sub-clinical mineral and vitamin symptoms are just so common it is scarring.  Take a daily multiple vitamin. The vegetable are fertilized to such a point that most are mineral and vitamin depleted, as are the soils they are grown in. I suffer from magnesium, potassium, Vitamin D and vitamin C shortages before I started down the path of recovery. I ate a SAD diet before. Many of the fad diets are better, but the base problem is carbohydrates stimulate insulin, which leads to intermittent or full time insulin resistance, hunger, cravings, and weight gain. We go into a "feast mode" and famine seldom comes.  Cut the problem at the first, severely limit those problem carbohydrates, sugar, grains, and the problem amplifier, omega 6 oils.

Insulin Resistance

When the glycogen level in the muscle cells is full, the cells become insulin resistant, that is a higher insulin level is required to push glucose in to the cell. OK. So, too much glucose results in high insulin. The cell is repleted of glucose, plain full.

So exercise, vigorous or strenuous burns up glucose and glycogen, and the cell will accept glucose again at lower insulin level. The cell is partly depleted of glucose. Gentle exercise tents to burn more fat.


Now remember the fat cell, with a input hormone and an output hormone, both keying off the absolute insulin level. The input is turned on by high insulin, putting fat into fat cells, as well as glucose. The output requires the insulin level to be low to release FFA (free fatty acid) for energy. So if we are insulin resistant, we never get to have low insulin enough to release FFA. We conserve fat, not a good thing for weight loss.

The insulin also keeps the blood triglycerides in the chylomicrons, and we get that craving for food.  There is a relationship between insulin and chylomicrons. Insulin resistance results in to much insulin, and FFA is trapped in chylomicrons and fat cells.

So, with glucose full and no FFA, we get hunger unless we do something to cause the glucose to be burned and release FFA and A co A for the mitochondria, so they are calling feed me, feed me, and we get a severe food craving, not hunger.

So snacks need to be pure fat, and a vector,not carbohydrates. That allows the craving to be resolved without raising the insulin level.

New Lifestyle Concept.

A new lifestyle or lifestyle choice is an non-diet thinking of a concept. We change our eating pattern for good reason, and will be happy at what ever out weight settles at.

The first lifestyle choice should be to ban sugar in all forms as these carry no nutrients, only carbohydrates in modified forms, that are not helpful to vigor. Sugars contribute to disease and weight. Along with those the sugar substitutes in all forms should go. Those keep alive the taste for sugar. When carrots and parsnips become sweet, we may have lost the desire for sugar. For more information on sugar, try Dr. Lustig, Yudkin, or Sugar Shock.

Sugars drive insulin up, which locks fat into the fat cells, and cause hunger as the blood glucose begins to decline faster than the insulin effects are reversed, resulting in excess insulin. Insulin second job is to help glucose into the muscle cells. As long as insulin is high, the fat cannot come out of the fat cells to feed other cells, hence we develop the craving that says feed me, feed me.  

Enters, stage left, insulin resistance. Insulin is always high, hunger is omnipresent. Wella, obesity.

The next food to give up entirely should be wheat.  See Wheat Belly. The effect is the same as sugar. High insulin.

Saturated manufactured fats should be avoided as these trans-fats contribute to heart failure. Omega 6 oils are often the base of these, and there is an excess of omega 6 oils in our foods, hence avoiding all omega 6 oils will be helpful. Omega 6 does not cause insulin to be output, just increases the amount of insulin outputted, contributing to hyperinsulinemia, leading to obesity.

Why does the government not publish these facts? It would cause a great deal of liability and food shortages short term, and hurt the agricultural economy.
 

Appetite Management LCHF

The secret of weight control is appetite management, combined with eating to down regulate lipoprotein lipase and up regulate hormone sensitive lipase. The previous step in chain is down regulate insulin. Let the liver control blood glucose. Eat accordingly.

What controls appetite?

David Kessler, in his book, The End Of Overeating, suggests that appetite is caused by cues, sight or smell of food, meal time, habit, advertising, hunger: anything that causes us to want to eat. These are external. It is the internal ones that are more concerning, the desire that arises without warning, that desire for something. Are these insulin overshot problems, or lack of available free fatty acids (FFA)?

When I do not get enough fat, I get cravings which are difficult to resist; therefore I eat, or overeat, aka, lose control of my appetite, and get a run-a-way. The food program has to start with sufficient fat to manage my appetite, but not excess.

A spoon of coconut oil will remove hunger, but what about the cravings. It seem to remove cravings some of the time, but not consistently. WTF. These are some kind of emotional / psychological / chemical / food addiction -- driven issue. In the end, it comes down to eating to obtain the necessary nutrient, enough fat to avoid hunger, dealing with all the emotional / psychological issues, and avoiding all the chemicals that cause me problems; sugar, grains, omega 6 oils, nuts, cheese.  These are all addictive foods that cause me problems. After that, I need to guard against overeating by preparing only the required amount of food.

The life of the obese and ex-obese is not easy, but it is simple. Each morning I need to reset my plan for the day. As I have recently gone to semi-retirement, my life is in a state of flux, and the evenings evolve to much TV.  That needs to change.

Learning about food, nutrition, what the body requires, and does not require, only gets us so far. That has taken me about four years in my spare time. Much of that time has been over coming publicly promoted wrong information (government bullshit) (consider joining the 99%). Now comes the doing, the fine tuning if you like, but specifically the doing and overcoming the cravings. If there is a secret of being thin for life, that is where it is at. Essentially, I must learn to live with the cravings and hunger with out eating.


Perhaps it is time to join the few percent who live without food issues. All the thin people I know, without eating issues, do not seem to have much appetite. They ignore hunger and get no cravings. 

Why LCHF works

note to self:
 from http://everydaypaleo.com

 At the fat cell, an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL) acts as the doorman, ushering fatty acids into the fat cells.  Inside the fat cell, another enzyme, hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), has the job of cleaving the first sulfide bond on the triglycerides and releasing fatty acids to be used as energy.  So LPL is working when you are storing fat and HSL is working when you are “burning” fat. Here’s the rub – both of these enzymes are sensitive to the presence of insulin.  When insulin  is present, LPL is on duty and you are storing fat.  When insulin is gone, HSL is on duty and you are using your stored fat as energy.


self add
Insulin is controlled, in an undamaged metabolism, by carbohydrate intake. Cut the carbohydrates cut insulin, cuts fat storage, turn on fat release. Now here is the odd thing, on LCHF the efficiency of the calories seem to decrease.

Pig food, Pig feathers

The government's funded researchers recommend eating pig food, not the pig. (http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/10/13/scientists-reveal-plan-to-double-the-worlds-food-supply/). I recommend eating the pig after they have processed the grain into pig.

How much fatty meat does one need to eat to stay satiated?

Appetite Management

We do not have control of appetite, the best we can do is manage appetite. It would be useful to know the cause of appetite beyond the need for energy. We can separate appetite, the desire to eat, from hunger, the physical sensation. The cause of the physical sensation is unclear, and is usually shaken off as hormones or peptides. But is in the gut hormones or gut hunger, as the gut is fed mainly by first past effects, it uses the freshly absorbed fats and glucose for energy. When it runs out of food to process, then what? Is hunger the result of up regulation of gluconeogenesis or other liver effect?

The rate of absorption of nutrients through the gut is of interest here. Carbohydrates, 12 grams/minute, protein 4, and fats 2, depending on the reference source, and likely body size, and gut size which is modified by our diet in our youth.   Now it is no wonder that fats are more satiating. Perhaps our snacks, if required, should be fats, like coconut.

Eating enough fat to not get hungry is a hard thing to do for me. I have been fat-phobic in an effort to lose weight but the media, doctors, and dietitians were lying to me. I need to eat fat to lose weight by managing my appetites.

Greed Driven Culture

We are or have become a greed driven culture. More, more, more. More money, more things money can buy. More food, sell, sell, push people who do not need food to buy. Make more money, invest in something to make more money. Now the investments have become rip-offs, frauds. How do we separate real investment from rip-offs?

Greed is good for governments, it keeps the economy strong. But how does a moral individual make a living, without fraud, gauging the client, without enticing client to buy than which they do not need?  What is the dividing line between gauging and fair market price? Bill Gates? Risk of capital is one thing, but in intellectuality property, what is the value? Expended time? Universities sell services, education. It is the individuals gamble whether there a career at the end of it, and what that career can be.

Greed extends to food, to much, to palatable. The food industry concept of palatable is "tastes like more." The only way to fight is no packaged food. But every cook, chief, wife, mother is into completive cooking, too much, to good. How is anyone to lose and keep weight off?

First I need to go against society, the pushes of food and greed, and the enticements. They are evil, just as the step parent who entices the child with poisonousness foods. (the old storey of peanut butter to allergic kid) Society, TV, advertising has become essentially evil, when we consider the high percent of obese people being marketed food that is causing the obesity problem. There is the push back. The food industry has become evil, for the lack of a better word.

Now what to do about it, beyond stop buying?

Glucose Control

(note to self)  Glucose Control is conducted by two organs, the liver to raise glucose, and the pancreas to lower blood glucose. Insulin also sweeps fat into fat cells and locks it there. We can give the pancreas a rest by cutting our intake of glucose to never overflow the glucose storage- glycogen. The storage capacity is about 300C, or less. So if we eat less than 300/3 at a meal, it should not overflow.

Overeating can be grouped as follows:

Food Addiction, Chemical dopamine, as wheat, opioid, or glucose - insulin reaction.
Typically, sugar, wheat, Omega 6 oils, cheese, nuts, occasionally too much roots, beef, dairy (all insulin-o-genic)

Food Addiction, Psychological, Obsessive compulsive. Dopamine drives the craving. That is the function of dopamine, to produce a desire for something. That is dopamines function. Dopamine drives us to work, to sleep, sex, water, and toward food, It just happens it drives us to much toward food. We need something else instead. Say recovery, say not eating, say weight loss, say fellowship with others who also have this excess dopamine issue.  Is that why smoking helped overeating?

Overeating due to Emotional causes... Any emotion, sorrow, joy, boredom, pleasure, indecision, lack of choice, add available hyper-palatable food and we have overeating. If in a isolated state, it can become a binge, Binge eating. (some claim that with blood glucose control is the real issue)

Habit overeating... family social pressure, not following portion control... Satiety is not enough to cause stopping of eating, we need to stop as soon as we are able to stop. Metered meals?

Hyper-palatable and available food, by it's self, is sufficient to cause overeating, Add social, environmental, stress, family, and we have obesity. The question almost becomes, why are there thin people? (picky eaters, strong aversion to food, fat, or to busy avoiding food. Is this why obesity occurs in families?

Blood glucose, carbohydrate intake-insulin, energy shortfall, call for food, food response--- and high insulin blocking leptin signaling, high insulin keeping fat locked away...

Bernstein, S not R

Today I see that Dr. Stanley B is clamming his method is " confidential business information." Ya sure. His ex-partner says it is public information. They are both correct. It is all public information, but which parts of the public information is actually correct is the "confidential" part.

I think most people will lose weight on a heavy injected B vitamin and 800 C/day of low carb, high fiber, proteins and greens, and a heavy dose of twice a week counselling - indoctrination - into the way of Dr. SB, if they can stay on the program. They become dependent on the Dr, SB clinics. Good business, and they do loss weight.

What is a person to believe?

Here is what I think about Southbeach

The italics and strike through are my comments:

South Beach Diet by Arthur Agatston, M.D. 

1. We eat too many sugary and starchy bad carbohydrates

Bad carbs, also known as simple carbohydrates, are the refined, highly processed sugary and starchy foods--including refined white flour breads, bagels, rolls, cakes, cookies, crackers, cupcakes, muffins, sugary cereals, chips, pretzels, and so on--that have had all or most of their natural nutrients and fiber removed. Add all manufactured eatable products, all processed starches, all cereals, grains, to complete the list.

Because the fiber has been stripped away, simple carbohydrates are rapidly digested and release their energy almost immediately, resulting in exaggerated swings in blood sugar that cause hunger and cravings. Today most Americans eat far too many bad carbs and not enough good carbs, which is one reason we have the epidemics of obesity and diabetes in this country.

What we all need to do is eliminate bad carbs from our diets and replace them with nutrient-dense fiber-rich good carbohydrates--vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, and plenty of them. Studies consistently bear out that regularly eating whole grains, for example, translates into real-world better-health outcomes. FT-- Whole grain is just less evil than processed grains

In fact, one study showed that those who reported eating at least three servings of whole grains daily had 10 percent less visceral (belly) fat than those who reported eating whole grains infrequently. Interestingly, the same study also showed that the fat-busting benefits of whole grains were lost when people ate them along with four or more servings of refined grains daily.

2. We eat too much bad fat

As recently as the 1980s and '90s, the conventional wisdom was that all fats were bad. Now we know that there are good fats, bad fats, and really bad fats.

The good fats are the polyunsaturated omega-3s and the monounsaturated omega-9s. Omega-3 fatty acids can be found in good amounts in sunflower seeds, walnuts, and flaxseeds, and in their oils, and in fish (particularly oily fish like salmon and herring).

Omega-9 fatty acids (also known as oleic acid) are found in canola, peanut, and olive oils; in avocados; in nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pistachios, and pecans; and in seeds like pumpkin and sesame. Be aware of evil omega 6 that come with the seed oil O9

Numerous studies have documented a link between the consumption of anti-inflammatory omega-9-rich foods and a decreased risk for developing heart disease, asthma, breast cancer, and other cancers, as well as various autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases believed to be associated with inflammation in the body.

The bad fats are the saturated fats, found predominantly in red meats and full-fat dairy. Saturated fat raises our bad LDL cholesterol and is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and several forms of cancer. When consumed in excess, calories from saturated fat will crowd out the healthier calories from good fats and good carbs from your diet. We produce saturated fat from the carbohydrates we eat. Is the body trying to kill us, or are saturated fats benign. Most of the studies use saturated PUFA (Omega 6, evil stuff) in the tests.

The really bad fats are the trans fats, which can be found in stick margarines (but not in most soft tub margarines, now more commonly known as vegetable oil spreads), in foods fried in hydrogenated oils, and in many packaged snack foods containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Saturated omega 6, by  Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, and others

Like saturated fats, trans fats raise bad LDL cholesterol levels. But worse than saturated fats, they can also lower the levels of good HDL cholesterol. Researchers have concluded that trans fats increase the risk of heart disease more than any other nutrient on a per-calorie basis, even when consumed in small amounts, and that they may also increase the risk for obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and cancer. Wheat and Omega 6 combined are real deadly.

FT - sources - french fries, all Omega 6 cooked foods, grain raised beef, seed oils in general

While much of the research on good fats and bad fats has focused on their impact on cardiovascular disease and cancer, new studies are continually shedding light on how "good" unsaturated fats may also have a beneficial effect on conditions such as osteoporosis, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, age-related memory loss, infertility, and other chronic ailments.

This exciting research is in its earliest stages, but what's important to remember is that these studies don't mean you should run out and start consuming unsaturated fats with abandon. All fats, even the good ones, are calorie-dense and should be consumed in moderation.

FT  Where's the grass fed beef and other meats?

3. We sit too much               Yada, Yada, Yada

Today, it is possible to manage our entire lives--working, playing, shopping, and even socializing--without ever getting up from our computers.

According to recent statistics, about two-thirds of American adults report that they are physically inactive--that is, they are sedentary most of the time. And only about 22 percent of American adults say that they do any meaningful exercise at all.

To put this in perspective, the 65 percent of the population that routinely drives instead of walks, sits instead of stands, and rides the elevator instead of taking the stairs is at an increased risk for all the chronic conditions I mentioned above and will ultimately pay a high price in terms of their physical and mental health.

In short, sitting at a computer all day can kill you.

I like to think of fitness as a three-legged stool. The first two legs are cardiovascular conditioning and core strengthening. Doing both types of exercise can take less than half an hour a day of your time, and you will reap enormous health benefits in return.

The third leg of the stool is moving--that is, making the effort to incorporate more physical activity into your daily life even when you are not exercising. I'm talking about walking a few blocks instead of driving everywhere, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or getting up and walking over to a colleague's office instead of sending an email.

These are the kinds of simple, everyday activities that kept human beings healthy before technology rendered getting out of our chairs obsolete.

4. We don't get enough quality sleep

Unfortunately, many people still think of sleep as a luxury, not a necessity. According to a Stanford University study, 20 percent of American adults complain of excessive sleepiness during the day due to poor sleep at night.

Lack of sleep does not just leave you groggy the next day; its health implications are much broader. When we chronically miss sleep, we are more vulnerable to a whole slew of physical and emotional problems, including obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and depression, not to mention a weakened immune system.

This sounds a lot like what happens when we eat badly and don't get enough exercise, but it is absolutely true. Sleep is critical for good health.

There is no reason why most people can't get a good night's sleep, but it may take a bit of effort on your part to get there. Very often, making some simple changes in environment and lifestyle can help resolve typical sleep problems over time.

Start by de-cluttering your bedroom and removing any electronic equipment. Emailing, texting, watching TV, or exercising too close to bedtime can make it difficult to fall asleep.

A comfortable bed is also essential. If your mattress is saggy, lumpy, too hard, or if it's more than 7 to 10 years old, it should be replaced. Keep the temperature in the room cool but not too cold--about 65˚ to 72˚F. And do what you can to make sure your bedroom is quiet and dark at night.

In addition, too much stimulation from nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, or spicy foods can also be problematic. Avoid eating a big meal right before bed, since it can rev up your metabolism. Conversely, going to bed hungry can also interfere with your sleep cycle, so work in a healthy snack that contains some good carbohydrates and protein an hour or two before you hit the sack. Also try to stick to a schedule of going to sleep and waking up at about the same time every day.

Finally, if you or your partner is a snorer or if you think you may have a physical, emotional, or hormonal condition that could be interfering with your ability to sleep well, don't hesitate to discuss your concerns with your doctor. The sooner you can work on a strategy to perfect the quality of your sleep, the better. A restorative eight to nine hours every night is your goal.

It's now absolutely clear that a healthy lifestyle--eating a proper diet, losing weight if necessary, and getting plenty of exercise and a good night's sleep--is the surest, safest, best way to prevent the downward spiral that is manifested in our nation being fatter and sicker than ever before. So let's do it.

Just start making healthier lifestyle choices most of the time.

And there you have it folks, meat, vegetable and hard physical work. Sounds Paleo.

Obsessive Personalities

Obsessive Personalities are going to obsess,  regardless of the situation. That is what make them obsessive personalities. What they chose to obsess about can vary, and the subject does not matter, just point them at something they kinda enjoy, and the obsession can happen or not, who knows.

That is why 12 Step programs work for so many people, it give them something to obsess about until they learn about obsessive personalties, and how to temper obsession with life, or to alternate many obsessions, by limiting time, or switching between each obsession or other cooping method.

Some jump in, learn about the program, how it works, why it works, and use it for a lifestyle change. Others run after the first meeting, never to be seen again. Many of those come back later after more years of self abuse.  Who is to know. The basic first level of service is to attend meeting and learn about others and yourself. See if you have the characteristics being displayed, and what you can learn about yourself. What are others beliefs and values, what are your values and beliefs. We see characteristics in others before we see it in ourselves. It is by this disordered process that we begin to learn about ourselves through this unguided process, and many of find solutions to our issues, as new issues that come to light. 

All this disorder processes is conducted in a helpful atmosphere, without rushing or forcing before anyone is ready. Some groups grow to great size, some fail quickly. Life is a process, recovery is a process. The process can virtually assure recovery, at least change, if we stick to the process long enough.    

Meeting also provide a time for self reflection. We can all use more of that.

Controlling Blood Glucose

The most powerful statement that I have found to control - deflect- stop dead- the food pushers is "No thanks, (insert the food) really messes with my blood sugar." and they just go away. The second time I add. "Wild blood sugar makes me mean, and I want to beat on something."  These may be referenced  as Yetties because of there cry "Yets, Yets, Yets". 

If you cannot sit in front of the offending food, and not eat it, run the reasons for not eating it, and decide if it is really suitable for food, or walk away. We do not need to abuse ourselves to "not offend" someone who does not have our best interests at heart. Anyone who is tempting an overweight person or a person with a "weight / eating problem" to eat with nuts, candies, snack manufactured eatable products, cheese, etc, does not have the heavy persons best interests at heart. It is OK to leave and it will be OK to never go there again.

Some people cannot accept that food addiction and overeating are separate animals. These are both eating problems, weight is just the result. Well, the overeater can dust of the crumbs, and continue life without the craving for more as soon as the food is gone, the emotion relieved, or the day has passed or the cue has been removed. The food addict; however, will have cravings as soon as the fix wears off, and be right back to the fridge, pantry, store, where ever they need to go for the next fix. The craving is internal, not psychological, not a visual stimulation, not a available hype-palatable source. The glucose - insulin issue that Taubes explains is also chemical, and is one of the addiction / addiction like issues that must be addressed to lose and keep weight off: that should say adopting a lifestyle that puts eating and food in it's proper perspective.  Remember, that the mere presence of  "palatable" (liked, appetite stimulating) food is sufficient cause alone to cause overeating and weight gain. 

Overeating and food addiction may co-exist in the same person or not. In OA we see food addicts, and compulsive eaters, and other food and eating issues that people are living with, often untreated, undiagnosed, and there is no real treatment, just learning to live with the condition. Some of us have learned to live with our conditions, live in relative management of our weights, and our lives. Some use just the program, some of us use the program until we can understand the science to fix the problem. Once we understand the science a bit, eating behaviour becomes easier to manage. It is management, not control that we obtain. There is no solution to some of the eating issues yet, and there is much negative, unhelpful criticism. I am not concerned about what other think of the problems until they can offer a real solution, not just more of the same advise that has failed us in the past.

It takes a great deal of perverseness to recover from these issues, and few people understand the differences, or the recovery process. I have wasted much time believing the advise of well educated doctors, psychologists, dietitians, and wrong authorities. The solution became obvious when I started to compute the numbers and read Atwater. Bullshit is bullshit, regardless of how well educated or decorated the bull is. Heat energy is not uniformly converted to bio-mechanical energy, the efficiency varies. Oh well, that is a two line summary of 30+ years of reading in my spare time, trying to recover from this eating problem.

Take apart of popular understanding of Food addiction

I came across the following article that describes someone's understanding of what food addiction is about, and their concept of treatment. The article is in green.

Food Addiction – Are You a Food Addict?
Food addiction is a contemporary term used to describe a pathological disorder; the compulsive, excessive craving for and consumption of food.  


This combines compulsive eating and addictive eating, without understanding the difference. Compulsive eating is emotion based, take any emotion, add food, and you have a reason to overeat. That emotion could be sadness, boredom, celebration, stress, depression, any thing that provides the cue to eat, followed by the overeating. This is environment and emotion issue. The typical psychological solution is to identify and address the emotion or cue, then react appropriately to food situation, weather this is to eat, or run, or some other action. We can develop cooping strategies, or pick from the many standard cooping strategics, learn them and apply them, to overcome overeating and obesity. OA is a great place to learn these.

Food addiction is chemical induced craving, which comes as a result of eating the addiction food, to obtaining the reward, satisfaction of the craving. The cause of the craving - reward cycle may be dopamine, or opioid, or insulin overshot. It does not mater, once identified total abstinence from that food is the only known solution. We should stop and sort out the severity of the addiction. Many people are addicted to chocolate, but are able to keep it to a few hundred calories, and do not have a weight or obesity problem.  I am not concerned about addiction which is not a problem for their life, or those who are unwilling to give up there drug of choice. There is no point in wasting my time with those. Live your life as you like; however, if you wish help with overcoming addiction, I will offer my help, to the extent of my ability and knowledge. Overcoming addiction is a bitch.


This condition is not only manifested by the abnormal intake of food, but the intake and craving for foods that are, in themselves, harmful to the individual. While society and the medical profession have readily understood alcoholism and drug abuse, it is only in recent years that there is an equal acceptance of the fact that persons may be addicted to food in the same way. When any substance is taken into the body regardless of its potential for harm or in excess of need, that substance is said to be abused. Individuals who abuse substances in such a way are addicts; these persons become physiologically and mentally dependent upon certain substances, in this case food.


Once again, addiction and overeating are combined, but the following questions mostly apply to emotion based overeating except for: Are there foods that are harmful to you, but you eat them anyway?

One need only ask themselves a few key questions to determine his or her addiction:

• Do you eat when you are not hungry or when you feel low or depressed?
• Do you eat in secret or eat differently in front of others than when you’re alone?
• Do you consume inordinate amounts of food and then purge later with vomiting or laxatives to get rid of the excess?
• Are there foods that are harmful to you, but you eat them anyway?
• Do you feel guilty after eating?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions than you are likely addicted to food.
Food Addiction – Causes and Manifestations
Food addiction, as with any other addiction, is a loss of control. The individual understands that their way of eating is harmful, but continues the destructive behavior. The phenomenon of food addiction is both physiological and psychological.

This applies to food addiction:  The individual understands that their way of eating is harmful, but continues the destructive behaviour.  The trick is to identify the food, get separate, and stay separate from the addictive food.

Many individuals have what may be termed “food allergies.” These are trigger foods which when ingested cause negative symptoms and changes in the body but at the same time provoke cravings. The individual, for instance, the diabetic, may be made “sick” by the intake of sugar, but will still continue to crave it and eat it in excess, with adverse effects. Studies are also continuing regarding certain proteins in milk and wheat which when ingested produce narcotic-like effects. These chemicals mimic the body’s natural painkillers, endorphins, and have thus been termed “exorphins.” Individuals may be suffering from depression, low self-esteem or loneliness; they will find a high when ingesting large quantities of food or certain foods such as salt or chocolate. The immediate high gives way to a sick feeling or guilt, leading to more depression. Because the addict is out of control, he or she will turn once again to the same eating patterns in a conscious or unconscious effort to feel better.


Applies to overeating, not food addiction.  Sugar in all forms, wheat, grains, cheese, nuts, and manufactured eatable products as separate items or combined are typical of addiction. Overeating can be anything. These two separate conditions can coexist in the same person, and must be treated separately for easy success. OA approach combines everything and does work; however, I found it much easier to understand what is going on and treat them separately in myself.     

Food addicts come equally from all age, race, and gender groups. They are overweight, underweight, and some of normal weight. They are linked by their obsession with food. The obese individual suffers humiliation due to excess weight; they may be lethargic and sedentary unable to move around freely. The underweight person may be bulimic; though they eat obsessively, they are so afraid of becoming overweight that they will induce vomiting, take laxatives, or exercise compulsively to prevent weight gain. They may also alternate with periods of anorexia, refraining from food to control their weight. The person of normal weight while appearing normal may be obsessed with food, constantly thinking about what to eat or how much they weigh. The entire subject of food is a misery to them; they count calories compulsively, eating without enjoyment.
Food Addiction – Is There Any Hope for Recovery?
Food addiction is a serious condition with many adverse health consequences. Obesity, psychological disorders, diabetes, and gastric anomalies are just a few.

The first step to recovery is, of course, the realization and acceptance of the problem. Medically, individuals must identify which foods -- the trigger foods -- cause allergic symptoms and cravings.

There is no easy way to combat food addiction; it will require intense discipline in modifying eating patterns and lifestyle. A manageable exercise program should be embraced along with dietary changes that may be maintained. Ambitious attempts to change eating patterns abruptly or to lose weight quickly rarely have long-term success.

The physiological and psychological dependency of food can best be broken when the individual recognizes that they are powerless to combat it alone. 


The remainder of this article was pushing their religion as a cure. The fist step of recovery is the desire to change and the perseverance to do it. 

Separation of Addiction and Overeating

We overeaters are a subset of the population who's first reaction to many things in life is to reach for food, consume food, too much, too frequently. Any event or condition will be sufficient. Anything produces a cue. Then, we need to decide how to react to the cue.

Lets stop for a moment and separate out several other situations, true hunger, and food addiction. These can and do occur, but we must learn to separate these out. I can tell the difference, can you? I have all three issues.

The separating characteristic of food addiction is the craving is very specific, and will not be satisfied by anything but the desired food. Normal overeating, emotion based, almost any food will do. And also, when the cause is removed, the craving goes away. Chemical induced craving (like glucose-insulin issue) can also be specific, but these behave differently. With food addiction, there was no relief for several days, and ongoing severe intermittent cravings for months, and with any taste, the craving returns. Complete abstinences may be primitive but it works and the medical community has nothing to offer. It is no more difficult than a person with a nut allergy staying away from nuts, or a celiac staying away from gluten.  The approach is scoffed on and at, and decried, criticized by many, but have you got anything that works better short and long term? We all would like a softer easier way.   

The overeater will respond to almost any emotion or chemical stimulus in the same way, a craving for food, as separated from appetite, the desire to eat. Any emotion will do, celebration, stress, boredom, indecision, to busy, to quite, people, lack of people, and then there is chemical, drop in blood glucose, insulin rise, insulin surges, glucose-insulin- leptin issue, or just the presence of palatable food is enough.

Anybody got any real solutions?

I encountered this articular at 

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:19989.10773315572/rid:b70086f38f33a65c204dad1150b81743

and wanted to keep a copy You Can't Heal Food Addiction by Treating Emotional Eating Not everyone with a compulsive or emotional eating disorder is a food addict. There are many people who can heal their emotional issues with food without ever having to acknowledge or give up an unhealthy relationship with a specific food or type of food.   And for others, those foods can be as problematic as alcohol is to the alcoholic. Even one bite can set off a chain of physical, biochemical reactions in the brain and body.   While a food addict may have as many unresolved emotional issues to work through as theemotional eater, a food addict also has to deal with the physical dependence. Though some people (including professionals) are unsure or uninformed about the theory of food addiction, research has shown that some foods, including sugar, can be just as addictive and harmful as other serious drugs.   Dr. Mark Gold, head of psychiatry at University of Florida in Gainsville, has done a lot of work in food addiction research, along with many others.   It's not as simple of identifying yourself as either an emotional eater or a food addict. In some cases, you might not know the food addiction is there until you start to unravel the emotional problems. As a first step, you might review this self-assessment created at Yale University: http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/addiction/FoodAddictionScale09.pdf   Another challenge is that while most therapists are equipped to deal with emotional eating, very few therapists have the training and understanding to treat food addiction. That is a specialty here at the White Picket Fence Counseling Center, and we take a highly individualized approach to support people through the process of identifying the true nature of their food issues.   We are also beginning to train our interns in this area, as well as enlightening other students and therapists with our seminars and presentations.   It's not easy to face addiction – once you "put the food down" (stop eating the food you're addicted to), more emotions can come up and you may even feel a sense of loss from giving them up (you can contact us for more details about our "Grief, Loss and Food" workshop).  It is actually more of a "letting go" process.   On the other hand, it can be validating to realize that your compulsion around food is not due to a lack of willpower; it's a chemical reaction that's the same as gluten or lactose intolerance. And that can be a real relief after struggling for so long.   More about this soon...   Warmly, Sandee   Sandee S. Nebel, MS Licensed Mental Health Counselor Qualified Supervisor for Mental Health Counselor Interns

Moderation

Moderation is a complex topic that people like Sharma tout as being a good rule. It is my opinion that it is a good concept within limits, like Tabasco sauce, spices, salt, and minor issues. For many important problem, moderation is a fools play thing, just like a live poisonous snake. Oh well, shit happens.

If we have an addiction to a food with cravings for more attached, if that food is essentially poisonous to us, allergies, sensitivities, rashes and the like, we need to stay away strictly. I do not need a doctor to tell me that is the best approach, I consider that to be self evident. I do not need a test to convince myself that I am intolerant of something, my reaction to them is sufficient. The down side is that I may be excluding something that is not causing a problem, but little is essential for life. There are those idiots that say we need to develop tolerance to those things through exposure, but to them I say, if I punch you in the face enough times, will you develop tolerance to that?

Placing caps on a serving, such as 100 calories total for one meal of a starchy food, corn, beans, rice, oats may be one way, as long as that does not produce or keep alive an addiction, craving, or other negative issue.

Carbohydrates stimulate insulin, insulin blocks leptin signalling, insulin stores fat in fat cells, and keeps it there. Omega 6 oils cause larger insulin response when carbohydrates are consumed. Weight loss causes hyperinsulinemia, over production of ghrelin,  gut peptides and other hormones. Trans-fats and damaged fats are damaging, and should be treated as poison. Likewise sugar in all forms, and sugar like. Wheat Belly by W. Davis. Grains. Beams. Tofu. Dairy. Yeasts. HFCS. There are a lot of potential negative issues. Alcohol is addicting, as is chocolate, and complete abstinence is the only treatment.

There are those too, who are addicted to something, and are unwilling to give it up, but rather limit there consumption it all its effects to some amount, and go through life this way. It works if they can maintain that limit. Some of use are unable to, some not so much. Some people play Russian Roulette to.  The safe play is total abstinence. Gamble if you like, it is your life.

Gross Obesity Recovery, Sustained Recovery

Setting out limits of our topic area is quite important, to set a frame of reference, our context of discussion, to limit disagreement, and cut through the misleads, the box cannons as it were in old time. That is risk management, in one form. Defining the topic, and the limits, yet bringing in outside information to provide background and methodology for advancement.

Obesity was rare in old times. It did exist, but rare. High wheat eating Egyptians, The grain eaters of the Mediterranean, and sugar eaters of Old England, oat eaters of Scotland, the meat, potatoes and bread of Ireland after the famine. All we need do is to live actively the life style of those before industrial development, heat, refrigeration, transportation, and the like, eat the foods they ate, and the problem should go away. Ah, but can we? Do we need to go that far?

I have lost something greater than 50 Kg, and sustained that loss for most of three years now. It has been interesting. I am not where I think I should be but then, it is longer at this level that in any of my weight loss cycles before. I never before realized  how damaging some foods and ideas really are.

I am a disaggregate thinker, linking two concepts, one thinking and second, disaggregate modelling that I learned about all those many years ago at university. This is not an actively learned skill, that is just the way I am.  I have a engineering degree, and a few (understatement) courses beyond that and in semi-retirement. I do not write well, and spelling/ proof reading/ word usage is less than perfect but we can not be perfect. ADD, dyslectic, bad memory, or lazy, I do not know. Weight loss/ diet/ obesity recovery lends itself to disaggregation quite well as it is sorting spaghetti type of analysis. Take one string and pull it out, lay it out straight as far as it will go, and go on to the next. Once in a great while, the whole string is revealed, and it all makes scene.

Concepts that Matter is a lovely book by AC Grayling. It is like reading an  encyclopaedia, alphabetic,  to organize a disjointed lifetime collection of ideas that the author thinks are important. Perhaps that is the way to organize obesity recovery, on small topic at a time.