Category: The skeptic’s lounge

Why exercise and fitness goals are not sustainable for a lifetime

~ Green Apple Dietitian ~ Leave a comment

Since the new year, dieting and exercise commercials dominated our viewing screens. The pressure to “fix yourself” is in full swing. But the perfect exercise routine isn’t a destination to the ultimate fitness utopia. At the very least, if you’ve been active in some way for most of your life your body might reward you for it. But life always has a way of sending us back to the sidelines.

After bruising my ribs during a fall, my usual exercise routine came to a stop. Lifting my left arm over my head or twisting my waist was excruciating. For me, the start of the year meant avoiding as much pain as possible. While watching TV, the “new-year-new-you” commercials interrupted my shows constantly. Every year it’s the same.

Fitness ads tell us that the product they’re selling will give us everything we want out of life. The now-famous stationary bike company is the latest example. The machines are expensive and membership for video classes is extra. The ridiculous hype is so obvious as they try to make customers feel they’re getting more for their high-priced soon-to-be dusty clothes rack. The sweaty actor’s gregarious yell of satisfaction while feverously peddling could be mistaken for an adult movie.

The “if I can do it, you can do it” mantra forgets about life’s uncertainties and ignores individual levels of physical ability and motivation. Maintaining a fit body doesn’t happen in a vacuum. This generalization fails to meet folks where they are and instead encourages conformity to unrealistic fitness stereotypes. Any advice in commercials is just a sales pitch.

The fitness industry wants you to believe that you have total control over aging, body shape, and uncertainty. If you are sick and tired of being told how to look, here are three grounding perspectives against the hype and pressure to conform to be someone you’re not.  

Aging is a fact of life, not a failure

The fountain of youth has been for sale since the beginning of time. Regular exercise can help you move and feel better and there is science proving its benefits. But the promise of adding years to your life is ridiculous since tomorrow is promised to no one. Hoping for a better future only squanders the present. You’ll be a different person every decade you’re alive and you have every opportunity to reinvent yourself. Getting older can be as good or as bad as you make it. Physical fitness doesn’t have to be grueling and regimented unless you like that sort of thing. But I’m betting most of you don’t and your body will appreciate exercise at a more leisurely pace.

Accept and love your mind, body and soul, faults, and all

It’s okay if you’re not an athlete or live in the body of one. Running on a treadmill for an hour at full speed isn’t for most folks. Sometimes going outside to walk while enjoying the sunshine and fresh air will be all you need. If you don’t have a competitive spirit, does it make sense to push yourself? What you don’t enjoy you won’t do, period.

Starting an exercise regimen to change how you look won’t last. In the beginning, you might believe you have all the willpower to keep it going. But after a while, you’ll realize keeping up with the workouts is difficult. Results can take months. Building and maintaining muscle requires dedication that doesn’t fit the average lifestyle. In my experience, most folks don’t have time to spend all day in a gym or can afford a personal trainer most days of the week. I know don’t. As you get older maintaining that gym membership becomes more difficult.

Since more of us are living longer, the fitness industry pressures women to maintain a thin ideal even after 50. Menopause and weight gain are a natural part of aging, but they want you to believe it’s within your control if you buy their product. But it’s not all in your control, and no one ages in the same way. It used to be when women got older, they became more confident and accepting of themselves. But now the trend is the older you get the goal is to prove how young you can be.

You might end up back at the starting line… and that’s okay

Meet yourself where you are today. It might mean running a quarter mile when you used to run 10 miles or lifting 5 pounds instead of 20 pounds. Pushing your body to do more than it can handle is useless and leads to injury and self-deprecation. Ditch the all-or-nothing approach. Start with an exercise your body can do without feeling any pain. After a while choose a different movement and then do the same. When you build confidence, challenge your body to do more. Remember there will be days when you don’t have the motivation and other days when you want to go for it.

Being on the sidelines can give you a new perspective. You now have the extra time to plan and do things you were putting off. It might be the excuse you needed to slow down a bit to realize where you are and where you want to go.

Body shrinking is the number one goal for a lot of folks starting January 1st. Imagine if New Year’s resolutions were more about where we want to be in life instead of something as superficial as looks. How different would your life be?

The perfect fitness goal is doomed to fail for a variety of reasons. Especially if you’re working out to lose weight or sculpt muscle. When the unexpected happens those goals are just not sustainable which is why folks end up in the same place at the start of the new year. They do the same thing year after year expecting different results. It’s madness.

What will you do the next time that stupid stationary bike ad comes on? Me? I’m going to hit the off button.

How diabetes nutrition education “inadvertently” encourages disordered eating

~ Green Apple Dietitian ~ 1 Comment

Over 10 years ago, my mom was diagnosed with diabetes. She was referred to a diabetes educator who taught her about foods that affect blood glucose levels and those that don’t. The educator recommended a carbohydrate intake of 45 grams of carbs for meals and 15 grams of carbs for snacks. She didn’t keep up with carb counting but always ate a wide variety of foods, and is one of the healthiest eaters I’ve ever known.

Last year after my mom’s second knee surgery, she lost a noticeable amount of weight. It made sense the weight loss was the result of healing and her dedication to physical therapy. However, during a follow-up procedure, the anesthesiologist reviewed her chart and noticed her blood glucose was consistently above 200. After a 6-month checkup, her A1C was 9.5. When she was first diagnosed, excessive weight loss was a symptom of hyperglycemia and her recent weight change signaled high blood glucose once again.

Weight loss is not a reliable measure of good health. Rapid and significant weight loss can indicate an underlying issue. If eating habits and medication haven’t changed, it’s crucial to consult a healthcare practitioner for an evaluation.

My mom’s doctor, again, referred her to a diabetes educator. She received the same carb-counting education as before, including the proverbial cut-a-banana-in-half speech. Bananas sold in stores are usually larger than what’s recommended on diabetes exchange lists. Patients are encouraged to eat one half and save the other for later. From a behavioral health perspective, how the patient interprets this advice is important. Do they see it as increasing food variety, or an opportunity to consume fewer calories?

If the diabetes educator is unaware a patient is struggling with an eating disorder, the advice may encourage food restriction. If this patient is encouraged to eat half a banana, this validates disordered thinking, “Eat less food so you don’t gain weight.” The eating disorder doesn’t care about diabetes or the patient’s health, only the fear of weight gain. Without screening for and addressing disordered eating, diabetes care is like a band-aid that comes off in the water.

Diabetes educators teach patients about foods that raise blood glucose. The goal of this education is to improve their diet, so it trends within a healthy range. But unfortunately, traditional carb-counting diets put food into distinct categories like eating disorder thought patterns. In simplistic terms, the carb-counting diet has 2 major lists of foods. 1. Foods that don’t affect blood glucose. 2. Foods that affect blood glucose. 3. The eating disorder will see them as good and bad foods while sifting through them to find safe foods that won’t cause weight gain. The result is usually less food intake while raising the risk of malnutrition.

Eating disorders aside, carb-counting diets are not easy to follow, especially when preferred foods are not available. Science proves behavior change is difficult. Not everyone will adapt well to a new diet as people tend to move toward what’s expedient. When feeling stressed, some patients might stop seeking treatment altogether or seek unproven alternative care treatments that can make diabetes worse.

After her appointment, what my mom said later that day is something I hear all too often in my practice, “I don’t know what to eat.” While revisiting the education booklet at home she said, “I’ve forgotten about the carbs. I should get back to that.” Yet she was confused about the difference between a carbohydrate and a protein. Her desire to change perceived incorrect eating behavior insinuated by the diet was evident. She also wasn’t happy with the idea she couldn’t have her oatmeal for breakfast when it was suggested she try to eat something different in the morning.

In my mom’s case, carb-counting education disrupted her healthy relationship with food by causing her to second-guess her choice to eat a banana and oatmeal. Later, she began giving away foods she loved because she believed she could no longer eat them.

As a dietitian specializing in disordered eating, I’ve observed how a carb-counting diet can overwhelm some folks more than it can help. It encourages perfectionistic dieting behaviors that are difficult to follow in real-world situations. The diet requires the patient to learn a lot of information in a short amount of time. There are numerous ways a patient can misconstrue what they’ve learned at first. For example, a newbie to carb counting may decide to “avoid” instead of “balance,” and take an all-or-nothing approach. Then the language becomes, “I can’t eat that, it has too many carbs,” which sounds just like a punishment for bad behavior.

Screening for disordered eating behaviors can help practitioners become aware of treatments that may do more harm than good. Diabetes educators should create an environment that’s all food inclusive while encouraging patients to consume healthy fruits and vegetables as nature intended. The longer I’m a dietitian the more it seems like this diet inadvertently blames the patient for their diabetes instead of giving them the help they need to better manage it.

DISCLAIMER: The Green Apple Dietitian blog provides nutrition information for education only and is not intended to offer medical advice or cure any health conditions. The content should NEVER be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any health condition or problem. Any questions regarding your diet and health should be addressed to your specific healthcare providers. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.

Green Apple Dietitian makes no warranties expressed or implied regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, comparative or controversial nature, or usefulness of any information posted or shared on this blog. Green Apple Dietitian does not assume any risk whatsoever for your use of any information contained herein that was posted or shared on this blog in the past, present, or future. By accessing this blog, you agree that neither Green Apple Dietitian nor any other party is to be held liable or otherwise responsible for any decision made, or any action taken or not taken, due to your use of any information presented on this blog website.

Are you over 50 and feel like you’re losing the war on fat?

~ Green Apple Dietitian ~ Leave a comment

Another new year. Right now, we are surrounded by the fever of new year’s resolutions to lose weight and keep it off. The yearly “do-over.” A new diet can temporarily lift one’s spirits by energizing the belief that this will be the year the weight will finally come off.

This January, the world went on a diet. Again. People decided to quit sugar, eat less and exercise more. While controlling what we eat can last for a while, unsustainable behaviors usually fall off and the weight returns. If you feel like you lost the battle over the last 12 months, you might not know what’s going on. When you don’t eat enough, your hunger increases. Your body begins to defend its set point. This is the weight your body decides is the best for homeostasis. Most likely it’s the higher weight you believe you should lose. But unfortunately, within every decade of life, our bodies change. The results of these changes aren’t up to you.

Last year, I finished menopause and gained 10 pounds over the summer. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a twinge of disappointment when I learned that I gained weight. But instead of dieting, I practiced body kindness and stayed away from self-blame. I got enough to eat every day and kept my same exercise schedule. I’m extremely blessed to live inside a healthy mature body that’s moving well. I thank my past self for taking care of it when I was young. Now it’s paying off. I don’t want to ruin what I accomplished by putting my body through a grueling diet for a lousy 10 lbs. Screw that! I refuse to punish myself because I saw a bigger number during a doctor’s office weigh-in. At my age, life is too short. I’m not going to become a victim of the weight loss mantra that says, “You don’t have to put up with weight gain,” or “You can achieve the body you want.” I’m too smart for that. You can be too.

My body moved my setpoint. What my healthy weight was when I was younger has changed. It’s part of growing older that most women go through. So, feeling bad about gaining a few extra pounds at my age doesn’t make any sense. What you need to know is weight loss during menopause for women over 50 is a prime target for the weight loss empire. But don’t get pulled in. Become an objective viewer and learn from it. Don’t be a victim of the hype and empty promises. Keep your money. Take note of how they tell viewers they need to change themselves because someone else already has. Actors are hired every day to follow a script. Also take note of what they are NOT saying, “Weight loss diets don’t work, and you’ll eventually gain the weight back, so we’ll see you next year.” What’s unsaid often speaks the loudest.

If you’re worried about weight gain, here’s what you need to know.

Eating for a smaller body leads to a higher weight. Yep, if you eat below your energy needs for a while this behavior will set off a signal telling your brain to adjust your appetite to increase the amount of food so your body gets what it needs. Sure, depriving yourself can cause weight loss, but as soon as you return to your old eating habits your weight will go back up. The result may be a weight higher than before. Honor your hunger. Feeling full and satisfied after consuming a balanced meal is healthy eating.

Your body needs nourishment every 3 to 4 hours. Eating one meal a day after skipping breakfast and then lunch increases the likelihood, you’ll eat more calories than you need in the form of high-energy foods and drinks to quickly extinguish hunger. Eating once a day forces your body to endure starvation which will cause it to adapt. This is no joke if you think you’re going to lose weight by doing this. What you’re doing instead is increasing your body’s desperation for food. Your body will slow metabolism and increase body weight to deal with the scarcity of nourishment. So, eat enough food throughout the day. Not just at night.

Healthy eating includes ALL food groups, period. Avoiding dairy, gluten, sugar, soy, and fat if you are healthy, and don’t require a special meal plan, means you’re cutting out more than half of a healthy diet. You’re not eating better, you’re depriving yourself. Most likely the food alternatives you’re selecting don’t taste as good as the originals, which leaves you feeling hungry instead of satiated. Choosing to eat like this for a while can lead to malnourishment. The deficiencies I usually see are iron, calcium, vitamin D, various B vitamins, and protein.

You’re receiving bad advice if it demonizes food groups forcing a toxic relationship with food instead of encouraging a healthy one. If you’re always feeling tired or anxious it might be time to reevaluate where you’re getting your nutrition advice. When you know better, then you can do better.

If you’re planning to go on a diet to improve your health, because you believe you’re overweight, the best thing you can do is let go of the belief that only a thin body is a healthy body. You don’t have to be in love with what you see in the mirror, but you can learn to develop a healthy respect for your body by nourishing yourself properly and engaging in regular exercise by doing the activities you love.

Chances are your body weight is somewhere within the spectrum of all normal shapes and sizes and is healthier for you than the weight loss army would like you to believe. There’s a reason the diet commercials bombard us at the beginning of every year. They’re looking to lure in people who feel like failures from last year’s diets. The holidays are over and a new reality hits. They renew false hope by introducing something new to coerce them back into the diet culture. Because, of course, someone else has already “done it.” But don’t worry, if you don’t lose weight this year, they’ll be back again next January.  

Dietitian side notes:

DISCLAIMER: The Green Apple Dietitian blog provides nutrition information for education only and is not intended to offer medical advice or cure any health conditions. The content should NEVER be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment of any health condition or problem. Any questions regarding your diet and health should be addressed to your specific healthcare providers. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you have read on this blog.

Green Apple Dietitian makes no warranties expressed or implied regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, comparative or controversial nature, or usefulness of any information posted or shared on this blog. Green Apple Dietitian does not assume any risk whatsoever for your use of any information contained herein that was posted or shared on this blog in the past, present, or future. By accessing this blog, you agree that neither Green Apple Dietitian nor any other party, is to be held liable or otherwise responsible for any decision made, or any action taken or not taken, due to your use of any information presented on this blog website.