Tag: dieting

January is over. How’s the weight loss diet going?

~ Green Apple Dietitian ~ 1 Comment

Around this time of year, diets lose steam as old habits die hard. Once that person brings donuts into the office again all bets are off. But I get it. I’m not on a diet to lose weight, but I’ve had my share of treats at the office. Treats are one thing but underconsumption has consequences, usually increased hunger, which affects our mood and energy levels, so, understandably, dieting fails.  

For those trying to lose weight, on some level, I think there are parts of dieting we can all agree on. For one, it’s hard to change eating habits for the promise of a better lifestyle in a thin body. What I’ll never agree with is that body weight is completely controllable, especially since many other variables exist. Our body reacts to everything we do to it.

If you’re losing weight and are feeling good about yourself for getting smaller, I hope that you’re not feeling deprived and forcing a big smile while your body suffers through the restrictions you’ve chosen to put on it. I hope you’re getting enough food, water, and sleep, and are managing the stressors in your life. One word of advice, try to accept yourself a little bit more in the moment.

If you’re wondering why I’m skeptical of your weight loss journey, it’s usually because the story ends with someone losing weight but goes no further. The aftermath of dieting is weight gain. The weight loss movement wants you to believe that the body’s normal reactions to deprivation are a failure.

Having an appetite isn’t your fault.

Forcing your will against nature is futile. While dieting the body will fight undereating by increasing hunger cues and turning on carbohydrate cravings. This makes sense since the body digests them first for energy and cognitive function. The body wants to maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in the external environment. So, it has nothing to do with willpower when all the body is trying to do is survive. If you understand this, it should make the promotion of weight loss, on an otherwise healthy individual, look very cruel and unempathetic.

I’ve observed significant weight increases in patients after severely restricting their eating and losing weight. They don’t understand why they lose out to binge eating. Reasons for restricting their food intake were usually anxiety-related. However, since they believed they were better at a lower weight, the weight gain was accompanied by feelings of failure, inadequacy, and depression.

Patients entering adulthood often fail to understand the changes in weight trends from high school to college. Somehow, along the way, they learned that higher body weight is unacceptable, so they had difficulty accepting their adult weight. We are all told at a young age to control our appetites and are bombarded with misinformed ways to do so. And now we have a pharmaceutically successful way to do so artificially.

Weight loss medications focus our attention on the high failure rates of dieting.

With the rising popularity of weight loss drugs, the cruelty of diet culture has accelerated. As of this blog post, the drugs are mostly available to those who can afford them.

Even the weight loss companies understand this and they’re scrambling to stay in business by offering versions of these drugs not approved by the FDA. Whatever your opinion is on this, remember there’s a company out there making money off your desire to lose body fat— a lot of money.

While looking at social media, I saw an advertisement for a high-profile weight loss company. I won’t disclose which one it is. A good or bad promotion equates to a promotion, nonetheless. Anyway, the ad promoted offerings of a compounded GLP-1 drug as part of their new and improved weight loss program. People can lose even more weight faster than ever before, blah, blah, blah. So, they thought putting sharps into the hands of untrained individuals (without diabetes) to give themselves injections using needles was a good idea, but I digress.

Then I browsed the comment section. What I found was surprising, yet it wasn’t. Most already know that weight loss is temporary. The range of responses included life-timers who started dieting again using old notes when their weight went up, those who wanted the old program said they needed the one-on-one counseling, and others who declared they were not falling for the dieting hype anymore.

Overall, the commenters were blunt about the company adding medication. One said they thought the weight loss program was great but hated the constant changes and gave up. They said it seemed like a way to make more money, “I’m over it!” Another stated they lost respect for the company when they started prescribing drugs, “Everything you preached is not true now.”

The commonality was disillusionment with a company that always promoted food modifications and exercise. With the addition of medication, it became obvious to some commenters that the old advice wasn’t working. This didn’t jive with what they thought they bought into.

Go deep on why you want to change the body you have.

If you have strong feelings of guilt and shame around your body image and food, you deserve to pause and discover what’s going on inside. Do you find yourself:

  • Unable to be flexible with food availability during family gatherings or unfamiliar environments
  • Following specific rigid food rules that cause you to skip a meal if it doesn’t follow the parameters
  • Avoiding hunger cues after missing meals to control weight or eating large amounts of food after a period of restriction
  • Spending most of the day thinking about food or your body
  • Feeling so much anxiety that it is difficult to meet your nutritional needs

If your thoughts and feelings are getting in the way of the positive intentions in your life, it’s time to take heed. Some things you can do:

  • Stop watching social media influencers and TV commercials about health and weight loss
  • Distract yourself by doing something you’ve been putting off for a while
  • Talk to someone. Find a dietitian and a therapist specializing in disordered eating. If your behavior concerns you and those around you, it’s already past the time to do something about it.

Don’t ignore the signs. Some folks can shake things off like a little weight gain while others can’t. It’s okay to ask for help if you feel you need it.

Treat yourself with kindness. Eating what you prefer, rather than following someone else’s advice can still lead to positive outcomes.

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.

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.