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Food, Eating and Health

As you can see by the image on this page, I like to remember that we are british with a history of British traditional influences when it comes to food and eating.  Therefore I chose not to use an image of a stir-fry or other foods that generally do not come natural to us when we would like to eat healthily.

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My reasoning for this is to consider the 2nd World War diet where, if we look at photographs, there was rarely anyone over weight and there was very little processed foods or artifical sweetners. The portion sizes would have been much less than we tend to feel is normal now, much of which influence is from the American diet sizes. (The USA has one of the highest obesity levels in the world).

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Roasted Turkey

Foreword

The way I see it, wishing to change what we are eating and how it affects us, is about changing our attitudes, habits and how we are 'using or mis-using' foods, but it is also around psychoeducation. 

 

In the public domain, we have a lot of companies who are providing Diet Plans for people to use which enables them to lose weight.  The goal in this industry (apart from to make money) is said to be to lose weight and also they propose that new healthier eating habits are then formed, enabling a person to keep excess weight off.

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This often does not happen and it is understood now, that this type of intervention can cause yo-yo dieting, an obsession with food intake and actually, long term cause weight gain instead of loss.

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So maybe the actual goal should be for health and fitness, not about our weight at all for changes to be beneficial to an individual. ​

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I strongly believe solutions are individual and not ever going to be one diet fixes all people. So individual attitude changes, individual therapy around food issues, working with an individual's body so as to provide required and balanced nutrition. 

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I am not a provider of weight loss therapy nor do I work with food disorders or bad eating habits but I do have an interest in the area and I give areas for your own personal research to set you on your journey to explore what might work for you.

Ideas to Explore

Firstly, as I am no specialist nutrition therapist, I do not know about conditions or diseases that cause weight gain or what to do about that and I've no idea if genetics is involved either. I believe with the latter, that some have challenged the simple genetics idea to propose that actually it is more likely that family attitudes, socio-economic status and experences, habits and individual responses that might cause obesity to appear to run in families.  

It is also important to know that some medications can cause weight gain.

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Books I recommend to begin a new journey around foods are:​

(1) Paul Mc Kenna 'I can make you Thin'

(2) Patrick Holford 'The Food Bible'

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A Hypnosis Recording I recomend is:

Hypnotherapy by Dick Sutphen 'Radiant Health' (OPENS SPOTIFY)

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Ideas to research and learn about to help you on your journey to find what works for you to be healthy.

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  • Food Combining​

  • Eating for blood Type

  • Eating for Body Type

  • Why were most people slim in the 1040's

  • Sugar addiction

  • Alcohol (and the amount of sugar in it)

  • Power and Control

  • Learn about human history and physiology in ancient times. ​

  • Food addiction and misuse

  • Emotional Eating

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Ideas to know for now...

  • Drink more water all through the day
    Add Omega 3 to your regular nutritional intake. Your body and brain needs it.

  • Sleep

    • If we have had inadequate sleep, we will be craving carbs all day.  This is a known and accepted concept and largely spoken about.

    • It is important to sort out problematic sleep

    • Also important to rest during our work day.  Constant expelling of energy without adequate rest will make us hungrier.

    • However, paradoxically, exercise can also DECREASE overeating.

  • Eat a good size breakfast (can reduce snacking in the evening)

  • Portion Size

    • Stop over eating at mealtimes. Consider how much is in a hospital meal.  This is  much closer to the portion size we require.

    • Squeeze your hand in to a fist and this is how much carbs we should be eating in a main meal.

  • Eat in a way that is familiar for your history.  Where possible stay as close to your childhood diet as possible, as long as that diet didn't make you overweight.  The idea here is that during busy times in life, you will fall into default, and so it is default that needs to be altered.

  • Artificial Sweetner problem

    • It is a myth that replacement sugar products aid weightloss.

    • In reality, it is understood that when false sugar gets into the body, the brain will trigger an insulin response but the insulin cannot 'find' the sugar as false sugar is not molecularly the same.

    • It will therefore float around and then trigger a craving for MORE sugar so as to 'use up' the insulin.

    • Meanwhile the fake sugar becomes toxic in the body and so the clever body will cover in fat and store it in tissue.  This becomes toxic, possibly the reason fake sugar is known as cargiogenic.

  • Increase Protein means we stay fuller longer. Often our eating problems are because we eat when we are not hungry actually, but craving something.

  • Processed Foods are addictive and if we avoid them, we quite quickly stop craving them.

  • Similar with sugar if it is not too much of an addiction. I believe the response in the brain to sugar, is the same as to a class A drug so its important to learn about sugar addiction.

  • Strength Building and BMI

    • Instead of concentrating on our weight, it can be more effective to concentrate on becoming strong and be active.

  • Hormones & Hunger

    • Women beware that prior to a period, you WILL crave more intense carbs.  As far as I am concerned, your body needs them sfor energy to do what it needs to do, so you may as well have what it is you're wanting.  Cake, Chips, pasta.  The trick is to ensure this is temporary and you continue to listen to your body when it no longer needs them.

 

NEW HABITS

  • EAT ONLY WHEN HUNGRY

  • STOP EATING WHEN SATISFIED​​

  • TUNE INTO YOUR BODY AND FEEL WHAT IT REALLY WANTS

  • PLAN FOOD AHEAD . We are surounded by a too-easy access to food.  This is not natural for any animal and we are designed to store food when we find it, in case there is a shortage.

  • PLAN into your eating, foods you actually like.  Be mindful of portion control.

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