Apple, Pear, or Box ?

Of course, one of the beauties about the Virtual Gastric Band is that you can eat anything you want.. you just want to eat less.  But I find that most people, at least once they get into it for a month or so really start thinking about what they eat.  It makes sense, when you are eating less and your motivations include health… well, you want to put the right things in your body. One goal that you might have is revving up your metabolism… does this sound familiar?

“Around age 40 I put on twenty pounds. I had always had a perfect metabolism. But, my metabolism betrayed me as it does most people.”  ~Suzanne Somers

As we age our metabolism rate tends to decline, much of it due to lower levels of activity, but diet, sleep, muscle mass and hormonal changes play a role as well.  A recent (Nov 5) Dr. Oz show focused on the relationship between hormones and metabolism.  It turns out that your body shape can reveal a lot about what is going on with the hormones and that, in turn, can suggest some dietary actions that will start to reverse the trend !  YEAH !!   So I thought I would summarize the whole show for you.

Part 1 – Revealing the Problem

Four hormones were focused on  - Cortisol, Estrogen and the two Thyroid hormones.  The first two seem to affect most women, and I must presume there is some overlap.   They did not state the incidence of thyroid issues that would affect metabolism negatively – but I understand it to be a much smaller percent.   The main symptom is the body type – apple pear or box.  The other symptoms may be present already or , if not, they can be considered a risk of this body type.  So use this chart to identify yourself.

Part 2 – The Solution

Once you know from your body type and other symptoms what your hormone situation might be, you can use this chart to identify the foods to eat and the foods/habits to avoid and why.  By revving your metabolism ( And Dr. Oz says the effects are close to immediate) in addition to reducing your total food intake you just grease the wheels for your weight loss.

 If you want to watch the show, here’s a link to the full episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1KVwaoJI8A

So what do you think of the Virtual Gastric Band ?

* (yes, I am a member)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D-w0_u9Yv0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JZyKjrl-ZY

Think of it – without this body, where would you be?  It is your life.  It is appropriate to WANT to take care of it, to cherish it to the extent of giving it what it REALLY needs.  And that is a healthy diet and moving it around regularly.  I am not talking about all the “feel good” treatments – although there is nothing wrong with a nice massage or steam room, etc etc – but rather the basics.  Yes, starting with the basics, so that you SLOW DOWN around food.  Take time to get in touch with your body’s actual needs.  And when it is full, STOP EATING.  And start to notice what different foods do to your body.

Give your body a Valentine’s Day gift of trying out an elimination diet – removing  the most common causes of issues – sugar, gluten and dairy – and then adding them back in one at a time in a “pure form” to see what happens.

Or , just start saying “I love all parts of my body” morning and night and you will begin to find your mind and body working together more and your real body shape will be revealed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zk1J2imOd8

This first one uses animation to explain the procedure and the equipment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IPYgui3lJ4

CAUTION – this second one is a video of an ACTUAL operation, so it is not for everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4860dLc2mF8

Thoughts? Reactions?

In fact Week 2 is typically a tough week the elation of the first week is gone and the concept of the long-term comes back into play. About 50% reported some significant barrier popping up this week

• 2 talked about difficulties in social situations (wanting not to be rude or just finding the outlay of food too tempting)
• 4 felt they lost momentum or just felt they were having to “fight it” more
• other mentioned snacking, stress and pain as being triggers or issues.

The real positives were that people also reported that their motivation really helped support them through the issues and they noticed their behavior but “beat themselves up less”. This is actually FABULOUS in two ways – because it is easier to change what we notice and it is easier to sustain the change if we don’t let our lapse discourage us.

There is a well-known model of behavioral change which has primarily been used in developing programs for changing health habits. It is called the Transtheoretical Model of Change, or more commonly “the Cycle of Change”. ( Click here if you want to read a technical article on this model.) The model is best applied to INTENTIONAL CHANGE, such as this program, and it includes the steps of Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, Maintenance and (Re)Lapse. As such it makes it clear that lapses are a natural part of the cycle “do not infer failure. It simply means that change is difficult, and it is unreasonable to expect anyone to be able to modify a habit perfectly without any slips. When relapse occurs, several trips through the stages may be necessary to make lasting changes. Each time the person is encouraged to review, reflect and learn from their slips.”  In other words, we may need to go around that cycle several times to achieve permanent change and, in my experience, this is particularly true of weight loss, due to our extremely complex relationship with food.

Or as Dr. Bentham put it, much more simply “there are 21 meals in the week, if 17 or 18 were the way you wanted them, you should be very happy with yourself.” Dr. Bentham went on to cover some motivation related topics helping people think through the underlying pain and pleasure aspects of this change. And then, of course, a the hypnosis for the week followed.

Video from this Session will be posted soon !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGBg2LZeG60

This is wonderful – this program is all about habit changes, but it is not an overnight phenomena… so at this session ( the 2nd of 7 sessioins included in the trial) we discussed blocks and barriers and Dr. Bentham lead the group in an exploration of Cognitive Distortions and how to reframe them. Next session will be about motivation !