The Diet Maze
Or… How are portion control, Calorie Counting and exercise working for you?
There is maze of beliefs that enjoin us when we begin a self-improvement campaign. Most of the time, we are talking about losing weight and improving various health conditions when we do this. I use the word maze to describe this process of meandering, becoming entangled, or going down confusing pathways. These pathways can end up at dead ends or cause us to back up and retrace our steps to try to find the way out. Have you played the maze game that comes to your child or grandchild at a restaurant? Children are very good and seeing their way through the maze. Adults seem to struggle with this puzzle.
Our puzzle today has to do with how are portion control, calorie counting, and exercise working for you? Without fail at this time of year, every media outlet, newspaper, or magazine is handing out year-end this advice for weight loss. What they repeat is the same old same old adage, 'Eat less, count your calories, and exercise'. The commercial diet plans are also into high gear with special enticements snare the would-be dieter into his or her clutches. Commercial diet plans are the embodiment of portion control, calorie counting and exercise belief systems. As a matter of fact, there is an advertisement on TV right now for stomach banding surgery that goes like this: "Has portion control worked for you? Has exercise failed to help you lose weight? Then you would benefit from stomach banding surgery…" Yes, it has come to this.
Over the years, I have spoken to hundreds of people who share their distress at the standard weight loss advice. They have tried portion control, counted their calories, and they have exercised to no avail. They are disappointed, frustrated, and beginning to cycle down into depression. After speaking with them for a few minutes they share that they have a lot health issues as well. These health issues include high blood pressure, reflux disease, diabetes, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome - just to name a few. Thousands of people with these conditions look to the commercial diet plans to help manage serious health consequences associated with their weight, only to be disappointed.
Health condition and weight-related disorders can not be managed with commercial diet plans. You know this already, but you may not fully understand the reason why this is so. Up until now as you read these words, you assumed the reason you were unsuccessful at these weight loss schemes was because you were not as good as someone else was. This simply is not so. The thing that most of these conditions have in common is a syndrome known as Metabolic Syndrome or insulin resistance.
Each one of us has our own metabolic identity. Yes, we are different! We know that we are different on the outside - well - our insides are different too. This difference is the sequence we see known as 'insulin resistance'. This insulin resistance causes us to become carbohydrate and glucose intolerant. That means that there will be extreme inability to tolerate carbohydrates. Carbohydrate intake will have to be adjusted to compensate for the individual differences in insulin resistance. The commercial diet plans and the media rely on high carbohydrate, low fat eating techniques for their agendas. For the metabolic resistant person, these plans will not work.
Insulin resistance is a process at work in all of us. It simply means that insulin and blood glucose have a relationship in metabolism. It will take a certain quantity of insulin to help remove a certain quantity of blood glucose. It is like an algebra problem. Then there are the variables that enter into our algebra problem. Those variables are mainly weight related. The more body fat one has, the more pancreatic insulin is required to remove the glucose from the blood. The more insulin that circulates in the blood stream the more fat is conserved and stored. It becomes a self-perpetuating problem.
Another problem is the problem of perception. For some reason, we see white sugar in the bowl as sugar but we do not see carbohydrates as sugar. Carbohydrates are sugar. They become sugar, and are used as sugar. Glucose, sugar, and carbohydrates are words for the same thing. Rice, oatmeal, pasta, vegetables, potatoes and fruit are all sugar. The energy they produce is in the form of a carbohydrate, which is sugar.
Insulin resistance is the amount of insulin necessary to take care of the amount of circulating blood sugar. When one becomes insulin resistant, much more insulin is required to remove small amounts of sugar in the blood. This delay in the disposal of blood sugar (or glucose) by the hormone insulin causes a toxic situation. It is this delay that creates the toxic symptomatic problems for which we seek medical treatment. This is also the process by which fat is stored or used. The more circulating blood sugar and insulin, the less fat will be used for energy, which is necessary for weight loss. The process is not dependent on exercise or calories. The entire process is dependent on insulin. More significantly, this process is individual. It is not a one size fits all solution.
Weight-related health concerns are thought of in our culture as a problem with lack of will power. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our life style related health concerns are a problem of perception and education. Unfortunately, we depend on advertising to do our health teaching and health prevention. Promotions are created to drive market interest in product use. These promotions or advertisements cleverly mask their products with words such as 'organic', 'healthy', or 'recommended by doctors' to influence consumers to buy them.
Statistically we are getting fatter and sicker. This is a trend that has been unresponsive to the standard mantra of 'count calories, practice portion control, and exercise'. The reason this is has to do with insulin resistance. Lifestyle issues and nutrition theories aside, we need to face up to the personal challenge insulin resistance and sugar intolerance causes in each one of us. This fact is overlooked or missed entirely in our zeal to eat less and exercise.
For this New Year, I invite you to come in for an evaluation and consultation regarding your inability to lose weight and/or get healthy.
Blessings, Nadine Campbell, R.N., January 2007
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