There are certainly biological reasons for obesity, but there are also behavioral factors that continue feeding it. Literally. Most people do not want to talk about them, but I see them daily. Once the person has the information needed to change their biology, the only thing holding them back is their psychology. Remember, metabolic abnormalities just makes you hungry. It doesn't discriminate on the food chosen to satisfy the hunger. It does not make the request for cookies. I do not believe that obesity exists in a vacuum. Nothing does. There are comorbidities that exist alongside obesity and certain personality traits perpetuate the disease.
#1. The Denialist - This is the person that believes they can still negotiate with carbohydrates. They believe that somehow, if they only make peace with "certain" carbohydrates, that they will be able to succeed. They begin categorizing carbohydrates between "refined" and "unrefined" or "processed" and "unprocessed". While they juggle these different carbohydrates to see what their "carbohydrate tolerance" level is, they continue disrupting their blood glucose homeostasis. For this reason, they never reach their goals and continue wondering why not. Certainly it can't be the occasional donut on the weekends, could it? Of course not....it's "adrenal fatigue", stress or lack of sleep instead. That makes more sense.
#2 The Procrastinator - This is the person that is always waiting for tomorrow. They will begin their new lifestyle once the "holidays are over" or "the pasta in the cabinet has been finished" or "next Monday" or "when they change jobs" or "when the kids grow up and no longer demand junk food". The problem is that tomorrow never comes. The time to make a change is now. Once now is gone, it's gone forever. Whatever is holding you back from changing your lifestyle will still be there tomorrow, so it can continue to be used as an excuse forever. Planning out a goal and writing endless lists are useless if no work is being put into obtaining it.
#3 The Moderate - These people live in the world of "I can have it on occasion" or "only a little bit" or "I don't do this every day." These have been the mantras of the many diabetics that I have known through the years. The "on occasion" is daily, the "little bit" becomes a huge bit when all the bits are added up together and the "not every day" becomes, well, every day. As long as you continue giving yourself these exits, they will be taken. After all, it's easier to exit, stage left, than deal with the problem. These people constantly question why they haven't reached their goals even though they are "eating healthy", but we already know that "everything in moderation" doesn't work. That's the cornerstone of caloric restriction, which has been an utter failure. How can you expect to succeed using a protocol that has already been proven to fail? That's insanity.
#4 The Apologist - This is the person that constantly seeks accountability for poor choices and always has a sob story to share. But, no one can ever hold you accountable for what you decide to do in your own life. No amount of apologizing is going to help you get to your goals. The only thing that will hold you accountable is your health, which will suffer the consequences of your decisions. These people are forever "falling off the wagon" and seeking reassurance and support from others, as if that will make any difference in outcome. What's done is done and cannot be undone. If you continue doing it, it's a done deal. You can keep telling yourself that you can "bounce back" and "get back on the horse" a million times, but while you're constantly climbing back into your seat, you're never moving forward. Soon, the wagon and the horse, will go on without you.
#5 The Misguided - These people have not understood the mechanism of obesity correctly, so they never follow a well formulated diet plan. They unfortunately are still tracking calories, total carbohydrates, "lower" blood glucose, restricting protein or upping their fat intake. The condition of obesity is not any of these things. The condition is chronic blood glucose dysregulation which has deteriorated insulin function. Unfortunately, people do not address this correctly and believe that a single, isolated blood glucose reading has a significant meaning. It doesn't. It's the disparities between blood glucose highs and lows. This cannot be tracked with a single reading taken after eating a strawberry. They also have the misconception that blood glucose regulation can be fixed in just a few hours or days. This is not true. It takes many weeks to months to accomplish this and years for metabolic hormones to follow suit. Dropping bananas for 1 week and not seeing progress doesn't mean that bananas are benign. It means you have to drop the bananas, or whatever the offending food is, for six months, at the very least, in order to see what effects it has.
#6 The Victim - This is the person that is constantly being pushed to eat the wrong things by others or they play victim to their culture, traditions or finances, not to mention "addiction". They are always at the mercy of the next office party, graduation, wedding, birthday party, holiday or friends and family pushing pastries into their mouth. The reality is that the only person who puts the donut in their mouth, is themselves. No one ties them up and waterboards them with cake. You are only a victim of your circumstances, if you allow yourself to be. No one is responsible for your health, but yourself. You have to take control of your life and your health. It is this state of not being in control that has led you to health problems. In order to fix your health problems, you have to do whatever it takes. If it means creating new traditions or new cultural foods, then that's what you have to do. Changing your diet, stopping the snacking and reducing all of the carbohydrate laden foods means you spend less money, not more, so finances should never be an excuse. Blaming the dietary guidelines, medical associations, Big Pharma and Big Food for your choices, only goes so far. The buck stops somewhere and the reality is that none of those entities are responsible for you. You have to make choices for yourself.
#7 The Flip Flopper - This is the person that can not make up their mind as to how they are going to proceed to obtain their goals. They are indecisive and constantly being pulled in different directions by other people's experiences or advice. They are easy targets for people selling or pushing different diets and/or products, because they are so easily swayed. They jump from one diet to the next, never giving their metabolism enough time to adjust to any of them. They constantly seek out new information from a variety of different doctors and books, but never consistently follow any protocol. They are all over the place, blending different diets together and excusing a wide array of foods. They mistakenly believe that all diets can work if they are only followed in specific ways and this, my friends, is just what the nutritionists and dietitians believe as well. So, these people have made a full circle back to where they were in the beginning and that's where they will stay.
#8 The Misled - You don't have to be a flip flopper to fall into this never ending black hole. It can happen to anyone and it can impede your success if you don't crawl out in time. The world of low carbohydrate diets is full of people trying to make money, whether it's by selling products, recipes, one on one coaching, personal training, supplements, podcast subscriptions, etc. Functional medicine doctors trying to sell snake oil and holistic dietitians and nutritionists trying to get new clients, are everywhere. Not to mention all of the bodybuilders, athletes and bio-hackers trying to put their two cents into the diabetes "cure". The list goes on and on. It doesn't even include the doctors, researchers and scientists trying to get their name out there, in order to peddle funding for studies that usually carry the hope of monetary compensation and advancement of careers, most likely provided by pharmaceuticals.
All of these people have one thing in common - they know the obese are desperate and they smell that desperation for miles. For this reason, there are contradictory and competing messages, out there, that can overwhelm anyone new to this lifestyle. Stick to the basics and keep your eyes on the prize. Don't let distractions get in the way. The only thing you need to know about metabolic health, is to control blood glucose. Period.
#9 The Hopeful - This is the person that lives with the eternal hope, that they will one day fix their metabolism and be able to have cake again. "Hope endureth internal in the human breast." Hope oftentimes gives us the will to continue living, but in this case, it does nothing but continue the condition's progression. The goal of your new lifestyle is to fix your metabolism for the sake of enjoying good health, not for the sake of wrecking it again eating garbage. You already know what put you here in the first place, so why would you want to put yourself right back here in the end? You have to forget those old foods in their entirety. Holding on to them does nothing, but cause you to think you can have them again the moment you see yourself going in the right direction. This only sabotages your progress and you go right back to where you were in the beginning.
#10 The Debater - I run across these all of the time. People ask me how I improved my health, but when I provide the answer, they don't like the message. This causes them to want to argue constantly, nitpicking every piece of information given, instead of putting all of that energy into doing what they have to do to help themselves. If these people have it all figured out, then why are they still seeking help?
#11 The Faithful – This is the person that refuses to accept the fact that what they are doing, is not working. They stubbornly continue to insist on doing the same thing and they continue to get the same results. Their refusal to accept the fact that there is something wrong with their approach keeps them overweight, sick and wondering what's happening.
Do you see yourself in any of the above personality traits? Maybe that's what's keeping you from your goals. The good news is that you can change whatever is keeping you from getting better. All it takes is a little honesty with yourself and awareness of what's happening.
No comments:
Post a Comment