Background: The message from the medical community is that obesity kills by fueling heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. Supporters of Health at Every Size (HAES) contend that overweight individuals live longer than normal weight people. Hard science supports why focusing on health and achieving one’s natural size is the solution.
- Diets work for only 95% of the population: Outliers and Mutants
- Why you are not guaranteed that a diet will work?
- Hormonal and enzymatic adjustments: Leptin; Grehlin; lipoprotein lipase; Thyroid; Growth hormone; cortisol
- Alter appetite and metabolism
- Genetic and Neuroanatomical Differences
- Variations in fat distribution:
- Why fat is a secretory and endocrine gland and not just an inert energy depot and protective cushion
- Characteristics and contribution to health or appearance
- Belly fat vs. subcutaneous fat (adiponectin)
- Inflammation: Linoleic acid vs. alpha- linolenic acid
- Measures of inflammation: hsCRP, insulin, TG/HDL, Sed rate
- Stubborn fat (alpha- and beta- receptors)
- Processed foods and omega-3s
- Increase in number and increase in size
- Cortisol
- Adrenal burnout; circadian release
- Belly fat; diet; stress and exercise
- Exercise: Vigorous exercise vs. activity and movement
- Carbohydrates: Hunters vs. Farmers
- Processed & refined grains, HFCS, refined carbohydrates, insulin resistance
- Body contouring: Why they make the fat accumulation and distribution worse
- Liposuction, lipectomy, lasers, mesotherapy, ablation
- The solution
- Attuned eating
- Activity empowerment
- Sleep Hygiene
- Stress management
- Mindfulness
- Size acceptance and self-love
- Relapse prevention and support
- Spirituality and happiness
One should never make broad assumptions about anyone’s weight as to their character, health or behaviors. If there are health concerns, the emphasis should be placed on healthy habit change. There is no place for judgment and criticism. Diet, exercise and behavioral change reliably induce short-term weight loss. But, forty years of clinical studies report that the majority of dieters are unable to maintain weight loss and health benefits over time. This has produced an enormous amount of confusion as to how to understand the scope and magnitude of the weight problems and how to develop effective ways to deal with it. In fact experts in the eating disorder field claim that the obesity epidemic is mainly hype and that the mortality numbers have been over estimated.
The chances of losing weight and keeping it off for > 95% of the population are slim. Our society has approached the health problems associated with fat storage in the wrong fashion. Medical professionals have never cured anything for which we do not know the cause. Science is making great strides in unfolding why people struggle health problems associated with fat. Researchers are beginning to concur on possible solutions. This new paradigm provides a plan for binge eaters to achieve their ‘normal’ weight without dieting, without dependence on the scale, and free form deprivation, pills or draconian exercise.
This presentation will open up a whole new vision of what causes obesity, why so many have failed to lose weight and what solutions the future holds. If you thought you knew everything there was to know about dieting and weight loss, you are challenged to learn the rest of the story. The new paradigms for exploring a healthy way of life and improving self-esteem support: attuned eating, mindfulness, activity and movement; sleep hygiene, size acceptance, hormonal balance, stress management, and spirituality as the pillars of a healthy life style transformation.
Ralph Carson, LD, RD, PhD has been involved in the clinical treatment of addictions, obesity and eating disorders for more than thirty-five years using a neuropsychobiological approach. He is a consultant to FitRx Binge Eating and Compulsive Overeating IOP in Nashville, TN and Pine Grove the Women’s Center for Eating Disorders in Hattiesburg, MS Additionally he is an active board member of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, Binge Eating Disorder Association and author of The Brain Fix: What’s the Matter with Your Gray Matter and Harnessing the Healing Power of Fruits
