Club Lifestyle Weight Loss

Food Addiction

For the majority of you reading this book, trigger foods are simply problematic indulgences you’ll have to learn to reduce, avoid completely or manage better. For the food addict, trigger foods can kill. Abstinence and elimination of trigger foods is the goal for the food addict. How do you know if you simply need to get better control over your Ben and Jerry’s®, your Snackwells® or if you’ll need to make your Lifestyle more closely fit the hunger-gatherer diets eaten all but the last few thousand years of man’s existence?

Kay Sheppard, a self-admitted food addict, author of Food Addiction – The Body Knows and From the First Bite, and expert on food addiction, provides a list of twenty-four questions you should ask yourself:

1. Has anyone ever told you that you have a problem with food?
2. Do you think food is a problem for you?
• Food addicts obsess about food.
• Anticipating food predominates the thinking of many food addicts.
3. Do you eat large amounts of high-calorie food in short amounts of time?
4. Do you regularly eat over feelings?
5. Can you stop eating whenever you wish?
• When you cannot stop eating and have lost control this is a sure sign you have an addiction.
6. Has your eating or weight ever interfered with your jobs, relationships, or finances?
7. Do you weigh several times a day?
8. Do you judge yourself by the number on your scale?
9. Do you often eat more than you planned to eat?
10. Do you worry that you can’t control how much you eat?
11. Have you hidden food or eaten in secret?
12. Have you become angry when someone eats food you have put aside for yourself?
13. Are you routinely frantic about your size, shape, or weight?
14. Have you tried any of these methods to lose weight?
• self-induced vomiting
• laxatives
• diuretics
• fasting
• compulsive exercise
• amphetamines
• cocaine
• other-the-counter diet pills, gum and caramels
• sorbitol (for a laxative effect)
• chewing and spitting food
• acupuncture, acupressure
• hypnosis
• urine shots
• special food, drinks and supplements
15. Do you manipulate ways to be alone so that you can eat privately?
16. Do your friends and companions over-eat or binge eat?
17. Have you ever felt so ashamed of the amount of food you ate that you hide your eating?
18. Have you been so upset by the amount of food you eat that you wish you would die?
19. Do you overeat more than twice a week?
20. Do you invent plans in order to be alone to eat?
21. Do you seek out companions who eat the way you do?
22. Have you attempted to give up a “treat” only to find you felt worse when doing so and returned to eating it again and again?
23. Have you ever stolen food or money to buy food?
24. Do you work in a grocery store or resataurant?

Sheppard pulls no punches in saying there are only three ways a food addict becomes a nonaddict – they go insane, they die or they eliminate the trigger foods leading to obsession and bingeing. She writes…

“Food addiction is chronic, progressive and ultimately fatal. Food addiction involves the compulsive pursuit of a mood change engaging repeatedly in episodes of binge eating despite adverse consequences.”

Like any addiction, the condition never goes away. The only way to break the addictive behavior is to abstain from the substance the person is addicted to. Recovering alcoholics never introduce themselves as a “former alcoholic”. Anyone addicted to any ingestible substance has one out – abstention from that substance. Food is no different.

Unlike drug addictions (e.g., alcohol, heroin, cocaine, nicotine), with food it’s even more complex. Since no one can abstain from eating entirely, the food addict must first identify they are a food addict and submit themselves as powerless over the addiction. Second, they must identify which foods are triggering the addiction. With other forms of addiction the substance causing the addiction is rather easily identified.

Foods that are most problematic for food addicts are high calorie, high-carbohydrate, high-fat foods with a texture that facilitates rapid eating. Not surprisingly, asparagus is not a problematic food for addicts. Refined carbohydrates affect neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. All of these chemical messengers affect the brain and therefore, mood. The food addict literally craves foods that will bathe the brain in neurotransmitters that make them feel temporarily better.

The destructive comfort cycle for the food addict usually begins when any feelings occur other than bliss. Bliss is rare. They obsess about a particular food, then compulsively seek it, binge eat it, and feel completely disgusted afterwards for doing so. They beat themselves up hard for “falling off the wagon”. Even though they know comfort eating is really no comfort, will lead to sorrow, even as they eat it many times, the need to medicate their emotions and feel better in the short-term is overpowering. Most people wouldn’t dream of staying in a relationship with an abusive partner. But far too many people abuse their bodies by succumbing to trigger foods and comfort eating. There is no question, the food addict eats to feel better those foods that make them feel worse – every time.

Instead of Countering and finding healthy behaviors for stressful situations and emotions the addict has one cure for everything – food! But the food addict isn’t weak-willed, dumb, lazy, stupid or of low moral character for continuing the destructive patter – they are powerless as long as the addictive substance is present and ingested. An important point here, however, is although the addict is powerless over the food they are addicted to, they are not powerless over their life and behavior. They still have a choice they can make. They can choose to recognize their addiction for what it is and seek help. Help is available.

The Lifestyle is pliable enough for the food addict to withstand the rigors of abstinence from many trigger foods. The food addict has no choice. She will diet if she doesn’t recover from her addiction. But, during recovery, she doesn’t have to throw the baby out with the bath water and find a “new diet”. Not this time. To get a better understanding of why refined, pasty, sticky, sweet carbohydrates and grains are problematic for the food addict I need to discuss our ancestors and a bit about nutritional evolution.

The above article is an excerpt from Chapter 11 of “The Leanness Lifestyle” by yours truly - David Greenwalt. Leanness Lifestyle V.4 - available by download here http://www.LeannessLifestyle.com

I developed these six strategies over a decade of working closely with weight fighters and watching who was successful and who wasn’t.

Very simply I define a weight fighter as someone who has been unsuccessful at achieving reasonable weight-loss goals for at least a year. A weight fighter is also someone who has lost weight only to REPEATEDLY put most, all, or more than all of their weight lost back on.

Why distinguish the weight fighter from others who want to lose weight? Let’s face it. There are a few people on earth who can simply set their own mind to weight loss and “just do it” as Nike says. There are a few people who have never been overweight until some event occurs, they gain 10-20 pounds, and then they simply set their mind to it and lose the temporary weight gain to go back to their healthy-weight set point. By definition these people are not weight fighters. The weight fighter is a tougher case. If you are a weight fighter you will most likely agree.

If you are a weight fighter here are the six strategies you should put 100% in place to stack the odds with you for weight-loss success both in the short- and long-hauls of lasting weight control.

1. Super strong WHY with a burning desire to succeed

2. SMART goals

3. No-retreat and no-escape commitment and leveraging as needed to increase it

4. The right, complete, science-based program with a proven track record of success addressing a nutritionally-fit, actively-fit and emotionally-fit lifestyle.

5. Necessary allocation of (MET) money, energy and time to yourself, the process and the goal

6. Work closely with and/or hire expert(s) who understand weight loss beyond calories-in and calories-out and the intricacies of food addiction, food allergies and other eating disorders for the weight fighter.

Sounds simple enough for most. The application of the details for each of the strategies is where it does get very muddy for most.

If you are ready for help to put all six strategies in place and win this battle once and for all I’d like to discuss your goals with you and how my Elite-level coaching program may be just the right program if you are serious about winning this battle.

Click this link to learn more about Elite
http://www.leannesslifestyle.com/elite/

In health,

David Greenwalt - Founder
Leanness Lifestyle University

What follows is a paired-down version of an article penned by Thom Lamb for Elite FTS - http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/training-articles/dysfunction-and-obesity/

The following passage is the crux of what this article is about — To heal the body, we teach it how to squat, lunge, push, pull, twist, and bend. Any movement a human being can do is a combination of these. They’re like the primary colors of human function.

Dysfunction and Obesity

When you attempt to improve your health, the first step should be to restore proper movement patterns. What this means is that you must start moving like a human being again. Your body is an amazing machine. It will comply with any persistent demand you place on it. If the demand is to drive to work, sit at a desk, drive home, and sit in front of a television, it will start to shut down many movements in favor of being less metabolic and more inert. It does this to minimize the energy demands posed on it.

The body is exceptional at becoming efficient. For it to be efficient at not doing much of anything, it tightens muscles so they won’t get used. It weakens large, explosive muscles so that you don’t use them, favoring instead smaller, less powerful muscles that are more aptly suited to holding a posture for a long time. So when you begin to exercise, you’re literally incapable of healthy pain-free movement.

The dormant muscles are always the ones that burn a lot of calories. That’s why the body turned them off when it realized you didn’t need them. It’s more efficient. When you start actually feeling stronger and more energetic (a nice side effect of exercise is that endorphins initially released to mask pain are directly related to mood), you begin to enjoy exercise.

But this all needs to start with healing the body. To heal the body, we teach it how to squat, lunge, push, pull, twist, and bend. Any movement a human being can do is a combination of these. They’re like the primary colors of human function.

It’s important to stress that while this sounds very holistic, it’s also challenging. A squat is harder than a leg curl, extension, or press, and it works more muscles than all three combined. Push-ups performed correctly can have you feeling it in your toes.

The body is the original complex system. Everything influences everything else. Dietary changes have been shown to improve mood and motivation, and exercise (I stress correct exercise) will improve self-efficacy and lead to healthier relationships. Of course, it works the other way as well. Dysfunctional beliefs can inhibit physical progress and should be addressed using daily journaling and then reviewed with the trainer.

Is your glass half-empty? Changing that negative perspective can be good for you.

Optimists (who see that same glass as being half-full) have quite a few advantages over their pessimistic counterparts.

Their happy-go-lucky attitude helps them meet life’s challenges head-on, be more resilient when disaster does strike, and be happier in general.

Pessimists expect the worst out of a given situation, often missing the good things along the way because they’re braced for the bad that may never come.

Faced with the same situation, optimists expect things to turn out all right in the end—which they often do. And when they don’t, these lucky people can use their positive outlook to ease them over the rough patch.

Perhaps even more compelling is the physical evidence illustrating the power of positivity: Optimists tend to be healthier, have stronger hearts, and live longer, as well as being more resistant to colds.

It may not be easy to change a lifetime’s worth of negative thinking, but it’s well worth the effort. And the good news is that our brains are not pre-programmed to be either optimistic or pessimistic. That means an outlook overhaul is within your control.

WebMD offers three tips to encourage positive thinking:

• Meditate. Research has shown that daily mindfulness meditation, during which you focus on the moment and filter out distractions, can help you learn to accentuate the positive.
• Think in threes. Three positive moments can counteract one negative one; make a point of doing a trio of happy, positive things when you’re feeling pessimistic.
• Keep a journal. Writing down positive moments, both big and small, that you experienced throughout the day can help you be more aware of the good things in life.

Original source: http://corporatewellnessadvisor.com/daily/corporate-wellness-programs/be-happy-get-healthy/

CHICAGO, IL—In spite of billions of dollars spent and decades of research, scientists at the University of Chicago said Monday that the scientific community is no closer to finding a cure for the potentially fatal disease of obesity.

“The obesity epidemic in this country has public-health authorities panicking, and with good reason,” said Dr. Seong-Hun Kim, a research associate at the university’s department of neurobiology, pharmacology, and physiology. “According to the latest government statistics, 30.6 percent of the adult population and 16.5 percent of children under 19 are obese. As researchers, we feel the same sort of helplessness that many victims of obesity feel.”

Many obesity sufferers have expressed frustration over the medical community’s inability to cure them.

“I came down with obesity two years after I got married,” 41-year-old Oklahoma City resident Fran Torley said. “I know it was hard for my husband to watch me suffer from this disease. When he caught obesity a year later, he got so depressed, he couldn’t do anything but sit on the couch. Some days, we sit and watch television from dawn till dusk, hoping for news of a breakthrough.”

Kim said he sees no cure on the horizon.

Click Here for Full Article from The Onion

The Kinds of Carbohydrates You Eat Affect Heart Risk

When you talk about a heart-healthy diet, you usually hear about fats and cholesterol in the diet. New research from a large study in Italy indicates that people who eat the most highly refined carbohydrates have twice the risk of a heart attack compared to people who eat less of these foods.

How fast carbohydrates are absorbed into the blood stream is measured in terms of glycemic index. Those carbohydrates that are absorbed quickly and cause the blood sugar to rise rapidly are called “high glycemic foods.” Examples include sugars and soft drinks, as you would expect, but also some other foods you might not expect such as French fries, white bread, white rice, and other refined foods. When blood sugars rise rapidly, insulin levels and blood triglycerides also rise rapidly. At the same time, HDL cholesterol drops. All of these changes raise the risk of heart disease.

The EPICOR study in Italy examined the diets of 32,578 women over a 7.9-year period. Researchers found that women eating the most high-glycemic foods (measured as glycemic load) were 2.24 times more likely to develop coronary heart disease, have a heart attack, or die from heart disease than were those who ate fewer of these foods. As dietary glycemic load increased triglyceride levels also increased and HDL cholesterol levels fell.

This data is similar to the findings in the Nurses’ Health Study by Harvard. They found a high-glycemic load also doubled the risk of heart disease. It’s interesting to note that when you compare low to high intake of saturated fat there was only a 38 percent increase in heart disease. It appears that the kind of carbohydrate you eat is as dangerous as, or more dangerous than how much saturated fat you eat.

The researchers conclude, “The role of carbohydrate as a risk factor for coronary heart disease in women was found to depend on the carbohydrate type, with an increased risk association for carbohydrate intake from high-glycemic foods but no association for carbohydrate intake from low-glycemic index foods. This increased risk from high-glycemic carbohydrates seems to affect women more than men.”

Source:
Sieri S, et al. Dietary glycemic load and index and risk of coronary heart disease. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2010;170(7):640-647.

Original source: http://www.wellsource.com/articles-mhc/The-Kinds-of-Carbohydrates-You-Eat-Affect-Heart-Risk.html

Excessive Overtime Work Is Bad for Your Heart

Do you regularly work overtime? If so, you might be at increased risk for heart attack or angina. A new 11-year study of more than 6,000 British men and women found that regularly working 10- or 11-hour days increases the risk of heart disease by 60 percent. This association held even after taking into account 21 known risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, being overweight, and having high cholesterol.

While the study was conducted on British workers, the study authors pointed out that the United States is one of the countries that is well above average when it comes to overtime hours. They also emphasized that overtime work has increased in recent years.

The study did not explain why working long hours increased the risk, but researchers theorized that the lifestyles or psychology of people working long hours could be contributing factors. The study did find that overtime workers tended to exhibit type A behavior patterns, a willingness to work while sick, higher levels of depression, and an inability to diffuse work-related stress. However, they were unable to say whether these problems were caused by excessive overtime work or whether these behaviors contributed to the willingness to work overtime.

One thing researchers could say for certain is this: having a say about whether you work extra hours is easier on your body than being told you have to. In the study, people who chose to work overtime were less likely to experience angina.

Whether you are a company owner or an employee, it’s important to find balance in your life. For a healthier heart, limit overtime. Stay home when you are sick. Rest when you are tired. And instead of burning the candle at both ends, make time to exercise regularly and to relax daily.

Sources:

Virtanen M, et al. Overtime work and incident coronary heart disease: the Whitehall II prospective cohort study. European Heart Journal. 2010; DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehq124.

McInnes G. Overtime is bad for the heart. European Heart Journal. 2010; DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehq116.

Original Source: http://www.wellsource.com/articles-mhc/Excessive-Overtime-Work-Is-Bad-for-Your-Heart.html

In this video little Jessica has the idea of positive affirmations down to a science! Positive affirmations can be an effective tool to not only keep a more positive frame of reference but also to keep focused on what you want and what is already good and working in your life. This is just cute. Give it a view. As of this posting a few million people already have.

If you cannot do a real pullup this is something to begin preparation for you to do so.

For the test I’m laying out for you below to maintain uniformity I want everyone to only do palms-facing-away pullups (pronated grip) and not palms-facing-you chinups (supinated grip).

On the video below the Coach shows multiple grips for the negative chin. I want you to use the grip that he begins discussing at about the 1 minute mark of this 2 minute video. Do watch the whole video to get a good idea of this entire concept for form.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opr72q6NKTc

To prepare for this test I want you to perform a full-body warmup of 5-10 minutes. This is what we’d call a “general” warmup. This can be a combination of treadmill, elliptical, cycling, stairmaster + some med ball or light dumbbell or bodyweight upper body movements but the goal is to get your core temperature up, to be at the point where you are about to or just breaking a sweat and to NOT just warmup the lower body since we will be doing some demanding upper body work in this test.

Here’s a video I put together of a solid MED BALL warmup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn3Z0NVZPUI

After your general warmup I want you to perform a specific warmup which can include any of the following:

1. Lat pull downs on a machine
2. Assisted pullups if you have access to a chin/dip assist machine

I’d like you to perform 1 set of 8 repetitions that you’d describe as easy, then 1 set of 5 repetitions that you’d describe as moderate and then 3 repetitions that you’d describe as somewhat hard.

8 - easy
5 - moderate
3 - somewhat hard

Take 30-60 seconds rest between each warmup set.

After your specific warmup is complete it’s time to perform the test.

Test Objective: Determine point of failure to complete 10 sets of a proper 10-second negative chinup (palms facing away) with your full body weight.

I want you to perform a “negative chinup” with a 10-second eccentric each time. Each 10-second eccentric is a set. The eccentric phase is the lowering phase of this movement. For this exercise it’s the ONLY movement you will be doing. You will not be trying to pull yourself up, only resisting against lowering too quickly.

Method: Choose the bar and chair or box or bench you will be standing on carefully. Make sure that when you are at full extension and hanging you can either safely drop to the floor or get back to your chair, box or bench.

Begin by starting with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width, palms facing away AND with your chin already just above the bar. Get a TIGHT grip!

Then resist against gravity evenly for 10 seconds as you lower yourself to full extension. You should be about 1/2 way down at 5 seconds and all the way extended (hanging) at 10 seconds. When at full extension you should not be supporting your body with your feet at all.

Set 1: Rest 30 seconds
Set 2: Rest 40 seconds
Set 3: Rest 50 seconds
Set 4: Rest 60 seconds
Set 5: Rest 70 seconds
Set 6: Rest 80 seconds
Set 7: Rest 90 seconds
Set 8: Rest 100 seconds
Set 9: Rest 110 seconds

The goal is to get to 10 sets but keep a record of how far you get if you don’t get to 10.

Failure is when you cannot lower yourself evenly and you end up kind of collapsing to full extension before the 9th second.

Example of a failure: You jump up, begin resisting but lowering slowly counting in your head, and at about the 5-6 second mark you just can’t resist any more and you feel you just have to go to full extension (hanging).

Tight grip!

Most women will NOT be able to get all 10 sets. Many women will not be able to do more than 2-3 sets without collapsing to full extension. Most men will be able to do a few sets, some will do most sets, a few will do all the sets (properly!).

Be careful — use good form. Count honestly.

David Greenwalt - Founder
Leanness Lifestyle University
Certified Wellness Coach - ACSM

Ran across this the other day. I’m not the author. But I like it and agree with almost every single word of it.

10 Simple Rules For Dating My Daughter

Rule One:
If you pull into my driveway and honk you’d better be delivering a package, because you’re sure not picking anything up.

Rule Two:
You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter’s body, I will remove them.

Rule Three:
I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don’t take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, in order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist.

Rule Four:
I’m sure you’ve been told that in today’s world, sex without utilizing a “barrier method” of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate, when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you.

Rule Five:
It is usually understood that in order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is “early.”

Rule Six:
I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry.

Rule Seven:
As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don’t you do something useful, like changing the oil in my car?

Rule Eight:
The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka - zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which features chain saws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better.

Rule Nine:
Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a potbellied, balding, middle-aged, dimwitted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me.

Rule Ten:
Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy near Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car - there is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.