Bullies Blame The Victim

BULLIES BLAME THE VICTIM

     “Don’t you have any will power at all??!!?” You might have heard this a time or two. I know I have. And did you refrain from smacking the person who said it? That just proves that you DO have willpower.

     I don’t care much for television programs where folks are abused and berated for being overweight or out of shape, or for not eating properly. Seriously, if we could do better, we would. Verbal abuse is not likely to be a good motivator for most people; after all, most of us have had our share already, and here we are, still stuck in the same place.

     There is so much information floating around that sometimes we get overwhelmed. Unless we really concentrate, it is difficult to differentiate between what is advertising, what is cutting-edge research, what is common sense, and what will work for us. Personally, I have lost hundreds of pounds on virtually every diet out there, and every pound comes back – and brings a few friends. Short-term diets and exercise programs will not work in the long-term. The only solution is a permanent lifestyle change. For myself, the best solution was found in a book by Rick Gallop called “The G I Diet”. The basis of this is the Glycemic Index, which measures the speed at which you digest specific foods and convert them to glucose, which your body uses for energy. Or stores as fat. I had a lot of success with this lifestyle change, eating foods which were low on the Glycemic Index and high in fiber. Complex carbs were a mainstay, with wheat, oats, barley and spelt leading the way. In a year I lost 75 pounds, and the next year I lost another 15 pounds. Most of it stayed off!  Then along came my doctor’s orders to remove all gluten from my diet. There went my favourites! Replacing them with gluten-free products sent me into a high-Glycemic Index tailspin. Here’s why.

     Sometimes it seems that foods – particularly ones that are not too healthy for us – just jump into our mouths. That shows that we have poor impulse control when it comes to food; it does not mean that we have no willpower. It doesn’t mean we are bad or weak; according to Kathleen DesMaisons in “Potatoes not Prozac”, some of us are suffering from sugar sensitivity. We get a very pleasurable chemical reaction in our brain when we eat sugary foods, or foods laden with refined carbohydrates  -- a reaction similar to that caused by addictive drugs. The more of these foods we eat, the more we want. DesMaisons has shown this to be a measurable physical response in the brain.  The solution?  Remove from your diet those foods which are high on the Glycemic Index . I had done that, and then when I had to remove the gluten-laden, high-fiber foods that I was used to, the substitutions put me right back into a sugar spiral.

     Here’s what has to happen next. Gradually remove all sugar (and those simple carbs that act like sugar in the body) from the diet. “The G I Diet” can be a big help here, since it also recommends lots of veggies and fruits, high fiber, and little fat. It is possible to leave out the gluten-bearing foods, and choose ones that are gluten-free; however, to learn the difference, you’ll need to do some extensive  research, which is another topic.

     Once you “get clean”, it is important to stay that way. It’s like an addiction; if you have a little, you’ll need a lot. We cannot help the way our brains are wired. It is not our fault. We can, however, take control of the situation and improve our lives by gradually “cleaning up” our diet, and, once we get there, staying “clean”.  It can be a long process, and we need a lot of support while we are doing this, because often the folks around us can gobble up anything they want with no weight gain, no mood changes, no health repercussions, no problems at all. And we can’t. Boo hoo. Well, we just have to be cheerleaders for each other as we battle for improved health.  Keep your stick on the ice. We’re all pullin’ for ya!