Okay, so I feel absolutely amazing when I eat well and exercise, yet there are still times I will over eat, binge, etc. -- I should know better right -- if a horse gets zapped every time he goes near an electric fence, he learns to stay away from it -- so why then as peson of average intelligence can't I learn my lessons? You would think after 36 years of back and forth I'd have it down by now
I think food , and over eating is pushed on us from the media: t.v, magazines, from when we are kids. If any of you have kids you know what I am talking about, Dora the explorer cereal?, in schools, they sell snacks at the lunch counter in Elementary school , in H.S., there are soda machines, and snack machines. I truly think if children are shown to eat healthy as kids they have a better chance of eating healthy as adults. So we adults are fighting something that we have known are whole life, and slipping is normal, as long as the next day you do better. Lol like I haven't done it before. I hope this made sense, I am kind of tired, and run down today.
Cheryl
I think the problem is, is that with food we absolutely can not avoid it, the horse doesn't count on the electrical fence for survival. Us human folk on the other hand, we MUST eat in order to survive. So we will never completely learn. Cold turkey would most probably be much easier, but that's not an option.
Last edited by rockinrobin; 05-25-2007 at 07:02 PM.
I agree with Robin's theory. I do think that I can help decrease the frequency of my binges and overeating by figuring out what triggers them. But I know that I will be fighting the urges the rest of my life.
I find that I slip up most times for absolutely no good reason, which makes it hard for me to pinpoint the cause. This is something that I must work on though if I want to see success.
I would love a "taste bud adjustment" --- make broccoli and anything with a sprout on it taste like chocolate??
I am not positive that even that wouldn't be a sure thing
While they do not taste like chocolate to me, I LOVE whole foods and "healthy" foods
I got to where I am at eating a whole foods vegan diet with plenty of broccoli, beans, brown rice and other "healthy" foods. The issue isn't one of taste for me, it is liking food too much, eating too much food and moving my body too little
When I thought of myself in this situation ~ I guess I don't learn my lesson like the horse, because the food tastes good and is enjoyable (that is the initial sensation anyway, the feeling bad and stuffed comes later) while for the horse, the electric shock (something unpleasant) is the first sensation. I guess like royalsfan said if the kitchen or refrigerator were electrified so that our first sensation was an unpleasant one......
I honestly think my problems aren't so much the food, but the feeling I've been looking for since I was little -- some type of comfort that I keep waiting for the food to bring, but I guess it's time to realize whatever void I need to fill, food just isn't going to do it. To be honest, for years nothing has even tasted good to me -- too many years of an eating disorder I swear wiped out my taste buds!! So -- starting in the a.m. it's time to stop living in denial and realize as is said here so often "I need to eat to live not live to eat" -- there are so many worthwhile endeavors I'm missing out on because I've been letting my weight/food issues control my life. My marriage may be falling apart because of my weight issues and it's time to take control of my life back from the contents of my cabinets and put it back in my hands.
(sorry for the incohernet ramblings of a tired, depressed, overweight SAHM!!!)
Shelby, your post is definitely not incoherent! You've made an important realization about how we use food to fill a void, to comfort us, even when we know it can never really do that. For years I did that, and I still do at times. It's something I'll always struggle with. It's possible to manage it, though. We just have to always remember that it's NOT the answer, and not beat ourselves up about it when we temporarily forget that and give in to it anyway. This is a VERY VERY difficult thing to do. Sometimes, when we're in the swing of weight loss and we're seeing some success, it doesn't seem like it's all that hard. We think...why didn't I do this ages ago? What was my problem? And then it gets hard for a few days and we remember...oh yeah. It's not so easy after all! The important thing is just to to accept it and commit to it and never stop trying. You're here. You know how to lose weight. You can do this.
If our behavior doesn't even make sense to ourselves, how can we even begin to control it? I don't think we can, at least not without going insane in the process. I think the first thing to consider is that your behavior makes perfect sense. Understanding why your brain and body work the way they do, helps you "outsmart" yourself, without feeling like an idiot when instinct occasionally wins over common sense.
Starting with the horse analogy, if there were even a minute delay before the horse felt the pain, there would be a very good chance that he would NOT learn to avoid the fence. Also if he were rewarded as well as punished for touching the fence, he probably would keep touching it, at least occasionally (and you would have one very confused horse).
You don't feel sick the moment you begin to overeat. Also, there is a reward to overeating. It's a short one, but it comes before the pain, so the reward "trumps" the punishment. Even animals respond this way.
Rats very often will not avoid a reward of food, even if it results in a shock. Female rats are even less likely to learn to avoid the shock, and mother rats are the least likely to learn (it kind of makes sense, if you have kids to feed you have to make sure you and the kids get enough to eat, regardless of the cost to yourself).
The parts of the brain that control eating are more primitive than the parts of the brain that use logic. It takes a lot of work to overcome thousands of years (millions if you want to talk about evolution) of survival instinct. Our biology, like that of other critters, isn't designed for overabundance. Under most circumstances animals (and in many parts of the world still, even humans) have to struggle to GET ENOUGH to eat. And if there is an overabundance of food, overpopulation generally would occur before widespread obesity. Having to hunt your food, also is a weight control mechanism, as if you've gained a little weight you're going to be a little slower and go hungry a little more until you're back at optimal weight.
Losing weight isn't for sissies. It's hard, and it takes a lot of guts and brains to "outsmart" our inborn psychology and physiology.
My thoughts on this are in line with what Colleen mentioned about our biology not being designed for overabundance. Whenever I get frustrated about how hard it is to change my eating habits, I recall what Dr. Doug Lisle, author of The Pleasure Trap (which I heard is great but haven’t read yet) said at a health seminar I went to a couple of years ago. He basically said that our bodies were designed to go after the highest calorie- and fat-dense foods, but they were not designed to encounter unnatural things like milkshakes, candy bars and french fries. The conclusion I drew from this is that we weren’t designed to choose an apple over a candy bar, leading me to realize that it is unnatural for our bodies to want to cut calories, regardless of how unnaturally large we are. This helps me remove the emotions and psychology of trying to lose weight that I’ve struggled with since adolescence. Looking at things this way helps me keep a “mind over matter” approach to it all. This is the first time in over 10 years I’ve been able to stick to a healthy eating plan for more than 2 weeks, and this way of thinking is what has really helped me “just do it” and lose 29 pounds over these past 8 weeks.
Colleen -- You should teach a course in human nature!! Awesome post.
Thanks everyone for your responses -- this website is such an awesome, supportive place because no where else on this planet can you actually find someone who understands exactly how you feel!!! I swear I go from gung ho to depressed about how far I have to go to envy of people who are "naturally thin" and the "why can't I eat what I want"!! I guess it's time to get over all this and get to work on losing the weight -- I could spend the next 20 years trying to figure it all out but why waste another 20 years trying to work on the whys when I could spend a year just doing the work and getting the weight off. I know I'm a food addict/binger and these are the issues I need to concentrate on controlling and get on with my life. I can't stand to miss another day of my kid's lives obsessing about my weight. My husband "doesn't like fat", thinks fat = lazy, etc. and I need to realize that's his problem -- I'm the same person he married (just A LOT more of me!!) and I want to be thin for me, not to please others!!
Have a wonderful day my "3FC friends" -- I'm truly blessed to have found this place. I know a journal is a wonderful thing for putting down your feelings, but the affirmation that someone else has '"been there, done that" make such a big difference to me.
What is your theory?
intelligence can't I learn my lessons? You would think after 36 years of back and forth I'd have it down by now 
