By Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD
Driven by personal history and ambition successful people (discussed in previous installments) offer perfect examples of the potential outcome of serotonin driven self-soothing which invites us to ask and answer questions about self-esteem and self-care. When we understand the relationship between our unconscious mind, our self-esteem and the stress of looking for love “out there”, it becomes quite clear that what is at the core of our “super sizing” or over-eating is not solved by the diet of the month or the next how to best seller. Rather, what is called for is an examination of:
our ego state
our personal world view
our treatment in regards to nature and others
what we value
what we believe in
how much we consume
how much we accumulate.
When these aspects of self are aligned with choices that lead to moderation rather than ambition; that produce balance rather than extreme; that debunk the thinking that “more is better”, we then select the foods we innately know are healthy, even when we must choose from a fast food menu.
In a culture comprised of 5% of the world population, using 75% of the world’s resources we have come to accept access as a way of life. The 1980’s Robin Leaches’ TV show, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, tainted our appetites for over consumption that has brought us to where we are today, obese and chronically diseased.
Take a Tip from the Gurus
World wide, healthy cultural traditions offer us an opportunity to re-think our approach to the way we live. Folk wisdom invites us to ponder
> how much do I really need to do
> to have
> to eat
> to own
> to control
in order to be content with my life; and what role does gratitude in my life is?” Having a calm, well functioning nervous system can be a main objective for all of us instead of trying to trick the body into doing what is not natural with the latest diet craze or supplement pills available.
Change the Question
It may be time to not only change the question we ask ourselves but the questions we are asked as consumers. Maybe, if when making fast food purchasing the questions are “supersize or downsize”, the choice we might make could result in significant weight loss rather than weight gain; the road to health instead of heart diseases and diabetes which more and more research shows comes from stress and poor food choices.
A million dollar statement to wrap up this 5 part article:
Self esteem = when our behaviors are congruent with our personal values. With healthy self-esteem we have a healthy body thru healthy lifestyle choices.
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Self Esteem and Health
by Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD
We have an innate understanding of what we need to do to be healthy. Yet, adages about health, e.g.,” early to bed, early to rise, makes a being healthy, wealthy and wise”, are often ignored in favor of our instant gratification or immediate comfort.
Physical labor has taken a back seat to “mind work”, and today we work harder than ever before to have the money to buy membership to a gym or spa so we can do the physical exercise we need to be healthy and attractive. How ironic, yes?
However, rarely do we actually have the time to go to the gym we pay membership fees to. Statistically, the average gym membership is used for the first 4-6 weeks after signing up and then falls off dramatically. Workout facilities count on these statistics when planning their recruitment and enrollment numbers. Likewise, diet plans and weight loss centers know that 90% or more of their customers will continue to have body weight issues in spite of their best efforts to re-direct to a different way of eating. Why?
An Overweight Syndrome
Some of the most powerful, successful people in the world have the “super-size syndrome”. With every possible service, care and expert available to them they continue to struggle with significant weight gain and loss for many years. Even during the height of their popularity and professional success their body weight can rise to dangerously elevated levels or their eating disorder is completely out of control. The reasons most of us give for not taking care of ourselves include:
not having enough time to shop for or cook the right foods
not being sure what’s best for our body type
not having enough money for domestic help
not having enough time to exercise, meditate and relax
too much stress over money and achieving success
However, there are many individuals who have more than enough money and success to eliminate all of those concerns and yet in spite of that they still do not consistently maintain a proper body weight. What are the real causes of this?
Next Installment – The Role Integrity Plays in Your Health
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
We have an innate understanding of what we need to do to be healthy. Yet, adages about health, e.g.,” early to bed, early to rise, makes a being healthy, wealthy and wise”, are often ignored in favor of our instant gratification or immediate comfort.
Physical labor has taken a back seat to “mind work”, and today we work harder than ever before to have the money to buy membership to a gym or spa so we can do the physical exercise we need to be healthy and attractive. How ironic, yes?
However, rarely do we actually have the time to go to the gym we pay membership fees to. Statistically, the average gym membership is used for the first 4-6 weeks after signing up and then falls off dramatically. Workout facilities count on these statistics when planning their recruitment and enrollment numbers. Likewise, diet plans and weight loss centers know that 90% or more of their customers will continue to have body weight issues in spite of their best efforts to re-direct to a different way of eating. Why?
An Overweight Syndrome
Some of the most powerful, successful people in the world have the “super-size syndrome”. With every possible service, care and expert available to them they continue to struggle with significant weight gain and loss for many years. Even during the height of their popularity and professional success their body weight can rise to dangerously elevated levels or their eating disorder is completely out of control. The reasons most of us give for not taking care of ourselves include:
not having enough time to shop for or cook the right foods
not being sure what’s best for our body type
not having enough money for domestic help
not having enough time to exercise, meditate and relax
too much stress over money and achieving success
However, there are many individuals who have more than enough money and success to eliminate all of those concerns and yet in spite of that they still do not consistently maintain a proper body weight. What are the real causes of this?
Next Installment – The Role Integrity Plays in Your Health
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Stress and Obesity - Part III
By Georgianna Donadio, MSc, Dc, PhD
Causes of Stress
Prior to the early 1970’s, the majority of family units were structured as a one wage earner household where the male worked and the female stayed at home taking care of the house and family. Driven largely by social and socio-economic factors, all of that has changed. Now, the overwhelming majority of families include both parents working and we find ourselves on a treadmill of more work, more responsibilities, more demands and non-stop scheduling that has many of us in a state of physical and, at times, emotional exhaustion.
Added to the mix is our competitive culture, which often lends to isolation or “them against us”, thinking. Isolation of this nature causes additional “hidden” stress. The perennial truth is that the whole world is one family. It is said that there is only one disease, the disease of separateness; separating oneself from the awareness that as a member of the human family, we are one living collective organism. The drama created by a “one up” or “one down” dynamic, which we find in competitive societies, can lend to the exhaustion and the psycho-social behavioral issues that contribute to overeating.
Understanding Exhaustion
and it’s Effect on Obesity
The tipping point at which our bodies can no longer compensate for or adapt to the stress they are under is based in large part on the threshold of nutritional competency and the state of integrity of our nervous systems. When our central nervous system, which governs every cell in our body and makes life possible, is not working efficiently, we have a decrease in bodily function and a decrease in the ability to adapt to the world we live in.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS, is rampant in our culture today and growing at an alarming rate because of the over stimulation and increased demands placed on our nervous systems. Add to this inadequate nutrition and a decreased ability of our bodies to digest and absorb properly because of the stress, and we see the building blocks of the epidemic of chronic diseases being currently reported.
What is so shocking for us as American’s, is that while we live in one of the most affluent societies ever to exist on earth and have one of the most technologically advanced medical systems; we are ranked at approximately 26th in the “World Health Olympics”.
This is not the failure of our medical system but, in fact, our collective societal failure to live in our bodies mindfully and respectfully, taking time for rest, proper nutrition, reflection, intimacy with self and others and serving the common good of all. It is this imbalance that leads us to chronic stress, which leads to physical and, if you will, spiritual exhaustion that is producing the levels of chronic disease and rampant obesity we see today.
Next Installment – Self Esteem and Health
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
Causes of Stress
Prior to the early 1970’s, the majority of family units were structured as a one wage earner household where the male worked and the female stayed at home taking care of the house and family. Driven largely by social and socio-economic factors, all of that has changed. Now, the overwhelming majority of families include both parents working and we find ourselves on a treadmill of more work, more responsibilities, more demands and non-stop scheduling that has many of us in a state of physical and, at times, emotional exhaustion.
Added to the mix is our competitive culture, which often lends to isolation or “them against us”, thinking. Isolation of this nature causes additional “hidden” stress. The perennial truth is that the whole world is one family. It is said that there is only one disease, the disease of separateness; separating oneself from the awareness that as a member of the human family, we are one living collective organism. The drama created by a “one up” or “one down” dynamic, which we find in competitive societies, can lend to the exhaustion and the psycho-social behavioral issues that contribute to overeating.
Understanding Exhaustion
and it’s Effect on Obesity
The tipping point at which our bodies can no longer compensate for or adapt to the stress they are under is based in large part on the threshold of nutritional competency and the state of integrity of our nervous systems. When our central nervous system, which governs every cell in our body and makes life possible, is not working efficiently, we have a decrease in bodily function and a decrease in the ability to adapt to the world we live in.
Chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS, is rampant in our culture today and growing at an alarming rate because of the over stimulation and increased demands placed on our nervous systems. Add to this inadequate nutrition and a decreased ability of our bodies to digest and absorb properly because of the stress, and we see the building blocks of the epidemic of chronic diseases being currently reported.
What is so shocking for us as American’s, is that while we live in one of the most affluent societies ever to exist on earth and have one of the most technologically advanced medical systems; we are ranked at approximately 26th in the “World Health Olympics”.
This is not the failure of our medical system but, in fact, our collective societal failure to live in our bodies mindfully and respectfully, taking time for rest, proper nutrition, reflection, intimacy with self and others and serving the common good of all. It is this imbalance that leads us to chronic stress, which leads to physical and, if you will, spiritual exhaustion that is producing the levels of chronic disease and rampant obesity we see today.
Next Installment – Self Esteem and Health
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
How It Works
by Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD
Thanks to the work of M.I.T. professor Judith Wurtman, PhD, and others we now understand the significant role that a neurotransmitter or "chemical messenger" called serotonin plays in producing our cravings for complex carbohydrates and sugars, two of the largest contributors to unhealthy weight gain.
Serotonin and other neurotransmitters are produced by our bodies as "feel good" hormones. Under stress, we do not have enough of these hormones and we become motivated to "self-sooth" by behaviors that lead to the increase in serotonin. Overeating carbohydrates and fatty rich foods or "comfort foods" such as cookies, ice cream, and other "treats" significantly increases these hormones. Many addictions such as smoking, drinking alcohol and abusing drugs are also attempts to self soothe and increase serotonin, but no other addictive or unhealthy behavior is as socially accepted and as easily available as overeating. We can do it anywhere, anytime, along or with company. It is not wonder we have such a love affair with eating.
In addition, our bodies need for certain nutrients, specifically protein, Vitamins A, C and E, unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol and minerals sky rocket when we are "adapting" under stress. Often, if we do not stop the stress cycle or appropriately supplement these vital nutrients, we can turn to overeating to satisfy the body's demand for the fuel it needs to keep dealing with the stress we are experiencing.
For a period of time, foods that comfort, sooth or supplement can make us feel calmer until our level of serotonin drops again or until we become more exhausted and need to feed ourselves once more. Then we start the cycle all over and consume more carbohydrates and fatty rich food to stabilize our blood sugar level and brain function until we feel better again.
This is the cycle of self medication or self-soothing practices in homes, offices, restaurants, automobiles and yes, even in bathrooms across America. The long term effect of such behaviors, apart from obesity and escalating chronic diseases, is that our nervous systems are being hyper-stimulated. Anxiety, exhaustion, depression, over eating and insomnia are just a few of the symptoms we experience when our nervous systems are working on overload.
As a result, it is no wonder that within the last few years, low carbohydrate diets have proven effective for so many people. Approximately 20% of Americans or 20 million people are currently on low carbohydrate diets. For many of us, our stress level is a major factor in the over-consumption of carbohydrates; therefore reducing or eating normal amounts of carbohydrates is spawning weight loss. The real issue however is: How long can we reduce our carbohydrate loading without reducing our stress levels and the behaviors that create elevated stress in the first place?
Next Installment - CAUSES OF STRESS
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
Thanks to the work of M.I.T. professor Judith Wurtman, PhD, and others we now understand the significant role that a neurotransmitter or "chemical messenger" called serotonin plays in producing our cravings for complex carbohydrates and sugars, two of the largest contributors to unhealthy weight gain.
Serotonin and other neurotransmitters are produced by our bodies as "feel good" hormones. Under stress, we do not have enough of these hormones and we become motivated to "self-sooth" by behaviors that lead to the increase in serotonin. Overeating carbohydrates and fatty rich foods or "comfort foods" such as cookies, ice cream, and other "treats" significantly increases these hormones. Many addictions such as smoking, drinking alcohol and abusing drugs are also attempts to self soothe and increase serotonin, but no other addictive or unhealthy behavior is as socially accepted and as easily available as overeating. We can do it anywhere, anytime, along or with company. It is not wonder we have such a love affair with eating.
In addition, our bodies need for certain nutrients, specifically protein, Vitamins A, C and E, unsaturated fatty acids, cholesterol and minerals sky rocket when we are "adapting" under stress. Often, if we do not stop the stress cycle or appropriately supplement these vital nutrients, we can turn to overeating to satisfy the body's demand for the fuel it needs to keep dealing with the stress we are experiencing.
For a period of time, foods that comfort, sooth or supplement can make us feel calmer until our level of serotonin drops again or until we become more exhausted and need to feed ourselves once more. Then we start the cycle all over and consume more carbohydrates and fatty rich food to stabilize our blood sugar level and brain function until we feel better again.
This is the cycle of self medication or self-soothing practices in homes, offices, restaurants, automobiles and yes, even in bathrooms across America. The long term effect of such behaviors, apart from obesity and escalating chronic diseases, is that our nervous systems are being hyper-stimulated. Anxiety, exhaustion, depression, over eating and insomnia are just a few of the symptoms we experience when our nervous systems are working on overload.
As a result, it is no wonder that within the last few years, low carbohydrate diets have proven effective for so many people. Approximately 20% of Americans or 20 million people are currently on low carbohydrate diets. For many of us, our stress level is a major factor in the over-consumption of carbohydrates; therefore reducing or eating normal amounts of carbohydrates is spawning weight loss. The real issue however is: How long can we reduce our carbohydrate loading without reducing our stress levels and the behaviors that create elevated stress in the first place?
Next Installment - CAUSES OF STRESS
With all good wishes,
G
© by NIWH 2010 all rights reserved
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