Tag Archive for: fight or flight

How Dieting Speeds Up Aging

I don’t know about you, but aging “scares” me a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to be getting older (certainly better than the alternative, right?). But I’ve always been happy when people say I don’t look my age. So, I’m all for doing what I can to healthfully slow down the aging process.

 

There are many things that can speed up the aging process. Some of those things include sleep deprivation, stress, and smoking just to name a few. But one thing that you may not realize is that ….

 

DIETING speeds up aging!

 

Many people diet to feel and look younger, but constant yo-yo dieting actually speeds up the aging process.

 

So how does this happen? Let me explain.

 

Stress!

 

Chronic dieting, calorie counting, tracking food, points, weighing and measuring, worrying about “what I ate”, “what I am eating”, and “what I will eat” causes stress!

 

PLUS, the body worry that comes with dieting…oh my, it’s a lot to handle.

 

“How do I look”, “am I the biggest one here”, “I hate my body”, sound familiar?

 

Body worry fuels the dieting cycle and it all causes immense stress on the body. And, stress causes inflammation in the body, which breaks down the body.

 

3 Ways Stress Causes Aging:

 

1. Stress triggers the fight or flight response. What happens in the fight or flight response is initially, epinephrine is released which causes an increase in heart rate, blood glucose, and blood pressure. Blood is being pushed to the muscles and heart and you’re breathing more rapidly, all so you can either fight or flee.

 

Then, with continued stress, cortisol, another stress hormone, is released which increases fat storage, fatty tissue buildup and weight gain, increased appetite, and cravings for sugary and fatty foods.

 

As you stay in a chronically stressed state, it wears your body down over time.

 

The increased epinephrine causes damage to blood vessels and arteries, increasing blood pressure, and increasing risk of heart attack and stroke.

 

The increased cortisol continues to cause the body to store more fat, increasing appetite, and cravings for sugary and fatty foods.

 

It also increases the risk of osteoporosis and weakens the immune system.

 

All these things speed up aging.

 

So, if you are chronically dieting, yo-yo dieting, and spending a large percentage of your day thinking and worrying over food and your body, this is causing a chronic stress situation.

 

2. Stress affects your DNA. Scientists measure the rate at which we age by examining the length of our telomeres, regions found at the end of our chromosomes that naturally diminish as we age.

 

Recent research has found that certain lifestyle factors affect the rate at which our telomeres shorten. I’m speaking specifically about stress. As our level of stress and exposure to cortisol rises, the more quickly our telomeres shorten, aging us prematurely.

 

And guess what raises cortisol? Dieting. The combined effort of counting calories and restricting calorie intake increases your cortisol, which not only makes your body hold onto fat and prevent weight loss, but also causes your body to age more rapidly!

 

3. Stress increases the production of free radicals. Free radicals are created by exposure to things such as smoking, pollution, sun exposure, alcohol, as well as happen naturally. These free radicals cause an inflammatory response in your body.

 

Restrictive eating, a.k.a. dieting, limits your intake of different foods, depending on which diet you are following (because we know diets often contradict each other), which limits the ingestion of antioxidants which are substances that help reduce the free radicals and therefore the inflammation.

 

Chronic dieting, restriction, food fear, food worry, and body worry, all lead to chronic stress which increases inflammation in the body, and thus speeds up aging and risk of chronic health conditions.

 

You ready to stop dieting? Download my free eBook to get started!

 

And join me LIVE today to delve deeper into how dieting speeds up aging. It’s all happening in my Facebook Group.

 

 

 

Practicing Intuitive Eating During Challenging Times

We all experience challenges within our lifetime. These challenges often make us stronger. Yet, while we are in the midst of the challenge, we often feel the very opposite of strong.

If we stop and think for a moment what those challenges are, we see there are many. Divorce, job loss, relationship turmoil, and illness to name a few. Everyone reacts and acts differently in these situations. But what I’d like you to think about is how does it affect your Intuitive Eating practice?

If you’re just at the beginning of your Intuitive Eating journey or you’re a seasoned Intuitive Eater, when life throws us curve balls, it can impact how intuitive we are in our eating and food decisions. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so important anymore. You might be thinking:

  • “I don’t care, I’m just going to go through the drive -thru”, why does it matter?”
  • “I deserve to eat xxx, I’m so sad.”
  • “I can’t deal with paying attention to my eating during this time, I just don’t have the head space.”

I get it! Sometimes when what you are going through is so overwhelming, it’s easier to move away from being present, to distract yourself from what’s going on around you, and to just zone out.

But how do you feel afterwards? How does being distracted and not paying attention to what you need impact how you handle this curve ball? Most of the time, it makes it more difficult.

Here are 3 ways to stay true to your Intuitive Eating journey during challenging times:

1.Engage in self-care: Sit down and brainstorm how you can take the best care of yourself during this time. What is it that you need? Connection with others? Time to relax and unwind? Boundary setting? Spiritual connection? Movement? Once you tap into what you need, make a plan and block out time each day to meet those needs.

2.Practice self-compassion: Ask yourself how would you speak and/or what would you do for a friend who was experiencing this challenge. Then extend that same compassion to yourself. This is the hardest thing to do if you’ve never practiced self-compassion. Being kind and gentle with yourself has been shown to decrease anxiety and depression and enables you to be more present with yourself in a soothing way.

3.Nourish yourself consistently: Your appetite might be affected when you are under stress. For some, they turn to food to numb out and to protect themselves from feeling pain. For others, they turn away from food as the stress response decreases appetite and they just “don’t feel like eating”.

It’s most important in these situations to consider nourishment as a self-care act. Even though your hunger signals might be blunted during times of stress, you still need to eat. Remember, the Intuitive Eating principle of Honor Your Hunger is NOT A RULE. There are times when we need to eat, even in the absence of hunger. And this is one of those times.

Consider setting an alarm to ring at various internals during the day as a reminder to eat. When things settle down, you will likely see that your hunger signals have returned.

There are always going to be difficult times. Taking the best care of yourself during these times will help you get through it.

If you are experiencing something tough going on in your life now, let’s connect to see how I can support you.

Thinking of you…

 

How to NOT Eat Your Frustration

Frustration. That is the emotion that I’ve been feeling this week. Here’s why:

 

The Set-Up

I decided to change the hosting of all my websites and domains that I use to run my business. I chose a very large hosting company and was feeling confident that all would go smoothly, at least that’s what they promised. However, after 1 ½ months of back and forth phone calls, the migration of my websites was still not complete. I asked for a refund and went on the search for another hosting company.

 

I found another company who seemed eager to help me. I signed up with them and followed their directions to migrate my sites. After many back and forth phone calls, we were getting somewhere. However, I’ve come to learn that there is always going to be a glitch. And, what’s important is how I handle that glitch.

 

Among the many glitches was that a client was not able to access her training modules for a few hours. Okay, not so terrible, I actually figured out how to fix that myself (pat on my back!). But for the few minutes, I was terribly frustrated.

 

Now that all the sites are transferred over successfully, it was time to migrate my Outlook email. This proved to be more difficult. I’m the first to admit that computer and tech language for me is a foreign language. You might as well be speaking to me in Greek, Chinese, or any language other than English. I don’t get it.

 

So, at the time I’m writing this blog post, I have been without email for 36 hours and counting. This means that if you’ve tried to email me, I likely didn’t get it. So, please email me again!

 

(Note – if you are reading this blog in your email, it’s because you received it through iContact, my email management system, which is totally separate from my Outlook email – am I confusing you now??)

 

What’s my point of sharing this all with you?

 

Coping with Frustration

Just a few years ago when I felt frustrated, I would let it get the best of me. Perhaps I’d have a pity party, you know, the ones that include ice cream.

 

But today, things are different.

 

I reframe what is going on. I put things in perspective. I think to myself “how does this affect the real important things in my life, such as my husband and kids, my parents, my health and their health”?

 

Throughout this pause, I breath deeply. This breath work takes me from stress mode (fight or flight) into calming rest mode! And, it helps me process and make the best decisions to take care of myself in the frustrating situation I find myself in.

 

There is no ice cream. There is no chocolate. There is no pity party.

 

There is nothing wrong with ice cream or chocolate. But in a moment of frustration, that’s not what I need to take the best care of ME.

 

Your Turn

How do you handle frustration? Or any emotion for that matter? Comment below!

 

And, if you want to learn strategies to stress less and eat less, then check this SPECIAL out that I have for you, only during the month of April, which is Stress Awareness Month.

 

How Your Mind Guides Your Body towards Losing Weight

Woman eating while reading textThe concept of intuitive eating is regarded as a “new science.” However, being mindful and tuning into your body’s natural signals is a science that is rooted in our oldest ancestry. Tapping into those innate practices that your ancestors once held, or being mindful when you eat, is one way of conquering your battle with food.

 

So what is mindful eating?

 

Let’s start with understanding what mindfulness is. Mindfulness is a state of being conscious or being aware of something. Its paying attention to your thoughts and feelings without judging them, without believing that there is a “right” or a “wrong” way to think or feel in that particular moment.

 

When you are being mindful, your thoughts tune into what you are sensing in the present moment, rather than thinking about the past or the future.

 

Mindful eating involves developing a special kind of awareness that you bring to the table when you eat. It is less about what you eat and more about the way you eat. It’s the act of slowing down, savoring the flavors, and enjoying every bite.

 

As you mindfully eat, you become aware of your eating habits, especially the ones that sabotage eating well.

 

Becoming a mindful eater takes practice.

 

Being mindful in other aspects of your day are also important and can include deep breathing exercises, meditation and writing in your journal. No matter how you focus on being mindful, small steps are key. There are psychological as well as physical reasons why slowing down can influence the way your body works.

 

For one, mindful eating can actually readjust your metabolism for efficient and effective calorie burning. The reason for this is because your body is basically functioning in one of two modes. One mode is the fight-or-flight response. This response is stimulated when you are in action. This response releases cortisol, and designates blood to your extremities in your muscles and bones.

 

The other mode is rest and digest. When you sit down and peacefully enjoy your meal, your body draws your blood flow to these organs of digestion. This effectively breaks down the carbohydrates, protein and fats that you consume.

 

Based on these two physiological responses, it’s clear to see where you may be going wrong in your quest to lose weight. When you eat on the go, in your car, on the bus or on your walk to work, your body is designating its blood flow and energy to muscles that are moving instead of your stomach. Eating on-the-go causes the absorption of nutrients to be impaired.

 

And, on top of that, you aren’t focused on what you are eating, and likely are not satisfied psychologically. Therefore you find yourself looking for food soon after to fill some sort of “need”.

 

If you want to maximize your body’s absorption and efficiency and have utmost pleasure in your food and meals, start by avoiding all distraction while you eat. Eat and just eat. Take the time to sit down, take your mind off your tasks and simply eat. Step away from your desk at work or find a spot to eat outside to increase the joy you have when eating. Do the same for each meal.

 

While this might seem difficult at first to do, you will reap the benefits soon enough.

 

Your turn to take action: Name one mindful eating technique you will try tonight?