Category Archives: health

Jan16

Psychologists Say That Emotions Affect Weight: Millions of Women Say, Duh!!

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So, the other day I was browsing health headlines, as I do—because in my other life I am a struggling freelance health and medical writer—and I came across this: Poll of Psychologists Cites Emotions As Top Obstacle to Weight Loss.

 Well, let me just put down my pint of Ben and Jerry’s. You mean millions of us, while sad, mad, listening to Adele, or even celebrating, may over indulge?

C’est vrais. (translation: “it is true”—I like to pretend I am fluent in French).

 This survey of psychologists who work with weight loss issues says that “understanding and managing the behaviors and emotions related to weight management,” are essential to long term dieting success.

 We know, we know! But does it really help? Case in point:

This past summer, spurred by a flea/dust mite crisis, I did a massive housecleaning. I’m not a hoarder (really!), I just have a lot of clutter. Who knew I had so much stuff (and dust)? I hefted boxes and bags up and down the stairs, out to the trash, etc. And I started to lose a significant amount of weight. Great! I needed to lose, in order to get back to a healthy BMI, but also because I am vain.

However, this healthy move was offset by an incredible craving for sweets. I tried to keep them out of the house, but to my embarrassment, despite my years of ranting about high-fructose corn syrup, I became a regular at the McDonald’s drive-thru.

 So do I know what emotions may have been playing a role in this sugar crisis? Um, yeah. I think it went a bit like this:

[Sob,sob.] Damn it, my dog is dead, but these fricking fleas (I always gave Houdini flea prevention-these were super fleas) are still here! [ragged breath]

And-now-they’re-attacking-me-and-my-dust-mites-are-making-me-feel-like Miss Havisham-and-I’m-not, I’m-not, and-also-I-don’t-have-any-money-so-I-can’t-fix-my-house-up, including-my-crazy-ass-slightly-crooked-and-cracking-front-walk-and-I-just-know-that-the-neighbors-and-passersby-are-pointing-and-judging. [sniffle, deep breath in]



Or something like that….


 Psychologists say that treatment with techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help (Therapy! But I’m already in therapy.)

 Seriously, though. There are some truly traumatic experiences—such
as being abused or a survivor of violent crime—that can lead to overeating. Body image, stress, depression or just life can also get in the way. So therapy is nothing to scoff at.

 It’s good to hear the message that’s it’s not just about self-control. But I’d like to hear a little bit more about societal factors that contribute to poor body image and self-punishing overeating. Like the omnipresent messages that tell women they should all look like this:



 
  To quote a friend of mine: “I’m just sayin’”

Jan8

Et tu pater?

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So I’m talking to my dad on the phone recently, and sans seqway he says, “did you see…what’s, he’s name, Dr. Goo, Gu…” (my dad is not good with languages).


“Dr. Gupta?” I say.

“Yeah, he was on Good Morning America talking about how two glasses of wine or more for women can cause problems.”

And I say, “Yes, I’m familiar with the research [hello, I’m a health writer!], and actually it’s interesting how different news outlets chose to present the research—alcohol BAD (irregular heartbeat risk with too much wine!) or alcohol OK (light drinking poses no heart risk to women).”

Besides, I don’t make a habit of drinking more than two glasses a wine a night. I won’t say I’ve never had more than two at a sitting, but it’s not common…”

“Still, it’s something to think about,” Dad says.

What I don’t say is this: “Oh, Dad, not you too!!”

You see, for years, my mom has waged a not so subtle war against wine. My wine. To be fair, Mom has reason to be cautious about alcohol. My grandfather and at least three of his six siblings were alcoholics. So Mom has seen the havoc it can wreak. We even did a little two-person intervention with my grandfather once. So, I get it.


But biology doesn’t have to be destiny, Mom! I didn’t even start drinking until I was 19, remember? I was a band geek! In my early college years, instead of going to keggers I played Pictionary!

And even when I started drinking, it was pretty tame. Instead of swigging Mad Dog , I slummed by sipping from jugs of three-dollar Gallo Chablis (future wine snob alert). And drinking some concoction served from a garbage can? What is that about? Grain alcohol? Do I look like I want to go blind?

Granted, I did eventually discover shots of tequila. And that did lead to an unfortunate incident in which I induced a friend to do a shot of tequila after sharing a bottle of wine, causing her to vomit in the middle of a crowded bar. But hey, I did NOT tell her to drink the unsolicited spearmint schnapps shots presented to us by some random dude. And she is totally a barfer.

And we were also 23.

I mean really, Mom doesn’t regularly drink, but alcohol has passed her lips without undue incident.

As for me, I don’t drink when I’m depressed, don’t drink much during the week, don’t have a history of blacking out or even drunk-dialing, and when I drink too much, I end up on the floor, not some alley somewhere. And yes, red wine gives me migraines sometimes, but what is life without risk?

But Mom still comes up with not so subtle anti-wine/alcohol messages like these:

“You’d probably lose weight if you cut out the wine. You know alcohol really does have a lot of calories.”
“Drinking wine [any! at all! being the subtext] really raises your risk for breast cancer.”
“Wine-tasting [a hobby of mine] is linked to nose cancer. [OK, I made that one up].

But what set Dad off? He’s never made a fuss about my wine drinking – only smirked and offered some of his Reunite when I visit.

Could it have been all the empty wine bottles in my outside recycle bin? The recycle bin that I haven’t moved in 6 months? Or maybe it was that empty bottle or two on the dining room table? Those have been there forever!! I lost track of them among all the other crap on my table!

Today I noticed an empty bottle under the table. I’m fairly certain Houdini placed it there in an attempt to gaslight me.

Seriously, I like my wine. A lot. But I believe in moderation. In fact, the real substance abuse problem they should be worried about? My sugar habit! I’ve known for a long time that I liked dessert just a little too much. But I’ve been in denial about the true extent.

Until a visit with a hospital “health educator.”

I was in the ER in San Diego after my spectacular fall down the stairs of the convention center. They had checked me out and while I was waiting to be released, they sent in a “health educator”—just a little something they’ve started doing. Right. As my friend Priscilla pointed out, they had probably me tagged me as a drunk because I fell [I’d just like to point out that I have been stone cold sober for the majority of my falls.]. Sorry guys, I’m just a spazz.

But, as they gave me the “do you have an alcohol problem” quiz, I couldn’t help but think of sugar…..

Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking sugar? I once ate an entire bag of candy corn in one sitting. And it wasn’t even good candy corn. So, what do you think?

How often during the last year have you found that you were not able to stop eating dessert drinking once you had started? I’m virtually unable to sit down with a pint of ice cream and not eat all of it. So, the answer would be a lot.

Have you ever felt remorse after indulging drinking? As a child, I used to steal some of the really good candy from my YOUNGER sister’s trick-or-treat stash. I was like, 10 and she was 5. It doesn’t get any lower than that.

Is there such a thing as “sugar” rehab?

Oct16

Our Daughters, Ourselves

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Onslaught.

It’s an award-winning short film from Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. The tagline: Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.

I don’t have a daughter. But I do have a niece. And more painfully, I have a mirror.

I don’t like what I see in it.

Which is ridiculous. I am not hideous, deformed or even just plain ugly. But sometimes I think I am. In the mirror, on the scale, trying on clothes, just walking around. That little voice in my head: You’re fat. You’re getting old. Is that a wrinkle? A new gray hair? Is my neck starting to sag? My eyelids droop?

I’m 38 years old and in pretty good health and shape for my age. I could stand to lose a few pounds–for my health–but I’m certainly not falling to pieces like some decrepit old house.

And what if I were? Is it no longer possible to approach 40 without Botox and a plastic surgeon on speed dial? Is youth our only currency?

These are not just the narcisstic ramblings of one neurotic type A personality, but thoughts that most women I know share. After all, we’re all subjected to this barrage every day.

The film is a 60-second, turbo-charged distillation of everything advertising and the beauty industry have to throw at us.

Very cleverly done. It captures our crazy-making beauty culture perfectly. There’s even a split second image of a woman kneeling before a toilet, presumably on the verge of purging.

Read Advertising Age’s review of the ad–including appropriate calling out of Unilever for also producing Axe body spray and Slim Fast.