2007,  School Talk

Monday night class might be useful for something

Well, tonight’s night class was semi-interesting. It had room for improvement for sure but the part of the class devoted to dieting/weight loss, it shed light on myths and was informative. Most of it I had heard before but it got me thinking about people I know and how they go about dieting/losing weight, what they do in stressful situations and all that. This is what I learned. I don’t know why I feel like telling you about it but I found it interesting. I’ll leave out the hormone/neurotransmitter/anatomy part of it to save your sanity. hehe Ok I’m a nerd.

The number of fat cells are determined in life by genetic factors and early eating habits and are set in stone by adulthood. We only have control of how big we’ll let those juicy fat cells get.

40% of Cancer is related to diet.

I am a non-eater when I’m stressed. Most people I know are “stress eaters” but not this chicky. 50% of people are like me and 50% of people are “stress eaters.” This is what research shows about these eaters (summarizing and leaving lots of info out, but here’s the gist of it) . “Stress eaters” have less self-control when it comes to food and these people tend to be restrictive dieters. Restrictive dieters are people who deny themselves certain foods in the name of a diet. Also, it was found that when they have negative stress emotions they crave the sweet, high-fat foods that I LOVE.

Restrictive Dieters/Eaters are more apt to relapse than people who monitor portion control and eat what they want (in moderation of course).

Did you know the biggest McD’s fries in the 70s was only 200 calories while the biggest fries you can buy now have 610 calories.

“Apple-shaped” people are more at risk for health problems due to excess weight than “pear-shaped” people (like me!). “Apple-shaped” people have an increased risk of developing diabetes, Coronary Heart Disease, etc.

What actually causes people to gain MORE weight after dieting? We’ve all heard of this yo-yo effect and I actually can give the layman’s explanation of it all (why it happens). We all have an ideal healthy weight for our bodies that we don’t have control of. Your body is in a homeostatic state. You gain weight so your metabolism speeds up to try and lose the extra weight and return to it’s “ideal weight.” You lose weight so your metabolism slows down so it doesn’t go too far past it’s “ideal weight.” So once you reach your goal and start eating normal again your body piles on fat because your metabolism is slower than it was before starting to lose weight.

So yea, there is my class lecture for the evening. Enjoy! 🙂 At least you didn’t have to sit 3 hours through class. Blah.

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