DIET COLUMN

On Thanksgiving, I will be surrounded by 40-50 family members. After we share our feast from appetizers to desserts, several of us will find a spot in front of the television to watch football and doze through commercials. Although I would like to see the Lions hand the Titans another loss (I am a true blue Colts fan!), surrendering to “turkey-daze” is part of the holiday, right? It is commonly believed that the tryptophan in turkey induces sleepiness; however, there is more to our holiday drowsiness than this one chemical.

Tryptophan is one of ten amino acids that the body cannot manufacture on its own and must be supplemented through diet. Tryptophan aids in the production of the B-vitamin niacin which then assists the body’s production of serotonin. Serotonin helps us regulate mood, aggression, anxiety, impulsiveness, body temperature, appetite, and sleep. However serotonin cannot cross the blood brain barrier, meaning we cannot create more serotonin in our bodies.

It’s that time of the year again. The days are getting shorter. The nights are getting colder. In Indiana, we have seen a few snow flurries, and I am dreading the graying of the sky for the winter. In response, we tend to sleep more, crave carbohydrates, and experience less energy. Although not an official DSM-IV TR diagnosis, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD, or seasonal depression) has been popularly accepted by lay persons, practitioners, and researchers alike.

Our natural response to the seasonal changes only becomes a disorder when the distress is in excess of what would be expected from the stressor (seasonal change) and/or when it interferes with functioning in more than one key life area. If you are late to work every day and fighting more with your significant other, your response may be severe enough to be considered a disorder. Regardless of the extent to which the seasonal change effects you, there are several things you can do to fight the winter blues.

It was way too easy to find the background information needed for this blog. I use Google.com enough to consider Google a verb. This search was frighteningly easy. Recently, I cautioned against inaccurate and even dangerous information on the internet. The internet can be a fabulous tool to find the information you need to help you achieve your goals; but like most information, you have to consider the source and accuracy of the information presented.

The DSM-IV classifies Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa as eating disorders, but there are a slew of websites that market these mental illnesses as lifestyle choices. The nicknames “Ana” and “Mia” for these disorders not only make them more user-friendly, but personify them as a friend to young girls. Pro-ana websites are being used as peer support groups to encourage weight loss beyond the limits of health. Whether it is an online community or an informational site, you are likely to find:

• Secrets on hiding these disorders and weight loss from parents, physicians, and others.

• Crash dieting techniques, low calorie foods, and recipes

• Ways to “trick” your body, avoid cravings, and ignore hunger
  

The idea of comfort food, foods that evoke a psychologically pleasurable response when ingested by an individual, is not new. Your idea of which foods are comforting is somewhat individual and based on a variety of factors. The pairing of sustenance with comfort has been said to start as early as the womb. This pairing continues with the bonding created by infant feeding, both physical and emotional needs are met at the same time, and rewarding toddlers and children with food for good behavior.

Many families use food to distract one from or heal negative emotions such as sadness, loneliness, hurt, and even boredom. Many of my family members admit to using food to love and care for each other, trying to meet both physical and emotional needs. How often do we express gratitude and caring during holidays with gifts of food? Is it any wonder that we use food as a drug to effect both our physical and emotional states?

We have all heard the term “brain food” used to identify foods that can increase the health and functioning of your brain. Fish is the most well-known brain food due to the Omega-3 fatty acids, which promote brain cell health. Fish also contains Omega-3 DHA which keeps brain cell membranes healthy and aids communication within brain cells.

Other lesser known brain foods include brightly colored produce high in antioxidants, including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, prunes, and my favorite blueberries. Whole grains and whole grain products such as bread, rice, and pasta contain B vitamins and magnesium which assist normal brain and nerve functioning.

Feeding your brain can increase your mental energy. Mental capacity is what we use to organize our lives. When your mental energy is low, you’re likely to become more forgetful, distracted, and have difficulty thinking and completing tasks. Maximum mental energy is derived from oscillation; changing channels mentally permits different parts of the brain to be activated while others rest and can facilitate creativity.

One of the first steps to making a life change is moving from the stage of precontemplation to contemplation, becoming more aware that your life could be improved in some way and how the status quo could be less than helpful. A process that can help you in this stage transition is known as Consciousness Raising. Consciousness Raising can occur purposefully or you may stumble upon information. Regularly visiting DietsInReview.com presents more opportunities for new information to be integrated into your consciousness; however, not everything we blog directly applies to you and your goals. Stumbling upon information would be as if someone unexpectedly handed you a brochure or flyer about what you needed to know while you were walking down the street one day. Checking out books from the library on the subject would be purposefully increasing your own awareness.

Last week on Oprah, Roger Schultz shared his pre-Biggest Loser ranch daily diet, including the snack of an entire sleeve of store-bought cookies which he said he ate while watching the Biggest Loser. Other Biggest Loser contestants have made similar revelations and I’m sure several of you snack while watching television. In graduate school, I often kept my mind engaged on my studies through continuous motion of hand to bowl to mouth. I was lucky to be young and active to balance such mindless habits.

How many times have you watched The Biggest Loser or Dr. Phil’s Ultimate Weight Loss Race or even Oprah’s Biggest Loser episode while eating? We eat more when we are focused on something else, not paying attention to what we are doing, and not paying attention to our bodies. Why do you choose to watch these shows in the first place? Do you relate to the contestants? Are you on a similar journey? Are you looking for new ideas to help you along the path? Do you consider these shows to be more family-oriented entertainment than other shows on during prime time and want to communicate a healthy lifestyle to your children? What are you thinking when you make the choice to watch these shows?

One of the things that makes Jillian Michaels such a popular trainer on The Biggest Loser is that she really cares about her contestants and recognizes that weight gain/loss can be more complex than calories in-calories out. There are a lot of other factors that affect our bodies and metabolisms. It took Brittany Aberle nearly her entire time on the show to discover a hormone imbalance (PCOS) that was slowing down her weight loss.

Another important aspect that Jillian seems to get is the connection between physical health and mental health, possibly because her mother is a psychologist. Every season, as her contestants start to lose weight, Jillian recognizes and helps her contestants to address the emotional issues that are rising to the surface, revealed by the process. This season she’s worked closely with Coleen and Michelle.

As we continue to work through Dr. Phil’s Keys to Weight Loss and keep track of his Ultimate Weight Loss Race, we dig a bit more deeply into the second key. Dr. Phil’s website directs focus using the second key with the following mandate, “Overcome emotional overeating by managing inappropriate reactions to stress; solving problems rather than dwelling on them; changing self-defeating thoughts, since more often than not, feelings follow thoughts; gaining closure on unfinished emotional business; and learning new ways to cope without resorting to food”. Just that statement could be overwhelming with all the difficult things that are included. One issue many have with Dr. Phil is that telling you what to do doesn’t necessarily lead to life change because it leaves you without knowing how to do what he told you to do. So let’s break it down.

When explaining the formation of a habit, I mentioned reinforcing behavior that you want to encourage. Our behavior is shaped by the consequences of our choices. Behaviorism discusses positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment as the major ways to shape behavior. In this theory, positive means adding something to a situation, negative means removing something from a situation, reinforcement is used to encourage a behavior, and punishment is used to discourage a behavior.