I've been reading The 100 Year Diet, by Susan Yager, a history of dietiting. This fascinating book chronicles America's obsession with thinness as a means of controlling one's life when it feels otherwise uncontrollable. It reveals the historical roots, in terms of what was happening in US history during various times in the past 100 years, and how this affecting our cultural ideals for the human body.

Isn't it amazing that the whole idea of dieting or thinness only began 100 years ag0? Many in our society take it as an article of faith that thin is good, and says a lot about the person's integrity, self control and overall attractiveness. 100 years ago, the idea of calories was not known, and the means of gaining or losing weight was not well understood. Yager describes the popular ideas about fatness, and how being "overweight" was not a BAD thing, until several journalists began writing about the idea.

During the 1930's, when many felt that life was not in their control, one easy way of creating (at least) the illusion of control, was to control what you ate, and therefore your weight. Amazing, isn't it, that during a time when many people did not have enough food to eat, that others worked hard to LOSE weight. What irony!

Colleagues of mine, Linda Bacon and Judith Matz, have written a wonderful new article in Diabetes Self Management. It's about intuitive eating, and "stopping the blame game". Learn to eat when you are hungry, eat consciously, and stop when you are full. It really works, even if you have diabetes! Check it out.

http://www.dietsurvivors.com/BaconMatz_Diabetes_EnjoyingFood.pdf

Are Fat People to "Blame"?

There is a current "conversation" among medical professionals about the increase in the number of obese patients, and the stress their size is putting on these professionals. Hospitals and other health care facilities are often not equipped to handle larger size people, and nurses and others feel the physical stress on them is unfair. The idea is these fat people "should just lose weight". After all, isn't it true that fat people are ALL unhealthy and should just eat less and exercise more?

NO, this is NOT always true. There are healthy overweight people, and unhealthy thin people. Being overweight is a risk factor for some chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. It is NOT a guarantee that the overweight person will develop these illnesses.

Here is more on the topic of overweight people and the health care system, from my colleague, Ragan Chastain. See her website at www.danceswithfat.com.

It seems that this is predominantly a matter of "blame". Yes, health professionals might argue, it may be more difficult to work on the elderly or the immobile but they "can't help it". Doctors, nurses, aides and techs may feel justified in complaining about fat patients because they feel that they could "just lose weight". Regardless of the truth of that argument, patients are not treated in hypothetical land and the patient in front of you can't lose weight right now, so a real problem still exists.

I would suggest that the two most important issues here are medical professionals' safety, and patient safety and dignity. Therefore, it's not professionals against patients, it's professionals and patients against a problem and that problem is the fact that hospitals are not properly equipped to deal with the patients in front of them, and are therefore failing to provide an appropriate standard of care and dignity to those patients, and a safe work environment for their employees and contractors.

Rather than turning on each other, I would argue that health professionals and patients should join together and press the hospitals and treatment facilities for the things that they need - equipment, staffing etc. to care for the patients who they have. If patients of size are becoming an increasing issue then that simply speaks to the need to address the problem from the facility level.

As far as weight being a problem that health professionals have to address: My argument would be that even if it would solve the problem, there is nothing yet proven to achieve long term weight loss; and that heaping shame and blame upon people for whom you have no viable treatment option is irresponsible and highly unlikely to result in an outcome of greater health - physical or mental. Excuse the metaphor but it seems to me that the current practice of prescribing caloric restriction is the same as if Viagara were only successful 5% of the time but doctors kept prescribing it and blamed 95% of the guys for not trying hard enough. Not to be cliche but based on the evidence a Health at Every Size approach is much more responsible.

Are Fat People to Blame?

There is a current "conversation" among medical professionals about the increase in the number of obese patients, and the stress their size is putting on these professionals. Hospitals and other health care facilities are often not equipped to handle larger size people, and nurses and others feel the physical stress on them is unfair. The idea is these fat people "should just lose weight". After all, isn't it true that fat people are ALL unhealthy and should just eat less and exercise more?

NO, this is NOT always true. There are healthy overweight people, and unhealthy thin people. Being overweight is a risk factor for some chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. It is NOT a guarantee that the overweight person will develop these illnesses.

Food and Nutrition Conference and Exibition

The Food and Nutrition Conference and Exposition of the American Dietetic Assoc will be held in November in Boston, MA, my home town.
This is the largest conference of Registered Dietitians, and it's always an exciting event. There are thousands of RDs who attend and many interesting topics explored.
Here's the website for the event:
http://www.eatright.org/fnce/
Hope to see you there!

An article from Diana Cullum-Dugan

Diana is a registered dietitian and certified yoga instructor, and inspired colleague. Here's a article from her.

One Drop in the Ocean – One Bite on the Fork

Everyone knows that the drop is inside the ocean, but it is the rare one who knows the ocean is contained in the drop, says Kabir Das, one of the greatest poets of all time. In many cultures, the heart is seen as the container for our spirit. Yet it’s not the physical heart I speak of here, but a space of subtle energy that serves as the doorway to the inner world.
Just as the Universe contains us, our heart space or heart center contains the Universe.
So it is with eating. Huh?
I live by three simple rules when it comes to eating, well mostly, when I’m connected to my heart center.
1. Eat when I’m hungry.

2. Stop when I’m comfortable.

3. Eat whatever my body wants.

Sometimes though, the disconnection between my heart, brain, and stomach is like a little army inside is protecting me from falling into the abyss of self-pity, loneliness and deprivation. The troops say, “Go on, you’re bored, eat some chocolate. You’ll feel better.” Or “Hmmm, lunch time falls right in the middle of a meeting, I should eat more now so I won’t feel hunger.” Or I’m driving home and visions of every kind of food imaginable, Asian take-out, pizza, those delicate little fruit tarts at Whole Foods, hamburgers and tender beef at the local Venezuelan restaurant pop into my head – like, how crazy is that? I’m vegetarian. And I have food at home. Why am I even thinking about driving all over creation in search of food?

The heart center is the midpoint between Heaven and Earth so it’s said. It’s also the link of your awareness to and compassion for your body. When disconnected, eating spans the space of emptiness inside, it stuffs down and suppresses the emotions, sensations and thoughts that pervade that moment in time – feelings you really don’t want to feel. When connected, you feel love for yourself, an intimacy that is comfortable, clean, soft and open and you’re content. When centered in the heart space, the great spiritual emotions like compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, and joy arise from the heart.

Next time sans hunger you go off in search of emotional fulfillment through the vehicle of food, stop. Close your eyes. Breathe the breath of compassion into the space of the heart. Connect to your own fullness. Listen to your inner teacher. If you still want to eat, go for it. Mindfully and without judgment. Enjoy it to the fullest.