“There is a wide difference between the will to resist an activity and the decision to change it. He who changes an activity acts; whereas he who resists an activity, reacts. One creates, the other perpetuates.”
Neville Goddard
Believing the calorie in-calorie out myth isn’t easy to shake. Because I’m stubborn and like the crap I’ve been eating the past 50 years. Sugary foods, soda and breads comfort and satisfy more than hunger. Retraining my brain, my palate and behavior is a long and winding road.
What do I want more? A cookie or a hike in the woods? The answer is different depending on the day.
In his book The Obesity Code, Jason Fung, MD says “We obsess about caloric input into the system, but output is far more important.”
Calories do lots of things for our bodies, like:
- Heat production
- New protein production
- New bone production
- New muscle production
- Cognition (brain)
- Increased heart rate
- Increased stroke volume (heart)
- Exercise/physical exertion
- Detoxification (liver)
- Detoxification (kidney)
- Digestion (pancreas and bowels)
- Breathing (lungs)
- Excretion (intestines and colon), and
- Fat production
Whew! Apparently, restricting calories slows everything down. I might feel like I’m always cold – because my internal furnace has no juice. Or I’m not thinking straight – because my brain isn’t being fed. Maybe my heart rate slows down – to save energy. Fung says studies find “a 30 percent reduction in caloric intake resulted in a nearly identical 30 percent reduction in caloric expenditure.”
As I move into Dr. Fung’s chapters on the “Solution,” I’m mulling over some new information. What changes do I want to make? First, retrain my brain – and definitely goose my willingness to change.
Some key observations influencing me personally:
- It’s okay to skip breakfast if you want – (yay! Never cared for it).
- Do what grandma said: 1) cut down on sugar and starches; 2) stop snacking – (sob)
- Ditch fructose “.. fructose seems particularly malevolent to human health” – (fruit in moderation)
- Artificial sweeteners (incl: Stevia) raise insulin levels; they are bad – (noooo!)
Yeah; I know most of this stuff. Doing it – really changing my behavior is the booger bear; and the difference between creating a healthy future or perpetuating unnecessary struggle.
“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”
Alan Watts
