During the 1940s and 50s, an Austrian psychologist named Konrad Lorenz studied the behavioral patterns of geese.
One of the things he observed was the egg-retrieving behavior of the greylag goose. When an egg rolls out of a goose's nest, it gently uses its bill to roll it back in. However, when Lorenz took an egg from the nest and placed it next to a larger round white object, the goose preferentially rolled the larger object back into its nest while ignoring the real egg. He called this larger object a superstimulus. It was an abnormally strong stimulus that was able to hijack the bird's normal behavioral pattern in a maladaptive way.
Our brains are wired to respond to the stimuli with which they evolved. For example, our natural taste preferences tell us that fruit is good. But what happens when we concentrate that sugar tenfold? We get a superstimulus. Our brains are not designed to process that amount of stimulation constructively, and it often leads to a loss of control over the will, or addiction.
It's a very similar process to drug addiction. Addictive drugs are able to plug directly into the brain's pleasure centers, stimulating them beyond their usual bounds. Food superstimuli do this less directly, by working through the body's taste reward pathways. In fact, sweet liquids are so addictive, rats prefer them to intravenous cocaine. You can't take just one hit of crack, and you can't have just one Hershey's kiss.
Our bodies are finely honed to seek out healthy food, but only in the context of what we knew when our tastes developed during evolution. If all that's available is grass-fed meat, pastured eggs, vegetables, fruit, and nuts, your appetite will naturally guide you to a healthy diet.
If you surround yourself with superstimuli such as sugars, refined grains and MSG, your body will not guide you to a healthy diet. It will take you straight into a nutritional rut because it's not adapted to dealing with unnatural foods.
Your brain is pretty simple in some ways. It has these very basic hard-wired associations, like "sweet is good" and "free glutamate is good". If your brain likes a little bit of sweet, then it really likes a lot of sweet. If it likes a little bit of glutamate from meat, then it really likes a flood of glutamate from MSG. Just like the graylag goose that prefers the big white ball over her own egg, your brain drives you to ignore normal stimuli in favor of more potent superstimuli.
This explains the partially true saying "Everything that tastes good is bad for you". Why would your body deliberately encourage you to damage your health? In our hunter-gatherer state, it didn't. In this age of processed food, our technology has outstripped our ability to adapt.
Friday, March 7, 2008
DH is being made redundant - he has a new job already!
Thankfully DH foresaw the problem's his company was going to get into and knew it would be his head for the chop. He started looking for a new job in November last year, and was about to hand his notice in... But this is even better news! He will get redundancy pay now too! Bonus! Although its always nicer on the ego to think you resigned rather than were pushed out, this give us a nice little next egg to start with.
So I am looking at it that way, and hopefully he will really enjoy his new job. He had gotten really tired and frustrated in the old one.
So I think he will probably be made redundant officially next week some time, and then have his 4 weeks notice to work. Then he starts the new one right away. Yay.
I am also riding high weight wise; I couldn't stand it any longer, and jumped on the scales to reveal...
All Care Animal
OH YEAH, Baby!
Another 3 pounds down the toilet. I think what LBG said on her last comment was correct. I don't need a fill. I have total restriction at the moment. Long may it reign.
I know its not official weigh in day, but I just had to put this one down on the chart because its so cool. Just 2 pounds away from where I was last May! Another 2 pounds and I will be once again surfing into the uncharted waters of my weightloss expedition.
When I reach 15 stone something I think I will cry. In fact, I know I will. I will also take my next photo!!!
So I am looking at it that way, and hopefully he will really enjoy his new job. He had gotten really tired and frustrated in the old one.
So I think he will probably be made redundant officially next week some time, and then have his 4 weeks notice to work. Then he starts the new one right away. Yay.
I am also riding high weight wise; I couldn't stand it any longer, and jumped on the scales to reveal...
All Care Animal
OH YEAH, Baby!
Another 3 pounds down the toilet. I think what LBG said on her last comment was correct. I don't need a fill. I have total restriction at the moment. Long may it reign.
I know its not official weigh in day, but I just had to put this one down on the chart because its so cool. Just 2 pounds away from where I was last May! Another 2 pounds and I will be once again surfing into the uncharted waters of my weightloss expedition.
When I reach 15 stone something I think I will cry. In fact, I know I will. I will also take my next photo!!!
Slowly but Surely
An obese mom has lost 38 pounds since beginning her weight loss efforts in August. The before and after photos here were taken after she lost 30 pounds. The weight loss has been sporadic. She's had months of no weight loss;278 August 2007
265 September (-13)
258 October (-7)
253 November (-5)
248 December (-5)
248 January 2008 (-0)
248 February (-0)
240 March (-8)
Total: 38 pounds
She's a very good writer. See her story at Escape from Obesity.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Real Food I: Soup Stock
Making soup stock is a common practice in cultures throughout the world. It's a way of maximizing the value, nutrition and flavor of foods that are not always abundant. It's particularly relevant in the 21st century, when it's important to make the most of animal products that have a large environmental footprint.
The simplest way to make stock is to keep a "stock bag" in the freezer. Keep two plastic freezer bags (or whatever container you prefer) in the freezer, ready to accept food scraps whenever you have them. One is for vegetable scraps such as carrot peels, onion skins (not the brown part!), radish tops, etc. The other is for animal scraps such as bones, fish heads/tails, gristle, etc.
These are examples of vegetable scraps that are appropriate for stock:
Vegetable peels
Carrot ends
Onion scraps
Wilted greens
Asparagus stems
These are examples of animal products that are good for stock:
Bones
Gristle
Fish heads/tails
Chicken feet
Parmesan rinds (thanks Debs!)
These should not be used for stock:
Brown onion skins
Anything covered in dirt
Anything rotten or unpleasant-smelling
Celery greens, carrot greens and other bitter greens
Vegetable stock is the easiest. Take a generous amount of vegetable scraps out of your stock bag and put them in a pot full of water. Boil for one hour, then strain.
In my opinion, the best stock is made with animal bones. It's rich in minerals and gelatin, and has a full, meaty flavor. Break the bones to expose the marrow, put them in a pot full of water or a crockpot, add 2 tablespoons vinegar, and simmer for 1-20 hours. Add vegetable scraps for the last hour, then strain. Large bones from beef or lamb require long cooking to draw out their full flavor, while thinner chicken bones and fish parts require less. The vinegar helps draw the minerals out of the bones into solution.
Fish heads also make a delicious, nutritious stock. They're full of minerals (including iodine), omega-3 fats and vitamin A from the eyes. You can often get them dirt-cheap at the fish counter. Boil them for one hour with vegetable scraps and two tablespoons of vinegar, strain, pick off the meat and add it to your soup.
The simplest way to make stock is to keep a "stock bag" in the freezer. Keep two plastic freezer bags (or whatever container you prefer) in the freezer, ready to accept food scraps whenever you have them. One is for vegetable scraps such as carrot peels, onion skins (not the brown part!), radish tops, etc. The other is for animal scraps such as bones, fish heads/tails, gristle, etc.
These are examples of vegetable scraps that are appropriate for stock:
Vegetable peels
Carrot ends
Onion scraps
Wilted greens
Asparagus stems
These are examples of animal products that are good for stock:
Bones
Gristle
Fish heads/tails
Chicken feet
Parmesan rinds (thanks Debs!)
These should not be used for stock:
Brown onion skins
Anything covered in dirt
Anything rotten or unpleasant-smelling
Celery greens, carrot greens and other bitter greens
Vegetable stock is the easiest. Take a generous amount of vegetable scraps out of your stock bag and put them in a pot full of water. Boil for one hour, then strain.
In my opinion, the best stock is made with animal bones. It's rich in minerals and gelatin, and has a full, meaty flavor. Break the bones to expose the marrow, put them in a pot full of water or a crockpot, add 2 tablespoons vinegar, and simmer for 1-20 hours. Add vegetable scraps for the last hour, then strain. Large bones from beef or lamb require long cooking to draw out their full flavor, while thinner chicken bones and fish parts require less. The vinegar helps draw the minerals out of the bones into solution.
Fish heads also make a delicious, nutritious stock. They're full of minerals (including iodine), omega-3 fats and vitamin A from the eyes. You can often get them dirt-cheap at the fish counter. Boil them for one hour with vegetable scraps and two tablespoons of vinegar, strain, pick off the meat and add it to your soup.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Reclaiming Food
We, as individuals, are gradually losing control of our food.
For the majority of human existence, we have been in more or less full control of food preparation. We roasted our own meat, churned our own butter, and stewed our own vegetables. Gradually, mostly over the course of the last hundred years, we have ceded this control to others.
People in industrialized nations now rely on processed food and restaurants for the majority of our diet. Our food has been outsourced, and it's killing us.
The problem is that the incentives of individuals are different from the incentives of restaurants and corporations. The individual cares about the enjoyment and healthfulness of food. The corporation and restaurant care about money. It's not a conspiracy against our health, it's just a difference of motivation.
This explains why processed food is so unhealthy. Is a food manufacturer going to use butter or dirt-cheap hydrogenated soybean oil in that cookie if you can't tell the difference?
The only reason we accept this state of affairs is we're completely disconnected from the preparation of these foods. For example, let me tell you how hydrogenated soybean oil is made. First, the oil is separated from the rest of the bean using heat and extraction with organic solvents like hexane. Then, the oil is mixed with nickel (a catalyst) and exposed to hydrogen gas at high temperatures. This causes a chemical reaction (hydrogenation) that results in trans fat, which is solid at room temperature like saturated fats. The oil is now a grayish, rancid-smelling mush. They filter out the nickel and use chemicals and heat to deodorize and bleach it, creating the final product that is ubiquitous in processed snack foods. Delicious!
If you were able to watch this whole process with your own two eyes, would you still eat hydrogenated oil? If you had to make it yourself, would you? How about if I told you eating it is associated with a dramatic increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and probably many other diseases?
It's time to re-connect ourselves with real food. It's time to reclaim food preparation.
Join me as I explore traditional methods of food preparation, one of our most valuable conduits to health and well-being.
For the majority of human existence, we have been in more or less full control of food preparation. We roasted our own meat, churned our own butter, and stewed our own vegetables. Gradually, mostly over the course of the last hundred years, we have ceded this control to others.
People in industrialized nations now rely on processed food and restaurants for the majority of our diet. Our food has been outsourced, and it's killing us.
The problem is that the incentives of individuals are different from the incentives of restaurants and corporations. The individual cares about the enjoyment and healthfulness of food. The corporation and restaurant care about money. It's not a conspiracy against our health, it's just a difference of motivation.
This explains why processed food is so unhealthy. Is a food manufacturer going to use butter or dirt-cheap hydrogenated soybean oil in that cookie if you can't tell the difference?
The only reason we accept this state of affairs is we're completely disconnected from the preparation of these foods. For example, let me tell you how hydrogenated soybean oil is made. First, the oil is separated from the rest of the bean using heat and extraction with organic solvents like hexane. Then, the oil is mixed with nickel (a catalyst) and exposed to hydrogen gas at high temperatures. This causes a chemical reaction (hydrogenation) that results in trans fat, which is solid at room temperature like saturated fats. The oil is now a grayish, rancid-smelling mush. They filter out the nickel and use chemicals and heat to deodorize and bleach it, creating the final product that is ubiquitous in processed snack foods. Delicious!
If you were able to watch this whole process with your own two eyes, would you still eat hydrogenated oil? If you had to make it yourself, would you? How about if I told you eating it is associated with a dramatic increase in the risk of cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and probably many other diseases?
It's time to re-connect ourselves with real food. It's time to reclaim food preparation.
Join me as I explore traditional methods of food preparation, one of our most valuable conduits to health and well-being.
Weight Loss Surgery Gone Wrong?
Hello Isadora,I stumbled upon your website tonight and read a couple of the stories. One of my best friends actually has a very inspiring weight loss story; he went from 270 to 170 pounds over the course of 1.5 years by eating right and engaging in almost excessive exercise. Do you think this is the kind of story that might fit on your blog? If so, I'll encourage him to send it in.
On another topic, I run a blog on the topic of weight loss surgery in Fort Worth texas. I would like for it to eventually become an authoritative site on weight loss surgeons and processes in the Fort Worth, TX area. It will eventually feature local doctors, reviews of their medical histories, etc. I think that if we participated in a Blogroll link exchange the portion of your readership that resides in Texas would benefit, and all of my readership would benefit. Please tell me what you think! You can find my blog at liposuctionfortworth.net. Keep up the inspiring stories,
Ian
Hi Ian,
Sure, ask your friend to email their story. But if you had read more here you would know I'm not a fan of surgery as the best way to lose weight. I can relate to the people who choose to go this route, but there is so much persuasive money and so many commercial websites already devoted to promoting surgery that I'd like to stay away from it and focus on the stories where people have lost weight without medical intervention.
But your note makes me want to ask readers who have had a weight loss operation - where things did not go well - to comment below.
Please don't send me stories of success with this (unless they are extremely sincere) - this would surely attract a ton of spam. I would delete these comments. Here, I'm just interested in cases where surgery did not lead to success.
The beautiful photo above is by Rubyran.
Mad couple'a days
Haven't really done much these last few days other that clean, paint, tidy and stuff like that. Its all been quite intense. Having 2 lodgers is actually a lot harder to prepare for. But I am sure I will like the money which will make it all worthwhile! HA HA.
Band wise, I am not sure if its my imagination, but I seem to be feeling hungry occasionally throughout the day...
For the last couple of weeks, I haven't felt hungry really that often... only at the normal times if you know what I mean. But for the last couple of days, I have been feeling a little hungry and checking out the pantry and fridge and generally having a look around for food...
However, my calories intake has NOT significantly increased...
I am wondering if its a combination of possibles...
1.) Maybe I am missing Carina, and I have been anxious over what our new lodger will be like and its making me resort to old habits of comfort eating...
2.) Maybe I have just worked my absolute butt off and have therefore negated all my calories I have eaten by mass painting/housework. For my weight I burn off 450 calories an hour in heavy housework. Yesterday I was doing 'on my hands and knees scrubbing' kind of house work (with sweat!) for 3 hours solid! Its been a pretty manic few days, so maybe my body is just thinking its not only starving, but in a labour camp!
3.) I need a fill... I don't think so, because I am still sick too often on the easiest of foods, and I am full quickly aswell. I don't think this is the case, but I am wondering if maybe at some point you just need it to keep it tight around the stomach. Losing 18 pounds must mean you lose a little around that area too... (surely of drop sized equivalent anyway!).
I was wondering, because I have 2 weeks of shortly for the traditional Easter Holidays, I was thinking about doing a day trip to Brugge with the family and seeing Dr. Dillemans at the same time to check me over. That way I will know how things are going and also be able to get a fill if he thinks its necessary.
I don't really want to think about fills. I feel completely different these days and I know I have restriction, but in 3 weeks... maybe I will need a top up? Anyone know how long the restriction lasts for? I guess that's a huge question, and it must differ from person to person so strike that.
So yesterday's calories were 950:
Breakfast: 2 weetabix with milk
Snack: 3 mini savoury eggs
Lunch: 1 bread roll with beetroot and salad creme. (Geez that took ages to eat!)
Dinner: Rice and chicken curry
pudding: small portion of sponge cake with tinned peaches.
Yesterday I had absolutely NO sick episodes.
Today so far I have had:
Breakfast: 2 shredded wheat with milk
will update later.
Band wise, I am not sure if its my imagination, but I seem to be feeling hungry occasionally throughout the day...
For the last couple of weeks, I haven't felt hungry really that often... only at the normal times if you know what I mean. But for the last couple of days, I have been feeling a little hungry and checking out the pantry and fridge and generally having a look around for food...
However, my calories intake has NOT significantly increased...
I am wondering if its a combination of possibles...
1.) Maybe I am missing Carina, and I have been anxious over what our new lodger will be like and its making me resort to old habits of comfort eating...
2.) Maybe I have just worked my absolute butt off and have therefore negated all my calories I have eaten by mass painting/housework. For my weight I burn off 450 calories an hour in heavy housework. Yesterday I was doing 'on my hands and knees scrubbing' kind of house work (with sweat!) for 3 hours solid! Its been a pretty manic few days, so maybe my body is just thinking its not only starving, but in a labour camp!
3.) I need a fill... I don't think so, because I am still sick too often on the easiest of foods, and I am full quickly aswell. I don't think this is the case, but I am wondering if maybe at some point you just need it to keep it tight around the stomach. Losing 18 pounds must mean you lose a little around that area too... (surely of drop sized equivalent anyway!).
I was wondering, because I have 2 weeks of shortly for the traditional Easter Holidays, I was thinking about doing a day trip to Brugge with the family and seeing Dr. Dillemans at the same time to check me over. That way I will know how things are going and also be able to get a fill if he thinks its necessary.
I don't really want to think about fills. I feel completely different these days and I know I have restriction, but in 3 weeks... maybe I will need a top up? Anyone know how long the restriction lasts for? I guess that's a huge question, and it must differ from person to person so strike that.
So yesterday's calories were 950:
Breakfast: 2 weetabix with milk
Snack: 3 mini savoury eggs
Lunch: 1 bread roll with beetroot and salad creme. (Geez that took ages to eat!)
Dinner: Rice and chicken curry
pudding: small portion of sponge cake with tinned peaches.
Yesterday I had absolutely NO sick episodes.
Today so far I have had:
Breakfast: 2 shredded wheat with milk
will update later.
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