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THURSDAY, JULY 05, 2007

Stress + Junk Food = Obesity ** Break The Toxic Equation

Way to Shrink, Grow Fat Is Found
By Rob Stein

Scientists reported yesterday that they have uncovered a biological switch by which stress can promote obesity, a discovery that could help explain the world's growing weight problem and lead to new ways to melt flab and manipulate fat for cosmetic purposes.

In the article (see link above) published last week in The Washington Post it revealed that a new study at Georgetown University has nailed down the biochemistry of how obesity happens in mice, with the good likelihood that this is precisely what happens in humans. The key culprit is stress. Stress plus a junk food diet (high-fat, high-sugar) creates obesity, not simply a junk food diet alone. Mice that were subjected to stress and fed a junk food diet gained twice as much fat as mice that were fed the same diet but not subjected to stress. It was the worst kind of fat that was gained. Abdominal fat laced with hormones that leads to various illnesses (high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol).

The authors of this study were optimistic because the findings suggested an injection of something that blocks neuropeptide Y, a chemical messenger produced by nerves in the body that stimulates fat growth, would inhibit weight gain. Yes, that might work and we can wait for them to develop such an injection. However, the authors of the article didn’t even consider a far simpler solution. There are two options. The first is to abstain from junk food. However, as you might already know, this can be difficult because of the calming effects of eating certain foods. The second is to teach people how to manage their stress and their fat cells will not be stimulated to grow. But how?

Stress is ubiquitous. We can’t propose eliminating stress but you can break the addictive pattern of using junk food to manage stress. This is what Shrink Yourself has been teaching people to do. Once that connection is broken, you can learn more efficient ways to manage the inevitable stress of everyday life.

When food is removed as a stress management coping mechanism, you can make sensible food choices and lose weight. That’s how you break the addiction to junk food. Our programs interrupt both factors in the toxic combination of stress and fatty foods and the obesity they create.

To Read the complete article in The Washington Post click here:
Way to Shrink, Grow Fat is Found

POSTED BY !MICHELLE! | 3:35:21 PM

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4 COMMENTS

Anonymous said...

Oaklandj said...

I'm proof that you can gain weight via stress with a HEALTHY diet. I have gone for months without any even remotely junky food but have still gained weight because I overate even the healthy stuff. I've been a vegetarian for 14 years, and naturally prefer healthy foods - I only binge on junk out of a feeling of rebellion. I think we as a society need to reexamine stress's role in a number of illnesses. Although I want to lose weight, society's constant vilification of overweight people is causing more health problems via the stress and constant humiliation it causes than the overweight itself.

Anne said...

I think this discovery is fabulous and I would love to take advantage of it, but it does NOT replace Shrink Yourself. It only deals with a symptom of a painful emotional life. Shrink Yourself has been specifically designed to assuage overeating, but as we all can see, it is really about compulsive behavior. Id be surprised if Dr. Gould has not at least given thought to how the program can be edited for the emotional addictions like compulsive gambling, compulsive cleaning, or sex addiction. And inspite of the added problems of chemical dependancy on someones physiology, alcoholism and drug addiction have the same emotional roots. Further, it seems to me that our children and teenagers could deeply benefit from Shrink Yourselfs techniques too, even if they dont appear to be addicted to anything. I hope Dr. Zukowskas discovery works. It would be wonderful to reverse the fat Ive accumulated, but just having the fat gone will not change how neurotically I view the world or myself.

Anne said...

I think this discovery is fabulous and I would love to take advantage of it, but it does NOT replace Shrink Yourself. It only deals with a symptom of a painful emotional life. Shrink Yourself has been specifically designed to assuage overeating, but as we all can see, it is really about compulsive behavior. Id be surprised if Dr. Gould has not at least given thought to how the program can be edited for the emotional addictions like compulsive gambling, compulsive cleaning, or sex addiction. And inspite of the added problems of chemical dependancy on someones physiology, alcoholism and drug addiction have the same emotional roots. Further, it seems to me that our children and teenagers could deeply benefit from Shrink Yourselfs techniques too, even if they dont appear to be addicted to anything. I hope Dr. Zukowskas discovery works. It would be wonderful to reverse the fat Ive accumulated, but just having the fat gone will not change how neurotically I view the world or myself.

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Last updated 4/11/2007