March is National Nutrition Month
Today about half of all American adults have one or more chronic diseases, often related to poor diet.
A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that mindfulness-based eating helps people lose weight. The study found that people in an intensive weight loss program who received training on mindfulness-based eating strategies lost more weight than those who did not receive the training. The mindfulness-based eating program included analysis of the difference between mindful and mindless eating along with a weight loss diet plan.
Obesity is a disease, not a lifestyle choice. Overeating is caused by out of control hunger hormones. Hunger hormones like leptin, ghrelin, cholecystokinin, glucagon-like peptide-1, peptide YY, insulin, cortisol influence our brain’s ability to regulate body weight. Weight-gain and obesity can result from hormonal imbalance leading to chronic and maladaptive eating-related behaviors. These problematic behavioral traits can manifest in several different forms. These include:
A common situation is when food is used as a maladaptive coping strategy in response to boredom, stress, depression, or anxiety. Maladaptive eating is usually introduced and engrained during childhood because the pleasurable effects of food serve as a reward and positive reinforcement which can be increased in response to life events.
Maladaptive eating-related behaviors developed during childhood are often used as a pattern for similar eating-related behaviors in adulthood. This research is significant because problematic eating behavior can be improved with mindful eating strategies.
If you’d like to learn more about permanent weight loss, please feel free to call us or schedule an appointment with Dr. Isaacs using the online booking tool on this website.
