Thinking about Habits
- POSTED ON: Mar 07, 2012

Recently I've been reading several books about
Willpower and Habit, and thinking about those concepts
as they relate to weight-loss and maintenance of weight-loss. 

Information about Habit formation is now a major field of research
in neurology and psychology departments at manyuniversitities and
medical centers, as well as inside corporate labs. 

Computers have greatly increased the ability to analyze data,
and the push to understand how daily habits influence our decisions
is now one of the hottest topics in clinical research. 

Most of us are hardly aware that our habit patterns exist,
but a study from Duke University estimated that habits,
rather than conscious decision-making, shapes 45 percent
of the choices we make every day, and recent discoveries
have begun changing the thinking about dieting, as well as
treatments for anxiety, depression, and addictions. 

Although Habits can be ignored, changed, or replaced,
once the loop in our brains is established, and a habit emerges,
the brain stops fully participating in decision-making. 
So unless one deliberately fights a habit 
- which means finding new cues and rewards -
the old pattern will unfold automatically. 

The book on habit that I'm currently reading is:
"The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" (2/28/2012)
by Charles Duhigg.

This morning I posted a new Diet Wisdom video,
What is Food?  
which is located at DietHobby, under DIET WISDOM,  Basics.

...

Inspiration
- POSTED ON: May 18, 2011

                
                     

                              

A basic idea is to develop sustainable habits
that lead to reaching and maintaining a lower weight.

One needs the behavior of consistently eating in a manner
that results in one’s food intake totaling the same ...for maintenance..
or less…for weight-loss.. caloric energy than one’s body uses.
This is simple, but not easy.

 There is no one list of “correct” eating habits for everyone.
There are some who need to combine exercise with diet,
but there is no magic highway to success.
We all have to find our own way.
We have to find what works for us.
And I have learned that…over time…what works individually may change.

As part of my Dieting Hobby, I read many diet books.
Here's a link to a video I previously posted about that practice.
I also experiment personally with various diets.
Here at DietHobby, sometimes I will share information about this
in detail, and other times, I will not.

This week I’ve been reading “Weight Loss for Food Lovers” (2008) by George Blair.
After I’ve finished reading it, while I’m still processing the ideas presented,
I will probably share some of the concepts that I find interesting,
but I don’t plan to do a summary or detailed book review.

My overall goal is NOT to provide a comprehensive review
of all the various diets, or even of my all own personal ways of eating.
My goal is to share the information that I find interesting
along with my thoughts, as they occur, which I find helpful
to me in my own maintenance.

 Everything I do here at DietHobby is to help me maintain my weight-loss.
Hopefully some of the things I share will also be helpful to others.
I welcome questions, ideas, and opinions from readers.
Unless on extremely private issues, I prefer to see them in the Comments section,
so that everyone can participate in any discussion, but e-mails are also welcome.
My intention is to respond individually to each one.
Thanks for being here. 

...

Taubes - z - Appendix - Example of a Low-Carbohydrate diet
- POSTED ON: Jan 01, 2011

Note: I've put a SUMMARY here - not the complete diet

The Appendix contains a 7 page example
of a TYPICAL carbohydrate-restricted diet,
which is specifically a printout of the
Guidelines of the Lifestyle Medicine Clinic,
Duke University Medical Center.

Some of the particulars are as follows:

No Sugar No Starch Diet;
Carbohydrate grams to be fewer than 20 grams per day.
Diet to be exclusively food and beverages from the handout.

When Hungry eat a choice of :
meat, poultry, fish, eggs.

Foods that must be eaten every day are:
2 cups of salad greens – specific list
1 cup of vegetables – specific list
2 cups of Bouillon

Foods allowed in limited quantities are:
Up to 4 oz of hard cheese per day
Up to 4 Tb of cream per day
Up to 4 Tb of Mayonnaise per day
Up to 6 black or green olives per day
Up to ½ a fruit per day
Up to 4 tsp of lemon/lime juice per day
Up to 4 Tb. of soy sauce per day
Up to 2 servings of dill or sugar-free pickles per day

Snacks: Pork rinds/skins; pepperoni slices; ham, beef
turkey, and other meat roll-ups; deviled eggs

Primary Restriction: Carbohydrates
No sugars (simple carbohydrates) and no starches (complex carbohydrates).
Eat only the nutritionally dense, fiber-rich vegetables listed

All fats, oil and butter are allowed.
Avoid margarine and other hydrogenated oils that contain trans fats.
Do not attempt to follow a low-fat diet.

Artificial sweetener’s are allowed.
Avoid foods with sugar alcohols now…
but they may be permitted in limited quantities in the future.

Water is the best beverage.
Those who can handle caffeine may have
up to 3 cups of coffee, tea or diet soda per day.

No Alcohol.

Quantities
Eat when you are hungry; stop with you are full
“A low-carbohydrate diet has a natural appetite-reduction
effect to ease you into the consumption of smaller
and smaller quantities comfortably.”

Tips and Reminders

“The following items are NOT on the diet:
sugar, bread, cereal, flour-containing items, fruits,
juices, honey, whole or skimmed milk, yogurt,
canned soups, dairy substitutes, ketchup,
sweet condiments...

Taubes - Chapter 19 - Following Through
- POSTED ON: Jan 01, 2011

Taubes starts out

“This is not a diet book, because it’s not a diet we’re discussing.

Once you accept the fact that carbohydrates –not overeating
or a sedentary life – will make you fat,
then the idea of “going on a diet” to lose weight,..
no longer holds any real meaning.

Now the only subjects worth discussing are
how to best avoid the carbohydrates responsible
--the refined grains, the starches, and the sugars –
and what else we might do to maximize
the benefits to our health.”

He says that there have been many low-carbohydrate diet books
published, and that

“these books are worth reading for the guidance they offer.
But the diets themselves, no matter how they vary in the details
or the author’s understanding of the underlying science,
fundamentally work because they restrict fattening carbohydrates.”

Taubes tells us that he put a “pared-down” version of a
low-carbohydrate diet in the Appendix, and then provides
some details about that particular University hospital clinic
and the doctor in charge.
He says the guidelines in his Appendix are 

“more detailed but otherwise little different
from the guidance offered by hospitals to their
overweight and obese patients in the 1940s and 1950s:
Eat as much as you like of meat, fish, fowl, eggs, and leafy green vegetables.
Avoid starches, grains, and sugars, and anything made from them
(including bread, sweets, juices, sodas), and learn for yourself
whether and how much fruit and non-starchy vegetables
(such as peas, artichokes, and cucumbers) your body can tolerate.”

For those familiar with the concepts, and who don’t need details,
Taubes recommends that they use the simple diet from the
1951 endocrinology textbook that he provided in Chapter 16.

Taubes says that we can’t improve on the list of foods to eat,
foods to avoid, and foods to eat in moderation without guessing.
This is because there haven&r...

Taubes - Chapter 18 - Nature of a Healthy Diet
- POSTED ON: Jan 01, 2011

 

 

 

Taubes addresses the three primary arguments
which have been made against carbohydrate-restricted
diets, which have been repeatedly made since the 1960s.

“1. That they’re scams----
because they promise weight loss without having to eat less
and/or exercise, thus violating the laws of thermodynamics
and the primacy of calories-in/calories out.

2. That they’re unbalanced –
because they restrict an entire nutrient category
--carbohydrates—and the first law of healthy eating
is to eat a balanced diet from all the major food groups.

3. That they’re high-fat diets –
and particularly high in saturated fat,
and will cause heart disease
by raising or cholesterol.”

He discusses them one at a time

The Con Job Argument

Taubes refutes this argument by calling attention
to the fact that he has already explained, in the previous chapters,
what happens in the body when we restrict carbohydrates,
and why this leads to fat loss independent of protein and fat calories,
and why the laws of physics have nothing to do with it.

The Unbalanced Diet Argument

Taubes says the unbalanced diet argument makes little sense
if refined carbohydrates, starches and sugars do make us fat,
because then the only rational argument would be to avoid them
to fix the problem.

He says it’s the same thing as when we’re told to stop smoking
because cigarettes cause lung cancer. Doctors don’t care
if we find life less fulfilling without them, they want us to be healthy.
Taubes says the same logic holds here.
Taubes says

“The argument that a diet that restricts fattening carbohydrates
will be lacking in essential nutrients – including vitamins,
minerals, amino a...