BBC Truth About Fat Horizon Once again we visit a program that sees the BBC present some

interesting informa tion to the masses. Information that some of us have known for a while now, but for many, it will be totally new. Whilst it's tempting to see this as being some thing to complain about, in the sense of, 'well, that took a while', I think tha t the more useful and up-to-date information the general public can get their ha nds on, the better. Having said that, I think there are at least two serious issues with this emissi on that need clarifying and expanding. They are: 1: Do you really have any choice over your fat levels? 2: Do you have to resort to surgery to get long term weight loss? In addition to these two main concerns, I also have a couple more issues about t he method of presentation that I feel are worth exploring. The program starts with an exploration of the connection between obesity and it' s seemingly random nature or lack of guaranteed treatments. I should also point out right now that you should watch out for the description the presenter uses w hen talking about foods; she talks about fatty foods being the problem. But when you listen to the experts/researchers in the program, they all talk about 'high calorie foods'. This is a significant and important difference. It's not fatty foods that are the problem, it's foods that are simply too high in calories. And here's an interesting thing; you can largely put foods in two groups, a low cal orie group, and one that's high calorie. In general (and yes NLP'ers out there, with generalisations there are always exc eptions) foods that are natural, real, unprocessed and un-changed tend to be low calorie. And foods that are processed, manufactured, altered and adulterated te nd to be high calorie. This is a significant point, and one that I'll come back to at the end. Photo here: The question the program seeks to answer is this: Why is it that some people just don't seem to lose weight? They then set off delivering some answers, starting off with one I agree with. A nd in one respect, they are half right (or perhaps I should say that the story t hey present is only half the story?): "it's not about willpower" (which probably doesn't exist anyway). This question is asked whilst the presenter is walking round a food market, and the thing to notice about all the foods on offer is tha t they are all high in calories (and most of them will also be low in nutrients, another connection between high calorie foods and metabolic inefficiency). Here's the key (5.42): modern food is packed with calories. Whereas unprocessed food is not. Surely that's not too simple a conclusion? Actu ally, it's not, but it isn't one most people want to hear, because whilst it is simple, it's also not easy for most people to accept and therefore change their lifestyle. But anyway, back to the program, if it's not willpower, what is it? There are actually many answers, so here's one for starters: It's a simple, but

chronic lack of sufficient diet flexibility and consistency. I'll come back to t his point later on, let's get into the aspect of the program I personally found most fascinating. Weight Loss Twins The start of the exploration of identical twins that have very different body sh apes. Initially it was thought that weight gain and body shape was due to geneti cs, but identical twins share the same genetic material, so something else must be going on. When the researchers started collecting data, they noticed somethin g incredible: your weight may be a result of your mind. In other words, are you fat because you're still suffering from emotional trauma experienced during childhood? This is what the program seems to suggest, and unfortunately doesn't even begin to explain what we can all do about it. This lack of assistance doesn't surprise me, as this is a hard science program, and not interested in the type of soluti on I have found to be effective. What it comes down to is this: it's about making a choice (at every meal occasio n) between processed and unprocessed food. And those who gain weight find it har der, much harder, to follow their bodies natural signals and chose foods that he lp develop a good body shape. The discovery that it's not our genes that determi ne our shape, but the environment in which those genes are expressed, is called Epigenetics. Epigenetics Finally, a mainstream program (and scientists) start to discover what cutting ed ge researchers have known for about 20 years! Epigentics in a nutshell: Epigenetics is about the expression of your genes in relation to your environmen t. Bruce Lipton talks about this in his very readable book 'The Biology Of Belie f' First talked about in the 1940's Epigenetics has only just begun to be known abo ut outside the geeky few, but will radically alter the way we understand how we function. Why is this? Because Epigenetics is the mode through which we will begin to understand how we are all different, how we function differently, despite our common genetic heri tage, and it will (hopefully) lead us to customised diet, nutrition, health, wel l being and fitness solutions that, in theory, should deliver near guaranteed re sults. So, now we're in the second decade of the 21st century, let's move past the noti on that we are the way we are because of the interaction between our genes and o ur environment, and onto something that hypnotherapists have known for longer th an the term Epigenetics has even existed; Serious Emotional Events. Remember one of the key findings of the research on identical twins? It seems th at one of the common factors in promoting the obese state is a strong emotional stressor (usually in childhood). In other words, there seems to have been some s ignificant emotional event, during childhood, that for some reason has caused bo th your physiology and your psychology to function differently. It's like your b

rain experienced something (it perceived) as being so stressful that it actually changed the way you think and the way your brain controls your body. The number of people who are overweight and talk about the excess fat as being a protectio n suddenly starts to make sense (anyone else heard this before?). This is something that I have repeatedly worked with, and got beyond, in my work as a hypnotherapist with weight loss clients. What I frequently find is that re solving a perceived trauma from sometime in your past seems to free up your deci sion making processes, which then allows you to make choices that support your w eight loss and health. (Interestingly, it's not just weight loss that's affected by this sort of learning pattern, but all aspects of life. It just so happens t hat weight loss is our focus in this article). Mother and Child and Weight Gain Later on in the program we hear about research that shows the conditions we expe rience during our gestation in our mothers wombs can affect our predilection for fat gain later in life. We're back on the Epigenetics trail again, when the mother is badly fed (or exce ssively emotionally stressed), the child reacts more negatively to food. Kinda m akes sense; the unborn baby is stressed by its environment, which causes a diver sion from it's genetic path, and this diversion is followed... The problem for many people with respect to this is that it could easily lead to apathy and resignation, it's as if it becomes easy to say, 'well there's nothin g I can do about it, so I might as well give up and not try anything else.' For me, that's unacceptable, and we all need to continue to aim to improve our b odies and minds throughout our lives. This means using more or different methods for weight control, for diet freedom, for exercise effectiveness, and anything else that helps us all become more effective. What I can't accept is simply givi ng up. I realise this is a personal choice, but I'm here to help, not to stop tr ying! But just in case you were thinking about giving up: It's worth pointing out that the results reported in this program can only accou nt for about 25% of the actual obesity problem. Therefore it's likely that only 1 person in 4 needs to go this far (the stomach surgery they demonstrated in the film) to create change. The other 75% will create change much more easily. That 's worth remembering. So what's the key when working with people who have had some sort of Serious Emo tional Event? It's dealing with the disconnect between feelings and eating. The goal is to redevelop the connection between what your body wants, and your m ind knowing this, and then taking appropriate action based upon it. Time For Some Hormonal Action What are are set points and why are they important? Because they are related to Grehlin and Peptide YY (the two hormones studied in the program) I could write some words about this, but Lyle McDonald has done a better job tha t I could so I'll hand the reigns over to him for a few words:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/set-points-settling-points-and-bodywei ght-regulation-part-2.html "Recall that the set point idea basically says that the body will attempt to def end some body weight (or body fat) level (or perhaps range) by adjusting things such as metabolic rate, activity, hunger, etc. in response to changes in weight or fat. Id mention that its most likely body fat levels that are being regulated, more tha n absolute body weight per se. This almost suggests that any attempt to alter body weight or body fat levels is futile because of the bodys defences (and some have interpreted the concept in e xactly that fashion). This is especially true when it comes to weight/fat loss a s the human body appears to defend against weight/fat loss much more so than aga inst weight/fat gain. In contrast, the essential idea of a settling point is that bodyweight/body fat levels will settle at a given point based on the environment. The availability (or lack thereof) of food (and how tasty it is), the amount of activity done, all w ork to adjust where the body will settle. So if you take the average human being and put them in America, with tasty inexp ensive food readily available and very little activity required on a daily basis , their body weight will settle at a certain point that may be somewhat high. Now change their diet, or enforce a large amount of exercise, presumably their b ody weight will settle at some lower point (regardless of set point). At least a ssuming that the intervention to diet/activity is maintained. Now take that same person and put them in a third world country where massive am ounts of food arent available and high amounts of activity have to be done daily to obtain it; bodyweight will presumably settle at the lowest level. This would tend to occur absolutely regardless of any biological set point. And, as usual, there is data to support both concepts. And, given recent underst anding that a variety of systems regulate body weight (including homeostatic and hedonic), it seems pretty obvious to me that both set point and settling point concepts are working to regulate body weight/fat levels. Nobody can deny that the body fights back (to relatively greater or lesser degre es) when weight/fat levels change, especially when weight/fat is lost. At the same time itd be asinine to think that humans are little more than automat ons driven by a homeostatic drive to eat with no control over what goes into the ir mouth. As well, clearly the environment plays a huge role in eating behaviour. Increasi ng portion sizes, exposure to food advertising and a host of other factors all i mpact on eating behaviour regardless of homeostatic systems. An excellent synthesis of these ideas came in a 2002 paper titled Putting behavio r back into feeding behavior: a tribute to George Collier. http://www.ncbi.nlm.ni h.gov/pubmed/12027375?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_Res ultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum Quoting from the abstract: The combination of these data with Georges insightful idea, has merged into a modi fication of the popular Set-Point Theory of the regulation of body weight. The a lternative Settling Zone Theory suggests that whereas biology may determine a rang e of body weights (adiposity) that are maintained fairly constant for long perio

ds of time, within this zone, the behaviors responsible for controlling energy int ake and energy expenditure are influenced primarily by environmental and cogniti ve stimuli. Essentially, while the set point may be working to keep people within some range of body fat levels, even within that range individual behaviors and environment will affect where within that range folks will end up. This model manages to ti e pure biology in with pure psychology which, as I noted earlier, is a false sep aration in the first place. And, Id note again, its becoming abundantly clear that, regardless of set points o r settling points or whatever you want to call it, the prevailing environment an d individual behaviors can overcome either. Lyle Finishes... So why do obese people get ineffective hormone profiles? Because, as Lyle pointed out in the last sentence, the prevailing behaviours and environment can change the way you function. I know he was talking about losing body fat, but the reverse is equally true. So that means there are two mechanis ms by which we affect our hormone profiles. Two mechanisms? Childhood SEE (leading to chronic, long term, behavioural changes, which lead to :), consistently eating foods that disrupt normal hormonal regulation. The end r esult? Seriously impaired physiological function. This pre-disease state is freq uently called pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome. Right then, that's the key science points dealt with, now let's get onto the bit I personally found aggravating... The 24 hour hormone fasting test: To demonstrate the way hormones affect our function the presenter went through a 24 hour fast. During this time she had her blood taken and two hormones, grehli n and peptide YY were measured. All fine and dandy. What's the problem? The hyperbolic and excessively dramatic reactions from the presenter during her rather short fast. There she is walking round the supermarket only a few hours later, complaining t hat she can hardly think straight. Now, this would normally tell me that she has some serious issues with metabolic inflexibility, but her hormone profiles tell a different story. They show that she was simply getting a bit more hungry, and less full, during this time, but not to the degree that should cause any degree of functional difficulty. Why, it was only today that I fasted for about 18 hou rs and felt totally, utterly, completely fine. I even did an hour of bike riding during this time and a 90 minute gym workout, fuelled on nothing more than a co uple of cups of green tea and some BCAA's (to stave off catabolism from my worko ut). She seems to be (11.50) so incapable of dealing with a short fast that her mind and metabolism (but mainly her mind) go haywire. This is not uncommon in our ove r-fed world. Hunger has become evil! It seems to me that the modern epidemic of hunger avoidance (because hunger is a terrible thing that must be avoided at all costs!!!) is actually more of a prob lem than the hunger itself.

But hunger is simply a sign that your body could eat some food again. That's it. I wake up hungry every morning, but it doesn't mean I HAVE TO EAT! It just mean s that my body COULD EAT. Once you adapt to the occasional fast, your body and y our mind become much more flexible, capable of dealing with both physiological a nd psychological challenges much more easily. Of key importance to this discussi on is physiological flexibility. Notice how she ate more food than 'normal'? She wouldn't do this if she was used to and adapted to fasting! Also, when you are used to fasting, you don't tend to overeat either side of it. It just becomes the norm' to miss a meal or two, and not feel any need to make up for it once you do start eating again. This is called Intermittent Fasting (I .F.) and has been gathering some momentum and good solid science over the last f ew years. You should check out Brad Pillon's book Eat Stop Eat for an in depth, but easy to read, explanation of I.F. and how to apply it in your life. Some of the benefits of regular fasting: Reduced blood glucose and insulin levels (markers of improved health) Increased fatty acid oxidation Maintenance of lean mass (muscle) Reduced inflammation Reduced oxidative damage Increased cellular stress resistance (esp of heart and brain) Decreased risks associated with degenerative diseases of aging (cancers, heart d iseases, diabetes, Alzheimers) What really gave the game away to me, in respect to her behaviour during her sho rt fast was this: Why did she react in a linear fashion when her hormones levell ed out after about 10 hours? There may be two factors in here: 1: Her hunger was not directly related, physiologically, to her physical hunger, in other words there are some other physiological factors going on that also ha ve an effect on physical hunger. 2: Her hunger was a combination of both physiological and psychological influenc es. In other words, physiologically she got hungrier up to a point, but then her increase in hunger was almost entirely due to the processes of her mind. You mi ght think of this as being like her reacting to her hunger and telling herself a story about how bad this is, and then noticing other reactions in her body, or even creating new feelings and reactions in her body to justify the panic in her mind. None of which would be deliberate or conscious, but that doesn't make the m any less valid or effective. In my experience, the second point is far more likely to be a factor. And the wa y around this is twofold; know how to train your brain. And learn how to fast fo r health in an effective way. It also makes me wonder whether studies have been done on obese people and fasti ng, and whether the hormones can change as a result of intermittent fasting? At (22.00) about 20 mins in she says something that truly shocked me. "Obesity i s not just about willpower, it's also about our hormones". Why the heck would hormones NOT be involved with this issue? Surely someone with

a science or medical background should understand this? It's almost as if she b elieves that what we eat over a period of years should have no influence on the functioning of our body. How? I have no idea. Right then, nearly there... There is a key word right near the end: relationship. This is yet another important factor I have noticed in my hypnotherapy practice. ... Right toward the end of the video (around 53mins) the words she uses to describe some of the processes are slightly inaccurate. This is worth pointing out, so t hat you are more clear about the information, not the interpretation of that inf ormation from the bias of the presenter. Presenters words: Deep desire. Researchers words: brain activation Presenters words:Feelings about food Researchers words: brain processes related to food Presenters words: Brain activity seeing fatty foods Researchers words : 'brain activity to HIGH CALORIE foods'! Some significant differences there, yes? I haven't done any research or training in Gastric Band Hypnotherapy, but the cl osing words of the South African Doctor make me wonder if some of the changes se en in gastric band surgery also take place in this form of hypnotherapy. Either way, it seems the whole take home message of the program is to find a way to get hold of your hormones and make them work for you, rather than against you. So, here I'll present a few steps you can take, starting right now, to begin to favo urably alter your physiological functions toward fat loss, weight loss and overa ll body health: IF. Intermittent Fasting. See the section above, or any of my posts on this site about I.F. HIIT. High Intensity Interval Training. See my last post on The BBC's 'Truth Abo ut Exercise'. Starting from protein upwards. See this post by Lyle McDonald. Doing weight training (for mm, for beta adrenergic uprating, for quality of life ). I'll get to posting a decent link to this, for now, be assured that by doing hard resistance training you upgrade many, many physiological processes in a way that simply doesn't happen with plain old steady state cardio. Eating paleo (modified, non dogmatic). See Art de Vany's superb book, 'The New E volution Diet'. Using your brain for a change. See this post on starting to take control of how your brain works, and using it to create positive change for yourself. Comments, thoughts and questions are warmly welcomed. Yours in health, George