Nature is Against You

While your mind can be your biggest ally in your struggle to lose weight, it can also sabotage your efforts in ways you might not even know about. It can be quietly working in the background subconsciously, undoing all the good you do consciously. There are a lot of physiological and psychological factors that make us want to eat, and understanding these, and learning how to counteract them are paramount to losing weight.

Before you try any diet, consider the following:

• Your body is designed to process food efficiently. That means that your body naturally regulates your metabolism to be quick when you have a lot of food, and slow when you don’t have as much.
• No amount of willpower will make you not want fatty and refined foods. The mind is hardwired by evolution to want these things, because they translate into easy, quick energy. Celery, on the other hand, requires a lot more work for the body to get nutrients from.
• It’s common to resist physical activity. The mind is telling you not to work out, because it means you will be using up energy to no purpose. Your brain is trying to tell you to save that energy in case you need to hunt, or run from a predator.
• Cleanse and Flush diets aren’t doing anything that your body is not doing already. We have a liver, kidneys, and a pancreas to flush out toxins for us.
• The mind closely associates food with comfort, because plentiful food is an indicator of security. It’s common to eat food in order to feel safe and comfortable.

The mind gets its cues from your genes

Your mind also tends to trick you into eating with hormones and chemicals. A diet high in fatty and highly processed foods works in much the same way a drug might. An injection of, for example, highly refined flours and sugars in a piece of cake will cause your blood sugar to spike, and will also cause a release of Dopamine, which your body translates as a small high. When you come down from that high, you become depressed, which will cause you to want to eat more fatty processed foods in order to get that feeling again. To fight this kind of cycle, willpower alone just won’t cut it. Find a way to remove yourself from these situations. Don’t keep these foods at home, or make it difficult to go get them (for example, by parking your bike behind you car, so that going out to grab fast food will require moving it, or just taking the bike.) You can also fight this by keeping yourself distracted in an activity, like playing a video game, or working on a hobby project.

The mind can tempt you to eat when you don’t need to in several ways. One of the biggest self-defeating culprits is rationalization. It’s that voice in your head that says, “This one piece of candy won’t hurt; you’ve been working out so regularly!” or “Go ahead and have that extra serving of dinner…you did an extra half mile on the treadmill this morning!” And the worst part of rationalization is, that it usually works. Your mind is making you fat, and you don’t even know it.

One way to avoid the rationalization pitfalls (and the guilt that usually accompanies it) is to set more realistic goals for yourself. If you’ve put yourself on a strict diet and exercise regime, for instance, go ahead and build in a few rewards for yourself. Having a predetermined reward as a goal to shoot for sets your mind up to build up towards the end game, to not have to “cheat” to get what it wants anyway. Say you’re on the treadmill for an hour a day, with a limited calorie diet to look forward to every day for the next few months. Try working in a day a month where you get to go off-diet, even just a little, as a reward for the consistent effort you have put in all the other days. If your mind doesn’t feel like it’s cheating, you’ll avoid the guilt that might also be making you fat. Guilty eating as a result of bad work/rewards ratios is as difficult a problem to overcome as the overeating in general. No matter what is at work in your brain putting food in your mouth that is not healthy for you or is making you fat, you can counteract the effects by making more positive decisions on goal-making.

Another hurdle to fairly easily overcome is that of “self-talk.” That’s where you tell yourself negative things like, “You’ll never lose the weight; you’re too fat” or “You can’t do this because you’re worthless.” The mind trick here is to stop the talk in its tracks. If you hear negative talking in your head, you say to yourself, “I would not let a stranger say these things to me, therefore, I do not have permission to say them to myself.” It is positive reinforcement towards your self-image that can play an important role in not only helping you to keep working at your weight loss, but at life in general. A positive mental attitude will help with your confidence and ability to make more healthy decisions for you. If you think that you deserve to feel better and look better, then your chances of making exactly that happen are greatly improved.

Remember, forgive yourself for mistakes, set more realistic goals and don’t let your mind sabotage your good intentions.

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Do you really wanna know what I think?

It may be hard to believe, but those dirty words you’ve been told all your life are bad are actually good for you.  Ever stub your toe and let loose with a barrage of cussing that would make a sailor blush?  Ever cut your finger and immediately unleash a demonic onslaught of curse words that would make your mother cry?  A recent study suggests that because of the link between curse words and emotional response, the release of dropping an F-bomb might just help you cope with pain better.  It turns out, it might even ease pain to let loose with curse words when you’re wounded.

Brought about by one of the researchers noticing that his wife let loose with long bursts of cussing during childbirth, he was interested in learning if such utterances actually helped ease the pain of birthing a baby.

Scientists gathered a group of study participants and formulated an experiment to seek answers to just that question.  The study was conducted by asking participants to write down five words they might use after striking their thumb with a hammer.  Of these five words, people who used their favorite pejorative as a mantra after receiving a painful stimulus (holding their hands in icy water for as long as possible) were able to withstand that pain for a greater length of time.  Not only were they able to withstand pain for a longer time, but they reported decreased perception of pain.  They were not able to take the painful stimulus as long while repeating a more benign word than their cuss word of choice.

I am so tired of repeating myself!

The study also found that women are more affected by the release offered by cussing than men, showing elevated heart rates more often than men.  Women indicated a larger drop in perceived pain after experiments with holding their hands in cold water and cussing.  This is believed to be because of the fact that in general, women curse less.  Also, the study seems to indicate that cussing might signal the start of a flight-or-fight response in women, raising endorphins and heart-rate, allowing women to be able to tolerate or ignore pain better.

From a scientific standpoint, swearing is a fascinating subject that is certain to be studied more.  Its benefit for pain relief and tolerance open a number of doors towards lessening the need for pharmacological aids, for one thing.  From a strictly moral standpoint, however, it doesn’t seem that cussing is going to become the norm any time soon.

The connection between cursing and pain relief is certainly unclear, and many more studies will be required before researchers fully understand the phenomenon.  It also raises questions such as why do we curse?  When did it start?  Why is it socially unacceptable, and has it ever been acceptable?  Certainly, researchers are discovering that curse words, as opposed to “normal” words, are capable of eliciting responses from the right, emotional side of the brain.  According to the scientists, the emotional response brought about by cursing is certainly worth further exploration.

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I want to remember everything as I get older!

Science continues to expand our understanding of how the brain works. This mysterious organ that drives the entire machine suffers from being greatly misunderstood. Here are ten common misconceptions about the brain that should set you straight.

1. Humans only use 10% of their brain. Perhaps one of the greatest misconceptions of our time, this myth is empirically false. Originating from the idea that perhaps only about 10% of the neurons of the brain are operating at any given moment, but this concept is decidedly different than not using the other 90%. The truth is closer to the idea that we only push ourselves to about 10% of our entire capacity.

2. Video games will damage the brain. In this day and age of video gaming, this myth is also fairly inaccurate. Even though the advent of video gaming is a recent phenomenon and there is not a great deal of study about it, researchers have found the playing video games actually teaches your brain to process information in great amounts and much faster, thus improving brain power.

My brain can only take so much!

3. The bigger the better. There has never been any substantial evidence that the size on one’s brain makes you smarter. Men’s brains are by a rule larger than women’s, thereby debunking this myth immediately. If the brain is not used, it won’t matter what the size.

4. A damaged brain cannot regenerate. Science now has empirical evidence that the brain can engage in neurogenesis, a form of cellular rebuilding, although it’s not guaranteed.

5. Aging leads to a loss of memory. While it is a common condition, it is not a given that age will weaken the ability to remember. An active brain can be exercised with regular thinking and a healthy diet.

6. The brain is riddled with holes. A completely false mythology, referring perhaps instead to the parts of the brain where neurons are not firing.

7. Depression begins in the brain. This is not only a myth but a dangerous one as well. People who believe that depression is just a series of “bad thoughts” can do real harm. Depression is a much more complicated condition caused by any number of reasons. No one decides to be depressed.

I never knew all this goes on inside my head.

8. Left Brain, Right Brain. The truth is, no one operates from solely the left or right brain. Some people may be stronger on one side or the other, but all humans use both sides of the brain.

9. The brain is a giant computer. Just the opposite, the brain is so much more complicated than any computer, that it’s an insult to one’s brain to make this comparison. It was probably started because the first computers were roughly based on what was known about the brain at the time.

10. We learn better through a subliminal approach. While listening to information while in a relaxed or even sleep state works well for some, it is just as likely that it won’t work for others. We all learn in our own best way.

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Making sure I have everything covered

You started the year off with the best of intentions. You had proven strategies to save money. Plans to cut back, trim down and save were made. By now, you should have a tidy bundle of rainy day money. Whether you were saving for a trip, a down payment or just ‘emergency’ funds, by now you are probably looking at your finances and thinking: “Where did I go wrong?” The truth is you sabotaged yourself even if you do not yet realize it. Sit down and take an honest look at your spending over the past few months and you will probably notice some ‘mind tricks’ you played on yourself. In short, you brain has fooled you into wasting money.

As an adult, you probably disagree – after all, you have full control over your mind, or do you? The human mind is a funny thing. No matter how smart we are, sometimes our perception is skewed just enough to muddle our thinking. Never has this been truer than when it comes to affairs of the mind. The mind plays lots of tricks on us, but ten stands out as particularly cunning.

1.  The Supersize Mentality: The advent of the concept of ‘supersizing’ may have been little more than a ploy by the fast food industry to get an extra buck out of us, but the phenomenon has grown rampant throughout the entire market. Say you are legitimately in need of a new television. You have settled on a respectable 36 inch flat screen with a good reputation. Upon arriving at the store, cleverly displayed right next to your first pick is a gorgeous 42 inch television. Suddenly you find yourself thinking: “it doesn’t cost that much more. Really, I’d be foolish not to get the bigger television. It’s such a deal.” The truth is, while you were prepared to spend say $300 on a television, supersizing it for an extra $60 seems like a drop in the bucket.

It wouldn't hurt to see what they have

2.  Gotta Get It: I don’t know if it is an off shoot of keeping up with the Joneses or not, but today there are tons of things that we simply must have. A bigger television, smaller computer, faster phone…the list goes on and on. Think about the last time you visited a friend or family member who had recently made a new purchase. It probably started right then, that voice in the back of your head “I really should upgrade my computer – and Bobby got such a great deal.” What is really going on here is plain and simple envy. Your best bud gets a new toy and suddenly you need one too – even if you really don’t.

3.  It’s All About The Package: You need internet service for your new home, so you do the logical thing and call up the cable company and have chat. 20 minutes later, you have signed up for internet service, a land-line and 137 HD channels – all for $60.00/month (plus taxes and all that other stuff). Only problem is, you don’t have an HD television (yet) and rely solely on your cell phone for chatting. Problem is, the package is such a deal that you just can’t pass it up. Cut out the package spending and instead only pay for services you actually need right now – you can upgrade later!

4.  Of Course I Will: Gym memberships, CD clubs and more are a great idea and not a waste of money – if you use them. Unfortunately, our brains seem to have the ability to convince us that we will indeed make it to the gym 6 days a week for an hour, even though our schedule is already so crammed full that we have to remind ourselves to eat. Avoid long term contract commitments – it may cost a little more to do a one month trial, but at least you will be able to decide if you will really use the membership.

5.  But I Forgot: Everybody makes mistakes. You buy the wrong size jeans, a scratched cd or a toaster that doesn’t toast. You package it back up, you put it next to the door and then find it next year in the closet under the boots you bought three years ago but never wore because they were too small. Don’t waste money by forgetting to return something or by not completing a rebate form.

6.  Bulk Stores – Us ‘real’ shoppers know just how cheap bulk stores can be. 10 gallons of mayo for only $7.00??? It is a steal! Unfortunately, we often end up throwing away lots of the stuff we buy in bulk – it spoils or we get sick of it before we can use it all. Shop bulk stores wisely.

I just love the smell of money

7.  It Can Be Fixed: We often believe that by spending a bit of money we can fix a possession and make it work for us. Cars are a prime example, but today computers and electronics rank high as well. Unfortunately, we often end up spending so much money at the repair shop that it actually makes sense to just buy new. Don’t let your mind convince you that you can’t part with an old possession.

8.  Reality Doesn’t Apply: Whether it is the influence of the digital age or simple ill placed optimism, we often find ourselves thinking that reality just doesn’t apply to us. Somehow, someway things will work themselves out so putting ourselves in the red for that killer trip to Cancun is ok. After all, it will sort itself out. NOT!!

9.  We Are Delusional: How many times have you gone to the store and bought something that you hope makes you look thinner, hotter or younger – even though it does none of those things? The 35 year old housewife shopping at Express for an outfit she will never wear is simply just wasting money in the hope that she will look and feel better about herself.

10.  We Are Too Polite: Every time you receive a bill that isn’t quite what you expected, you should put up a fight. Unfortunately, many of us simply don’t. Whether we are afraid to make a scene or just don’t want to rock the boat, we often simply accept that extra $5 on our cell phone bill each month. Don’t forget to stand up for yourself.

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