Dieting Makes Mice and Men Miserable!

Because coaching weight loss is a big part of what I do on a weekly basis, I was very intrigued by the recent research published by Tracy Bale, PhD and his team from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine. They discovered that diets (or food depravation) not only cause depression, but weight gain--in mice! Their findings not only make sense to scientists--and their mice--but to anyone who has ever been on a diet.

Purposely, before the researchers put laboratory mice on a diet, they let them eat whatever they wanted for a specific amount of time. Not a surprise, the mice--given unlimited access to food--overate. (Sound familiar?) When the mice were put on a strict diet of fewer, controlled calories, they became fatigued, disinterested, and lacked motivation (you won’t believe how they tested this…). After the mice were taken off the diet, they were allowed to eat anything they wanted. Once again, they overate uncontrollably, quickly packing on more weight then before they went on a diet!

Here is what the researchers concluded:

1. Dieting makes both mice and men miserable.

By testing the blood of the mice, Bayle also found that several genes important in regulating stress and eating had changed. Previous research shows that experiences can alter the form and structure of DNA, an effect known as epigenetics. Even after the mice were fed back to their normal weights, the epigenetic changes remained. It's as if they were mice on the verge of a nervous breakdown and their way to deal was to keep on binging long after the food restriction was lifted.

"Evolution developed the brain to rapidly respond to a reduction in calories as well as change its programming for the future," Bale explained. "If you were in a famine and came across something calorically dense, your brain will tell you to eat as much as possible and pack on the calories and pounds because there could be another famine coming." To lose weight, many of us could benefit from reverse engineering this phenomenon out of the brain. Bale speculates this could be done by adding a stress reduction component to every diet.

2. Controlling stress helps a person retain weight loss.

"Because stress drives the brain pathways that seek out reward, most people seek that reward from high-calorie food. You need to find non-caloric stress releases, like yoga or exercise, to deal with it instead," Bale said, adding that preliminary investigative evidence proving yoga and meditation lead to weight loss comes as no surprise to her. A 2009 study by Australian researchers revealed that “those on low-fat diets maintained an increase in positive mood throughout the year.”

In the 2009 Australian study, “participants met with a dietician twice a month to help them stay on track and researchers assessed participants' feelings of depression, anxiety, anger, and fatigue before the diet began, after eight weeks of dieting, 24 weeks, and at the end of the year. Though participants consumed the same amount of calories and lost the same amount of weight -- 30 pounds on average -- only those on the low-fat diet maintained an increase in positive mood throughout the year. Dr. Keith Ayoob, nutritionist and associate professor at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York said, 'When a diet is [very] low in carbs, it can start to wear you down.'"

3. Controlling portions is the real secret to weight loss.

It may also be worth noting that when scientists like Bale want their furry subjects to slim down, they don't slip hoodia in their water, feed them exclusively grapefruit, or ask them to subsist on baby food. They simply cut back their portion sizes. Funny enough, it always seemed to work. Of course, that's not the point of this study and clearly, a mouse is not a person any more than a laboratory is a fast food joint. But besides getting diet stress under control, eating less is a good take home message for anyone who is looking for the real secret to losing weight.

As we approach both the holiday season of unlimited food festivities and the guilt and goals that follow with New Year "diet resolutions," I'd like to suggest making just a few little changes in your lifestyle, in order to see big results in your health.

1. Embrace a food plan that revolves around portion and carbohydrate control, as well as lower-fat foods.

2. Enlist an accountability partner (friend, coach, counselor, mentor) to help you process your emotions while losing weight.

3. Engage in a body and mind exercise program that includes stretching and burning and breathing and building...

Over the next few days and weeks, consider HOW you can make these "little changes" happen. If I can help you, don't hesitate to ask a question or join one of my groups in 2011. For more information, visit LittleChangesBigResults.TV.

Be encouraged,

Becky