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April / May 2010 - Facing down the Famine Reaction
In this Issue
- Your progress
- Facing down the Famine Reaction
Can you spot your Famine Reaction when it pays you a visit?
Or are you one of the many people I've met who think that a physical desire to eat is a sign of weakness, and succumbing to it while trying to lose weight is a trigger to throw in the towel and give up?
In this Issue of my newsletter I'm going to show you what it feels like to face the Famine Reaction and win.
Your progress
This year I'm sending out my newsletter every second month instead of monthly. This has given me more time to finish my new book, which is a practical guide to losing weight and keeping it off without hunger, based on the scientific principles of The Don't Go Hungry Diet.In the past few months I've had a ball writing up your success stories. In recounting the challenges you faced in losing weight by connecting with your body and how you overcame them, your stories will certainly help to inspire others who face similar obstacles.
One of the things I've noticed since I stopped sending this newsletter every month is that I really miss the replies you send me each month!
If you'd like to comment on this newsletter or let me know how you're going in your weight management adventure, click reply and send me a note. I look forward to reading from you.
Facing down the Famine Reaction
In my six years of failed dieting attempts, I always thought there was something wrong with me because I could never lose more than a few kilos on a diet before piling it all back on again. When I started medical research, I realized that there wasn't anything wrong with me at all; I was just a normal person having a Famine Reaction.The Famine Reaction is a survival mechanism that protects you from wasting away in times of scarcity. It's what makes you feel hungry and lethargic and slows your metabolic rate when you're trying to lose weight.
Conventional weight loss strategies encourage you to deny your Famine Reaction by ignoring physical hunger or trying to quash it with low-kilojoule substitutes for what you really feel like eating.
However, research shows that denying physical hunger can actually exacerbate the Famine Reaction and make it even harder for you to lose weight. On the other hand, scientific evidence shows that eating the types and amounts of mostly nutritious foods that make you feel really satisfied can help deactivate the Famine Reaction, therefore enabling you to lose weight more effectively.
How can you tell when your Famine Reaction has been activated? The most common telltale sign is hunger.
When you start losing weight, especially if you're starting after a time like Easter when you may have eaten a few more chocolate bunnies than you intended (as I did), you probably won't feel very hungry at all, in which case it's vital that you do other things besides eat.
But when you lose some weight and your Famine Reaction rouses, you may find that in addition to your usual meals, you need a snack or two to keep from falling into the jaws of ravenous hunger. And you may find that in order to reach the point of feeling just satisfied or elegantly satisfied, you need to eat larger servings than you normally would.
In the beginning you may not be sure that it's a Famine Reaction you're experiencing, but with time you'll become more confident about spotting it when it pays you a visit.
Beth, 65, lost 8.8 kilos over 10 months by connecting with her body and now weighs 68.7 kilos for her 1.6-meter frame. While Beth still wants to lose another 5 or so kilos in time for a trip to the UK with her husband this spring, she now has a good understanding of her Famine Reaction and the effects in can have on her appetite. Beth's first Famine Reaction came after twelve weeks on The Don't Go Hungry Diet, by which time she'd lost 5.3 kilos. As you'll read in Beth's account below, it took a couple of days for her to realize what has happening.
'For the first few days, I wasn't sure that I was having a Famine
Reaction as it wasn't how I expected it would be. I started waking during
the night feeling hungry but I wasn't sure if it was indigestion, as I felt
acidy and belchy. During the day I wasn't getting ravenously hungry, but I
was very hungry at lunchtime whereas normally I'm not that hungry, and I
needed to eat a bit more than usual to fill myself up to the point of
feeling properly satisfied. After a couple of similar days the gnawing in
my stomach during the night and the fact that I needed to add an afternoon
snack to my day's eating convinced me that this was a Famine Reaction.
I decided to have a snack before bedtime (a cup of cocoa and some trail mix), and that stopped me from waking up at night feeling hungry. This lasted for a total of six days (including the first two days when I wasn't sure). I thought I might be on plateau now, but I'm not as I've lost 0.3 kilos this fortnight, with the Famine Reaction taking up six days of it.'
I decided to have a snack before bedtime (a cup of cocoa and some trail mix), and that stopped me from waking up at night feeling hungry. This lasted for a total of six days (including the first two days when I wasn't sure). I thought I might be on plateau now, but I'm not as I've lost 0.3 kilos this fortnight, with the Famine Reaction taking up six days of it.'
Eating her way out of the Famine Reaction instead of denying her body's true needs as she would have done in past dieting efforts helped Beth to get over that first hurdle and continue on, to the point that she's now close to her healthy weight.
In addition to greater hunger, another effect of the Famine Reaction is that it can make you crave richer foods than you normally eat. When Stephanie had a Famine Reaction some weeks after she started losing weight by connecting with her body, she didn't notice an increase in hunger, as was the case for Beth, but something else.
'I've been craving sweets lately for some reason. On Sunday night I
finally gave into my cravings and had a rather large slice of the fruitcake
my sister made. I felt a bit guilty, but it was absolutely delicious and I
slept so peacefully that night'.
Stephanie's drive to eat that fruit cake was probably caused by her Famine Reaction, because by that time she'd already lost a couple of kilos and was very close to her ideal weight, and also because she was feeling very tired and lethargic at that time, another sign of the Famine Reaction at work.
Over to you
Here's something you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.Think back on your past experiences of losing weight. Can you pinpoint any instances where the Famine Reaction tripped you up? Can you see any past diet failures that you blamed yourself for but that in retrospect were caused by trying to fight the Famine Reaction with conventional weight loss strategies?
If so, what did the Famine Reaction feel like to you? Did you notice anything unusual about your appetite and your desires for food at that time? Tune into those feelings, for they hold the key to your freedom.
Changes in your usual appetite are the main early warning signs of a Famine Reaction. Once you see it coming, you can then take the necessary action to disarm it before it overruns you.
By eating the types and amounts of mostly nutritious foods that make you feel genuinely satisfied, you'll deactivate your Famine Reaction when it strikes, and this will make it much easier for you to continue losing more weight.
Have a wonderful couple of months, and I'll "see" you again in June.
If you'd like to comment on this newsletter or send me an update on your progress, click reply and send me a note.
Sincerely,
Amanda
Dr Amanda
Connect with your body
www.DrAmandaOnline.com
About Dr Amanda
Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis is an acclaimed weight-loss scientist who has personally lost 28 kilos and kept it off for over ten years. With a PhD from the University of Geneva, Dr Amanda leads a team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research investigating how the brain controls body weight.
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Past newsletter editions
To read previous newsletters with motivational stories to help inspire you in your weight loss adventure, click here.
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Note to readers
This newsletter contains information about food, nutrition, and weight loss. It is intended for educational purposes only. Always consult with a licensed health-care professional before making any changes to your diet or lifestyle.
Copyright Zuman International 2010
What our readers say...
"Hi Amanda, just a quick note to let you know that I lost exactly 2 kgs after one month. Much to my astonishment because I haven't been 'really' trying. As I only have 4 more to go, I know that it's going to take a while and I don't expect to lose that much next month, however it did give me a real sense of achievement and a spring in my step. Many thanks for all the tips, I completely love being able to eat my usual diet and just listen to my body. The silly season is upon us, so probably a few more glasses of bubbles than usual but that's half the fun of it right! Kind regards, A.A. P.S. my 'sometimes doubting' husband also lost 1.5kgs! "
- A.A., Port Melbourne, Victoria