I feel the less carbohydrates I eat, the less hungry I am................to
a point.....................if I don't eat a fair amount of carbos I get
into ketosis and that doesn't feel good to me.

P
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sheryl Canter" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2001 8:55 AM
Subject: Re: Weight Gain; Was: How Fat Are the Natives?


Katrina wrote:
> I am not losing as much as I had hoped. And I have
noticed an increased appetite. Is this because I have only been with the
diet for 3 weeks? If so, will it go away? (Maybe it's the winter issue you
mentioned???) I am eating meat and eggs for breakfast, anything that's
leftover from yesterday's dinner for lunch and meat, salad and a veggie for
dinner. Snacks have been mostly nuts, a little fruit and pork rinds. Am I
doing something wrong?

I don't know how well my experience translates to others, but I will share
it
in case it's of use to somebody.  I have struggled with my weight my whole
life.  I'm not very overweight--just a moderate amount.  My weight goes up
and down, but usually averages out to about 142.  I'm 5'6" (actually, 5'
5-1/2").  At 142 I'm about 28-30% body fat and look a little chunky.  The
lowest I've been is 128.  That is a perfect weight for me--I looked great.
I
was probably 22% body fat at that weight.  The last time I weighed myself I
was about 148-149 and 32% body fat.  The most I've ever weighed is 157--that
was almost 20 years ago.  The most I've weighed recently was 152, about 4
years ago.  Until about a year ago I'd stabilized at about 137.  I gained
10-12 pounds after going on a restrictive diet to cure my
colitus--restrictive diets cause me to overeat in response to the
restriction.

I've found I gain weight for two reasons (1) low blood sugar, or (2) eating
when I'm not hungry (defined as "compulsive eating").  Low blood sugar
causes
me to overeat because it makes me feel ravenous, and I will eat more than my
body needs just to raise my blood sugar.  The paleo diet has just about
eliminated this problem.  My blood sugar is rock solid.  I no longer have to
eat every 2-3 hours.  What freedom!!

I'm currently working on the compulsive eating problem--eating because I'm
bored, nervous, lonely, scared, the food tastes good, the food is in front
of
me, I haven't cleaned my plate, I want to avoid work, etc.  There is also an
issue about ambivalence in being thin--you'd be surprised at how often this
is an issue for women in Western culture.  There is a part of us that rebels
at being put in the sex object box--that we're not okay unless we're thin.
Sometimes it feels safer to have some fat on you.  If you think about it,
you
may find this is true for you, too.

If we become used to eating for reasons other than physical hunger, we can
lose touch with our body's hunger signals.  Eating in response to physical
hunger actually can become a little tricky.  Also, we need to learn new
coping mechanisms for the emotions that we calmed in the past by eating.
And
we need to look at our ambivalence about being thin.  Have you ever had the
experience of losing weight without really thinking about it, stepping on
the
scale and noticing the loss, and then instantly gaining it back?  This has
happened to me many times, and it's due to ambivalence about being thin.
Maybe this is what happened to you when you regained the 6 pounds.

I believe that we would be much better off if we focussed on learning to
respond to our body's needs for food in an appropriate way, versus trying to
lose weight.  There is nothing inherently wrong with carrying some extra
fat.
 Big deal!!  In some cultures and in some times, it was considered
beautiful.
 Also, medical science is now realizing that the link between fat and poor
health is not causal--they are correlated only because fat people tend not
to
exercise.  But you can be fat AND fit, and then (unless you are extremely
obese), there are no health implications to carrying the extra fat.  This is
Western prejudice!  Forget about it!!

In any case, for me, trying to lose weight never works.  If I'm hating my
body and feeling ugly and fat, it just makes me want to eat more.  If I tell
myself I'm fine now and I'm just going to learn to respond to my body's
physical needs, my eating habits calm down.  The nervous eating goes away,
and my body starts to return to its natural weight without any effort on my
part.

Some people will tell you that you're gaining weight because you're snacking
on nuts, fruit, and pork rinds.  These are calorie dense foods, but I don't
think there is anything wrong with eating these foods or any foods.  If you
are listening to your body and only eating in response to physical hunger,
eating these foods will not cause you to gain weight.  Your body will tell
you what it needs, but sometimes it's hard to distinguish between the true
biological hunger signals, and the "emotional hunger" that has been driving
us for so many years.  It CAN be done, however.  I've been doing much better
with it.  I don't know whether I'm losing weight because stepping on the
scale is bad for me--it puts me right back in the "bad body" frame of mind,
focussing on weight loss rather than "good self-feeding"--but I imagine I
am.
 I haven't been eating very much.

I very much believe in body wisdom--our biology will lead us to want what we
need.  But to hear this inner voice, we have to quiet the other noise in our
heads.  External rules about what to eat and when can be very destructive
when they lead to feelings of deprivation.  That's why I'm only 90% paleo.
I
cheat without guilt now and then, because otherwise I feel deprived.  But
most days I'm 100% paleo because I choose to be--it makes me feel good.  The
wonderful affect on my blood sugar is not lost on me, so I'm motivated to
keep eating this way.  Also, my bowels are in terrific shape--I have not
been
this healthy since I first was diagnosed with ulcerative colitus 20 years
ago.  It's very easy to follow a diet out of choice--because it makes me
feel
good--versus because I think I'm fat and ugly and need to lose weight.

     - Sheryl