The Starvation Response

No one should ever eat like this....

Your body works like a factory, with many thousands of workers and departments all using different resources and producing many different products. Conventionally this factory (your body) runs on energy. Energy is a vital substance delivered everyday and without it, the factory could not run at an optimum level.

Your body...

Let's say for example the factory loses half of it's contracted energy. Production immediately will go down, customers lose faith with the company, workers become disgruntled and agitated. Work ethic and incentive collapses. Sure some customers get their ordered products but they're sub-optimal. Some areas of the factory have to shut and some people subsequently lose their jobs.

This is exactly what happens with us when we decide to drastically cut our food intake.

But...who can blame us. We got the size we are by overindulging in foods only ever meant for a once in a blue-moon treat. Logically, anyone would assume that to lose the same weight again, you would simply not eat as much? Oh if only it was so simple!!

If we turn back to our factory analogy; energy doesn't enter into the factory  and come out the other end as a product without undergoing other processes. In the same way when we take food into our bodies we don't immediately undergo the desired movement. Food undergoes a million different processes before the subsequent energy reaches the final goal. If we compare to the factory again and immediately cut our food intake in half and expect ourselves to perform at the same level. Yeah right! Like that'll happen. Instead, like the factory, certain parts of your body shut down, your can't perform to the same standard. At this stage you start to lose a few pounds and everything is going great!!

As usually in this industry people generally have unrealistic goals in that they want to 5 stone, have a six pack, a perfect ass and 0% bodyfat. So when they drastically cut out food they in some instances can lose 7lbs, maybe even a stone within a month...then....BANG. They hit a plateau! No more weight comes off. They become annoyed with themselves, depress themselves with negative thoughts and give up of leading a healthy lifestyle.

But why does this happen? 

To the factory....!

As we said earlier, if energy supplies are halved, the factory performs at a sub-optimal level (like us). But each time some energy is delivered it's stored specially so that it can be used when it's most important. 

This happens with our bodies as well. Our body thinks to itself "oh no i'm getting barely any food at the minute, look how poorly i'm performing." It then begins a procedure called the starvation response. Any food that touches your lips within this period is prioritised to head towards your fat stores! This is to enable your body to help spread out the energy consumed over a longer period. Your body will remain in this state for as long as you continue this 'sparrow-eating.' The ironic thing about eating like this is that most people end up in the long run putting on even more weight than usual as their body's metabolism has slowed down so much. In actual fact, some individuals who diet like this over many years can actually destroy their metabolism beyond repair. 

Eating like a sparrow if for sparrows!!

So in total an individual maybe loses 7-14lbs by dieting like this, they reach their goal for the desired event (usually a wedding, formal etc.) afterwards they eat as normal and put on 7-14lbs plus more! Restricting calories should never be your first step in trying to lose weight. Many, many other steps come before this should ever be considered. 

If anything is removed from someones diet, something healthy should immediately replace it.

Thanks for reading guys!

Ethan

Why is bread so addictive?

Everyone, and I mean everyone who has ever tried to limit or cut carbs from their diet has screamed this at the bread bin in the kitchen! But who can blame us! Who doesn't love a nice crusty loaf cut into beautifully thick slices followed by the wonder of ingredients you can place in between these two tasty components and the application of an equally addictive sauce.

Pure Bliss...

The "School Lunch Box Survey: 2004" took data on the content of school lunch boxes UK wide. They found that 69% contained a white bread sandwich. It's the naturally progression of life. You drink breast milk, move onto baby food followed by your first sandwich. Then for the next 11 years you probably had at least one per day. But lunch time isn't the only time bread makes an appearance. It's eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and snacks. 

So what?! It's only bread! I'll just eat something else! It can't be that hard! 

These are usually statement we tell ourselves when we set ourselves the challenge of cutting out bread. But within days, even hours sometimes, we experience varying degrees of:

• Fatigue
• Hunger
• Mood swings
• Decreased performance at work or home
• Depression

But why? 

Why? Why?!WHY!!!

If everyday since your were; lets say 4 years old someone injected you with heroin but one day when your 30 something and decide you want to be healthy, live an active lifestyle and get into shape. You need to stop using heroin and live drug free. To live drug free you decide to just destroy all your stash and never go near heroin ever again. Many of us would hazard the obvious guess that it's not so simple.

For a brief moment this addict lives in a pure utopia of bliss!

But what does this have to do with bread? Heroin is a derivative of opium, the same stuff used to make morphine. 

Bread is sourced from the very popular grain called wheat. Wheat is subsequently made up of many components but most importantly it contains gluten. Now, I can hear you thinking; "This guy isn't going to try and tell us wheat is bad for us?" Well you'd be wrong, but that is for another blog. 

Zioudrou et al. (1979), Teschemacher, (2003) and Fanciulli et al. (2005), plus many more studies have found that the exposure of gluten to a diet causes direct stimulation of morphine receptors within the brain. Lets swing back to the heroin addict, heroin stimulates the exact same morphine receptors. You must remember however that each of us have been designed totally unique and so to one person a simple slice of bread can be their daily fix, for others who have a lower tolerance and a well established bread addiction a larger dose of bread is required to satisfy these strange desires!

What am I saying? Basically we're all heroin addicts. And I'm not joking. To expect someone to just give up bread after eating it for decades is as ludicrous as expecting a heroin addict to give up using after decades. That's why so many of us fail to keep away from breads. We give in so easily. To enable us to give up bread/wheat we need to gradually reduce our exposure, switching to wholegrain is the first step definitely not the end goal. Wholegrain bread still contains gluten and so therefore addictive but it's a stepping stone. Gradually ween yourself down and simultaneously replace with a wheat-free source of carbohydrates: for example: potatoes, rice or even gluten free breads.

Soon the desire to devour a ham sandwich will be forever a distant memory and you will be on the road towards a healthy lifestyle.

Stay tuned to discover why wheat is so bad for you besides it's addictive qualities!

Thanks for reading,

Ethan

Learning From Each Other.

So folks this week i found out I'm successfully graduating with a 2:1 BSc Hons Degree in Physiotherapy, which i am over the moon about! 

People have been congratulating me all week, praising me for for hard work and wishing me good luck for the future. But as I have officially finished the last stage of formal education I have really started to reflect on the past couple of years, especially regarding my educational and professional and professional life. 

Yes I have graduated with (what society would dictate) a decent degree level but can I really take the credit!? In short; I would say the majority of my progression has been down to the time given and the caring attitude from my peers, colleagues, friends and family. Yes they maybe didn't put pen to paper or strip off in class to do countless physio assessments! But, they  carried me through all the difficult parts, and, nurtured what little knowledge I had, developed it, and fined tuned it.

I've met a lot of different people in the last few years, many of whom I will never forget because they took their own time ( and sometimes money) and they decided they would use these two valuable resources many of us hold dear, to help me become better at being....well, me! NOT because they thought I was some prodigy, genius, on the road to discovering a cure to cancer or how to turn water into fuel, but simply because of the kindness in their own hearts to help someone who was finding it tough. And we all know life is tough, no matter what your doing whether its: Uni, work, socially etc.  

On my last placement during of University, each week some of my colleagues took 1 - 2 hours out of their own time to teach me certain aspects I was struggling with. In fact, during these 1 -2 hours per week I often learnt more than the countless lectures i attended in University. Now this doesn't mean that lectures are in no way helpful, they definitely are but It allowed me to improve myself as a Physiotherapist and wherein the situation where lets say these kind individuals didn't take this time to talk to me, I may have been totally lost during the final stages of my Uni career.

As you all know I'm also heavily involved in the world of fitness, nutrition etc. Although i say i'm heavily involved, there is a wealth of knowledge for me to develop. I have had the amazing opportunity to question various trainers and nutritionists to 'pick their brains,' ask them questions and for their opinions! Anyone I contacted, were more than helpful, answering any question I put to them. This again does not reflect on me, as i'm sure these individuals have answered the same question time and time again. The fact is, they again, took the time out of their own schedule to help another individual.

So what am I saying? 

Yeah, certainly go get the qualifications, learn the ropes, the basics. But while you're doing that, I want you all to go and talk to others, learn from them, their experiences, ups and downs. Question them on aspects you're struggling with and don't be afraid, they will have experienced the struggle on the way as well. 

BUT....

In 10 years time when YOU are the expert, and someone wants to learn from you....do them the kindness that others showed you early in your career.

So, as I'm about to graduate in a couple of weeks I just want to thank all those who have supported me as I am about to start into step into the big bad world of employment, jobs, finance and continual professional development. Special thanks to: my girlfriend, parents, andrew and james (two of my tutors), all the physios at Ballymena Outpatients, friends (especially Reuben, Karl, Gareth: for keeping me sane), all the staff at Style n Sport and Creative Gardens, everyone who has ever taken the time to talk to me....

Any success I may have later in life, will come majorly from these people. Thank You!

Help Each Other!

Thank for reading!

Ethan