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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.
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.
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.
Tell a friend or join this newsletter
If you know somebody who could benefit from my scientific and personal insights for easier weight loss, thank you for suggesting that they visit my website www.DrAmandaOnline.com to sign up for my free newsletter.
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...
"Dear Amanda, Well my goodness! I came across your website somewhere in the vastness of the internet and instantly identified with the way you presented your message. The only place in NZ I could locate a copy of your book was Nelson, so I waited patiently (not my strongest skill!) until Christmas when I knew I'd be joining my family there, and the first opportunity I got I bolted for Blackmores bookstore and grabbed a copy. I didn't get a chance to read it over Christmas but as soon as I got home to Wellington I opened it up and just couldn't put it down. To give you a bit of background about me, I'm 172cm & 63 kg. Not overweight really, although definitely carrying too much for my very slender bones and carrying it on my tummy & hips at that. Two years ago I joined a gym and followed their weight-loss programme. Portion control. Carb restriction. Protein increase. No more than 2 serves of fruit per day. I white-knuckled my way through the 12 week programme, and while I had more muscle at the end, I had almost as much body fat & in exactly the same places as when I started. On the outside, I looked just the same & my clothes didn't fit any differently. Grr! I don't even like sweet things all that much, but I tell you, when I couldn't have them what do you think I craved every day? That's right. By this time I was pretty upset. I'd been raised to think of food as a blessing, and here it looked like I was going to have to battle with it every day for the rest of my life. That particularly sucked, because there is nothing I would rather do than spend an afternoon with dear friends, laughing & eating a leisurely lunch I've prepared with love for us all. It is one of the true joys of my life. I started to wonder what the hell to do. I felt stuck. It depressed me to think of it. Life without delicious food is not life, it is existence and a poor one at that. It would not be overstating the case to say your book has been the ray of light I need. Recently I started questioning the people I grew up with who still eat the way they did when I was a child. I don't know if you spent any time in NZ in the '70s or '80s but there were a LOT of hippies around & not a single fat one among them and those who still eat that way are all still slender. Anyway, I've been asking them what they eat & why, and their answers are identical to those given in your book. It is just the best feeling of relief to have my fledgling theories confirmed by your science. In all this rambling, I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you. Thank you very much. To be able to make these lunches for my friends & know that I'm doing a good thing, to be able to eat the food I enjoy in the quantities that feel right - well, it's freedom of the best kind. Bless you Amanda, I needed this. Warmest regards, L.B. P.S. I've recommended your book to the Oprah producers - probably should have asked you first so I hope that's OK with you! I don't know if they've covered it already but I suspect I would have heard if they had. If ever there was a country that needed your book it’s the USA! P.P.S. I have just experienced my first Famine Reaction, and it felt great! I could just feel my body saying wow, thanks! It lasted from Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon, when my body realised it didn't actually need any dinner because it was totally reassured that everything was fine. How utterly lovely to be giving myself what I need in such a satisfying and delicious way. I'll be back in Nelson in a fortnight and will be buying another copy of your book. I've been raving - evangelizing even - to my friends about it but I can't bear to lend it out because I'm using the recipes every day, as well as dipping into it for inspiration. But I do so want my friends to be able to read it that I've decided the best thing to do is have a 'me' copy and a 'friends' copy. "