Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at the AB Milk Nutrition File Seminar for dietitians and other health professionals. The day included me and 3 other speakers all questioning the conventional wisdom on weight management.
I found the day challenged my beliefs and practices, so I thought I’d share some of the highlights.
Dayle Hayes, a dietitian and nutrition educator from Montana, passionately and clearly questioned whether our efforts in tackling the obesity epidemic are effective or if in fact are creating more harm. She shared alarming stats on how the poor nutrition status of children and how our well intentioned focus on weight is in fact causing our youth to become more malnourished. She challenged us to focus on the fact that all children (and I add adults) need to eat better and move more not for weight loss but for health. If we learn to shift the focus from weight to health we may have a chance to gain some ground! Check out Facebook page School Meals that Rock.
Jacquie Gingras, a dietitian and researcher from Ryerson University in Toronto, shared how weight bias has a very real impact on not only our psyche but our health and in fact our weight. Jacquie shared compelling data that weight bias, stigma or bullying can cause physiological changes in the body that increase our risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure (these are all the same things we tout as reasons individuals need to lose weight). Jacquie shared how focusing on health at any size can have a positive impact on not only our self esteem but also our health and weight.
Evelyn Tribole, a dietitian and author from Southern California, rounded out the day showing how learning the tools of Intuitive Eating can help individuals make peace with food and their weight. She shared fabulous emerging research on how intuitive eating can reduce overeating and increase our enjoyment of food. Image that…if we learned to enjoy what we ate, ate food that was satisfying that it could help us better manage our hunger and our weight! Check out Evelyn at www.intuitiveeating.com.
I discussed how stress and a high paced lifestyle can disconnect us from the natural rewards our brain needs for survival thus pushing us toward external pleasures such as eating, drinking, smoking, overwork, shopping, etc. From this place of disconnect and activation of the stress response in the brain, we are often victim to patterns of overeating that we can’t seem to change. I shared on how Emotional Brain Training tools can help make that lasting positive change possible.
I plan to post more detail on some of the key topics covered as they challenged me, and may challenge what you thought was true about weight loss or management.