Stress and No-S

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:21 pm

Interesting study that may explain part of why No-S works...

I wonder if it also connects to why some people do well with calorie-counting and others don't: the extent to which countng is stressful may be relevant. And of course, that's highly individual.

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 2:22 pm

Certainly the issue of stress is important in determining the quality of ones life. Many things in life that are necessary for one to reach their personal goals are stressful. For example: things about one's job, things about one's family, things about one's finances, relationships, health etc.

It is not surprising that thinking about the content of one's food intake can be stressful. However, Life and Stress go hand-in-hand. Each of us choses how to live, what our goals are, what is important to us. We then choose behaviors that will work for us.

That article is a good example of how the media uses some unknown "research" to prove the point of view it is advocating, which in this case seems to be.... just eat, and don't worry too much about it..Stress of concentrating on it will make you fat anyway. That advice might be okay for someone who is just a bit overweight, but for the majority of those with problems of obesity, I think this is very bad advice.

Post by **reinhard** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:03 pm

That is interesting, KCCC -- thanks for the link.

As BrightAngel points out, it's not exactly surprising, but still, nice to see some quantitative evidence. And I think people often forget that, though it might be worth it or even necessary for some people in some situations, tracking comes at a cost.

Reinhard

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:26 pm

reinhard wrote:As BrightAngel points out, it's not exactly surprising, but still, nice to see some quantitative evidence.
Reinhard

I, also thank KCCC for the link.
However, speaking as a retired Attorney specifically about that article.
Yes, Quantitative....which means lots and lots of...
but Not in any way, Evidence....which means something that furnishes truth.
There are certainly a great many similiar media articles that are based on absolutely nothing
(i.e. hearsay upon hearsay garbling the results of scientfic research).

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 3:46 pm

The article was reporting on a study published in PubMed. Here's a link to a description of the original study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20368473

My point (which I didn't clearly articulate, I realize) is that cortisol (stress-hormone) has been linked to weight issues, so the "psychological relief" offered by No-S may actually be beneficial in terms of actual weight management. (I wouldn't advise "just eat" without some kind of structure like No-S.)

I also thought of you, BA, and how you find calorie-counting enjoyable (that is, non-stressful), in contrast to others of us who do find it stressful. If emotional reactions to calorie counting affect how well it works for an individual on a physical level, that's pretty interesting.

BrightAngel · Post by **BrightAngel** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 4:05 pm

KCCC wrote:My point (which I didn't clearly articulate, I realize) is that cortisol (stress-hormone) has been linked to weight issues, so the "psychological relief" offered by No-S may actually be beneficial in terms of actual weight management. (I wouldn't advise "just eat" without some kind of structure like No-S.)

I also thought of you, BA, and how you find calorie-counting enjoyable (that is, non-stressful), in contrast to others of us who do find it stressful. If emotional reactions to calorie counting affect how well it works for an individual on a physical level, that's pretty interesting.

KCCC,

Thanks for clarifying your post, and thanks for thinking of me.

wosnes · Post by **wosnes** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 5:16 pm

I wish I could remember where I read this, but I can't. It was about the stress/cortisol/belly fat and said that if it were true, then people in the Mediterranean should be some of the fattest on earth. Think about their history: wars, economic difficulties, wars, difficulty with crops, wars, not knowing if you would have enough to feed your children, wars, and did I mention wars? Even now, over 65 years after WWII, some areas still are recovering from the effects of the war. The writer said, "if that's not stress, I don't know what is."

Then think to the paintings of the aristocracy, who probably certainly had stress, but not as much as the peasants. They did have a lot more to eat -- and it showed in the paintings by people like Rubens.

deadweight · Post by **deadweight** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:08 pm

BrightAngel wrote:Quantitative....which means lots and lots of...
but Not in any way, Evidence....which means something that furnishes truth.

Not to be overly pedantic, but "quantitative" just means measurable, not that there is a lot of something.

As far as whether it's evidence of any sort, you might be right.

kccc · Post by **kccc** » Mon Jul 12, 2010 6:20 pm

wosnes wrote:I wish I could remember where I read this, but I can't. It was about the stress/cortisol/belly fat and said that if it were true, then people in the Mediterranean should be some of the fattest on earth. Think about their history: wars, economic difficulties, wars, difficulty with crops, wars, not knowing if you would have enough to feed your children, wars, and did I mention wars? Even now, over 65 years after WWII, some areas still are recovering from the effects of the war. The writer said, "if that's not stress, I don't know what is."

Then think to the paintings of the aristocracy, who probably certainly had stress, but not as much as the peasants. They did have a lot more to eat -- and it showed in the paintings by people like Rubens.

Oh, I'm sure that most factors are secondary to pure AMOUNT of food.

As for the Mediterranean examples... well, hard to say. My understanding of stress is that (1) it's not the external events as much as internal reaction to those events and (2) it's highly individualistic. (With that said, I'd find everything on your list highly stressful for sure!)

The reason I brought this up at all is that I do find the "mental" aspects of No-S to be at least as valuable as the physical, and a possible connection between them intrigues me.

Graham · Post by **Graham** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:10 am

To me the key to understanding the stress/cortisol issue is to bear in mind that our system is designed to prepare us to react physically to stress. Modern life usually frustrates that process and there the problems begin.

Further, we are designed to cope with the alternation of lean years and fat years - not continuous fat years. The combination of stress without an active outlet (quite unlike the war-time situation, or famine) and an over-abundance of affordable food creates the cortisol/belly fat problem