There are a lot of idiots out there…
I read an awful lot of weight loss blogs in my evenings. You could say I am hungry for knowledge because I want to lose wight and I want to create a comprehensive website packed full of useful diet tips, product reviews and general information for dieters over the world to use. I want to hear other people’s stories because this is a community.
However, I get incredibly angry when I see rubbish like this published online. I do wonder if the moderator approved my comment, I wasn’t rude but I made my feelings clear, “advice” like this is of no use to the normal man or woman at home just trying to lose a few lbs. In this blog post, the writer says that we have the ‘hot’ part of our brains, the part that acts on instinct and then the ‘cold’ logical part. We can resist chocolate cake apparently, if we count to 10 and access the ‘cold’ part of our brain.
Could you resist chocolate cake by simply asking yourself if you need this when you really, really want it? Didn't think so!
I’ve not heard such rubbish in a long time as cravings can last hours and hours. It is irresponsible to suggest to people that it is as simple as counting to ten to avoid eating chocolate cake. ‘Information’ like this is bandied around by people with very little weight loss knowledge purely trying to increase their website’s content so they can rank in Google. Writers like this know absolutely nothing of value to the weight loss community and clog Google with rubbish so the most useful stuff doesn’t actually appear on the first page.
Ignorant posters like this simply end up contributing to obliterating self-esteem in the long term as people feel weak for giving in and bumpf like this generally creates the idea among the weight loss newbies that ignoring cravings is easy. IT IS NOT! Weight loss is hard work, remember what your mum always said: “Nothing worth having ever comes easily.”
The author clearly does not understand how strong cravings for particular foods can be. I’ve heard of people driving miles and miles just to buy a particular kind of cake! If I told someone willing to drive 10 miles for cake to count to 10, close their eyes and breathe deeply or ask themselves if they really want the cake and I would fully expect a slap in the face and I would feel it was richly deserved too!
By the way, I’ve driven for 8 miles to a specific bakery for a particular kind of cake and another 12 miles back home after I found out they were closed and stopped to my 2nd choice on the way home. I know that telling people to access the ‘cold’ part of their brain is b*****ks!
This is just dumb. Like you, I have had cravings that have lasted long beyond ten seconds — LONG BEYOND! This was either written by someone who has never really craved anything, or it is someone who is just saying something to hear their head rattle.
Personally, I think it was written by someone who has only eaten vegetables all of their life. They seem to have no life experience whatsoever.
Thank you Louisa for your comments. Your feedback is highly appreciated. As you will notice that your valuable feedback is published uncensored on our blog. I hope you will publish this comment uncensored as well. We always value feedback from respectable individuals with valid points to debate.
A menstruating women certainly has her challenges with food but this can hardly be considered the average. Sometimes we tend to go to extremities or quote outliers to prove points or even to have more readers for a particular article. If we go to the other end of the spectrum, we could say that a fitness enthusiast would find no issue with self control and with the concept of counting to 10 as they have a completely different mindset. But again this is not the average as you have very rightfully pointed out.
Also the concept of the hot and cold system is has been around for a long time and you could get a lot of valuable information from http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/d/d_05/d_05_cr/d_05_cr_her/d_05_cr_her.html or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reptilian_brain
You could also very much be enlightened by this very nice video on youtube that nicely explains about the reptilian brain which quotes “In the deep of the human brain there exists a very ancient layer called the Reptilian Brain (Reptilian complex), which controls the most instinctive behavior of the human being” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXyp9p1UDPg. This is a must view for you such that you could take this message back to your readers.
As for emotional eating during menstruation, have you read the research pertaining to this. Apparently an exercise program can help tremendously. The challenge is that most women diet without exercise thus having backlashes when the hormones are imbalanced during menstruation. A lot of women who exercise regularly do not have such problems as you had mentioned. Also you will find the book “Spark” very enlightening and could address a lot of issues about hormonal imbalances in women, particularly pertaining to their monthly menstruation cycles. The author quotes scientific studies that have proven how cardio exercise have very effectively addressed hormonal imbalances especially during menstruation. Read an independent review of this book at http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-spark-the-revolutionary-new/ or get it from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113506 . This book is well worth the read to update one’s self in whats happening in the scientific field of exercise.
We are not experts on hypnotherapy so we cannot comment on that although I am a huge fan of meditation and agree that “we are what we think the whole day”. As always, we thank you for your feedback and look forward to hearing from you in the future. All the best with your weight loss endeavors.
I am more than happy to publish your comment in full as there is absolutely nothing I can say that could make you look any more ignorant.
It seems to me that you’re not ‘experts’ at all on food cravings. It appears to me as though you’re just calling people weak for not being able to resist chocolate. THIS IS NOT TRUE! You can’t undo over 20 years of emotional food programming with deep breaths or counting and to believe this is possible is outrageous.
The hot and cold parts of the brain may well be scientifically proven, but it is irrelevant to dieters. If self-control was so easy then 2 thirds of adults would not be overweight would they? I cannot imagine who you believe your audience is!
I gave menstruating women as an example but men (like Steve who has commented above) also struggle with food cravings. You are effectively insulting and alienating 2 thirds of the population who have a connection with food that runs much deeper than simple breathing!
Parmjit, you clearly have never experienced cravings so unless you are a doctor (who clearly needs retraining and patient contact) I suggest you find a more appropriate subject to write about.
Dear Louisa, you are obviously very passionate about weight loss. That is commendable as the world definitely needs more people like you. I am sure your readers benefit a great deal from your blog. You have your opinions about how best weight loss and that I truly respect that. That is the beauty of the internet in current times where everyone has a voice. I am sure neither you nor me have an absolute solution for weight loss and I don’t believe anyone really does. This article expresses what brain science says about the reptilian brain. Anyone choosing to ignore this does not make this untrue. Nothing out there works all the time and nowhere in the article does it say that this is the cure-all for everyone being overweight. If your readers have been disgusted or horrified, that is their freedom to express their opinions. Again I respect that. But this does not change the scientific fact about the reptilian brain. The count to 10 method is simply a means to get more blood supply to the cold system of the brain to become less emotional. Again it may work for some and for others not. Science is continuously finding new discoveries and some of it is being used to aid weight loss. This article covers what science has discovered about the possibility of gaining control of the emotional reptilian brain. I am definitely not an authority on menstruation. I just make reference to what scientific research says on the matter. That is why I highly recommended the book “Spark” which has summarized a lot of this research very eloquently. There will always be some people for whom no amount of counting will help. Thank you for your “robust” comments.
I’ve never disputed the reptilian brain’s existence, it’s just irrelevant to weight loss because anyone who can stop craving food by counting to ten doesn’t have a problem losing weight and therefore wouldn’t be reading either of our blogs.
This “IDIOT” fully agrees with you that there are those who would probably think this advise is looney. You are definitely one of them. But there are those who just meagrely need some blood rushing to the thinking brain to allow them to regain control. This is not my theory but has been well proven by science. You are right that some people can’t make use of it but you should not discount all people as emotional eaters. Not all people who are overweight have a problem with emotional eating. I enjoyed the robust debate with you except for the name calling. Have a nice day!
There was a second comment from Parmjit whinging that I shouldn’t have reduced myself to name calling. I figured he’d be embarrassed by this tomorrow so I deleted it. Clearly something has rattled him, goodness knows what.
I have post graduate philosophy studies under my belt, I know exactly how to argue effectively without name calling, it’s just that his argument WAS idiotic and ignorant so this is fair comment. Nowhere in my post did I call him names, I simply labeled him irresponsible and criticised his argument. If he infers it to be personal, that isn’t my fault. Maybe the truth hurts?