Are You Starving Yourself Fat?!
posted on: June 03, 2018. posted in: Weight loss, Nutrition
A little lesson on how we get fat...
I'd like you to imagine a world without banks, or credit cards or any form of digital currency.
This world is cold, hard cash only, in the form of notes that people carry around with them.
However...
You can't deposit the notes anywhere.
You can't hide them under your mattress.
The only place you can store these notes, and all your savings, is stuffed underneath your skin.
As you work and earn money you are paid in cold, hard cash. Wads of notes placed straight in your hands.
You then have two options.
SPEND or SAVE.
If you choose to spend the notes you simply pass them to whoever you are buying something from, just as we do with notes every single day.
But if you choose to save the notes you stuff them under your skin, wherever you can find space, causing you to grow a little bit fatter.
Now as you walk around this cold, hard cash world, you notice that some people are slim and lean, storing very few notes under their skin. Whereas other people are big and fat, storing large numbers of notes under their skin.
If I was to ask you to guess why, you might answer...
"Because the people who are slim and lean are spending all their notes the moment they get them! Whereas the people who are big and fat are saving them and stuffing them under their skin!"
Correct!
So the next question is...
Why are the slim and lean people spending all their notes, whilst the big and fat people are saving all their notes?
Now really think about the potential answers.
"Maybe the big and fat people are saving up for something that's going to cost a lot of money in the future?"
"Maybe the big and fat people are anxious about their future finances, so they're holding onto as much money as possible, just in case they might need it?"
And conversely...
"Maybe the slim and lean people have everything they need, so they don't need to save up for things in the future?"
"Maybe the slim and lean people are secure about their future finances, so they can confidently spend their money without worrying about bankruptcy?"
All these answers highlight a simple fact.
The big and fat people, who are stuffing as many notes as possible under their skin, are doing so because they are FINANCIALLY INSECURE.
The slim and lean people, who are spending their notes freely without saving any, are doing so because they are FINANCIALLY SECURE.
__________
Now swap "notes" for "bodyfat".
As we walk around our world we see that some people are big and fat, storing as much bodyfat under their skin as possible. Whereas some people are slim and lean, storing very little bodyfat under their skin.
But instead of FINANCIAL insecurity or security...
What makes one person obese and another person lean comes down to NUTRITIONAL insecurity or security.
The brains of obese people have become hard wired to stuff as much fat under their skin, because their brains believe that their nutrition and calorie intake is insecure.
Maybe they're eating poor quality, processed foods, that their brain doesn't recognise as real food.
Maybe they're starving themselves on low calorie diets, which their brain thinks is famine.
Maybe they have high levels of stress, which makes their brain store fat for "fight or flight".
Whatever the reason.
The obese brain is in fat storage mode because it believes their nutrition and calorie intake is insecure, putting them at risk of starvation.
Compare this to the lean people.
The brains of lean people have become hard wired to spend calories and burn fat freely, because their brains believe that their nutrition and calorie intake is secure.
Maybe they fill up on good quality, natural foods, that their brain recognises as real food.
Maybe they never diet, instead focusing on optimum nutrition to fuel their bodies.
Maybe they have low levels of stress, so their brains don't feel like they need stored fat for "fight or flight".
My point is this...
Obesity is a defence mechanism against nutritional insecurity, creating a buffer, a "just in case" store of calories that grows bigger and bigger the more threatened our brain feels our caloric intake is.
Leanness is a state of complete nutritional security, whereby our brain is so confident and happy that we're nourished and well fuelled that it doesn't feel the need to store huge amounts of "just in case" fat.
Science has proven this.
Endless studies have proven that, in both animals and humans, overeating and fat storage is greatest when nutrition is insecure.
Take bears for example.
They'll binge and go "hyperphagic" in the run up to hibernation, storing huge amounts of bodyfat, because hibernation is a time of increased nutritional insecurity.
They're not getting any calories, because they're sleeping!!
The same neural mechanisms that drive the bear to binge before hibernation are the same neural mechanisms that drive dieters to binge before going on their next diet.
When the human (or animal) brain is insecure or uncertain about where the next calories are coming from...
BINGING OCCURS.
Not because of greed.
But because of survival.
This is why rebels call binge eating "survival eating".
The take home message here is obvious.
If you want an obese body, then diet, starve and make your brain as insecure about where your next calories are coming from, turning you into a binge eating, fat stuffing, fat storing machine.
If you want a lean body, then nourish, fuel and make your brain as secure about where your next calories are coming from, turning you into an appetite suppressed, fat stripping, fat burning machine.
Stop dieting. Start nourishing.
Liam
p.s. If you'd like to learn more about optimum nutrition, and training your brain to feel secure about your calorie intake so it readily burns fat, get in touch and we'll show you how!
