B
bob
Guest
I have been plotting this post for some time, as i made it through my first
year of maintaining a 40+ pound weight loss.
I noticed that the more heated debate in this group mainly came from people
who said it was just a matter of eating less, and those who, if they did not
flat out disagree, at least tried to say that it was more complicated than
that. As I said once last year, saying that eating less is the key to losing
weight is like saying the key to not dying is to keep breathing. It is one
of those truisms that is so central as to be largely useless in day to day
practice. Mostly it misses the real problem, which is not about the eating
itself, but control over the eating.
Indeed, in this group and around other people, people can be divided into
two camps, those who understand the problems of people trying to diet (eat
less) and those who do not understand what the fuss is about. Just do it (or
more correctly, don't do it). The second group, usually people who have
never had a problem with their weight, view it as a simple thing, not worthy
of the anguish so many of us with weight problem talk about.
As i began acquiring the ability (through low carb) to control my eating
more at will, I began developing a theory about the issue that can explain
one group to another. My background work experience is in the medical field
with a subset of AI known as Expert Systems, which are specialized computer
programs that assist in decision. One of the things that fascinates me was
the expert systems utilized by the brain, and the study of what happens to
people when one of these systems goes wrong.
Expert systems in the human brain function just like their computer
counterparts, they focus on only one task, and bend the consciousness of the
person towards that task. There are a host of these systems that have been
identified, and usually one or more of these systems work in opposition to
one another, and we exist in point of equilibrium between competing systems.
The classic example of this are two perception expert systems, the first
that notices things that are different, needing more attention, and the
opposing one that tries to make sense of everything to prevent needless
distractions. If something goes wrong with the second system, the person
will have what is known as blinded sight, where one can see, but cannot
really make sense of anything they see. If the first system fails, (usually
as the result of a stroke) a truly spectacular syndrome known as "false
limb" syndrome can occur. In this syndrome, the victim will not view a limb
(usually paralzed by the stroke) as their own, and claim it is not theirs,
or say it is someone elses. The "make sense of it all" intelligence will not
be held in check by the damaged "hey what is different here?" intelligence
and will spin out of control ideas to account for the paralysis. What is
remarkable about this is that the patient is usually completely rational in
every other sense, can talk intelligently, make other kinds of decisions and
observations, but in this one thing will say something completely off the
wall. "that's my brother's arm" where is your brother? "In cleveland". A
doctor i spoke to one day that had recently seen a case said that it shook
her whole concept about what conscious intelligence really meant. If
something as fundamental as our body self recognition could be warped so out
of control while the rest of our rationality remained intact, she felt that
she had lost her bearings on what human rationality was.
What has this to do with dieting? Well, very clearly there is an important
expert system (or systems) whose main job is to remind us to eat. Given the
time and planning that went into obtaining food for primative man (requiring
preparations hours, days or even a year or more in advance), this system is
fairly involved and must have a significant role in our consciousness. Of
course, this consciousness has way too much to do when food is as readily
available as it is these days. Like the stroke victim, it can warp our
perception and rational thought. I know i have driven home while thinking
very consciously about what I should eat to maintain my diet, only to get
home, and before bed, find that I have violated every single rational
thought i had driving home. Like the stroke victim, what i thought when i
got those triscuits and peanutbutter made perfect sense at the time.
Clearly, some people have stronger eating intellegences than others, or
perhaps some have stronger intellegence systems that keep the eating
intelligence in check. For me, the low carb diet shut my eating intelligence
off, and as carbs were added back, brought it back in a much more manageable
form. As i moved towards a managable diet, I began to see the tricks that
the eating intelligence would play on me. I began creating work arounds and
counter-tricks (removing certain foods from the house slowly drinking a
glass of wine while cooking, etc.) to deal with my eating intelligence.
So those of you who have no problem with over eating (exactly why are you in
this group anyway?) should be a bit more understanding, and those who do,
recognize you are dealing with a very crafty being (yourself) that is next
to impossible to defeat in its unrestrained form, so weakening, and
outwitting it is our best bet.
Bob
200+/160/160.5
maint. since 12/09/2003
year of maintaining a 40+ pound weight loss.
I noticed that the more heated debate in this group mainly came from people
who said it was just a matter of eating less, and those who, if they did not
flat out disagree, at least tried to say that it was more complicated than
that. As I said once last year, saying that eating less is the key to losing
weight is like saying the key to not dying is to keep breathing. It is one
of those truisms that is so central as to be largely useless in day to day
practice. Mostly it misses the real problem, which is not about the eating
itself, but control over the eating.
Indeed, in this group and around other people, people can be divided into
two camps, those who understand the problems of people trying to diet (eat
less) and those who do not understand what the fuss is about. Just do it (or
more correctly, don't do it). The second group, usually people who have
never had a problem with their weight, view it as a simple thing, not worthy
of the anguish so many of us with weight problem talk about.
As i began acquiring the ability (through low carb) to control my eating
more at will, I began developing a theory about the issue that can explain
one group to another. My background work experience is in the medical field
with a subset of AI known as Expert Systems, which are specialized computer
programs that assist in decision. One of the things that fascinates me was
the expert systems utilized by the brain, and the study of what happens to
people when one of these systems goes wrong.
Expert systems in the human brain function just like their computer
counterparts, they focus on only one task, and bend the consciousness of the
person towards that task. There are a host of these systems that have been
identified, and usually one or more of these systems work in opposition to
one another, and we exist in point of equilibrium between competing systems.
The classic example of this are two perception expert systems, the first
that notices things that are different, needing more attention, and the
opposing one that tries to make sense of everything to prevent needless
distractions. If something goes wrong with the second system, the person
will have what is known as blinded sight, where one can see, but cannot
really make sense of anything they see. If the first system fails, (usually
as the result of a stroke) a truly spectacular syndrome known as "false
limb" syndrome can occur. In this syndrome, the victim will not view a limb
(usually paralzed by the stroke) as their own, and claim it is not theirs,
or say it is someone elses. The "make sense of it all" intelligence will not
be held in check by the damaged "hey what is different here?" intelligence
and will spin out of control ideas to account for the paralysis. What is
remarkable about this is that the patient is usually completely rational in
every other sense, can talk intelligently, make other kinds of decisions and
observations, but in this one thing will say something completely off the
wall. "that's my brother's arm" where is your brother? "In cleveland". A
doctor i spoke to one day that had recently seen a case said that it shook
her whole concept about what conscious intelligence really meant. If
something as fundamental as our body self recognition could be warped so out
of control while the rest of our rationality remained intact, she felt that
she had lost her bearings on what human rationality was.
What has this to do with dieting? Well, very clearly there is an important
expert system (or systems) whose main job is to remind us to eat. Given the
time and planning that went into obtaining food for primative man (requiring
preparations hours, days or even a year or more in advance), this system is
fairly involved and must have a significant role in our consciousness. Of
course, this consciousness has way too much to do when food is as readily
available as it is these days. Like the stroke victim, it can warp our
perception and rational thought. I know i have driven home while thinking
very consciously about what I should eat to maintain my diet, only to get
home, and before bed, find that I have violated every single rational
thought i had driving home. Like the stroke victim, what i thought when i
got those triscuits and peanutbutter made perfect sense at the time.
Clearly, some people have stronger eating intellegences than others, or
perhaps some have stronger intellegence systems that keep the eating
intelligence in check. For me, the low carb diet shut my eating intelligence
off, and as carbs were added back, brought it back in a much more manageable
form. As i moved towards a managable diet, I began to see the tricks that
the eating intelligence would play on me. I began creating work arounds and
counter-tricks (removing certain foods from the house slowly drinking a
glass of wine while cooking, etc.) to deal with my eating intelligence.
So those of you who have no problem with over eating (exactly why are you in
this group anyway?) should be a bit more understanding, and those who do,
recognize you are dealing with a very crafty being (yourself) that is next
to impossible to defeat in its unrestrained form, so weakening, and
outwitting it is our best bet.
Bob
200+/160/160.5
maint. since 12/09/2003