by Barbara Berkeley, MD
Our American preoccupation with weight loss is centered around pounds lost. We focus solely on the scale, an instrument which has the ability to reward or torture us. It is our inquisitor, our accuser and sometimes, the very measure of how we view ourselves as human beings. This approach to dieting fails because of its superficiality. What is weight loss? Why are we working at it? What do we really seek? These are questions that get lost in the race to "melt away" the fat as quickly as possible.
What is a weight loss diet? It is actually a completely unnatural act. For the vast majority of human history, it would have been unheard of to force the body to lose weight. Why would hunter-gatherers want to be thinner? Any additional pounds would have conferred a survival advantage, a hedge against less plentiful days. Under what circumstances would the body ever lose weight? There are really just two: extreme illness or a significant, persistent shortage of food. When we diet, we are essentially creating a fiction for the body. We have to make it believe that there is no food in the outside world. If we do that consistently enough, our body will look to its own fat stores for fuel. If we are inconsistent, the body will figure out that there's enough food to survive. It will make the necessary adjustments to live on less without burning its own fat.
Why are we working at weight loss? Most people would tell you that they are doing it to become healthier. But losing pounds does not make us healthier unless we are doing something else at the same time. We will only become healthier if, simultaneous to weight loss,we are reconstructing the body that is emerging underneath. Michaelangelo once described the process of sculpting as setting the sculpture free from the marble. We should look at weight loss the same way. We spend too much time worrying about how we are chipping away with the chisel and too little on what sculpture is coming out of the stone. We expect to be transformed by weight loss but find ourselves disappointed at the end. That's because we looked for transformation in the wrong place. The process of losing weight can celebrate the loss of old, unwanted fatty tissue, but it should primarily be a time for reconstruction.
Some old saws are so familiar that they cease to have meaning. "You are what you eat" is one of these, but we really should re-examine this little dictum because it is so incredibly, indelibly true. Our cells are composed of the raw materials we choose to ingest. You are, also, what you breathe, what you are exposed to, what you think and what you feel. Until very recently, it wasn't necessary to take personal control of these elements. We lived in far less polluted conditions with a reliably safe food supply. The conditions of life forced us to be more active and food was not as cheap or as addictively made. Things have changed. Today we live in the food equivalent of the Gulf of Mexico. Our food environment is toxic and is responsible for widespread illness and unnecessary death. Like the pelicans of the Gulf, we are unaware that the gunk around us is harmful. In fact, we've been assured that it isn't. It is not until our bodies are completely immersed that we realize, too late, how much trouble we are in.
What do we want from weight loss? Not to trim the excess only to find the same statue underneath. Ending up with a "new you" is not about the pounds of fat that you shed. It's about the vision you've created for the sculpture you want to reveal. This new artwork begins to take form on the day you resolve that all new cells will start with high quality foods. The sculpture proceeds as you decide to explore an active life, to sleep enough, to find a peaceful island in each day. You wield the chisel. You make the decisions. If the creation which emerges at the end of this process is something new and wonderful, the real chance of making a permanent commitment to life change will also come to life.