Springtime, Frogs and Amen

The air is warming, plants are budding, frogs are jumping, and waistlines are bulging.

Spring is in the air.

Well, shout hallelujah, and pass the diet pills.

Winter's end has left many of us, moi included, with a few extra pounds that moved in uninvited. Unless you call crawling onto the couch, blanket and chocolate in hand with the television on, for the duration of cold weather an open invitation for homeless fat molecules to just come on in.

Honestly, what do the Fat Police expect? The days get darker by design, then the mystical "time" changes, and it's dark fifteen minutes after sun-up! Evolution from the Apes? I don't think so. Cave Bears maybe.

So, how to get rid of them? I guess getting off the couch would be a start. I can do that.

Or, maybe reading another self help/motivational/nutritional guide/your astrological fat sign Diet Book. Hmmm. I can do that and remain on the couch.

Better to get off the couch, grab the book, and jump on the treadmill. That might do it.

(Yawn)

No, no. Must not revert back to standard operating procedures. Must get out of the cave couch! Still that little voice we all hear, at times we least want to, is telling me there is one more thing to be done. Actually, it's a direct quote from all the self improvement books ever written and translated to all known languages. "No exercise regime is complete without a....."

Don't say it! The dreaded "D" word. Diet. Diabolical also comes to mind. And all diets, in any language, say to give up Sugar.

Well, just turn me into a frog and have me jump up Mt. Everest. It's the same thing.
Why not just say hold your breath for two hours? After resuscitation you won't feel like eating for weeks. Problem solved.

I know what you are all thinking (and possibly rolling your eyes about). You are thinking about the M word. Moderation. Hear me. There is no moderation for an addict.

And for those who of you who always, always say, "you could if you really wanted to". Why don't you just pull a Joe Biden and ask the man in the wheel chair to stand up.

Walk a mile in my addiction. Or, let he among you with the leanest BMI cast the first candy bar.

Actually, I am reading a book that I think might hold the key. The guy who wrote it is slim. The book is; Change Your Brain - Change Your Body. (ok, before you Grammar Police start mixing it up with the Fat Police, I know you are supposed to underline book titles, but I can't find an "underline" button.) The author is Dr. Daniel G. Amen, M.D. I swear I did not make up that name. But I'm taking it as a sign all the same.

Anyway, Dr. Amen says that the human brain is 80% water, so we need to drink plenty of water. OK. He also says that it uses 20% to 30% of the calories we take in.

Say what?

My brain is running a marathon right now trying to figure out if I just need to think more.

Think, think, think.....

Sort of like jumping rope. You know, jump, jump, jump. (think, think, think)Burn those calories! That's kind of good news, right? Thinking is something we can all do. Yes, some better than others, but we were not put here to judge. And you don't have to get off the couch to do it!

The good doctor Amen goes on to explain that willpower is like a muscle. (Interesting.) The more it is used, the stronger it becomes. Long-term potentiation (LTP) (I am not making this up) is an important concept to understand. What that means is; when nerve cell connections become strengthened, they become potentiated. Whenever we learn something new, (like potentiation) our brains make new connections. The more we practice this "new" learned information, feeling, whatever, the stronger it, the nerve cell connection, becomes.

I'm getting a little worried here, and Dr. Amen knows why. The nucleus accumbens. "The nucleus accumbens provides the passion and motivation that is one of the main drivers of behavior. Additionally, the brain has emotional memory centers that trigger behavior." Deep limpic system (DLS).


Oh, boy.

He says in his book that "according to addiction specialist Mark Laaser, Ph.D., 'the template in the emotional memory centers underlies many behaviors that get out of control' ". I don't know if all that punctuation is correct or not. The grammar police can just lock me up. My neurotransmitters are getting over loaded, anyway.

He further quotes Dr. Laaser as saying that intense, emotionally pleasurable experiences often lay the "neural tracks for later addictions". Before you jump to conclusions, he is talking about any addiction; food or drugs, etc. Because the first experience gets locked into the brain, and the brain seeks to repeat the experience. The nucleus accumbens, a part of the basal ganglia, is where this emotional memory is stored, so to speak. Speak, that is, if you can pronounce any of this stuff.

Now, remember LTP? That occurs, you may recall, when behavior is repeated, thus strengthening that neural pathway. As the tracks to the basal ganglia get stronger, the pathways to and from the pre-frontal cortex (PFC) can actually get weaker. Don't worry there isn't going to be a test.

This isn't a good thing because, according to Dr. Amen's book, the PFC is where the brain functions for Control are located. He actually calls the PFC the brains "Command and Control" center.

Of course the book goes into great detail about the different parts of the brain. And the different parts to the different parts of the brain. Included are pictures of what he calls SPECT scans of brains. I know you are dying to know, so here is what that stands for: Single photon emission computed tomography. For those of you poo-pooing it, that's just your deep limbic system talking.

SPECT scans highlight trouble spots in the brain.

Not to make light of all the scientific terms, here is my summary. As a child someone gives you cake, or candy. (Whatever) (And unfortunately many young people experiment with drugs) Your child self Likes it. And it could be associated with a pleasant activity, further setting and strengthening the neural track in your brain. This is where the doctor admonishes parents for rewarding children with sweet and sugary treats.

Now a new path to the center of your brain has been pleasantly established. Warm memories and candy. (Sugar/Carbs) (Unfortunately for some, drugs)

And you don't know until it's too late that you have set the stage to struggle with your weight/habit the rest of your life.

Least any of you think I was joking about the "fat police", just look at workplace policies and insurance companies. What you will find are rising insurance premiums for the over weight, and increasing job discrimination. The war on drugs now has competition; the war on fat people. Just as the war on drugs turned into a war on the addict, so has the fight against obesity turned ugly for the over weight, or Food Addict.

You know when they say "it's all in your head", they're right. At least according to this book. Dr. Amen does site scientific research and data as well as his own studies conducted at the Amen Clinics, to back his statements.

So, the next time you think you must have that candy bar/cake/drink/bread/or worse, just remember it's probably your basal ganglia screaming at your pre-frontal cortex.

I'll let y'all know what the view from Mt. Everest is like.


Pammy Jo


PS Dr. Amen is also the best selling author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, and Magnificent Mind At Any Age. I haven't read any of those books, but I do recommend the one I'm reading now and cited in this blog.