Modern city life is full of unhealthy habits that put our health at risk. Eating high-calorie and greasy food at your fingertips, staying up late, constant noise, and long-term excessive stress will all affect our physical health. One of the consequences of this is obesity.
For those living with obesity, weight fluctuations can be the most difficult challenge.
Dr. Xiao Lingzi, a clinician at Taiwan's Good Day Clinic, said that to lose weight, one should be kind to oneself. “You have to know what you need. Get enough nutrition and get enough sleep, find ways to relieve stress. Then you realize what you need is relaxation, not indulgence.”
Common Misconceptions about Food Intake
Shaw said: “Many patients think that they are too good for themselves when they gain weight and body fat from indulgent diets. Eating chips and cookies every day, or drinking sugary boba tea, are bad habits and can cause serious illness. Puts a lot of stress on the body and puts your health at risk.”
Clinicians also mentioned that the second most common mistake patients make is lack of discipline.
“They think that because they skip breakfast, they can feast on dinner. Some will feast on the all-you-can-eat buffet, while others will stay up and binge on Netflix three nights in a row.”
Doctors emphasize that when people indulge, they sabotage and push themselves too hard instead of addressing their true needs.
Work stress can make us fat
A 19-year study by the Dean of Medicine at the University of London found that cumulative work stress was strongly linked to obesity.
The study analyzed the results of a regular questionnaire on job stress among 10,308 respondents aged 35 to 55.
Compared with participants who never experienced stress, those who experienced one, two and three or more times of “excessive stress” were 17 percent, 24 percent and 73 percent more likely to be obese, respectively.
Weight-loss expert Dr. Hsu Jin-Chuan writes on the blog of Lin Heishuo Clinic in Taiwan that excessive stress lowers serotonin in the brain, which can lead to anxiety.
break the cycle
Patients will unconsciously choose high-sugar and high-fat foods to reduce stress, resulting in a rapid rise in blood sugar. As a result, the brain experiences the pleasure caused by dopamine.
However, blood sugar and dopamine concentrations also drop rapidly and affect our constant desire to eat, which can lead to obesity, leading to more stress—a nightmare cycle for those concerned about their weight.
In order to break the vicious cycle of stress, weight gain, and weight gain causing more stress, Xu recommends more positive and healthier ways to relieve stress and allow yourself to calmly enter the weight loss journey.
