Some months, Fat Week hits me way harder than others, though, and I have yet to figure out why. It’d be nice if I could keep it to a minimum. I once drank the seasoned canola oil out of a package of feta cheese (after eating all the cheese, of course) and that’s a low point I’d prefer not to see again.

Human psychology -including neuropsychology- is the least studied component of food intake and body weight. All attention, especially in academia, focuses on physiology. They forget that humans have brains. That body/mind dichotomy. We tend to forget (or fail to acknowledge) that both interact together and both operate within their larger environment. Holistic? Who’d a thunk.

Nice to see you’re still going strong.

Elzi

Works for my dog and the plants, anyway.

I agree with you 100% about the power of speaking the truth. It’s incredibly empowering but also terrifying. But once you do it, you can actually acknowledge the issue and do something about it instead of putting all your energy into feeling shame, guilt, and self-flagellation.

As for the fatty food cravings, maybe it’s due to emotional reasons instead of physiological ones. Fat is protective, and maybe your body’s trying to compensate for vulnerability. I’m dealing with manic depression, and go from sometimes barely eating (too depressed to cook) to scarfing down cookies (equating that with love and comfort). There are some excellent sociology papers about the emotional aspects of eating (eg. Anorexia as a means of gaining control. Binge eating as a response to poverty.) Something will probably go “ding” inside when you hit on the right explanation for you… Good luck!

Ok, now to the comment about this story: I LOVE that you got to speak at a panel like that. I’m happy for you that you had your cathartic moment, and I feel inspired to be more honest and be myself more with people that I trust. AND I totally can relate the message you were telling the women- get OUT if you can’t be yourself. ITs not you. Not being treated well is the worst.

As far as the fat cravings go, I say TRUST YOUR BODY. Check out thintuition.com and a book by the same guy called The Overfed Head. It is AMAZING. I love it.

Yay, Krista!

I was searching for info about women and clubbells. That’s how I got here and its good to see you again. I’m going to add you to my RSS feed.

Academia is just one short letter away from Macademia. (And, Goddess knows it’s full of nuts.)

Occam’s razor, and all.

Pax et bonum.

What I notice about these cravings is that they are, by definition, unrealistic. When I was fruit-deprived and having daydreams about mangoes, I thought I could eat 5 whole mangoes at a sitting. Now, had I actually been given a mango at that point, I doubt I could even eat one. I would probably stop after that one.

I know that it’s not always easy to figure out just what is a real signal from one’s body and what isn’t; I mostly tell by intensity. When I gave up bread (mostly), I missed it a little, but not terribly much. There wasn’t this visceral longing for it. I never had dreams about it. OTOH, when I gave up meat, I was thinking about it all the time; it never went away.

I have a cousin who ate a really restricted diet (due to allergies) and she would get cravings for fat – her fat of choice was fresh cream. As in go to the farmer, get a liter of milk and drink the cream off the top! Whipping cream would work in a pinch if the farmer was out of milk.

Hope you find a workable solution!