Over the years we have fielded many questions about non-hormonal birth control. Today we will address this issue in a special post by Erin Handley, our new Director of Operations. Erin’s experience in reproductive health includes outreach and education with Planned Parenthood, teaching an undergraduate college course in Human Sexuality, and evaluation of a contraceptive choices tool kit for her master’s thesis. Additionally, she is co-author on several reproductive health research articles accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

You Have Options

If we say “birth control” what pops into your head? (Men, you might be inclined to stop reading right now, but real men read articles about birth control…just sayin’.)

Do you automatically conjure up an image of a little pink plastic compact filled with a circle of tiny pop-out pills? Or maybe a monthly shot, a flesh-colored patch, or clear flexible ring comes to mind. Most likely your notion of birth control includes some sort of hormone that, when in contact with the systems of your body, magically allows you to manage how many children you conceive and when.

But how many of you specifically think about the non-hormonal options that are out there? Did you even know that those existed, how they’re used, or if they’re even effective?

Coitus Interruptus

Let us stop right here – because we want to make something very clear from the get-go. This is NOT an anti-hormonal-birth-control rant. The following information should not be used to argue that non-hormonal birth control is better for everyone than hormonal birth control. If you take one thing away from this post, it should be that there is not one perfect birth control method that meets the needs, wants, personality, physical make-up, expectations, and goals of all people. Why the heck do you think there are SO MANY options out there anyway?

No, the purpose of the information presented here is exactly the opposite. We want you to realize that you do have options. Because if you’re not happy with your birth control method then you’re likely to stop using it, or use it sporadically or ineffectively. And if you stop using your birth control effectively and you’re still having sex, then you’re likely to get pregnant. And if you get pregnant when you’re not ready for it, then it’s within reason that you’ll have a whole lot of other things to worry about than what kind of birth control method to use. And we care about your WHOLE health here at Whole9 – including the health of your potentially pregnant body and your future beef-butter-and-kale-eating babies.

Family Planning

So, let’s say, hypothetically, that you are fully aware of all of the hormonal birth control options out there. Maybe you’re even using one right now. (They’re the most popular and most advertised contraceptive methods, so that would make sense.) But perhaps you’re in the market for something that doesn’t include the hormones estrogen or progestin. Maybe you are trying to eliminate hormones from your food and life, maybe you don’t like how the hormones make you feel, maybe you’re not good at taking a pill every day, or maybe you’ve just been using the same method for so dang long you think that trying something new might benefit you in unknown ways.

Regardless, now you’re wondering, “What are my next steps?”

Well, first – and likely most important – DO NOT stop using your current method of birth control. Prematurely stopping your contraception before you are 100% ready to switch can leave you vulnerable to an unplanned pregnancy. I can not tell you how many times I would see girls and women come in to the clinic where I worked asking for a pregnancy test merely a month or so after changing their method. Different hormonal birth control options take different amounts of time to leave your system. How quickly or slowly this happens also depends on your body type and your genetics. So, please, be mindful of the gap.

Next, peruse the table below. We have listed the non-hormonal, non-surgical birth control options currently available in the U.S., how they are used, and their effectiveness. Maybe you’ll see one you’re interested in. Research it more. Ask your health care provider about it. Think about how much time you spend researching the quality, source, and effects of the food you eat – and apply that same verve to your contraception.

Lastly, make a decision – but know that it does not have to be final. Just like with your Whole30 program, you may need to black box your birth control options. Only you can know what method is best for YOU. Just because your best friend LOVES the copper IUD does not mean it is going to be your end-all-be-all. The only way to know is to research it, try it, give it a few months or so, and then if it’s not for you, make a switch and try something new.

Your Non-Hormonal Birth Control Options

Remember, correctly using a birth control method that fits your needs can be as important to your health as eating real food. Educate yourself and be responsible for your own well-being… isn’t that why you stopped by the Whole9 in the first place?

We’ve compiled the non-hormonal, non-surgical birth control options available in the U.S. into this comparative table. We’ve also given you some additional resources at the end, to help you review which options may be appropriate for you. 

We encourage you to print this table and take it to your health care provider’s office, to help guide productive discussion if and when you are ready to pursue a non-hormonal birth control method.

Postscript: It’s Plan B, Not Plan A

In the case of an emergency, it’s nice to have back up. No method (except true abstinence) is failsafe. Condoms occasionally break, you may forget to take your pill one morning, or you find you’ve miscounted your ovulation cycle… in instances like these, you have one more option.

You may have heard of emergency contraception before - commonly known as “the morning-after pill” or PlanB – which is a dose of hormones that can be taken up to 5 days after unprotected sex. What most people don’t know is that there is also a non-hormonal emergency contraceptive option. The ParaGard copper-t IUD can be inserted into the uterus 5 days or 120 hours after unprotected sex. This method of emergency contraception may be on the expensive side, but it can be up to 99.9% effective.

Your questions, thoughts, or sharing of your own experiences are always welcome in comments.

Best in health,
Whole9 (Dallas, Melissa, Erin, and Robin.)

 “I can resist everything except temptation.” –Oscar Wilde

Willpower (or “self-control”) is what people use to restrain their desires and impulses. More precisely, Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, authors of Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, define willpower as “the capacity to override one response (and substitute another).”

You may think of willpower as an extraordinary force to be summoned to deal with emergencies, but studies show that desires – specifically, those you are trying to resist – are often the norm, not the exception. When Dr. Baumeister monitored a group of more than 200 men and women in Germany, he was surprised to find that people spent between 3-4 hours per day resisting desires, the most common of which were urges to eat, drink and sleep.

Lesson: Much of the average day is spent trying to control one’s wants and needs.

Building on our last post on habits, we’ll use what researchers know about temptation and willpower to help us identify strategies to control our unhealthy food habits – most specifically relating to (a) resisting the call of sugar and sweets, and (b) resisting the call of the pantry or freezer after dinner.

How Rich Is Your Willpower Bank?

According to Baumeister and Tierney, your willpower “bank” is limited, and begins to deplete after just a few minutes of exerting self-control.  A 2010 meta-analysis confirmed the idea that willpower is an exhaustible resource, and that if it is used up, your ability to self-control is impaired. In addition, many researchers have observed that self-control tends to break down late in the day, especially if you’ve been under stress – and consumption of alcohol makes things even worse.

An important fact: all self-control tasks draw on the same reserve of willpower. Holding back a biting retort, saying “no thank you” to your co-worker’s cookies, forcing yourself to be calm when your kids are deliberately disobeying, “holding it” until you find a cleaner bathroom, or resisting the urge to check Facebook before diving into your work project all tap into your willpower reserve – and leave you with less willpower to handle the next challenge.

Lesson: If you encounter too many temptations during the day (which depletes your willpower “bank”), your ability to resist raiding the pantry at night is compromised*.

*This is further compounded by hormonal dysregulation, specifically cortisol and leptin.

The good news, however, is that it you can actively work on strengthening your willpower. Baumeister says to think of willpower like a muscle; the more you use it, the more it becomes fatigued – but it can also be strengthened over the long term through “exercise.”

Three Tales of Willpower

So how do we apply these concepts to our own bad habits – specifically, those related to food? Let’s see what we can learn from kids, marshmallows, Facebook and goal setting.

One group of researchers studied how four-year-old children learned to resist immediate gratification. They would bring the children one at a time into a room, show them a marshmallow, and offer them a deal before leaving them alone in the room. The children could eat the marshmallow whenever they wanted, but if they held off until the experimenter returned, they would get a second marshmallow to eat along with it.  Some children gobbled the marshmallow right away; others tried resisting but couldn’t hold out; but some managed to resist the whole 15 minutes for the bigger reward.

Lesson: The creative kids who discovered techniques* to avoid temptation (and succeeded) strengthened their willpower muscles.

*We outline their genius strategies for you below.

Let’s look at another experiment. In the same German study reference above, researchers identified how successful participants were in resisting each of their urges. How successful were they?

Not very.

They reported being able to resist only 2 out of every 5 desires related to temptations like eating, drinking, sleeping, and sex. In particular, media-related desires (resisting the urge to watch TV, surf the web, check email, or jump on a social network) and work-related desires (resisting the urge to do anything but work) were particularly hard to resist, with a higher-than-average failure rate.

Lesson: Resisting all of these modern day temptations – and failing almost half the time – may consume a considerable portion of your willpower throughout your day.

Finally, one last research project (this time, from Baumeister’s Social Psychology and Human Nature) brings us to the concept of “goal shielding.” Everyone has multiple goals they are working on at any given time. Did you make a long list of New Year’s Resolutions? If so, this is about to sound familiar.

Baumeister argues these different goals compete inside your mind for time and attention. A process called “goal shielding” happens automatically, as a way to preserve your efforts towards the goal you are working on at any given time. The more committed you are to this goal, the more the mind shields you from considering other goals. Which means setting multiple goals of equal “importance” in your mind, and attempting to work on them all at once, pretty much guarantees that none will be accomplished effectively. Which will probably make you feel quite discouraged, and will tempt you to give up on your goal(s) altogether.

Lesson: As willpower is also depleted during times when you feel discouraged and want to quit, taking on too many goals at once is a recipe for willpower failure.

Putting The Willpower Pieces Together

What do these seemingly unrelated concepts mean for our efforts to improve the one bad habit we identified two weeks ago? Allow us to pull this all together for you, in reverse order.

1. We asked you to set one goal for a reason. If you’re currently working on fixing 7 bad habits at once, stop immediately, choose your top priority, and let the rest go until another day.
2. Creating a scenario in which you are exposed to the least amount of other temptations sets you up to have stronger willpower when it comes to resisting your one bad habit.
3. There are proven techniques to help you fight the craving for your one bad habit, even when your willpower is weak. (If four-year-olds can resist marshmallows, so can you.)

Two weeks ago, we asked you to identify some of the cues that precede your craving. We hope that exercise has helped you to identify some of the circumstances around your habits. (Awareness is golden here, people.) This week, we’ll ask you to work on strengthening your willpower, so you can use these exercises and the cues you’ve already identified to be better prepared to resist temptation.

So, what’s our action plan?

A wide variety of acts tap into the same willpower “bank.” Media-related desires are harder to resist than other forms of temptation. So, reduce your temptations.

• Deliberately go out of your way to avoid tempting foods or beverages. If you still have that crap in your house, get rid of it. Go throw it out right now. We’ll wait.
• Avoid co-workers who are junk food pushers, friends who attempt to sabotage your healthy food habits, and places where you know you’ll be tempted. (Heading to the bar after work, when you’re tired, cranky and hungry, may be a bad idea. Just sayin’.)
• Knowing that media-related temptations are even harder to resist than others (and sap tons of your willpower “bank” throughout the day), unplug as much as you can. Don’t pull the Facebook window up. Put your phone on airplane mode. Tell your email program to stop binging at you every 30 seconds. The same willpower you use to resist the call of Twitter is the same stuff that you need to stay out of the cookie jar at 9 PM, so conserve it as if it were a precious resource. Because it is.

If you can accomplish this, your willpower stores will be higher when cues for your One Bad Habit pop up – and you’ll be more ready to resist. But just for good measure, let’s throw in one more tool. Remember the marshmallows? We’re talking about distraction. That’s right, the four-year-olds in the marshmallow study avoided the temptation by removing or obscuring the treat, placing it out of sight and pretending like it wasn’t there. (Some actually covered their eyes until the researchers returned. Brilliant in it’s simplicity, no?)

When those cravings come up, do what the 4-year-olds did: distract yourself until the craving passes.

• Physically remove or obscuring the temptation in question, placing it out of sight or ignoring it. If you can’t remove the temptation, physically remove yourself from the temptation.
• Make a list of five distraction techniques you can use the next time your craving hits. Really, make a list. Keep it handy. When your cue(s) pop up, refer to your list, and then do one of those things.
• Your list might include: going for a 5 minute walk, calling a friend, reading 10 pages in your book, writing a thank you card, filing your nails, eating something healthy, chatting with a co-worker, cleaning something, organizing something, or planning tonight’s dinner.

Got it? We use the cues we learned from our two-week experiment to help us predict when our One Bad Habit is going to pop up. We arrange our environment so we’re tapping into our willpower “bank” as little as possible throughout the course of the day. And then, when the cravings to give into our One Bad Habit do pop up – we pretend they’re marshmallows, and we distract until the craving passes.

The good news is that according to a variety of studies on drug, cigarette and alcohol addiction, the average craving lasts only 3-5 minutes.

We can keep ourselves busy for that long, can’t we?

What’s Next?

What’s next for you is that you practice this stuff, in an effort to continue to rid yourself to your One Bad Habit. What’s next for us is more writing and researching. The next article in our habit series is coming soon – we’ll identify the back end of your One Bad Habit (the reward you get from acting on that behavior). The key to finding a new routine to satisfy that reward is knowing that sometimes, what you think you want and what you actually get are two different things.

To read other posts in our Coming Clean series, related to addiction, eating disorders and food-related compulsions, click here.

References

Baumeister Roy F, Tierney John. “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.”  New York: Pengiun Press, 2011

Hagger, M.S., Wood, C., Stiff, C.,  Chatzisarantis, N.L.D. (2010). Ego depletion and the strength model of self-control: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 136:495–525

Hofmann, W., Baumeister, R.F., Foerster, G. Vohs, K.D. (in press). Seven thousand desires: Desire, conflict, and control in everyday life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Mischel, W., Baker, N. (1975). Cognitive appraisals and transformations in delay behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(2):254-261

Baumeister, R. F. “Self-Control: The Moral Muscle.” The Psychologist, thepsychologist.org.uk. February 2012.

Baumeister Roy F, Bushman Brad J. “Social Psychology and Human Nature.” Independence: Wadsworth, 2010.

Last month on the Whole30 page, our most famous tough-love phrase was taken to task by two Whole30 participants. Today, we’d like to address their concerns, and share our thoughts on taking on the Whole30 while battling an eating disorder or food addiction.

 The Quote

 “It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your ‘struggles’.”

This is by far the most famous line of the Whole30, often cited as the main motivator for getting folks on board. But for two Whole30 participants, this line very much rubbed them the wrong way.

From HillyRu: “Actually, you could not be more wrong. Especially if you understood the complexities of those of us who battle an eating disorder every day. If you look around and notice those with weight problems and consider what the food industry has done to mess with our minds, you might have a little more compassion. You’d think it wouldn’t be that hard to try something new for 30 days, but when sugar cravings come on, I can assure you they’re every bit as ridiculously real as a craving for heroin or cocaine or tobacco.”

From Casey: “To a point, I agree with HilaryRu. I’ve quit meth before, but I’ve also had an eating disorder. Quitting meth took four weeks of withdrawals, including a stroke. Recovering from an eating disorder took many more months and was much harder, even though I didn’t have the extreme physical symptoms. Saying “this isn’t hard” is supposed to be meant as tough love, and for some who don’t have true food addictions, it works. But I also see how to some, it is like telling the alcoholic that quitting isn’t hard – that would not work to motivate.”

The Intention

First, we’d like to point out that the Whole30 was not designed to help those recover from eating disorders or food addictions. Despite the fact that many have reported it’s been the only program that has helped them kick their addictions and disorders, we designed the Whole30 language to reach and appeal to a broad population. We were targeting everyday folks (athletes to office workers, teenagers to grandmothers), and that population has responded amazingly well to our tough love approach. In general, participants appear to have taken the message as intended – a well-meaning kick in the pants to put our program into perspective, stop complaining, stop making excuses, and start owning the changes you want to make in your life.

However, this language is not right for everyone. We understand why those of you who are battling eating disorders or food addictions would bristle at the idea that it’s really just that easy. We’re sorry if the program’s language offended you, or made you feel even worse about an already difficult and painful situation. But we didn’t write this program specifically for you. If we did, we’d have taken a much different approach.

Everybody Eats

For those of you with disordered eating histories, this is hard. In fact, it’s even harder for you than it was for Melissa or Casey to kick their drug habits. You know why?

Because we can’t go into 7-11 and buy heroin. We don’t see television commercials of happy families laughing, having fun and snorting lines. We don’t have to use drugs three times a day in a moderate fashion just to survive. But everybody eats.

So for you, the anorexic, bulimic, binge-eater, sugar or carb-addict, this is hard. We’re asking you to do what no alcohol or drug rehab center would ever think to ask their addicts to do – to use in moderation. And yet, you have no choice. You must find a way to come to terms with your drug of choice – hunger, fullness, control, sugar – and make peace. And none of that is easy.

Your Language

So today, for you, we re-write the tough-love portion of the Whole30, in the hopes that this language will resonate, and encourage at least one of you to give our program a try.

This will be hard. You will not be perfect. Don’t even try to be perfect. No one is judging, no one is keeping score, and there are no penalties for acknowledging that you are struggling. Be kind to yourself, be patient with yourself, and remember that it’s not 30 days – it’s just one day. One meal. One bite. Do this one bite at a time, if you have to, because it’s for the most important and worthwhile cause on earth –  you.

Don’t even consider the possibility of “failure.” Right now, you aren’t sure you even want to try to do this program, because you’re not sure if you can succeed. And you would rather not try at all than suffer yet another disappointment – actually trying, allowing yourself to be hopeful, and then failing yet again. But this is not a pass/fail endeavor. This is not a test. It’s just a framework for change. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself, and just try it, for a month, a day, a meal. And if you need to relax the “rules” to get yourself there, do that.

You never, ever, ever HAVE to do something just because we told you to. You know your context better than we do, so if scrutinizing every single label is going to make you obsessive, then don’t. If eating the same healthy foods every day makes things easier, do it. If writing down your meals gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment, keep a journal. But the one rule you must stick to – do not weigh yourself. What the scale says is not important right now. This is not about weight loss, this is about health, sanity, grace. Do not allow the scale to determine your self-worth during this time period. You deserve better.

This does require a bit of effort. Treat this program like you would any rehab program for addiction. We highly recommend seeking professional counseling during this time period; we are not doctors or addiction counselors, and our program was not designed by one of those professionals. Joining a community, whether it’s ours or one in your local town or school, can help, too. And you’ll have to pay attention to other areas of your life – devote time and energy to sleep, stress management, and regular exercise or movement, to better support your efforts to recover and rebuild. Improved health and recovery doesn’t happen overnight – but starting requires just one step forward. Take that step here, today, now.

Share Kind Words

Have you used the Whole30 to help you recover from an eating disorder or food addiction? Are you in the middle of an unhealthy cycle right now, and are looking for a support system to help you through your Whole30? Post to comments, share your words, offer encouragement. We’ll help as much as we can, whether you require tough-love or not.

For other posts in our “Coming Clean” series on addiction, eating disorders and changing your habits, click here.

Today’s post comes as a result of the habit research we’ve been doing for It Starts With Food, and a plea for help on our Whole30 Facebook page. Tamra, a valued and longstanding member of our Whole30 community, wrote: “I am having such a hard time riding my own bike! I keep falling off onto chocolate bars or landing face-first in ice cream – gross ice cream that gave me a headache! I’m okay when I’ve got my training wheels, Dallas and Melissa (i.e. the Whole30 rules), but not okay when the wheels are off. This is not a new problem – I’ve followed the Whole9 Guide to Nutritional Off-Roading, but I have some sort of override going on… help!”

While the Whole30 is the best tool for breaking persistent cravings and reestablishing a healthy relationship with food, the habits behind your cravings and behavior are stubborn, and not easily overwritten. For some, one trip through the Whole30 is enough to change those patterns – for others, changing habits requires far more persistence, attention and effort. And understanding what’s behind a habit is the first step.

Your Habits, In Three Steps

hab·it

noun \ˈha-bət\

a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance; an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.

According to The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg, habits are learned behaviors performed automatically. Once a habit is formed, the brain stops fully participating in decision-making, leading to automatically unfolding patterns.

Duhigg reports that there is a simple three-part loop at the core of every habit: the cue, the routine, and the reward.

• Cue: The trigger for your behavior –environmental, emotional and situational factors.
• Routine: The series of physical, mental or emotional actions you undertake when you are triggered by that cue.
• Reward: The benefit(s) you experience as the result of that action.

Today, we’re going to focus on the cue.

Awareness – Identifying the Cue

Tamra seems unable to stop herself from repeating her food-related habits, despite the fact that she doesn’t want to keep falling face-first into ice cream. Clearly, there are cues in Tamra’s environment and psychological status that continue to prompt the routine (eat less healthy food) to provide the desired reward.

Sometimes, cues are easy to identify and change. For example, if every time you drive home from work, you pass an In-and-Out burger and crave a double-double animal style, well, that cue is pretty easy to spot. See the fast food sign, crave a burger. Easy to identify, and ever easier to change – drive home via different route! However, most cues are far more subtle than that, making them impossible to spot, and impossible to target for change. Awareness is your money-maker here, but that often requires some formal detective work and structure.

The key to identifying your cues lies in a simple notebook. Journaling your behavior is the fastest way to spot hidden trends – if you know what you’re looking for. (Simply writing, “Somehow, I managed to eat four cookies and a Snickers bar today” isn’t super helpful in preventing future routines.)

Duhigg explains that almost all habitual cues fit into one of five categories:

• Location (Where are you?)
• Time (What time is it?)
• Emotional state (What are you feeling in this moment?)
• Other people (Who else is around?)
• Immediately preceding action (What what were you doing prior to the undesired behavior?)

Your Habit-Changing Plan

The next time the urge hits to eat the cookie or scoop out some ice cream, take a minute to jot down your five things. It doesn’t matter whether you actually succumb to the cue or not – the point is to identify the circumstances that preceded your unwanted routine. Do this for at least one week, religiously. The larger your data set, the easier it will be to spot trends, so if your cravings are sporadic, you may need to continue for a bit longer. Then, analyze your results.

Do you only crave at home, in the evening? Are you always angry or stressed when the cravings hit? Are you always alone, or does it only happen when your spouse is eating too? Does the act of putting the kids to bed trigger the need for a “treat?” Tease out the hidden trends, because one or more of those factors are what is driving your undesired routine. Once you’ve identified your cues, it’s far easier to create a plan to change your routines – and still achieve the same desired reward.

Have you been struggling with riding your own bike after your Whole30? It’s time for some homework. First, identify one (just one, you overachievers) habit that you want to break in the coming month. (Cop to said habit in comments, because we’re pretty sure you’re not alone.) Two, diligently follow the outlined cue awareness plan for at least one week.

In the meantime, we’ll get to work on a post explaining how to identify the rewards that come from your routines – a critical factor in changing your habits, and changing your life. (And yes, at some point, we’ll discuss how to actually change the unwanted routine – and how to create a new, healthy habit that sticks! One thing at a time, people.)

For more reading on this subject, pick up The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, and Dr. Emily Deans Context and the Stages of Change.

We work hard to present our Whole30 program as a tool for creating optimal health, and not a weight-loss quick fix.  We have strict rules about weighing yourself during your program (you can’t) and focusing on weight loss as a measure of Whole30 success (you shouldn’t). But despite all our efforts, many people still find it impossible to take their eyes off the scale.  So today, we’ll present five reasons to kick your scale to the curb – not just during your Whole30, but for good.

1. Scale weight fluctuates wildly.

It’s good to measure things to track progress – and if you weighed yourself monthly, that might help you spot a trend in your body weight (gaining, losing or maintaining). But over the course of a day (or a few hours!) your weight can fluctuate by as many as five pounds – sometimes more. Food and beverage intake, time of day, dietary choices and activity levels all factor into that number on the dial. (And we won’t even mention clothes, because we’re pretty sure most of you are obsessive enough to weigh yourself naked.) You can lose two pounds just by going to the bathroom – and gain it right back by eating a big meal.

Those fluctuations are not representative of body fat lost or gained. But seeing a number jump up by four pounds sure does a mental number on you, doesn’t it? Weighing yourself daily tells you nothing about your big-picture trend, and only serves to reinforce the next four points.

2. Scale weight says nothing of health.

That number on a scale says nothing about whether you’re moving in the right direction with your health. You want to get skinny? We can make you skinny. Cut your daily calories in half and spend two hours a day doing low-intensity cardio. That’ll make you skinny… for about a month. Until your willpower runs out (as those behaviors aren’t at all sustainable), and your messed-up metabolism fights back. At which point, you gain all the weight back and then some. But hey, for a few weeks, you were skinny!

Is gaining or losing five pounds moving you in the direction of better health? It’s impossible to say, because that number tells you very little about what’s going on with your relationship with food, hormones, digestive health or inflammatory status. And those are the factors that impact your health far more directly than body weight.

3. The scale blinds you to real results.

By focusing so much of your attention on that number in the scale, you effectively miss out on observing the other, more significant, results of your efforts. You’re sleeping better, have more energy, are less moody or depressed. Your cravings have dissipated, you recover faster from exercise, your symptoms or medical condition have greatly improved. And yet, your program is a “failure,” because the number on the scale hasn’t moved enough for your liking?

Re-read point #2, and tell us which factors speak more to your health – the scale weight, or everything else? Those results could be motivating you to continue with your new eating habits – but until you get your head out of the scale, you’ll never be able to see the health progress you’ve actually been making.

4. The scale keeps you stuck on on food.

You associate that number on the scale with one major factor – food.  Maybe exercise factors in too – after all, if you ate less (or differently) and exercised more (or differently), that number would start to move. Wouldn’t it? Not so fast. There are other health factors at play here – sleep, recovery from activity, psychological stress and health history – all of which play a major role in body composition. But no one looks at the scale and thinks, “Darn it – I need to get more sleep.”

Now would be a good time to revisit the Whole9 Health Equation. If you didn’t experience the Whole30 results you were hoping to see, perhaps it’s time to look at some other factors. All of our Health Equation variables factor into weight loss and body composition – but none of them are reflected in the number on the scale.

5. The scale maintains control of your self-esteem.

This is perhaps the most important reason of all to break up with your scale. It’s psychologically unhealthy to allow a number – any number – to determine your worth, your value or your self-image. And yet, that’s exactly what happens to people who are overly invested in their scale. It’s tragic that your daily weigh-in determines whether you have a good day or  bad day, or whether or not you feel good about yourself. The scale results can take you from confident to self-loathing in under 5 seconds, but what the scale is telling you is not real.

If this is your scenario, ditching the scale is the only way to get back to a healthy sense of self-worth. Let your actions, your intentions, your efforts and your grace influence how you feel about yourself. A $20 hunk of plastic from Target should not be the determining factor in your self-esteem.

Dear Scale, It’s Not Me, It’s You.

If you’ve got an unhealthy relationship with the scale, the only way to get back to a good place is to ditch it altogether. Donate it to Goodwill, recycle it or take it out back and give it a proper beat-down, Office Space-style. Because the sooner you ditch the idea that the scale is your ultimate measure of success, the healthier and happier you’ll be.

Need some inspiration from someone who is using the Whole30 to become wholly healthy? Check out Sarah K’s awesome post. (Really – read it. It’s short, and good.)

Have you successfully broken up with your scale, or are you still stuck in a codependent relationship? Drop your own success story or “Dear Scale” letters to comments.

by Melissa Hartwig

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves.” -Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Today’s post was both terrifying to write, and a gigantic relief.  I’ve been wanting to talk about some of my personal experiences and history on the blog for years now, but was afraid to be judged. Afraid that my past would hurt my credibility. Afraid that people would look at me differently.

But I’ve swallowed my fear, and Dallas and I are both ready to handle any repercussions, because we both think this is an important step for me to take.  So here goes…  You know that now-famous line in the Whole30 that says, “Quitting heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard?”  I know this to be true firsthand.

My name is Melissa, and I am an addict.

In 2012, I will have been clean for 12 years.  I spent six years in my early 20’s hustling for every powder, pill and chemical substance I could get my hands on.  I lied. I stole. I was fired from my job. I broke family members’ hearts several times a week. I was a terrible person, because when you are an addict, being a terrible person is your full-time job.

I’ve discovered that it’s hard for most people to reconcile this person (Addict Melissa) with the person you know today (Whole9 Melissa).  It’s even hard for Dallas, who knows all my secrets, but did not know me back then.  (For that, I am eternally grateful.) It’s okay if you find it hard to believe, or think perhaps I am exaggerating.  I’ll take that as a compliment.  I have come a very long way.

The day I got out of rehab was the day I first set foot in a gym.  For a while, exercise was my new addiction, because trading one for another is all too easy.  Eventually, I settled into a healthy, reasonable training routine.  I quit smoking.  I started eating better.  The rest is history.

Why am I sharing this with you now?  A few reasons.  First, I’ve never tried to keep it a secret.  When appropriate, I’ve always been open with gym owners, workshop attendees and consulting clients about my addiction and recovery.  At some point, I figured my history might make its way to the public eye, and I didn’t want it to come from someone else. I am not ashamed of my past, nor have I ever tried to cover this up.

But more importantly, I’ve learned (and taught myself) a lot about addiction and recovery in the last 12 years.  Thanks to my rehabilitation center and years of addiction counseling, I discovered and created recovery and maintenance strategies that worked very well. I also tried more than a few that backfired.

Why does this matter?

Because theoretically, food addiction isn’t that different from drug addiction.

I’m not saying it’s the same, because technically, it’s not.  According to the The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-IV, addiction is classified by three factors:

1. Desire, even in the face of negative consequences
2. Tolerance to the effect of the substance
3. Withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped

Food – particularly sugar – clearly satisfies the first two conditions.  The jury is still out as to the third, and I’m simply not comfortable putting sugar or bread in the same category as heroin.

But the term is also applied to behaviors that are not substance-related, such as shopping, gambling or overeating. In this common usage, “addiction” describes a recurring compulsion to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences (as deemed by the user themselves) to their individual health, mental state, or social life.

We will use the term “addiction” in this context going forward, because we think it’s a fair description.  We suspect that those of you who consider your behaviors around food “compulsive,” whose use food (or lack of food) as a coping mechanism, who are locked in an endless cycle of insatiable desire and crippling self-hatred, would agree.

So while our addictions may not be exactly the same, the recovery strategies are, in my opinion, strikingly similar. Conceptually, hopefully, the things I’ve learned in the last 12 years would prove useful to those of you who struggle with giving up certain foods; who use healthy programs like “Paleo” or “CrossFit” to mask their disordered behaviors; who eat compulsively, despite the negative consequences to your body, your self-esteem and your relationships.

But it would be hard for me to draw those parallels in any credible fashion without first sharing my history with you.

If I heard it once, I heard it a hundred times in rehab – “It takes one to know one.”  When I was struggling to get clean, the best advice came from other addicts. Unless you’ve been there, you really just don’t know.  So I wasn’t about to start sharing my “recovery” strategies with you without letting you know that yes, I’ve been there too.

I know your struggle. I know the cycle of relentless hunger, fleeting satisfaction and long-term guilt, shame and remorse. I know what it’s like to disgust yourself with your behaviors, but to be stuck in this pattern because at this point, you simply cannot stop.  I know what it’s like to use the very behaviors that caused you pain to numb that pain.  I know how much it hurts, and I know how heavy a burden you carry.

Please, take note: I’m not a psychologist, an addiction specialist, or a social worker.  I’m just an addict who got clean – and who has managed to stay clean for the last 12 years without relapsing. And I am grateful on a daily basis for the support, guidance and teachings of every single person who has helped me get to and stay in this place.

So I’ll be writing a series of posts – strategies and concepts I learned while getting (and staying) clean – that you may find helpful in changing your own relationship with food.  

As I have a close and intimate relationship with addiction, I sincerely hope the lessons I’ve learned will prove useful to those of you currently struggling with your own food-related issues.  You don’t have to be a sugar or carb “addict” to struggle with cravings, so I hope those of you who simply have a hard time saying no from time to time can develop strategies from these lessons, too.

If you are struggling with true food addiction, I encourage you first and foremost to seek professional help.  Nothing I could tell you will prove as valuable as the guidance of a trained mental health counselor or experienced support group, and ultimately those are the resources that will help you maintain your new habits long-term.  But perhaps as you work hard with your chosen professional to overcome your own addictions, some of the techniques I learned and developed along the way will prove just as helpful to you as they were to me.

So there you have it.  I’m the same person I was yesterday, you just know a little more about me.  If this makes me less credible in your eyes, Dallas and I are both prepared to handle the fallout.  But every saint has a past, and every sinner a future – and without my past, I’d never be where I am today.

And I am very, very blessed to be exactly where I am today.

I invite your comments and polite discussion. And as always, we thank you for reading.

A special guest post by Ben Abruzzo, owner of CrossFit Albuquerque and a Whole9 Nutrition Partner

“We do not rise to the level of our expectations.  We fall to the level of our training.”  CrossFit Albuquerque

The Question comes in many forms.  It is always different, yet universally the same.  The question is also often not very important, because the person asking the question need not pose the question at all.

The question could be:

“Why am I not getting stronger?”

“Why am I not losing weight?”

“How come I can’t do 20 kipping pullups?”

“Why are my row times not getting faster?”

“What can I do to back squat 500lbs?”

“How can I snatch my body weight?”

You get the idea.

While these are not bad questions in and of themselves, they pose a problem when taken out of the context of our lives – and when the commitment level of the person asking the question is, in fact, questionable.

Context Matters

Let’s take context first.  Our goals must be taken in context within the framework of our lives, and must be set in a reality that is attainable for us.  If we work out three days a week, eat crappy food and make our living doing something other than lifting weights, then a 500lb back squat does not really fit within the context of our lives.  If, on the other hand, we are a professional athlete, where being strong and powerful are our full-time jobs, then the goal and the question start to make more sense.  (In another example, if your life allows you to only run twice a week, is it really feasible to be the fastest runner in your next race?)

The point here is that we all have goals and quests and things that we want, but it is only a real goal (and not merely a dream) if it fits within the context of your life.  And if that basic fact doesn’t make you happy, then change an aspect of your life to make it fit.

Commitment

The more important issue is the issue of commitment.  What I am talking about here is the issue of commitment to plan.  To the everyday.  To the things that are easily controllable.  Because if you can’t commit to that, then super duper programming and nifty movements in the gym will not answer your question. 

What this takes is a bit of self introspection.  Are you really giving it your all in every training session?  When the workout calls for full effort, are you well and truly spent?  When we lift heavy, is it really heavy or are you just running through the motions?  Are you fueling your body with clean, whole foods?  Do you even know what foods you should be eating?  Have you asked?  If you have asked, did you give it an honest effort for an entire month?  Do you get enough sleep every night?  Do you recover as hard as you train? Do you try to mitigate stress or just add to your own stress?  This is what is really important.

If taking a chalk bath in the middle of a workout is your secret way of resting and diminishing the pain, then you might want to address that instead of looking for reasons why you are a special butterfly and the workouts “aren’t working for you.” If you follow up your workout with a bowl of ice cream or a Starbucks muffin, then you might want to examine your diet as a reason for lack of fat loss.  If you haven’t invested the time to gain enough strength to do one strict pull-up, then chasing dozens of kipping pull-ups misses the point entirely.

THE Question

Obviously, I sound like a jerk here – and I’m fine with that.  I’m fine with it, because I care about you and your goals and I want you to succeed.  That being said, I only care as much as you care.   If you can’t fix the stuff that takes some commitment but little else, then I can’t go much further.

So, read this, then ask yourself THE question:  “Am I doing enough with what I have?”  If the answer is no, then get after it before you begin asking for more.  If the answer is yes, then my door is open, and you can ask away.

Ben Abruzzo is a coach and co-owner of CrossFit Albuquerque, in Albuquerque, NM. Ben has spent most of his life in the mountains of New Mexico running, skiing and climbing. His focus and passion is the development of sport-specific performance.

For more information about CrossFit Albuquerque’s fitness, performance and nutrition offerings, email info@crossfitalbuquerque.com.

Today, we’re featuring a very personal story – a testimonial that we believe will resonate with so many readers for both the topic and the struggle. Depression affects 15 million American adults, and affects women twice as often as men.  In fact, as many as 1 in 8 women suffer from clinical depression.  Depression is also known to weaken the immune system, making the body more susceptible to other medical conditions – creating a vicious cycle of depression and illness.  Some estimate that by the year 2020, depression will be the 2nd most common health problem in the world.

Despite the number affected by clinical depression, many people just don’t want to talk about their condition.  In one recent survey, 43% of adults wouldn’t even talk to their primary care physician about their feelings or symptoms. Why is there such a stigma related to clinical depression?  Many cited embarrassment or fear of “losing face” as their main reason for keeping quiet about their condition.  Others worry about privacy and losing emotional control.  Some are worried about being referred to a psychiatrist or being treated with medication.  And finally, many people don’t want to talk about depression because they think they should be able to handle it on their own, or don’t want to burden others.

Jane F. was brave enough to send us her story of depression and the Whole30 (although she requested we not use photos with her write-up).  Jane wrote, “People just tend to get weird around the topic of depression, so I prefer to keep public discussions about mine to a minimum.”  We are grateful to Jane for sharing her story, and hope to use her testimonial to bring this condition out into the light.

We are sure there are other readers who are also suffering quietly, and hope Jane’s story brings hope, and the motivation to share your story with someone – anyone – and seek the treatment you need.  And perhaps, one step in that comprehensive treatment plan includes a short-term healthy eating jump-start like the Whole30.

Jane’s Story

It’s August 31 and I’ve just completed my Whole30.  At the end of July I was depressed and exhausted and told my husband that I was going to do this “weird diet” and if that didn’t help then I would be going to a doctor. I really didn’t want to take medication, but when you wake up from a nap wondering how long it is before you can reasonably take another one, it’s time to acknowledge that you need some help.

I was afraid of doing the Whole30 – I thought I was going to be curled up in the fetal position weeping for toast.  But I told myself that I couldn’t feel any worse on the diet than I felt off of it, so I should give it a try.  I also found myself wondering if I would be able to do it – and then I thought: “Whether you complete this isn’t something you discover, it’s something you decide.”  And I decided I would do it.

You know what comes next:

• Losing 12 pounds
• Better sleeping
• More energy
• Less anxiety

I hadn’t been exercising much – just walking a lot and riding my bike – but I’ve been accomplishing tasks with little trouble. (Translation: I’m no longer completely demoralized by getting a couple of emails.) Some more interesting stuff:

• I had pneumonia in January and February of this year and it was bad.  I’ve had a minor but persistent productive cough since then.  Doctors have assured me that the infection is gone and said my coughing would end eventually.  It’s gone now.  I was still coughing in July but about two weeks into the Whole30, I realized I wasn’t.
• My hair is softer and it’s getting curly again!
• My face has returned!  What I mean is–when I look in the mirror I see me, not some bloated caricature of me.  My cheekbones are back and my husband keeps remarking that my eyes are clearer.  We don’t know how to describe it any better than that–but the change is significant.

I won’t be going to the doctor right now because things are getting better.  However, my attitude toward seeking help has changed.  In July, asking for medical help seemed like the end of the road – I would just be on drugs forever.  Now, I can look at my life and health more clearly.  Although not everything is under my control – you don’t get rid of a lifetime’s tendency toward depression in a month – I am more of an active agent in my health, rather than a passive sufferer.  And if I do choose  seek medical help, it will be a proactive move after considering all my options.

Thank you so much for the program!

Jane

The Whole30 and Depression

Now, we’re not doctors, and we’re not promising that the Whole30 will magically cure depression.  But there are a lot of links between food choices and clinical depression, and many people have reported an improvement in symptoms after implementing a Whole30-style healthy eating program.  Dr. Emily Deans has written extensively on diet and depression, and Robb Wolf recently posted his own testimonial on the subject.  So while we can’t promise any miracles, we think eating well and taking good care of your body (and your immune system) through diet is a great place to start.

If you or a loved one has suffered (or recovered) from depression, share your experience with us in comments.  We encourage your participation in our community (even anonymously), and believe that you never know who you might inspire or help by sharing a bit of yourself here.

For more information about depression, visit one of these helpful sources:

• Help Guide:  Dealing With Depression
• Psych Central: Where to Get Help for Depression
• Healthy Place:  If You Know Someone Who’s Depressed
• Health Central:  Talking to Someone With Depression

Sources:

Alan Manevitz, MD, psychiatrist Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City.

Bell, R.A. Annals of Family Medicine, 2011.

PBS.org, “Depression, Out of the Shadows: <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/depression/pdf/dep_stats.pdf>

In Part 1 of our Stress Addicts Anonymous series (http://whole9life.com/2011/11/stress-addiction-1), we introduced the very real, very dangerous condition of stress addiction. Now, in part 2, let’s take a look at the physiological effects of living in a chronic state of stress, and more importantly, some steps you can take to rehabilitate your own inner stress junkie.

Stress Gone Bad

In moderate amounts and for brief periods of time, stress can be beneficial – and most people are well-equipped to deal with it. During an acutely stressful situation, your body undergoes an elaborate series of adjustments. The cardiovascular system, the immune system, the endocrine glands and brain regions involved in emotion and memory are all recruited into action. Nonessential functions like reproduction and digestion are put off until later. Adrenaline, and later cortisol, both stress hormones secreted by the adrenal glands, flood the body. Heart rate and blood pressure rise, respiration quickens, glucose is released into the bloodstream for energy, oxygen flows to the muscles, and immune cells prepare to rush to the site of an injury.

When the acute threat is over, another complex set of adjustments calms things down, returning the body to normal.But in the case of chronic stress, that return to “baseline” doesn’t happen often enough (if at all). When stress persists for too long or becomes too severe, your body’s finely tuned feedback system is disrupted – and over time it runs amok, causing damage.

Your Nervous System, In a Nutshell

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is a vast network of nerves reaching out from the spinal cord, directly affecting every organ in the body. It has two branches, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic, which have opposite effects.  The sympathetic ANS helps us deal with stressful situations by initiating a ‘fight or flight’ reaction.  After the danger has passed, the parasympathetic ANS takes over, decreasing heartbeat and relaxing blood vessels (‘rest and digest’).

In the case of stress addiction, however, your body’s return to a normal, relaxed state may not be so easy. Although the sympathetic nervous system jumps into action immediately, it is very slow to shut down and allow the tranquilizing parasympathetic nervous system to calm things down.

Jane Collingwood, author of The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress, explains.  ”In healthy people, the two branches of the nervous system maintain a balance — action followed by relaxation. In the case of chronic stress, however, many people’s sympathetic ANS stays on guard, making them unable to relax and let the parasympathetic system take over.”  At this point, the body moves into an “exhaustion stage”, in which it continues to produce large amounts of stress hormones. Prolonged exposure to these hormones, particularly cortisol, can have devastating effects.

The (Chronic) Stress Effect

According to Robert M. Sapolsky, author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, in the case of chronic psychological stress, the stress response can become more damaging than the stressor itself.  Think of your body’s stress response as short-sighted and inefficient – extremely costly tasks your body must perform to respond effectively in an emergency. (After all, your body’s ‘fight or flight’ response can save your life in an emergency.) The trouble for the stress junkie, however, is that we’re not designed to stay in that mode. And the way we often handle stress – eating sugary, calorie-dense processed foods, staying late at work, exercising too little (or too much) or drinking to excess – makes a bad situation even worse.

Many disorders – some say most – are aggravated by chronic stress. Being constantly awash in stress hormones has some serious side effects, including (but not limited to) impaired memory, concentration, and work performance, speeding up the aging process and damaging memory cells in the brain, sexual dysfunction, infertility, hypertension, a weakened immune system and deposition of fat at the waist (a risk factor for heart disease and other illnesses).   According to Dr. Bruce McEwen (author of The End of Stress as We Know It), prolonged or severe stress has also been implicated in cancer, stroke, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes, among other illnesses. 

Finally, excess cortisol in the blood interferes with mood enhancing neurotransmitters called serotonin. Disturbances in serotonin levels can be a factor in causing clinical depression and anxiety disorders, and have also been linked to insomnia and increased sensitivity to pain.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

More interesting to us, elevated cortisol also skews time perception – making us feel as though we’re always behind schedule and time is always running out. As T.S. Wiley and Bent Formy, authors of Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival write, “Chronic high cortisol… makes you feel chronically rushed.  It’s the altered time perception that fosters much of the late-night stalling before bed, while you stay up under the impression that there must be more to do or that you haven’t finished your work.”  So it’s like the worst kind of chicken/egg – we are stressed because we think we’re behind schedule, but we think we’re behind schedule because we are stressed. Brutal.

Do we really need to continue to make the case that chronic psychological stress – especially the self-created kind – is super-duper unhealthy?  We rest our case.

Stress Rehab

So what’s a stress junkie to do? Telling one to “chill out” or “relax” is inane in this situation, given the addictive nature of the stress response. (It’s like telling an addict, “You know, you should just stop using.” How effective is that strategy?) Still, identifying habits and patterns and admitting you have a problem is the first step. So stop the 27 things you’re doing right now, take a deep breath and say it with me – “I am a stress junkie, and I have a problem.”

The trouble with identifying a strategy to break the stress addiction cycle is that there is no one-size-fits-all. We’re going to address a few different coping mechanisms here, but you’ll have to try them on for yourself to see what fits your personality and stress-style the best. (Melissa also included strategies that worked for her personally.)

1. Identify your triggers, change your habits. Take time to figure out what precipitates stress in your life. (Ask family and friends to help you here, as you often aren’t a good judge of your own triggers.) If you know you jump into “stress mode” the second you turn on your computer or as soon as the kids get home from school, then change that routine. Take 30 minutes of quiet time to wake up and set the tone for the day before you power up. Create an after-school routine to help keep noise and chaos under control (or hire a babysitter for an hour a day to help you manage post-school homework and snacks).

 

1. Control and predictability – create a routine. Procrastination, multi-tasking and chasing your own tail self-perpetuates the stress cycle. Creating (and sticking to) a routine can to add some predictability to your day, and remove some opportunity for unexpected stress. Creating a normal bedtime and wake time can be an especially helpful routine, as it also ensures you’re getting enough sleep each night.

 

1. Exercise some, not too much. Low intensity exercise (like hiking or swimming) blunts the stress response for up to a day after each session – but it has to be something you want to do. (Forcing yourself to exercise only creates more stress.) Don’t overdo it – more is not better. Consider low to moderate intensity activities, as high intensity exercise may only be feeding your stress junkie tendencies. (In fact, high intensity activity may not be appropriate for you at all. For real.)

 

1. Don’t (purposely) fast. Deliberate caloric restriction and extended (or regular) fasting provokes a physical stress response, and only adds to your overall stress burden. Plus, taking the time to eat healthy meals on a regular basis ensures you’re stopping to care for yourself every few hours, which is a good thing. Eat breakfast within an hour of waking; emphasize protein, and include some starchy carbs like sweet potato or butternut squash. If you often “forget to eat,” set a timer to remind you – it’s that important.

 

1. Skip the coffee. Caffeine is a stimulant, and the last thing you need is more stimulation. Try backing off your daily dose, or taking a month-long caffeine holiday. This one is gonna hurt – but your adrenals will thank you. (Read our Coffee Manifesto for more details.)

 

1. Meditation – sort of. Studies show psychological benefits while someone is meditating – but those benefits don’t necessarily continue after the session is over. (Plus, the idea of jumping into an hour of meditation a day is probably unrealistic for you right now.) Start off with five minutes at a time, every hour on the hour. Force yourself to stop whatever you are doing and take a walk, get some water, eat something or just sit quietly. (Time it – don’t cheat yourself.) Physically removing yourself from your stress-cycle may inhibit the degree to which you wind yourself up.

 

1. Social support – try giving. The right network of friends or family can help you manage stress, but often the stress junkie simply won’t ask for help. So try giving – offering social support in a volunteer or charitable setting. Seeing your impact can be a powerful experience, and make you believe you do, in fact, have some control over life’s situations.

 

1. The E – R – C strategy. Make a list of stressors, and identify those you can Eliminate, those you could Reduce and those you must simply Cope with. Consider evaluating time, money and accepted obligations all at once; you may be able to eliminate or reduce more stress than you believed. (For example, if cleaning the house on your day off is a big stressor, consider revising your budget to hire a cleaning service. If you’ve accepted too many social requests, prioritize one or two that are the most important to you, and beg off the rest. They’ll forgive you, and you really can’t afford to take on any more right now.)

 

1. Practice the 80/20 rule. In the case of stress, take the 80/20 rule to mean that 80% of your stress reduction can be accomplished with the first 20% of effort. Taking the first step – admitting you have a problem, asking for help, starting a stress-reducing practice (any practice) – can provide tremendous stress relief. So don’t wait until you’ve got the perfect stress-reducing strategy to start, and don’t wait until the next time you’re at a stress level 9 out of 10. Do something – anything – on a daily basis and see if you don’t feel better having at least taken a step in the right direction.

 

1. Get help. Sometimes, working through your situation with an impartial party is exactly what we need to put things into perspective. (And if you’re practicing your stress 80/20, the very act of making an appointment with a psychologist, a life coach or a professional organizer will make you feel better!)

In Conclusion

For those of you identifying with this post, take heart – there is hope. After a year of major life overhaul (including giving up caffeine, a major revision of her exercise program and a restructure of business responsibilities and work habits), Melissa’s cortisol profile is back in the healthy range, and her stress junkie tendencies are far better managed. With some awareness, attention to detail and commitment to changing your life, you, too, can overcome your addiction to stress. The first step is admitting you have a problem. (And the second step is to re-read our Whole9 Health Equation, because as a stress junkie, you are by definition spending resources waaaaay faster than you can bank ‘em.).

So cop to your bad habits, ask for help and offer each other some healthy social support right here in comments.

References

Sapolsky, Robert M. Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Third Edition. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.
Ratey, John J. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.
McEwen, Bruce. The End of Stress As We Know It. Washington DC: National Academic Press, 2002.
Wiley, T.S. and Formy, Bent. Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2002.
Beck, Martha. “Am I Really A Stress Junkie?” Oprah, October 2002.
Lyons, Richard. “Stress Addiction: Life in the Fast Lane.” New York Times, July 26, 2983.
Goode, Erica. “The Heavy Cost of Chronic Stress.” New York Times, 17 December 2002.
David, Marc. The slow down diet: eating for pleasure, energy, and weight loss. Healing Arts Press, 2005.
Bryant, Charles W. “The Physical Effects of Chronic Stress.” Discovery Health.
Collingwood, J. (2007). The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress. Psych Central, November 6, 2011.

This series of posts was inspired by Dallas and Melissa’s very personal experience with stress addiction. From Melissa: “See, at my very core, I am a typical Type-A.  In fact, there were times I considered bumping herself up to a Type AA, because I believed Type A’s were actually kind of lazy. No offense. I’m a perfectionist, but also a procrastinator, and I do my best work when there’s a crisis. No crisis? No problem. I’ll just create one.” (Dallas has far fewer of these tendencies – thank goodness. Two of us in one house would make life unbearable.) So let’s explore the subject of the stress addict – who we are, what that means and how to know if your habits and patterns fit the bill.

Type A-And-Then-Some

According to Wikipedia, Type A individuals are described as ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, time-conscious, and tightly-wound.  People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving “workaholics” who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.

That doesn’t exactly paint us in a flattering light, does it?  I promise, we’re generally more fun than Wikipedia would suggest.  The problem is that under the right conditions, Type A drive can morph and grow into something else entirely – an actual stress addiction. And we mean that in the most literal sense of the word. Ask yourself…

• Are you always on tight deadlines, multi-tasking within an inch of your life or creating ridiculous schedules for yourself?
• Are you a perfectionist in everything you do, even when it doesn’t really matter?
• Are you an inattentive listener, checking email, paying bills or cleaning while on the phone?
• Are you constantly worrying about “what if,” stuck in an endless loop of dreaming up worst case scenarios?
• Do you rush everywhere, all the time, because there are other things elsewhere you should be doing?
• Have you lost all sense of patience, losing your cool when faced with even a minor telephone hold, appointment delay or grocery store line?
• Are you always saying, “Things will calm down soon,” but they never, ever do?
• Does the idea of a restorative yoga class, meditation or sitting quietly for 15 minutes make you want to crawl out of your skin?

If you answered “yes” to one or more of those questions… you may be a stress junkie.  And if you don’t think “stress junkie” is a very real, very dangerous condition, think again.

Stress Distress

According to the leading authority on pretty much everything (Oprah, of course), stress addiction is a legitimate condition, with serious consequences.  Oprah.com says, “Stress junkies are people who use their own physiological responses as a mood-altering device.  And just like heroin, stress hormones have side effects that can kill you. Pumped into the bloodstream at high levels for long periods of time, these chemicals contribute to ulcers and heart disease, weaken the immune system, and leave us vulnerable to everything from automobile accidents to depression.”

Oprah not doing it for you?  Fine.  Dr. Waino W. Suojanen, a professor of management at Georgia State University, agrees.  “Social scientists as well as biologists studying the chemistry of the brain tend to document what business experts have been saying for years… The Type A individual has perhaps become addicted to his own adrenaline, and unconsciously seeks ways to get those surges.”

Sound far-fetched?  Not if you consider the biochemistry of stress addiction.  As Dr. John Ratey (author of Spark) explains, we get a “fix” from the stress response, even if we create it ourselves.

Procrastinate Much?

One common trait of stress junkies is procrastination – putting off tasks until the deadline looms so close that you’re not really sure you can get it done on time.  Procrastination puts us in a “fight or flight” kind stress response, which leads to a hormonal rush of epinephrine (to focus the body), which in turn results in the release of endorphins.  (Which, of course, feel good.)  In addition, there are two neurotransmitters in our brains that help get us ready for this flight or fight response — norepinephrine, which arouses our attention, and dopamine, which then focuses our attention.

So, we procrastinate until we get that “rush” we’re looking for, at which point those neurotransmitters flood our system and to allow us to finally focus – which helps us meet those deadlines after all.  Success!  There’s just one problem with this strategy:  stress junkies will create stress where there is none to begin with. Which means for the stress junkie, there are no situations that are inherently free of stress, even if they have to create some themselves.

Procrastination is only one favorite strategy of the stress junkie – others include perfectionism, obsessing about obligations, and inventing catastrophic fantasies about What Could Go Wrong. The common factor in each of these scenarios is the stress junkie’s single-minded devotion to repeatedly creating stressful situations.

On paper, you might think, “That sounds awful.  Who would do that to themselves?”  But in reality, if you’re a stress junkie, you kind of dig it.  No, you really dig it – the buzz that comes from swimming in stress hormones morning, noon and night.  Until, of course, you stop.  Then, yeah, you feel pretty miserable.

Getting All The Things Done

The problem is, you are literally addicted to the stress response, which means it’s impossible for you to just slow down.  Plus, your behavior is easy to justify (rationalize).   I mean, it’s not like you’re addicted to something that makes you lay around on the couch all day eating Doritos and playing video games.  You’re working, or exercising, or running a household or taking care of your children.  And everyone from Gym Jones to Jack Welch to Oprah herself would say there is no such thing as working too hard, right?

Sure, you’re probably not eating enough.  Sure, you could probably stand to take five minutes to stretch once in a while.  Yes, you wake up in the middle of the night with unending lists running through your head.  No, you haven’t peed in seven hours, but I’m sure that’s fine too.  Because you are Getting All The Things Done.  And who can argue with that?

Your body, that’s who.  And it’s already starting to rebel in ways that seriously compromise your health and fitness.

Stay Tuned for Stress Addicts Anonymous, Part 2

Ready to continue? Read Part 2 of our series on stress addiction, where we cover the negative physiological effects that come with living with chronic stress, and more importantly, some steps you can take to rehabilitate your own stress addiction.

References

Sapolsky, Robert M.  Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. Third Edition.  New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2004.

Ratey, John J. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2008.

McEwen, Bruce. The End of Stress As We Know It. Washington DC: National Academic Press, 2002.

Wiley, T.S. and Formy, Bent. Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar, and Survival.New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2002.

Beck, Martha. “Am I Really A Stress Junkie?” Oprah, October 2002.

Lyons, Richard. “Stress Addiction: Life in the Fast Lane.” New York Times, July 26, 2983.

Goode, Erica.  “The Heavy Cost of Chronic Stress.” New York Times, 17 December 2002.

David, Marc.  The slow down diet: eating for pleasure, energy, and weight loss. Healing Arts Press, 2005.

Bryant, Charles W. “The Physical Effects of Chronic Stress.”  Discovery Health. 

Collingwood, J. (2007). The Physical Effects of Long-Term Stress. Psych Central, November 6, 2011.