Beth Rocchio MD, Weight Management

Welcome to my blog.  Here you will find my thoughts about news stories related to weight management.  I will also be including personal accounts from my own ongoing weight management.  I will also share insights that come from helping people manage their weight and eating.

8/10/09: NEAT!  NEAT stands for non-exercise activity thermogenesis.  That means all the calories you burn up at work, home, out and about that you wouldn't classify as exercise.  You can burn several hundred extra calories per day with NEAT by being mindful to be just a little more active in your daily life.  As for me, I began noticing I was sitting ALL DAY as my practice grew busier.  I read an article that said even standing up and moving a little once an hour can change our metabolism, especially for carbohydrates like breads and sweets.  Now, I try to stand up as much as I can between patients.  I am even typing this standing up.  Weird, maybe.  NEAT? Yes!  I haven't figured out a way to walk or stand while seeing patients, oh well.  Have a NEAT day!

8/10/09: Protein protects us from hunger, protein is a priority.  A study done on monkeys in the news today is another piece of evidence for this.  The study shows that we will eat as much as we need to in order to get enough protein.  The article is entitled, "Need for protein makes monkeys and humans overeat."  Many people find that if they include protein in each meal, they are less hungry.  Greek yogurt and other low/no fat milk products, eggs, fish, chicken, lean beef, pork, beans, soy are great sources of protein.  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0908/S00015.htm

8/10/09: Another inconvenient truth: Diet and Exercise alone have been scientifically proven to be insufficient to produce long-term weight loss in the majority of us. Again, changing eating and physical activity behaviors are NECESSARY but not SUFFICIENT components of long-term weight loss.  Many experts continually gloss over the other half of the equation (the inner "diet" or the "inner peace piece" which is why, as a society we have yet to solve the problem.  An article today mentions an expert in pediatric obesity who acknowledges emotional eating but goes on to say that parents can help by having their kids eat healthy, be more physically active and have a healthy body image.  Unfortunately, as so many experts do, he glosses over the emotional piece.  Changing only the outer behaviors has proven over and over again to be a band-aid approach, or like putting another layer of paint on a house that really needs the old paint stripped away.  The house will look good for a while, but before too long, the paint will peel.  Dr. Abramson, the expert quoted in the study, is the author of a book called Emotional Eating.  This suggests he knows the problem and therefore the solution to overeating goes deeper than diet and exercise.  Perhaps the news article didn't do him justice.  http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1734470/parents_can_help_stop_the_obesity_epidemic/index.html?source=r_health

Each of us is unique.  I don't expect everyone to agree with all of my thoughts.  If you find something helpful, great!  If your experience differs from mine, that's more than ok, too.  If something I say doesn't apply to you, feel free to ignore it.