Re: Re: ACT and eating issues

[Guest guest]

I'm not sure what to do with all of the mcg of this type advice ...

I've never personally found great benefits from that approach.

I eat good food (fish, nuts, salads, etc) and let the rest take care of itself.

Even the data on something as mainstream as vitamin supplements is

all over the map. Creepy really. There are some negative outcomes in those

studies you know. Hard to know what is safe.

The data on a balanced and healthy diet is pretty good.

So, not to criticized that approach if it works for anyone -- I just I think it is

a topic more for another list and frankly as a scientist it is hard to

decipher the data.

So how about ACT?

There is an interesting study on the effect of ACT methods on food urges

by Evan Forman. It just showed that it helped but only if food dominates over you in the

first place -- if food is not a problem acceptance methods if anything made the urges stronger.

Lillis and I have a study under review showing that ACT helped

reduce weight related stigma, which improved quality of life and actually

lead to better weight maintenance utcomes even though the study did not target weight.

We also used Get Out of Your Mind and found that the book helped

We have fitness studies about to begin and Even Forman has a new ACT grant for weight control.

So we will know more soon

Reading you message I wonder if have you tried ACT methods thoroughly yet.

I hope you do not feel criticized but there is an odor of struggle and fusion

in your original message. Dig deeper into the ACT model.

You descirbe the food thoughts as an obsession and seem pretty judgmental about

these feelings.

You say you've " tried many, many things including lots of dieting and eating plans to try and get a grip on this. " Get a grip on what?

On urges? From an ACT perspective that is like grabbing the rear view mirror to

steer the car. Get a grip on food behavior? OK -- but if you attack food urges I

guarantee you, you will lose control over the behavior.

When you say " I am trying not to obsess about food and weight, hoping that trying not to contol it will help....but it doesn't. " what is the measure of help?

And why are you trying NOT to obsess? Isn't that like stuggling with any thought?

You can't use acceptance to do a control agenda and expect outcomes that are different.

I've guessing you are using ACT methods to get rid of urges.

In the world of behavior you can use control but you need to be careful

because there is a tendency to mix inner struggle with behavioral regulation

and then use behavior to kick off more inner struggle. I see that in this

sentence:

" I would like nothing more than to eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm full and not obsess over food in between. "

Personally I never lost weight (its been a problem for 20 years)

eating when I was hungry and stopping when I was full.

I know people say that works but it never did for me: I kept looking within

and by the time I knew i was full it was too late. I needed to learn to stop when I

was only partially full (funny -- if I did 20 minutes later I was " full " ).

And anyway whenever you stop is irrelevant to obsessing over food in between.

What did work was finding a food / exercise pattern that worked

and letting all the rest drift into " in one ear and out the other " land.

ie -- acceptance and defusion linked to a habit pattern that put

a relatively healthy approach on automatic pilot ( " building larger and larger patterns

of behavior " is the way we talked about it in Get Out of Your Mind ... when I wrote that part

I wrote it specifically with weight control in mind tho I did not say it in the book

I don't believe).

The behavioral pattern to build seems to vary with people -- use

your experience to guide you. For me it was

cutting snacks; drinking water instead of caloric beverages; eating reasonable meals

in specific windows of time; and exercising. (That last item fell away with a new

grant this summer and sure enough I'm now 5+ lbs up. Grr.)

Do NOT overrestrict. That is a behavioral pattern sure to fail.

Start with small behavioral changes and build those larger patterns.

When you slip recognize it and roll that slip into more behavior change.

Let go of the wagging, threatening finger pointed back at you -- it never

works. That sense of resistance you have is perfectly understandable and even

healthy -- you learned long ago not to be unfairly dominated and brow beaten,

and if you try to do it to yourself you will dig in your heels. Weight stigma and criticism

predicts worse outcomes.

And open up to the ebb and flow of food thought and food urges. Use ACT methods,

but not to get them to go away. Grabbing that strip of fly paper to throw it away never works.

Use the methods the way they are talked about in ACT books

Good luck

- S C. Foundation ProfessorDepartment of Psychology /298University of NevadaReno, NV 89557-0062hayes@... or stevenchayes@...

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thanks everyone > >> > Hello everyone,> > > > Maybe someone else has the same issues or some suggestions on how to > > use the ACT principles for problems related with... I guess a

food > > addiction....> > > > OK, here we go.> > > > I am struggling with obsessive thoughts over weight and eating. I > > have for quite a long time. I guess most women do to some extend.

I > > am not overweight but will be if I keep eating like this.> > > > I realise all the reasons why I eat, comfort and distration mainly, > > but I don't seem to be able to stop using food this way. I am

totally > > aware that this is a very ineffective way to deal with any problems > > but, again, it is the only way I seem to be able to cope.> > > > I have tried many, many things including lots of dieting and

eating > > plans to try and get a grip on this.> > I have been in therapy and have not found anything I can do that will > > help.> > I am trying not to obsess about food and weight, hoping that

trying > > not to contol it will help....but it doesn't.> > > > In the Happiness Trap is a chapter called 'Urge Surfing'. I think the > > approach is great and I have tried it (not working so

far). > > I actually quit smoking using something similar.> > > > Somehow I am rebelling against eating less (no problems with > > exercise, I like it), everytime I try and sit with my feelings I

fail.> > Almost every time.> > I've put on weight, my clothes don't fit, and this is of course > > making everything worse.> > I would like nothing more than to eat when I'm hungry, stop when

I'm > > full and not obsess over food in between.> > > > Any advice would be really appreciated.> > > > Thanks,> > Birgit > > Perth, Australia> >

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