to become more prevalent in women than in men.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however, as oestrogen also increases the production of nitric oxide, which encourages the blood vessels to relax. High nitric oxide concentrations are associated with migraine, and it is often reported that migraine sufferers experience less frequent and severe migraines after menopause.
Weight Gain and Stress
Stress is another factor that can lead to weight gain and middle-age spread. Scientists are just beginning to discover that long-term emotional stress can contribute to age-related weight gain, especially in older women.
For more on stress and other emotional challenges, see Chapter 2.
How the GI Walking Diet Can Help
You will lose weight on the GI Walking Diet. The combination of the physical activity and eating plans allows you to follow a flexible or more structured approach to your goal. All you have to do is choose which approach suits you, and you are on your way to losing 5–10 per cent of your excess body weight. Losing weight can be an intimidating process – sometimes the amount of weight we feel we have to lose can be off-putting – but the positive news is that even a small amount of weight loss can improve your health. In fact, research shows that a drop of just 6 per cent will significantly improve your health.
If you are carrying excess weight, an initial goal of losing 5–10 per cent of your starting weight is both realistic and valuable. Plus, by following the six-week plan, you will be more likely to keep the weight off, maintaining your health improvements.
If I said to you – in six weeks from today you could be 6 per cent lighter, far healthier, fitter and energetic, wouldn’t you want to take action?
Life’s too short to sweat the small stuff.
Can your emotions affect your health? Evidence now suggests the answer is ‘yes’. One study of pre-menopausal, peri-menopausal and post-menopausal women found that emotions like anger, depression and anxiety increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Other studies have confirmed that long-term stress causes the shape-shifting phenomenon of middle-age spread due to too much sugar being converted to fat, which gets deposited in the midriff area. Researchers have also established a link between stress and poor health. And, of course, when we are stressed, sad, angry, afraid, hurt, worried, lonely, frustrated or depressed we reach for food as a source of emotional comfort.
Most experts define emotional stress as a person’s reaction to any situation that places special physical or psychological demands on them so as to unbalance their equilibrium and take them outside their comfort zone. These situations can give rise to feelings of fear, anger or anxiety as the body responds to the perceived threat to its wellbeing. Emotional stress varies from person to person so is difficult to measure. It is highly subjective and influenced by personality and experience; everyone has a different sensitivity to stressful events – what may be stressful to one person can be perceived as quite manageable to another.
The concept of emotional stress pioneered by Dr Hans Seyle proposes that during stressful situations, the sympathetic nervous system sets in motion a series of physiological responses. Various hormones produced by the adrenal cortex, including cortisol and epinephrine, prepare the body for an instant state of readiness, the classic ‘fight or flight’ response. It is also theorized that once the ‘stress-invoking threat’ has passed, the body returns to a state of normality and balance. However, recent research shows that long-term elevated cortisol levels can lead to weight gain, especially in the belly.
Although both men and women may be uncomfortable with some of the changes to their faces and bodies as they get older, women often feel more vulnerable as society places such a high value on their physical appearance. For women over 40, excess weight can become more difficult to shift, and this is often compounded by emotional challenges. At this stage of life, emotional issues that have been suppressed for years can resurface. Additionally, divorce, financial burdens, concerns about retirement, career moves and residential changes often occur alongside unpleasant menopausal symptoms. With the children now grown up and out of the family home, many people begin to question their own identity, which was typically being the family caregiver. This loss of identity can be unsettling for many, and may coincide with a new role of becoming the ‘parent’ to their own ill or ageing parents.
Emotional challenges can be difficult at any age. In later life, emotional stress can be harder to deal with if we are no longer physically fit and healthy. Coping with an age-related medical condition – such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or osteoporosis – can be a considerable burden. Physical problems combined with emotional challenges – such as periods of mourning, feelings of increased isolation in retirement and a changing social role – can all contribute to a sense of loss of control and helplessness. This makes people vulnerable to depression.
We all know food can make us feel good, providing a great source of psychological fulfilment. From infancy, we are taught that love and food are intertwined. A baby cries – we feed it to calm it down; a child does well and is rewarded with a food treat; and of course seduction and food have been entwined since Creation – just think of Adam and Eve! In later life we have a whole catalogue of food memories associated with holidays, celebrations and happy times, so it’s really no wonder that we equate food with positive feelings. When emotionally stressed, some people strive to recapture those happy feelings by comforting themselves with food. It has recently been shown that we are more likely to engage in emotional eating if our basic human needs – such as security, love and belonging – are unfulfilled. Prolonged periods of depression and anxiety also tend to cause emotional eating, leading to cravings for sweet and fatty foods.
Many parents and grandparents mistakenly use food as a reward for positive behaviour: ‘If you are a good girl or boy today you will get a treat.’ This strategy may create a lasting unconscious desire to reward oneself with sweet, high-calorie foods when under emotional stress. This may develop into unhealthy eating habits, so that being overweight becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Aim to reward younger members of the family with non-food treats, such as a trip to a park, a treasure hunt or a physical activity. This will have a much more positive impact on their health.
Why People Eat Emotionally
In my experience with both female and male clients, people often find themselves trapped in a cycle of stress-eat-stress, feeling helpless to change. Significant weight gain can occur as a result. There may be unconscious reasons for this behaviour. You may want to prevent other people getting too close, and feel that a layer of fat on the body may protect you. Or it can represent an attitude of needing to let go and be out of control when all other aspects of your life have to be neat and in order.
Case Study
A male client, a city high-flyer, had a major problem with emotional eating late in the evening. After working with him for a month it became clear that the nature of his professional position meant he had to be in control and on top of his game 110 per cent
