Positive mindset: a key factor for weight loss
Thoughts do not merely reflect our reality; they rather shape this reality itself. Psychologist Alina Crum gave this message to the participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos 2018. The young, self-confident researcher is anything but a new-age guru, she directs the Mind & Body Lab at Stanford University in California.
Crum underpinned her testimony to the assembled business elite with numerous studies. Those demonstrate the influence of thoughts on health and well-being. “You can physically be strong on two days in a row, but your mindset makes a huge difference in performance.”
The basis of her study was the placebo effect: “If high expectations of patients can lead to that a drug-free drug that has medicinal properties, perhaps something similar will occur in other, everyday situations?”
Following this suspicion, Crum and her colleagues discovered that more beliefs and thoughts could determine the weight, fitness, and physical stress effects or sleep problems of a person.
One of her first studies focused on 84 maids. Crum guessed that few of them knew how much their job looked like a workout. Moreover, this lack of attention might prevent her from benefiting physically. In order to change the mental attitude of their participants, the researchers explained to them about the sporting side of their activity, such as the fact, that one consumes about 200 calories per hour when vacuuming alone — The daily performance from each of these maids corresponded pretty much the US Medical Council’s standards on the recommended level of physical activity. A month later, the “positive mindsetted” women had lost on average one kilogram of body weight, although they were not aware of any change in their daily routine or their diet.
The blood pressure values had normalized on average.
A second study with a colleague confirmed the suspicion that personal attitudes could affect the physical processes. This work was based on health data from more than 60,000 people collected over a period of up to 21 years.
In another study from 2011, she served a milkshake to her subjects in the lab and then measured the blood level of the starvation hormone ghrelin, which usually sags after a meal. All participants had enjoyed the same drink, but only half of them was told that it was a calorie-reduced fitness shake. The rest was left in the belief that it was a fat-rich calorie bomb. The effect is much clear. Anyone who thought the milk milkshake was not particularly nutritious showed significantly higher ghrelin levels and did not feel as full as the subjects in the comparison group.
Ghrelin does not just regulate appetite. As an indication of nutrient scarcity, the hormone also curbs metabolism sales, so the body stores fat when times are tough. However, for those who want to lose weight, that’s rather bad. People who pay attention to their weight or who want to eat a conscious diet often associate a feeling of lack with it. Just this mindset can cause physiological adjustments, that make losing weight difficult. Instead, one should focus on the sensual enjoyment and richness of his meals. Who considers his food as feasting has a greater chance that the appetite will not come back so quickly. Even people who do not plan a weight reduction at all, see these effects. When we consume a very sugary drink, the brain does not recognize this fluid food as a wholesome meal and does not adjust its energy intake to the same extent as if it had consumed the same amount of calories in solid form. By changing your own point of view, this influence can at least be reduced.
Bottom line:
- Your own mental attitude, the mindset, determines how our diet, stress in everyday life or the aging process affect your body and mind.
- Based on this knowledge, one’s own health and well-being can probably be strengthened by encouraging a positive view.
- It can make the first change by overcoming negative thinking patterns and focusing on problems and risks.
Originally published at runningdisorder.com on January 29, 2019.
