Animaniacs, Intuitive Eating, defining "research" and Amy Cuddy

First,  Hulu is "rebooting animaniacs", and letting the back catalogue be available. . . . Used to love those cartoons and "Pinky and the Brain" -- and some other related. . .





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So complained about something on FB using the word "research" (that is I did a short - not exhaustive lit review on pub med) but some people objected to "looking things up",  including published "research",   being referred to as "researching a subject" - only doing the actual trials counts as "research". Please let me know in the comments what you think.  I think this is "hard science treats everyone else as an idiot" bias - but perhaps I am protesting too much. It means in law and sociology and history there is very little "research".   Even in heavily "evidence based" midwifery school "research paper" meant doing a lit review of the best evidence for certain practices.  Using cochrane database, pub med etc.  But that is not "research", according to my Science PhD's.  It is in the dictionary definition but makes some people howl.   It has, at this moment, changed my use of the word so as to not get involved in semantic arguments. I was surprised to be "corrected" that a lit review is not "research" but there you go. . . what do you think?
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I have been following and studying critiquing and collecting info on (not "researching" which I otherwise might have used here)    intuitive eating and non-diets. Most (literally most of it) nutrition advice is bogus and we actually have no idea what size people should be, or that there is a proper size,  but have a bias to thin (and white, and straight and tall,  but that is neither here nor there. . . for my purpose here).  Over weight people are often blamed for all their problems regardless of how they eat and exercise and what their actual state of health is. . .

My ND/dietitian no longer coaches people on weight loss - it does not work to lose weight or to increase health in the long term.   95-97% of diets fail - They may often work in the short term but people don't keep the weight off more than 12 months.   Everybody loses.  You don't get satisfaction from eating - but deny yourself things. . .   This approach of body acceptance and intuitive eating reminds me of a program called mindful eating that was not popular but around years ago, but it had little research/evaluation/critique/science behind it. Not sure the new one does either but I am going to give it a try. It is not just at what you want but figure out when you re really hungry and what really satisfies. . . Over time you get what you need. . . and you stop dieting and decreasing your metabolism

So here's a few pieces on this "new" approach to weigh loss and no weightloss/size acceptance. Don't think about losing weight.  Get rid of your scale - figure out what makes you satisfied, happy and feeling good.  Maybe not the same for everyone. . .

Here's an overview where 13 Experts Explain Why Diets Don't Work And What To Do Instead                ". . . Even if we could, [determine what size people should be]95–97% of purposeful weight loss attempts fail. Instead, I help my clients build sustainable habits that aren't built on restriction, and let their body settle at whatever size it's supposed to be."  

or. . . "Weight is not the issue — whether or not the body loses weight is up to the body, not up to the client or me, for that matter. Food can be a comfort, a source of nourishment, and a source of joy. It’s a part of life, just like movement."

 If you prefer listening,  this streaming or podcast from CBC The Current is also interesting - Forget everything you've heard about 'bad food' to avoid, says doctor - although he does think that you should avoid sugar . . . 

I have not read it yet, but apparently the book that started some of this (and is NOT available at the Halifax Public Library - anyone got a copy, I can borrow?) is Health at Every Size.  

And lastly  - although the web is full of stuff about Intuitive eating -  here's another titled "what thin people don't understand about dieting".  If you are not "over weight" and are judgmental of those who are, or if you are a practitioner still trying to coach people to sustainable weight loss, this outlines some of the issues. . . (not "science" just popular info)  

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Final musing today is about Amy Cuddy - speaking of research. . . I showed  this Ted talk, about power poses,  to lots of people and found it fascinating - especially to Stewards to build confidence before their first meetings.  I had no reports of whether people used it or found any benefit but tons of people were fascinated by it. . .   

So today I learned (although I was slow to catch up) that a larger study was done and they could not replicate the results and found no effect. . . LOL  So I think "science" is broken! And I will stop using this talk!