For the Love of Food lunch: August 18

Brisbane psychiatrist, Dr George Blair-West, believes that when it comes to weight loss, most thinking people are very aware of what to eat.

It’s what Dr Blair-West calls ‘the whys’ that are the real challenge.

“Why we eat what we shouldn’t; why we don’t eat what we should; why we don’t exercise to the level we should; and the biggest one - why we sabotage our weight loss plans,” he explains.

“A lot of psychology research into the consequences of deprivation haven’t made it to the frontline of obesity,” says Dr Blair-West, referring to research on Restraint Theory, the basis of a book he has written called Weight Loss for Food Lovers - Understanding the Psychology & Sabotage of Weight Loss.

“The 80% failure rate of traditional weight loss plans is no surprise once you understand Restraint Theory.

“While involved in eating disorders like anorexia, psychologists and psychiatrists tend not to be involved in the frontline treatment of obesity, so the approach has remained unsophisticated.

“Obesity is misconstrued as a problem of the weak-willed and that motivation comes from telling people it will shorten their life.

“This is where we were with smoking 20 years ago and we only made inroads when we made smoking unpopular.

“Interestingly, the French have made eating to excess ‘gluttonous’,” he said.
 
It is fitting that the Queensland launch of Dr Blair West’s book will be held at a gourmet lunch called For the Love of Food at Royal on the Park Hotel in the Brisbane CBD on Friday August 18.

In the spirit of Dr Blair-West’s new approach to weight loss, guests at the lunch will enjoy a rebellious, luscious four-course degustation menu and a glass of delectable wine with each course while he explains how to savour and fully experience their food, especially the dessert.

“If we deprive ourselves of food we have an emotional attachment to, we will ultimately sabotage our weight loss plan and move into rebound overeating,” explains Dr Blair-West, Director of Psychophysiology at the River City Private Hospital’s Obesity Rehabilitation Unit.

He calls forbidden or favourite fattening foods ‘high sacrifice’ foods, and going without them triggers the rebound overeating. 

“High sacrifice because if you had to give them up for the rest of your life - as weight loss is a long-term challenge - you would experience them as a high sacrifice,” he explains.

When Dr Blair-West developed a cholesterol problem in his late 30’s, he took up a rigorous exercise program, a strict diet and achieved his target weight over a year.

But he put all the weight back on the following January when he took a month-long holiday with his children.

“I decided to do it differently the second time around, I had to do it in a way that I could maintain for the rest of my life,” he said.

Dr Blair-West wanted to avoid the diet/relapse cycle, and, as a psychotherapist, he realised he wasn’t applying his knowledge about how people change, to his own problem.

Delving deeply into research into the effectiveness of traditional diets, he found the medical profession was better at treating most cancers than at treating obesity. He also discovered an entire body of research that was not being considered by most clinicians.

“One reason weight loss has an 80% failure rate is that people have the psychology of motivation all wrong,” said Dr Blair-West, who specialises in group psychotherapy and helping people make long-term lifestyle changes. 

“The psychology of weight loss is incredibly unsophisticated, and the messages overweight and obese people get are that they are weak-willed, slovenly and not disciplined enough, and this just is not the case.”

Dr Blair-West says that, according to Restraint Theory, the more self-discipline a weight loss program requires, the more likely it is to fail.

“We need to rethink what we ask of people,” he said. “To make people change, we have to deal with their underlying motivations and not make it too difficult for them.

The backbone to Dr Blair-West’s solution to this conundrum is the Low Sacrifice ‘Diet’ which is a long-term eating lifestyle. It’s low on self-discipline and you do not have to give up your favourite foods – just consume them in smaller amounts and in different ways.

There’s no calorie counting, in fact, no real sense of deprivation. On this diet, Dr Blair-West has two chocolate chip cookies for morning tea each day and a couple of glasses of red wine with dinner!

He says that restricting or depriving ourselves of certain foods begins the sabotage process that ultimately brings a diet undone.

Even the prospect of beginning a diet can cause people to rebound into overeating in what is called the Last Supper Effect. And once they have blown a diet, the What the Hell Effect kicks in, which also results in overeating.

Dr Blair-West uses Zen Buddhism teachings on mindfulness and recent research on savouring to teach people how to happily eat less by tasting more.

“One slice of garlic bread equals 90 minutes of walking, but for most people, myself included, it’s easier to lie on the sofa and read, and skip the garlic bread,” says Dr Blair-West who recognises that exercise is important for general well being, but quotes the research showing that it is not a significant factor in weight loss.

“Exercise increases appetite and can justify eating more, so going to the gym and other designated exercise is potentially problematic and can trigger overeating,” he says.

Mindful that managing what we eat is five times more powerful than exercise, Dr Blair-West advocates people increase their incidental activity, such as walking to and from work and the shops, and that they stop sitting as much as possible – simple but effective ways to maximise the success of any weight loss plan.

“This is not a diet book,” emphasises Dr Blair-West, who suggests people read it before they try to lose weight again. “I don’t tell people what to eat, I teach them how to manage the psychological challenge of weight loss.

“And you really need to know how to sabotage your saboteur, so you don’t waste your time and money next time you try to lose weight.” 

Weight Loss for Food Lovers - Understanding the Psychology & Sabotage of Weight Loss, published by Tower Books, is available from good book stores, $29.95.  For more information visit: www.weightlossforfoodlovers.com

For the Love of Food lunch

When
18 August 2006 

Where
Royal On The Park Hotel
Cnr Alice & Edward Sts, Brisbane City
www.royalonthepark.com.au

Time
12:15 for 12:30pm

Cost
$95 per person / $900 for a table of 10

Bookings essential
Richard Lindel Ph: 07.3112 1671 or                                           richard_lindel@royalonthepark.com.au

Media inquiries
Nikki Shrimpton Ph: 0412 64 55 47

ABOUT DR GEORGE BLAIR-WEST

Dr George Blair-West is a medical doctor, psychiatrist and Director of Psychophysiology at the Obesity Rehabilitation Unit, River City Private Hospital at Auchenflower in Brisbane. He also is a Lifelong Fellow and media spokesperson for the Obesity Prevention and Treatment Society.
He has been invited to share his work at the Dietitians' Association of Australia (Qld annual meeting), the Queensland Premier's Obesity Summit and the International Congress on Obesity.

Earlier, he completed a three-year tenure as a part-time Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland, publishing in peak international journals on more effective health care delivery and on suicide in depression. His abiding interest is in translating research findings into strategies that lay people can relate to and use immediately. 

Dr Blair-West specialises exclusively in three areas of psychiatry - the psychology of weight loss, relationship difficulties and post-trauma syndromes. He comes to this work as a psychotherapist which means he helps people change by teaching them new ways of thinking and feeling, rather than through prescribing drugs. 

Through working with people with obesity, he has developed a deep understanding of the issues around weight loss. In helping people with weight problems, he has been enormously assisted by his wife Penny, a psychologist, who worked for several years in an eating disorders clinic. He is passionate about mixing personal growth teaching with the day-to-day challenge of weight loss. 

Dr Blair-West has been married for 15 years, has two children, loves good food and wine and sees no better way to spend one's time than enjoying a great meal with family or friends.