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SALT LAKE CITY -- The weight loss industry is big business. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Americans have gone from spending $30 billion in 1992 to more than $60 billion today. Obviously something isn’t working, because Americans are only getting fatter and the diet industry is getting richer.
Tres Prier Hatch understands all too well an overweight person’s frustration. She estimates that she has gained and lost at least a thousand pounds over the years, trying every known diet or weight loss plan.
Hatch looked back on the day she stood in a hospital bathroom staring at her naked post-pregnancy body in a mirror and realizing she did not recognize the woman who looked back at her.
“I wanted to rationalize the weight away by blaming the pregnancy. After all, didn’t every woman look fat right after delivering a baby? ” she said. “But the baby weighed only 7 pounds, so how could I explain the extra 90 pounds still hanging on me?”
The diet industry makes the wrong promise, and that is weight loss, which doesn't have any correlation to changing the habits that get us out of balance in the first place.
This defining moment was the start of her quest to understand why thin people can eat whatever they want and not get fat, and how to apply those principles in her life. Today she is 110 pounds lighter and the author of a new book, “Miracle Pill, 10 Truths to Healthy, Thin and Sexy.” She is now a personal health connection coach, teaching others how to connect and be at peace with their bodies.
In an exclusive interview, Hatch talked about what the diet industry doesn't want you to know: how to get your body to work for you, naturally and consistently. Hatch shared the following principles for putting her methods into practice in your own life:
The diet industry makes the wrong promise, and that is weight loss, which doesn’t have any correlation to changing the habits that get us out of balance in the first place. After the program or diet ends, we may have lost weight because of calorie restriction, but we have probably slowed down our metabolism and will only return to our old habits. The real goal shouldn’t be weight loss; it should be getting our bodies to work for us and tell us what we need so that our metabolism runs at optimal and burns fat for fuel.
Start by having conversations with yourself: What do I need today in order to run at optimal? What fuel will allow my body to run with a faster metabolism? Be fully present when you eat and listen for the message when your body tells you it’s satisfied and fulfilled with the correct amount to keep your metabolism running fast. Learn to honor your body when it asks for a big salad instead of chicken alfredo. It may taste good, but our bodies may not want it. And if you eat the alfredo anyway, how does your body feel 20 minutes or six hours later? Recognize that your body is a Ferrari and not a broken down go-cart — see food in terms of its value as Ferrari fuel.
Stop listening with your mouth. It’s not hard and doesn’t take a long time; it’s just different. It’s recognizing that we feel differently after we eat different foods, after we eat the plate of lasagna as opposed to the grilled vegetables. It’s a simple matter of performing a tasting exercise and putting conscious questions to the eating process. Have I had enough? Was it worthy of me? Did I like that taste? Am I feeling satisfied yet? (Specific exercises like these are laid out in Hatch's book.)Enjoy really delicious foods. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, but it has to taste good. Maybe the frozen vegetables have a freezer taste to them, or the cookies taste stale and packaged. Make the choice to eat foods that most closely resemble their original form and haven’t been in a box, can or freezer or passed through a wide variety of processing stages. A really yummy homemade salad dressing will not negate the value of that salad when your body wants it, and putting butter on whole grain bread doesn’t reduce the metabolic boost of that whole grain. This is why thin people can eat whatever they want and not get fat: The metabolic boost is still there.
Put the law of compensation to work. If you eat two pieces of pie today, listen to your body tomorrow and get the cues for how it wants you to compensate. It may be wanting more hydration, fewer carbs, less sugar and more vegetables.
Hear the prompt for activity. Our bodies are designed to be in motion; listen for how much and to what intensity. An overweight person may only be able to walk to the end of the block and back, but over time our bodies will prompt us for more.
Finally, it is okay to throw food away when your body tells you it is satisfied. It is liberating to recognize that food has no feelings. A donut doesn’t care if you throw it away half-eaten, nor does it have any value the moment your brain no longer wants it. Food only has value when you need it.
Kelly Thacker is a business owner and writer who has just finished her first novel.
