Weight Loss Occurs when Joy Replaces Stress, Says Scientific Research

On Sept. 25, the Institute for Health Solutions issued a press release announcing nine upcoming conferences for health professionals who are looking for weight loss alternatives to gastric surgery and counting calories for their overweight clients. The subject of the conferences will be a novel weight loss plan called The Solution Method (TSM).

TSM was researched and developed by Laurel Mellin, founder of The Institute for Health Solutions and an associate clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco. Giving further credence to the claim that TSM is "the answer to the obesity epidemic" is the fact the method is being endorsed by an increasing number of health professionals. Also, several studies support the effectiveness of TSM, the most significant finding being that the change in overweight individuals "tends to be lasting and broad-spectrum."

The press release quotes obesity expert John Foreyt of Baylor College of Medicine, who asserts that TSM "is the first method to show continued weight loss after the program ends." Also, says the release, Shape-Up America! reports that TSM "provides new hope to overweight Americans," and Health magazine named TSM as "One of the 10 Top Medical Advances of the Year."

So, how does TSM work? Simply put, the method teaches people to use simple skills to quickly take their brains from stress to joy, which is said to be essential to losing weight. The state of joy short-circuits the stress response and causes chemical changes that decrease appetite and promote weight loss. As people learn to take their brain from stress to joy, the drive to overeat fades and losing weight becomes easier.

The method consists of five basic tools: The Sanctuary, Feelings Check, Emotional Housecleaning, Cycle and Damage Control.

Ten times a day, the participant takes a few deep breaths and identifies what state they are in, based on a five-point scale: balance and reward, balance, on the verge of a stress response, stress, or stress and cravings. For each state, there is a corresponding solution tool, which eases stress and increases rewarding feelings. Although this is an oversimplification of the method, the claims by participants and health care professionals are positive.

Mellin says that each time a person uses the skills they're taught, they change their emotional state and experience an immediate benefit in mood, stress and cravings. She also says there is a cumulative effect of using the skills. Eventually, the brain appears to become rewired to increase resilience and change the person's happiness set point.

As it relates to weight loss, Mellin explains that "joy is not optional. It's essential to weight loss. The brain is reward-driven and when the brain is in chronic stress, the pleasure pathways don't get needed surges of feel-good neurotransmitters from natural sources, like eating a crisp red apple, being present in the moment, enjoying emotional closeness or going for a walk When natural pleasure is in short supply and we're in chronic stress, we unconsciously search for a ready substitute. Our neurotransmitter imbalances trigger cravings and drives. These drives are intense as the limbic brain, the clearinghouse for stress, is our survival brain. When it perceives stress, the intensity of our cravings can be as strong as the drive to run away from hungry lions. We want those unnatural pleasures -- such as sugary, fatty comfort food -- as if our life depended upon it, so we relent and overindulge, then blame ourselves, which adds to our stress. This toxic cycle of stress, lack of reward and overeating is fueling the obesity epidemic."

Mellin says that when people use these skills, they "see immediate emotional results. They get a natural pulse of relaxation, power and pleasure each time they use the skills, and the drive to overeat begins to fade. When used over time, the skills appear to retrain the brain to change the happiness set point. We become happier, more resilient people and food becomes just food - something to be enjoyed but not a 'fix.'"

Margaret Suddeth graduated from the program after losing 60 pounds. She has kept the weight off for three years and said that, although she exercises more now, "the biggest change in me is internal. I have the skills to pop my brain out of stress and into this zone of happiness that makes me forget about food."

According to American Sports Data, Inc., the obesity epidemic is growing. Some 3.8 million Americans weigh more than 300 pounds. More than 400,000 people (primarily men) weigh over 400 pounds, and the average adult female weighs an unprecedented 163 pounds. If these figures are accurate, finding treatments that correspond to the underlying causes of overweight is essential. So far, TSM seems to hold out some hope, and health professionals who attend the conferences will learn the science of the method and how to implement TSM tools in their practices and treatment of their obese clients.

Mellin began her research that ultimately lead to TSM in 1979. For overweight children, she developed The SHAPEDOWN program and now for adults, The Solution Method.

Sources:

Institute for Health Solutions; http://thepathway.org/how_it_works.asp

Press release, Obesity Epidemic Solution: National Conference Series Launches October 18, 2007 Learn Proven Method to Treat Food Cravings with Skills to Access Joy; http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/9/prweb555719.htm

American Sports Data, Inc.; http://www.americansportsdata.com/obesitystats.asp