Overeating 'not your fault'
[caption id="attachment_37966" align="alignright" width="405"] YUMMY TEMPTATION: Some can have their cake and eat it and others are able to resist overeating – even if it is something they really hunger after[/caption]
DR Jane McCartney uses cognitive behavioural therapy to deal with the problem of "emotional eating", telling patients that if you want to eat less, you have to understand why you want to eat more.
Let's admit it, few of us are safe in the house with an open packet of biscuits. It doesn't take much to tempt me — a rubbish day, a row with the husband, a snub from a friend, or just simply too much work to do — and then: Oops! Before I know it, the whole packet is gone and a Scooby-snack-sized pile of toast has disappeared too, washed down with a Coke or a generous glass of wine and a bag of peanuts as a chaser. My rubbish day has just got worse.
It seems I'm not alone. McCartney is a psychologist who specialises in overeating.
She has seen scores of patients who eat obsessively and destructively. Many millions more of us simply overeat.
McCartney has put her experiences into a book called Stop Overeating, which aims to help us develop a healthy relationship with food and lose weight along the way.
A quarter of people in the UK are now obese – perhaps even more in South Africa – and weight-related diabetes is one of the largest single health costs for our governments.
As McCartney tells me when we meet in a London bar: "Food is probably the biggest unrecognised harm causer – it's almost become normalised to be overweight, even if it's just a little bit overweight."
There is no getting away from the facts. "We are fat because we overeat," she says, before adding: "Don't beat yourself up about it. It's not your fault."
Dr McCartney, or Dr Jane as she styles herself for her television appearances on news and lifestyle programmes (the doctorate is in psychology, not medicine), should know – she's been there. The pretty, slim brunette in her mid-40s may not look like someone who has struggled with overeating, but "I've certainly had my moments", she tells me.
Even the day before, when her son disregarded some advice, she felt the kind of rejection that "could have me heading for the cupboard and reaching for the biscuits".
Happily for McCartney, she has found ways to deal with the urges, using techniques from cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a discipline that aims to find ways to deal with negative thoughts and actions, combined with analytical methods that explore the deeper reasons for rushing for a food fix when under stress.
"Most weight-loss books are aimed at women, but I see my fair share of men, too," she says. So Frank, who sits in the car gorging on junk in the supermarket car park after rowing with his girlfriend, is in just the same behavioural loop as Kate, who goes out and stuffs herself with cream cake after being snubbed by a work colleague.
It's only by delving into the past – Frank's dysfunctional childhood, neglected by his teenage mother; Kate's destructive relationship with her sister – that they can begin to address their issues.
Next up is to address one's feelings of self-worth, or lack of it. McCartney recommends identifying supportive, trustworthy people in your life. They are not necessarily your "best" friends, who on reflection may not be as supportive as you assume.
She also points out that people seem to imagine that it's only what they eat at mealtimes that counts. "They completely ignore the stuff they eat between meals. They think: 'He gave it to me, I ate it to be polite, I haven't cooked it, it doesn't count.' Ah, yes! As if chocolate has no calories if it is a present.
"But deep down you know what you have been eating and what you haven't been eating. Much the same as alcoholics or people on narcotics."
So food is a drug? "Yes, it can be," she says. "There's plenty of research, most of it US based, that shows that people just see the golden M [of the McDonald's sign] and it is enough to start a neurological response in the brain that says: 'I have to be satisfied'."
So why do overeaters turn to food rather than drinking, smoking or taking hard drugs? "Because it is there. Every house has food, so it is readily available and – up to a point – socially acceptable.''
Nonetheless, it seems unfair that some people just don't seem to have a problem with overeating. McCartney agrees, pointing out that it is a matter of taking it or leaving it. "Some people are Take It people, some are Leave It people."
The greatest pitfalls to the dieter, however, are simply the saboteurs.
"People can be very manipulative and determined. I had a chap who said to his office, I'm going to lose weight, and everyone was supportive except one person, who kept bringing cakes and doughnuts in. He would say, 'Please don't, or at least don't put them anywhere near me'. In the end, he put the plate of doughnuts on the floor and jumped on them. Unfortunately, the person bringing them in was his boss. But he got the hint." – The Daily Telegraph
