Beyond the Measuring Cup

There is more to dieting than just moderation and regulation. There must be customization and satisfaction. Many of those who are dieting feel they are deprived of so many things. The feeling is traumatic because one feels as though he is punished and made to starve to death. What happens is that the person launches into a binge and the result is that the diet plan is defeated all together.

To go on a diet simply cannot be measured by just having one cup of rice every meal. You must have a nutritionist with you to fully understand how your meals must be regulated. Weight reduction and dieting is more than just the measuring cup. There are at least seven items that need to be factored in before coming up with a diet or nutrition plan. These factors include age, weight, height, body mass index, lifestyle, exercise program and food favorites. You just cannot diet for the sake of dieting and pretend as though you are going to lose weight after that.

You also cannot just diet by taking slimming tea, slimming tablets and all sorts of slimming supplements that purport to make you lose weight. All these have no therapeutic value, no bearing on weight reduction and will only destroy you in the end. That slim-looking woman on the label of a slimming tea or on television promoting a slimming supplement is all deception and lies.

To be practical about it, the last thing that you should think of when going on a diet is weight reduction. What you should think of instead is proper nutrition and food regulation. In our modern day world, we are being deceived with the kind of food we should be eating. Our sensory perception is being bombarded with chicken skin floating in mid-air, a table of cholesterol-laden food, celebrities munching and downing burgers and pizzas as though these were the last meals in their lives. Food advertisements never tell you that eating too much chicken skin and fatty food will literally, honestly and virtually kill you.

Then when you go to the gym, the instructor tells you to go slow on food intake but does not guide you how to slow down. There is only one gym in Cebu that takes care of club members in nutrition planning and exercise. That gym is where I am a lifetime club member. Other gyms either don’t have such service or have but you have to pay separate fees just to have a nutrition plan and your diet monitored.

Really, dieting is more of nutrition planning and while it is not necessarily simple, it all depends on where your heart is. If you like to grow fat and sickly, then go ahead and eat for all you care.

Customized

To have a customized nutrition or eating plan, the first thing to consider is to understand the anatomy of your body. That means the nutritionist will want to know your weight, height, body mass index and age to determine the quantity or how much food your body needs.

Then your lifestyle is factored in. That means the nutritionist will want to know the kind of work you are in like does your work require you to sit always, require more of thinking or require you to be on the move always. The nutritionist will also want to know if in your kind of job you party always or have a penchant for eating out or going out at night, or just want to stay home. This will determine the quality of food you will be needing.

If you are on exercise or on personal training, the nutritionist also needs to know what kind of regimen you are in, to determine the kind and amount of energy food you should be taking. Knowing your food favorites is similarly important to determine how much of these you can take or take out all together based on the factors mentioned above.

After an evaluation of all the seven factors, your nutrition plan is drawn based on food group and the amount of calories you need to maintain on a daily basis. Basically, the plan will contain how much meat, how much vegetable and fruit or how much carbohydrate and protein you will be needing.

The rules are for you to consume only the recommended amount for each food group as indicated in your eating plan. Put more emphasis on the consumption of complex carbohydrates such as fruits, cereals and grains like rice and noodles and pasta. That is why the one cup of rice per meal is not necessarily applicable for just anybody. All the seven factors have to be weighed in to find out if the one cup of rice is healthy for you.

Although going less on fat and sugar is also the rule, you can have your cake and eat it too. For instance, if you really like sweets like chocolates, make sure this is not in the list of melamine tainted products and if these are not, you can eat in small quantities.

In nutrition planning, there is such a thing as desirable body weight and healthy weight range. What nutritionists aim for is for you to have the desirable body weight within the healthy weight range. For instance, if based on your age, height, weight and body mass index, your healthy weight range is between 91.8 to 112 pounds, your desirable body weight should be within that range like maybe 100 pounds.

But the recommended nutrition program is only a suggested plan. It is for you to implement, not anybody else. Weight reduction is only effective if you follow your nutrition plan to the letter. It is a command etched in stone. You only have to defy your nutrition plan and you’ll be back to where you don’t want to be – FAT.

The Bio-Psychosocial Approach To Drug Dependency

By Vicente G. Aldanese

How Is Addiction Viewed

Any type of addiction treatment program must have a conceptual framework upon which specific treatment efforts are built. The conceptual framework views addiction as a chronic, progressive, relapsing condition that involves compulsion, loss of control, and continued use despite adverse consequences. The emphasis is that addiction is a bio-psychosocial problem. That is, the emergence, maintenance, and course of addiction is influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors. In turn, addiction has profound effects on people’s biological, psychological and social lives.

Biological Factors

Although related evidence is equivocal regarding biological contributions to addictive behaviors, it has been a common belief that some people are born with genetic predisposition for developing an addiction when exposed to psychoactive drugs. Following chronic drug use, all people experience a severe biological (neurochemical) imbalance. Drug hunger, intoxication, and withdrawal are all manifestations of drug-induced imbalances of biological homeostasis.

Psychological Factors

Some people begin their drug use to diminish potent emotional and psychiatric symptoms. In turn, addiction causes a variety of psychological problems. Importantly, addiction causes distortions in thinking such as denial, minimization, and projection

Social Factors

Various environmental factors increase the likelihood of exposure to specific drugs. For instance, certain drugs are more frequently used within certain cultures, found in certain geographic areas. For many people, drug use occurs in the context of social network. As a result, addiction frequently causes severe disruptions in people’s social lives. Various social and environmental factors can also contribute to the triggering of drug hunger and relapse.

How Does This Approach Addresses Addiction

The need of a broad approach is particularly urgent for the client’s addiction problems. Treatment should offer the recovering persons;

•Skills that give clients more control over their lives.

•Opportunity to try out new behaviors.

•Concrete relapse prevention plan.

•An emphasis on practical lifestyle issues, such as exercise and nutrition.

•Understanding Addiction

•Cultural And Ethnicity

The Bio-psychosocial and its holistic approach to treatment assume that living a balanced life is a fundamental objective of all people, regardless of race, culture, or ethnic background. Establishing physical, emotional, social and spiritual well being is considered to be a central objective in the process of recovery from addiction for all individuals.

Nevertheless, the role of culture and ethnicity is also a critical element of the recovery process. Cultural sensitivity on the part of addiction professionals is a prerequisite for providing effective treatment.

Cultural And Ethnicity

Cultural sensitivity on the part of addiction professionals is a prerequisite for providing effective treatment. Unless the treatment staff is aware of the cultural and ethnic issues and concerns of clients in treatment, as well as socioeconomics factors their effectiveness will be severely restricted and eventually counterproductive. The treatment staff must have a fairly thorough knowledge of, empathy for, the ethnic and cultural experiences, perceptions, and values of his or her clientele.

For more information, please feel free to contact the Recovery House at telephone numbers 32-2331881 or 32-2315229.