Pat Hartman | Childhood Obesity News

More Dread and Action

Pat Hartman September 6, 2022 No Comments

The BrainWeighve Welcome page tells what it expects from you, and what you can expect from it. For instance,

For in-the-moment, immediate stressful situations with eating urges, you should tap the Rescue button. The Rescue area asks you what is stressing you out the most in your life, at that moment, and then helps you come up with an Action Plan.

A person often feels alone in a problem, and a few even think they must be absolute freaks, because it’s just not possible that anybody has ever been so messed up before. The thing is, they are mistaken in that belief. Chances are, plenty of others face it too — whatever it is — and many of them have a head start toward figuring it out. A lot of the figure-outers are willing to share how they grappled with issues and fought them to a standstill.

Adults are aware that a kid would believe another kid, over an adult. And some grownups tend to upset themselves about how kids influence each other in unhealthy ways. They talk about “peer group pressure” as if it were a totally bad thing. But let’s use a kinder, gentler word and talk about peer influence instead.

At the end of this paragraph, just shrug

Now, here is where this gets really juicy. To help create the BrainWeighve app, many peers have taken the time to share the insights gained from their successful experiences with reversing or avoiding obesity. Also, in the tradition of Dr. Pretlow’s Weigh2Rock website, the app itself continues to accept input from users, to share with noobs and veterans alike, about what works. Of course, not every approach is guaranteed to work for everyone, all the time. Nothing ever is. (Cue shrug).

Some things do work, well enough and often enough to make them worth telling other people about. So, instead of peer group pressure, let’s talk about peer group treasure. Okay, the rhyme isn’t perfect, but it’s the beat that counts, anyway.

Or, consider peer group pleasure. Imagine a collection of people a lot like you, who have gone through some stuff and come out the other side. And they’re happy to share the cheat code! Okay, the comparison is not exact. We would never recommend cheating of any kind. It’s only a figure of speech. In fact, an idea that changes your life might turn out to be as much fun as getting away with something outrageous. (Not that anyone here would advise trying that either.)

The point being…

Others who have walked this path left little keys to success along the way, hidden beneath stones, in tree bark crevices, and in rock niches. They did this on purpose, for you to find, because they are so happy with their new selves, they can’t help wanting to share the wealth. If your philosophical worldview tends in that direction, chances are that before too long, you yourself will be in a position to improve the world by sharing your hard-earned knowledge.

No, there is not one big Key to Success. It’s a variety of little keys that have worked for somebody, and even for a lot of somebodies, and any one of them just might make your life a different place.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Image by Jeremy Segrott/CC BY 2.0

Happy Labor Day!

Pat Hartman September 5, 2022 No Comments

Happy Labor Day!

Holidays are tough for the nutrition-conscious. Drive carefully and eat sanely. Forget the soda, drink lots of water. Have fun being healthy!

Image by vectorfusionart/123RF Stock Photo.

A Circuitous Route to an Answer?

Pat Hartman September 2, 2022 No Comments

Every now and then, a headline floats by on the screen that poses an irresistible query. In this case, the question is, “Why don’t children with obesity benefit instantly from exercise?”

Why is it seemingly so rare for a child to be able to exercise her or his way out of obesity? This is not meant to cast aspersions on the value of exercise in and of itself. Every system in the body benefits from motion. As filmmaker Maya Deren used to say, “Make it move to make it live.”

Prolific and diverse writer Ian Thomsen begins by relating how one of the country’s most excellent school districts (meaning, in the Top 40) prepares children for standardized academic tests. First, they are taken outside for a brisk walk, because studies have shown that exercise improves intellectual performance. Specifically, during the test itself, children become more adept at multitasking, retaining thoughts from one moment to the next, and ignoring distractions.

Well, most of them, anyway. Because, according to Prof. Charles Hillman of the Center for Cognitive and Brain Health, this increase in function does not extend to obese children:

Hillman’s research has found that children in general experience a jump in cognitive performance in the hour immediately following exercise. The exception to this rule is children with obesity… Among children ages 8 to 11, Hillman’s center found that those with a higher body mass index failed to realize a cognitive gain…

The thrust of the inquiry seems to be a suspicion that if researchers can decipher exactly what is going on in one area to cause such a noticeable benefit, perhaps that insight is transferrable to the more mysterious question of why, when the time comes to step on a scale, exercise alone does not seem to move the needle very much.

So far, the suspected culprit is visceral adipose tissue, which protects the internal organs and is very necessary… up to a point. Once that point is passed, however, visceral fat becomes a detriment. Figuring out how that mechanism works might provide insight that is applicable to the tougher questions.

Assistant Professor Lauren Raine, who holds a very long title at a very impressive institution, says,

We know that increased fat is related to increased inflammation… [Obese children] benefit greatly from a long-term approach to fitness. A sustained nine-month program of exercise resulted in greater-than-normal cognitive gains for children with obesity.

The scientists involved here seem to intuit that if an exercise program can be devised that benefits obese children cognitively, as much as it benefits normal-weight children, then whatever it is that causes the effect will extend to other areas of bodily health. If they find out what works in the short term, perhaps they can proceed to understand what will help most in the long run, to prevent and reverse obesity in young people.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Why Don’t Children with Obesity Benefit Instantly from Exercise?,” Northeastern.edu, 08/30/22
Image by Adam Bautz/CC BY 2.0

What in the World Is a Dread List? (Continued)

Pat Hartman September 1, 2022 No Comments

The previous post finished up with a quotation worth repeating, about the innovative method known as BrainWeighve:

The app helps you deal with both immediate and ongoing difficult life situations and resulting eating urges.

One of the ways BrainWeighve works, the one we’re talking about right now, is by combining the powers of a Dread List with a set of corresponding Action Plans. In other words, the secret here is, it’s not only about making one big decision.

There are little decisions every day, scads of them, and this is where a lot of people get derailed. A conflict between two compelling drives might generate an overflow of nervous energy in the brain, but that brain energy is not being used in any helpful manner. It’s just a loose cannon, floundering around and firing off random blasts every which way.

However, the energy can be chained, curbed, nudged and persuaded into submission, by giving it something useful and relevant to do. That energy, like any decent superhero, can become convinced that using its powers for Good is by far the better course. But how? In explicit, moment-by-moment detail, how?

Glad you asked

BrainWeighve tells how to set up a Dread List, and here is an important tip:

Try to be open and honest, so that the app can help you.

It would be silly not to be honest here, because the only person fibbing could hurt would be yourself. You will be using this information in stressful situations, when competing drives make you feel crazy or out of control or unable to act at all.

Or maybe the scene is not even super horrible, just ordinary everyday frustration that builds up to the point where you don’t feel like trying to be reasonable about it anymore. All kinds of events can create in someone the false conviction that the only possible remedy for the case is to eat something ASAP.

So, make yourself a Dread List. Hit the setup icon and start to compile that inventory of sticky situations. Chances are, this will not be difficult. But if nothing spontaneously comes to mind, tap on “I need ideas on situations” to see typical life events that others have trouble with.

Where did they come from? Excellent question. They were contributed by other young people who participated in the studies that helped Dr. Pretlow and his team figure out what this app needed to cover. If you have ever felt freakishly alone, it might be pretty surprising to learn how widely shared some problems are.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

What in the World Is a Dread List?

Pat Hartman August 31, 2022 No Comments

As we have seen, it is quite likely that a person’s overeating problems stem from mental frustration with situations that seem insoluble. While commonplace frustration is intensely annoying, the real trouble starts when two competing drives are battling it out in your head. What a waste of energy. Speaking of which, let’s take a peek at the BrainWeighve App User Manual:

Nervous energy builds up in your brain to either deal with or avoid the situation, and this brain energy overflows or is “displaced” to your feeding drive, causing you to overeat. It’s a normal part of your brain that goes rogue…

The thing is, all that unruly brain power can be roped back into the corral, and harnessed. Use it to define and pin down your troublesome scenarios, and compose your own personal Dread List. But wait, that’s not all! The next step (and this is where your full creativity and originality have a chance to shine) is to make an Action Plan for each contingency.

Okay, that is one thing that stops the overflow production of brain energy. But there is so much more. As the manual stated, “Also, you will learn to rechannel the overflow brain energy to non-harmful displacement behaviors…”

What’s not to like?

Anyway, back to the notion of competing drives. Often, it seems there are only two choices, neither of them good. From the affected person’s point of view, facing this situation engenders a feeling that might be expressed as, “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.” When others observe someone who seems to be at an impasse, experiencing paralysis of the will, they might also find things to say, which are not always kind.

A corny old remark is relatively polite: “Fish or cut bait!” There is also a much more popular but quite vulgar phrase we can’t even say here, but everybody has heard it. Another variation that means pretty much the same thing is, “Put up or shut up!”

It’s bad enough that other people say these things, but when it gets to where you are saying them to yourself, something needs to be done. What might that thing be? Well, two things, actually. Make a Dread List, and make Action Plans.

Yes, you can

In many lives, the dilemma created by opposing drives will generate such urgency that a person will build a whole philosophy around it. For instance, they will declare that a bold move, even if it turns out wrong, is better than a timid refusal to do anything.

But consider this: What if you make a bold move and it turns out to be right? Even splendidly, spectacularly right! That is the best of all possible worlds. Imagine the triumph of making the bold move to, for instance, get serious about resisting obesity. Imagine giving it an honest, earnest try for six months. Now, soak up BrainWeighve’s pitch:

The app helps you deal with both immediate and ongoing difficult life situations and resulting eating urges.

(To be continued…)

What in the World Is BrainWeighve?

Pat Hartman August 30, 2022 No Comments

Glad you asked! BrainWeighve is a new phone app in its final stages of development by Dr. Pretlow and an amazing team. Today, we discuss some of the basic ideas behind it.

One major problem shared by adults and young people who are overweight, is a feeling of guilt, as if compulsive eating were the person’s own fault. This is a very heavy and discouraging emotion to live with. But the thing is, compulsive eating is one of the glitches in the way that humans are wired. The basic cause is the buildup of nervous energy in the brain and, as Dr. Pretlow says, “This brain energy overflows or is ‘displaced’ to your feeding drive, causing you to overeat.”

And so…?

Fine, but what is the source of this nervous energy? It originates from psychological conflict over life situations that the person feels unequipped to face, but cannot avoid. This extends out to any kind of frustration. So, what the BrainWeighve app does is help a person identify these situations of conflict or frustration, which is the first step toward any kind of remedy in any situation. Define exactly what you are dealing with, and sometimes even just putting a name to it can help a lot.

So does the realization that nobody is alone in these situations. Whether it shows or not, every person you know is required to face conflicts and frustrations, sometimes on a daily basis. After identifying such a roadblock, the next step is to come up with an Action Plan to deal with it effectively. Of course, “roadblock” is only a figure of speech. Dynamite is of no use here. The last thing anyone wants is for a situation to blow up — which is why Action Plans are so helpful.

But what happens to all that excess brain energy, buzzing around in a person’s head? Fortunately, it does not go to waste, but can be put to good use. It can be usefully rechanneled into non-harmful displacement behaviors, and we will talk about that more later.

Skipping ahead a bit

Let’s focus for a moment on a difficult situation, or trigger, that affects many people all too often. A person can skip this section of the app if they prefer, but for anyone who finds holidays and other celebrations hard to manage, it can be very helpful. Occasions where people get together and share food and drink with a festive spirit are sometimes dreaded by individuals who are obese or trying hard not to be.

There is immense cultural pressure; there is the force of habit from past experiences of communal feasting; there is a reluctance to hurt the cook’s feelings; there is the fear of being “jokingly” called a wet blanket or a party-pooper by “friends.”

But worst of all is the battle against the self, the urge to say, “What the heck, it’s a holiday, I’ll make up for it by being careful next week….” and on and on, blah blah blah. We all know the inner monologue that broadcasts its predictable and destructive tapes on these occasions.

The section, not surprisingly, is called Celebrations. For anyone who wants to give it a try, this is an important area where BrainWeighve can provide a path to calmness and competency.

More coming up!

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 8

Pat Hartman August 29, 2022 No Comments

We left off at the crucial moment when a pair of sticklebacks fall in love. In the nest he has prepared, she lays her eggs and then waves goodbye; he fertilizes them and hangs around for a week or two until the fry are able to fend for themselves.

However… One thing that could happen is that the female just might check back to see if any eggs were snuck into the nest by some hussy, because she is not prepared to tolerate that, and will eat them. Or an entire roving gang of female sticklebacks might attack the nest and eat the babies, just because they are feeling ornery.

Under this threat, the male is apt to heroically and creatively try to distract the attackers with some kind of fake news. Professor of Biology Susan A. Foster wrote,

[T]hese conspicuous displays appear to include elements of behavior co-opted from other contexts, and subsequently ritualized or made more conspicuous in the new context of the diversionary display.

Typically, human researchers insist on defining displacement activity as wrong, inappropriate, irrelevant, etc. Sure, it may be “behavior co-opted from other contexts,” but why is that framed as an indictment? It is a positive defense that protects the young from cannibalistic wild women — yet humans insist on denigrating it as “displacement.”

In all fairness, it seems like the determination to save babies should be called a basic drive. And what could be more in-context than a diversionary tactic — especially if it succeeds? What could possibly be more appropriate than a clever life hack that works?

And yet so many humans, like salmon expert Thomas Kline, are adamant: “Essentially a displacement activity is doing the wrong thing.” Another explainer says,

Certain species of fish, such as the stickleback, also exhibit such out-of-context displacement activity. When at the boundary between its own territory and that of another stickleback, where both attack and escape behaviors are elicited, inappropriate nest-building behavior is often displayed.

Early behaviorists N. Tinbergen and J. J. A. Van Iersel wrote in 1946,

[S]uch irrelevant movements occur when the animal is under the influence of a powerful urge, but at the same time is in some way prevented from expressing this urge in the appropriate way. The animal, under such conditions, does not suspend action, but vents its urge in movements belonging to another drive. The behavior “sparks over” from one drive to another.

Okay, combat is a drive, and escape is a drive, but what if sliding out of the situation peacefully is also an equally strong and valid drive? Surely, diversionary tactics are successful at least some of the time. And when that happens, why is the action deemed a mere substitute caused by frustration engendered by the inability to fulfill another drive?

Why isn’t the avoidance of violence (or the avoidance of disgraceful flight) seen as the fulfillment of a legitimate drive, in and of itself? If a diversionary tactic produces a peaceful outcome, why is that judged as inappropriate, irrelevant, out-of-context, and wrong?

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Evolutionary and Natural History of the Threespine Stickleback,” ScienceDirect.com, undated
Source: “Salmon displacement activity,” Salmonography.com, undated
Source: “English Dream,” Naver.com, 08/27/2020
Source: “’Displacement Reactions’ in the Three-Spined Stickleback,” Jstor.org, undated
Image by Biodiversity Heritage Library/Public Domain

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 7

Pat Hartman August 26, 2022 No Comments

More on the inquiries into what kind of fish might behave like the Slide 14 subject. There is a type that acts in a certain way:

Male stickleback fish stand on their heads and dig into the sand as if building a nest when the impulses of attack and retreat are evenly balanced…

The description of the Slide 14 action was that the male engaged in displacement behavior — bouncing on his head — because of inner conflict over whether to perform a reproductive act. (Dropping a load of sperm into a nest does not seem like that big of a deal, really, and certainly not worth dying over.)

But the whole basis of his psychological conflict was that if he messed around with her, she would kill him. So, maybe he should flee instead. But again, why? Since female sticklebacks do not murder their baby daddies, it seems like, as the stars of that drama, the species would be ruled out. Another source says that sticklebacks exhibit…

[…] out-of-context displacement activity. When at the boundary between its own territory and that of another stickleback, where both attack and escape behaviors are elicited, inappropriate nest-building behavior is often displayed.

A stickleback makes a nest on the sea floor, so he just might stand on his head and dig into the sand, even if a human calls it “bouncing.” But Slide 14 wasn’t about a male-on-male territorial dispute. The scenario was introduced as one in which a lady was ready and waiting to consummate a relationship. For a stickleback, that would mean she deposits eggs in his nest, and then says, “Bye, have fun raising the kids.” And he is so there for it! Not exactly an existential crisis, or an occasion suitable for frantic displacement activity.

Some stickleback lore

Behaviorist pioneer Niko Tinbergen liked working with sticklebacks. In the wild, apparently, the males are very aggressive. They compete for territory, and for dates. To the female, red equals hot. Here is a small snippet of Gregory F. Grether’s fascinating discourse about her preference:

In most populations of three-spined stickleback, females prefer males with red coloration, and this is a condition-dependent trait that reflects variation among males in parental care and parasite resistance.

In other words, a red throat is a stellar résumé and a winning recommendation letter. Armed with those, the male builds a nest from weeds stuck together with a secretion from his kidneys. He likes a gal who is bigger than him and has a bulging stomach, which means bigger eggs. He attracts a likely prospect with a courtship dance, and if that goes well, they enjoy a piscine equivalent of foreplay, which a bold female will sometimes even initiate.

(To be continued!)

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Displacement activity,” OxfordReference.com, undated
Source: “English Dream,” Naver.com, 08/27/2020
Source: “The Evolution of Mate Preferences, Sensory Biases, and Indicator Traits,” ScienceDirect.com, 2010
Image by M Krijnsen/Public Domain

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 6

Pat Hartman August 25, 2022 No Comments

Here is a callback to Slide 14. What kind of fish might those have been? Simple curiosity initiated a quest as epic as Alice’s journey down the rabbit hole. First, how much can we reasonably expect from a fish, anyway?

Leonor Galhardo wrote that fish are sometimes accused of having no mental experiences because they lack neocortices. Still, they do have neuroendocrine, cognitive and emotional processes that “allow inferring some forms of mental representation.” According to Galhardo,

The integration of psychological elements in fish stress physiology is insufficiently studied, but, as discussed in this article, there is already indirect evidence to admit that some form of stimuli appraisal can take place in fish. This fact has profound implications on the regulation of the stress response…

Do fish even engage in displacement activity? Apparently, some of them do. The male sockeye salmon, for instance, has been observed to dig in a stream during the summer. The source says, “This behavior is considered a displacement activity indicative of the male’s frustration in not being able to spawn.”

His activity is considered to be of the displacement variety, because usually, it is the female salmon who digs the redd, or spawning nest, the depression where the parents will place their eggs and sperm. And also, the female “may dig at a location a short distance away from her redd as a displacement activity.” There is also some talk of cichlid fish using displaced aggression to manage conflict among a group of social fish, but we will not go into that.

Something fishy going on

Why would a fish bounce on its head, which is how the Slide 14 male is described? Maybe it wasn’t actually doing a pointless displacement activity. After all, there is a species where the lady fish buries her eggs, and the male has to burrow into the substrate to fertilize them. A male might get crazy and bounce on his head, but that kind of displacement behavior is supposed to be reserved for when a male challenger comes knocking. But this female willingly offers herself, and most importantly, she has no reason to take umbrage.

Could they be sticklebacks? If so, he even volunteers to kill any offspring that happened to be fertilized by a male inferior to himself, her chosen one — that is how much he respects her. The females are cannibalistic, too, but only with the eggs of other females. They don’t eat their own eggs, and there is no mention of spousal murder.

Why would she slay the fellow who immediately relieves her of child-care responsibilities? He housekeeps the nest, and fans it to prevent sedimentation, and ensure well-oxygenated water for the kids — while she goes on her merry way. He protects the little ones from predators. Some exemplary stickleback dads will even anxiously follow fry who wander away, and bring them back to the nest.

So, these two must not be sticklebacks. Because stickleback women have good sense.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “Psychological Stress and Welfare in Fish,” Annual Review of Biomedical Sciences, March 2009
Source: “Focused Collection,” FocusedCollection.com, undated
Source: “Salmon displacement activity,” Salmonography.com, undated
Image by Lake Clark National Park/Public Domain

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 5

Pat Hartman August 24, 2022 No Comments

In Dr. Pretlow’s presentation, one section concerns a male fish who somehow knows that after he mates with the female, she will kill him. He actually should run away. But he wants to stay and mate, so there is a tremendous conflict, which he deals with by doing a displacement behavior, bouncing up and down on his head.

Next is a section about displacement behaviors in dogs, which can include yawning “when they are confused about what to do.” This recalls advice given to drivers who need to stay alert on long trips. They are told to chew gum, because supposedly when the jaw moves, more oxygen gets to the brain. (Is it possible that the yawn is not pointless, and this is not an out-of-context, inappropriate action? Maybe a confused dog knows from experience that some jaw motion will help clear his head a bit, and end his confusion?)

Likewise, excessive paw-licking, to the point where it becomes an acral lick disorder, is believed to be caused by psychological reasons like boredom, stress, or anxiety. But even an amoeba knows to avoid pain (or at least to distance itself from something that would hurt, if it had a nervous system). Is it possible, at least sometimes, that paw-licking is not displacement behavior; that the animal is simply licking because the paw hurts or itches, and the humans have not yet understood that? There are several physical causes that a good veterinarian will first rule out, before declaring the harmful licking activity to be psychologically based.

How do researchers know such things?

Some of this science is based on looking at what is effective for humans and working backward from that. Clomipramine treats OCD, panic disorder, depressive disorder, and chronic pain in humans. So, it was given to dogs, who then ceased their obsessive and harmful licking. But was that because the drug had a psychological effect, or simply because it relieved physically-caused pain or itching?

Because of its side effects, clomipramine is disliked by humans. Another drug, sertraline, is much better tolerated, and preferred by people suffering from OCD, panic attacks, depression, PTSD, and social anxiety. However, sertraline also treats chronic pain, so the same shadow of doubt might remain. When a dog abandons excessive paw-licking, is it responding well because the drug is effective against the canine equivalent of OCD? Or is it simply responding to the relief of pain caused by some other, as-yet-unknown physical problem?

One of the fun things about a pet cat is watching what it does, on the rare occasion when it embarrassingly loses its footing. More than likely, the cat will casually start licking itself, as if to say, “What are you looking at? I’m just doing my normal grooming over here.” What else is it supposed to do? It can’t blush. Chances are, any activity the cat engaged in at this moment would be classified by the human observer as displacement behavior.

The tricky thing about displacement behavior is that it can look just like normal behavior, except that human observers have determined that the activity is not proper in the animal’s particular context at the moment.

A cat tip

Experts say, go easy with the laser pointer. Don’t let it be your only cat toy, or even the main one. The laser is a lot more fun for the human than for the cat, who experiences frustration at chasing prey it can never catch. This might lead to some wacky displacement behavior, like licking a big patch of fur off itself.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Image by jeffreyw/CC BY 2.0

More Dread and Action

At the end of this paragraph, just shrug

The point being…

Happy Labor Day!

A Circuitous Route to an Answer?

What in the World Is a Dread List? (Continued)

Glad you asked

What in the World Is a Dread List?

What’s not to like?

Yes, you can

What in the World Is BrainWeighve?

And so…?

Skipping ahead a bit

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 8

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 7

Some stickleback lore

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 6

Something fishy going on

Addiction and Displacement Theory Presentation 5

How do researchers know such things?

A cat tip

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