Sophie Deram, a French-Brazilian nutritionist and author of “Weighing Diets” and “The 7 Pillars of Nutritional Health,” has launched her new book, “Stop Swallowing Myths: How New Discoveries in Nutrition Can Guide Us Amidst Fads, Misinformation, and Pseudoscience.” By Editora Sextante. In this work, she challenges what we consider “self-care” and suggests that it may be harming us. Information from Estadão.
Diram, one of the first to use the term “food terrorism” and take a stand against diets in Brazil, questions a series of myths that permeate discussions about nutrition, food and health. Based on scientific evidence – or the lack thereof – it challenges widely accepted beliefs, from “we shouldn't drink liquids with meals” to newer fads, such as intermittent fasting.
In an interview with Estadão, she expressed her frustration with the constant repetition of misinformation. She believes that this misinformation leads us to a tragic situation. “People have disconnected from their inner wisdom and started following rules,” she says. She says we outsource our health, hunger and sleep, and that this makes us lose confidence in our bodies.
This disconnect takes us into the eye of a health storm, characterized by the spread of chronic diseases and the high prevalence of mental health disorders. She believes we need to rethink our overemphasis on weight, which has been identified as a risk factor for many diseases. “Encouraging people to lose weight is an obesity factory,” he says.
In the book she shares her experiences in her office, where she coordinates a genetics project and works in the Eating Disorders Treatment Program (Ambolim) at Hospital das Clínicas at IPq-FMUSP. She stresses the importance of the patient becoming the champion of his health. “The doctor or nutritionist does not know more than the person (about himself). “One steers one's own boat,” she says.
Diram had the idea to write this book 30 years ago, when he experienced these nutrition and health myths firsthand while living in the United States with his young children. She believes that nutrition is more complex than simple calorie counting, and that obesity should be viewed more as a consequence than a cause of the problem. She says that encouraging a person to lose weight can put him or her at risk for obesity and chronic diseases.
It is concluded that obesity is a condition in which more adipose tissue is stored, which puts you at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc. But the question is: Why did you gain weight? She believes we need to work on our health first, not attack our weight. She admits that explaining this is complicated, because it seems counterintuitive.
So how is this patient treated? It is essential to help you reconnect with your body. But how do I do that? Most patients have a weight loss goal. I tell them: “I won't ignore your desire to lose weight, but let's change our approach. You've spent your entire life trying to lose weight, and in the process, you've ended up gaining even more weight. “It's true, I've been trying to lose weight for 20 years,” the patient agrees. “I started by wanting to lose three kilograms, and today I need to lose 20 kilograms.” Our goal will be to improve our diet, live healthier, and improve our lifestyle. Often, the patient feels afraid because he has spent his whole life being overweight. My challenge is to get the patient to eat, because he doesn't want to eat.
Our focus is on improving nutrition. like? First, you need to be aware of how you eat. Many patients do not know, because they followed the external rules of various diets. I say: “Let's see how it works and let's improve your diet.” In general, the patient is a bit sad, because he says, “I try to eat perfectly, and after five o'clock in the evening, everything goes wrong.” This is the famous emotional eating.
How to improve this? The first step is to make sure you are not hungry. If you're hungry, you'd better eat. Once you take care of that physical hunger, you need to understand what the psychological aspect is about your hunger. It is therapeutic work.
“The difficulty I face is getting the patient to eat, because he doesn’t want to eat,” says Sophie Deram, a nutritionist. According to information from Estadão, it generally works with five sessions and then leaves the patient to decide whether they want to continue or not, but it needs at least five sessions to address the entire behavioral problem. Patients are getting better.
She conducted non-scientific internal research with her patients. He asked: “Are you eating better?” The answer was, “Much better, because I don’t do as much emotional eating.” I asked: “Do you think you're eating less?” The majority answered yes, from 30% to 50%. Eating better, calmer, respecting the body and desires, but limiting emotional eating to respond to these feelings without eating.
The patient not only eats better, but also eats less. When you're allowed to eat, you'll no longer need to say goodbye and stuff yourself with a bag of candy. It's a complete re-education of your relationship with food. It also encourages physical activity and better sleep.
What is healthy eating? There is no consensus in the field of nutrition. Some will say they eat everything organic, others will say they can't have gluten, lactose, or inflammatory foods. All of this is advocated by some specialists, often without having any knowledge behind it. Healthy eating should have a much broader definition, because even foods like chocolate cake can be healthy if you eat them in peace. She has a definition of what healthy eating means: eating everything without restrictions, without guilt, with pleasure and respect for hunger and emotions. When eating healthy, it's not one food or another that makes the difference, it's an overall attitude. Naturally, it encourages eating more fresh, homemade foods, reducing diets, and eating more vegetables and fruits. It is important to see your diet as a standard. It is not a meal that will destroy your entire body's health. So how do you protect yourself from superstitions? At the end of the book there is a list (of what to do). First, reconnect: You are your best expert. It is interesting to get information, but you have to be very careful when filtering. If you hear something that scares you, get a second opinion. Another thing: No body works the same way. Therefore, a specialist, a person who really studies, will always have a relatively thoughtful speech. It will never be eight or 80, because there is no such certainty.
The disturbing sermons of these charlatans are constantly changing. They will attack the milk, then the bread… Her book was written so that people would not be more afraid, but on the contrary. The idea is to make them more empowered to speak up and question whether or not it is true and where the information comes from.
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