Did anyone watch the I Can Make You Thin premeire tonight? I thought everything he had to say made sense, and if a person were to just take what is seen in the first episode, they could see a definitive degree of success.

Tonight Paul McKenna covered the 4 Golden Rules:

1. When You Are Hungry, Eat

2. Eat What You Want, Not What You Think You Should

3. Eat Consciously And Enjoy Every Mouthful

4. When You Think You Are Full, Stop Eating

And he just elaborates on all of these, and works with different individuals.

He made the point that many have been programmed from an early age to eat everything on their plate, or face the guilting that would often occur if you didn’t. He says that it makes more sense to stop eating when you are full, than to put the food first. He said you can’t revive the half a chicken that’s laying on your plate. It’s just not a big deal.

He also talked about going to a fast food restaurant and actually applying Golden Rule 3. So, get your favorite meal or whatever, and eat it slowly, consciously, savor every bite. He says don’t be surprised when that food doesn’t taste nearly as good as you thought it did. And then you might just stop going there altogether, because you realize that this isn’t giving you much satisfaction.

He went into a woman’s fridge and asked her about a can of vegetables. He screened every food with her, and if she said that she’s “supposed to” or “has to” eat any particular food, it goes out. And that’s what he did with the can of vegetables. Where as a stock of broccoli was commented on with a simple, “I like broccoli.” So he put it back in the fridge. He says that you shouldn’t deprive yourself of things that you like, or feel an obligation to the can of green beans. At the same time, of course, one would make wise choices in general. But obviously depriving yourself of foods you like, and forcing yourself to eat ones you don’t, is not going to lead to any kind of lasting success.

He shared the story of a woman in England who was once very obese. She walked out onto the stage after they showed the story, having lost 160lbs. And she’s kept it off for 3 years.

I thought that most, if not everything he had to say made a lot of sense. A lot of it is basics, but he takes concepts and clearly describes and demonstrates them. I really think it’s going to be an effective show.

Next week he covers emotional eating.

I think that’s pretty good advice.

Did he mention the side-effect of eating slowly and thoughtfully: it takes 20 minutes for your body to realize it’s full!  If you eat really fast, you’ll have consumed many extra calories in those 20 minutes, which is why people get stuffed during huge meals.  (It’s also why I like to eat with chopsticks: it slows you down.)

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,
Julie

Thanks for the recommendation, Brandon! I just did a search on the show and set tivo to record. Can’t wait!

Bree

I watched it too.  Thought it made a lot of sense.  I tried eating more slowly today but kept forgetting.  One of the tricks to Eat when you are hungry is to recognize when you really are physically hungry.  Next week show on emotional eating may help with that.

I watched that show, mad me realize that I really do not know how to eat, nutritionally I’m pretty good, overeating I’m a pro!

I watched it too! Very interesting yet simple and well laid out.

Yeah, the show was kind of a click for me. Lately I’ve been trying to figure out how to strategize to reach my current goal, and he really put it all together very well.

Julie, I don’t recall if he mentioned the 20 minute fact, but he talked about the mechanics of hunger. He said there’s an integral muscle that most people haven’t strengthened, but it is very important. This muscle kind of regulates these things, but many people aren’t intune with the signals.

From Paul McKenna’s website:

“In his book ‘Achieving Vibrance’, Gay Hendricks teaches about a mechanism in the body he calls ‘the V spot’, which is located in your solar plexus, just below your ribcage and towards the centre of your body. This is actually a muscle which is designed to control the flow of food to the stomach. Unfortunately, it’s not a very strong muscle for most of us! However, as you get more and more sensitive to your body’s signals, you can actually feel the V spot close off when your body has had enough food.

In the meantime, just stop if you suspect you might be full, knowing that it doesn’t matter if you’re wrong – you can always start eating again if it turns out your body is still hungry.”

I suppose that makes sense.  I could ask my med-school friend to check on the details (ie: whether there is such a thing as the “v-spot"), but I think it doesn’t really matter one way or the other.  If you start paying attention to when you’re full, you’ll start to get better at recognizing the signals.

Cheers,
Julie

Hey Brandon - Good thread to start. If you didn’t I was going to jump in and start chatting about this show - because it’s too cool not to!

It’s pretty cool how Paul McKenna laid out the initial 4 goals: he made it super simple for anyone, anywhere, at any stage to understand and pick up some good info.

Goal #3 - eating consciously (& slowly) - is probably the most powerful tip we can ever do. I took an course on the psychology and physiology of eating last year, and it was very interesting to see how our body reacts to the ingestion of food.

While I’ve never heard of the “v-spot” in particular, it makes a lot of sense to me. I have learned a lot about the flow of hormones in the body that interact with your stomach to say “I’m hungry!” or “stop eating!”. I think many of us have heard that it takes about 20 minutes for your body to start feeling full - and that’s simply because it takes about that long for these hormone (among others) to be secreted and released to your stomach, and send the “stop eating!” signal to a small muscle at the entrance of the stomach (perhaps, this is the “v-spot").

In fact, even if you’re just smelling the foods as you’re preparing to eat, your body will start building up the hormones that signal fullness.

I think the slow eating just allows you to focus on all the sensations that go along with eating, and help you hear that “STOP!” signal better.

That’s what I’m working on at least. Someday I hope to be like my fiancee at a meal, who says “Uh oh, my switch is flipped” and just can’t eat any more.

In fact, even if you’re just smelling the foods as you’re preparing to eat, your body will start building up the hormones that signal fullness.

I think that is very true, Carlyn.  This last weekend I did a lot of cooking on Saturday, cooking ahead for this week.  I found that I was feeling full after all the cooking, even though I hadn’t eaten anything.

Thanks Carlyn!

Thanks for your insight into this particular topic. I never knew much about this hunger signal thing until now.

Woah! I guess there’s gonna be a new episode by Sunday, that’s tomorrow!

I missed the first ep, but caught 2 and 3.
I had TIVOed ep 1, but it got lost I guess while I was on vay cay.

Chad W - 31 March 2008 07:12 PM

I missed the first ep, but caught 2 and 3.
I had TIVOed ep 1, but it got lost I guess while I was on vay cay.

I’m just the opposite.  I watched and tivoed the first ones and thought I set it up to record the series but I guess not. I’ll have to catch the replays.

It looks like Ep one had quite a bit of info.  I felt like 2 and 3 had one idea streeeettttcccchhhhed out over one hour.

Yeah I think that’s true, Chad.

So so far I’m really enjoying the show, and I like that he’s applying techniques associated to accupuncture/pressure. I find his open-mindedness very refreshing.

Some of it is really canned, and it isn’t produced perfectly. But I’m definitely hooked! Now I just need to focus and do the homework!

Wow! I just caught episode 2 with the Chinese Meridans and tapping. Yin Yoga and Tai Chi is all into that, so cool.