don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

Quick quiz. Which of the following is MOST likely to make you fat?

1. Chronic avoidance of exercise.
2. Chronic indulgence in high fat, sugary foodstuffs.
3. Chronic stress.
4. Chronic gullibility in believing preposterous claims by pill pushers.

If you chose # 3, you probably made the right choice. Probably--a good case could be made for any of the others, especially number four. The jury is still out on how stress works in this regard, but a new study supports the idea that chronic stress is a key factor in the accumulation of belly fat, the adipose issue that looks like a flesh-colored donut around your waist. This kind of fat not only looks bad--it's dangerous. Accumulated visceral fat around organs and in the abdomen is correlated with heart disease and added difficulty getting a date. If you are a participant in the rat race, you may want to drop out or devise a better strategy for dealing with (responding more effectively to) rat race events and circumstances. 
 
One thing everyone should do is pay attention when federal regulators get up the nerve to challenge marketing claims for wonder pills. Pills are unlikely to reduce stress hormones in a healthful manner, if at all. Yet, some companies would like to have you believe that you don't have to exercise, eat wisely and learn to manage stress--just buy and swallow their pills and "she'll be right, mate." Preposterous. Pills can make you relax and zone out, but they won't make you fit, won't make you thin and won't make you smart, pretty or prosperous, either. If you have any doubts, that is, if you are tempted to take seriously ads for such ludicrous notions as belly fat elimination pills, please take a course in skepticism. Or, critical thinking, or something. You must prepare yourself to better resist manipulation by the pill pusher industry. 
 
One obvious way chronic stress leads to added belly fat is that many people respond to stress by eating more. This is often done with the worst kind of foods, all in attempts to manage anxieties. This coping strategy is quite dysfunctional, since food is something that should be consumed for purposes of nourishment, not stress management. A medical journal report, cited in a recent feature story in the Wall Street Journal, identified a physiological basis for not just eating to cope, but (even worse) binging "on fatty and sugar-laden foods during times of stress." (See "Stress and Your Waistline: Gaining Belly Fat May Be Body's Way of Coping," Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2005; Page D1.) The study involved British rats in confined spaces, so it's tricky to extrapolate from that to humans in the rat race. Guess you should take these findings with a grain of salt, which is what you might try rather than spending your money on products that FDA and FTC regulators have accused of making unsubstantiated claims for stress management, weight loss and so on.
 
Here is another suggestion, an alternative to swallowing pills or eating fatty foods to deal with stress: Exercise vigorously, every day, twice a day if you can manage it, for at least one hour. This will lower your stress -- and increase your appetite for healthy foods. Last but not least, serious exercise will shrink the deadly spare tire around your waist. 
 
So do the sensible thing. Live wisely and, while you're at it, make it a point to always look on the bright side of life. Be well.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of stress management. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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