Healthy Dimension: A nurse's mind/body weight loss solution

By Elizabeth Wright

Healthy Dimensions began as a mind/body workshop-style weight loss program in the Seattle area. The empowering Healthy Dimensions approach is evidence based and person focused. It is a journey to understanding your unique body and what simple changes can make weight loss perfectly natural.

This book was developed to accompany the HD Quick Start Workshop, in which participants learn about surprising research and choose from a variety of evidence based tools to develop their own personal plan. One that's comfortable to follow and naturally helps them kill cravings, burn fat 24/7, stop self-sabotage and end emotional eating.
The Healthy Dimensions approach is now available to anyone! This book provides cutting-edge research from biology to psychology and neuroscience, and tools to heal the body, mind and heart. Get this book, find a weight loss buddy or create your own group and watch your body and life transform!
Yes you can lose weight, Healthy Dimensions is the way.
About the author:
After a lifetime of obesity and yo-yo dieting, Healthy Dimensions founder Elizabeth Wright, RN, MSN dug into the research and discovered powerful truths about the causes and cures for obesity. She found that the whole person must be healed and that much of the conventional wisdom about losing weight is wrong. She lost 55 pounds at the age of 50 and has kept it off. She created Healthy Dimensions to share all she learned and help others who struggle with their weight.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elizabeth Wright
• Release date: Apr 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310002014

Book preview

A nurse’s mind/body

weight loss solution

It works for all your dimensions!

by Elizabeth M. Wright, RN, MSN

Healthy Dimensions - A Nurse’s Mind/Body Weight Loss Solution

By Elizabeth M. Wright, RN, MSN

Copyright © 2015 by Healthy Dimensions LLC – All rights reserved.

For permission to reproduce this book or any portion of this book, please contact [e-mail]

Edited by Stephen Wacker

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HEALTHY DIMENSIONS LIMITATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS

The Healthy Dimensions workshops, website, and book provide education on options to assist in losing weight and improving overall health. You are responsible for your own choices about which options to adopt. You must consider your choices carefully and should obtain advice from trusted healthcare providers about any concerns.

Participants who are taking medications MUST be managed by a physician. Rapid weight loss and relief of water retention may drastically reduce the appropriate dose for anti-diabetic and anti-hypertensive drugs. Blood pressure or blood sugar could become dangerously low. The effectiveness and safety of other medications may also change with weight loss. You take full responsibility for discussing this program and weight loss goals with your physician and for arranging for adequate follow-up with your physician for potential changes in medication doses.

Persons with kidney disease may not be able follow the standard dietary recommendations in the Healthy Dimensions program. If you have been diagnosed with kidney disease, you must identify to the Healthy Dimensions leader that you have this diagnosis and agree to not make any dietary changes that are not clearly supported by your physician.

Healthy Dimensions is not intended to provide medical advice. All information, content, and materials are for informational purposes only and are not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

IF YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, YOU SHOULD IMMEDIATELY CALL 911 OR YOUR PHYSICIAN. If you believe you have any other health problem, or if you have any questions regarding your health or a medical condition, you should promptly consult your physician or other healthcare provider. Never disregard medical or professional advice, or delay seeking it, because of something you have learned in the Healthy Dimensions program or read on the website or in the book.

A Note About Research and the Structure of this Book

The purpose of this book is to provide a synthesis of scientific evidence that has come to light around the causes and treatment of obesity and the healing of emotional pain that often accompanies living as an overweight person. It is not written for a scientific audience, but for those who want to know why they are overweight and what they can do about it.

Therefore, to provide a less distracting reading experience, footnotes were not used. The foundational books and professional articles that describe the primary research are listed in Appendices A and B at the end of the book. Throughout the book, readers are encouraged to continue their quest by learning more about those topics that interest them.

Many diverse areas of science have contributed pieces to the puzzle of healing obesity. This book and the Healthy Dimensions™ program reflect original work only in their approach to collecting the pieces and presenting them in a way that’s accessible and easy to adopt for the individual. I profoundly honor the innumerable scientists who work in relative obscurity to find truths that can be so helpful in our lives; we are all indebted to their work.

Helping people take advantage of science is what a nurse does. I am passionate about helping people recover from the dis-ease of obesity. Through evaluation, synthesis of evidence, and providing a process for transformation, Healthy Dimensions is the work that I offer.

Elizabeth M. Wright, RN, MSN

Using this book

This book was developed to accompany the Healthy Dimensions Quick Start Workshop (HD-QSWS), which is the foundation of the Healthy Dimensions program. (For more information, visit https://healthy-dimensions.com.) This fun, enlightening, and life-altering 6-week workshop helps participants choose from a variety of evidence-based tools to develop and begin their own Personal Nutrition and Lifestyle plans.

Details and evidence that support the Healthy Dimensions program are provided here in order to reduce the amount of lecture time and increase the amount of time available for interaction during workshop sessions.

There are significant advantages to having group support when making any major life change, especially weight loss, but it’s my hope that this book might be helpful for those who can’t easily access in-person group support. That being said, I encourage all who read this book to find some way to work with others, for one basic reason: group support works. I did it alone, but I desperately wanted a network of people to share the path; that is why the Healthy Dimensions program exists.

In addition to detailed information, this book offers a structure to help readers develop a plan that is comfortable and most likely to succeed for them – their Personal Nutrition and Lifestyle Plan. It also offers a variety of tools for multidimensional change. Readers can choose from these tools to help transform the body, mind, and emotions, eliminate self-defeating behaviors, and increase the amount of joy and satisfaction in life. There’s no need to choose all or even most of the tools, just those that seem best for one’s current state.

Whether you are participating in an HD-QSWS or simply trying to find your way with this book, I hope that it will help you on your journey. Thank you for reading.

Acknowledgments

No significant effort is completed in a vacuum, and there are many brilliant individuals who have contributed either directly or indirectly to the development of the Healthy Dimensions program and this book.

I want to thank the scientists and researchers who provided the insights upon which this humble synthesis relies. I also have deep gratitude to fellow healthcare professionals who provided ideas and unending support as Healthy Dimensions came into being: Kellie Deschaine, RN, MSN; Lynn Smolarkiewicz, RN, MSN; Lori Kennedy, RN, CNM, MSN; and Dr. Kristi Smith. Reviews of the manuscript were very important; thanks to Rosalie O’Brien and Kathryn Mashni for their thoughtful contributions. Artwork on the cover was a team effort but would not be what it is without the talents of Chris Martin.

Finally, I am most deeply in debt for the never-ending support and unparalleled skills of my editor and partner in all ways, Stephen Vincent Wacker.

Introduction

I was overweight by the age of six and suffered on the dieting roller coaster for more than 40 years. I could never make a diet work without starving myself and being emotionally miserable. I fought constant cravings, would get my weight down 20, 30, or even 40 pounds, and before I knew what was happening it would shoot back up.

When I went back to school for my Master’s Degree in nursing, the most important thing I learned was how to find quality research and understand it. So I started to investigate the evidence to learn the truth about what works best to lose weight – the evidence, not just the hype.

What I learned by really digging into the science behind current nutritional recommendations was that much of the conventional wisdom is wrong. Most everything that magazines, television, government agencies, and most so-called diet experts had to say about how I needed to lose weight was misguided – even potentially dangerous! I learned that for many people, the food pyramid is completely upside-down and that a low-fat diet can be more harmful than helpful when it comes to weight loss and overall health.

However, things are starting to change. Evidence now shows that much of the nutrition information published in the US since 1980 was based on shoddy science, and that political considerations often prevailed over peer-reviewed scientific research. In addition, quality research published in the last 15 years clearly suggests that being overweight isn’t simply a lack of self-control or weakness; it’s a symptom of a major metabolic disorder that many overweight people share. This disorder causes ravenous cravings and an inability to stop eating the very things that are causing it.

A significant portion of this book focuses on the causes and effects of this metabolic disorder, and provides a foundation and process for correcting it. However, we are more than overweight bodies, and living as an overweight person has profound effects on our thoughts and emotions. Unless we eliminate the self-sabotaging behaviors and start healing the damage from years of guilt and self-recrimination, a diet might not be enough – however perfect it might be.

As a nurse, I understand that people are multidimensional, that they have bodies, minds, and emotions. Nurses are expected to provide healing therapies and treatments for the physical, mental, social, and spiritual aspects of those who seek treatment. This is what the Healthy Dimensions™ workshop program is designed to accomplish, and what this book is designed to communicate.

Research in the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and biochemistry reveals the existence of key evidence-based techniques that have been shown to improve willpower and help reduce emotionally driven eating. Science now understands how the brain develops autopilot programs that run continuously and subconsciously drive behavior; some are helpful, others are not. This knowledge provides an opportunity for us to identify and change certain programs so our brains work with us in our weight-loss efforts instead of against us. The evidence is clear that there are many things we can do to make it easier to achieve a healthy weight.

Overcoming obesity is a mind/body problem and it requires a mind/body answer. As the mind and body begin to heal, our inborn self-regulating appetite emerges and will naturally lead to a healthy weight. This book provides readers with tools they can use to transform their metabolisms, heal themselves, and have a healthy relationship with food.

I used the information in this book to lose 55 pounds in nine months, at the age of 50, without any significant amount of exercise. I’ve been comfortably maintaining my healthy weight for four years now. After 30 years on a dieting roller coaster I’ll never look like a model, but I’m happy with how I look and especially with how I feel. I naturally eat exactly what my body needs and don’t feel the least bit deprived.

Evidence also suggests that there are additional major health benefits to correcting this metabolic disorder. Before I began my journey I took a lot of ibuprofen for stiff joints, had heartburn, gastric reflux, and other gastro-intestinal (GI) problems. I also had sleep apnea and acne, and my hair was even falling out! In addition, I had a fair amount of anxiety and some pretty significant bouts of depression that required antidepressant medications. I’m very pleased to say that I am no longer plagued with any of these health issues.

So why did I decide to develop the Healthy Dimensions program and this book? It’s simple: I’m a nurse, and it’s my life’s mission to help people and keep them from suffering needlessly. The path to health and vitality – where all your dimensions are healthy – is absolutely transformative. I want to share what I’ve learned; I hope that it might help you, too.

Chapter 1: Science and Obesity – Why We’re Overweight

You’re probably aware that the US population has an obesity problem. Over the last 30 years the incidence of obesity has increased rather sharply. Unfortunately, perhaps because of the increasingly hype-oriented approach of modern news media, important information tends to fade into the discordant background noise. But in fact there is plenty of evidence about why we’re overweight, and the answer might surprise you.

The state we’re in

As of 2010, two out of three adults in the US were at least overweight. As you can see from the following figure, the population went from around 45 percent overweight in the 1960s until the 1980s, when obesity rates just skyrocketed.

Figure 1. Obesity rates in the US from 1960-2010

Figure 1 uses the body mass index (BMI) measure, and it should be noted that there is some controversy around BMI because it doesn’t provide any variations for different body types. However, because it’s used here only as a benchmark it’s an acceptable tool.

Figure 2. Occurrence rates of other serious diseases from 1960-2010

Along with increasing girth, statistics show more high blood pressure, a huge spike in diabetes, and also cancer. Could these be related? Something seems to be really wrong here.

Is there obesity in the wild? Animals don’t become obese (well, unless they’re house pets). Animals in the wild have self-regulating appetites. They eat when they need to and don’t when they don’t need to. Have we lost that natural self-regulation somehow?

Maybe it’s just a matter of willpower

Perhaps we don’t have sufficient willpower. However, statistics indicate that isn’t it; there doesn’t seem to be a lack of willpower. For example, consider the following figure that shows decreasing rates of problems with alcohol:

Figure 3. Rates of alcohol problems from 1980-2000

There has also been a considerable reduction in the number of people who smoke cigarettes. Sure, there has been a cultural shift to stigmatize cigarettes and educate people about the dangers of smoking, but isn’t this also true of obesity? The stigma of obesity affects everything from employment to finding a partner, and yet the willpower wielded by so many people to quit smoking didn’t work when it came to eating less.

Or consider the following figure, which shows the pursuit of higher education