Why dieting doesn't usually work | Sandra Aamodt

Translator: Simon Bugge Jensen Reviewer: Silas Paaske

Three and a half years ago,

For 3 1/2 år siden

I made one of the best decisions of my life.

traf jeg en af de bedste beslutninger i mit liv.

As my New Year's resolution,

Som mit nytårsforsæt

I gave up dieting, stopped worrying about my weight,

stoppede jeg med slankekure, stoppede med at bekymre mig om min vægt

and learned to eat mindfully.

og lært at spise med omtanke.

Now I eat whenever I'm hungry,

Nu spiser jeg, når jeg er sulten,

and I've lost 10 pounds.

og jeg har tabt 5 kilo.

This was me at age 13,

Det her er mig som 13-årig,

when I started my first diet.

da jeg startede min første slankekur.

I look at that picture now, and I think,

Når jeg ser på det billede i dag, tænker jeg,

you did not need a diet,

du havde ikke behov for en slankekur,

you needed a fashion consult.

du havde behov for en modeekspert.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

But I thought I needed to lose weight,

Men jeg tænkte, at jeg havde behov for at tabe mig,

and when I gained it back,

og da jeg tog det hele på igen,

of course I blamed myself.

bebrejdede jeg selvfølgelig mig selv.

And for the next three decades,

Og i de næste tre årtier

I was on and off various diets.

var jeg på forskellige slankekure.

No matter what I tried,

Ligegyldigt hvad jeg prøvede,

the weight I'd lost always came back.

så kom den vægt jeg havde tabt altid tilbage.

I'm sure many of you know the feeling.

Jeg er sikker på mange af jer kender det.

As a neuroscientist,

Som hjerneforsker tænkte jeg,

I wondered, why is this so hard?

hvorfor er det her så svært?

Obviously, how much you weigh depends on

Det er åbenlyst, at hvor meget man vejer afhænger af,

how much you eat and how much energy you burn.

hvor meget man spiser og hvor meget energi man forbrænder.

What most people don't realize

Det som de fleste ikke er klar over er,

is that hunger and energy use

at sult og energiforbrænding

are controlled by the brain,

er styret af hjernen,

mostly without your awareness.

for det meste uden vores vidende.

Your brain does a lot of its work behind the scenes,

Hjernen foretager det meste arbejde bag scenen

and that is a good thing,

og det er en god ting,

because your conscious mind --

fordi ens bevidste tanker -

how do we put this politely? --

hvordan formulerer jeg dette høfligt? -

it's easily distracted.

bliver nemt distraheret.

It's good that you don't have to remember to breathe

Det er godt, at man ikke skal tænke på at trække vejret,

when you get caught up in a movie.

når man bliver opslugt af en film.

You don't forget how to walk

Man glemmer ikke, hvordan man går,

because you're thinking about what to have for dinner.

fordi man tænker over, hvad man skal have til aftensmad.

Your brain also has its own sense

Ens hjerne har også sin egen fornemmelse for,

of what you should weigh,

hvad man bør veje,

no matter what you consciously believe.

ligegyldigt hvad man bevidst mener.

This is called your set point,

Dette kaldes ens indstillingspunkt,

but that's a misleading term,

men det er et misvisende begreb,

because it's actually a range

fordi det er faktisk et spektrum

of about 10 or 15 pounds.

på 5 - 7,5 kilo.

You can use lifestyle choices to move your weight

Man kan benytte livsstilsvalg til at bevæge ens vægt

up and down within that range,

op og ned indenfor dette spektrum,

but it's much, much harder to stay outside of it.

men det er meget, meget hårdere at holde sig udenfor det.

The hypothalamus, the part of the brain

Hypothalamus, den del af hjernen

that regulates body weight,

der regulerer kropsvægt,

there are more than a dozen chemical signals

der er mere end et dusin kemiske signaler

in the brain that tell your body to gain weight,

i hjernen, der fortæller din krop at den skal forøge vægten,

more than another dozen that tell your body to lose it,

mere end et dusin der fortæller kroppen, at den skal tabe det

and the system works like a thermostat,

og systemet fungerer som en termostat,

responding to signals from the body

der reagerer på signaler fra kroppen

by adjusting hunger, activity and metabolism,

ved at justere sult, aktivitet og stofskifte

to keep your weight stable as conditions change.

for at forsøge at holde vægten stabil under skiftende forhold.

That's what a thermostat does, right?

Det er det en termostat gør, ikke sandt?

It keeps the temperature in your house the same

Det holder temperaturen i ens hus konstant

as the weather changes outside.

selvom vejret udenfor ændrer sig.

Now you can try to change the temperature

Man kan prøve at ændre på temperaturen

in your house by opening a window in the winter,

i ens hus ved at åbne et vindue om vinteren,

but that's not going to change the setting on the thermostat,

men det vil ikke ændre indstillingen på termostaten,

which will respond by kicking on the furnace

der vil reagere ved at tænde for varmen

to warm the place back up.

for at varme huset op igen.

Your brain works exactly the same way,

Ens hjerne fungerer på nøjagtig samme måde,

responding to weight loss by using powerful tools

ved at reagere på vægttab med kraftfulde værktøjer

to push your body back

til at presse ens krop tilbage,

to what it considers normal.

til hvad den anser for normalt.

If you lose a lot of weight,

Hvis man taber sig meget,

your brain reacts as if you were starving,

vil ens hjerne reagere som om man sultede,

and whether you started out fat or thin,

og uanset om man startede tyk eller tynd,

your brain's response is exactly the same.

så vil ens hjernes respons være nøjagtigt den samme.

We would love to think that your brain could tell

Vi ville ønske at ens hjerne kunne fortælle,

whether you need to lose weight or not,

om man havde behov for at tabe sig eller ej,

but it can't.

men det kan den ikke.

If you do lose a lot of weight,

Hvis man taber en masse kilo,

you become hungry,

bliver man sulten,

and your muscles burn less energy.

og ens muskler forbrænder mindre energi.

Dr. Rudy Leibel of Columbia University

Dr. Rudy Leibel fra Columbia Univeristy

has found that people who have lost

har fundet ud af, at personer der har tabt

10 percent of their body weight

10% af deres kropsvægt

burn 250 to 400 calories less

forbrænder 250-400 kalorier færre

because their metabolism is suppressed.

fordi deres stofskifte er undertrykt.

That's a lot of food.

Det er meget mad.

This means that a successful dieter

Det betyder at en succesfuld person på kur

must eat this much less forever

må spise så meget mindre for evigt

than someone of the same weight

end en på samme vægt,

who has always been thin.

der altid har været tynd.

From an evolutionary perspective,

Fra et evolutionært perspektiv,

your body's resistance to weight loss makes sense.

giver ens krops modvilje mod vægttab mening.

When food was scarce, our ancestors' survival

Da mad var en mangelvare, afhang vores forfædres overlevelse

depended on conserving energy,

af at kunne spare på energien,

and regaining the weight when food was available

og at tage vægt på, når mad igen var tilgængeligt,

would have protected them against the next shortage.

ville beskytte dem mod næste gang de manglede mad.

Over the course of human history,

Set over menneskets historie,

starvation has been a much bigger problem

har sult været et væsentligt større problem

than overeating.

end at spise for meget.

This may explain a very sad fact:

Det kan forklare et meget trist faktum:

Set points can go up,

Indstillingspunkter kan stige,

but they rarely go down.

men de falder sjældent.

Now, if your mother ever mentioned

Hvis ens mor nogensinde har fortalt,

that life is not fair,

at livet ikke er retfærdigt,

this is the kind of thing she was talking about.

så er dette et eksempel på hvad hun mente.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Successful dieting doesn't lower your set point.

Succesfulde slankekure ændrer ikke ved ens indstillingspunkt.

Even after you've kept the weight off

Selv efter man har holdt vægten

for as long as seven years,

i så lang tid som syv år,

your brain keeps trying to make you gain it back.

vil ens hjerne forsøge at få en til at tage det på igen.

If that weight loss had been due to a long famine,

Hvis det vægttab skyldtes en længerevarende hungersnød,

that would be a sensible response.

ville det være en fornuftigt respons.

In our modern world of drive-thru burgers,

I vores moderne verden med drive-through burgere,

it's not working out so well for many of us.

virker det ikke så godt for så mange af os.

That difference between our ancestral past

Den forskel mellem vores forfædres tid

and our abundant present

og vores overflødige nutid

is the reason that Dr. Yoni Freedhoff

er grunden til at Dr. Yoni Freedhoff

of the University of Ottawa

fra University of Ottawa

would like to take some of his patients back to a time

ønsker at tage hans patienter tilbage til en tid,

when food was less available,

hvor mad var mindre tilgængeligt,

and it's also the reason

og det er også grunden til,

that changing the food environment

at en ændring af vores madmiljø,

is really going to be the most effective solution

vil vise sig at være den mest effektive løsning

to obesity.

på fedme.

Sadly, a temporary weight gain

Desværre kan en midlertidigt vægtforøgelse

can become permanent.

blive permanent.

If you stay at a high weight for too long,

Hvis man forbliver på en høj vægt i for lang tid,

probably a matter of years for most of us,

formentlig drejer det sig om år for de fleste af os,

your brain may decide that that's the new normal.

vil ens hjerne muligvis beslutte sig for, at dette er det nye normale.

Psychologists classify eaters into two groups,

Psykologer klassificerer spisere i to grupper,

those who rely on their hunger

dem der forholder sig til deres sult

and those who try to control their eating

og dem der forsøger at kontrollere deres spisning

through willpower, like most dieters.

gennem viljestyrke, som de fleste på slankekur.

Let's call them intuitive eaters and controlled eaters.

Lad os kalde dem intuitive spisere og kontrollerede spisere.

The interesting thing is that intuitive eaters

Det interessante ved intuitive spisere er,

are less likely to be overweight,

at de er mindre tilbøjelige til at være overvægtige,

and they spend less time thinking about food.

og de spenderer mindre tid på at tænke på mad.

Controlled eaters are more vulnerable

Kontrollerede spisere er mere sårbare

to overeating in response to advertising,

i forhold til at overspise som respons på reklame,

super-sizing, and the all-you-can-eat buffet.

"super-sizing" og alt-hvad-man-kan-spise-buffeter.

And a small indulgence,

Og en lille nydelse,

like eating one scoop of ice cream,

som at spise en kugle is,

is more likely to lead to a food binge

er mere sandsynligt vil føre til grovædning

in controlled eaters.

blandt kontrollerede spisere.

Children are especially vulnerable

Børn er især sårbare

to this cycle of dieting and then binging.

overfor denne cyklus af slankekure og grovædning.

Several long-term studies have shown

Flere langtidsstudier har vist,

that girls who diet in their early teenage years

at piger, der er på kur i deres tidlige teenage-år

are three times more likely to become overweight

forøger deres chancer for at bliver overvægtige tre gange

five years later,

fem år senere,

even if they started at a normal weight,

selvom de startede med en normal vægt,

and all of these studies found

og alle disse studier fandt,

that the same factors

at de samme faktorer

that predicted weight gain

der forudsagde en vægtforøgelse

also predicted the development of eating disorders.

også forudsagde udviklingen af spiseforstyrrelser.

The other factor, by the way,

Den anden faktor, forresten,

those of you who are parents,

til de af jer der er forældre,

was being teased by family members

blev drillet af familiemedlemmer

about their weight.

med deres vægt.

So don't do that.

Så lad være med det.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I left almost all my graphs at home,

Jeg efterlod næsten alle mine grafer derhjemme,

but I couldn't resist throwing in just this one,

men jeg kunne ikke modstå at vise denne her ene,

because I'm a geek, and that's how I roll.

fordi jeg er en nørd og det er sådan jeg har det sjovt.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

This is a study that looked at the risk of death

Det her er et studie der ser på risikoen for død

over a 14-year period

over en 14-årig periode

based on four healthy habits:

baseret på fire sunde vaner:

eating enough fruits and vegetables,

spise nok frugt og grøntsager,

exercise three times a week,

motionere tre gange ugentligt,

not smoking,

ikke at ryge

and drinking in moderation.

og at drikke moderat.

Let's start by looking at the normal weight

Lad os starte med at se på de normal-vægtige

people in the study.

personer i studiet.

The height of the bars is the risk of death,

Højden på søjlerne er risikoen for at dø

and those zero, one, two, three, four numbers

og de 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 tal

on the horizontal axis

på den horisontale akse

are the number of those healthy habits

er antallet af disse sunde vaner

that a given person had.

som en given person havde.

And as you'd expect, the healthier the lifestyle,

Og som man vil forvente, jo sundere livsstil,

the less likely people were to die during the study.

jo mindre sandsynligt var det at personerne døde i løbet af undersøgelsen.

Now let's look at what happens

Lad os nu se hvad der sker

in overweight people.

for overvægtige mennesker.

The ones that had no healthy habits

De der ikke havde nogen sunder vaner,

had a higher risk of death.

havde en højere risiko for at dø.

Adding just one healthy habit

Ved at tilføje blot en sund vane

pulls overweight people back into the normal range.

ryger overvægtige personer tilbage indenfor normale.

For obese people with no healthy habits,

For fede personer uden nogen sunder vaner

the risk is very high, seven times higher

er risikoen meget høj, syv gange højere

than the healthiest groups in the study.

end den sundeste gruppe i undersøgelsen.

But a healthy lifestyle helps obese people too.

Men en sund livsstil hjælper også fede mennesker.

In fact, if you look only at the group

Faktisk, hvis man kun kigger på den gruppe

with all four healthy habits,

med alle fire sunde vaner,

you can see that weight makes very little difference.

kan man se at vægt kun har en lille betydning

You can take control of your health

Man kan tage kontrol over ens helbred

by taking control of your lifestyle,

ved at tage kontrol over sin livsstil,

even If you can't lose weight

selvom man ikke kan opnår vægttab

and keep it off.

og holde det.

Diets don't have very much reliability.

Slankekure er ikke særligt pålidelige.

Five years after a diet,

Fem år efter en kur

most people have regained the weight.

har de fleste taget det tabte på igen.

Forty percent of them have gained even more.

40% har taget endnu mere på.

If you think about this,

Hvis man tænker over det,

the typical outcome of dieting

så er det typiske resultat ved slankekure,

is that you're more likely to gain weight

at det er mere sandsynligt at man tager på

in the long run than to lose it.

i det lange løb end at tabe sig.

If I've convinced you that dieting

Hvis jeg har overbevist jer om, at slankekure

might be a problem,

måske er et problem,

the next question is, what do you do about it?

så er det næste spørgsmål, hvad vil man gøre ved det?

And my answer, in a word, is mindfulness.

Og mit svar, med et ord, er mindfulness.

I'm not saying you need to learn to meditate

Jeg siger ikke, at man er nødt til at lære at meditere

or take up yoga.

eller starte til yoga.

I'm talking about mindful eating:

jeg snakker om at spise med opmærksomhed:

learning to understand your body's signals

at lære at forstå kroppens signaler,

so that you eat when you're hungry

så man spiser, når man er sulten

and stop when you're full,

og stopper når man er mæt,

because a lot of weight gain boils down

fordi en masse vægtforøgelse kan koges ned til

to eating when you're not hungry.

at spise, når man ikke er sulten.

How do you do it?

Hvordan gør man så det?

Give yourself permission to eat

Giv dig selv tilladelse til at spise

as much as you want, and then work on figuring out

så meget du har lyst til, og find så frem til,

what makes your body feel good.

hvad din krop får det godt af.

Sit down to regular meals without distractions.

Sid ned til de faste måltider uden distraktioner.

Think about how your body feels

Tænk over hvordan din krop har det,

when you start to eat and when you stop,

når du starter med at spise og når du stopper,

and let your hunger decide

og lad din sult bestemme,

when you should be done.

hvornår du er færdig.

It took about a year for me to learn this,

Det tog omkring et år for mig at lære dette,

but it's really been worth it.

men det har virkelig været det værd.

I am so much more relaxed around food

Jeg er så meget mere afslappet i mit forhold til mad

than I have ever been in my life.

end jeg har været hele mit liv.

I often don't think about it.

Jeg tænker tit ikke på det.

I forget we have chocolate in the house.

jeg glemmer, at vi har chokolade i huset.

It's like aliens have taken over my brain.

Det er som om "aliens" har overtaget min hjerne.

It's just completely different.

Det er bare fuldstændig anderledes.

I should say that

Jeg skal lige sige,

this approach to eating probably won't make you lose weight

at denne tilgang til at spise formentlig ikke vil gøre man taber sig

unless you often eat when you're not hungry,

medmindre man ofte spiser, når man ikke er sulten,

but doctors don't know of any approach

men læger kender ikke en tilgang

that makes significant weight loss in a lot of people,

der giver afgørende vægttab hos mange mennesker

and that is why a lot of people are now focusing on

og det er derfor, at mange mennesker nu fokuserer på

preventing weight gain

at undgå at tage på

instead of promoting weight loss.

fremfor at fremme vægttab.

Let's face it:

lad os indse det:

If diets worked, we'd all be thin already.

Hvis slankekure virkede, ville vi alle være tynde nu.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Why do we keep doing the same thing

Hvorfor bliver vi ved med at gøre de samme ting

and expecting different results?

og forventer et anderledes resultat?

Diets may seem harmless,

Slankekure ser måske uskyldige ud,

but they actually do a lot of collateral damage.

men de medfører faktisk en del følgeskader.

At worst, they ruin lives:

I værste tilfælde ødelægger de liv:

Weight obsession leads to eating disorders,

Besættelse af vægt fører til spiseforstyrrelser

especially in young kids.

specielt hos unge børn.

In the U.S., we have 80 percent of 10-year-old girls

I USA siger 80% af 10-årige piger,

say they've been on a diet.

at de har været på en slankekur.

Our daughters have learned to measure their worth

Vores døtre har lært at måle deres værdi

by the wrong scale.

på en forkert skala.

Even at its best,

Selv når de er bedst

dieting is a waste of time and energy.

er slankekure spild af tid og energi.

It takes willpower which you could be using

Det tager viljestyrke, som man kunne benytte

to help your kids with their homework

med at hjælpe sine børn med deres lektier

or to finish that important work project,

eller med at færdiggøre vigtige arbejdsprojekter,

and because willpower is limited,

og fordi viljestyrke er begrænset

any strategy that relies on its consistent application

vil enhver strategi der er afhængig af en konstant anvendelse

is pretty much guaranteed

nærmest med garanti

to eventually fail you

på et tidspunkt mislykkes,

when your attention moves on to something else.

når ens opmærksomhed flytter sig til noget andet.

Let me leave you with one last thought.

Lad mig slutte med sidste tanke.

What if we told all those dieting girls

Hvad hvis vi fortalte alle disse piger på kur,

that it's okay to eat when they're hungry?

at det er i orden at spise, når de er sultne?

What if we taught them to work with their appetite

Hvad hvis vi lærte dem at arbejde med deres appetit

instead of fearing it?

i stedet for at frygte den?

I think most of them would be happier and healthier,

Jeg tor mange af dem ville blive gladere og sundere,

and as adults,

og som voksne

many of them would probably be thinner.

ville mange af dem formentlig være tyndere.

I wish someone had told me that

Jeg ville ønske nogen havde fortalt mig det

back when I was 13.

dengang jeg var 13 år.

Thanks.

Tak

(Applause)

(Klapsalver)