Why dieting doesn't usually work | Sandra Aamodt

Translator: Alisa Xholi Reviewer: Helena Bedalli

Three and a half years ago,

Tre vjet e gjysem me pare,

I made one of the best decisions of my life.

mora nje nga vendimet me te mira te jetes time,

As my New Year's resolution,

Si nje vendim te Vitit te Ri,

I gave up dieting, stopped worrying about my weight,

hoqa dore nga dieta, nisa mos shqeteshohem per peshen time,

and learned to eat mindfully.

dhe mesova te ushqehem me kujdes.

Now I eat whenever I'm hungry,

Tashme ushqehem sa here jam e uritur,

and I've lost 10 pounds.

dhe kam humbur 4 kg e gjysem.

This was me at age 13,

Kjo jam une ne moshen 13 vjecare,

when I started my first diet.

kur nisa dieten time te pare.

I look at that picture now, and I think,

E shoh ate fotografi tani, dhe mendoj

you did not need a diet,

nuk me eshte dashur nje diete,

you needed a fashion consult.

me eshte dashur nje konsulent i modes.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

But I thought I needed to lose weight,

Por mendoja se duhet te humbja peshe,

and when I gained it back,

dhe kur i rimerja,

of course I blamed myself.

sigurisht fajesoja veten time.

And for the next three decades,

Dhe per tre dekadat ne vazhdim,

I was on and off various diets.

kam qene ne dhe jashte dietave te ndryshme.

No matter what I tried,

Pavaresisht cfare provoja,

the weight I'd lost always came back.

pesha qe humba gjithmone rikthehej.

I'm sure many of you know the feeling.

Jam e sigurte qe shume nga ju e njihni ndjenjen.

As a neuroscientist,

Si nje neuroshkenctare,

I wondered, why is this so hard?

Cuditesha, pse eshte kaq e veshtire?

Obviously, how much you weigh depends on

Qartesisht, se sa peshon eshte ne varesi te

how much you eat and how much energy you burn.

se sa shume ushqehesh dhe sa kalori djeg.

What most people don't realize

Shume njerez nuk e kuptojne

is that hunger and energy use

se uria dhe perdorimi i energjise

are controlled by the brain,

kontrollohen nga truri,

mostly without your awareness.

kryesisht pa dijenine tende.

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

Truri jot e kryen punen pas skenes,

and that is a good thing,

dhe kjo eshte nje gje e mire,

because your conscious mind --

sepse mendja jote e vetedijshme --

how do we put this politely? --

si mund ta themi kete me edukate?--

it's easily distracted.

shperqendrohet lehtesisht.

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

Eshte mire qe nuk te duhet te kujtohesh te maresh fryme

when you get caught up in a movie.

ndersa harroheni ne nje film.

You don't forget how to walk

Nuk harron se si te ecesh

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

sepse je duke menduar se cfare do besh per darke.

Your brain also has its own sense

Truri jot gjithashtu ka shqisen e vet

of what you should weigh,

te asaj se sa duhet te peshosh ti,

no matter what you consciously believe.

pavaresisht te besimit tend ne menyre te ndergjegjshme.

This is called your set point,

Kjo quhet pika nismetare,

but that's a misleading term,

por ky eshte nje term corientues,

because it's actually a range

sepse eshte aktualisht nje game

of about 10 or 15 pounds.

e rreth 5 ose 7 kg.

You can use lifestyle choices to move your weight

Ju mund te perdorni zgjedhje ne menyren e jeteses per te levizur peshen tuaj

up and down within that range,

lart e poshte nen ate game,

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

por eshte shume me e veshtire te qendrosh jashte saj.

The hypothalamus, the part of the brain

Hipotalamus, pjesa e trurit

that regulates body weight,

qe rregullon peshen e trupit,

there are more than a dozen chemical signals

ka me duzina sinjale kimike

in the brain that tell your body to gain weight,

ne tru qe i thone trupit tend te marin peshe,

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

me shume se sa nje duzine tjeter qe i thone trupit ta humbasi ate,

and the system works like a thermostat,

dhe sistemi punon si nje termostat,

responding to signals from the body

duke ju pergjigjur sinjaleve te trupit

by adjusting hunger, activity and metabolism,

duke pershtatur urine, aktivitetin dhe metabolizmin,

to keep your weight stable as conditions change.

ta mbajne trupin ne stabilitet ndekohe qe kushtet ndryshojne.

That's what a thermostat does, right?

Kete kryen nje termostat apo jo?

It keeps the temperature in your house the same

E mban tempereturen e shtepise tende ne stabilitet

as the weather changes outside.

nderkohe qe koha jashte ndryshon.

Now you can try to change the temperature

Ju mund te ndryshoni temperaturen

in your house by opening a window in the winter,

ne shtepi duke hapur nje dritare ne dimer,

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

por kjo nuk do e ndryshon percaktimin ne termostat,

which will respond by kicking on the furnace

i cili do pergjigjet duke nxitur ngrohtesine

to warm the place back up.

per ta ringrohur vendin perseri.

Your brain works exactly the same way,

Truri jot funksionon ekzaktesisht ne te njejten menyre,

responding to weight loss by using powerful tools

duke i ju pergjigur humbjes se peshes me perdorimin e veglave te fuqishme

to push your body back

per te shtyre trupin tend te rikthehet

to what it considers normal.

ne ate cka konsiderohet normale.

If you lose a lot of weight,

Nese ti humbet shume peshe,

your brain reacts as if you were starving,

truri jot reagon sikurse te jesh shume i uritur,

and whether you started out fat or thin,

edhe nese ti ne nisje je i shendetshem apo i dobet,

your brain's response is exactly the same.

pergjigja e trurit tend eshte ekzaktesisht e njejte.

We would love to think that your brain could tell

Do na pelqente te mendonim se truri juaj mund te tregoje

whether you need to lose weight or not,

nese ty te duhet te humbasesh peshe ose jo,

but it can't.

por nuk mundet.

If you do lose a lot of weight,

Nese ti humbet shume peshe,

you become hungry,

atehere ti nis te kesh uri,

and your muscles burn less energy.

dhe muskujt e tua djegin me pak energji.

Dr. Rudy Leibel of Columbia University

Dr. Rudy Leibel nga Universiteti Columbia

has found that people who have lost

ka zbuluar se njerezit te cilet kane humbur

10 percent of their body weight

10 perqind te peshes se trupit tyre

burn 250 to 400 calories less

djegin 250 deri 400 kalori me pak

because their metabolism is suppressed.

sepse metabolizmi i tyre eshte i ndrydhur.

That's a lot of food.

Ky eshte shume ushqim.

This means that a successful dieter

Kjo do te thote se nje person i suksesshem ne dieta

must eat this much less forever

duhet te ushqehet me me pak se kaq perhere

than someone of the same weight

se sa dikush i te njejtes peshe

who has always been thin.

i cili ka qene perhere i dobet.

From an evolutionary perspective,

Nga nje perspektive ne zhvillim,

your body's resistance to weight loss makes sense.

rezistenca e trupit tuaj ndaj humbjes ne peshe ka kuptim.

When food was scarce, our ancestors' survival

Kur ushqimi ishte i rralle, mbijetesa e paraardhesve tane

depended on conserving energy,

varej nga konservimi i energjise,

and regaining the weight when food was available

dhe rimarja e peshes kur ushqimi ishte i mundshem

would have protected them against the next shortage.

do ti mbronte ata gjate mungeses se rradhes.

Over the course of human history,

Gjate rrjedhes se historise humane,

starvation has been a much bigger problem

uria ka qene nje problem shume me i madh

than overeating.

se sa mbi ushqyerja.

This may explain a very sad fact:

Kjo mund ti jape shpjegim nje fakti shume te trishtuar:

Set points can go up,

Pikat e nisjes mund te ngjiten lart,

but they rarely go down.

por rralle zbresin.

Now, if your mother ever mentioned

Nese nena juaj ju ka permendur ndonjehere

that life is not fair,

se jeta nuk eshte e drejte,

this is the kind of thing she was talking about.

kjo eshte pak a shume gjeja per ate cka ajo fliste.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Successful dieting doesn't lower your set point.

Dietat e suksesshme nuk ju ulin piken e nisjes.

Even after you've kept the weight off

Edhe pasi ti e ke ruajtur peshen

for as long as seven years,

per me shume se shtate vjet,

your brain keeps trying to make you gain it back.

truri jot vazhdon te perpiqet ti rimaresh.

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

Nese ajo humbja e peshes ka qene per shkak te nje urie te vazhdueshme,

that would be a sensible response.

kjo do ishte nje pergjigje e ndjeshme.

In our modern world of drive-thru burgers,

Ne boten tone moderne ku blejme hamburgera pa dale nga makinat,

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

nuk po funksionon mire per shume nga ne.

That difference between our ancestral past

Ajo diferenca midis stergjysheve tane

and our abundant present

dhe te tashmes ku kemi me tepri

is the reason that Dr. Yoni Freedhoff

eshte arsyeja pse Dr. Yoni Freedhoff

of the University of Ottawa

nga Universiteti i Ottawa

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

do deshironte te kthente disa nga pacientet e tij pas ne kohen

when food was less available,

ku ushqimi ka qene me pak i disponueshem,

and it's also the reason

dhe eshte gjithashtu arsyeja

that changing the food environment

se te ndryshosh mjedisin e ushqimit

is really going to be the most effective solution

do jete zgjidhja me efektive

to obesity.

ndaj obezitetit.

Sadly, a temporary weight gain

Fatkeqesisht, nje rritje e perkohshme ne peshe

can become permanent.

mund te kthehet ne te perhershme.

If you stay at a high weight for too long,

Nese ti qendron ne nje peshe te larte per shume kohe,

probably a matter of years for most of us,

ndoshta disa vjet per shumicen nga ne,

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

truri jot mund te vendose se kjo eshte normalja e re.

Psychologists classify eaters into two groups,

Psikologet i ndajne hamesit ne dy grupe,

those who rely on their hunger

ata qe mbeshteten ne urine e tyre

and those who try to control their eating

dhe ata qe perpiqen te kontrollojne te ngrenin e tyre

through willpower, like most dieters.

ndermjet vullnetit, si shumica e atyre qe jane ne diete.

Let's call them intuitive eaters and controlled eaters.

Le ti quajme ata hames intuitiv dhe hames te kontrolluar.

The interesting thing is that intuitive eaters

Pjesa interesante eshte se hamesit intuitiv

are less likely to be overweight,

kane me pak gjasa te jene mbipeshe,

and they spend less time thinking about food.

dhe kalojne shume pak kohe duke menduar per ushqimin.

Controlled eaters are more vulnerable

Hamesit e kontrolluar jane me shume te prekshem

to overeating in response to advertising,

ndaj mbiushqyerjes ne pergjigje te reklamimit,

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

te masave te medha, dhe te buffese se vetesherbimit.

And a small indulgence,

Dhe nje privilegj i vogel,

like eating one scoop of ice cream,

si te maresh nje kupe me akullore,

is more likely to lead to a food binge

ka shume gjasa te kthehet ne nje ngrenie te tepruar

in controlled eaters.

ne hamesit e kontrolluar.

Children are especially vulnerable

Femijet jane vecanerisht te ndjeshem

to this cycle of dieting and then binging.

ndaj ketij cikli dietik dhe me pas te kthehen ne hames te tepruar.

Several long-term studies have shown

Disa studime afatgjata kane treguar

that girls who diet in their early teenage years

se vajza te cilat bejne diete ne fillimet e viteve te adoleshences

are three times more likely to become overweight

jane trefish te dispozuara te kthehen ne mbipeshe

five years later,

pese vite me pas,

even if they started at a normal weight,

edhe nese kane filluar ne nje peshe normale,

and all of these studies found

dhe te gjitha keto studime zbuluan

that the same factors

se te njejtet faktore

that predicted weight gain

qe parashikuan marrjen e peshes

also predicted the development of eating disorders.

gjithashtu parashikuan zhvillimin e crregullimit te ngrenies.

The other factor, by the way,

Faktori tjeter, me qe ra fjala,

those of you who are parents,

ata te cilet nga ju jane prinder,

was being teased by family members

ishte ngacmimi i pjesetarve te familjes

about their weight.

per peshen e tyre.

So don't do that.

Ndaj mos e beni ate.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

I left almost all my graphs at home,

I kam lene pothuajse te gjithe grafiket e mi ne shtepi,

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

por nuk mund te rezistoja pa ju treguar kete,

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

sepse jam e fiksuar, dhe keshtu funksionoj.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

This is a study that looked at the risk of death

Ky eshte nje studim mbi riskun e vdekjes

over a 14-year period

per nje periudhe 14-vjecare

based on four healthy habits:

duke u bazuar ne kater zakone te shendetshme:

eating enough fruits and vegetables,

duke ngrene fruta dhe perime te mjaftushme,

exercise three times a week,

duke u stervitur tre here ne jave,

not smoking,

mos pirja e duhanit,

and drinking in moderation.

dhe pije alkolike me mase.

Let's start by looking at the normal weight

Le te fillojme duke pare peshen normale

people in the study.

te njerezve ne kete studim.

The height of the bars is the risk of death,

Lartesia e bareve tregon riskun e vdekjes,

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

dhe ato zero, nje, dy, tre, kater numrat

on the horizontal axis

ne aksin horizontal

are the number of those healthy habits

jane numri i atyre me zakone te shendetshme

that a given person had.

qe i eshte dhene nje personi.

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

Dhe sikurse mund ta parashikonit, sa me e shendetshme te jete menyra e jeteses

the less likely people were to die during the study.

aq me pak jane mundesite qe njerezit te vdesin gjate studimit.

Now let's look at what happens

Tani le te shohim cfare ndodh

in overweight people.

ne njerezit e mbipeshe.

The ones that had no healthy habits

Ata qe nuk kishin zakone te shendetshme

had a higher risk of death.

kishin risk me te larte ndaj vdekjes.

Adding just one healthy habit

Duke shtuar vetem nje zakon te shendetshem

pulls overweight people back into the normal range.

i terheq njerezit e mbipeshe ne gamen normale.

For obese people with no healthy habits,

Per njerezit obeze pa zakone te shendetshme,

the risk is very high, seven times higher

risku eshte shume i larte, shtate here me i larte

than the healthiest groups in the study.

se sa grupet me te shendetshme ne studim.

But a healthy lifestyle helps obese people too.

Por menyra e jeteses e shendetshme ndihmon edhe njerezit obeze gjithashtu.

In fact, if you look only at the group

Ne fakt, nese do shihni grupin

with all four healthy habits,

me te kater zakonet e shendetshme,

you can see that weight makes very little difference.

mund te shihni se pesha ben shume pak diference.

You can take control of your health

Ti mund ta maresh kontrollin e shendetin

by taking control of your lifestyle,

duke marre nen kontroll menyren e jeteses,

even If you can't lose weight

edhe nese nuk mund te humbesh peshe

and keep it off.

dhe ta mbash ate larg.

Diets don't have very much reliability.

Dietat nuk kane shume siguri.

Five years after a diet,

Pese vite pas nje diete,

most people have regained the weight.

shumica e njerezve e kane rimarre peshen.

Forty percent of them have gained even more.

Dyzet perqind e tyre kane marre edhe me shume.

If you think about this,

Nese e mendon,

the typical outcome of dieting

rezultati tipik i dietave

is that you're more likely to gain weight

eshte se, ti ke me shume gjasa te maresh peshe

in the long run than to lose it.

ne rrugen e gjate se sa te humbasesh.

If I've convinced you that dieting

Nese ju kam bindur se dietat

might be a problem,

mund te jene nje problem,

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

pyetja e rradhes eshte, cfare do beni per ate?

And my answer, in a word, is mindfulness.

Dhe pergjigja ime eshte, ne nje fjale, ndergjegjesimi.

I'm not saying you need to learn to meditate

Nuk po ju them se duhet te mesoni te meditoni

or take up yoga.

ose te beni yoga.

I'm talking about mindful eating:

Por ju them per ngrenien e ndergjegjshme:

learning to understand your body's signals

te mesosh te kuptosh sinjalet e trupit tend

so that you eat when you're hungry

ne menyre qe te ushqeheni kur te keni uri

and stop when you're full,

dhe te ndaleni kur jeni plot,

because a lot of weight gain boils down

sepse shume marje ne peshe vjen

to eating when you're not hungry.

nga e ngrena kur nuk keni uri.

How do you do it?

Si e beni?

Give yourself permission to eat

Jepini vetes leje te ushqehet

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

aq sa doni, dhe me pas te punoni per te zbuluar

what makes your body feel good.

se cfare e ben trupin tuaj te ndjehet mire.

Sit down to regular meals without distractions.

Uluni ne vakte normale pa hutime.

Think about how your body feels

Mendoni se si ndihet trupi juaj

when you start to eat and when you stop,

kur nisni te ushqeheni dhe kur ndaloni,

and let your hunger decide

dhe lereni urine tuaj te vendosi

when you should be done.

se kur duhet te perfundoni.

It took about a year for me to learn this,

Mua me mori rreth nje vit per ta mesuar kete,

but it's really been worth it.

por vertet ka qene i vlefshem.

I am so much more relaxed around food

Jam me shume e relaksuar rreth ushqimit

than I have ever been in my life.

se sa kam qene ndonjehere ne jeten time.

I often don't think about it.

Shpesh nuk e mendoj ate.

I forget we have chocolate in the house.

Harroj qe kemi cokollate ne shtepi.

It's like aliens have taken over my brain.

Eshte sikur jashtetokesoret kane hyre ne trurin tim.

It's just completely different.

Eshte dicka totalisht ndryshe,

I should say that

Me duhet te them se

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

ky trajtim ndaj ngrenies ndoshta nuk do ju bej te humbisni peshe

unless you often eat when you're not hungry,

pervec se nese hani shpesh kur nuk jeni te uritur,

but doctors don't know of any approach

por doktoret nuk njohin ndonje trajtim

that makes significant weight loss in a lot of people,

qe kryen humbje peshe te rendesishme tek shume njerez,

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

dhe kjo eshte arsyeja pse shume njerez tani jane te fokusuar

preventing weight gain

ne parandalimin e marrjes ne peshe

instead of promoting weight loss.

ne vend qe te promovojne humbjen e peshes.

Let's face it:

Le te perballemi me te:

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

Nese dietat do funksiononin do ishim tashme te gjithe te dobet.

(Laughter)

(Te qeshura)

Why do we keep doing the same thing

Pse vazhdojme te bejme te njejten gje

and expecting different results?

dhe te presim rezultate ndryshe?

Diets may seem harmless,

Dietat mund te duken te pademshme,

but they actually do a lot of collateral damage.

por realisht ato bejne nje dem indirekt.

At worst, they ruin lives:

Ne me te keqen, ato rrenojne jete:

Weight obsession leads to eating disorders,

Mania e peshes te drejton ndaj crregullimit te ngrenies,

especially in young kids.

vecanerisht tek te rinjte.

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

Ne Sh.B.A, kemi 80 perqind te vajzave 10-vjecare

say they've been on a diet.

qe thone se kane qene ne diet.

Our daughters have learned to measure their worth

Vajzat tona kane mesuatr te masin vlerat e tyre

by the wrong scale.

ne shkallen e gabuar.

Even at its best,

Madje dhe ne me te mirat e saja,

dieting is a waste of time and energy.

dieta eshte nje humbje kohe dhe energjie.

It takes willpower which you could be using

Te merr vullnet te cilin mund ta perdoresh

to help your kids with their homework

per te ndihmuar femijet ne detyrat e shtepise

or to finish that important work project,

ose per te perfunduar nje projekt pune,

and because willpower is limited,

dhe duke qene se vullneti eshte i limituar,

any strategy that relies on its consistent application

cdo strategji e cila varet ne zbatimin e tij te qendrueshem

is pretty much guaranteed

eshte pak a shume e garantuar

to eventually fail you

qe tju deshtoje perfundimisht

when your attention moves on to something else.

kur vemendja jote leviz ne dicka tjeter.

Let me leave you with one last thought.

Me lejoni tju le me nje mendim te fundit.

What if we told all those dieting girls

Po sikur ti themi te gjithave ketyre vajzave ne diete

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

qe eshte ok qe ato te ushqehen kur kane uri?

What if we taught them to work with their appetite

Po sikur ti mesonim te punonin me oreksin e tyre

instead of fearing it?

ne vend qe ta kene frike ate?

I think most of them would be happier and healthier,

Mendoj se shumica e atyre do ishin me te lumtura dhe te shendetshme

and as adults,

dhe si te rritur,

many of them would probably be thinner.

shume nga ato do ishin me te dobta.

I wish someone had told me that

Do doja qe dikush te ma kish thene ate

back when I was 13.

kur isha 13.

Thanks.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

(Duartrokitje)