I’ve
finished the book called The Gabriel
Method. It was pretty good, and I
definitely recommend checking it out from your local library, or finding a
paper copy (it’s pretty inexpensive on Amazon.com—and you can preview the book there too, by clicking on the image of the book that says "Look Inside"). The book came out in
2008, and I just heard about it because I saw the author, Jon Gabriel, in a
different film recently. I googled him,
found out he had written a book, and got it from the library. In the book, Jon offers a different theory on
why people are overweight. He was at
400+ pounds and he tried lots of different types of diets with no success. He finally lost over 200 pounds by taking his
own approach. He attributes it to
convincing his body that he didn’t need to be obese anymore. To do this, he addressed three core issues: 1)
he added nutrients that he had been lacking, 2) he addressed his
mental/emotional reasons for being obese (he quit his stressful NYC job and
moved to his dream location in Australia), and 3) he did visualizations of
exactly what he wanted his body to look like.
His transformation is pretty amazing (he has no extra skin, despite
losing all that weight, and amazing abs!), and it’s intriguing that he did it
all without following any strict diet.
He says "it’s not your fault” if you are overweight/obese, and he goes against the “calories in/calories out” ideology, which insinuates that if you are overweight, then you are either a glutton (you eat too much) or a sloth (you are lazy). Instead, he introduces the idea of the
“FAT (Famine And Temperature) Programs”, which he says is the human body’s way
to ensure that you can survive a time of famine or cold temperatures by having enough fat on
your body to survive these times. If
these FAT Programs are on, then you’ll keep gaining weight. He says dieting is a sure-fire way to turn on
these programs (your body thinks you're starving!), as are other mental and
emotional stressors, and issues in your life or from your past. Also, in the appendix, he goes into the science of some of the hormonal issues (leptin in particular) that contribute to weight gain.
I
have to admit, there are some weird sections in the book: Chapter 2 is entitled Jessie’s
Law, about his cat Jessie who had to “learn” that he had to get lean, or get
eaten (by the neighbor’s dog). But
overall, the book attempts to address some of the mechanisms behind why we
may try to lose weight with diets, and fail over and over: we are not
addressing the three core issues. We
have to get in-sync with our bodies and be able to turn off our FAT Programs, by adding healthy foods so we are not starving of the right nutrients, addressing our mental/emotional/other issues for "needing" to be overweight, and also
doing visualizations to communicate to our subconscious that we are safe and we
don’t need or want to be overweight anymore. It
may sound a bit weird/hocus-pocus, but doing a little visualization on a daily basis sounds
relaxing, and it can’t possibly hurt! And I've always felt that diets are so short-term and temporary, and don't get at the root of why a person is overweight, so perhaps his approach could help.
I
really like that he doesn’t recommend cutting any food out because that just
causes feelings of deprivation. Instead,
he says to add three important items to every meal: protein, omega-3’s, and
“fresh, live” food. If you add these, and also address the
three core reasons you are likely overeating, then you can stop fighting your
body, and instead work with it. Your
body can turn off the FAT Programs, and then you will automatically be less
hungry, want to eat healthier, and have more energy for exercising and enjoying life.
Who
knows if any of this is true, but it can’t hurt (no medicines/drastic treatments), it’s
easy, and it’s cheap. Why not try it? I think I will!
Forward
Flavor!
