Watching NBC's The Biggest Loser is a great way to get motivated to lose weight. I am happy to see so many people starting to see that obesity or excessive weight is not only dangerous to one's health, but can be overcome with hard work and determination to exercise regularly and eat healthy food.
What most people don't know is that there is an additional way to avoid obesity: do good. Research has found that one of the many health benefits of helping others is less of a tendency to overeat. This is fascinating. People who help others on a regular basis don't overeat as much as those who don't help others.
I wonder why this is so. My theory is that helping others provides such a strong sense of meaning and value in one's life that there is not as strong of a need to find meaning and value in food. Many people who overeat (and are therefore overweight) are substituting food for other things such as the need to feel valued. When you spend time helping others the need for overeating diminshes significantly because the need to feel valued is being met.
Three years ago I weighed 55 pounds more than I do today. I lost 55 pounds in a year and a half and have kept it off for one year now. I saw from personal experience that eating can become a substitute for other things. Although there were other factors, once I began focusing on volunteering and doing more random acts of kindness my efforts to lose weight became easier.
So, if you are in the process of trying to lose weight, in addition to your workouts and healthy eating, add random actis of kindness or volunteering to your life. It will make a difference.
IT'S GOOD 2B GOOD!
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