Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise

By Robert E. Thayer

Book Overview

You are what you eat, but why are you eating so much? Your moods Why can't you stay with a reasonable exercise program, and why is obesity at epidemic proportions in our society today? Negative moods hold the explanations.
Feeling down? Wish you had more energy and less stress? If this describes you some or most of the time, you are probably among the millions today who respond to increasing stress and low moods with food--a candy bar, or perhaps a cup of coffee and a sweet. Such "emotional eating" may temporarily boost your spirits, but this effect is a short-lived quick fix that perpetuates chronic overeating and obesity. Moreover, the same negative moods that have grown to substantial proportions in society today, sap your resolve to exercise.
In this breakthrough book, an acclaimed mood researcher tackles the problem of overweight and inactivity from the perspective of mood. Thayer compellingly argues that it is our moods--beyond nutritional needs--that signal our bodies to desire food we really don't need in order to replenish our energy and to lower stress levels. Consciously or unconsciously, we constantly seek "calm energy" to face the challenges of the day. Eating is often our first response to a bad mood--as opposed to other, less-fattening forms of self-medication, like listening to music or just slowing down--but, as Thayer explains with clarity and abundant scientific research, we would do much more to raise our spirits in the long run by something as simple as a ten minute walk. Various forms of exercise are proven mood regulators in ways this book describes in detail. Sound like common sense? Perhaps, but if the choice is exercise or a snack, the snack usually wins out unless we understand our moods. This understanding is the real key. We must see why we eat too much before we can control what and how much we eat. From this we learn the reasons for the inevitable failures at diet and exercise.
This provocative new approach to understanding and fighting overeating offers practical advice and biological explanations for your cravings and moods, and it shows how both are indicators of energy and stress levels. Thayer describes how most people's daily energy cycles function, and he explains how you can apply this in scientifically proven ways to fight the urge to eat when you are down and to achieve the optimum goal of "calm energy."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195131894
• ISBN13: 9780195131895
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.32 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.3" x 0.9" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Calm Energy Book

Excellent read, very informative. Great for people struggling with moods and their desire to eat based on those moods.

Wonderful book on food and mood !

Ever dived into a chocolate cake after a stressful day at the office? Had your way with a bag of chips after fighting with the kids? Stuffed down more than your share of greasy fried food when you were feeling low?Many of us are stress overeaters. And there are a number of books on the market that mention how we have emotional roadblocks that keep us from becoming slim. But few of these books discuss this issue in the depth that "Calm Energy" does.And few give helpful solutions.The author Robert Thayer Ph.D describes in detail how when we are feeling tense, tired, or depressed we often turn to high fat sugary foods. Citing a number of studies Thayer explains why we do this.Then Thayer explains simple solutions. According to Thayer, "exercise is the single best way of coping with the tension and fatigue that inevitably result from stress." He describes simple techniques you can do when your urge to eat, what you don't need seems to overwhelm your body. A brisk 5 minute walk is one idea.One paragraph in the book made a huge impact. Thayer recounts how a taxicab driver was very calm despite bad traffic, radio calls etc. The driver used worrybeads to release tension. According to Thayer small systemic movements like moving beads or squeezing soft rubbery objects can help relax your body.I quickly hijacked my 14 year olds stringed bead bracelet and by manipulating the beads slowly released some stress and managed to avoid a trip to the kitchen to gobble up some goodies I didn't need! Simple, effective technique that I will use more often.Overall an excellent look at the mood food connection with super tips on what you can do to destress and become healthier.

Excellent

While a bit repetitive in the beginning, I loved this book! It provides a framework for thinking about your behavior based on biologically-driven moods. It makes you more aware of your own moods, what causes them, and how they, in turn, influence your behavior (and not only in terms of food and exercise). The author addresses the perplexing question of why people who know better still eat unhealthfully and do not exercise. I have often wondered myself, if I know exercise or meditation or whatever makes me feel so much better, why don't I just do it everyday? The concept of Calm-Energy vs. Tense-Tiredness is very convincing and useful. Also, the book puts the idea of "emotional eating" in it's larger context. Compared to the treatment emotional eating gets in the popular media, this is much more interesting and makes it seem very possible to intervene and change habits.This is not a standard self-help book and doesn't give the clearest instructions on how to apply all this information to your everyday life. Rather, it gives you knowledge, understanding, awareness and--with the extensive footnotes and references to research--confidence that this guy really knows what he's talking about. I'm planning to read his "The Origin of Everyday Moods" next.

Making the connection with Calm

Here is a great read for folks from all walks and talks of life. I first went searching for ways to feel better--the food-sleep connection is very compelling even though everybody has that hunch. Thayer gently sells you on taking action in even small steps. Then I applied his ideas to improving my success at the weekly poker game. Bingo, or flush, it works there too. Academically sound and enjoyable, toss away your make a million books and manage your insides first. This one is a winner even if you occasionally have a bad beat along the way!

Another Shining Jewel Connecting Food and Mood!

"Calm Energy" by Robert Thayer, M.D., is another winner in the area of "how people regulate mood with food and exercise." It is such a pleasure to read about physiological states from a doctor who hasn't forgotten the time-proven, sine qua non art of footnoting and referencing. We now have a believable, credible new sourcebook about "Mood, Self-regulation and Overeating" (Chapter 1), and also my favorite topic at Chapter 8, "The Biopsychology of Energy and Tension." Now we really know why diets don't work, for example, and furthermore why skipping meals doesn't help us to lose weight--instead it only makes us irritable and even more tense by throwing our rhythms out of whack. An outstanding presentation, with elegant and simple charts! Diet and nutrition students, you now have a new required reading book, one that you will find enjoyable and worthwhile. It was a wonderful learning experience merely to watch the author work, as Dr. Thayer dissolved the walls of diet myth and folklore, leading us instead into the realm of knowledgeable, practical solutions for enjoying life and living longer."Not only are negative moods in general improved with exercise, but exercise helps us overcome specific moods, such as mild depression" the author tells us on page 47. Dr. Thayer continues on page 69 with a similar note: "Our thoughts and behaviors are inexorably driven by eating habits when we are in the grip of these negative moods. He doesn't stop there and leave the reader hanging, like some authors do with unfounded assertions. Ka-chink! Those beautiful superscripts come down, engraving themselves on the pages, and sending us unemotionally to Dr. Thayer's sources. Even the cover is gorgeous, nearly a work of art itself. "Calm Energy" is easy to understand, yet does not at all lack the details needed to effect dietary changes (along with the help of a dietician or physician). It will take more than one reading session to fully comprehend the implications, but they are in no way beyond a reasonable understanding. Later, other people will think YOU'RE the doctor when they ask you why you're looking and feeling so good lately. Then they'll ask you where you found the answers, and why they're still struggling with their weight management instead of the spike-and-drop cycle of useless fad diets. Here are those answers.