Hi Flick,

> F:from what I understand about the psyche and certain psycho schools
> the genes are indeed effected by patterns in the family thought forms.

I'm not sure I understand this completely. Are you saying that genes influence
thought patterns, so they might make various people in my family think about
food in a similar way to me? That's a possibility. I was actually imagining
our genes altering our physiology, perhaps giving us a rapid metabolism in our
twenties which then falls off in our thirties.

Studies of twins suggest that there is a genetic factor in weight gain. If
you measure the BMI of identical and non-identical twins, you find that the
identical twins are more similar. Because identical twins have identical
genes, and non-identical twins don't, this suggests that weight gain is a
result of genetics -- at least in part.

The twin studies can't tell us how the genes have their effect. They might
cause the identical twins to experience food in certain ways, as you were
thinking. Alternatively, they might influence metabolism, as I was thinking.
You should be able to distinguish the two by also asking the twins how many
calories they were consuming, and what exercise they did. As far as I know,
this has not yet been done.

> F: The governments plan is extremely naive... I am so glad you said
> that.... I don't see it completely as an irrelevance however as I know
> it needs to be tackled on many levels. It's a good starting place for
> many and certainly imperitive for me as the more depressed I become
> about it the worse the problem gets...

The problem is that 90% of dieters put the weight back on again. There is a
word for treatments that fail 90% of the time, but I'm probably not supposed
to use it on this list. :-)

I wonder if diet advice is actually counter-productive for some people. It
sets them up to fail, and failure could give them a negative self-image. The
reality is that almost no one succeeds, so the negative self-image isn't
justified. Failure just means they are human, with the weaknesses we all have.

(I'm sorry to hear you get depressed about your weight, by the way.)

> F: Absolutely! I wish people would but my goodness it takes alot to do
> it when you feel so vulnerable... I am not believed most of the time
> (there there poor dear... in denial!)and people wanting to help put
> forward suggestions which are equally as naive as the government ...

Thanks Michael for your story. I promise I won't give unwanted advice if
anyone else is willing to share their experiences! (I wouldn't know what to
suggest anyway, for the reasons I've already talked about.)

If you don't want to post on the group, it would still be nice to hear from
you by email.

Pete