Archive for the ‘Daily Practice’ Category
You walk in the door and make a beeline for the kitchen. Maybe the first thing you see is a stack of envelopes or a set of dishes. You open the fridge immediately, then open the snack drawer and rummage around the crinkly bags. You pick something crunchy, and if you’re lucky, you sit down with it. Your mind glazes over, and suddenly you come-to with an empty bag and snack-food fingers. What gives?
We all have habits that can sabotage our health goals, especially in our main food source: the kitchen! This space should inspire energy, not stress and distraction. Take these tips to the kitchen to get you off auto-pilot and back into control of your snacking – and your space!
1. First things first, when you walk in the door:
Take a detour. Move your first stop to somewhere other than the kitchen.
Make flowers, a plant, or a nice picture the first thing you see instead of bills or dishes.
Make something you love the first thing you can reach.
2. Out of sight, out of mind:
Move snack foods to inaccessible locations. If you need a stepstool to reach it, you’ll think twice.
Give yourself some low hanging fruit, literally. Get a 3-tiered fruit basket to put healthy choices at eye level.
Toss chocolate, cookies, and other easy-to-eat calorie dense foods in the freezer.
Create a “food curtain.” Push limiting foods to the back of the fridge or cabinet, and bring healthy snacks, water, or spices to the front. Bring frozen fruit bags to the front of your freezer, and push the desserts down low.
3. Squirrel! Maximize good distractions:
Pot some plants. The act of watering and pruning plants gives your mind something to focus on, and your hands something to do other than open the fridge.
Bring in books, puzzles, a soothing music player, or games. (A TV or computer is not recommended, as it increases mindless consumption).
Make food journaling part of your process. Keep a notebook nearby, or log foods in an app like Lose It!.
4. Switch it up on your brain
Change your snack drawer, and put in tea or plastic containers instead. This serves to break the habit chain your brain and body have made.
Clean your fridge. It’s more appealing to pull produce from a wiped-down shelf than one with crumbs and leaks.
Keep your bills and stressors elsewhere. Just seeing them can cause distracted stress-eating.
Take a seat. If you’re standing, your mind thinks you’re too busy to focus on the act of eating. Relax and chew.
5. Prepare for battle
Remove the crinkle, and reduce the appeal – take snacks out of their original container. Companies purposefully create a sensory experience around snacking, and the images, words, and feel of the bag are all part of the game.
Never eat from the bag. Portion out foods you eat in bulk into 100-200 calorie packs.
Leave positive, encouraging, or tough reminders for yourself as barriers to entry on snack foods and associated places.
Your hungry mind will stomp into the kitchen unannounced. Having the proper defense set up will stop the habits you’ve formed and give you back control and clarity.
No, I’m not married. But I listen to a whole lot of Dr. Jenn Berman on Cosmo Radio, so in my head I am pretty much a licensed psychotherapist. Counts, right?
I see posts with the theme “Before saying ‘I do'” a lot in financial and child-rearing realms, but what about with our health? With the growing health problems, processed food intake, and sedentary lifestyles, our pre-marital discussions may need to branch into exercise and nutrition visions for our relationships. 
American media tends to show us as packing on the pounds after marriage, but we can change that status quo. It’s not just a sitcom stereotype, it’s a dangerous cycle to begin after tying the knot. Popping the question shouldn’t mean popping cookies into your mouth. Once you’ve caught the big fish, it doesn’t mean you need to stuff yourself- and the fish. “Fat and happy” needs to be replaced with “fit and happy.”And once I’ve written one too many cliche’s, I should probably not write another.
As spring crawls slowly in among this 30-something degree weather, wedding bells will chime, chilly, but as planned. Before making the commitment, it may serve you well to discuss plainly how you will handle your future health as husband and wife:
1. When can we start? In “for better or for worse,” a healthy lifestyle maximizes the better. Discussing food and activity with your partner affects the amount of years you spend together and the quality of those years. The earlier you start, the earlier you will turn your lifestyle choices into habits that keep you together longer. If you are planners, plan to have a conversation and enhance your life together as soon as you can.
2. Where do we see ourselves? You may have an ideal image of yourself, but what about as a couple? Make visions for yourself as a couple to maintain a healthy weight and muscle mass. Visualize yourself in 5, 10, 25 years, making healthy snacks for yourself and your children, packing nutrient-filled lunches, bike riding as a family, and playing with your grandchildren with great health.
3. What do we like? Define your preferences : He may be into football, while you are a yogi. You’re a vegan, she’s a steak lover. With a plethora of healthy activities, you and your partner can find common ground. Try brainstorming activities you both find fun: cook together, go jogging or walking, or invite new activities like hiking or skiing. If you prefer to be healthy separately- so be it. Get creative, make it fun. Some couples work better with a little competitive tension. If you are competitive, race eachother. Make bets. Start a competition: set aside two jars. Put money in your jar for every workout you do, and money in your partner’s jar for every time you slip up with junk food. (There are other ways to spice up bets and competitions, but we’ll keep it P.G. here).
4. Set goals: How can we make it attainable and sustainable? Choose goals that are just out of reach enough that they offer a challenge, but not so far that they are unrealistic. If you know you don’t go to the gym even when you pay $50/month, then pick at-home exercises to do every day (see last week’s article for ideas). Make them specific and sustainable by choosing specific exercises and amounts: we will walk 2 times a week; do 15 pushups together 4 mornings a week, go for a bike ride 3 weekends a month. If you start with a small challenge and stick with it, you can adhere to the program and build on it.
5. How can we support each other? Talk about how you will hold eachother accountable. Make a promise to each other to take joint responsibility. If your partner joins a recreational league, go to the games. If one of you is struggling with overeating or snacking mindlessly, ask for gentle reminders or that your partner try to distract you through talking or entertainment. Share articles with eachother, pick healthy recipes. At the very least, make sure you are not sabotaging your partners efforts, i.e. through negative comments or keeping snacks in the house. Understand that your partners success is your success.
6. Tie it to your budget. Every cautionary advice article will tell you that money is the #1 cause of marital stress in most surveyed married couples. Realizing that your choices have a direct impact on your health will free up a large portion of your budget. Go over your prescription costs (real, or base them on your parents’). Chances are, some family issues are preventable. Unhealthy lifestyles lead to sickness. Sickness leads to doctor bills, prescription costs, hospital bills, and even larger grocery bills (in the case of overeating). Clean eating reduces disease, and exercise and flexibility training strengthen bones, reducing osteopenia. Eating out is also a huge source of calories and a big chunk out of your wallet. Check your budget for ways you can save money AND get healthier, like cutting out sodas, packing lunches for work, and choosing vegetable based meals. Eating nutritious foods is not more expensive. (Visit any Trader Joe’s and you’ll agree).
6. Commit! Just as you have chosen to commit to each other, decide to commit to a long, healthy, and happy life. Stick to your habits as a couple, and they will become easier for you as you create new activities and family traditions geared toward clean eating and fitness.
Congratulations, and here’s a virtual toast to your long and healthy marriage!
I may be a bit of a nerd, but I am fascinated with the brain and the way neurotransmitters (NTs for short) effect -and are affected!- by our behavior. The idea that we can change our brain chemical layout is pretty amazing.
The article below talks about what serotonin, dopamine, and other NT’s do during eating disorders, but also about what we can do to re-route them into better behavior. What’s even cooler is that by changing these behaviors, we can actually alter the levels of the NTs in our brain.
Read it here:
http://www.eatingdisorder-institute.com/?tag=neurotransmitters
Juice: Is 100% any better?
Posted on: October 21, 2012
“Why does no sugar added grape juice have 160 calories per serving?”
Most juices are highly processed. Despite the 100% claim, lots of people are surprised to find out that some natural juices actually have more sugar than their sugar-added conterparts. A typical “100%” juice can have a nutrition label that looks like this :
Carbohydrates (Sugar) contain 4 calories per gram. At 39 grams, that’s 39×4- which is where you get your 160 calories. And that’s for 8 oz. We all know you don’t just drink a sippy cup of juice when you’re thirsty. Especially considering it’s super sugary, which triggers you to want more.
Juice marketers will hype it up to contain “real fruit juice,” “100% juice,” and “High/All Daily Vitamin C.” Big whoop- you can get your vitamin C from the citric acid added to lots of sugar drinks, too. The process that a fruit goes through to become store juice strips it of fiber, reduces vitamin content (so they add it back in with supplements), and concentrates it into a syrupy solution that is later reconstituted with water.
>>Some motivation: If you have 1 glass of juice a day (being gracious and saying you really only have 8 oz) that is 160 extra simple carbohydrate/sugar calories.
160×7 = 1,120 calories per week. Since 1lb is 3,500 calories, you could lose half a pound a week just by switching juice to flavored water. <<
“If you were to buy a tasty juice from the store that’s actually healthy, what would you recommend?”
Unfortunately, the juices I’ve found that are as good as if you juiced them yourself typically run a bit more expensive- and they won’t exactly cut your calories. The best ways to steer around your juice craving are these:
1. Add water. Or, to be more accurate, add juice to your water. You’d be surprised at how little you need to get a great burst of flavor.
2. Try seltzer mixes. Get the $1-2 store brand flavored water, but watch out for sneaky sweeteners! Get plain, and check diligently for aspartame and sucralose, which can lead to headaches, cancer, and lead you to depend on sugar even more than usual. Add the seltzer to your favorite juice for a nice kick.
3. Freeze some fruit. Ice cube trays work great for fitting a few berries or slices of lime, orange, and lemon. Once frozen, these can be tasty additions to regular or seltzer water. (Or wine if you’re like me and can’t turn down some homemade “sangria.” I try to be fancy and call it that, but it’s really just wine with frozen fruit).
4. Juice your own. This is definitely the most ambitious, but juicing your own fruit ensures that you know exactly what’s in it. Juicing fresh fruit minimizes vitamin loss, and you can add in pulp for extra filling-up-ness, vitamins, and fiber.
Recommendations:
Naked Juice
Carrot juice (surprisingly sweet and lower in calories)
Green juice – various brands. Contains kiwi, and most brands slip in vegetables while remaining tangy and delicious
Low Sodium Tomato or Vegetable Juice
Grapefruit juice – harder to drink a lot, and contains a ton of vitamins
Unconventional fruit juices – acai (thicker, be warned), pomegranate. These aren’t primed by our childhood memories and feel-good commercials, so you are less likely to go overboard.
I think the best way to go is to fruit-or-dilute. Eventually, after stepping it down a notch by adding water, the highly concentrated sugary juice becomes too much for your palate to handle. You end up picking the seltzer with strawberry slices to drink instead.
Other articles on Juices:
Conquer Your Habit of Indulgence
Posted on: October 16, 2012
The more I learn about the brain and obesity, the more I realize that our HABITS are the biggest tool we have to changing our lives.
“In marketing indulgence, the food industry knows something about us that we don’t know about ourselves.
By encouraging us to consider any occasion to eat as an opportunity for pleasure and reward, the industry invites us to indulge a lot more often. That theme populates food industry marketing reports and conferences that drive new food products and services.” – The End of Overeating, David Kessler
Once you conquer the habit to “indulge,” your desired result will become the reward in itself. Better energy, a longer life, and a healthy, lean body are much better rewards than the momentary taste of engineered food.
Awareness is not enough- our brains are hardwired from years of the same old behaviors. It will take a conscious effort to say NO to ourselves, and start making better choices. We cannot continue to stimulate our reward centers with sugar, fat, salt, and the chemicals of processed food. The food present in America that is always in your face is not designed to satisfy your hunger. It is designed to keep you eating (aka buying) more, more, more– it is designed to STIMULATE appetite, not alleviate it.
Pick whole, fresh, foods. Use spices instead of salt. Stop using sugar to reward yourself and start associating pleasure with more productive things- reading, walking, talking to a loved one. Your future self- healthy, happy, and not controlled by low-brain behavior, will love you for it.
If you indulge more frequently than you like, have an obsession with food, want to gain control, or if you are a dork who loves neuroscience and applied behavior analysis like me, I urge you to pick up a copy of The End of Overeating by David Kessler.
http://www.theendofovereatingbook.com
Excerpts found at: http://theendofovereatingbook.com/blog.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louise-mccready/d-kessler-author-of-emthe_b_195676.html
Lots of love!
Andrea
Make it Part of Your Identity
Posted on: October 10, 2012
Recently, I officially bought my package to study and take the Personal Trainer Certification Exam.. I have 180 days to complete the exam.
I’m pumped! I chose NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine)- I read it is widely accepted, pays well in most gyms, and has strong ties to science.
With that said, today’s advice is, when you are trying to achieve something:
Make it part of your Identity
You undoubtedly associate yourself with variety of things. Especially in our teenage years, we struggle to find out what type of people we are. We use our surroundings- friends, family, what we do, how we act, what people think of us- to try and come up with a conclusive self. In adulthood, we learn to look within, but sometimes we do not shed the beliefs that we snagged up along the way. They may have served their purpose and are now old news to our wiser selves. We have quite literally outgrown our younger beliefs and need to reexamine them in order to grow further.
At the very peak, you can associate with your body and say “I am a fat person” or “I am a skinny person.” Then you can associate with your wants/desires: we have “I am a chocolate lover,” “I am addicted to ___,” “I love fast food.” Then, as teens do, you can view your actions and identify with them: “I always eat dessert after dinner,” “I eat in my car.” It definitely helps to explore these beliefs and become aware of our pitfalls. However- there is a better way. Fortunately, we can fast track our success and counter our negative beliefs by a simpler route.
Pick New Beliefs:
Act first, and the true belief will come.
A lot of traditional couch therapy focuses on delving into old beliefs in order to shed them. However, if you have nothing to replace them with- you are left with awareness but no way to apply it. Instead, what if we deliberately begin to add in new beliefs about ourselves to our current belief systems?
1. Stop focusing on what you think you can’t change
2. Choose what you WANT to believe about yourself.
3. Act accordingly.
If you decide you want to be a healthy eater, you have to believe that about yourself. You have to retrain your consciousness to believe health is part of your identity.
You can use the following statements to reinvent yourself:
“I am,” I love,” “I like,” and “I act”
“I am a healthy eater, I like choosing healthy foods, I love the feeling of eating clean, and I choose these foods every day.”
The choice to add self-serving beliefs into your routine will force out beliefs that need to be shed. Choose wisely and consciously.
Supplemental Information and Reading:
http://www.nasm.org (National Academy of Sports Medicine)
Mindset – C. Dweck
Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul – Deepak Chopra
The Body Fat Solution – Tom Venuto
The Dilemma:
After a 5am gym appointment, why on earth did I come to work and want a cookie? (Or 2?)
It might have to do with the fact that
1. It was THERE
2. I was tired. My previous conditioning was that when I felt tired, I would react by eating. Especially carbohydrates… simple carbohydrates. Aka the ‘s’ word.
3. It’s sugar.. sweet, tempting, and so willing to jump right in and wreak havoc on your insides.
The Analysis:
So here’s my thought process when trying to recondition myself and stop an undesirable behavior.
1. Do I really want this? (Am I being present?) This is the hardest thing to determine. There are a wide variety of factors that cause you to reach for food to ingest that is detrimental to your body.
2. Is this part of my cycles? Be sure to track your physical and emotional cycles. These cycles include emotions, stressed, tired, or overwhelmed; transitions; disruptions in daily rhythms and routines; hormonal (i.e. time of month). Knowing your cycles and finding cues to remind yourself in moments of weakness is key; it is the first step in mastering your behavior.
3. What part of me wants this- my body, my mind, or my spirit?
A. BODY: Truly hungry- experiencing hunger pains, fatigue/sense of passing out, lack of energy due to low fuel source
B. MIND: Mental dialogue is saying you “SHOULD” eat. Maybe after a workout, or you “haven’t had enough” today. This type of urge is spurred by outside influences- like an article you read or something you heard. You hear your inner chatter giving you reasons and excuses.
C.SPIRIT: Something is missing, and you’re trying to fill a void. What you really want may be peace. Maybe you have something else you want to accomplish.
D. EGO: Deep down there is a part of you that wants to stay stuck in your same cycle of habits. That part of you wants to stay conditioned because it’s easy- it’s not fulfilling, or joyful, but it’s easy and it doesn’t take a lot of discipline, self-awareness, or critical thought. This part of you justifies that you “deserve” it, but doesn’t take into account your goals for becoming your highest self.
4. How will I feel after? Will I feel pleasure, more energetic, guilty, out of control? A typical cycle may be: pleasure at first, then a sense of being out of control, then guilty, then later experiencing a sugar crash. You may convince yourself you can eat just one, but your body may get primed and want more junky “food.”
5. How will I feel if I take the opposite/higher action that is in line with my values and goals? Disciplined, clean, healthy, guilt-free, free from conditioning, one step closer to my goals.
6. More importantly! Assuming I am not actually physically hungry, and I don’t want to struggle with this anymore…
What can I do to make this better for myself the next time around? How can I replace this behavior with a better one that lines up with my goals– how can I recondition myself?
This is an opportunity to choose a new behavior. Many suggestions include choosing a better food– but we’re going to take it to the next level, push our discipline, and use this for growth. Challenge yourself to choose an action that has nothing to do with eating or nutrition. Instead, use this as an opportunity to make progress in another realm of your life. Meditation, Yoga, stretching, doing pushups, squats, lunges, pullups, reading, prayer, writing, studying, finishing tasks and tackling things you procrastinate on, playing a musical instrument, and catering to your relationships can all help channel your energy into something more productive. Any activity that you see in line with your highest self is a fruitful endeavors that will give you a sense of accomplishment, and help you to fade out the unwanted behavior.
Slowly but surely, by choosing new behaviors in your minor day-to-day struggles, you will makeover your lifestyle to align with your goals.
The Facts:
Just to pound it home, sugar is not the solution.
Current emotional constructs surrounding sugar are as follows: happy happy joy joy, smiling children, colorful foods.. the media has hyped up high-sugar content foods because they are CHEAP and they are ADDICTING.
Sodas, candy, and other packaged confections are a cocktail of chemicals and highly processed “food stuff.” White sugar adds calories, while non-calorie sweeteners make chemical changes in the brain resulting in desire for more sweet foods at the most innocent, and migraines and cancer at its most heinous. Just because they are in foods doesn’t mean they’re innocent: Aspartame was rejected multiple times before finally getting slight approval, and that’s only because the person trying to pass it got into the organization.
Nutritional life is much easier when you steer clear of sugary foods, and the habits and influences that had you eating them in the first place.
Suggested Readings:
Skinny Bitch – Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Food Rules – Michael Pollan
http://www.womens-wellbeing-and-mental-health.com/Premenstrual-Cravings.html
Loving Your Flaws
Posted on: September 20, 2012
The word “appreciate” doesn’t mean “like,” “agree with” or “enjoy,” necessarily. To appreciate means to recognize the value of something.
Fantastic Article:
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Love-Your-Flaws/2#ixzz270gSa3dA
Even the word “darkness” can invoke a twinge of unease that we may not be conscious of. Yet we all have what some writers have coined a “shadow self.” The great thing is, when you shed light on the aspects of yourself that bring you guilt, shame, embarassment, or anger, you have conquered them. Simply by awareness, you can bring yourself freedom.
Today’s practice:
Listen intently to things you don’t want to hear.
You may do this by:
Paying attention to ideas and concepts of yourself that you shy away from
Paying attention to things that offend or disgust you
Not shying away from things that disgust you
Writing a list of words you can’t stand and reading it
Listening to people you consider annoying, irritating
Acknowledging some of your bad habits e.g. I am a smoker, I am overweight, I can’t control my eating (but remember to please do this with AWARENESS and peace, not judgement- judgment will force you to become defensive or shy away from admitting these things to yourself.)
Sit with these words, concepts, or feelings for a while today.
Feel the sensations of anger or discomfort. When you feel the urge to “turn away” – whether that is in your head or actually with your head- don’t. Be conscious of the tightness in your body. Your throat, your back, and your shoulders may get tight and tingly. The point here is to allow the feelings to come over you, become aware of them, and let them be.
The Payoff: Freedom
You will feel a sense of lightness from becoming aware of the subtle negative energy that has been captured in the things you reject. Pushing them away and denying their existence hinders your growth process. When you bring them to light, you are bringing them to you, accepting them as part of what made you who you are.
More importantly, you are opening up to your excuses. When you are aware of what’s holding you back instead of turning away from it, you are able to make the changes that will lead to the person you know you could be.
Headstrong Health: The Psychology of Getting Fit 
