If you Want to Be Happy and Heart Healthy, Tweet Or Write Your Best Self

I’m reminded in my positive psychology course that our brains have a negativity bias. For good reason, the psychologists say. Our ancestors, the theory goes, would have gotten mauled or starved to death if they didn’t see the world as a scary, dangerous place.

I would love to think of our ancient ancestors as carefree, unencumbered by the ills of modern society, but I guess not. Maybe there were chill dudes who said, no worries, there’ll be more food tomorrow or in that other field, and that rustling sound is probably just the wind. Those guys didn’t survive to reproduce, psychologists surmise, looking at our negative-primed brains.

Why should 10 compliments be wiped out by one criticism? Why should one bad taco have us off tacos forever? And why should we judge the world a harsh and unsafe place, when for most of us, that’s just patently not true?

Positive psychologists say we needn’t fret about the brain’s pessimistic bent because 1) it’s not healthy to fret 2) we can learn to be optimistic and 3) as this article explains, that optimism can have profound health effects.

That’s all fascinating, but my favorite part of the Scientific American’s exploration of optimism and heart health is their data, specifically twitter word clouds.

Communities of tweeters that used the language of “skilled occupation,” positive experiences and optimism were associated with a lower incidence of heart disease. Groups that sent out tweets steeped in hostility, aggression, hate, interpersonal tension, boredom and fatigue were associated with worse community cardiac outcomes.

Imagine the word cloud of Trump’s tweets. Now, I’m not saying this means Trump is about to have a heart attack. The study was on communities rather than individuals. Still one can only imagine the insides of a guy who is so angry, suspicious, and hate-filled. Not to mention his many followers filled with hostility, aggression, and hate. Those are emotions the studies suggest put their health at risk. My guess is that my readers slant heavily away from this “community,” so it wouldn’t help for me to suggest here the letting go of those toxic feelings. You, reader, already get it. You, non-reader, are…not reading anyway.

Still, what of the rest of us, trying to remain or become optimistic? How does one build optimism? As this article explains, we can use a visualization exercise to boost optimism, with surprisingly positive results. You imagine yourself in the future in the best possible circumstances. That’s about it. I read a scholarly journal article on the efficacy of this intervention and it did increase optimism and happiness in a number of studies. I chose an article by happiness researcher (positive psychologist) Sonja Lyubomirsky in order to learn the actual research protocol, so you can try it for yourself!

‘‘Think about your best possible self’’ researchers explained,

“means that you imagine yourself in the future, after everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have worked hard and succeeded at accomplishing all of your life goals. Think of this as the realization of your life dreams, and of your own best potentials. In all of these cases you are identifying the best possible way that things might turn out in your life, in order to help guide your decisions now. You may not have thought about yourself in this way before, but research suggests that doing so can have a strong positive effect on your mood and life satisfaction. So, we’d like to ask you to continue thinking in this way over the next few weeks, following up on the initial writing that you’re about to do. (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006).

So why not take ten minutes right now, or later this evening, and sit in a quiet room. Imagine yourself say, 10 years in the future having achieved your goals and dreams in any and all arenas that matter to you. Fully immerse yourself in the vision and write about it as specifically as possible. Then continue to reflect in this way. (The Psychology Today article linked above suggests visualization without writing, but the experimenters had the participants write initially.)

If you give this a try, leave a comment on the experience!

 

References

Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). How to increase and sustain positive emotion: The effects of expressing gratitude and visualizing best possible selves. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1(2), 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760500510676

Stepladders through the Dark

When I was 10 I decided I was too old to sleep with a nightlight. As a budding young psychologist, or having some intuitive sense, or, really, who knows how I came to this: I devised an ingenious plan to wean myself off my nighttime companion. I found an extension cord and attached the nightlight to it. The first night I placed the light close to its usual location. Then each subsequent night I moved it several inches toward the door. The changes were subtle enough to make only a small difference in the light I was used to. Bit by bit my nighttime bedroom fell from warm, cozy light and into greater and greater darkness. Unwavering, I kept dragging that light along its cord, until one day it was in the hallway. I was free from my ties to what I (for whatever reason) saw as a “childish” light. Having gained confidence, I went even further. To get used to being alonein the dark, closed off from the comforting presence of my parents across the hall, I began to move the door inch by inch from wide open the following nights. Each successive inch towards shut was hardly different from the last, yet eventually I could easily sleep with no extra light and my door completely closed. Boy, was I proud!

This process is not far from what teachers do in “scaffolding” difficult material. And it also nicely illustrates the process of “Stepladders” in habit-formation as described in Sean Young’s Stick With It: A Scientific Process for Changing Your Life for Good.

In trying to create a new habit, Young says, we often confuse goals with what really are far off dreams, and then we underestimate the steps it takes to achieve our short term and long term goals. As I try to help my clients deal with to-do list overload, this concept is also useful in just trying to create a productive day. My lesson: don’t try to suddenly one day shut off the nightlight or close the door, but rather slowly adjust to darkness in a stepwise, unthreatening manner. Break it down, folks.

A surprising finding: we are less motivated by far off goals (really, dreams) than the everyday accomplishments of steps towards a goal. People who actually became rock stars focused on the mundane steps to achieve greater and greater success, not on the ultimate goal of rock stardom. And dieters who kept their attention on daily eating habits were far more successful than those who kept thinking of a distant future thin self.

It turns out, when we think of something too big to be attainable in the present, we feel unmotivated to even try. Yet when we think of a small step we can take that moves us in the right direction, we feel up for the small, doable challenge.

Don’t most self-help books exhort us to dream big and keep those big imaginings close (on a vision board, for instance)? While having big dreams doesn’t stop you from achieving them, Young says, your steady vision has to stay within the scope of what you can do this week.

Thus, eyes on the tiny little prizes that lead up to the eventual big prize. Each success gives us a jolt of dopamine, the brain’s reward chemical, and helps motivate us to complete the next step and the next and so on.

I admit I have a whole lot of books in roughly the same genre as Stick with It:  scientifically proven approaches to self-help. I’ve got books on scheduling and un-scheduling yourself. Becoming highly productive. Creating and breaking habits. Becoming happier, finding flow, enhancing well-being, influencing others, eating better, the power of neuroplasticity…and that’s just a glance at my bookshelf. How does this one stack up?

I like to say that I read the books and journal articles so that you (my readers) and my clients don’t have to. I read, absorb, get the bottom line, figure out how to put it into practice. And with my clients, tailor it to the individual and provide support and adjustments to help make the techniques work.

Still, there are some books and articles worth reading, if you’ve got the time and inclination. I’d say Young’s volume on habit change is worth it. It’s a quick read, includes illustrative stories, brief science support, concrete ways to use the information, and exercises with every chapter.

“Stepladders” is just one such chapter, and at the end, your homework is to divide your dreams into goals, and then into small steps. The following chapters help you get over the road blocks to making your most important goals into life habits. I think this volume might be helpful in understanding blocks to doing what we most want to do and providing concrete solutions to getting to these most important goals.

What might be missing is a concrete way to translate all these ideas into your every day schedule.

Do you have items on your to-do list hanging about your shoulders like an albatross? My clients describe a familiar scenario: items carried from one day to the next and one month to another. Some things only get done as they turn into emergencies. Others never get done, perhaps missed opportunities.

I’ve tried a lot of books and a lot of productivity and mindfulness hacks. I’ve seen what works and doesn’t help various clients. Here’s what I’ve come up with at present:

 

  • There is no one right way to schedule the day for every person
  • A schedule—or not scheduling—must match different types of priorities and different styles of working for individuals and at different moments in their lives
  • There are some commonalities, however:
    • Avoid a giant to do list—too long and/or with steps too large is de-motivating for most people
    • Decide what is most important to you (and why) so that you are not being fabulously productive at unimportant tasks
    • Keep goals and dreams but break them down into tiny doable steps
    • Figure out why certain things on your to-do list aren’t getting done and if they should be crossed off, scheduled, broken down, or dealt with emotionally
    • Remember that there is enough time to do everything that is most important, though there is never enough time to do everything you can think of to put on your to do list, especially things that seem like you “ought to” do them
    • You are allowed to cross things off your to do list and say you are just not going to do them. Ever. Or at least this week.
    • Don’t confuse your list of what you want to do for yourself, your work life, your family, and what you think others want/need you to do. Keep these in order of your own priorities.
    • Delegate. Not everything is actually your problem.

If you do the most important things first in the day–or if you schedule the task and complete it at the assigned time–you’ll have accomplished something meaningful by night, and perhaps everything that truly needed to be done. If you you go off on tangents, you may or may not get to the most important tasks of the day.

Get a goal setting and time blocking blank and see my example (You will be prompted to sign up for my mailing list. If you’re already on my email list, this won’t work but you will find the link in the January 21, 2019 newsletter…thanks for your patience! I’m having technical difficulties making it available here for current subscribers. Arghhhh!)

Who cares what you’d do if you could not fail?

What would you do if you knew you could not fail? I love this question. Or, I used to love it. It invites you to dream big. Well, gee, if I couldn’t fail, I’d run for president and fix this country!

The question suggests you might stop worrying about failure and simply pursue your dreams.

And perhaps not all your idle imaginings, but which fantasy you would actually pursue. Because maybe you have a list of things you might do if you couldn’t fail; is there one thing that comes immediately to mind when you think only of what you’d most wish to do? Maybe I’d put my time and energy into a podcast or webinar.

Which then leads to the obvious follow-up: if the thing matters so much, why are you letting fear of failure get in the way? As in, what’s stopping me from making a podcast or webinar? Perhaps it is, in fact, fear of failure—that my work might come out boring or amateurish and no one will ever listen/watch. Why don’t  I get over being scared and just get started on making that podcast or webinar today?

Is that even the right question?

Not everyone has a list of answers bubbling right to the surface when asked what they’d do if they could not fail; some have no answer at all. One of my clients said she couldn’t think of a thing. She looked vaguely worried. I suggested to her she put it into the realm of fantasy. Not something you’d really do but imagine the sky’s the limit!

She seemed game to try the exercise, but now that I think further on it, I wonder if this question is simply irrelevant to her, and also: that’s just fine. The question is intended to get at one aspect of well-being: removing limits to achieving something you find important and meaningful. It fits right into our culture, self-help books, and podcasts which are so achievement-oriented that we forget that success is not the only road to happiness. Some of the figures we admire suggest that we should aim to accomplish feats on an impressive scale, as if rising above the rest of humanity were somehow necessary for or even related to happiness. Are the most successful people the happiest? Of course not. If they were, the world would not have to mourn our idols lost to suicide.

No, you don’t have to embark on grand endeavors or conquer your greatest fears to be happy. In fact, we can find deep purpose and meaning within the scope of our everyday moments and behaviors. And maybe we are more likely to find deep satisfaction in doing just that. Positive psychology has found that meaning and purpose are important to your overall well-being, even more significant than achievement.

So yeah, maybe if I knew I couldn’t fail, I’d take the advice of people watching me hula hoop in gym in the morning and try to get on America’s Got Talent. Yet, how is working towards a spot on a TV talent show any more fulfilling than taking the time out of one’s day on a regular basis to be a sponsor, or make a positive life with a loved one in the face of grave illness? These are the heroic feats my clients accomplish every day, and ones that bring purpose and meaning to their lives.

Instead of asking ourselves, “What would you do if you could not fail?” we might ask, “What do you do that makes your life have purpose and meaning, and how might you do more of that?”

The New Year’s Diet. Cheat your way to weight loss?

What’s in your post-holiday grocery cart?

If you’re like the average person, the groceries in your cart after New Year’s Resolution time includes 55% more spent on food and twice as many calories per serving purchased. That’s according to a 2014 study. What’s going on here? Consumers purchased not only more healthy foods in keeping with their dietary hopes, but also more unhealthy ones. Why? The experimenters concluded that eating these healthy foods produced a “halo effect,” a feeling of having succeeded in behaving healthfully. As a result, people felt as though they were then free to indulge more in unhealthy foods. Which they did.

This study sheds some light on the common holiday weight gain and gradual increase in weight over the years. At the moment when we feel the most hopeful about losing weight, (Happy New Year!) we sabotage our efforts by giving ourselves free reign to eat the way we ate during the holidays, with healthy foods added to our total caloric intake.

The study authors suggest making a list before shopping to avoid impulse buys. I’d add to their commonsense advice; pause before the checkout and look at the overall quantity as well as the ratio of healthy to unhealthy foods. A reasonable diet will normally have some exceptions, of course, but clearly most of your diet ought to be nutritious foods that fits the eating patterns you’ve decided upon.

As for the rest of your shopping cart? Weight loss researchers don’t seem to have studied how much unhealthy foods we ought to consume—those that are low in micronutrients and ones that don’t fit one’s diet. That’s because during the studies participants are encouraged to adhere strictly to a particular diet, of course. Yet the best correlation with long-term diet success is not the type of diet but rather the ability to adhere to the diet beyond the normal six to nine month diet failure point, when most people gain back all the weight they lost, and then some. As a result, choosing a diet you can stick to is going to be most vital in the long run. Perhaps that means that some small percentage of your diet might contain foods that aren’t exactly health food?

What’s the ideal junk food to health food ratio?

Just as there’s no one diet that would be right for everyone, there’s no exact science to cheat foods. Among other factors, the percentage of healthy to unhealthy foods depends on your diet, the kinds of unhealthy foods you choose, your metabolism, your gut biome and other individual factors. Consider, too, whether or not the particular unhealthy foods you choose will help you stick to a diet that works for you by avoiding feeling deprived. On the other hand, do these cheat foods end up making you feel hungrier and craving more unhealthy foods? You may already know which foods have which effect. If you have a little sugar or white flour do you find yourself feeling the need for more and more, perhaps even binging on these or other foods as a result? Other people find salty foods too tempting in the same way. That probably means these are foods you need to avoid because you are actually addicted to them. You may be aware that sugar in particular sets off the same pleasure centers in your brain as addictive drugs.

I know some people who (claim, at least) to be able to have one square of chocolate or one spoonful of ice cream. I can’t even imagine! Sugar-free alternatives get some people through sugar cravings, but for others these can become binge-foods as well because of the reward of the sweet taste.

Our genes haven’t changed significantly over time, so why are we globally gaining weight? We can blame this on our modern food environment: quick, cheap access to salt, sugar, and fat—calorically dense foods that were scarce for our distant ancestors. We evolved to have a taste for these foods, and food manufacturers know that the magic combination of these three elements will keep customers coming back for more and more and more.

Taking away the temptations in your house is one solution, thought that’s easiest if one lives alone, or everyone in the household is on the same diet plan. Maddeningly, for some of us, not everyone is affected by the same foods in the same way. Maybe someone in your household can have one square of chocolate per day, but you cannot. In my pantry I try to keep the starchy sugary foods hidden in boxes so while I know they are there, cookies, breads and chocolates are not staring me in the face every time I go for some raw pumpkin seeds or almonds.

While the percentage of cheat food will vary (from zero up), I think we can all agree that most of our food ought to be nutrient dense, whole foods, without added sweeteners. This is true whether we need to lose, gain or maintain weight. Your family cart, then, ought to be heaped with mounds of vegetables, not crammed with containers of packaged foods, meal replacement or snack bars, soda, juice, eggnog or desserts, even if they’re on sale.

What makes diets ultimately fail? Two main factors, according to a National Institutes of Health analysis of weight loss studies. One is behavioral: people stopped adhering to their diet and exercise plans that were working. Why? NIH researchers suggest that the rewards for dieting including losing weight, feeling healthier, fitting better in clothes, start to fall off when one hits the maintenance phase. The rewards no longer outweighs the efforts.

The second weight loss factor is physiological: when you lose weight, the body goes through a number of transitions determined to help the body quickly and easily gain it back. Thanks a lot, right? Your hormones change so that you feel hungrier in general and less likely to feel satiated after eating the same amount. At the same time, your metabolism slows down so that you need fewer calories to stay the same weight.

An interesting weight loss fact not commonly mentioned in the mainstream press is that weight loss and maintenance is highly variable amongst individuals within the studies. That means even in the short term, and in the same study, some participants will lose a significant amount of weight, others will lose a moderate amount, some a small amount, some none at all, and some will even gain some weight. In the long term, while most participants will regain all or some of the weight within six to nine months, some people will be quite successful in losing and keeping the weight off. According to the NIH, the people most likely to keep the weight off are the ones who are most successful early in the study losing weight. If only we knew what made these people respond better than others to the weight loss interventions! Unfortunately, this is an area for future study.

Is Getting into the Best Shape of My Life a Good New Year’s Resolution?

I am good at helping clients create concrete and achievable goals for themselves. We do this at the end of every session. Yet as 2019 approached, I got totally carried away in my own New Year’s Resolutions. I proclaimed, this year I’m going to get into the best shape of my life, as I turn 45. Yup, I went for the giant life overhaul resolution, an approach scientifically proven to backfire.

In my defense, Brendon Burchard suggests exactly this resolution in his High Performance Habits, a book I have been enjoying immensely. But maybe he was being hyperbolic? Did he simply mean, it’s worth working on getting in great shape, no matter your age?

Regardless of the original intent, I envisioned my new healthiest self ever: training to be lean and strong.  In 12 months I’d become an endurance athlete able to complete a 50k cross country ski race and a (hula) hoop performer, lithe and graceful as a circus act. Fueled, of course, by copious vegetables, water, and sleep. Oh, and yoga and meditation, and sport specific training. I would be a beacon of health and fitness—cue God rays cascading around me—radiating strength and calm, inspiring friends, clients and acquaintances alike.

I am not usually so grandiose. It’s true that once I got it in my head that I could become an American Ninja Warrior if I just tried hard enough, but a couple laps on the monkey bars dissuaded me. (How do those people dangle so high up for so long from all those different obstacles?) Still, I often have grand visions of self-improvement. There’s a part of me that just wants to make an impressive change. Is this familiar to anyone else?

Thus, unwilling to let go of my immodest vision, I knew I had to turn a sort of dumb idea into a SMART (or SMARTER) goal, if I were to have a chance of attaining my goals.

Before I delved into acronyms, I took a quick jaunt into the history and psychology of New Year’s Resolutions and goal setting. Apparently the Babylonians made their resolutions at crop harvest time, some 4000 years ago. (The Economist has an interesting article on the topic.) There must be something in the human spirit that makes us want to do better, be better.

45-50% of Americans (depending on whom you ask) make New Year’s resolutions, and 8-10% manage to keep them. You might ask, what happened to all those who failed? But instead, I’d like to ask about the few who succeeded. What makes them so special?

Studies generally suggests we should pick reasonable (not giant) goals, make them into habits by practicing them often, creating cues and rewards, and using support.

But what motivates us when the phone goes off and a little reminder pops up that it’s time to hit the gym… but we feel tired?  The missing element, I think, is the why of our goals. If we know why we want this goal and it matters to us, are we not more likely to climb out of bed and into our gym clothes? And knowing and caring about our why, are we better able to say no to that crispy, chewy ginger molasses cookie that is so not on our low carb diet?

If I was my own client—I’d have a fool for a client, as the old saying goes. Haha. Anyway. If a client came in with a goal like mine, I’d ask, why do you want to be in the best shape of your life?

Answer: I want to walk my talk, putting into practice all the wonderful health and well-being practices I advocate for my clients. I want to be the healthiest I can be so that I can be my best self possible, stave off disease, and enjoy life. That’s the positive side. The dark underbelly of my goal is vanity.

Well, at least a part of my “why” is lofty and well aligned with my life’s purpose and true values. And a part is not. Well, that’ll have to do. (If you are struggling with coming up with meaningful goals because you haven’t clarified your life’s purpose and values, I highly recommend taking the time to get out your journal and answer these questions.)

On to the practical side.

I’d argue that big goals are ok, but need to be broken down into small doable steps. I like this rendering of the SMARTER goal setting process.

Here’s what the practice looked like for me:

Specific: I plan to improve upon my baseline measures of: strength, endurance, flexibility and body fat. I plan to get adequate sleep, water, vegetables, and meditate daily.

Measurable: I don’t want to get too attached to numbers, but have ideas of where I’d like to be in 12 months. I would like to be able to do 10 pull-ups, squat 300 pounds, finish a 50k xc ski race in under 4 hours, get closer to a standing split, and get my body fat down to “athlete.” I plan to get up at least 8 hours sleep a night, drink my 64 ounces of water a day, have two servings of vegetables with most meals, and meditate for at least five minutes each day.

Attainable: I will need to do regular training to reach the fitness goals, but all these categories seem within reach of my body. The health habits are all doable. I’ve done them all, just not all at once!

Relevant: These goals are relevant because I will feel physically and psychologically better if I am hydrated, well-nourished, well-rested, mindful, and stronger. I will be able to do accomplish my dream of doing a 50k race, and improve flexibility for my hooping tricks. As for the body fat, I will feel better at a lower body fat and will be healthier, too. Especially if the baseline number on the gym scale was correct. Ugh.

Time-Limited: (Other sources say this should be “Trackable”) I have a concrete deadline of one year.

Exciting: When I imagine how good I will feel, I do feel excited. Especially the hoop and skiing related goals, which are mood boosters in my life.

Recorded: Well, they’re here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Healthiest Self at Any Age: Announcing A Free Group Coaching Session

Free Group Coaching Session

Thursday, January 24. 5:30-6:30 pm

120 West Ave, Suite 208
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

 

For 2019, Would you like to get into the 

BEST SHAPE OF YOUR LIFE?

Group Health Coaching can help you achieve 

OPTIMAL HEALTH AT ANY AGE 

Try a group health coaching session for FREE

During your free session you will: 

  • Determine your personal fitness, health and well-being goals 
  • Take home simple yet powerful health and wellness tools
  • Kick off a fit, healthy, happy new year!

WHY GROUP HEALTH COACHING?Achieving your best health on your own is tough! Get the help you need to reach your optimal fitness, health and well-being, whatever your age and circumstance. Group health coaching provides affordable expert guidance with the encouragement and accountability of your group! 

Learn how this health coaching program is unique, active, and personalized.

For more information or to RSVP, email me at info@rachelkurtzhealthcoach.com. You may also RSVP on the Facebook event page.

Day 2: What Would a Health Coach Do?

 Day 2, 12/27/18: A.M. Weigh in +1.4 lb (lost 1lb)!

Today’s Plan: Intermittent Fasting Variation

To keep up the momentum in the right direction (and early success was a significant factor in individual weight loss overall success) I’m going to try a smaller time window for eating. This is a version of intermittent fasting that was useful in a number of recent studies, though the effect was more powerful in overweight people. You might want to check out this link to an interesting New Scientist article on the topic.

In this diet, you don’t worry so much about what you eat, but rather when. One common schedule is to eat for eight hours and fast for 16. Not what a lot of us normally do, grazing on food from the time we wake up to bedtime. Instead you’d, say, eat a late breakfast at 10:30 a.m. and then finish an early dinner by 6:30 pm. That’s all!

Personal Experience

Putting off eating in the morning is normally easy for me, though with yesterday’s exercise bout, it’s harder this morning! Evening stopping eating is way harder. I’ll report back how I do!

New Exercise Guidelines and Comment on Yesterday/Today’s Numbers

It’s easy to lose a pound in a day when you exercise like a crazy person and burn some 600 or maybe 700 exercise calories. That’s not sustainable for most people, of course. Not for me either. But it was nice to be able to do an a.m. workout and then a long, hard afternoon workout, too. A great kickoff to doing more consistent exercise!

We need more exercise/intensity/variety than most people are aware. Did you know that new guidelines are out? This is the subject of one of my health and wellness IQ quiz questions, take the quiz to see what you know

Here’s an excellent resource on the new exercise guidelines from Harvard Health blog.

What would a Health Coach Do?

Did you add “mass” this holiday season. I did. And not the liturgical kind.

Of course, as a health coach, I know better. If you’ve had the same experience, you probably also know better. Do you feel disappointed and drained of your usual energy and vitality like I do?  From my background in nutrition and wellness as well as from my knowledge of what works for my body, I’m pretty sure I know exactly how and why it happened. I am also well aware of the health risks of weight creep. So that’s the bad news.

Fortunately, I have a bag to tricks to get back on the wagon of my healthy habits which were previously keeping me at a healthy weight and, just as importantly, keeping me healthy in general. My goal is to get back to those patterns, lose a few pounds and feel better again. As part of my plan, I’ve decided to go public and share both my advice to self as a Health Coach, as well my the journey back to optimal health. Plenty of others are struggling right now about what to do about the numbers on the scale and/or generally getting back on the health wagon. I hope sharing my techniques and experiences will be of use.

Sure, I could have waited to start with New Year’s Resolutions, but I wanted a head start before New Year’s Eve, and my dad’s famous New Year’s Day brunch. (I will also be doing a series of blog posts on resolutions, goals, and habit change, starting New Year’s Day. And the two projects will likely intersect). In any case, if you wish to follow along with my plan, you can pick up whenever works for your situation.

Thus, I thought I’d share my journey beginning today, December 26, 2018, of getting back on track to well-being. Here’s the plan: On my From Here to Well-Being Facebook page, I hope to share twice a day: once for the a.m. weigh-in and my one healthy habit goal for the day (and an explanation of whyI chose this habit; in my second post I will reflect on how I am doing/did for the day.

For my healthy habits, mornings are easy. For me, afternoons get harder, evenings even more difficult. That’s why the second share: to keep me accountable.

It does not escape me that this project would be easier if I had more own health coach! (And if there’s a health coach out there who’d like to trade coaching, I’d totally be up for that!) Still, I believe positive change can happen with motivation and mindfulness. So here we go! To follow along, Click like on From Here to Well-being’s Facebook page. And Happy, Healthy Holidays!

Would you like to improve your health…for free?

ENTER THE CONTEST FOR A FREE HEALTH COACHING SESSSION!

Rachel is offering a free coaching session (in addition to the usual free initial consultation) or (for current clients) a free coaching session added your current coaching program.

IF YOU WIN, THROUGH YOUR FREE SESSION YOU WILL:

  • Clarify your priorities for health and well-being
  • Explore your purpose and values
  • Craft your goals based on your priorities and values
  • Leave with concrete action steps

CAN ONE SESSION REALLY IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?

While the whole six-month transformative program cannot, of course, be squished into an hour, this one session will allow you to make progress working on your health and well-being goals on your own. What a great way to kick off 2019!

WHO CAN ENTER:

Everyone 18 and older is invited to enter this contest, no matter your location! The prize is even transferable, so you can share it as a gift to a loved one! For the winner(s), Rachel is happy to offer a phone or FaceTime session or meet in person in Saratoga Springs, NY. She can work around your schedule.

HOW TO ENTER TO WIN:

1) Like From Here to Well-Being’s Facebook page, if you haven’t already done so.

2) On From Here to Well-Being’s Facebook page, post why you would benefit from a health coaching session. Be as specific and persuasive as you feel comfortable sharing publicly. See the hints at the bottom of this post for questions to help you write a winning post.

That’s all you need to do!

OPTIONAL (can improve your chances of winning):

a) Sign up for my newsletter for health and well-being news delivered to your inbox monthly. (Occasionally you’ll receive emails more often for special editions; for instance, the New Year’s Resolution Survey will be delivered January 1 at midnight!)

b) Share this contest from the From Here to Well-Being FB page on your personal or professional Facebook page and include a description of why you’d really like to win.

c) Invite people you know who are interested in health and well-being to like From Here to Well-Being and/or forward them my newsletter.

DEADLINES:

January 31, 2019 11:59 pm EST to enter; winners must schedule and complete the session by 8 pm EST on March 31, 2019.

HOW THE WINNER(S) WILL BE CHOSEN:

On February 1, Rachel will choose one or two of the most moving posts and offer the free session(s) to that person or people! The winner or winners must schedule the session(s) during February or March 2019.

HINTS ON WRITING A WINNING POST!

Answer any or all of the following questions:

  • What about health coaching most interests you?
  • What is your largest or most important health, well-being or life challenge right now? If the issue is too personal to share publicly, write a post that deals with the situation in a very general way or just focus on how health coaching could help you in broad terms. If you’d like to give me more information privately, feel free to email me with further details.
  • What makes this situation so difficult to deal with or solve? In what way would support, guidance, and/or clarification help you?
  • What have you already tried to address the issue? What have been the results? How will coaching support and accountability help you to be more successful?
  • Do you already know you need to be doing to address this challenge? If so, what is stopping you from taking these actions? What are ways a coaching session might help you take the actions you know you need to accomplish?
  • What questions do you have about dealing with challenge that you feel could be addressed in a health coaching session?
Questions? Email Rachel.

Paleo AID and Nutrition in the Internet Age

Recently a client handed me a printout of a blog she’d found online: several pages touting benefits of a Paleo Anti-Inflammatory Diet, as well as suggestions on how to follow the diet. Should she follow the advice?

As her health coach, it is not for me to prescribe a diet nor to dismiss one; but rather to understand her nutritional needs and then help her follow the best diet for her. Further, I like to educate my clients to be able to make sense of the mess of nutrition information out there.

“And what makes you want to follow this diet in particular?” I asked her. She explained that her Homeopath had recommended an Anti-Inflammatory Diet (AID) for her skin and health in general. Like any reasonable person in 2018, my client went home and Googled “Anti-Inflammatory Diet.” Even though the blog she had chosen had added Paleo diet into the mix, something about the site she’d found appealed to her.

Amongst the pages of results of any such nutrition search, how might one distinguish what constitutes a healthy diet in general? Or the greater challenge, how does one pick out the diet that suits individual needs?

 

The biggest problem in nutrition today? Search Result Overload.

Specifically, what should the average person make of the cacophony of voices: expert, knowledgeable, or clueless explanations; large, small, long-term or short-term studies; scientifically, ideologically, or profit-driven claims? All are given seemingly equal weight in your Google search. Actually, it’s worse: results are ranked in order by popularity mixed with what Google thinks you already believe, based on your previous searches and click-throughs. That’s how a neutral search can yield biased results.

Even when you believe you know what you’re looking for (in this case, the AID), how does one find the best advice on what that diet should look like and how to follow it? Has anyone fact-checked the claims about which foods are inflammatory and which are anti-inflammatory? Who wrote the recipes and has anyone tested them to see if they work in the kitchen?

So, is the Paleo AID right for my client? Is it right for you?

Ask these questions of your Internet nutrition advice:

  1. What about this diet/advice resonates with you?

The answer to this question may or may not shine a light on what your body needs in terms of a diet. On the other hand, this inquiry may illuminate your own deeper needs. Maybe you don’t need to change your diet, after all. Instead you might consider altering your attitude towards food and your body. Perhaps your underlying need is to alter lifestyle/habits or make other personal transformations. You might be needing to feed your soul.

I wish I had asked more follow-up questions in my session with my client: why did this particular version of AID diet grab her attention enough to print it out. What insight into her needs and desires around food (and life?) might we have gained by digging deeper into this choice? Alas!

  1. Is this a nutrition fad or genuine news of a healthy diet?

Go beyond the latest headlines. Paleo has gotten a lot of press lately: it’s popular. It limits packaged foods, which by itself is a healthy choice, but that doesn’t make Paleo as a whole one’s ideal diet.

  1. What does the latest and best science say?

Understand that the latest scientific research can give you a good idea of how foods or diets are likely to affect you. Large, well-run studies published in reputable, peer-reviewed journals explore the effects of dietary choices on large numbers of people.

As for the Anti-Inflammatory Diet? Compounds in certain foods have been found in studies to reduce inflammation and chronic diseases. The usual caveat: these findings may turn out not to apply to you as an individual, but they are an excellent place to start.

  1. Who is making the claim(s)? Is this site a well-respected source of health and dietary information or just someone with no more expertise than you?

The average person rarely has the time to dive into the research trumpeted in the headlines. Read/seek advice from people you trust such as scientists/writers for well-respected publications, and of course, your doctors, Nutritionists or Health Coaches who show expertise and are looking out for your best interests. I recommend Harvard Health Publications for up-to-date ,well researched health and nutrition information. This article from Harvard makes a convincing case for the Anti-Inflammatory Diet. Nothing here about adding Paleo to AID, though.

  1. Is there significant overlap with your search result and what you already know about nutrition and your body in particular?

If not, what evidence and expertise should persuade you to let go of your current wisdom? In particular, don’t be quick to swallow claims that seem absurd and contrary to everything you know to be true.

An aside: I stumbled on a blog claiming cruciferous vegetables contain deadly poisons. Doesn’t pass the sniff test! Also I found plenty of information to the contrary. But this might be the subject of a different post.

Back to the Paleo AID. Remember that in our example the Homeopath recommended AID, not Paleo AID. This blog just doesn’t provide enough information to back the claim that both diets should be followed at once. I tend to be wary of combo diets in general. Here’s why:

The restrictions and additions of these two different diets (like many combination diets) overlap but also contradict one another. That is, there are foods in the YES column of one diet which show up in the NO column of the other. It’s hard enough to try one diet at a time. Now one must also decide which dietary theory takes precedence for any given meal or food. And if you make a Venn diagram of where the two diets overlap, you end up with an even smaller food selection.

Of course, that’s where the blogger comes in, creating an individually hybridized diet. However, this combination diet, in whatever shape the blogger gave it, may in fact be great for that individual, but he is only one data point. No proof is offered in this particular blog that adding Paleo (and making Paleo dietary subtractions as well) makes the AID healthier for anyone else.

  1. Does the source stick to making a well-reasoned, factually-based argument? 7. Or is this site insidiously tapping into your insecurities about your body or health?

The blog (to its credit) did not include something like that flashing animated belly fat ad (you know the one, right?) or dramatic before and after belly photos. Have you ever clicked on “Try this weird tip to a flat belly”? I admit, I once did. I ended up down a rabbit hole and am not sure if I ever got to the “weird tip.” Anyway, often emotional ploys are more subtle, more factual-seeming. Ask yourself if the site makes overblown claims (dramatic weight loss, for instance) or persuade with slick graphics, or emotion-laden language?

  1. Does this site have an agenda?

I’m going to make some people angry, but I’ll say it anyway: just because a vegan diet saves animals and is better for the planet, for instance, that doesn’t make it the only healthy diet for a particular individual.  This kind of argument shows up not only on websites of course. It can even show up at a trusted doctor’s office. A client’s doctor told him that only a vegan diet could help him lose the weight he needed to regain his health. This client didn’t feel able to forever forgo all animal products, however. In the face of that advice, he might have given up on weight loss altogether. Instead, he and I worked out a lifestyle diet, more plant-based, but not entirely so. We came up with a plan that he could live with and over some five months he’s lost over 30 pounds.

  1. Is this site trying to sell you something?

If so, is this just another diet product, unlikely to be more successful than anything else on the market?

Does the site sell unproven supplements? Supplements, it is important to note, aren’t regulated by the FDA and as such, none need to prove safety or effectiveness to be sold in the U.S.

On the other hand, is the information reasonable, and possibly despite the merchandising aspect of the site? Maybe the author is trying to sell a book or get hits on the site to sell advertising. It can be subtle. I personally hate when I discover a sales pitch hidden in the guise of informational content and tend to steer away from such sites. Yet I also understand that an expert can do both: give good information and sell things.

I didn’t examine the blog in question long enough to thoroughly answer the questions of merchandising or agenda. My impression was that this person had found a diet that worked for him and was sharing it. Good intentions, but no evidence that it would be safe or effective for anyone else.

Paleo AID for my client? We found no reasons to believe that Paleo additions and restrictions would do any more than complicate her dietary decisions on the AID, the diet she did want to try. We decided to stick to good quality information on this diet.

Uncommon, Common Sense

In our Internet quests, many of us are just hoping for simple rules we can all follow. In fact, for most people, it may be as easy as eating as many whole foods (not processed/packaged) as possible, limiting sugars, and drinking plenty of water.

And yet, we need to be aware that even to that last commons sense rules there are exceptions. I have met people who cannot digest many whole foods.

Less commonly mentioned, yet still common sense: keep listening to your body. Avoid the foods that don’t agree with you. If you think a food is not right for your system, you’re probably right! Eat foods that make you feel energetic and healthy. When you do an Internet search, hoping for some new answers, don’t forget to follow your common sense, knowledge, intuition, as well as your doctors/practitioners. Ask questions of the information you find as well as of your own practitioners.

In the end, I offhandedly suggested my client “recycle” the blog printout. In retrospect, that sounds rather insensitive! Perhaps I should have suggested she file the blog printout, to possibly revisit later. Then again, I want to educate my clients on how to filter out the nutrition noise on their own, and this site just didn’t pass the test. So, in truth, I wouldn’t actually suggest she revisit it later.