A Healthier Halloween While Supporting Our Troops!

Well it's almost Halloween.  Welcome again to what I like to call "The Eating Season." It starts with Halloween and continues through the holiday season until at least Super Bowl Sunday and often even into Valentine's Day. If you do choose to indulge in some Halloween treats, just remember having fun with food and friends is all part of healthy eating. Just make sure that one Halloween party doesn't continue for the rest of the week. Focus on the 90/10 rule - 90% of the time be consistent and more targeted with healthy choices while having fun 10% of the time. For example, if you eat 3 meals and 2 snacks daily, seven days a week, that would total 35 meals and snacks. So having fun about 10% of the time would mean that you might make a more fun choice for about 3-4 of those meals or snacks. Just keep in mind portion sizes. A "fun" snack might be having 1-2 cookies but not the entire package.

In a quest to stay on track, many people remove temptation from their house by bringing that excess Halloween candy to work. Another suggestion is to send it to Boatsie's Boxes - a non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to supporting our troops. Items, such as candy, can be sent to the address listed in the following link:

http://www.boatsie.com/contactdonationinformation.html

Not overrun by Halloween candy? Here is the link to the list of other items needed:

Make a comment and let me know if you have other creative ideas for that extra Halloween candy.

Life & Nutrition as a House

If you don't take care of your house, where are you going to live?

While driving back home after a weekend of visiting my family in Upstate New York, I was listening to an interview on satellite radio with author and life coach Martha Beck.  During the discussion she mentioned how she likes to ask her clients to describe their house as this provides insight into what is going on in their life.  This made me reflect on how this could apply to nutrition as well.  Does your nutrition house have a solid foundation?  Is your nutrition house warm and inviting and make you feel good?  Or has it been neglected and in need of repair?  Is maintianing your nutrition house the last thing on your list that never gets done?

Nutrition requires consistent maintenance and upkeep just like a house.  To me, one of the most frustrating house chores is dusting.  I work so hard to dust and in a few days it just comes right back.  Ugh! While dusting is not my favorite activity I know that I need to keep up with it if I want a clean home.  The same goes for nutrition.  Many folks want to follow a strict diet program for a specified period of time and then go back to eating the way they were previously.  If you want to change your life, you have to make a commitment to nutrition for the long-term.  Like dusting, weight management and performance nutrition requires consistency if you want to get results. 

What's interesting to note is that according to organizational expert Peter Welsh, in his book Does Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?, decluttering your house can be the first step to losing weight.  Why?  Because disorganization can lead to stress which increases the hormone cortisol and blood sugar which increases insulin, making you feel hungrier.  Also, if your dining room table and kitchen is piled high with stuff, you're not creating an environment conducive to healthful eating.  If you have trouble cooking in your kitchen, finding space in your refrigerator, or don't have a place to sit down and enjoy a meal, isn't it more tempting to eat out and reach for less healthy fast food or grab and go items?  Packing our homes with "stuff" becomes a symbol of how we approach eating - where more is always better.  Yet just like homes cluttered with things we never use, our bodies become fat storage units for the extra fuel that we don't need.

My question for you is how would you describe your nutrition house?  Is it in good shape or in need of some updating?  The thing to remember is that you don't have to fix your house by yourself.  I'm here to help make sure you have a solid foundation.

The Secrets of Motivation

When it comes to motivation, the number one thing people say to me is:

I know what I should do, but I'm just not doing it.

Because we all eat, folks think that knowledge is enough to make a change happen.  Yet knowledge without an understanding of how to apply it to one's specific lifestyle is about as useful as a screen door on a submarine - something that can be useful but must be put in the right context.

In terms of making change happen, 3 things must occur:

1.  Find your true motivation. 

First decide why you want to make the change.  Is it because your nutrition is affecting your health?  Is your eating affecting your performance at work or at play?  Is your nutrition getting in the way of how you want to look and feel?  Is your nutrition getting in the way of things you want to do or the person you want to be?

2.  List the positives and negatives of making that change.

Writing down the positives and negatives of making a change makes you realize the advantages and challenges you face so you can be more realistic about what it's going to take.  Many people want to reap the benefits of making changes to their nutrition but when the rubber meets the road, they aren't willing to take the necessary steps to make that happen.  Therefore it's also important to rate on a scale of 1-10 how ready you are to make a change to assess if you're ready to take action. Change has to be a priority in order for action to occur.

3.  SMART Goal setting

Okay so you're ready to take action.  Now it's time to set up some SMART goals.  Goals should be:

• Specific - does my goal identify specific actions to take?
• Measurable - can it be measured?
• Achievable - can I achieve this given my lifestyle and available resources?
• Realistic - is my goal within grasp but not too easy?
• Timely - do I have a specific time period for my goal?

Taking these steps will help you get beyond just thinking about a change but finally making it happen.  You don't have to go it alone.  I'm here to help translate knowledge into action.