I close each Motivational Monday wishing my readers a happy and healthy week. I genuinely want each reader to be happy and healthy every week.
I am often reading self-, professional- and health-improvement literature… Job hazard! I also talk to a lot of people about their health, which is much more than just talking about their diet.
It seems the happiest people are those who are not concerned with wanting what other people have.
Whether that’s a different physique, the six-figure job, a bigger house or a better marriage.The moments I find myself the least happy are when I’m comparing to where I think I should be versus appreciating where I am and how far I’ve come.
Show and tell…
I recently I went on a backpacking trip and got to hang out with some awesome people. One in particular is my friend Shung – one of the happiest people I know. While walking through the woods I was able to ask my friend what makes him so happy.
He has a lot of wisdom and stories but what struck me is his choice to live a simple lifestyle without many material items. Also, he does not compare himself or his life to societal expectations.
Shung lives a life trying to provide more for other people than for himself. He takes great joy in doing something nice for a friend, family member or stranger. When I asked him about my theory that we were all put here with “a Devine purpose” or special gift from God, Shung replied that our purpose is to love and take care of one another. (talk about a humbling moment)
In doing good for someone else we end up receiving a gift as well… Gratitude and the joy of knowing you brightened someone’s day.
Food for thought:
The best part of doing something for somebody else is: it doesn’t need to be complicated!
Simply taking time to hand write a thank you note, treat a friend to coffee or bring in a healthy and delicious snack for your coworkers.
What can you do for someone else this week?
| We RISE by LIFTING others. -Robert Ingersoll |
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It’s that moment Monday morning when your office-mates ask “how are you?” Or “how was your weekend?”
It’s pretty ingrained in each of us to say “good” or “I’m fine, how are you?”
Anyone who knows me, knows I’m an open book…
If I’m running on the treadmill and the gal next to me asks how I am, I will likely tell her the truth. I’m running because I’m mad, overwhelmed or stressed out. This is one of the only occasions you’ll find me running (other occasions include a bear chasing me in the woods).
Not everyone wants to tell their coworkers or fellow gym buddies the depths of their emotional state; however, I think we would all benefit from being more honest with ourselves and each other.
Talk it out!
Five reasons why lying isn’t getting you anywhere:
5. You put off until tomorrow what could be done today. Often we are lying to ourselves about out choices when we have a 3rd serving of pasta and tell ourselves “it’s OK because I’m not going to eat any carbs tomorrow.”
4. You rob yourself of potential healing opportunities. We deny help when we [stubbornly] decide to fix it on our own instead of asking for assistance.
3. You are not being genuine and therefore cannot be trusted. Have you ever wanted someone to open up to you more and wondered why they didn’t? It might be that they didn’t feel they could trust you because you were too guarded.
2. You are more free when you are more honest. A more healthy relationship with others leads to a more healthy relationship with food.
1. People admire honesty! It takes courage to be vulnerable. We worry about being a burden on one another or looking weak. Remember the last stranger you sat next to on an airplane and decided just to tell them everything and had an amazing conversation because of it?
Food for thought:
You don’t need do life alone. How can you open up a little more this week?
Be a support for others by letting them in.
This adult thing is sort of exhausting, right? There are the family responsibilities, household responsibilities, work responsibilities and let’s not even talk about doing taxes…
Last week I had the opportunity to give three presentations, which is one of my favorite parts of Well Balanced Nutrition. I love an audience and I also enjoy the community atmosphere; however, they demand a lot of my energy.
After presenting at North Carolina Central University on Wednesday, I had a few hours before my next appointment and treated myself to a stroll around campus including a 20-minute stop in their lovely art museum.
I went home and was able to get 3-4 items off my to-do list before the afternoon meeting. I realized without taking the time for myself I probably would have accomplished the same amount of work, but with less concentration, peace and clarity.
How are you pressing the reset button during your workday? Below are a handful of suggestions pulled from my own experience and what I’ve learned from others.
Take a mid-day walk – My personal favorite! I always used my lunch break in the clinic for a 25 minute walk, which my staff knew was mandatory or else nobody wanted to be around me that afternoon.
Chitchat breaks – Allow yourself 10 to 15 minutes of gabbing with your coworkers about something completely unrelated to work.
Mindful breathing, meditation or stretching – Take a few minutes to close the door, dim or turn off the lights, bring the attention inward to the breath… Start with 10 slow inhales and exhales – filling up the lungs as far as possible and slowly exhaling it all out.
Bring a book – Grab something entertaining, delightful or fascinating for you to enjoy on a lunch break or for mid afternoon pick-me-up.
Music! – My personal favorite is the instrumental Disney station on YouTube, but you pick whatever works best for you :-).
Tea time – Instead of the usual afternoon hunt for sugar, try a hot (or cold) cup of tea and spend a few minutes savoring the flavor before turning back to the emails, IM bings, and projects.
Food for thought:
Today I give you permission to take 20 minutes to do what ever you want during the work day.
I don’t know your boss, but I imagine if they knew how much more productive you will be at the end of these 20 minutes they will totally agree with me.
In case they don’t – just blame it on Lucy (I can take it!).
“No matter what the circumstance, remind yourself ‘I have a choice’.” – Deepak Chopra
Recently, during what turned out to be an amazing self-discovery weekend, I had the privilege of attending a couple yoga classes.
In the level 2 yoga class our instructor started by asking us how we felt about the lighting and temperature, which is unusual. The instructor offered us a chance to make a choice and change the environment. Taking that apart, we first paused to consider the options. Then each of us, internally, had to choose if we wanted to change anything.
The rest of the class was supplied with choices to do our asanas (yoga poses) in more challenging ways, or not.
When it comes to life we have choices to make every day. From the choice of what to wear to work, down to the choice of where to do the grocery shopping or what to eat for dinner.
When it comes to making the choice about what to eat, I found a few useful and insightful suggestions modified from Eat. Q. Unlock the Weight-loss Power of Emotional Intelligence by Dr. Susan Albers.
1. Limit your options – With too many foods, restaurants, menu items we may get overwhelmed by choice overload and default to our usual less-healthy options.
2. Make it routine – Many studies find people who eat the same or similar foods week-to-week are more likely to be a healthy weight.
3. Take options off the plate – I often base my choices on the last 2-3 meals/snacks I’ve eaten. For instance, last night was sushi and breakfast included a protein bar and kale/fruit smoothie; therefore, the chicken panini was an easy choice for lunch! Articulating what you don’t want is an acceptable route to deciding what you do want.
4. Become okay with good enough – The fried chicken offered at the board meeting may not be an ideal option for your goals; however, it’s still better than not eating and returning to your office hours later, polishing off the secret candy stash and finding you are still hungry and unsatisfied.
5. Make it convenient – If you keep a pack of tuna and crackers at work you always have a protein-rich option for the crazy days when you ran out of the house without the lunchbox.
Food for thought:
There is an abundance of choices to make everyday. Sometimes food choices are stressful or cumbersome.
Which technique from above will better serve your decisions to eat well?
Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments. – Bethenny Frankel
As a dietitian in private practice, you can imagine I get asked a lot of questions about healthy eating, cooking and so forth. I welcome these questions and enjoy addressing peoples interest in the topic because after all that is why I got into this. Seriously, I get to talk about food, nutrition and exercise all day!
Generally questions like “what’s the deal with white rice versus brown rice?” are fairly easy to answer. Then you get to more technical questions like “shouldn’t we all be following a low-fat, low carbohydrate diet?” That’s where we enter into shades of grey (no, not 50 shades!).
Every body is different.
One thing I can assure you, there is not one solution for the general population.
Below are a couple fad diets on the market with the links for you to read and compare on your own.
The Military Diet
(because who doesn’t love a diet that includes ice cream?!)
This bland and weird combination of “chemically compatible” foods does make room for vanilla ice cream with dinner and promotes 3 days on very limited calorie-intake and 4 days off. It is promoted as the emergency plan if you want/need to lose weight quickly, which we all know tends to mean the dieter will regain that weight (plus more) when no longer on this plan.
The HMR Diet
This is a calorie-restricting weight loss program that includes shakes, meals and snacks provided by the company. A 3-week starter kit will run about $330 to kick-start the weight loss.
You may have also seen these HMR clinics in your town where they offer medically supervised plans for very low calorie diets. The concern lies in the lack of education. Until the individual learns how to make the right choices they will remain dependent on the shakes and pre-packaged foods.
NOTE: It is not Well Balanced Nutrition dietary advice to follow any of the aforementioned diets, but simply sharing facts.
Most diets were created out of someone else’s success and as your dietitian I feel this a good opportunity to remind you that real success comes from making lifestyle changes.
Food for thought:
If each of us requires a different “diet”, perhaps it’s about coming back to listening to our own body and what it needs.
Your body is telling you things every day about your choices. Let’s tap into that and find out what can work best for you.
