by Lucy | Feb 29, 2016 | Motivational Mondays
“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?
by Lucy | Feb 22, 2016 | Motivational Mondays
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.
by Lucy | Feb 15, 2016 | Motivational Mondays
Do not underestimate yourself by comparing yourself with others. It’s our differences that make us unique & beautiful.
-unknown
We are human. It’s our nature to want to fit in.
The other week, while I was seeing a client she mentioned that she often finds herself comparing to her best girl friend. They are both skilled and fit volleyball players. Each beautiful, athletic and strong.
My clients, notes that she has always been the “injured friend” and her professional volleyball career was cut short by series of injuries. Her best friend continues to play professionally and maintains a very fit physique. My client is proud of her fitness and activity level; however she does not feel 100% confident in her body because she’s noticed changes and also notes the difference between her body and her friends.
Now the question is how do we deal with it?
This feeling of jealousy, wanting or regretting the loss of what we used to have is often overwhelming and can over-shadow all the achievements that we can be happy and proud of.
There’s a yoga term for letting go or more specifically finding contentment: Santosha. When we let go of the wanting and accept what we have, that feeling of being completely comfortable and satisfied comes in.
In yoga, when we step onto the mat we are trained to let go of the outside world and be in that moment…perfect and peaceful. Then we are trained to check in with our breath and the body and notice what’s going on in our minds. After that, the goal is to let it go and stay present doing yoga or meditating because there’s nowhere else that you can be or should be.
There will be plenty of wanting or not wanting in this life. The trick is to keep bringing yourself back to the present, to the breath and enjoy any peace that you can find in each moment.
Food for thought:
“Be content with what you have. Rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.” -Lao Tzu
(I keep having to remind myself of this when I step outside and it’s still below freezing!)
by Lucy | Feb 8, 2016 | Motivational Mondays
You don’t need a New Year to make a change. All you need is a Monday! Make this the week you change your life.
– #AmbitionDaily.com
Each morning I wake up. I go potty. I wash my hands. I brush my teeth. I put on my gym clothes. Gather my food, clothing and other accessories for the day. I pile everything into my car (Elsa, the blue Prius) and drive to the YMCA for a pre-workday workout.
This is my morning routine, or as I am looking at it, my weekday habits.
Recently, I was challenged with the idea that people do not make changes because it sounds like fun but instead because they have to…
Instead, I would argue we make changes not just when we have to but when we want to see new or different results.
For instance, maybe you have realized how much money you spend eating out for lunch and decided you would like to save money and eat food from home instead.
You start by buying another loaf of bread at the grocery store with some fresh sliced deli meats or maybe pick up the fixing’s for a good ol’ fashion peanut butter and honey sandwich. Then you buy fruit, baby carrots or bag-o-salad for a crunchy side option. Next, you start setting aside 10 minutes in the evening to gather lunch for the next day to take to work.
Ta-da!
This has become your new habit, but not because your doctor said so or because your honey was nagging you about the bank count – OK maybe it was a little bit of the nagging… ;-).
Food for thought:
On the flipside, you can continue to do what you’ve been doing and know that the results will continue to be the same.
What’s one change you’ve been wanting to see in your life?
Do you want to feel less tired when the alarm goes off in the morning? Sounds like a great opportunity to try going to bed a half-an-hour earlier.
by Lucy | Feb 1, 2016 | Motivational Mondays
You is kind. You is smart. You is important.
-Aibileen Clark from “The Help”
Do you ever get that little voice inside of you questioning why you are doing what you are doing?
As a small business owner I get that… a lot. I do not think it is a bad thing; it’s just trying to protect me.
When it comes to making lifestyle changes whether you are quitting a bad habit or trying to incorporate a good one, that voice may be there questioning your actions. It may ask, “Why are you trying again when you know it didn’t work the last three times?”
Maybe the voice telling you stories about how much easier it would be to give up and continue with the status quo.
Below you will find a few tools to coping with the moments of doubt:
1. Say thank you and respond with a question.
If you are full of self-doubt or worry it is often the mind wanting to protect you or itself. When you incorporate a new habit the brain has to work much harder (and it does not like that!). Instead of jumping on the doubt train in your mind, acknowledge the worry with a “thank you,” then respond with a question such as “why are you so concerned about this?”
2. Cancel, cancel! No, thank you.
This technique is modified from one of my favorite podcasts – The Joy Junkie show. When you start to notice your mind telling stories of failure simply say “Cancel, cancel. No, thank you.” That will pull you away from the spiral of negative self talk so you can re-evaluate what is happening in the moment.
3. Change the story.
Instead of taking the path that recounts your not-so-successful attempts to change, try recounting the ways in which you have succeeded in making a healthy change. For example, you can proudly tell your mind about the carrots you eat with lunch instead of potato chips or how you’ve successfully reduced eating fast food to 1 time per week.
Food for thought:
Life is hard enough without us telling stories that make it harder.
You are a smart, successful and beautiful/handsome person.
Take a moment to notice what the mind says when you hear or read that message. If it responds with disbelief, question it.
You are a smart, successful and beautiful person. Let it be.
