Dogs have the right idea about balance between enthusiastically embracing life, and recovery. Take them for a run along the beach and they will throw themselves at the task, tail wagging madly. But when they get home you can almost hear them thinking “golly, that was hard work – I think I’ll just take a nap”. Once rested, they’re back into the day with enthusiasm.  We could learn a lot from our canine friends about how to balance work and play more effectively.

Our modern, fast pace of living doesn’t easily support a good balance between work and play. Mobile phones and email make it possible to contact anyone, anywhere, anytime, and with that comes an expectation that you will be available at any time. It can be increasingly difficult to take enough time out to rest, recover and rejuvenate. This can make you feel like life really is all work and no play.

Your body is likely to send you signals when you’re over-working and under-playing:

-          Your sleep can be disrupted, with waking during the night, or difficulty getting to sleep. That’s because your adrenal glands are pumping out stress hormones when they should be calm.

-          Being so tired that you drag yourself out of bed in the morning, with little enthusiasm for the day.

-          Craving sweet food or caffeine for an energy ‘lift’ to get you through the day.

-          Catching every cold and bug that’s going around because your immunity is so low.

-          Feeling like everyone wants a piece of you, and you’re not being rewarded for your contribution to the world. Resentment is a big red flag that you’ve been overworking.

-          Being grumpy, irritable and impatient.

What can you do to bring balance back into your life when you’re feeling over-worked?

-          Make sure you have at least some time every day just for you. Some people find that daily meditation or yoga gives them the time out they crave. Others prefer a walk in nature, or listening to favourite music.

-          Be unavailable for some time every week. Switch off your phone. Ignore your emails.  Leave a message that you’re unavailable if you need to. Then take time out to do something that pleases only you: Like a walk on the beach; or a massage; or diving into a good book.  

You’ll return from your time out feeling a little more refreshed and ready to take on the world again.

Have you noticed that over the past few years there’s been a growing interest in food? TV cooking shows and competitions are appearing everywhere, demonstrating just how easy it is to prepare fresh, nutritious food. It’s great to see.

And we have an abundance of fresh, sensational produce easily available to us in the area I live in. We can visit farmers markets, buy produce at the farm gate, seafood that’s almost straight off the boat, and meat products that have been grown locally. We’re spoilt for choice – away from this area, that the same variety and quality just isn't available like it is here.

We’re so lucky, because creative cooking, and eating food, are some of the great pleasures of life: A meal can be a time to re-connect with family and friends, or a chance to relax in solitude.

So if food is so pleasurable, why are so many of us disconnected from it? Eating ‘on the run’; eating while multitasking with the internet; or eating unconsciously while watching TV. After your meal, are you really aware of what you ate, its texture and flavour?

Think about other pleasurable activities, like watching a great movie. You’ve heard about it, anticipated how enjoyable it will be, and made time to view it. Do you then watch the movie on fast forward to get though it sooner? Probably not. You consciously enjoy the whole event.

Why not apply this process to your meals too? A more mindful way of eating is actually going to be better for your health. You’ll digest your food more efficiently when you’re relaxed. And for weight loss, you’ll find your appetite control easier. It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to register “I’m full!” – so really savouring your food will give your body time to let you know that. By the way, if your mind is occupied elsewhere while you’re eating, you might miss the ‘full’ message completely.  That’s how entire packets of biscuits can somehow evaporate during a TV show.

If you suspect you’re eating unconsciously, you could try making every meal an event this week (even breakfast!). Appreciate the food, enjoy the experience.  Sounds easy – but sometimes the most commonsense approaches are the most challenging! See if you feel more relaxed, better fed, by the end of the week. Good luck!

There’s a gap that you might recognise in yourself. It’s the gap between how healthy you know you could be, and what you’re actually doing. When talking with someone about where their health is now and where they’d like to be, here are some of the barriers people tell me they’re experiencing: And potential solutions for you to try if some of them bring on an uncomfortable twinge of recognition!

-          It all seems too hard. There seems to be too many problems to address. Will you ever be able to feel good again? This is a perspective I hear amongst people who have been unhealthy for a very long time. They’ve developed several chronic overlapping disorders and their enjoyment of life has been seriously curtailed. The solution: Don’t try to fix everything at once. Start with a small easy change, acknowledge and reward yourself for your efforts, and use this as a stepping stone for bigger changes. Recognise that you won’t fix all your problems just from this small change – but you’re making progress.

-          You started with a positive change to your routine, like exercising every morning, but then something unexpected happened (like a family emergency) and your routine evaporated. Several weeks later you remember it. Why bother starting again? The solution: Establishing new routines, to the point where you feel weird if you don’t do them, takes months to establish. Just keep returning to your better routine after every interruption.

-          You know you should exercise, you make plans to exercise, but when the time comes you find yourself making excuses: Its too hot or too cold; you’re busy; the children might need you; its too hard; you’re tired. The solution: Recognise your excuses for what they are, and ‘just do it’. Expect to have to overcome your excuses many times before it gets easier (which it will).

-          You’re worried that you won’t ever be able to eat ‘fun’ foods again. If you go on extreme ‘crash’ diets you will indeed see your weight pile back on when you return to ‘normal’ eating. But a balanced healthy diet includes regular planned treats to help prevent feelings of deprivation.

 

-          Is all this effort going to be worth it? When you’ve been feeling less than ideal for a while, being sick and tired all the time starts to feel normal. Think about all the activities you want to do that you can’t do now – like being able to buy clothes that fit. You’ll certainly feel it’s worth it when you start feeling great again.

Making positive changes in your health is all about taking action; every day, no matter how small the change. You’ll get there – just move past the talking and into the ‘doing’.

Did you have a 'change' moment that signalled a new, positive direction for your health? Would you like to share it with us? Leave your comments below....

 

So many of us make resolutions on 1st January to 'get healthier' this year. And yet just a few short weeks later those resolutions are forgotten or abandoned. Here's a tool to help you make sure you achieve all that you want with your health in 2011.

Its a goal setting process that takes you through what you're not happy with now, setting out the results you want by the end of this year, and writing down an action plan to get you there. You can download the goal setting template here.

Enjoy! And if you're feeling brave, tell the rest of us about your new years health resolutions too! Add your comments below....

How do you see your health in 5, 10 or 20 years from now? Do you expect to live a long and productive life, or do you anticipate becoming inactive, sick and bedridden well before you actually die? Its not a pointless exercise to ponder this – because the actions you take today will create the future you – vibrantly healthy or hopelessly ill.

What do people say to themselves that prevents them from taking action today? I’ll take you through some of the most popular rationalisations for poor health behaviour that I hear in clinical practice.

1. “I don’t have time for exercise / preparing healthy food / relaxing” Here’s a thought provoking quote I read recently: “If you can’t make time for healthy eating and exercise, make time for illness, because it won’t be far off.” Remind yourself that expending energy on exercise will actually give you more energy and a sharper mind.
2. “I’ll start in the new year / next Monday / when life slows down”. Alas, life tends to never slow down. And putting off establishing a better health habit until a magic date tends to just, well, put off the inevitable. Start today.
3. “I missed training today, or goofed up with my diet, so I may as well give up on trying to be healthy” Unrealistic expectations about success trips up a lot of people. Expect to make mistakes. To have bad days. To forget training. But just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start again. Start small, and be consistent, then build on it.

Although its not an excuse, there’s another factor that affects people’s health practices: Family and friends. Naturopaths ask you about your family medical history because there are genetic influences on the likelihood of you developing chronic diseases; but there are also family and social influences on your health behaviours. If you’re part of a sporty, healthy family, you’re more likely to be sporty and healthy yourself.

The best way to establish better health practices is to:

-          start today

-          start small, with one positive change (like taking time every day to exercise, without fail)

-          set up reminders for yourself (electronic calendars are excellent for this)

-          reward yourself. E.g you could mark on the calendar each day you’ve exercised, then at the end of each week buy yourself a special treat, like a CD you want.

How to you want to spend your time in the future? Enjoying the energy of vibrant good health, or spending your days in medical waiting rooms, hospitals, and missing out on life? The choice is yours – and the outcome will be all yours too.

Is this you?

“I want to lose weight and develop a fabulous body, but I don’t want to exercise, and I don’t want to put any more effort than I do now into how I behave around food or the choices I make.”

“I want to get rid of this digestive pain, but I’m not prepared to stop eating any of the foods that could be causing the problem, even for a while”

Want a shapely body? Great skin? Enough energy to enjoy life all day long, and still have energy to spare for your family in the evenings? It’s there waiting for you, but you have to be willing to pay the price.

The price? What do you mean? Shouldn’t you expect to be able to eat whatever you want, exercise only when it suits, and still find your body maintaining the vitality and energy of childhood? Sadly, no. Like a car, your body performs at its best when you carefully maintain it; Your car works best when you use high quality fuel to the tank; regularly service the engine, and check the tyres. Your body works better with careful maintenance too.

The price of good health is the effort it takes to change.

Unfortunately, there’s no magic pill that will make up for years of neglect. Its going to take attention, and effort to retrieve your health and keep it.

Its always an interesting conversation when I  talk with potential clients. We discuss what they’d like to achieve. We explore their current approach to nutrition, and their fitness training regime. And I gently enquire about their attitude towards changing their diet, improving their fitness, managing their stress more effectively. If they’re going to be treated successfully, there’s going to be change. The clients who get the best results are the ones who are prepared to change.

But because so much of our culture now offers instant gratification, its tempting to think that a healthy body can be achieved just by swallowing a few supplements. The brutal truth is that if your body has fallen into ill health, its most likely due to a combination of poor diet and inadequate exercise, or poorly managed stress. All the supplements in the world can’t make up for this.

When you want to feel better, in the long term, you will need to address the reasons why you became unwell in the first place. Then everything will begin to fall into place. And gradually, maintaining your health becomes a joy rather than something you ‘have to’ do grudgingly.

So, what’s your approach to maintaining your health? Are you happy to embrace change?

(P.S If you think you could benefit from a health coaching program shaped to meet your needs, give me a call on (02) 6672 6255 )

Did you make some resolutions at the beginning of this year about your health? Maybe you decided to establish a new positive habit, like drinking a glass of water when you wake. And then some months later you realise that you had completely forgotten it after the first few days. What went wrong?

A very curious thing happens when you decide to make positive changes in your health habits. You’ll forget, without regular reminders until the new habit gets established! Lets explore how you can establish new habits more easily. (Without having to tie a ribbon to your finger!)

We all have routines. Many of these are deeply ingrained, giving us feelings of familiarity and safety in our daily lives. For example, many people eat the same breakfast every day. They don’t have to spend time in the morning making a decision about what to eat. Its easy. Comfortable. Safe.

But when you try to establish a new health habit your subconscious, which resists change, wants you to slip back into your familiar routine. Its going to take six weeks or so to reinforce this new habit until it feels strange when you don’t do it. You can use modern technology to help you make it happen.

Remember to reward yourself for your achievements in establishing this new health habit. Make a note in your diary, or even create a special recording sheet to paste on the fridge door and proudly tick off each time you remember to complete the new routine. This will reinforce in your subconscious that your new routine is indeed a good thing.

This is your key to establishing new routines: Use modern technology to remind you, and don’t switch off the reminder service until at least six weeks have passed, by which time your new habit will be established. Now for the next good habit to establish……

How do you establish new health habits? Share your experience with us by leaving a comment below.

Do you find that when you’re feeling down, you reach for comfort food – something fatty or sweet like sticky buns, chocolate, desserts? And, what’s worse, you find yourself eating far too much, sometimes even bingeing? Researchers have found that how people feel does indeed affect whether they choose unhealthy comfort food or the healthier options.

The original research article is here http://www.atypon-link.com/AMA/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkg.71.1.194?cookieSet=1&journalCode=jmkg

You can use this information to help you manage what you eat, and become more successful in maintaining a healthy weight.

When you eat sugary or fatty food, there’s a biochemical effect on your brain, producing more happy neurotransmitters. Researchers found that people will actually eat to affect their mood: If you’re feeling unhappy, comfort food will actually help you feel better; if you’re already happy you’re likely to deliberately seek out healthier food choices, in order to maintain your good feelings about yourself.

To make things even more complex, its easier to eat too much of the comfort food when you’re feeling down. The guilt that follows overeating can make you feel even worse!

But there are ways to help manage your food intake when you’re feeling down:

First, measure out your portion so you know exactly how much you’re eating. Choose a smaller portion than what you think you’ll need to eat to feel better. Then walk away from the kitchen to enjoy it while totally focused on the food and how it tastes. (i.e don’t eat comfort food while watching TV, or standing in the kitchen at the fridge door – that’s unconscious eating).

Next, know what’s in that food. Being aware of the calorie, fat and sugar content of your comfort food actually reduces how much you’ll eat. Read the nutritional label. Keeping a food diary of what you eat and your mood can be an effective tool.

Finally, be aware of your tendency to eat more when you’re in a sad mood. Just being aware of your mood can help you make different choices about how you’ll deal with it.

So, feeling down? Wanting comfort food? Measure out your portion of what you want, read the label, focus on the enjoyable food while you’re eating it. Then as soon as you’re finished that portion, change your activity: Going for a walk is one of the best, as the physical activity will also help improve your mood.

Do you find that when you eat out, you eat more food than you do at home? Researchers found that many people do, and were curious to find out why. Their questionnaire, completed by 146 people, revealed some common barriers to healthy eating when dining out. You can read the original research here  http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/may/09_0130.htm#table1_down

Here are the common barriers to healthy eating out, and some possible solutions for you:

Many people found they ate more when they arrived at the restaurant ravenously hungry. This certainly makes it harder to choose healthier options, especially in the winter when hot food is more appealing. For many people in the survey, it was their busy lifestyle that got in the way; they just "hadn't had time to eat".

When you're busy its easy to overlook meal planning; but this is one of the key skills that will help you stay on top of things when life is going a little crazy. The solution? Spend 20 minutes before you shop each week to plan your meals, and purchase some key snack items that you can keep on hand in your desk drawer so you don't go hungry.

Being presented with a big plate of really delicious food certainly makes it harder to resist eating too much. If your first thought when the plate lands on the table is "wow, that's a lot" then it probably is an overly large portion size. Sometimes you can ask for what's left over to be packaged as a takeaway for you to take home.

Were you brought up to eat everything on your plate so as not to 'waste' food? If so, you're likely to find it even more difficult to refuse an overly large portion size. Try routinely asking for an 'entrée size' serve of a main meal item instead.

If you're hungry, and tuck into your meal with gusto, you're likely to miss your stomach's cues of "I'm full!" – this can cause you to overeat, then leave the restaurant feeling bloated. Your best remedy here is mindful eating; put your cutlery down between mouthfuls, and really savour the wonderful flavours and textures of the meal that someone else has cooked for you.

Effective portion control is one of the hallmarks of successful weight management – so try these strategies next time you eat out. You might leave the restaurant next time feeling well fed but not bloated or over-fed.