Ahhhh...the stress of awareness

I just had an interesting experience. I signed up some of my coworkers to receive Eating Coach blog email updates. Right now, I am very hyper aware that they will be reading what I write. Yikes! Now, isn't this kind of strange since I have been posting to this blog for better than a year? --I just celebrated my 300th post!  And I know you all having been reading and thinking about the posts (which I appreciate, by the way). So it really it shouldn't matter one way or another whether or not the coworkers are reading -- but in the back of my head, I feel exposed and want to be on my best behavior -- weird, huh??

So what about you? How easy would it be for you to be mindful if you sat down at a meal with me? Some of you have already experienced that when you attended a Mindful Meal -- most of the clients I have eaten with tell me they are much more aware of what they are eating because I am sitting across from

I don't think it was a negative experience to eat with me -- it think they were just more aware. That's good! When you're eating at a business function, sometimes it's about eating enough food to look social but leaving out the foods that are going to make it difficult to conduct that business over the meal. Again, it's an awareness.

It is much easier to cultivate mindfulness when you know others might ask you questions or be involved in your choices in some manner. We all like to have the correct answers on a test, right? But what happens when you're on your own and there isn't any accountability to others? --when you can eat the whole bag of chips on the couch during a Scrubs rerun and nobody is there to look cross-eyed at you?

This is when you have to set up for yourself. Understand that there are a million ways you can cheat or justifiy the mindfulness system.

Glacial pace of change

This morning Seth Godin was talking about change in media, governments and our culture.  He ends his post with the following two paragraphs:

Cultural shifts create long terms evolutionary changes. Cultural shifts, changes in habits, technologies that slowly obsolete a product or a system are the ones that change our lives. Watch for shifts in systems and processes and expectations. That's what makes change, not big events.

Don't worry about what happened yesterday (or five minutes ago). Focus on what happened ten years ago and think about what you can do that will make a huge impact in six months. The breaking news mindset isn't just annoying, it may be distracting you from what really matters. As the world gets faster, it turns out that the glacial changes of years and decades are become more important, not less.

And although he is taking about media and the world, the same idea can be applied to your eating habits.  My mom remembers going to dinner at her grandma's house.  They sat down and ate together.  And then, chances are, the kids were sent out to play -- which would have meant going out into the woods or to the lake to actively play.  I assume the women would have all cleared the table and helped the matriarch do dishes (and in this scenario, I really don't know what the men would have done).  So....eating then moving their bodies -- that's how we used to live.

Then small changes occurred.  Dishwashers, kids playing more video games, bigger plates at home, getting used to bigger portions when we ate out, eating out more often as we got more affluent (or fast food got cheaper), less sending the kids out to play and more driving them in the car to their organized sports.....

Individually, none of these things would have done anything to our weight -- they were have been small shocks to our system.  Collectively, however, they have shifted our culture and are some of the reasons our obesity rates are climbing.

When you give it some thought, does it seem sensible to you that slapping a Jenny Craig program over top all this culture change doesn't fix the problem?  It doesn't even address the problem.  It addresses the symptom of the problem.

So what's it going to be?  As I see it, we have two choices:
1. Live with our new normal and get on with being happy.
or
2. Address some of the changes that got us here in the first place (and get on with being happy).

Which one are you choosing today?

The Government's confusing recommendations

Last week, I lectured on the differences between exercise and activity (and there are plenty) for a local city Wellness program. One of the questions I was asked is why there have been all these different target goals published by the CDC. 30 minutes of exercise per day -- 10,000 steps per day -- accumulating 150 minutes of exercise per week -- it can all be very confusing.

In all my lectures, I encourage participants to ask questions but this is the first time anyone had asked me to explain which goal was better (there is an answer to that -- 10k steps) and why there were so many different goals.

Now...I try not to be a nag. If you've followed me for a while, you know I do have a tendency to get up on my soapbox from time to time. So out came to soapbox along with the answer. The answer to the participant's question is: We are not moving as much as we should. The government doesn't know how to motivate us to take care of ourselves. And because of these two things, they are taking good ideas, throwing them to the wall to see which ones will stick with people.

Their eating recommendations are like that too. There are a million ways to eat that are just as good as another -- our problem (unlike exercise) is that we're just doing too much eating (of everything!) Cutting back (9 bites a day) will let you lose weight. You won't have to give up your favorites -- just eat less of them and you won't need to worry about what science says you "should eat" and "shouldn't eat".

Surrounding yourselves with Do-ers

It occurred to me yesterday that I have been ranting on Do-ing a lot.  I know when I feel like I am stuck and at the mercy of the Universe, my frustration level with the world drives me to the edge.  I have come to realize over the years, that the way to combat my frustration level is to set aside my doubts and need for perfection and DO something -- anything -- to move me in the direction I want to go.  Doing is one of the ways I cope.

So...you (and the clients and members I see in person) have been getting a dose of Do-ing motivation.  And then it hit me -- I am surrounded by people giving me that same advise to me.  My blog list (the blogs I read) is full to the brim with people writing posts about doing.  Seth Godin often rants about Doing and Shipping (getting your product or service out the door).  Jena is encouraging me to Do.  Wake up Tiger subscribes to the Do mentality (be warned he has the Aussie penchant for swearing).  And that is NOT a comprehensive list of the Do-ers that influence me everyday.

What about you?  Are you surrounding yourself with people who are Doing in their lives and pushing you to Do in yours?  Are you striving to be a Do-er .... or are you content with being a Thinker-abouter?

Do something Friday

If you're sitting in the woods eating a Big Mac and there isn't anyone around to hear you, do the calories still count?

Are you a sneaker? Have you ever noticed that you like eating alone so you can eat whatever you want without feeling like others are judging you?

Calories are calories are calories.

For weight management purposes, it doesn't matter if you are eating chocolate cake, fast food, or a vegan gourmet dinner prepared exclusively with organically grown foods -- the same number of calories with equal the same adjustment to your weight.

Stop sneaking. Stop feeling guilty. Stop judging yourself and blaming it on others. Listen to you body and feed it the foods that make your heart sing.

I know that is a big order to undertake for the rest of your life. How about you just try it for this weekend and see how it goes?

Mindfulness is....

More than paying attention so you can lose weight. 

What would you see if you were more mindful???



Ordinary moments, yes ... but the beauty of life is found in the ordinary moments.


Thanks for sharing this, Jena!

Are you willing to do the impossible?

Five years success rates for weight loss (those that lose weight through whatever means and keep most of it off for 5 years) is 3%.

Diets work quickly ... and then you regain the weight just as quickly.  Know why?  Because you haven't changed your "go to" behaviors.  Nothing has changed -- you were on a diet but when you go back to real life, nothing but your pant size has changed -- so it will change back.

Some people are successful -- 3%.  How?  By changing the behaviors that got them to their heaviest weight.  You can be one of those 3% -- you can beat the odds.

How?

By doing it everyday.  Making changes you can live with.  Figuring out why you eat the way you do and questioning what skills are working for you and which ones no longer are.  Can YOU do it?  Yes.  But only if you're willing.