Ready or not, here it is! Need I say more? I hope this holiday season will be a wonderful one for you and your family. And, I hope you can find the time this year to enjoy the holidays and to take care of yourself. I’ve included some tips to help you avoid the holiday weight gain and to be able to enjoy yourself at the same time.
Also in this issue, you will see an article by executive coach Ellyn Traub, who will help you get ready for 2007, but without all the usual resolutions. I also answer a question I am asked often, “How is intuitive eating different from dieting?”
I am also happy to be a resource, offering a variety of tools such as Un-dieting CDs, Be Fit Now exercise CDs, wrist wands, heart rate monitors, and more to increase your motivation and make your workouts more effective (see my offer of free shipping below). If your exercise routine has become stale or, worse, is not producing the results you want, these items can help. Call or email my office for details. Have a wonderful holiday season!
return to the top
Q: How is intuitive eating different from diets?
A: It's completely different. What most people don't understand is that you don't fail at diets, they fail you. By restricting certain foods, diets are setting you up for "diet deprivation backlash", a term from the book, "Intuitive Eating", by Evelyn Tribole, M.S., R.D., and Elyse Resch, M.S., R.D. The way I describe this phenomenon is that it is similar to Newton's law of inertia - for every diet, there is an equal and opposite binge.
For 95 percent of dieters, the end result of each diet is weighing more than when they started the diet, and feeling shame, guilt, and wondering why they have no willpower. But willpower has nothing to do with it! Every time you diet, you create a "good" and "bad" food list. Typically your favorite foods end up on the bad list and your good list often includes food you may not even like. This "black and white thinking" sets you up for thinking about and craving your so-called "bad" foods. And the more you deprive yourself from eating that bad food, the stronger the craving gets. By the time you finally break down and eat it, chances are you will eat a lot more of it than if you had satisfied the craving earlier.
Research backs up this common scenario. For example, researchers studied people trying to gain weight without success. They had these people eating at bedtime, eating a high-fat diet, and other methods thought to put on weight, but none of the subjects gained weight. Then they put these people on a diet. The subjects wound up gaining five pounds after being on a diet because of the diet deprivation backlash. The diet backfired and they overate and gained weight.
Here's a summary of one of my favorite studies: researchers conducted a study of eight-year-old children. The children were put in a room with several bowls of candy and one bowl of baby carrots. The kids were told they could eat as much as they wanted of any of the bowls, except they could not eat from the bowl of carrots. Can you guess what happened? The kids actually ate a greater percentage of carrots than candy just because it had become a forbidden food!
Intuitive eating is a wonderful way to eat because you no longer have to deal with the deprivation of dieting. As a first step, try to reframe your thinking about good and bad food. Bad foods are foods you don't like - and therefore you should never have to eat them! Good foods are the foods you enjoy and make you feel satisfied. You can eat these anytime you are hungry! When you eliminate black and white thinking, you have taken a large step towards overcoming emotional overeating and dieting, and becoming an intuitive eater.
Have a burning question about intuitive eating, exercise or other health issue? Email your questions and look for answers in upcoming issues of Stop the Weight!
return to the top
Ready or Not, 2007 Is Just Around The Corner
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." - Albert Einstein
Stop making New Year’s resolutions! 2007 is the year to stop dependency on a holiday ritual centered on making resolutions. It is time to stimulate your evolution through continuous improvement – what the Japanese call, kaizen. Kaizen (ky’zen) is the relentless quest for a better way.
What does your 2007 professional future look like? Are you going to continue to go to sleep each night with visions of time slipping by and questions surrounding your professional future? Has it been many years since you have had “visions of sugar plums dancing in your head”?
Time to make a list, check it twice, take action and prepare for 2007!
Leadership Checklist:
- I know who I am as a person, not just by what I do for my career/profession.
- I run my life; my life doesn’t run me.
- I enhance my life experience through constant learning.
- I ask questions and engage people in the search for the best solutions.
- I listen with my ego and own agenda set aside so I can understand others.
- I graciously take credit when deserved and willingly share credit with others.
- I make productive contributions using my talents, knowledge, skills and good work habits.
- I make sure that those who follow me are poised to continue a successful path or exceed expectations.
- I am able to listen to what I need to know, even though it may not be what I want to hear, and act accordingly.
- I engage in dialogue, discussion and debate in search of the best solutions and answers.
- I honor my commitments between others and myself.
- I am able to transform chaos into sanity.
- I know what activities drive the bottom line; I focus my work in that direction.
- I let go of what doesn’t matter.
- I am not a firefighter; when a problem flares up I go to the source, solve it (or get help to solve it)- for good.
- I have support systems in place.
- I remove obstacles for myself and my team so we can be our best.
- I am able to laugh at myself.
- I easily integrate my work and my life; I help others do the same.
- I am an advocate for my people.
- I know my core values, my company core values, and they are in alignment.
Get Organized Checklist:
- Simplify by developing processes that make your life easier at work and at home
- Pitch It, is not just for paper- go through your closets and garage and pitch junk and donate usable items
- Unclutter your schedule- examine what is urgent and important
- Schedule buffer time between appointments especially during the holidays and the winter season (for those of us in the snow belt)
- Hire some help- concierge services and professional organizers are widely available and are affordable- your time has value
Read a Good Book:
- Reinvent your career- time to shape-up for 2007
- Read for fun
- Exercise your mind with logic puzzles
Take Time Out:
- Visit with friends and family
- Contact old business colleagues and college friends- let them know what you’ve been up to
- Enjoy the time out- and learn to incorporate “time out” into your work life
- Use “time out” to reflect on your life; life lessons are leadership lessons
Eliminate the ghosts of work days past- change your professional future call us today-Ellyn S. Traub, High Performance Leadership, Inc. www.hpleadership.com ellyn@hpleadership.com 317-844-9825
return to the top
|
December 2006
I would like to give you more exposure for your podcasts!
I have a new project that is due to be completed in the next month or so. You will be able to submit your podcasts for free. Please contact me right away to find out about being included!
return to the top
- Do not plan on making new year’s resolutions – doing so might get you into the “last supper” mentality, overeating before 1/1 and gaining more weight
- Determine what your challenges might be for exercise, eating or self-care during the holidays. Come up with strategies to overcome these challenges before you experience them.
- If you overeat, let it go. Do not feel guilty or beat yourself up as this will lead to wanting to deprive and punish yourself which will in turn lead to more overeating and keeping this cycle going.
- Reject the “all or nothing” mentality. If you overeat, or miss a day of exercise, just keep going with your plan. Promising to be better tomorrow or start again Monday will only serve to make you feel more guilty or get off track.
- Keep a list of the foods you really enjoy. Plan on having these foods around and don’t get distracted by other food that you come across. This is especially important at holiday parties. Eat only your favorite foods and be sure to take the time to enjoy them.
- Get some exercise by walking around the neighborhood to see all the holiday decorations
- Do not allow yourself to get too hungry. When you feel hunger be sure to eat within a half hour to avoid uncontrolled overeating
- When going to a party, make sure you eat beforehand. This will prevent you from getting too hungry. Enjoy party food, but treat it as a snack, not a meal.
- Remember the true reasons for the holidays. It should be a time of happiness, fun and excitement, not stress. Keep this in mind when you begin to feel stressed.
return to the top
Part Two: Managing Cortisol
In last month’s issue, we talked about what cortisol is and how it causes weight gain when you are under chronic stress. Now let’s discuss what to do about it!
Before I reveal what does work, here’s what does not: all of the pills that claim to control cortisol and help you lose abdominal fat. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned manufacturers of these products and has brought charges of false and unsubstantiated claims against them. In fact, because of the FTC charges, some manufacturers include the following fine print after their testimonials: “Results not typical. Your results may vary. Results dependent on diet and exercise.”
So now you know the secret behind these products – you have to eat right and exercise (no surprise there). Consider the following recommendations to reduce stress and prevent unnecessary weight gain.
- Get enough sleep: Researchers have now found a link between the amount of sleep you get each night and your weight. Results show that women who got 5 to 6 hours a night of sleep gained more weight than those who slept 7 hours each night. Your ability to be in tune to hunger is also diminished and research has shown that sleep-deprived people tend to eat 15% more food than those who get the sleep they need.
- Eat to avoid nighttime overeating: In the normal cortisol daily pattern, levels start to drop midmorning and by 3 to 4pm, you can feel yourself getting tired and losing focus. You may find you crave sugar or caffeine. Often, people don’t eat at this time because they are at work and they wait until dinner. This leads to overeating all night long because they were so hungry and didn’t eat something when they needed it. Plan for a snack around 3 to 4pm to hold you until dinner and prevent munching all night long.
- Get some exercise: You likely know that exercise reduces stress and increases the release of endorphins. What you may not know is that this exercise-induced stress reduction also reduces cortisol levels. Today’s stress does not require a physical response, but your stress hormones do in order to return to normal levels. What moderate exercise does is complete the fight-or-flight response. So by exercising, you are completing the cycle and bringing your body back to a normal state.
- Take time for yourself: High levels of cortisol will drop when you increase your endorphin levels, as with exercise. This can be done in others ways too, including getting a massage and meditating.
return to the top
Buy any three motivational exercise tools by December 20th and
receive free shipping anywhere in the United States!
Click here to see our tools or call (530) 873-0377 today to take advantage of this limited time offer.
return to the top
|
