The Importance of Being Persistent

One of my prior posts was about habits and it strikes me that they represent mindless persistence.  On the flipside, mindful persistence is a good thing in all areas of life, from raising children to maintaining relationships to succeeding at work to improving your health.

A weight-loss message that I’ve been seeing and hearing a lot lately is actually one that has been around for a long time and is very simple:  You have to expend more calories than you consume in order to lose weight.  Diet fads come and go and the bottom line is that most people will lose weight on most of them because they are cutting calories, and likely reducing processed foods and saturated fats to boot.  The key to losing weight on any diet is persistence, willpower, stick-to-it-ive-ness, or whatever you want to call it!  And after the weight is off, it’s important to establish a healthy maintenance diet heavy on vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and good fats.     

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer summarizes all of this nicely and emphasizes the importance of accountability and support, too (see link to article below).  Accountability can be to yourself, by keeping track of everything you eat and weighing yourself frequently, so that you can act quickly if your weight loss stalls or you backslide.  “One of the major differences between the average-weight person and the overweight person is the ability to recover from overeating,” the article states.  Being accountable to someone else is also a powerful incentive and ideally includes getting support from that person, whether it’s a friend, family member, or health coach.  I try to provide holistic nutrition education, warm support and gentle accountability to help my health coaching clients reach their weight loss and other important wellness goals.   

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Eat less, Move more,” and while both suggestions are worthwhile, recent research has shown that they address different goals.  Persistently eating less is the most effective way to take pounds off, while establishing a regular exercise routine is particularly important for keeping those pounds off.  “Exercise is the single best predictor of who keeps weight off and who doesn’t,” the Inquirer article states.  Exercise revs up metabolism and improves overall health, and it helps people maintain muscle mass, which tends to decrease as we age.  And of course, a toned body looks and feels better too.   

So if you’re interested in losing some weight, find a diet that works for your body and lifestyle, stick with it, and develop an exercise routine that you love, and stick with that too.  You’ll be glad you did!   

www.philly.com/philly/health/20120221_New_science_can_help_guide_diets_and_exercise.html

It's National Almond Day!

I opened up my Smartbrief for Nutritionists newsletter (sign up for this and other Smartbriefs at www.smartbrief.com) this morning and discovered that February 16th is National Almond Day!  Now here's a food lobbying group I can support -- the Almond Board of California!  Here's a link to their website featuring all things almond:  www.almondboard.com/consumer/pages/default.aspx. 

Almonds are a great snack because they are natural and nutrient dense.  A one-ounce serving contains 160 calories, 6 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and 13 grams of good mono- and polyunsaturated fat (plus only 1 gram of saturated fat).  They contain no cholesterol and are a great source of vitamin E, calcium, magnesium and potassium.  If you buy unsalted almonds you will also enjoy their naturally sweet flavor and consume no sodium.  I like to buy raw organic almonds from Whole Foods. 

So what's a one-ounce serving?  Well, it is 23 almonds, and the website offers a variety of ways to measure them out besides counting.  (Remember the glamazon counting out almonds for her breakfast at the beginning of the movie, The Devil Wears Prada?)  A one-ounce serving fills a 1/4 cup measure or a shot glass, and it covers a 3" X 3" post-it note in a single layer!  The most fashionable method offered on the website, though, is to order a special almond tin, and these are really cute.  There are four different patterns, the price is only $1.87 each, and I ordered a whole bunch to use as health coaching client gifts.  The dimensions of the almond tins are 2 3/4" long, 2" wide, and 3/4" high, which is similar but not identical to an Altoids tin size (according to another Google search).  If anyone has an Altoids tin lying around and wants to let me know how many almonds fit into it, I'd greatly appreciate the info!

Beyond eating almonds on their own, I recommend you try almond milk, but get the unsweetened varieties from Silk or Trader Joe's or whichever brand you like, to avoid unnecessary sugar or artificial sweeteners or flavors.  Our cat, Raz, rejects dairy milk and soy milk, but meows if I don't give her a bit of almond milk in the morning! 

Almond butter is also wonderful if you like nut butters, and again try the natural creamy or crunchy versions.  Once you open your new jar of natural almond butter and stir it up once, keep it in the refrigerator and it will stay integrated.  Sprouted grain toast with almond butter, plus a sliced Honeycrisp apple, is my favorite at-home lunch these days.

Finally, here's a super-easy recipe that gets rave reviews every time I make it, most recently for a CAbi party.  It features edamame in addition to almonds, so it is really packed with great nutrition.

Edamame Almond Salad

1 (12-ounce) package frozen shelled edamame, thawed
1 large red bell pepper
1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
2 tablespoons almond oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Sea salt to garnish

Place edamame into a bowl.  Trim and seed bell pepper; slice into very thin strips, each about 1 1/2 inches long; add to edamame along with almonds.  In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, and soy sauce.  Pour over salad and toss gently.  Garnish with a light sprinkling of sea salt, and serve. 

The Almond Board website includes tons of almond recipes too, for us all to try.  Let me know your favorite!

Girl Scout Cookies!

The topic for today was going to be recent research on decision fatigue and the implied best grocery shopping strategies.  However, I've been advised to keep my posts light and perhaps a little less academic, so this one's topic is Girl Scout Cookies!  Hey, it's still about decision making, right?  What are you going to do when your neighbor or coworker (or his/her adorable daughter) approaches you with their clipboard and hopeful smile? 

A Google search reveals that this year's cookies will begin to be available in late February in the Cincinnati area, so that explains the articles I've been seeing online about the Best and Worst nutritional choices when it comes to Girl Scout cookies. 

The article I'm referencing primarily is by the editors of EatingWell magazine (http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/best-38-worst-girl-scout-cookies-184400020.html).  This and other articles agree that the BEST nutritional choice is to select the Shortbread cookies, which are called Trefoils in certain locations.  These are best because a standard serving of 4 Shortbread cookies has 120 calories and 4.5 grams of total fat of which 2 grams are saturated.  This cookie also has a notably short ingredient list -- just 10 total ingredients, with sugar appearing only twice in the list. 

The cookie dishonored with the label of "least healthy choice" is the Caramel deLite, also called a Samoa in some locations.  This variety has a serving size of only 2 cookies, which deliver 140 calories, 7 grams of total fat (of which 6 grams are saturated), and an ingredient list that starts with sugar.  Caramel deLites also contain trans fats, though per serving they register under the threshold of 0.5 grams per serving, allowing them to be labeled as containing 0 grams. 

All of the other cookies are judged to fall within these two extremes based on their standard serving size, which, not coincidentally, has between 110 and 160 calories.  Well, here's a radical idea... How about disregarding the company's suggested serving size and relying more on the per-cookie stats?  The EatingWell rankings do take that into account in their rankings -- note that the winning Shortbreads allow four cookies per serving and the losing Caramel deLites only two.  However, think about what this means if you're willing to consider eating less than the suggested (standard-calorie-amount) serving?  Two Shortbreads only have 60 calories and 2.25 grams of fat.  Other contenders emerge:  two Savannah Smiles have only 56 calories and 1 gram of total fat; even decadent Thin Mints have 80 calories and 4 grams of fat if you eat only two. 

Try portion control!  Here's another example.  One of the perks of my nutrition program was that we all received a handful of counseling sessions from our own health coaches.  Mine was wonderful, encouraging me to try almond milk (instead of dairy or soy) and to include dark chocolate in my diet (70%+ cocoa, of course).  I began buying a brand called Endangered Species (http://chocolatebar.com/), specifically the Dark Chocolate with Cranberries and Almonds.  This product is sold at Whole Foods and in Kroger's organic section.  It comes in individually wrapped pieces, with a serving size of four pieces (200 calories).  I swear I have never eaten more than two in any one day.  I break each one into four and savor each bit.  They have so much flavor that two pieces (really eight, the way I think about it!) are more than enough to satisfy.  It's quality over quantity.  Let me know how it works for you!

    

Turning Habits (Back) Into Choices

I’ve been struck by something that’s happened with the clients that have completed a six-month health coaching program with me.  When they started they had some food-related habits that they weren’t happy about – they knew these habits were counterproductive to their health and wellness, yet they felt somewhat powerless to change them.  At our final session together I reminded them of those habits and they said some version of “Wow, you’re right – I’d forgotten about that.  I can’t even imagine doing that now!” 

What this demonstrates is that bad habits are not immutable – under the right circumstances, they can be eliminated and ideally replaced with healthier ones.  It’s important to remember that what becomes a habit began as a choice, and this post is about understanding why habits develop and how to empower yourself to reverse the process and take back control. 
 

I’m talking about relatively benign, non-life-threatening habits here – snacking in front of the TV every night, relying on fast food treats on a regular basis, taking chocolate breaks every afternoon, or drinking several diet or regular soft drinks throughout the day.  Yet even these habits can seem powerful and hard to break when they become part of your routine.  The reason is that you’re probably not really eating for eating’s sake; rather, you’re eating to satisfy some other need that’s not being fully met in your life. 

 

The Health Coaching program I completed at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (www.IntegrativeNutrition.com) describes this as the difference between Primary and Secondary food.  Primary foods are the higher level needs we all have and there are four categories:  Relationship, Career, Physical Activity, and Spirituality.  The foods and beverages we eat and drink are Secondary foods.  When things are out of whack with an area of our Primary food – let’s say we’re bored or exceedingly stressed at work – we often try to make ourselves feel better with food; we take a jolt of caffeine or sugar for energy, or choose sweets or salty snacks to relax.  Why not?  It’s quick, easy, and momentarily seems to do the trick.  Except, of course, it doesn’t solve the underlying problem, and in fact creates its own problems including poor nutrition, weight gain, and negative energy spirals.  Secondary food can’t satisfy Primary food needs.   

What to do?  Here’s what we do in our health coaching sessions, and you can do this with a supportive friend or family member, or even with yourself:

1.       Shine a light – Review your most recent day or two, talking through each day’s ups and downs, the good choices and the not-so-good ones.  Identify the stress points and let the habits out of the closet!

2.       Analyze the situation – Dissect the situation around each habit you identify.  Answer the who, what, when, where, and how of the habit’s context. 

3.       Identify the Primary Food – Connect the feelings around the habit to one of the Primary Food dimensions, considering each one broadly.  For example, Career encompasses not only paid employment, but all types of work such as homemaking and volunteering, as well as education and finances.

4.       Consider alternatives – Spend some time thinking about the Primary Food issues you’ve identified and brainstorm healthier, more productive ways to address those needs.  These can be as close-in as taking a walk around the block in the afternoon instead of grabbing a snack, or more substantial, like asking for a promotion at work, or even considering an alternative career.

5.       Conduct an experiment – Mindfully decide to make a different choice when your habit situation comes up.  Pledge to make that different choice for one week and see how you feel!  Or, for larger-scale changes like a new career, build a realistic plan for yourself and execute it. 

6.       Be gentle and take it slow – Accept and appreciate yourself throughout this process.  Use success in one area to energize other aspects of your life by making more and more healthy choices.

Next time:  More about choices, including the concept of decision fatigue and its implications for healthy grocery shopping.