Mastering Wellness Challenges

How does a person go about creating wellness? There’s plenty of information available on weight loss and wellness and you can access most of it by using an Internet search engine such as Google. Some of it is really good, some is awful. You can sift the good from the craziness and figure out what sounds right to you. By the way, miraculous cures, pills, and regimens never sound right deep down in your gut. Just like get-rich-quick schemes don’t.

However, having information doesn’t always translate into knowing which actions to take. And knowing which actions to take doesn’t necessarily propel anyone to take the appropriate action.

Before I knew better during weight-loss consultations with new clients, I would give them lists of things to do, ways to eat, foods to eat, exercise recommendations, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I knew what they needed to do, but overwhelming them with information wasn’t helping them create the results for which they longed. I thought they wanted me to tell them what I know. Certainly many folks had great results. But…

Now I’ve changed my way of working with clients. Now I let them tell me what they already know they need to do. I help them create an effective action plan and accomplish their goals.

Let me give you some examples: a person has irritable bowel syndrome and needs to lose 50 pounds. They already know that wheat, dairy, and yeast make the situation worse but continue to eat them in favorite foods: cheeseburgers and pizza, eating them virtually every day. In searching for solutions the person has done amazing things – swallowed pints and pints of pure coconut oil, (do not do this unless you love spending time and money in the emergency room), exercised vigorously and often, consulted with an allergist, and a medical stomach specialist. None of these have worked. Why? Because the person hasn’t yet integrated into their very being, actions, and behavior that NOT eating wheat, dairy, and yeast will eliminate most of the irritable bowel syndrome.

I worked with one woman who couldn’t lose weight. She actually didn’t overeat and was searching for a miracle. She worked about 10-15 hours a day or more in a very stressful high-pressure high-visibility environment. She took no down time whatsoever mostly because she needed to be so valued and so important to the organization. Just from reading this you already know she was overweight because she had too much stress. The miracle she was seeking was inside her. Even so, she chose to ignore the fact that she needed to decompress every day to lose weight. Why? Because her whole life and identity was wrapped up in her work.

Another client goes on every nutty diet imaginable or unimaginable, and is always showing up with the next best healthy food – antioxidant drinks, green drinks, special teas, blended soupy things that taste terrible– you name it. He exercises vigorously every day – riding his mountain bike and lifting weights. Yet, he knows exactly why his health isn’t superb and why he doesn’t lose weight and it has nothing to do with what he eats but rather with drinking liquid calories every late afternoon into the evening – he’s sneak drinking to excess.

Another client already had all the answers she needed. To manage her diabetes she knew that she needed to eat low-glycemic and exercise vigorously every day. She was hoping I would have a magic solution - one that didn’t involve her in carefully taking care of herself. Quite honestly, there is no such magic pill.

I know this because if there were one, I would be taking it. I want to be lazy and ignore my health, too. I want to be able to lay around and read novels for hours with a box of bon-bons by my side. I want wellness to be easy. But it’s not. In place of the magic pill I haven’t found yet, I drag myself to Pilates class twice a week, to hot yoga twice a week, and I also drag myself up a mountain on either snowshoes or hiking boots almost weekly. I eat mostly healthfully and low-glycemic (about 85%) and the rest of the time indulge in my favorite food group – sweets, or my husband’s – fries, barbecue, and Philly steak sandwiches. (He’ll deny this if you ask.) But heck, vegetables just aren’t as mouth-watering, but they sure are an important aspect of wellness. (As a side note, I love my exercise programs, but I still need to talk myself into doing them.)

Not everyone is determined to ignore their self-knowledge. A friend with puzzling inoperable back pain has consulted with doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, and massage therapists for the magic pill and they have consistently told him that he can manage the pain with exercise and using careful, mindful movements when sitting and walking. He now faithfully does the boring, repetitive, and unexciting day-to-day self maintenance that works - at least most of the time. It’s a pain to do but he no longer has a pain in the back most days. But on the upside, he still enjoys skiing the backcountry and keeping up with his children’s activities.

Some folks do what works for them to attain wellness, and others don’t. The difference isn’t in knowing what to do. It’s in having the guts and determination to take positive action. I don’t think it’s easy. Reaching our optimal wellness requires telling ourselves the hard, cold, unrelenting truth about ourselves and our situation and doing, basically, what we really don’t want to do.

I think everyone confronts this at some time in their life. Some of us many times. I want to hear how you mastered your wellness challenges. Drop me a line and let me know.

Wishing you a spring filled with flower blossoms and chirping birds.

Lucy Beale, author
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Glycemic Index Weight Loss Version 2
The Complete Idiot's Guide Glycemic Index Cookbook
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Eating Well on a Budget
www.Lucybeale.com, http://lucybeale-weight-loss.blogspot.com/
801-501-8240

Two easy steps to weight loss

These 2 easy steps aren't about what you eat, rather about learning how you eat and understanding your body's needs for food. Which can be very different than your social or emotional needs for food. First, eat only when your body - stomach - is hungry. Eat only when you feel a valid hunger pang in your stomach. Use a hunger scale - when you feel a hunger pang, your hunger level is zero. That's the time to eat. Eat enough food for your stomach hunger number to register a 5, which is comfortable. Eating up to a 7 - full - will prevent you from losing weight. Eating above that - from an 8 to a 10 will cause you to gain weight. So start eating when your stomach is 0 and stop at a 5. To do this, you need mindfulness and the ability to tune into your body's feeling sensations.

Second, keep a food diary in a notebook. Record date, time, beginning hunger number, food or beverage consumed except water, amount of food (you don't need to weight or measure, just estimate), and ending hunger number. You can eat any foods you like provided that you start at 0 and end at 5 and record your intake.

This two-part process works no matter where you are, with whom, or your stress level. Since your stomach is about the size of your fist, be sure to eat your most favorite foods first at - you may not have enough room in stomach for them later in the meal. Eat slowly enough that you can feel your hunger numbers as you eat.

At the end of a couple weeks, your jeans will be looser and you can move onto the refinements of choosing healthy foods.