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Stay
positive when doing a lifestyle makeover
Sept. 28, 2006
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
It’s
a common request.
Reader Ken L. from Cary asks: “We want to begin a coordinated
plan to improve our nutritional habits, create exercise routines
and manage our weight. Can you direct us to any practitioners,
registers or other resources to help us?”
Ken has the right idea. For most of us, an ongoing and comprehensive
lifestyle approach is needed to support health as we age.
The trick is finding and coordinating reliable – and
affordable – resources.
You’d think it would be easy, but it’s not.
Few of us can afford personal trainers, nutritionists and
chefs. The American Dietetic Association maintains a directory
of local dietitians available to do private consultations
(call 1-800-366-1655), but a one-hour consultation can run
$100 or more. For many of us, busy schedules make it hard
to sustain weekly appointments with counselors and weight
control support groups. Of those available, though, Weight
Watchers is one of the most effective.
The reality is that for most of us, getting control of our
lifestyle habits is a do-it-yourself job. That said, there
are some steps you can take to master the skills and knowledge
needed to make healthy habits stick:
* Surround yourself with support. Hanging out with people
with similar goals will help you stay on track. They can also
help you troubleshoot the challenges you’ll confront.
* Get educated. Know where to find accurate information. A
few of the best sources include: Nutrition Action Healthletter,
(www.cspinet.org/nah);
Harvard Nutrition Source (www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/);
and the National Institutes of Health (http://health.nih.gov/),
a web site with links to health databases, hotlines, and information
on health-related topics.
* Get moving. There’s no other way than to make it a
top priority, even if it means other tasks fall to the wayside.
At a minimum, begin a regular routine of brisk, long, evening
walks, rain or shine. The bonus: Evening is when many people
snack and pile on extra calories. If you’re walking,
you’re not eating. Build physical activity into your
weekends by taking up hiking, kayaking, or bike riding.
* Keep it simple. Remember the words of the late Vermont homesteader
Helen Nearing: “If a recipe cannot be written on the
face of a 3x5 card, off with its head.” Better yet,
skip the recipes and learn to assemble simple meals in minimal
time with fresh ingredients: cooked beans over seasoned rice
with steamed, fresh broccoli, or a tossed green salad with
a slice of wholegrain bread and a bowl of soup.
* Take a social approach to meals. Food writer Michael Pollan
has described Americans as having a “national eating
disorder.” We’re more food-obsessed than people
in other countries, yet we’re less healthy than people
in other parts of the world who worry less about what they
eat. According to Pollan, “A well-developed culture
of eating, such as you’ll find in France or Italy, mediates
the eater’s relationship to food, moderating consumption
even as it prolongs and deepens the pleasure of eating.”
More pleasure, fewer calories. Designate a regular time for
meals and take the time to sit with your family.
And go easy on yourself.
Slow and steady is the most comfortable and successful way
for most of us to make lifestyle changes. Spreading the changes
out over time allows new habits to evolve as you gain knowledge
and master new skills.
Stay positive, too. Some people see the fun in a challenge
and others just see the challenge. A large task can seem overwhelming
when you think about it in its entirety, so break it up into
small steps. Write them down, include some target dates for
completion, and keep a journal of your progress. It can be
motivating to see how far you’ve come in a year.
Why not start today?
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