Lose Weight For Life - week 3

Hi LIFEstyler's,

Tonight, we learned some of the HOW's of eating..."to become fitter, healthier and _____'er."

As said, the term diet is not a good one...increasing one's better food choices is the key. Remember that everyone is on their own journey (it is NOT a race), how fast you go with the changes suggested is up to you.

For behaviour change to stick life long..."slow and steady will win the race!"

There was much discussion tonight about the number of servings suggested for healthy weight change. Interestingly, these are the numbers suggested by the Canada Food Guide with the exception of 2 to 4 grains (half) instead.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php

We also discussed how environment plays a key role in our eating behaviour. Changing utensil and plate sizes, eating in the kitchen only, using the 20 minute rule and drinking 6 to 8 glasses/cups (green and white teas are great choices) of fluid a day are helpful.

We also learned about the very useful CRAVED mnemonic tool. It helps us kick our "animal" behaviours to the cortex before we get into trouble...

We did some Deep breathing (D in CRAVED) with some upper body stretching...The shoulder scrunch is great for stress relief when it's in the neck and shoulders!

Tonight we learned about Values (V in CRAVED). They turn out to be the "hot keys" to behaviour change. There is no such thing as a right or wrong value, but when our behaviours and our values are aligned - nothing can stop us!

For HOMEWORK:

1) determining what your top 10 Values are
2) making food choices which are more aligned with the Canada Food Guide with the exception of grains (2 to 4 servings)...just remember that slow and steady will win in the end!
3) write out 2 more days in your food diary
4) try and increase your physical activity; it can be as simple as increasing your walking from 5 minutes a day to 10 minutes or 20 minutes every other day

Have a wonderful week!

Dr.P

P.S. On HOW to eat, Dr. Joey Shulman's book, "the last 15" is another wonderful resource.