Lose Weight for Life - Week 6: Mmmmm marshmallows!

Hi ho everyone!

Another great day in Sooke! Nice walkin' group... TV you are definitely getting fitter and healthier!!

Today we reviewed our HOMEWORK from last week with continued behaviour change using our SUCCESS Charts (again if you have done at least 1, you will be Rewarded next week!).

We discussed Dr. Walter Mischel's marshmallow experiment which demonstrated that delayed gratification can go a long way when it comes to “success” in life.

Way back in the 1960′s, he took 4 year olds and gave them a choice of either eating one marshmallow right away or, if they were willing to wait while the researcher stepped out for a few minutes, then the child could have two marshmallows when they returned.

Mischel then went on to follow these children into their late teen years. He found that there was quite a difference in the “grabbers” versus the “delayers” in terms of life “success.” The “grabbers” had lower S.A.T. scores (210 points on average), they struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention, and also found it difficult to maintain friendships.

Mischel could predict life “success” at 4 years old… But the most promising thing that came out of these experiments is that one could teach the skill of delaying gratification. The “grabbers” could be taught the skills necessary to suppress the impulse to grab and eat the marshmallow right away.

This is exciting stuff! When it comes to addiction and other maladaptive behaviours, we can learn new skills and techniques to help our impulse control (i.e. CRAVED mnemonic).

We also learned about "an apple a day" may not keep the Doctor away. Merely adding 100 calories (an example would be a large medium apple) a day without changing activity and the types of foods eaten can result in about a 10 lb weight gain in a year (BTW I stretched the truth a bit with the apple analogy - the 100 calorie apple with it's fibre content is a much better choice than a `100 calorie cookie!). We also found out that it takes you brisk walking for about a mile (or 1.6 kilometres) to burn that many calories. So be mindful!

We also discussed that rest and sleep are important for healthy weight.

Topic 16: Sleep, Rest and Relaxation

The hormones leptin and ghrelin which are factors for satiety and hunger respectively become unbalanced with poor sleep. In class, we all did the Epworth Sleep Score and noted that if you scored 10 or more, been told you stop breathing while you sleep or snore loudly (ear plug anyone?) then you should follow up with your family physician. There are treatments available for these conditions!

We also added one last breathing technique to our breathing repertoire - full breathing (hands on stomach and chest - when inspiring, trying to push out the lower hand; the upper hand next and then the shoulders, then all 3 with 3 sets of breaths).

Lastly, keeping Accountability and Consequences at the forefront of our choices, remember that we make over 200 food decisions a day, we covered:

Topic 17: Creepy and Chilling Consequences

Topic 18: Choice, Responsibility , Accountability and NOT becoming a Victim

To ramp up Accountability, we will be having a Day 90 (since starting the program) class on Wednesday, June 30th at 10:30AM at the Sooke IHN office (I will be telelinking from Nanaimo!).

You can do this! It starts and ends with you and your Choices. Think CRAVED no more to help!!

HOMEWORK included:

1) 2 day Eating Log - if you find planning your eating for the day before then write out your Log in advance (Eat healthy!).

2) increase Activity or Exercise level to 15 minutes alternating with 20 minutes or 35 minutes every other day (remember not to skip more than 1 day to keep on track!).

3) add a set of 3 new behaviours to your SUCCESS chart - one new food choice (are you at 5 fruits or vegetables a day yet?), one Activity - see #2 above and one behaviour, i.e. Clean the Clutter in the kitchen, eat in the kitchen only, Appreciate 3 things/people in your day, Drink 1 more glass of water a day (you can add the limes we gave out to help with the water).

4) fill out the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 health questionnaires (which are useful to help monitor for depression and anxiety).

Have a healthy week!

Dr.P

P.S. For our final week in Sooke (and it's not the end! it's only the beginning!), we will be meeting at 10:15AM to walk our walk and then talk our talk!