Setting Realistic Health and Wellness Goals

It’s simply a fact that when people have goals to guide them, they are happier and achieve more than they would without having them.  Goals provide focus and a measuring stick for progress.  Goals enhance productivity, boost self-esteem, and increase commitment. Here are some tried-and true ways you can begin to move toward achieving your goals, and maintain resolve when the going gets rough.  Many of these guidelines apply to any goals, but I have added some goals that are specific to fitness and nutrition.

Put your goals in writing. The act of writing down what you are going to do is a strong motivator.  It prevents you from leaving your goals vague.  When writing goals be specific, make them measurable and specify completion dates.  Also record what your reward will be for achieving the goal.  This journey begins by creating and maintaining a training journal.

List the benefits of achieving your goal. When you write down your goals also indicate what the benefits are of accomplishing the goal.  Why is the goal important to you?  How will you benefit from reaching the goal or in the process of attaining the end result?  Now think about the pros and cons of not accomplishing the goals.  What barriers do you think may stand in your way?  Are there steps you can take to limit those barriers?

For example: I am gong to cook two days a week, once on the weekend and once during the week (specific).  My plan is to cook enough food so that I can take at least one home cooked item to work every day (measurable).  This is important to me because I enjoy cooking and its therapeutic, but because I know that the choices I make when preparing meals are healthier and more balanced than the food that is available to me at the quick stop locations near work (why it’s important).  I am going to start this process this weekend with no end date in sight (completion dates).  My reward for doing this will be to buy one guilty pleasure item (meaning one serving) at the grocery store (reward).

Set Realistic but challenging Goals. Challenging goals lead to better performance in athletics and better results in body changes or lifestyle changes.  The challenging goals require more commitment than easy goals, no goals, or trying to “do your best.”  Start by writing a challenging goal, if when you read it, your stomach gets a little nervous, then you are probably on the right track.  After week one, review your goal.  Is it still realistic, do you need to modify it to make it more realistic?

Identify Sub goals. Break down your plan into manageable chunks. Set long and short-term goals.  Write down at least three goals for the next 3-6 months and one long-term goal on the first page of your journal.  Be specific about what you need to accomplish.  Make sure each step is challenging but achievable and write it in your journal and review it regularly.

Track your progress. All of your goals should be measurable.  Write down minutes focused on cardio, on strength training, on stretching, and on core work.  Use the scale or even better a tape measure to review body composition goals.  Keep track of weekly totals.  If goals include better overall health, what does that really mean?  Less sick days, better sleep, better energy, increased mental focus, more joy in your life, more time for yourself.  These are also measurable, you just need to record how you are feeling and the actions you took that lead to that feeling.  So if a goal is to take 1 hour 5 times a week to do something relaxing, you would need to make a list of things that are relaxing and then record in your journal what you did and how you felt.  At the end of the week you have something quantifiable, but only if you write it down.

Be honest with yourself. When you are discouraged, feeling stuck, or are not making progress look at your meal planning schedule and your training schedule.  Did you miss four scheduled training sessions in the last month?  Was there a vacation or a family blow out celebration?  Maybe you are not getting enough sleep or your diet has been poor.  If something is not going well, write about it and then add something at the end to indicate how you can improve if that situation was to arise again.

Visual and Measurable. With weight or body composition goals, use pictures and tape measurements more than numbers on a scale to track weight and body composition goals.  Measure every week.  Do you have a photo of you at your ideal weight?  Put it on the refrigerator, or your bathroom mirror.  Someone told me this, I’ve never tried it but it’s pretty funny.  If you have trouble staying away from the refrigerator, take your bathing suit and put it in the refrigerator.  Do you have a favorite dress or pair of pants that you would love to be able to wear comfortably again?  Put it in an easily accessible spot in your closet and try it on every so often.

Daily Reminders. There is tremendous power in the simple act of putting your goals in writing and reviewing daily.  Once your goals are written out place reminders, as brief as need be, in areas you will notice throughout the day.  A post-it note on your computer, refrigerator, bathroom mirror, or in your car will suffice.  You need to be reminded of the goals frequently throughout the day.

Enlist the help of others. Find someone, a family member, coworker, friend, or teammate with whom you share a common goal.  Take your commitment public and tell others about your goals. If you have a blog include it there as well.  Having a partner, or simply putting your goal “out there” can help you stay committed and motivated.  Look for role models, people who have already achieved the goals you seek to reach.  Ask them for advice and suggestions.  Find out how they got where they are, and incorporate what you learn into your plan.

Reward yourself each step of the way. No matter how minor you think your progress is, let yourself feel good about all accomplishments.  Thank yourself, recognize your accomplishment and commitment and never let an action go unrecognized. When you hit a goal, celebrate; recognize that you met the goal.  Accomplishments should always be celebrated and not ignored.  For each sub goal you reach treat yourself to rewards that will give you a lift.

Recognizing all your accomplishments is extremely important. I never take for granted my accomplishments.  Here’s a little story from a training run this past winter.

About 7 years ago my husband and I decided to ride our bikes out to Coney Island instead of taking the subway.  We though it was quite a journey and wondered whether we would have the energy to bike back later that day.  It's 7 years later and I’m training for the Paris Marathon.  I did a long run this Saturday, 24 miles, and choose a new route I’d never run before.  I took that some route we took on our bikes that summer and ran from Red Hook Brooklyn to Prospect Park, up Ocean Avenue, past a snow covered Cyclone and hit mile 12 at the parachute drop at Coney Island.  I took time out to have some water and an energy bar and reflected on that summer day when I thought is was a big deal to ride our bikes out here.  Funny thing is on the bike it felt like a lot longer than 12 miles.  Even though I’ve run a few marathons and I know what my body is capable of there was a moment of awe.  I couldn’t believe how my life and my body had transformed since then.  I gave thanks for my healthy body and continued on my way home for another 12 miles.  I celebrated that run simply by writing about it in my blog and recognizing that 7 years ago I never would have thought of running 24 miles just for fun.

Conscious Eating

One of the things I enjoyed about my trip to Paris was taking on a different lifestyle for a while and absorbing the local customs.  Part of which included quiet, slow, relaxing meals.  Parisians and Americans do not have the same social habits surrounding food.  For instance, I observed that Parisians never eat while they are walking.  They don’t even drink a cup of coffee on the go.  Only once did I see someone eating on the metro and it was an overweight woman eating some sort of gummy candy.  The only thing they might eat while walking is a small chunk of bread from a baguette.  I didn’t observe any home environments, but in restaurants people really took their time.  And your waiter will never ask if you would like your check because it’s considered rude or pushy.  People sit, chat, observe, and eat their meals slowly.  There must be something to this way of eating, as their diets are not particularly healthy (at least not to our standards), yet only a very small portion of their population is overweight or obese. Compared to the French, American’s dine in very odd ways.  Standing up at the kitchen counter, driving a car, on the subway, discussing business deals, watching television, reading a magazine, going through the mail, searching the net, and playing video games are just a few.  Be honest with yourself.  How many times during a week do you eat while doing something else?  It’s unfortunate that eating is no longer viewed as an activity in and of itself.  What most people don’t realize is that while we eat food, we are also assimilating energetically whatever else is going on around us.  During eating, the body is an open and receiving mode, and we take in more than just the vitamins and nutrients in our meal.  We also absorb what is happening in the environment around us.  If we eat in an ugly, noisy, neon lit room, the energy of that space is going to affect us. If we eat quietly in a beautiful park or by the ocean, we will also absorb the positive qualities of those surroundings.  When eating with other people, we absorb their moods, their laughter, their complaints and their busy minds.

Many Americans suffer from a range of digestive disorders, from acid reflux to irritable bowel syndrome and more. Often these conditions take a long time to develop, so don’t think that you are immune if your are not experiencing these problems. These conditions are connected not just to what we eat, but how we eat it.  Our bodies have sensors that connect our guts to our brains and our five senses.  When these sensors are triggered, they get our digestive juices flowing, helping us to properly process our food.  These sensors tell us when we have had enough to eat, so we don’t overload our systems.  But when we eat too fast, on the run or under stress, these sensors don’t have enough time to go off.  Our bodies are unable to rev up and prepare for digestion.  By the time our brains get the message that we are getting full, we’ve already scarfed down a huge meal and moved on to our next activity.  As a result, our bodies barely recognize that we have eaten, even though there is plenty of food in our stomachs.  I’m sure you’ve had this experience.  For example, many of us eat while sitting in front of a computer and wonder why we feel hungry an hour later, and some of us will then eat more.  This overeating can overwhelm the body and aside from adding on weight can eventually lead to chronic conditions.

The body likes to be relaxed, inactive and in a peaceful environment when assimilating food.  The body doesn’t want to be in a tense “fight or flight” mode, alert for danger and unexpected events.  In this heightened state, the heart beats faster, and blood goes to the center of the body.  Proper assimilation of the nutrients in food is essential to health, and if we want this assimilation to take place, we need to be calmer like you would be if you were to sit down for a relaxed meal.

Another aspect of healthy eating is to eat with all your senses.  We need to see our food, smell it, and spend time enjoying it.  People used to enjoy food by eating dinner together.  This traditional daily ritual had a binding effect on the family as a unit.  Sharing meals made the family more cohesive.  This mindset is rapidly changing.  In some families, each member will eat dinner at a different time, sometimes even all at home, but at different times.

Whether you are single or part of a family unit, experiment with ways to eat in a calmer, quieter, more loving way.  Maybe you can organize your family to eat a home cooked meal together once a week.  Notice the difference this makes in your energy and connection with your family and your food.  Try simple rituals to make mealtime special, like eating off your good plates, lighting a candle, listening to soothing music, or saying a blessing before your meal.  If you tend to eat at your desk at work, try to change this habit.  Try simply going into a different room to eat, or better yet eating outside.  Look for a co-worker whose company you enjoy and set a date to eat with them.  Be creative and discover what you can do to bring your body into a more relaxed state during your meals.  It could make a very big difference to your long term overall health.

I want to talk a bit about the importance of chewing in conjunction to conscious eating.  Most people use a fork like a shovel, putting the next bite in before they have finished the previous one.  It’s part of your fast paced culture.  Aside from missing the enjoyment of a long, relaxing meal, eating quickly can be detrimental to our health.  Digestion actually begins with the chewing process.  If you think about your stomach working to break down every little bit of food you put into your mouth, it makes sense that the more you break it down in the chewing process, the easier the digestion process will be.  If your food is not properly broken down before entering the esophagus, it can remain undigested and cause bacteria overgrowth in the intestines.  In addition, the action of chewing and the resulting production of saliva both send a message to the stomach, intestines and entire gastrointestinal system that the digestion process has begun.  These organs can then prepare for their digestion tasks and keep the body in balance.

Chewing also makes food more enjoyable.  The sweet flavor of plant foods is released only after they have been chewed thoroughly.  Complex carbohydrates start breaking down in the mouth by and enzyme in saliva known as amylase.  It is only by chewing the carbohydrate rich foods thoroughly and mixing them with amylase that we can taste all of their natural sweetness.  Therefore, this sweet flavor becomes a reward for chewing.

I don’t have a recommended amount of times that you should chew a bite, but in general I do recommend putting down your fork or utensils in between each bite to help you focus on the food in your mouth.  Once you are done chewing, then you can take your next bite.  It can be difficult to focus on chewing when eating with others, so try eating on your own and focus on fully chewing each bite.  Turn off the TV, resist the urge to read and really focus on your eating experience. Use all your senses.  You’ll see that it takes you longer to eat your meal, but that you get full faster.  Another useful tip to help people slow down is to try eating with chopsticks since you can only pick up a limited amount of food with them, and it can be a fun eating adventure.  ld like a check, it’s considered rude or pushy.  People sit, chat, observe, and eat their meals slowly.  And even though they have a fairly high fat diet, there are very few overw

RENEWAL AND BALANCE: Why Everyone Needs to Detoxify

In an ideal world our food would nourish us and give us the nutrition we need to replenish our systems.  But since the world is far from ideal, our bodies need much higher levels of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants just to cope with our toxic environment.  The food we eat is for the most part “mass manufactured” and compared to 50 or 100 years ago, depleted in essential minerals, vitamins and may have genetically modified aspects which are very foreign to our bodies. Getting adequate nutrition from our depleted foods is simply not enough. Here are 8 other reasons why cleansing is important:

• Many people eat non-foods like MSG, saccharine, nutrisweet, splenda, artificial colorants and flavors which put stress on our systems.
• Almost all foods have pesticides, chemicals (PCB's, Dioxins), and Fluorides which come into our bodies each day.
• Most meats have antibiotic, hormone, and chemical residues.
• Most fish have mercury and chemical residues.
• Even if we are drinking purified water, most of us shower in water that is full of chemicals, or sit in Jacuzzi’s or swimming pools that are full of chemicals that enter our system every day that must be dealt with.
• Our foods are contaminated with phthalates from plastic wraps, Styrofoam, Tupperware, and non-stick coatings from fry pans which enter our system.
• Our clothes, mattresses, and sheets, are full of chemicals, flame retardants, preservatives, and anti-fungals which enter our bodies through the skin.
• Our air is full of carbon monoxide, petrochemicals, lead, mercury, plastics fumes, etc. which enter our bodies when we breathe.

Thus to flourish we must supplement and consume more foods that are naturally detoxifying.  Click here to learn more about my 12-week Spring into Action Cleansing and Renewal program.  And Click here to learn what foods you should be eating more of, and which ones you should be eating less often.

Make Small Changes for Big Rewards

When your diet is focused on detoxification it is also very important to get regular exercise as it stimulates sweating and encourages elimination through the skin. Exercise, including weight training also improves our general metabolism and helps overall with detoxification.  For this reason, regular aerobic exercise along with weight training is key to maintaining a nontoxic body, especially when we indulge in various substances such as sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.  Since exercise releases toxins in the body, it is important to incorporate adequate fluids, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Sometimes people get discouraged because they set goals that are a bit unrealistic and then punish themselves for not accomplishing their goals fully.  In truth, the longest-term success starts with small, short-term goals.  I find when my clients set weekly or mothly goals it leads to more permanent changes in their food choices and physical activity level.  Try these simple strategies to keep yourself on track.

1. Keep track of your progress.  Try keeping a simple journal of your day’s activities including sleeping, eating, exercise and entertainment to discover the glitches and negative habits holding you back from your aspirations.
2. Find more ways to move.  Sure, a 30-minute cardio workout at the gym is ideal for breaking a sweat, but committing to adding small doses of additional movement throughout your day will help put you in a mindset for exercise.  Opt for the stairs, add an extra walk to your dog’s schedule, get off the subway a stop early, hit pedestrian-friendly shopping areas, spend 15 minutes when you immediately get home for some stretching or yoga.
3. Fatigue your muscles.  Don’t’ be afraid of lifting some weight and sweating a bit.  Fear of bulking up keeps many people (primarily women) from challenging themselves with heavier weights.  If you skimp on the pounds, you won’t stimulate the need for muscles to grow stronger and tighter.  Choose enough weight so you can complete eight to 12 reps. The last rep should be tough, but not so difficult that you can’t maintain good form.

Sustainable Meals: 4 Energy Boosters

When you are planning your midday meal, make sure it includes these nutrients for sustained energy throughout the afternoon. Complex Carbohydrates: Think of them as superpremium fuel for you body.  Complex carbs deliver more energy per bite than processed carbs or sugary sweets because they are digested more slowly and prevent spikes and subsequent dips in blood sugar.  A few good lunch sources include brown rice, bulgur, wheat berries, millet, hulled barley, whole grain pasta, beans, artichokes, pea pods, broccoli, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus, spinach, sweet potatoes, and zucchini.

Iron: This essential mineral helps the body produce hemoglobin, which transports oxygen to the muscles and brain.  Combine iron-rich foods with foods high in vitamin C for increased absorption.  Try watercress, arugula, spinach, collard greens, kale, chard, mustard greens, kidney beans, wheat bran, raisins, and blackstrap molasses.

Protein: Feel fuller longer!  Protein fulfills this promise by slowing digestion of other foods and regulating the energy release they provide.  Aside from lean meats try adding nuts, seeds, legumes, tofu, tempeh, and eggs.

Good Fats: A little goes a long way when using these concentrated sources of energy that add flavor and make food more satisfying.  Use olive, coconut, flax and other plant-based oils, walnuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, avocado, and natural nut butters.

Going Green: B.Y.O.Bag

For one week, count how many disposable bags you get.  Make a couple of trips to the grocery store, grab lunch from your favorite sandwich ship, pick up a prescription at the pharmacy- it seriously adds up.  In the United States alone, we go through 100 billion plastic bags per year, less than 1 percent of which gets recycled. Bringing a sturdy tote wherever you go is one of the easiest earth-friendly changes you can make.  When I'm not toting a back pack I carry a few big totes with handles which I can sit on my shoulders.  I prefer this method over being loaded down with a bunch of small bags that I have to carry by hand.  Make a commitment in January to reduce your use of disposable bags.  If you live in the city and have a dog, I understand your objection, but you can still cut down.

Loose Weight by Writing

Now that the New Year is here, how about jump-starting those stalled weight-loss plans?  To help make extra pounds of fat history, try this proven strategy: track you food intake in a diary.  Applying this strategy can double your weight loss success. I've begun a food log for myself.  Yes, I did succumb to too many sweets and excess food between vacation and the holidays.  I'm using a on-line program that allows me to log my daily food intake and in return I receive a interactive report card indicating whether I am taking in the correct amount of carbs, fats and proteins, as well as essential vitamins and minerals based upon the goal of loosing 1-2 pounds per week.  It even offers suggestions of foods that I should consume in order to bring my daily nutrient intake to FDA guidelines.

The "My Body" meal planner is so comprehensive that I'm using it with all my clients to assist them with making healthier meal and snack choices.  If you are interested in learning more about it click here and go to the tab "meal planner".  If you would like me to provide you with a sample report card for a typical daily meal plan for yourself make an appointment by clicking here. Now, keeping a diary does not have to be a formal thing to be beneficial.  Just the act of scribbling down what you eat on a post-it-note, sending yourself e-mails tallying each meal, or sending yourself a text message will help you be more aware of your consumption patterns.

Use an Alarm Clock to Go to Sleep

Here's a great tip to get your day started right.  Have trouble getting up in the AM and hitting the gym or the road (meaning with sneakers on)?  It all starts with preparing the night before. Ideally your goal should be to go to sleep between 10 and 12pm and wake up feeling fully rested.  Set yourself up for success by planning on winding-down in the evening.   An hour before you need to go to sleep, set an alarm (use your phone, kitchen timer etc.) as a way to put yourself on your pre-sleep "wind-down" plan.  During this time, you will avoid stimulating activities, including surfing the net, checking emails or FB account.  This is the time to power down, dim the lights, listen to relaxing music, play with your pet, take a hot bath, snuggle up with a loved one for "one-on-one time", smell some laender or read a not-so-interesting book while sipping on some sleepy time tea.