Do you set your goals for the future, based on your past?

In the past I’ve spent a lot of time reading self help books, books on achievement and getting where you want to go etc and they always have chapters on goal setting. One thing I’ve learnt over the years when I look back on all my experiences, is that despite the fact that we’ve come across information on how to set goals more times than we can count, many of us still don’t set goals properly.

You see, a goal is really a projection into the future isn’t it? It’s an aim, a purpose, something that we want to work towards or achieve by a certain date in the future. Maybe it’s a small goal that we can accomplish in a week, maybe it’s a huge goal, like a 5-year life plan for example, but either way, it’s based on a hope for the future.

Why then, do we set goals based on what’s happened in the past? I often hear people say things like ‘well the last time I went on a diet I only lost 5 kilo’s, if I could do that again I’d be happy’. If this person only had 5 kg’s to lose then that would be fine, but what if they really had 10 kg’s, or 20kg that needed to come off?

It makes no sense to set a goal and work towards a future projection based on what happened in the past. It creates a set point. A limiting factor that prevents us from achieving what we really want to do. From experience, if someone has 20kg’s to lose, they know it. They want that 20kg’s gone. The chances are however that they’ve tried before, and failed. Their confidence is shot, they’re feeling self conscious, they don’t want to look like a failure, they’re worried about what everyone else thinks, and so they aim for a target they know they can hit because they’ve done it before.

What if we just aim a little higher from the outset? What if we say ‘alright, last time I lost 5kg’s. I learnt from that experience, I know where I went wrong. I can see exactly how I fell off that bandwagon, and this time, I’m better prepared. I am going to lose 20kg. I know it will take me a while, it won’t be achieved this week, and so I’m going to set this time frame. I will do this.’ Even if you miss your target, you’ll be further ahead than before.

When you’re setting goals, look to the future, not the past. Decide what you want, and know that you can have it. Don’t look to the past and settle on average. Look to the future and work towards it, day-by-day, hour-by-hour.

The Truth - How To Eat for Health and/or Weight loss

As I’m sure you’re all aware there are an enormous amount of health ‘resources’ out there all vying for your attention. They have titles like ‘lose weight fast’ ‘lose 5kg’s in one week’ ‘drink me and you’ll be one hot mama’. They’re everywhere. Why are they everywhere? Because we buy them, open them, read them, drink them. We are so badly wanting to be thinner, or to be healthier that we’re willing to try yet another ‘miracle solution’, despite the fact that we have tried many over the years and we’re still overweight or unhealthy. Maybe this one is the one. I understand that need for a solution to a long term problem, that desire to take hold of something and hope it takes you where you want to go, but it won't.

When it comes to your health education is the key. You need to understand what is happening inside your body and what you should be putting into it. You need to understand the truth, so you know when something sounds too good to be true. I used to get asked all the time ‘what have you got for weight loss? Does it work? Will it make me skinny?’ And my honest answer was always ‘If I had a pill that could make someone skinny, I certainly wouldn’t be here! I’d be on my luxury yacht somewhere’ A global epidemic would be solved, a world crisis over, someone would be rich. There is no pill. There is no quick fix, either to solving our health issues or to losing weight. On some deep gut level, you have to know this already.

 So where do you go from there? Give up? No! You learn what is real, and you follow it. You take that information and use it like your life depends on it, and it does. This is that information. Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at what constitutes a healthy diet, and why. Not what constitutes a fad diet, or an easy diet, or a liquid diet, I said a healthy diet. Over the next few weeks, if you follow with me, we’re going to learn all about protein, carbs and fats. We’re going to look at our micronutrients, that is our vitamins and minerals. And most importantly we’re going to discuss how you can take this information and apply it to your life. Whether you're eating for health or for weight loss the rules are essentially the same. This is a no holds barred, no beating around the bush discussion of the truth. So put your hat on and let’s go.

Rules of the Game

Rule 1. You Need Protein

Image from docstoc.com

Protein seemed like a good a place to start as any. It is vital to your existence. Protein, along with carbohydrates and fat are what are known as macronutrients. Our bodies require them in large amounts, you’ll hear them being discussed in gram weights such as 40grams, or 60 grams a day for example. Many of the structures of your body are made of protein. Your skin and hair, your muscles and organs, your cells and neurotransmitters, they’re all protein, so in a health sense, eating protein is really building, repairing and maintaining our bodies integrity. Protein is made up of smaller units called amino acids, which are all strung together. When protein is digested, the amino acid strings are broken up and the amino acids are used in our bodies. Some amino acids are made by the body, and others we MUST get through our food, so its important to eat a variety of protein foods daily. We’ll discuss amino acids more at a later date.

Eating enough protein will help

-         Strengthen your hair

-         Maintain skin integrity

-         Help with mood regulation

-         Boost the immune system

Protein also does a couple of other important things, which are great if we want to lose weight

1. It increases our feeling of satiety. That is how full we feel and how long it lasts.
2. Slows the absorption of the carbohydrates we eat with it (we’ll cover this much more later) Essentially it lowers the Glycaemic Index of our carbohydrate food.

So what does this mean? It means you need to eat protein! There are many options

- Beef, pork and chicken are common options

- You’ve got options such as bison and venison, rabbit, kangaroo if you want to go more exotic

- Don’t forget seafood is also protein. Fish, prawns, oysters. 

- Vegetarian protein sources such as tofu, tempeh

- Dairy contains protein too

Lets look at some of the common fears and questions with regards to protein foods

1. How much do I need?

Ideally, most adults should have at least 1 gram protein per kilogram of body weight. If you weigh 60kg therefore, you need 60g protein daily as a minimum (or 1 grams per 2.2lbs). You can have too much protein however; I wouldn’t go over about 2.5 grams per kilo of body weight you’ll notice if you do, you’ll find yourself with a lot of gas! In order to know how much protein a food has,  you need to know how to read labels. If you're unsure how to do this, see my post Know Thy Label http://firstbehealthy.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/normal-0-knowing-label-one-of-biggest.html.

2. How do I get that much protein a day?

Its simple, include a protein food at most of your meals and you should have no problems getting your daily requirement. Have some eggs for breakfast, some chicken for lunch and a piece of fish for dinner. If you’re snacking during the day, say on nuts, there is protein there too. If you’re struggling to get the protein in you could always supplement. There are many different types of protein supplements for those who are wheat, gluten, lactose or animal free.

3. What if I have high cholesterol?

If you have high cholesterol, eat red meat in moderation. Why do I suggest this? Ideally there are a certain amount of calories you want to consume from fat (we will cover calories soon), so you should aim to make the fat you consume fat that will help in this area. If you have high cholesterol, I would focus on eating more omega 3 fatty acids from fatty fish, and more monounsaturated fats from avocado and nuts and seeds as opposed to fat from grain fed red meat. That doesn’t mean you cannot eat red meat. I would have it around twice a week. It just means your focus is on other fat sources for now.

4. Isn’t the fat in meat bad for my weight? 

No, we’ll look more at fat later, but you need fat.

5. But I’m a vegetarian/vegan?

If you’re a vegetarian you can get protein through products like tofu, tempeh and eggs. If you eat dairy you will also be getting some there. If you’re vegan in particular, you will also need to learn how to combine your foods to get protein. On a daily basis you need to eat a mixture of

-         Grains

-         Beans and legumes

-         Nuts and seeds

Image from vegfitlife.com

Remember earlier in the article I discussed those amino acids? Each food group (grains, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds) has its own combination of those amino acids strung together. Some have less of certain ones, and others have more of certain ones. You need to eat a balance of those foods to make sure you have enough of all the aminos. This is called food combining and again, I will be writing a larger post on it. If you’re looking for resources try

http://www.ordinaryvegan.net/

http://www.veganhealth.org/

These are great websites to look at for any questions you may have about getting adequate nutrition.

6. What about the mercury and pollutants in fish?

Our fish is no doubt contaminated with heavy metals and toxic chemicals. I suggest eating small fish such as anchovies and sardines; they tend to have lower concentrations of contaminants, particularly heavy metals. There is a school of thought that a lot of the nutrients in fish protect us from the heavy metals. I personally eat fish or seafood products around 4 times a week. I make sure the rest of my diet is high in nutrients and antioxidants to protect my body. I make sure I have lots of dietary fibre, which can help bind to toxins and remove them during the digestive process. If you’re genuinely concerned, stick with the other protein sources.

So, to sum it up,

The rules

 

1. You need protein

1. Whether you're eating for health or for weight loss, you need protein.
2. It helps with building, repairing and maintaining our bodies
3. Proteins are made up of strings of Amino Acids and we need to eat a mixture of amino acids daily.
4. Protein helps us look and feel our best
5. Protein is important for weight loss as it keeps us full and helps regulate our blood sugar levels when we eat carbohydrate foods
6. You need to eat at least 1gram per kilogram or per 2.2 pounds of body weight
7. Include a protein food at each of your meals
8. If you’re vegetarian/vegan learn how to food combine

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. You can also find me on Google+ Under Christine Poile, or you can join my facebook page First Be Healthy, where I often put up links to interesting health sites that you may find useful.

Stay tuned for the next instalment – Rule 2. It’s The Type Of Carbohydrate That Counts

Taking action - Are you sitting around waiting for your goals to come to you?

A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided

 Tony Robbins

I struggled a little when trying to write this week’s motivational post. I'd chosen a topic, but I wasn’t really 'feeling it' and so kept putting off writing the article. Yesterday however, I was hit like a bolt of lightening with a new topic. One that fired me up, and if you've read any of my previous work you'll know I have no problem writing when I'm fired up about something! I had an experience that reminded me of how often I see a particular problem. This was my experience

I was at work and started talking to a lovely older gentleman on holiday in Australia, lets call him Mr Overseas. Not long into the conversation, he mentioned that he had been looking to purchase some handkerchiefs. He was after a wholesaler. It seems in the country he is from, there is a limited supply of handkerchiefs and it was his intention to buy up big and take them home in his luggage to resell them. Smart idea I thought. It turns out however that Mr Overseas is also struggling to find handkerchiefs here in Australia. He mentioned how he couldn’t see why it was so difficult, there had to be a handkerchief wholesaler somewhere. Why couldn’t he find any anywhere? He had asked one store to call a wholesaler, but the particular wholesaler that the store had called had gone out of business, thank you GFC. So far, this is the closest he’d been to finding handkerchiefs in two countries! At that point another older gentleman joined the conversation and suggested Mr Overseas look in the yellow pages, or speak to a government trade organization that could direct him to a Chinese importer. Mr Overseas hadn’t done either of these things. I started to get a gut feeling that I knew what the problem was, so I finally asked ‘Have you Googled it?’ To which Mr Overseas replied ‘No, I haven’t’. The conversation went on for a few more minutes before Mr Overseas wandered off with some suggestions, but it left me thinking - What exactly HAD Mr Overseas done to find the handkerchiefs he had had such a hard time finding? The answer - Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I am pretty certain that his own country DOES have handkerchiefs; he just didn’t try to find them. He did nothing, and yet was quite happy to explain to a complete stranger how difficult it was for him to find them, and then pick my brain for solutions to his problem, which, by the way, I’m almost certain he wont act on.

Oh this is so familiar! I thought to myself ‘I have a blog post!’ So often I see people do just what Mr Overseas did. They have something they want. They ‘decide’ to take action, maybe even take 1 or 2 small steps (Mr Overseas asked a store assistant to phone a wholesaler) and then they sit and wait for what they want to fall into their laps.

When I had a weight loss clinic, it amazed me how many clients would pay a substantial amount of money for a complete program, and then not turn up to their second appointment. They wanted to lose weight; they’d taken the first step of booking in to see me, and paying for a program. Then they sat at home doing nothing different and expected their lives to change. Really? What would frustrate me even more were the ones who turned up every week having not followed any of my advice, as if showing up at the clinic weekly was enough to shed the kilo’s. Funny thing – The clients that got the results, they were the ones who took the action.

As a species it seems that we often want the results without the effort. We so desperately want things to be different, but we’re not prepared to challenge ourselves, to push outside our comfort zone. Why? I believe its because its hard. It’s uncomfortable to change, to do things differently, and to make the time. It’s easy to throw money at it, drive to a consult and sit their making excuses.

As with anything in life, if you want results, you have to take action. A thought without an action means nothing at all. If you’re someone who is beginning their journey to heath and/or weight loss, the great news for you is that you don’t have to take huge leaps and bounds to create change. You never have to turn your world on its head overnight. Small changes made consistently over time will lead to results.

I believe in the power of daily activity. In the beginning in particular, it works brilliantly to just choose one thing; ‘today I will make my own dinner instead of getting take away’; ‘today I won’t eat any junk food’; ‘Today I will eat a vegetable I haven’t tried before’; ‘today I will walk around the block and back’. Just one thing. For Mr Overseas, it could be that he Googled ‘handkerchief wholesaler Australia’ on day, maybe the next day he calls one of them, and another the next day. Maybe if that isn’t working, he does call some sort of trade organization. With a single step daily I guarantee you he’ll have a wholesaler in no time. All he’d have to do then is order the handkerchiefs!

Don’t be like Mr Overseas. He will never find his handkerchiefs no matter which country he goes too or how many people he asks where he’ll find them. Be the person who is moving in the direction of their dreams. Be the person who worked for it, no matter how tough it got. I’ve been that person who fought tooth and nail to get something for myself, and let me tell you, there is no better feeling than having achieved your goal. The harder you fight, the sweeter the victory.

Chris

What does 'Health' Mean to you?

As a Nutritionist, I am constantly amazed at all the different ways that people perceive the idea of health, and what they consider to be 'healthy'. Some people see 'health' as having more energy, or not getting the flu every winter. Others stand in a place of illness and see health as being free of that illness, or living without symptoms. For some, we look at our health from a place of prevention. What I do today will affect me in years to come.

And what about healthy living? For some, healthy living means getting a pizza or a McDonalds burger that has lettuce on it. Or buying the low fat ice cream instead of the regular kind. Many feel they can eat whatever they like provided they take a handful of supplements daily and do a little exercise, or that buying a cereal that has a super food powder in it is their good deed for the day. Some won’t eat anything that isn’t raw, or is from an animal, some only eat fruit.

Health means different things to so many different people. I was recently in Sumatra and noticed our very nice hotel had a Health Spa. We went to reception and asked the receptionist where it was. We told them we wanted a massage. We were escorted by someone from reception across the road, up the stairs and into what looked like a nightclub. I walked in to see about 20 men, scotch and cigarettes in hand, lounging around under neon flashing lights. My partner and I laughed hysterically as we left (the men also found it particularly funny). Now Sumatran hotels clearly have a VERY different perspective on health than I do. 

I find a lot of people hold the opinion that health is hard to achieve, that its expensive, that it takes alot of time. There is an enormous number of people, who whether they realise it or not, dont believe they deserve health. They don't believe that they should treat themselves well. They're punishing themselves, holding themselves back from the best of life because of something they think they did, or didn't do, at some point in the past.

The way you see health, and your relationship to it, will determine how successful you are at achieving it.  What does health mean to you? You see, you need to know this, and define it, if you’re ever going to attain it. It can help you understand why your weight loss attempts arent working out, or why you havn't done anything about your high cholesterol.

How will you know if you’re ‘healthy’ if you haven’t clarified what ‘health’ is for you? Does being healthy mean being at a certain weight? Does it mean having the energy to play with your kids all day? Does it mean going to the toilet more regularly? Maybe it means being fit, exercising regularly?

Try finishing the following sentences and see how you feel about health. If you’re interested, my answers are below.

I feel best when...

I feel worst when...

I’m happiest when...

I know I feel healthy when...

I believe healthy eating is...

I believe bad eating is...

Cooking good food is...

To me health means...

Chris’s answers

I feel best when I’m eating clean food, in its natural state, getting enough sleep, exercising often. It energizes me, puts me in a good mood and I enjoy it. I feel best when I’m being more social and not working too much

I feel worst when I’m overworked, not getting enough sleep. I feel pretty crappy when I am too social, go out too much and indulge too often. I don’t like eating badly because it affects my energy and makes me grumpy. I also feel bloated, sluggish and guilty.

I’m happiest when I can relax and enjoy good food and good company. I’m pretty happy when I’m at my ideal weight of around 55kg’s, much over this and I feel podgy and wobbly. I’m happiest when I don’t feel pressure and stress from work. When I’m on top of everything and being organised.

I know I feel healthy when I’m around my ideal weight, when I see healthy food in front of me and I’m exercising a lot. When I don’t get sick all winter and I don’t look tired in the mirror. I feel like I’m healthy when my joints don’t hurt, when I’m eating badly they ache. I feel healthy at the moment because I’m working 12+ hour days 6 days a week and I still have the energy to go to the gym and get through my day.

I believe healthy eating is eating foods in their natural state. I don’t believe eating processed and refined food too often is healthy, although I believe in balance, and indulging at the right times. I believe healthy eating is colourful and I try and eat a balance of colours every day. I believe it is drinking lots of water. I believe healthy eating is about experimenting and enjoying your food, and the people you share it with. I believe preparing healthy food for my partner is a sign of love. I do this for him because I want him to reap the same benefits I do.

"You know, all that really matters is that the people you love are happy and healthy, everything else is just sprinkles on the sundae" Paul Walker

I believe unhealthy eating is eating foods like bread, pasta, rice, junk foods and takeaway. I know they’re bad because they make me feel unwell. I believe unhealthy eating is a cop out for people who are after the easy way out. It takes longer to prepare your own food than to order takeaway, but you pay for the takeaway in time later, when you’re unwell.

Cooking healthy food is fun! Its great to try new food and find recipes that are delicious and healthy. Its rewarding when other people enjoy the food I make. I get stressed if I have to rush so I deliberately always allow myself plenty of time to prepare my meals. I prepare everything first and organise it into little bowls. I'll combine into 1 bowl ingredients that get thrown in at the same time and line all my bowls up in the order that they go into the dish. It is rediculously anal and everyone laughs but it takes the stress away and I can relax and enjoy cooking.

To me, health means having the energy and strength to live my life the way I want. It means not worrying about the common diet related illnesses that I see people struggle with day in and day out. It means enjoying good food and good company. I would never want to sacrifice either. It means caring for those around me and knowing I'm doing the right thing by them.

So, there you have it that is my view on health and healthy eating. What’s yours? And now that you have answered those questions, what do you do with the information?

Well, I would suggest you analyse it and set your goals around what makes you feel happy and healthy. If it’s exercising by the water, then make that a priority. If both exercising and spending time with your kids makes you feel healthy and happy, why not combine the two? Walk the baby in the stroller along the beach, take the kids to the local tennis court and play a few games.

If you've realised that you are someone who believes that eating healthily is too hard, why don't you try looking for ways to make it easier? There are plenty of resources that provide tips of eating well when you're busy, on fast snacks to prepare, plenty of books on cooking meals in under 30 minutes, or only using a handful of ingredients. 

If you know you feel like you’re healthy when you eat a piece of fruit a day, set it as a goal to do it daily, or twice a day.

Focus on the positive things you can do to improve your health and happiness today. Set your goals and your energy around doing the things that make you feel good, like you’re living your life the way you choose.