Archive for Mind Training
How to change your behavior: Stages of Change
Posted by: | CommentsThere are six distinct stages in changing one’s behavior, according to Dr. James O. Prochaska:
1. Precontemplation
2. Contemplation
3. Preparation
4. Action
5. Maintenance
6. Termination
There are specific tasks that need to be accomplished in each stage before progressing to the next. Intervention techniques differ for each stage. Hence, coaching a person towards change or improvement entails clearly understanding where he/she is on this progression. Most often, well-meaning advice is not processed because that piece of information is geared towards a specific stage (e.g., active phase) whereas the person does not acknowledge the extent of his problem (i.e., he/she is on the Precontemplation stage). Research also shows that this is not a simple linear progression. More often than not, a person cycles repeatedly between stages, getting stuck at a specific phase without much progress.
In weight loss coaching, whether you are working with an external coach or practicing self-coaching, understanding where you are (and knowing the appropriate “intervention” for each stage) is the key to success.
Ancient principles for a healthy diet
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Charaka Samhita, which is thought to be the oldest of the treatises of Ayurvedic medicine (1000BCE):
1. Food needs to be hot (usually cooked).
2. Food needs to be tasty and easy to digest.
3. Food needs to be eaten in the proper amounts, not too much or too little.
4. Foods needs to be eaten on an empty stomach, after your last meal has been digested, and not before.
5. Foods need to work together and not contradict one another in their actions.
6. Foods need to be eaten in pleasant surroundings with the proper equipment for their enjoyment.
7. Eating should not be rushed.
8. Eating should not be a horrendously drawn out affair either.
9. It is best to focus on your food while eating.
10. Only eat food which is nourishing to your particular constitution and which suits your mental and emotional temperament.
Yoga and back health
Posted by: | CommentsHow yoga can help and prevent chronic and occasional back pain (from Loren Fishman MD, Cure Back Pain with Yoga):
1. Yoga stretches muscles to reduce spasm and increase flexibility
2. It strengthens muscles and bones (both isotonically [i.e., with movement of a joint, and through the use of one's own body weight] and isometrically [i.e., without movement of the joints]).
3. Increases range of motion, by: (a) enlarging the joint capsule and promoting joint lubrication, (b) gently stretching the ligaments, and (c) lengthening shortened and tense muscles.
4. Sharpening focus.
5. Heightening self awareness. A better understanding of the way your own body works – what it can or cannot do – is the first line of defense against back pain. One of the most important lessons I learned from my first yoga teacher (Denise Thibault) is that yoga acts as a gauge of one’s physical and mental condition.
6. Producing calm. The regular practice of physical process of yoga (both the postures [asanas] and breathing [pranayama] results in creating a mind that is calm and steady.
Yoga is both a preventive and healing practice that uses the body to manage the mind, simultaneously using the mind to restore the body back into a state of strength, balance and symmetry.
Meditation and weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsResearchers at the University of Pennsylvania say that practicing daily meditation (even for small amounts) can enhance focus and performance. Mindfulness training can improve the subcomponents of attention, such as the ability to prioritize and manage tasks and goals, the ability to voluntarily focus on specific information and the ability to stay alert to the environment. The results suggest even a half hour of meditation practice can improve attention and focus for those with heavy demands on their time – thereby increasing effectiveness and efficiency throughout the workday. While practicing meditation may itself may not be relaxing or restful, the attention-performance improvements that come with practice can help people to be more relaxed and less stressed. This in turn allows us to be more mindful of what we eat and more tuned in to what our body needs in terms of rest and exercise.
Food volume, appetite, and weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsDrinking water before or with your meals doesn’t really help one eat less or induce satiety, although of course eating water-rich foods (e.g., pasta dishes with additional vegetables, smoothies, soup, fruits and vegetables) can lower calorie intake. This is because the body processes hunger and thirst through different mechanisms.
Previous research by the Penn State’s Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behavior has also shown that consuming water-rich foods allow dieters to eat their typical size serving of food (i.e., not limit their portion size), reduce calorie intake and still be satisfied.
What this means is that feeling full depends on the volume of what we eat. Eating small portions tend to make us feel more deprived, which in the long run cannot be sustained. Hence the phenomenon of yo-yo dieting. I think that low caloric density (high volume, high water foods) and high nutritional density (phytochemicals such as minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants) go hand in hand quite easily when we choose an eating style that is based on leafy greens, other vegetables and legumes, and fresh fruit. Foods with a high energy density (such as meat, cake, dried fruit, candy) have lots of calories in a small serving and are lower in water content and volume. From an appetite control perspective, we have a positive interaction effect: high volume, high water-volume food that is highly nutritious and low calorie at the same time will curb our tendency to overeat over the long haul.
Benefits of health knowledge
Posted by: | CommentsA study from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine claims that: “Inadequate health literacy is associated with less knowledge of chronic disease and worse self-management skills for patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, asthma and heart failure.”
The study participants with low health literacy had a significantly higher risk of dying than those with adequate health literacy. Low levels of health knowledge was strongly correlated with the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Perhaps those who are more concerned with their own wellness are more interested in learning about health science compared to those who are not. I think in this case, cause and effect is a circular relationship. Subjects who actively sought out knowledge were those people who took better care of themselves to begin with, and vice versa. The health benefits of self-efficacy, manifested in survival curves. The more we know, the more empowered we are — the better we can take care of our own health destiny
How to manage food cravings
Posted by: | CommentsA study in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Psychology: Applied, showed that visual and olfactory distractions can be more effective than auditory interventions in reducing food cravings. This means that if you’re craving an unhealthy food, you could try to redirect your attention using a visual stimuli (a favorite vacation spot, a beautiful image) or use your sense of smell (aroma therapy?).
One useful principle in “craving management” is stimulus control — which means keep the temptation out of sight, out of reach, or literally out of the house. I know people who themselves allow occasional indulging but they limit it to specific situations, such as eating desserts only on specific occasions and only at specific places.
Kind of like limiting smokers to designated smoking areas. After a while, it becomes such a hassle to smoke (both the physical limitations and accompanying social pressures) that some smokers naturally lessen their consumption of cigarettes. (I don’t have the research to support this. Its just my theory.) Probably not a good comparision. It’s w-a-y harder to quit sugar than it is to quit cigarettes. Take it from me. I’ve done both. I believe sugar addiction is lot more difficult to kick successfully (and easier to relapse) than cigarettes .
Stress and weight gain
Posted by: | CommentsChronic stresses cause weight gain. The culprit? A hormone called Neuropeptide Y. Stress turns on a switch to this chemical messenger found in body fat. It increases appetite, especially for carbohydrate-rich foods, and causes the body to convert extra calories into dangerous belly fat.
The amount of weight gain increased three-fold when a high fat, high sugar diet was given to lab mice subjected to chronic stress. It also caused metabolic syndrome (glucose intolerance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and inflammation).
However, when researchers blocked the effects of neuropeptide Y on the animals, it reduced stress-induced visceral fat by 50 percent, at the same amount of activity and food!
In humans, studies have shown that there is a direct relationship between work stress and risk of obesity. More specifically, stress increased abdominal fat.
Anxiety and depression also increase the risk of obesity. Insulin and blood-sugar levels tend to be higher in those who are anxious and depressed.
Neuropeptide Y stimulates growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis), which leads to weight gain and increased cancer risk. The action of this hormone may help to explain the relationship between obesity and increased cancer risk.
Several studies have shown that a diet low in fat and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, omega?3 fatty acids and soy products inhibits angiogenesis.
Stress affects how we eat, which in turns affects how we feel. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Marketing found that people who are feeling unhappy eat larger amounts of foods they consider tasty and unhealthy, compared to happy people.
Stress is a chemical event that makes us fat and sick. When we are fat and sick, we get more stressed. Which makes us fatter, and sicker. How do we get out of this loop then? Perhaps the first step is learning how to handle stress skillfully. That consists of acknowledging the situation, managing our environment, training ourselves (e.g., mindfulness based stress reduction, heart rate variability methods), and perhaps most importantly as a first step, making a commitment to learning how to change for the better.
Easier said than done. I think it really has to be a coordination of many different variables within our control.
The social psychology of eating
Posted by: | CommentsWhile medical approaches emphasize hunger and satiety as the root of obesity, they are usually not the most significant causes of overeating. “Socially informed perceptions of which foods are appropriate to eat, when they should be eaten and how much should be consumed have a greater impact on our food intake than feelings of hunger or fullness,” according to a University of Toronto study published in Physiology & Behavior.
Environmental cues shape eating decisions, in addition to physical or nutritional needs. The choices that our fellow eaters make often determine how much we eat. Norms may become elevated depending on the social context. For example, an individual may refuse second helpings at a formal meal but accept them when eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet or among family and close friends.
“People are often rudderless in eating situations and they look to the activity of others, their own previous behavior or other social cues to guide them and thereby consume more than they need. Frequently, eating occurs within what we have termed a zone of biological indifference, in which the individual is neither genuinely hungry nor genuinely sated. Without any particular biological reason to start, continue or stop eating, we are particularly vulnerable to socially based influences.”
“Norms of appropriateness have yet to achieve mainstream status in current medical research into obesity and overeating and in public policy concerned with curbing the obesity epidemic. No one seems to be aware of the power that social influence has on eating, but if such considerations are integrated more deeply into this area, we may see some more practical results.”
I think that the concept of the “zone of biological indifference” is important in weight management, because it underlines the power of the social context surrounding eating. Most people eat not because they are hungry, but because other people just happen to be eating as well. It all goes back to developing awareness, and the skill of making consistent conscious choices about food. Not an easy task, obviously.
Weight loss mindset
Posted by: | CommentsMost people will agree that 80% of the solution to being overweight is in the lifestyle/diet choice that is adopted, and 20% of the success is through exercise.
The key issue is whether a person can successfully envision his/her new “healthy self” as a creative goal (and here I’m borrowing from Robert Fritz’s The Path of Least Resistance) that then serves as the “driving force” (aka “structural tension”) to a new lifestyle. Most people simply are reacting to the physical, social, and emotional discomfort of being overweight or obese, and hence take steps to relieve this tension (i.e., by “going on a diet”). When this tension is relieved (by losing pounds) the “hunger/tension” to go back to eating the old way comes back, until such time as the “tension of obesity” surfaces again. It’s the vicious cycle instigated by a “reactive-responsive” mindset that keeps us in this loop — an approach fueled by a quick fix mentality.
I think that most successful “weight loss masters” are able to create a new vision/idea of themselves as healthy, slim, and energetic beings who do not have to constantly deprive themselves in their eating behavior. Rather than deprivation, they adopt a new path of sustainable behaviors and correct nutritional choices.
However, the latter is the key: without proper chemistry to help us (i.e., achieved by an optimal high nutritional/low caloric density) the “behavior” of eating will be compromised and will always be hard to sustain. The better the food, the easier it is to sustain eating the right foods and in the right amounts. I maintain that there is such a thing a the “right” diet — what I call the “nutritionally excellent” diet , and not all diets are created equal.
The closer to this “ideal” one eats, the easier I think it is to maintain over the long haul. A good example of a positive spiral.
