Be Your Own Coach!

Last year I taught a workshop titled, "Be Your Own Coach." I thought that it would be appropriate to list the highlights here. That way, if you are hoping to accomplish some new outcomes, change habits, or fulfill New Year's resolutions, you could find some tools here on the blog.

How to Be Your Own Coach

1. See yourself as is naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. Deep within you lies the knowledge of how to find the answers/resources to reach your goal/desired outcome.

2. The five elements of coaching: Listening; Curiosity; Intuition; Self-Management; Forward/Deepen. Listen to yourself, be curious, trust your intuition, set up a means of accountability,and move forward while deepening your commitment to change and growth.

3. Where are you in the here and now? Acknowledging your starting point and knowing where you want to be are key facotrs to your success. If you want to lose 30 pounds, you need to know your current weight. Say you want to exercise more. If you make a plan to workout 3 times per week, is that more? Knowing where you're starting from and accepting it WITHOUT JUDGEMENT is a first step.

4. Road block to achieving your goal – the saboteur. We all have one of these, whispering in our ear. Perhaps yours tells you that you don't deserve success. Maybe it tells you that you can outsmart a diet. Or perhaps that if you keep smoking, you'll be okay...it hasn't killed you yet. Here are some tips to handle our critic, doubter, and self-saboteur. Fill in the blanks for your situation.
- Name your saboteur
- My saboteur often says things like:
- My organization/family/community uses saboteur phrases or comments such as:

5. Designing the actual work of self-coaching. If you do these things you'll have a much better chance at success. Really!
A. Write your life vision ie: I see myself as a world traveling best-selling author giving speeches internationally on a variety of wellness topics. I’m delivering a message that resonates with many people, helping them to attain their goals of health and wellness for themselves and their families.
B. Begin with the end in sight. See yourself at this goal and feel what it’s like to be that envisioned self.
C. Know what you will commit to. Big step or small, it’s the realization that you can do it that we’re aiming for here. This is where we outsmart and silence the saboteur.
D. Create a personal SWOC assessment: my strengths, my weaknesses, my opportunities (to change), my challenges or (competition) to success.

6. Design the strategies to reach your goal by outlining the steps along the path and how you’ll deal with obstacles and challenges. An example: I want to quit smoking and I love to hang out with someone who smokes. How will I deal with my desire to engage in that behavior? Substitute drinking, excessive eating, exercising, whatever it is that you want to change.

7. Sources of support: who will make the journey easier? If you feel you have someone you’d like to support you but think they may instead undermine your determination, realize that you’ll need to speak up. They can’t read your mind. Perhaps they need to be told what you want them to say or do to support you. Be specific.

8. Planning for success. Celebrate along the way. Make it fun. Get creative but don’t make the celebrations anything but supportive of your goals. Examples: I’m going to quit drinking soda, so when I’ve gone 1 week without, I’ll celebrate by having a root beer float – not a good choice. Instead, I’ll celebrate by hiking, biking, walking or some other activity that I now have the energy to do. Or if it’s smoking – you save a lot of money by not smoking, so what could you buy that re-enforces your decision and your behavior? Maybe it will be a fabulous meal, since you’ll be able to taste so much more after you quite smoking.

If you have questions about taking your coaching to the next level, contact me. I'm here to help you succeed.

You CAN Keep New Year's Resolutions!

The first step to keeping any resolution is finding your motivation. If you intend to eat more healthy, quit smoking, lose weight, or be a better spouse, parent, partner or friend, then finding the main motivation to do it will help assure success.

1. If you have health concern and you have been told you must change a habit or make a lifestyle change, then find a motivation to make that change. It might not just be living longer. Perhaps for you it's being around to see your grandchildren, or your daughter graduate, or perhaps it's because you have a 'bucket list' to accomplish and you need more time.

2. Determine your goals. This is creating a written plan. Make it simple, measurable and have a date to accomplish the goal. An example would be that you want to stop smoking by January 15. When it comes to weight loss, have a realistic goal of losing between 30-50 pounds in a year. To be a better parent, make a list of goals to accomplish with your child. Keep the list to an achievable number. You can always add more as you accomplish your original goals.

3. Make a plan. If you state you want to lose 20 pounds by June to fit into your wedding gown, then formulate a plan of action that will help you achieve slow, steady weight loss of 4 pounds a month. That's 1 pound a week. Will you need to pre-plan meals? Will you incorporate exercise 3-5 times a week? At this stage you might want to gather information to formulate your plan.

4. Be accountable. This is why coaching is such a hot field! The coach holds you accountable to your stated goals. If you find a buddy to join you in your endeavor, your chances of mutual success will be higher. Consider group coaching or support groups if you have chosen to stop drinking or gambling.

5. Celebrate successes! As a wellness coach, this is the step most people leave out. If you decide ahead of time how you will celebrate the accomplishments of your milestones, you'll stay more motivated than if you just doggedly stick to your plan. Some examples would be for every 5 pounds of weight you lose, you'll put some money aside for a trip or new clothes. Perhaps you enjoy movies, so if you follow a healthy diet for a week, give yourself a movie night. If you quit smoking or drinking, maybe a new golf club or running shoes for a month of sobriety will motivate you. Be sure to plan for success is the message.

I wish you a very Happy New Year, full of the accomplishments of your choosing!

Exercise for a Longer Life

This time of year is all about food. There are parties to attend and give, special foods we associate only with this time of year, like eggnog and Aunt Stella's fudge. Often, we regret our indulgences and hope for a miracle readout from that devil in our bathroom – the scale.

One of the typical New Year's resolutions I often hear is: I want to get more exercise. If you can come up with a strong motivation to exercise, you'll probably have a greater chance of sticking to an exercise program – any program.

Here are some reasons that I think are motivating. Hopefully, you'll find at least one of them helpful.

1. Curb the risk of cancer. Colon cancer has been associated with a sedentary lifestyle. Simply getting things 'moving' may cut your risk. Reducing breast cancer risk takes more activity than walking; moderate-to-vigorous exercise has been shown to be most effective.

2. Increase insulin sensitivity. Strength training and aerobic exercise have both been shown to have a positive affect on a protein called GLUT4. This protein moves blood glucose into your muscles and fat cells. The more of this protein that you have, the better you'll respond to insulin. This is a win-win for anyone with insulin resistance or Type 2 diabetes.

3. Aerobic exercise reduces visceral fat. This is the type of fat that is surrounding your organs. It's linked to insulin resistance, heart disease and full blown diabetes. Men with big bellies have more likelihood of having quite a lot of visceral fat. Women with big bellies may have less. Men and women can benefit from the equivalent of 30 minutes of brisk walking a day.

4. Did you know that sitting can be deadly? If you sit for the majority of your day, you have a much higher risk of metabolic syndrome. This increases the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Say you get a bout of exercise during the day...if you are not standing up and walking around to encourage muscle activity and blood flow to the lower extremities, you are at greater risk of dying sooner.

This post was inspired by an article in the Nutrition Action Newsletter. Please get moving! Need some wellness coaching ideas for success? Contact me.

Holiday Dining, Insulin and a Recipe

The holidays are coming fast! Eating is a huge part of the celebations and deciding what to prepare, buy, and eat are always part of the challenge.

With all the classes I've been teaching lately on longevity, preventing diabetes, and staying healthy, I've been thinking long and hard about what to do over the holidays. Sweet and starchy foods form a big part of the meals. Neither of these food categories rank high on the list of longevity foods.

That's because sweets and starches trigger insulin and lower insulin levels are correlated with longevity. A traditinal Thanksgiving dinner is not the best for keeping insulin levels low.

If you love the specialty foods of the holidays like mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, eggnog, gingerbread, turkey, stuffing, and more, then here are some tips to keep things in perspective.

Enjoy...but not too much. Have you ever notice that with many foods, it's the first two or three bites that are really delicious and satisfying? After that, it's just habitual to clean your plate. My suggestion...share the wealth with someone so you're not faced with eating whole humongus serving of anything. Cozy up with someone and share the starchy-sugary foods, such as stuffing and potatoes, pie and desserts.

Plan for seconds...of the really healhy foods. Or fill your plate just once and don't take seconds. Both these strategies work, so choose one that makes sense for you.

Holiday meals are about more than food. Conversation, football, catching up with family and friends, these are highlights, beyond the actual eating. So spend more time in conversation. Put your fork down between bites and engage with others at the table. This slows your eating down and you'll eat much less before feeling full.

Using what's in season is high on my priority list when it comes to choosing foods to prepare. Right now cabbage is plentiful in many varieties, so I'm going to be taking cabbage-based dishes to potlucks throughout the season. Not only is it low in starch, calories, and fat (for those who watch those things), it's also high in nutrients and fiber.

Here is my recipe for Rainbow Firecracker Coleslaw. It's not traditional, but it's really good. Leftovers taste great and it will last for at least 4 days refrigerated. You can make Turkey-Reuben Sandwiches with leftovers.

Rainbow Firecracker Coleslaw - Serves 4-6 and can easily be doubled.

1/4 head green cabbage, shredded
1/4 head red cabbage, shredded
1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced (optional) this is a firecracker ingredient
1 small carrot, grated (optional)
1 small tart apple, diced (optional)
Toss all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Dressing:
2-3 Tbls. olive oil
2-3 Tbls. apple cider vinegar
pinch of stevia - to taste
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
crushed red pepper flakes (optional) - this is another firecracker addition
Combine all the dressing ingredients together until well blended and pour over veggies to coat.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.