By Sarah A LoBisco, ND

New Year's Fireworks

The “New Year New You Cliché’” is now officially in full swing. In fact, on December 31, 2012 at exactly 3:19PM, Mr. Google reported “About 5,120,000,000 results (0.22 seconds)” in the search results for “New Year New You 2013.”

For most people, the idea of being healthier and lighter is a continuum of a resolution at the start of every New Year. Perhaps it is due to the after effects of  a stressful and sugary holiday season. 🙂

Gung-ho, many people will start off armed with a lot of willpower and a strong resolution to “stick with it!”

Businessman standing over a blank laptop

Unfortunately, most people won’t.

Help

This is for a variety of reasons. In previous blogs, I have discussed various emotional and biological hurdles to health resolutions including:

In a society that is addicted to fast results and quick fixes, sometimes I feel like a modern day Sisyphus pushing up the rock of the ancient and less sexy old adages of lifestyle shifts.

Sisyphus

I know and have seen how programs optimized for the individual are the keys to a healthy lifestyle and optimal weight loss strategy- that not only works but sticks!

Thankfully, whenever I attend a training or read my subscription journals and blogs, I feel surrounded and embraced by my colleagues and mentors. It is then that I am humbled as a simple Naturopathic and Functional Medicine practitioner who is standing on the back of integrative medicine’s giants. All of these “mavericks” are clearing our path and guiding all their students in the most integrative and advanced ways to optimize our clients’ health.

These leaders in this health evolution of the merger of biochemical individuality include Dr. Mark Hyman, Jeffrey Bland, my professors and mentors at University of Bridgeport (Dr. Brady, Dr. Z), Joshua Rosenthal, Marc David, and famous whistle-blowers such as Dr. Mercola.

Competition

In fact, just a few days ago, at a serendipitous timing of the new years’ resolutions storm hitting, Dr. Hyman interviewed another “giant” in the Psychology of Eating, Marc David, on weight loss and eating:

The Psychology of Why Weight Loss Won’t Stick

Marc knows how sincere my patients are about their goals.  I asked him to spend some time earnestly thinking about the struggles occurring in the mind of the eater.  This is what he had to say:

  1. What is the single most common mistake you see in your work with people who are looking to make a real life sustainable change such as weight loss?
    Perhaps the most common mistake I see is that people try to lose weight by attacking it. They see excess pounds as the enemy, which often means they’re in a constant battle with food. From this place of hating body fat, we often resort to intense exercise that we really can’t stand, or a lifeless and limiting diet that punishes us but never gets us where we want to go. And all the while we look in the mirror with self-loathing. Think about it for a moment: most of us want to lose weight so we can feel better about ourselves and love ourselves more. But how can we expect self-love as the end result of a collection of strategies that are all about self-hate? If the road we take is filled with attack and lack of self worth, then that will be the destination we’ll arrive at. We need to find a sustainable way to eat where food is truly nourishing our body, and a sustainable way to move and exercise that we honestly enjoy.
  2. Losing weight is often stressful and not a fun experience for many people.  In fact, that’s probably why over 99 percent of dieters fail! What tips do you have for people who “know” they need to approach weight loss from a place of relaxation and low stress, but have trouble putting this into daily practice?
    I believe we’re living in an age where we have a lot less free time. We’re so busy with work, family, and keeping things together that it’s natural to feel stressed out. Because the world is so connected via the web and media, we might even be more stressed than in times past. In weight-loss, as in life, stressing about our stress is a dead-end strategy. When we’re in a constant physiologic stress response, not only is our metabolic potential diminished in terms of digestion, assimilation, and calorie burning, but we don’t make good use of the part of our brain that’s responsible for higher thinking and wisdom. In other words, it’s easy to make bad decisions when we’re always anxious. Relaxation is a practice. Relaxing into stress is a practice. We simply try our best every day, and keep returning to a more heart-centered and trust-centered way of living. It’s a good bet that for those who’ve had trouble losing weight while leading an intensely anxious life – a regular practice of relaxation such as yoga, breathing exercise, dance, music, nature, and more – can help create a positive metabolic change. And even if we don’t lose any weight, at least we’ll be more relaxed and happy.

Dr. Hyman further explores the importance of not just what we are eating, but how and why we are eating.

Your Relationship with Food Determines Your Satisfaction & Success:

All of these questions are the beginning of embarking on an understanding of how you relate to food.  The funny thing is, how we each relate to food tells us a lot about how we approach life and what we want out of it.  The next time you catch yourself eating under stress, follow these guidelines:

Start each meal with 3 deep belly breaths.  For a thorough explanation on how to calm your mind and relax your body please check out my article on meditation.

Observe your thoughts about yourself and the food you are about to eat.  Remember, judging your food as good or bad essentially begs the idea that you too are either good or bad.  While a diet based on whole, fresh, real, organic, local and seasonal foods is best, there will be times when you will want a treat, a “recreational food” or you will be offered a food you may think of as “bad.”  Imagine the difference in digestion you would experience if the next time you ate your favorite food or any food under a relaxed state where you savored each bite and didn’t have to rush through it out of guilt, worry, or self doubt about willpower! I’d rather see you eat all food under the optimal state of digestion and absorption so that you best metabolize and utilize your nutrients.

When you eat, do so with willing attention toward your food.  In fact, do as my friend Marc David suggests and eat soulfully, not just mindfully. Marc runs the Institute for the Psychology of Eating.  Learn more about this unique style of nutrition. Soulful eating allows you a whole-body experience that celebrates your innate desire to seek pleasure from food and not stop until you receive the right amount.  Mentally and soulfully reap nourishment from your food before, during and even after your meal by doing this:

  • Savor the flavor: Notice the texture and aroma of each bite to get the most flavor. Is it sweet, salty, spicy, crunchy, sour, bitter, or smooth?
  • Observe: Notice your body – is your belly gurgling with hunger?  Or are you completely  stuffed?  Are you stressed or calm and what could you do in that moment to increase relaxation?
  • Be Present: Sit down while you eat, turn off all media or keep it in another room and simply eat while you are eating-nothing else!
  • Resist Judgment: Let go of the urge to engage in negative self-talk and eat with compassion, respect, and gratitude toward your body. Notice when “should” or rigid rules pop into your mind and be aware of any guilt that comes up for you around certain foods.  Now is not the time to criticize-now is the time to calm your mind, slow the chatter and be present in your body.
  • Awareness: Notice the difference the next time you drift off during a meal.  Bring yourself back to the moment and taste each bite. Maximize your pleasure!

See your symptoms as hidden messages from your inner world trying to tell you to listen- don’t dismiss them.  By dismissing these clues or worse, beating yourself up over them, we lose the opportunity to tune in and do the real work of unlocking the mysterious barriers to our unsolved health conditions.

Now, I’ve already highlighted some of my major influences in medicine, and I found out that some made the list of the Top 100 influential people in health!

Curious?

See below to see if your mentors made the cut…

100 Most Influential People in Health & Fitness 2012

This year in the world of fitness, health, and happiness, healthy food became a central focus, one man taught people to become chefs in four hours flat, and the Governator became even more famous (is that possible?). There are thousands of people working every day to revolutionize the way people think about health and wellness. When trying to determine the most powerful innovators in this space, we looked at a few factors: social reach, the trends they’ve set, the products they’ve created, research they’ve contributed to, media coverage, and professional certifications and degrees they’ve attained (among a few other things). After many discussions (and way too much math), here are the 100 people we  determined to be the most influential figures in fitness, health, and happiness this year.

Wondering what last year’s list looked like? Take a gander here. 

BONUS VIDEO: YOGA FOR WEIGHT LOSS (in 17 Minutes)

Look what I found online last night!

I was looking for a great yoga and core workout with a meditative aspect.

Sadie Nardini does a wonderful job in this 17 minute video that is the perfect blend of a mind-body tune-up. (Note: you have to get through the free ad, but then it starts. Hey, it is free. :)).

References

The Greatest Team. The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness 2012. 12/20/12. http://greatist.com/health/most-influential-health-fitness-people/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman+newsletter+issue+%23106&utm_content=Click+here+to+read+all+about+it

Hyman, M. Why Your New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Stick. Drhyman.com. 12/27/12. http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/12/27/why-your-new-years-resolutions-dont-stick/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman+newsletter+issue+%23106&utm_content=Get+the+story

Hyman, M. The Secret Ingredient to Stubborn Weight Loss. Drhyamn.com. July 5, 2012. http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/07/05/the-secret-ingredient-to-stubborn-weight-loss/?utm_source=WhatCounts+Publicaster+Edition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=drhyman+newsletter+issue+%23106&utm_content=+Read+more