Posts made in October, 2011

November is a busy month. Not only do we have the Thanksgiving holidays, but also the requisite shopping in preparation for all the December holidays. More than that, November is the awareness month for approximately 15 different health-related issues.

For instance, did you know that November 2011 is American Diabetes Month, COPD Awareness Month, Stomach Cancer Awareness Month, or National Family Caregivers Month? In addition, there are days and weeks in November dedicated to Antibiotics Safety, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, not to mention the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout! Coming up in December are some great health events such as, Safe Toy and Gift Month, World AIDS Day and National Handwashing Awareness Week!

For those of you looking for a cause to support or an opportunity to give back, here is a list of the November observances.

Share how you think you might get involved in November.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I’ve always wanted to hire a Hollywood makeup artist to make me up as a movie-quality vampire or zombie. Guess my ghoulish side wants a stylish outlet.

Reading the many posts on Halloween in the Ultimate Blog Challenge started me thinking what it is about Halloween that I find so intriguing. Here are some of my thoughts.

Halloween is one day when we can be anyone (or thing) we want to be—an astronaut, a super-hero, a princess, or even the Bride of Frankenstein. If you could choose to be anyone else for the last 2 months of the year, who would you be? Would you be more active, more confident, happier, more interesting? What’s keeping you from being those things now? What steps do you need to take to make it happen?

Halloween is a day we can eat pretty much as many treats as we want without feelings of quilt. What would it be like if you could set aside the diet mentality through the holiday months ahead? What would it be like to have a special treat every now and then and enjoy it completely, guilt free? After all, guilt or no guilt, that special treat has the same number of calories.

Halloween is a time when people are more giving. At what other time of the year can you ring the doorbell of a perfect stranger and be greeted with goodies rather than apprehension and suspicion? What if we could keep the spirit of open generosity alive all year? What if you smiled and were nice to the store clerk and thankful for his or her help? What if you gave treats to others throughout the year just because? Think how both of you would feel.

Halloween is a time for fun. Costuming and chaperoning the kids around the neighborhood; greeting neighbors and strangers alike on our treat trek; attending a party full of frightening, silly, or just strange people; and just generally enjoying the company and creativity of others.

Halloween may have begun from any number of harvest celebrations or traditions of honoring our dead loved ones and ancestors, but it has morphed (or mutated) over time into something very different. Take a moment to decide what Halloween means to you and see if you can keep that meaning alive for longer than a day.

And no, I wont be dressed as a vampire or a zombie this year. Maybe one day. Instead, I likely be watching The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Photo credit – Maharepa – Digital Photography School

Over the years, many studies have shown that optimism may predict psychological as well as physical well-being. Usually considered to be a personality trait, optimism is defined as a generally positive expectation of the future.

Optimism has been shown to be related to higher levels of self-esteem, positive mood, more resilience to stressful or negative events, self-mastery, active coping, prevention of and recovery from illnesses, injuries, various types of surgery, and major life events.

A recent study examined the use of an imagined “best possible self” as a way of creating positive future thinking. A best possible self requires people to envision themselves in an imaginary future in which everything has turned out in the most optimal way. Over the past years, writing about and imagining a BPS has repeatedly been demonstrated to increase people’s mood and well-being. As the study pointed out however, this does not mean thinking positive thoughts but rather a formal imagery practice.

The study ¹, published in the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry investigated whether daily BPS exercises are effective in boosting optimism over a period of two weeks. The 54 participants constructed their BPS for 3 specific life scenarios: personal, relational, and professional. The participants were instructed to practice their imagery exercise for 5 min per day over a period of two weeks.

Results indicated that best possible self imagery led to significantly larger increases in optimism after one session and over a two week period.

So, what does all this mean to you?

It means that just a few minutes each day visualizing your best possible self that incorporates as much detail and as many senses as possible will quickly increase you level of optimism. And who doesn’t want to be and be seen as an optimistic person?

If you would like help in constructing a powerful and optimistic “best possible self” script and mp3 recording for your daily use, contact us at the Lifestyle Wellness Group, LLC.

References of interest

It starts with all the treats at Halloween. It’s quickly followed by the traditional Thanksgiving Pig Out. And them comes all the December, parties, holiday gatherings and other excusing to eat to the point of bursting.

In short, its time once again to start the annual holiday weight-gain. That time of year where we seem to inevitably add a couple of unwanted inches to our waistline and a couple of extra pounds on the scale—potentially up to 5.5 pounds. Research has shown that even for the successful weight losers in the National Weight Control Registry, the holiday season is a difficult time to maintain one’s weight ¹. International Journal of Obesity, 1-7.].

The unfortunate part of holiday weight-gain is that we end the year on a down note and start the new year in negative territory where weight is concerned. Still worse, research shows that the weight gained during this 6-8 week holiday period is typically not reversed during the remainder of the year ². International Journal of Obesity, 1-7.]. Thus, holiday weight gain may contribute significantly to the cumulative weight gain that is seen with aging.

Here are some tips from food research Brain Wansink ³ that may help you avoid many of the extra calories of the holiday season:

• Avoid buffets. Increased variety and choice results in increased consumption. Check out he entire buffet and decide which items you will select before getting in line.
• Put your fork down. After every bite, put your fork down. Enjoy each bite of food and the company of those around you. This will help you to eat more slowly, feel full sooner, and eat less.
• Start last, finish last. Be the last person at the table to start eating and the last to finish eating. As with the previous tip, eating slower is better and stop when you are full.
• Even healthy food can be dangerous. Just because its healthy is not a reason to overeat it. Healthy food has still has calories.
• Avoid eating while standing. If possible, eat only while seated. The eating process becomes less mindless when you sit. Your mind thinks meal not snack.
• Leave the empties. Empty glasses, empty wine bottles, piles of bones are great visual reminders of just how much you’ve already eaten. Research shows that you could eat up to 30 less with this technique.

So put these tips into action and you might just get through the holiday season without the tradition holiday weight gain. Good luck.

Which tips do you plan to use? Share your thoughts.

References of Interest

At the start of each of my coaching sessions, I always ask my clients to rate their present energy level on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being the highest. Why would I ask this question? I feel it’s important for people to become aware of and stay aware of their present energy stores.

You see, I believe that your physical energy level is your most critical & renewable natural resource. Forget about time management. Start thinking in terms of energy management. You can’t use your allotted 24 hours effectively without sufficient energy.

So where is all this leading?

The U.S. health care system scored 64 out of 100 on key measures of performance, according to the third national scorecard report from the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System. The scorecard indicates that the U.S as a whole failed to improve when compared to best performers among other nations. The report also states that health care costs rose far faster than family incomes resulting in a widening between care and the affordability of care.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are a few bright spots for the U.S. The report noted gains in quality of care in some focus areas. For example high blood pressure was under better control in 2007-2008 compared to 1999-2000 – up almost 20%. In addition, quality indicators among hospitals improved substantially for treatment of heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia, and prevention of surgical complications

In short, while the U.S. is able to provide very high quality care in many key disease areas, we still have trouble providing that care in an affordable fashion. We are great at the technology of health care, but not at making it widely available at a reasonable price.

via National health care scorecard: United States scores 64 out of 100.