Creating Habits for a Healthy Lifestyle

Creating Habits for a Healthy Lifestyle

Weber in Motion, Spring 2014

Dave Blomquist, LCSW, Blomquist Hale Employee Assistance

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You can do this!

Whenever individuals embark on something as important as changing their health for the rest of their lives, it’s normal to experience feelings of fear, uncertainty, or discouragement. This is especially true if you have struggled in your past attempts to change. When you find yourself wondering if you can really change this important part of your life, take a few minutes to breathe deeply and get yourself centered and relaxed. Remember that all you really need to do right now is to open your mind to the possibility of changing your enduring health habits. Take this one step at a time. Don’t let uncertainty overcome your hope just because you fear it is too far for you to ever reach the top of the stairs. The next step is always attainable. You can do this! You need not run faster than you are able or do more than you have the capacity to do. Remember, you are going about this process in a new, more powerful way than you have used in the past. Let your hope grow within you. Nourish it. It is a gift, not a trap door through which you will invariably fall.

STEP#1 – Honest Evaluation

The evidence-based change process has three basic steps. The first step is Honest Evaluation. This involves asking yourself a series of questions to evaluate – with brutal honesty – why you want to change, what you want to change, and how you will go about the process. These are questions that you must answer for yourself. The choice is yours and only yours. Clarifying what you really want will increase your power.

Why is an honest evaluation so important?

A large body of research has confirmed the importance of asking these questions prior to attempting change. Most unsuccessful change efforts start with insufficient clarity about what is actually motivating the attempt or of the difficulties that can be reasonably expected.

Most resolutions to modify our behavior are little more than knee jerk reactions that lack sufficient planning or honest self-assessment. Clarifying these points is important to ensure that you have enough motivational fuel to propel you all the way through the change process. It is important to answer the following questions.

Question #1- What holds you back from attempting change in your health habits?

Each of us has our own reasons we are reluctant to change.

Some include:

It takes too much effort
Unhealthy foods taste better
Eating healthy is too expensive
It’s too complicated to eat right
An unwillingness to fight with spouse/kids over food
Persistent emotional eating habits
Addictive eating patterns, and
I don’t like to exercise. It hurts to be active. I don’t have time to exercise
A history of past failures resulting in a lack of confidence

Question #2- What are the long-term consequences of unhealthy habits?

The flow of information about the consequences of certain health-related habits has dramatically increased in recent years. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year looking at the health consequences of various practices around the world.

The evidence that our health choices impact our long-term well-being is now overwhelming. Individuals who don’t give their body what it needs, who consume unhealthy food and are sedentary are on a moving walkway headed towards chronic disease. Take a look as some recent findings.

Question #3- What will your life be like in 10 years if you don’t make changes?

Remember that health and lack of health are processes not events.

Question #4- What would be the most important benefits in your life if you choose to change your health related lifestyle habits?

“A healthy lifestyle can do m ore to improve your health than any other single medical breakthrough in the past ten years.” Steven Aldona The Culprit & The Cure 2005

How do we make the decision to change our health habits?

Research has demonstrated that when faced with the decision to change an enduring health habit, we base our decision on our perception of the benefits and the costs.

Is it really that simple?

No, because human beings make decisions based upon underlying emotions and thinking patterns that obstruct change.

How do we make change hard for ourselves?

There are several common practices that make change unnecessarily hard. Many of them can be labeled Coercive Motivation. Coercive Motivation is when our primary motivation is based upon avoiding something we don’t want. We try to force ourselves into changing because of fear and guilt. The following are common coercive strategies.

The “should” or “ought” to coercive strategy
The “have to” coercive strategy
The coercive avoidance strategy
The coercive substitution strategy
The fear of forever strategy
The “I am not enough” strategy

The problem with Coercive Motivation.

Our natural response to being coerced is to resist. It doesn’t matter if it is coming from your boss, your spouse or yourself. Emotionally you fight against coercion. It becomes a struggle of wills. Coercive change is a battle.

Constructive Motivation – Powerful Solution.

With this approach, you become highly motivated by what you want, rather than by what you want to avoid. Instead of exclusively focusing on the bad consequences of present health habits, focus on what you really do want.

Look at the big picture, not just the present moment.
Look beyond the action to the consequences of the action.

What Motivates You?

I want to be thinner.
I want to improve my health.
I want to be happier.
I want to increase my feelings of self control.
I want to improve the health of those I love.
I want to live longer and be active as I grow older.

What Is Most Important To You?

What do you see yourself doing?
What is your scenario?
Make it compelling and full of emotion.

Your Vision of the Future

Your Brain & Habits

What is a habit?A habit is an enduring pattern of behavior that has been practiced to the point of being automatic. You have habits of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

What does a habit look like? A habit is a pathway in your brain. It is a physical, neurological bridge, formed in response to the chemical process your brain uses to connect one part of your brain to other parts of your brain. Behavior, thinking and emotions that at practiced form stronger physical bridges in the brain.

YOUR BRAIN’S TOP PRIORITY IS HABIT FORMATION- YOUR BRAIN IS EFFICIENT.

Not all Habits are Functional

Many habits are self-defeating patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

Why do we continue habits that are self-defeating?

Why don’t we simply adjust what we are doing and save ourselves from the problems our repetitive behavior, thoughts and feelings cause? The answer is that it is impossible to remove an established habit pathway in your brain. You cannot “unlearn” old habits. You must grow new habit pathways to overshadow the old.

Growing a new habit is easier than stopping an old one.

Starting a new habit pathway begins with your recognition that your enduring health related-habit is not giving you what you really want. This is accomplished through step 1:Honest Evaluation 2:Making a Firm Decision Step 3:21 Days of Practice

BEGINNING THE CHANGE

In order to begin the change process it is vital to determine your readiness to change.

Readiness to Change Ruler

On the following scale, from 1 to 5, what number best reflects how ready you are at the present time to change your health-related lifestyle: CIRCLE ONE

Not ReadyThinking ofUndecided/SomewhatVery Ready

To ChangeChangingUncertainReadyTo Change

1 2 3 4 5

If you listed a number less than 5, please identify what you need to do to move to a 5. This usually involves going back over the questions for Step #1 and exploring what is still holding you back. The task is for you to be accountable to yourself and to decide what you really, really want. Avoiding this responsibility will ultimately subject you to the long-term consequences of your present enduring health habits.

What decision will you make?

We would recommend that you begin by making a global decision, one that firmly clarifies your commitment to your future and your health. One that clarifies your priorities and defines what is important to you. Examples might be:

“After careful consideration, I have firmly decided that I will daily give my body what it needs to be robustly healthy.”

“After careful consideration, I have firmly decided to fully implement Julie’s nutritional ideas.

“After careful consideration, I have firmly decided to modify my daily health habits so that______

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What if I have specific areas where I am trying, but running into trouble?

Don’t worry, this is to be expected and is normal. During the week, observe the areas that are causing you distress or difficulty. We will train you how to address these problem areas using focused practice.

What others are saying:

“Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate and disappear.” Dr. Deepak Chopra

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”Aristotle

HOMEWORK 1: Activity one-Make your motivation powerful

Instructions for using your crystal ball: This exercise works best if you give yourself permission to let your imagination be free, unshackled by voices of self-doubt and disbelief. Let yourself be fully open to what you might really want. For this exercise, you are to assume for a moment that by magic a powerful change has occurred in your life, leaving you with a robust, healthy lifestyle. As a natural way of life, your daily food and exercise choices have caused your body to be healthy, energetic, thin, and disease-resistant. As you gaze into a crystal ball and see what your life is like in this new future, what part of what you see pleases you the most? What do you see yourself doing that would be delightful? What part of what you see is personally moving and deeply important?

In the space below, briefly describe what you really want to be a part of that new future. What do you look like; what are you doing that is important to you? Make your description in the form of a brief vignette that graphically represents something that is compelling to you. Let it symbolize something wonderful that is empowered by your robust, healthy lifestyle. Infuse your description with color and emotion. For example:

I see myself running joyously through the beautiful green park with my little ones in hand, laughing together at the game we are playing. I look and feel great.
I see myself in a size 6 swishy red dress, dancing until the early hours of the morning with the person I love. The look in his eyes tells me I look fabulous. I feel sexy and alive.
I see myself looking fit and trim, hiking in southern Utah with my grandkids, as together we connect with the wonder of the beautiful red rock canyons.
With my spouse, I see myself confidently volunteering to perform extended acts of service. Our energy flows freely, our minds are clear, our bodies are strong as we anticipate making a difference in the lives of others. Life is meaningful and good.
I see myself in my sleek new workout clothes energetically running up the stairs, my mind clear, my confidence secure and my body strong.

A word of caution:Avoid overly general descriptions like, “I see myself losing weight,” or “I see myself getting healthier and living longer.” These images are too bland to create the clear picture of what you want to move towards. Make your vision of what you want to be clear, powerful, colorful, joyous, and genuinely important to you. Remember, clarity equals power. A clear picture of what you want is the best way to make your motivation powerful enough to keep you going long enough to genuinely change your enduring habits. What you write will be your “Vision of the Future” throughout this training.

I see myself ______

Homework 2: More Honest Evaluation

Instructions: Please continue the process of evaluating the feasibility of making changes in your overall health habits by answering the following questions. Conducting a searching, candid, and honest evaluation of your own readiness prior to making a firm commitment to change has been demonstrated to be a critical step to ensure success. Use this assignment to clarify the following issues:

1)What are your emotional eating patterns? In what type of situations have you found it difficult to resist unhealthy behavior in the past?

2)What are the ways you use your present physical condition (weight, health status, strength etc.) to shield you or protect you? (i.e. From intimacy, from rejection, from attempting something new or difficult.) Are there any reasons you might want to keep unhealthy habits active in your life? (This is a hard one for most folks and requires brutal honesty.)

3)When you have attempted change in the past, what are some of the ways you sabotaged or undermined your success?

4)Based on your knowledge today, what would be the two most important things for you to change in order to achieve robust health? Be specific: what would you be doing differently?

5)Never mind how to make it happen right now, what do you want to change about your enduring health habits?

6)What is it about you that would make it possible to change if you decided to? What is there about you that might make it easier?

7)On the following scale, from 1 to 5, what number best reflects how ready you are at the present time to change your enduring health habits: CIRCLE ONE

Not ReadyThinking ofUndecided/SomewhatVery Ready

To ChangeChangingUncertainReadyto Change

1 2 3 4 5

8)If you circled a number other than 5, what would it take for you to move to a 5?

Make a Firm Decision
Instructions: After a careful review of your answers to the homework from session one, please complete the following. It may be useful for you to review the reading materials for the next session prior to completing this homework.

1)On the following scale, from 1 to 5, what number best reflects how ready you are at the present time to make a decision: CIRCLE ONE

Not ReadyThinking ofUndecided/SomewhatVery Ready

To ChangeChangingUncertainReadyto Change

1 2 3 4 5

2)If you circled a number other than 5, what would it take for you to move to a 5?

(Example: I would have to get more honest about why I am reluctant to change this habit. Part of my reluctance has to do with past failures. I would have to decide to go for it in spite of my fears. Since this is probably one of the best opportunities I will have to learn how to improve my future, I’m going to go back over the previous questions more candidly. I hope that will prepare me to be ready to change.)

3)If you are ready to make a decision, indicate what you have decided to do by completing the following sentence. “After carefully considering what I want my future life to be like, I have made a firm decision to

(Example: “daily give my body what it needs to be robustly healthy.” or, “fully implement Julie’s nutritional ideas” or, “eat at least 5 – 7 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables every day.)

4)What steps will you take to implement your firm decision? Be specific, and make a list of the action items necessary to make your decision a daily reality. Wherever possible, decide when you are going to do each task.

(Example: I will stop by the store this evening to pick up some snack vegetables and fruits. Tomorrow morning I will give away my stash of unhealthy goodies from my drawers at work. I will take a large zip lock bag full of fruits and vegetable snacks with me to work tomorrow. Saturday morning I will clear out all the unhealthy snacks from my pantry. Tomorrow morning I will use Denise’s menu system and recipes to plan out healthy meals for next week. I will count the number of servings of fresh fruits and vegetable each day for 21 days to evaluate how I am doing.)

1 Session 2 Weber State 2013