Bread: Friend or Foe?

Carbohydrates are an interesting topic within the weight loss world. Some people swear by eliminating carbs except from veggie sources and some will include a moderate to high amount. Typically, people who are trying to lose weight, or live by a very “clean diet”, will try their best to avoid most carbohydrates.

Bread - the typical staple of Aussie household - is usually the first carbohydrate source to be eliminated. I personally agree with this move but only when it applies to white bread. I live by a nutritional plan which emphasises nutritionally dense products/produce thus eliminating any highly processed foods and gluten. I eat everything as close to its natural state as possible. Foods which are highly processed pretty much have all their nutritional content stripped which sees companies having to replace these nutrients or add completely different nutrients in to the product during the manufacturing process.

Bread and carbohydrates are not bad for you. This is especially true for children. A sandwich is a great way to bundle up lean protein, dairy, veggies, and if you pick the right bread, some excellent carbs.

I have broken down the key nutritional factors of breads below and ranked them accordingly. The highest nutritional bread is ranked number 1 and lowest number 4.

4) One 30 gram thin slice of white bread (average all brands according to Calorie King) has 73 calories, 2.5grms protein, 14.1 grams carbs, 0.8grams fat, 1.2grms sugar and 143mg sodium.

3) One 30grm thin slice of wholemeal bread (average all brands according to Calorie King) has 71 calories, 2.6grm protein, 12.9grms carbs, 0.9grms fat, 0.9 grams sugar and 143mg sodium.

2) One 30grm thin slice of multigrain bread (average all brands according to Calorie King) has 62 calories, 2.5grms protein, 11.2grms carbs, 0.8grms fat, 0.8grms sugar and 133mg sodium.

1) One 36grm slice of Sprouted Grain Rye & Spelt bread (Lifestyle Bakery brand) has 80 calories, 5.3grms protein, 9.7grms carbs, 1.3grms fat, 0.1 grams sugar and 83mg sodium.

As you can see the bread I ranked number one actually has the highest amount of calories and fats per slice, however it also has the highest amount of protein, lowest amount of carbs and sugars. It is also more nutritionally dense being made from sprouted whole grains, getting as close to the grains natural state as possible. Additionally, sprouted bread will typically contain no artificial additives or colours. Just as a comparison I have provided ingredients below:

Lifestyles Bakery Sprouted Grain Rye & Spelt

Certified Organic: Sprouted Organic Spelt & Rye Grains, Sunflower Oil.
Conventional: Filtered Water, Gluten, Caraway Seed, Sea Salt, Yeast, and Vinegar.

Popular White Bread brand

Wheat flour, water, baker’s yeast, vinegar, iodised salt, canola oil, wheat gluten, soy flour, emulsifiers (481, 472e, 471), Vitamins (Thiamin&Folate).

(A side note; additive 481 is sodium steroly-2-lactylate, additive 472e is diacetyltartaric and fatty acid esters of glycerol and additive 471 mono/diglycerides of fatty acids, which are extracted from various sources in a laboratory).

So overall based on nutritional content and health benefits I would personally recommend sprouted grain breads over any others. However if it is not viable for you to buy this type of bread, I would recommend multigrain or wholemeal. Just watch out for the nasties: keep bad fats¹ below 5 grams, sugar below 5 grams and 130 grams of sodium per 100 grams.

Remember as consumers we want the bread to be nutritionally dense, providing lots of clean energy for our bodies. In order to do this we need to pick a product which includes ingredients which are as close to their natural state² as possible.

¹ Bad fats include trans fats and some saturated fats; good fats are any types of unsaturated fats. I have posted some links to articles below which is where I gathered my information from to define good fats and bad fats.

² Local foods define natural state foods as; food labelled "natural" does not contain any artificial ingredients, colouring ingredients, or chemical preservatives, and, in the case of meat and poultry, is minimally processed

References:

American Dietetic Association Journal of the AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION . 2011. The Great Fat Debate: A Closer Look at the Controversy—Questioning the Validity of Age-Old Dietary Guidance.ac.els-cdn.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/S0002822311002896/1-s2.0-S0002822311002896-main.pdf?_tid=e62da3db1d50550fa5370767521a1a0d&acdnat=1339597903_7b880dd6b27bcf43ce18df20e7eb0ee3

FATS AND OILS A H Lichtenstein, Tufts University, Boston MA, USA 2005 Elsevier Ltd. ac.els-cdn.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/B0122266943001149/3-s2.0-B0122266943001149-main.pdf?_tid=146007058cbf58aecce0c770d2579c9f&acdnat=1339597998_3503432278a0d230f8c25dda63bc25b9 Flavours and Flavour Enhancers: natural or artificial, what's the difference? fedup.com.au/factsheets/additive-and-natural-chemical-factsheets/flavours-natural-or-artificial Inge K. June 6, 2012. Are additives bad for us? aww.ninemsn.com.au/dietandhealth/8467806/areadditives-bad-for-us J. Preston Harley et al. Hyperkinesis and Food Additives: Testing the Feingold Hypothesis pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/61/6/818.short

Mary Engig and Sally Fallon. 200. The Skinny on Fats. http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/skinny-on-fatsac.els-cdn.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/S0002822311002896/1-s2.0-S0002822311002896-main.pdf?_tid=e62da3db1d50550fa5370767521a1a0d&acdnat=1339597903_7b880dd6b27bcf43ce18df20e7eb0ee3

Richard J. Ablina and Wen G. Jiangb. 2009. All Fats are Not Bad: A Smart Lesson to be Learned. Departments of Immunobiology and Pathology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Arizona Cancer Centre and the BIO5 Institute, Tucson, Arizona Metastasis & Angiogenesis Research Group, University Department of Surgery, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, United Kingdom http://www.sciencedirect.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/science/article/pii/S0022534709028870

Sherpa C. Jan 19, 2010 Top 15 chemical additives in your food.  http://phys.org/news183110037.html

 

Uffe Ravnskov .More discrepancies around saturated fat and cardiovascular diseases

Nutrition, 28;6 June 2012, Pg713

ac.els-cdn.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/S0899900712000780/1-s2.0-S0899900712000780-main.pdf?_tid=82121394c633197f6d4f5ee16ddf41b7&acdnat=1339597715_b430bd1856b09dcd4e182307203bd2ea

Unhealthy Foods Filled With Dangerous Food Additives Are Everywhere. healthylifetoolkit.com/dangerous-food-additives.html

*Definition: Legally, food labelled "natural" does not contain any artificial ingredients, colouring ingredients, or chemical preservatives, and, in the case of meat and poultry, is minimally processed. http://localfoods.about.com/od/localfoodsglossary/g/natural.htm

Study, study, study...

Hello OH! followers,

Just a quick update to say I haven't forgotten about my blog, I have been busy studying as it is coming up to the end of semester, so it is crunch time. Assignments due, last minute tests to complete and exam study to start preparing for!

I am still working on my next blog in the background, but if you are looking for something to entertain you in the mean time check out my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OH.ObjectiveHealth I have at home workout tips, my favourite foods, health tips and I have just posted photos of a delicious Gluten and Dairy free cheesecake, with the recipe to follow shortly. So go on and check it out!

Until then OH!er's I must divert my eyes from the internet and return once again to my books.

Remember to always be the best version of yourself that you can be!

Munching Crunching Robots

Why is it that when our bodies get hungry, which is a normal human function, we don’t crave nourishing foods that our ancestors would have? Why don’t we simply go to the fridge and choose some vegetables or a piece of fruit to satisfy our rumbling tummies? Why do we find ourselves driving to the local shops, by-passing all the fresh fruit and vegetables to grab a candy bar or salty crisps to satisfy ourselves? It’s simple. We’ve been brainwashed.

We have become munching, crunching robots. It’s sad but true. Slowly, marketing and media has taken over our instinctual hunger and thirst signals and programmed them for maximum profit gain instead of nourishment.

They have successfully altered our own natural instincts to automatically turn to food which should never have been available for us to consume. Think about it. Food corporations have had to spend millions upon millions of dollars over many, many years to convince us to buy their products that we need their products. No one really needs to do the hard sell on fruit and veg because we all know from thousands of years of human consumption that these are the basics with which we need to nourish ourselves. Nobody needs potato crisps or candy bars or pastries to survive, but we all do need dairy, meat, fish, vegetables and fruits to ensure our bodies have adequate levels of vitamins and minerals.

So we ask why, then, do corporations continue to manufacture these food products which we do not fundamentally need to survive?  It’s because we keep on buying them. What we need to do to start making change is to extend our buying power and choose healthy, nourishing food. We can’t do it on our own but, if enough of us make the change, eventually the corporations will have no choice but to listen and begin to produce the food we want to consume.

So do you want to continue to live life as a programmed eating machine, purchasing food with little or no nourishment, or do you want to start to break free, think for yourself, act upon your hunger instinctually and do what is in best interest of your health?

If you’d like to become a free thinking spirit you need to break the cycle. This is the hardest part. To try and defy the programming we have become so accustomed too. You see companies have developed products which are addictive; they add high levels of sugars, salts or bad fats to products which by-pass our appetite satiety controls. These products taste so moreish once we start we can’t seem to stop. A mental trigger goes off and we eat and eat and eat, only stopping when we are physically over full. This doesn’t happen with unprocessed produce because during eating our satiety controls switch on and we stop eating when our body knows it has enough food. I mean you never really hear anyone complaining they binged on a bag of carrots now do you?

If you’ve read David Gellespie’s Big Fat Lies you’ll understand that this is going to be a complete detox. It’s like a drug addict trying to break a drug addiction. We are so hooked on the additives because they hide in everything. We get a hit at breakfast in our cereals, another hit in our morning tea muesli bar, then again in our white bread at lunch, again at our 3pm fix and usually a pretty big hit in our bottle sauce dinners. There are two ways you can detox yourself 1) cold turkey and 2) ween your self off it slowly.

These are some of my tips to stop being a munching crunching robot:

• Always opt for local produce. Support your local industry over the big corporations - go to your local farmers markets or grocery shops. Encourage good quality local produce by simply buying it! My rule is buy local and then if I really need to, resort to imports (interstate first then international).
• Buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Where you can afford it opt for organic options.
• Purchase natural locally produced dairy products without any artificial flavours or additives.
• If you can afford it, eat organically certified meat, poultry and fish. Otherwise try and opt for free range grass feed meat and poultry and locally sourced fish.
• Ensure that products you buy have less than 15 grams of sugar, 10 grams of fat and 400mg of sodium per 100 grams. This rule is for a majority of foods, all though there are exceptions. For example something sweetened with honey or agave nectar might have higher levels of sugar and products containing coconut oils or olive oils might have higher levels of fats. If you’re just buying honey or butter, remember levels will be higher than recommended but just read the labels to ensure they have no other added nasties.
• No numbers listed in the ingredients.
•  If a product claims to be made with a certain ingredient, look at the label to see what percentage of the product actually contains that ingredient. For example Macadamia Cookies with only contain 6% macadamias, this means 94% of the cookies are made up of other ingredients.

The Western Australian government provides a great guide on Draw the Line’s website http://www.drawthelinewa.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=24. See if your local government has similar guidelines (or just use these ones).

So with this in mind, next time you find yourself hungry or doing the weekly shopping ask yourself “will this item of food truly nourish me?”, “Do I need what is in this product to continue to function?” If the answer is no put it back and consider a healthier, nourishing option. If you’d like more information on how to shift towards a healthier way of shopping drop me an email at objectivehealth@hotmail.com I can do one on one or group education sessions. 

For more information, healthy recipes, tips and tricks visit my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/OH.ObjectiveHealth

Remember always be the best you that you can be!

References

D. Gellespie. 2012. Big Fat Lies – How the diet industry is making you sick, fat and poor. Penguin: Australia

J. Cocores and M. Gold. 2009. The Salted Food Addiction Hypothesis may explain overeating and the obesity epidemic. Medical Hypotheses. Vol 73 Issue 6 page 892 – 899. http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877(09)00484-8/abstract

L.Hall. 2009. Study finds addiction risk with processed food. The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/national/study-finds-addiction-risk-with-processed-food-20090112-7f90.html

M.Hayman. 2011. Food Addiction: Could is explain why 70% of America is Fat? http://drhyman.com/blog/conditions/food-addiction-could-it-explain-why-70-percent-of-america-is-fat/

M. Pelchat. 2009. Food Addiction in Humans. The American Institute of Nutrition. Vol 139. No 3 620 – 622. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/139/3/620.short

R. Corwin and P. Grigson. 2009. Symposium Overview – food Addiction: Fact or Fiction? American Institute of Nutrition. Vol 139 No 3 Page 617 – 619. http://jn.nutrition.org/content/139/3/617.short

The Food Farce. N.d. Food Addiction … The Perils of Processed Foods in America’s Diet. http://thefoodfarce.com/2010/06/16/food-addiction-the-perils-of-processed-foods-in-america%E2%80%99s-diet/

Diet is a naughty word.

Diet. I really dislike this word. 

Actually, I really dislike the misinterpreted meaning of it. In recent history the word diet has been completely taken out of context. The definition of diet is “the customary amount and kind of food and drink taken by a person from day to day; more narrowly, a diet planned to meet specific requirements of the individual.”  So really a diet is all about what you eat and drink every day.

 However in this day and age diet is typically about a low fat, low carb, low sugar and low calorie approach to food in order to manipulate ones weight or shape. The word diet strikes fear in to almost anyone’s heart as it generally means eating some exotic food, drinking only some scary slush, working out until you can’t move and being uncomfortably hungry all the time.

So what we’re going to do today is get that word diet, throw it away and just not use it ever again. Instead we are going to talk about your nutrition. Nutrition by definition is “The process of nourishing or being nourished, especially the process by which a living organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and for replacement of tissues.” This is exactly why we eat and drink, for growth and repair. Our bodies need to have enough good fuel to go about its daily physical duties and keep us healthy and active.

Focusing on nutrition, I am going to provide you with my key points about maintaining a healthy balanced approach to eating and drinking based on my own knowledge and experience.

• Don’t eat bad processed food. I don’t mean steak, tinned fish, frozen vegetables or milk products. I mean white bread, pastries, white pasta, pies, cookies, twisties, cakes, lollies, chocolate bars... Foods which are refined to be so far away from their natural state that all their nutrition is stripped away and manufactures have to replace nutrition with nasty additives, like sugars and fats to make them taste good.Instead opt for fresh fruit and veg (organic is even better), meat, fish and poultry. Pick full fat yoghurts or milks, or opt for Almond, oat or rice varieties (unsweetened!).  There is so much information around, a simple Google search will help you find many whole foods and some great recipes to go along with them. I found WH Foods to be a really helpful website, providing a list of the world’s healthiest foods, their uses, nutritional breakdown and a whole host of other information, check it out for yourself http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

• If the producs mentions “diet” “light” “lite” or “% fat free” be wary of it. If they are taking out the fats or natural sugars from a food, what are they adding in to make it taste good? Normally they are adding bad sugars or artificial sweeteners.

• Learn to read your labels. This will help you identify any nasty preservatives or additives and also give you an understanding of the nutritional value of the food you’re eating. The general rule is; if the product has more than 6 or 7 ingredients listed, it has numbers listed or you don’t understand any of the words on the label, put it back. If it has more than 15 grams of sugar per 100 grams put it back (there are exceptions where a product is made of fruit or is a sugar e.g. honey and agave syrup). Look at the total carbohydrates on a package. If sugar makes up more than half of those grams, put it back.

• Think about how we ate in the “olden days”. You might ask why, when science and food production has seen so many advancements, must we return to the “olden days”? Well whilst our brain might know we’re living in a modern world our body certainly does not. In the 1950s only 10% of people were obese. Now 1 in 5 Australians are obese. So let’s get back to our roots - eating good unprocessed fresh produce.

• Move a bit more. Looking back at the good ol’ 50’s again to compare. We used to move a lot more then, cars were more expensive, people lived further away from cities, we didn’t have TVs or the internet and we didn’t have the vast amount of gyms or fitness centres. Back then we just incidentally moved more, so it’s not about sweating it out for hours and hours in the gym. It’s about having enough time in the morning to walk to the bus stop, taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking the dog in the evening, mowing the lawn instead of paying someone to do it. An extra hour a day can do all the difference,

• Stay away from sugary (and caffeinated) drinks. Yes this includes juice. Unless it’s a certified organic no added sugar juice, stay away from it. Drink plenty of water and herbal teas throughout the day. If you like the fizz, buy soda water and add a twist of fresh lime or a squeeze of mango . Make your own natural drinks in a jug each day; chop up fresh kiwi fruit, some mint and lemon for a refreshing drink. Remember even a drink counts towards your daily calorie limit, so be wary!

• Don’t be afraid of good carbs. They help with satiety and are a great source of dietary fibre and will keep you feeling fuller for longer. A good measure is around ½ - 1 cup for a nice serve of good carbs. Good carbs are sweet potatoes, carrot, pumpkin, beans and lentils, brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, oats and wholegrain pasta. If you’re looking for what constitutes as good carbs this website gives you a great guide http://www.goodcarbs.org/#what_are_good_carbs  I use it when I am looking for different things to be my carb portion of my meals.

• Everything in moderation. Everything. It’s about having a balance. Yes you can enjoy a glass of wine on the weekend and continue to have a healthy balanced nutrition. No, you can’t finish off the whole bottle. Yes, you can have a treat day where you indulge in a dinner out and a desert - no you can’t carry it on into the next few days or weeks. Have balance.

• Sorry to break it to you but there aren't any diet or weight loss secrets out there. No supplement, vitamin, powder or magical herb is going to make you lose weight. It’s about a whole life style change, a shift away from unhealthy habits to a good balanced diet. Long term sustainable weight loss will take a long time, .5 – 1kg a week. So if you have 30kg to loose it’ll take you almost 8 months. There is no substitute for moving more, eating better and having good portion control. If you want to be a healthier person then you have to commit to the journey no one can sell you that.

I know that might be an overwhelming amount of information but just break it down in to small parts and make one change at a time. Print it out, cut it up, staple them together and tick them off as you achieve them.  Do whatever it is you need to do to become the healthiest version of you.

If you’d like more detail or advice on any of the above mentioned points I provide group or one on one session such as Learning Label Lingo, Fast Fit Fresh Food or Power Workouts (15min interval workouts). Touch base with me via my OH! facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OH.ObjectiveHealth if you’d like more information.

References

Donner E. 2011. The whole foods weight loss eating plan. http://www.livestrong.com/article/294064-the-whole-foods-weight-loss-eating-plan/

Eilat-Adar, U. Goldbourt, Nutritional recommendations for preventing coronary heart disease in women: Evidence concerning whole foods and supplements, Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939475310000207

Gellespie D.2012. Big Fat Lies – Why the diet industry is making you sick, fat and poor. Penguin Australia.

Johnson J and Szabo M. 2011. Reflexivity and the Whole Foods Market consumer: the lived experience of shopping for change. Agriculture and Human Values. http://www.springerlink.com/content/47578188t4l9026v/

Obesity Facts - WHO. 2012. http://www.who.int/topics/obesity/en/

Prevalence of Obesity – WHO. 2011. https://apps.who.int/infobase/?id=1

Taubes G. 2007. Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the conventional wisdom on diet, weight control and disease.

Texas Tech University: Health Sciences Centre School of Medicine. The Whole Foods Diet. http://www.ttuhsc.edu/som/fammed/wholefoods.aspx

The Worlds Healthiest Foods – WHO. 2012. http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

Weiss J. N.d. Why we eat … and why we keep eating. http://www.insulitelabs.com/articles/Why-We-Eat.html

Acceptance & Reality.

Recently a few people have shown me pictures of physiques they’d like me to help them achieve. Typically the pictures I get are of fitness figure models, body builders or celebrities. I can indeed help them to look similar to this, but it will involve a lot of commitment and dedication, not to mention sweat and tears.

One thing I am is honest and real. I don’t mess around. I paint a realistic picture, I like to encourage personal acceptance, and really think about what is an attainable goal for a person’s lifestyle. Below I am going to outline some health and diet information about two typical “make me look like” bodies.

Fitness Figure Model/Body Builder:
They eat clean, meaning :only whole organic foods, low carbs, plain meals such as boiled chicken and broccoli, and take many supplements such as L-Glutamine and Protein Powders. They have specifically tailored training and diet programs, perform rigorous training routines - lifting heavy weights and executing high intensity training regimes. Finally, before a photo shoot, they get fake tans, dehydrate themselves and have all their hair and makeup done.

Actors/Models:
Eat a low calorie diet which is very rigid and typically low carb. They train for a couple of hours a day, have specifically tailored eating programs and access to their own trainers, chefs and nutritionists 24/7. They also take their “team” on holidays with them. Of course, they have professional hair and makeup done  - but most importantly, don’t forget, their favourite product that gives them the best results: Adobe Photoshop.

So if you’d like to look like either of the above mentioned bodies, I can certainly help you achieve this. However, realistically, do you have the time, money and dedication to achieve this goal?

What I recommend is a better, realistic and attainable goal. This goal is to be the healthiest version of yourself you can possibly be. Throw out the scales, stop looking at the magazines, quit watching infomercials and make your own goals. If you are 5’4, workout regularly, eat a healthy balanced diet, continue to work and socialise, yet stay the same healthy weight and size then you have to accept that is the healthiest version of yourself you can be, and you should be so very proud of that!  

Remember everybody is unique; we are not all exactly the same. Our weight and shape are influenced by many different factors including, gender, age, ethnicity, genes, medical conditions medications, hormone function, mental function… The list goes on. You are you. Simply strive to be the best possible you that YOU can be.

I am actually going through a bit of acceptance and reality myself after a health scare. It has made me think about what my body is really capable of going through and how much I am able to balance without being a detriment to myself. I am now in a period of forced rest, which for me the swimmer, boxer, runner, and weight lifter is quite uncomfortable with (and between you and me finds it a bit scary). However I have had to accept that this is what is happening for me right now, so I need to make the best of the situation. I have always felt too busy to get the little things in life done, but now I actually have that time. I am also going to use this time for relaxation, strengthening and stretching. Being able to do yoga, Pilates and gentle walking gives me great reflection time to recoup and remember what is really important in life.

I have learnt a big lesson from this experience. Exercise and health is important, but balance and living your life is equally important. Unless you are an athlete training for a specific purpose, twice day training and a strict diet that impedes on quality time with family, friends or yourself is not required. When it starts to become an obsession or a chore, take a step back and really think about what it is you are doing and why. We are not all Wonder Women or Supermen. We are human. That means being healthy involves enjoying life.

References

Ellyn S. 2010. What foods celebrities eat to loose weight. Live Strong.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/218186-what-foods-celebs-eat-to-lose-weight/

Gaston T. N.d. Abs of the Month: Tiffany Gaston. Sixpackabs.com. http://sixpacknow.com/march_tiffany.html

George D. 2010. Factors Affecting Weight Loss. Live Strong.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/109026-factors-affecting-weight-loss/

Paraksh J. 2011. 8 factors that influence the Growth and Development of an Organism. Preserve Articles.http://www.preservearticles.com/201105206837/factors-influencing-growth-and-development.html

Pat’s Personal Training. 2008. How Figure Competitors and Figure Models Eat. http://patspersonaltraining.blogspot.com.au/2008/11/how-figure-competitors-and-fitness.html

Subhranita. N.d. What do you mean by Energy Metabolism? Preserve Articles. http://www.preservearticles.com/201105317334/what-do-you-mean-by-energy-metabolism.html

Weight-loss basics. The Mayo Clinic. 2011. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/weight-loss/MY00432

A contract with yourself.

Embarking on a life style change is a big commitment. You need to rewire your thinking. Change your behaviours and step out of your comfort zone. To ditch an unhealthy lifestyle and move towards a healthy one is going to take time and commitment; it's a baby steps kind of process. Gyms, fitness magazines, diet pills, weight loss centres, and so on try to sell you the quick fix, the "instant skinny", which is why more often than not those who start on these ventures fail.

So instead of looking for the quick fix again this time, give it to yourself to engage in real, sustainable changes. Start by grabbing a pen and paper and creating a psychological contract with your self - a commitment to work towards a brand new lifestyle. Now just a note: I am not a psychologist in any way shape or form. I have been to psychologists, have psychologist friends, studied some psychology at uni, however I have done a lot of researched in this area and have personal experience in the following approach.

Background Work.

Like all contracts we need to look at the background. How did we arrive at this point and time? Start thinking about when you allowed yourself to start slipping in to unhealthy habits. Was it when you moved out of home, started uni, got a full time job? Once you've roughly identified these, move towards exploring the psychological reasons behind the changes. Was it because you felt peer pressure to go out and drink every weekend? Was it because you felt comfortable in your marriage and a cheat meal became a cheat week (every week)? Was it because you felt overwhelmed by life and you turned to food for comfort? There might be a chain of events that lead you to this point in time. Write them all down.

Now you have a bit of an understanding of the mental challenges that you'll face along this journey, you'll be better equipped to identify them and work through them.

The Finer Details.

Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty - the ins and outs of this contract. What is it you'd really like to achieve? Not just fitting in to that satin dress for Mary's 30th birthday party. I mean things like having enough energy to play with my kids after work; Being fit and strong enough to perform your job well. Simply living well and be able to extend life by as much as possible. List several achievements you'd like to realise.

Once you’ve listed these achievements you need to decide how you’re going to fulfil them. Perhaps it’ll be setting aside time for yourself to engage in physical activity most days of the week; Maybe it’ll be clearing out the house of any ‘junk foods’; perhaps it’ll be setting aside time on Sundays for a health food preparation session. Don’t be afraid to engage some professional to help you along your journey. Write down everything you think you will personally need to do in order to achieve your end goal.

Finalising the Contract.

So now you’ve identified the psychological and physical aspects of how you are going to achieve real sustainable lift style change. Read over the contract once more, you should never sign something you don’t understand! When you’re content you have everything down … sign away. Feel the empowerment!

Now this contract is unique in that it doesn’t expire, it doesn’t have negative implications for breaches and it doesn’t force you to complete everything on this list immediately. It is designed to make you think about all the small steps you’re going to need to make to reach your ultimate goal. If you slip up along the way reflect back to the research you did earlier and ask yourself “why am I really slipping up here? What is going on in my life right now that is causing me to lose motivation?” When you’ve addressed it you can start to move towards getting back on track. 

This contract is an agreement with yourself: that you will begin to change your life habits from this moment on wards to create a healthier you. It’s not society’s unrealistic pressures, it’s not about looking like someone in a magazine - it’s about a realistic, achievable commitment to yourself!

So what are you waiting for? Grab a pen and paper and start making the move towards a better you!

References:

 Edwin A. Locke and Gary P. Latham. 2006. New Directions in Goal-Setting, Theory. Current Directions in Psychological Science . Vol. 15; pg no. 5265-268

Edwin A. Locke. 1996. Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and Preventive Psychology Vol 5. Issue 2; Pages 117–124

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Welcome to OH! - Objective Health Blog

Welcome one and all to my new adventure! I am a health/fitness nut, I have been training in some form pretty much most of my life. I have been over weight, under weight and in between, but have now come to a happy healthy point balancing training, eating healthy, working and enjoying life.

Just recently some of my family and friends have started to turn to me for advice on how to lead healthier lives. I provided them with a holistic health plan to follow and so far I have had great success, 20kg lost and a lot of life gained! So I thought I would start sharing my advice with everyone so they can also reap the benefits. Now I don't pretend to be a guru on anything, I do a lot of research and trial lots of things myself, they are not going to work for everyone and I encourage you to share your thoughts, experience and research on what ever it is I write about.

Objective Health is about taking an objective approach to all health information that you stumble upon, I believe this for several reasons;

1 - There are A LOT of companies out there who just want to sell their stuff, they sponsor a lot of teams, magazines, TV Show etc. As such any media source sponsored by these companies will be extremely biased in the information they provide to the public. Not to say all health companies are bad, but just remember they are in it to make a buck or two.

2 - Everyone is unique! What works for one person won't always work for another. We are all from different cultures, are all different genders, are different heights, weights, sizes, have intolerances, food preferences and so on.

3 - New scientific research comes out all the time, something we might have thought was right to do years ago is no longer the best approach, ie; extended aerobic training vs short interval based training.  Scientists also have different views on what works and what doesn't, for example low carb diets v moderate carb diets, clean eating v fats and so on.

OH! will hopefully provide you with different ideas and concepts, provoke thoughts and experiments to ultimately create your own holistic health plan that works for you!

Well that's enough of an intro from me, until next time!