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A
non-diet approach to a NEW YOU
By Mary Ann Reese
Myth: Weight is completely
controllable
Reality: Genetics
affect body shape and size. And we can't always control our environment.
Katie Nelson
Week 1. "Ours is a non-diet approach to a new you," announces Katie Nelson, a recent graduate of the UI School of Family and Consumer Sciences and our workshop leader.
"Our goal is to help you learn new strategies for thinking about food and physical activity. I want you to enjoy your food. I also hope you'll learn to enjoy the feel of your body moving-whatever exercise you choose."
We'll focus on three things: (1) Pleasurable and healthful eating, (2) physically active living, and (3) respect for different body sizes.
It's our first Steps to a New You class-16 of us, mostly women from throughout the Palouse, of all sizes and shapes, will meet for seven Thursday evenings on the UI Moscow campus. In six other Idaho communities similar programs are underway, directed by Martha Raidl, Boise, UI Extension nutrition education specialist.
Katie hands each of us ONE foil-wrapped chocolate candy kiss. "Hold it," she instructs. "Look at it. Sniff it. Open it, s-l-o-w-l-y. Sniff again. Look at it some more. Go ahead. Put it in your mouth. Don't bite. Let it melt.
"Did it satisfy you?"
I tend to bolt my food. Yes, it is more satisfying. Mindfulness. Katie doesn't use that word. Still, that's the point. Be present as I eat. Slow down. Savor.
Tools. A pedometer, a
journal, a neon-pink stretchy band for resistance exercises anywhere.
These are our tools.
Journaling. Soft music
plays. We're asked to spend five minutes writing in our journal. What
do we feel about what we are learning? What stops us from following
healthier practices? We are to write regularly, documenting goals, successes,
failures.
Researchers find journaling strengthens immune cells, helps reduce the impact of life's stressors, and lets us access our whole brain, to help better understand our world.
Pedometer. My pedometer,
available at sporting goods stores for about $10, is small. A cover
keeps it from accidentally resetting. Clipped on my pants belt, just
over my right leg, it tracks each step.
The first week I keep checking the number of steps along my normal route. It's 400 steps from the parking lot to my office. The same from my office to the UI Commons, 133 steps to the dean's office. I take the stairs instead of the elevator to the third floor-91 more steps.
"One of the great things about life is giving attention to eating"
-Pavarotti
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Week 2. "I learned that walking with my husband gives us more time together," says a classmate during sharing time.
My pedometer records an average 3,500 steps a day. The average is 2,000 steps per mile. We set a group walking goal for the seven weeks. Combined, we'll walk from Mexico to Canada, 1,000 miles or about 2 million steps.
"What triggers your hunger?" Katie asks. "Are you a distracted eater, watching TV, or eating in the car? An unconscious eater, hardly aware of what you are doing? An emotional eater, eating because you are depressed, excited, anxious?" All can trigger overeating.
"Research documents that infants and toddlers eat when they're hungry and stop when they're full," says Katie. "Somewhere in childhood we lose touch with those feelings, and eat for other reasons.
"How does your body tell YOU you're hungry?" We get a hunger/satiety scale of 1 to 10 and a challenge to think before we eat. How hungry are we?
It's best to eat when you're at about 3 on the scale-Feel hungry; the urge to eat is strong. Stop by 6-Some food in your belly, could eat more. Or 7-Stop. You may not feel hungry again for 3 to 4 hours.
Avoid 0-Starving, and 10-Uncomfortably full.
Find ways to respond when full: No thanks, I'm really satisfied. Split a meal, and order an extra salad when eating out with a friend. Take smaller portions. Drink water before you eat. Address your concerns, rather than eating to avoid them. Journal.
"If you go from unfit to moderately fit, you cut your risk of premature
death in half."
-Steven Blair, M.D., Cooper Inbstitute
Week 4. Our class made it to the California-Oregon border.
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Katie introduces SMART goals. Make them Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound. We set step goals weekly. Up about 10 percent a week is recommended.
Our class discusses barriers to more physical activity, and ways to overcome them. Take a dog for a walk. Play tennis or golf or sports you love-swim. Dance. Walk in the mall during snow season, or get ice clamp-ons. Recapture the zest of play. Have fun!
Together we tot up benefits of more physical activity: lung capacity, better mood, more energy, increased sex life, general sense of well-being, better immunity and health, healthy bones, muscles, joints, better blood pressure, better balance.
"Embrace what you are now. Soon you will not be." -Larry Kirkwood
Week 6. We are 84 percent of the way to Canada. Squares, triangles, ovals, we come in all shapes. Accepting and applauding different body types is tonight's topic. Katie introduces artist Larry Kirkwood (www.kirkwoodstudios.com/), who makes body casts of all body sizes and shapes, including women who have had mastectomies, to capture their variety, their beauty.
"The notion that body size, skin color, age, etc. alone is a reliable measure of a person's physical, emotional, and moral well-being is false," says Kirkwood. People continually told one woman how lucky she was to have such a "good body." She asked to be a part of the artist's project to show how "judging her appearance totally misses reality. She was diagnosed with brain cancer. Recently it had spread up her spine, ribs, and lungs."
We watch a video of a man who appears maybe 100 pounds overweight, yet he completes triathlons and is in excellent health.
"It occurred to me today I'm feeling whole, and not eating so much."-A
classmate
Week 7. UI Extension's Martha Raidl joins our class to observe and encourage. The holistic approach we're using came from lessons learned during the 4-year, $3.4 million Wellness in the Rockies project in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, that tried innovative ways to address obesity.
3 Months Later. I still
wear my pedometer and check it nightly. I've made it to 10,000 steps
on a few weekend days. Sometimes I journal. Sometimes I savor each bite.
Is there a new me? No. But I now avoid fad diets. Life changes take
time. I'm on my way.
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