InnerSelf.com

Continued from Part I

What Next?

Now go to the next clean page in your journal and make a heading out of the habit you are currently working on. Record your feelings about making this change. What is easy about making this change? What is challenging? Is it easier than you thought or is it a really hard habit to break? Closely tracking each change you're working on is a great way to work through the behavior you're trying to modify. Yes, this is basically behavior modification 101, but it works. You'll need plenty of room to write, so be sure to create a new page for each change you're working toward. Here is an example:

"LATE-NIGHT ICE CREAM"

June 25: Instead of ice cream I only had a yogurt. I still felt guilty, but I guess it's better than ice cream.

June 27: Decided to replace an old habit with a new one, so I bought a new book. Rather than eat ice cream, I've started reading. It's a little hard not to think about ice cream, but I feel better already not eating it late at night.

June 28: Went to a birthday party and had ice cream late, but I didn't have any cake, so I felt pretty good about that. I only had a small serving of the ice cream, and I didn't feel guilty -- yay.

Again, let me remind you that you're not keeping this record to see what little discipline you have; rather, it's an opportunity to monitor your progress and to see where your greatest challenges lie. You don't have to write something in it every day, but if it's an everyday habit you're trying to break, it might be a good idea. Also, at the top right-hand corner of each page, write the word diet. Next to it, write your brief, revised, healthy definition so that you can begin to hold onto your new ideas about what it means to eat well. Now, instead of going on a diet, you are finding new ways to alter or improve your diet. Now you are seeking healthful eating instead of riding the wave of trendy diets.

A Reality Check

Whenever a client tells me she has started a diet, the first question I ask is, "Is it realistic for you and is it something you can do for the rest of your life?" Generally, the response is, "I never thought of it that way. I just wanted to lose the weight." Remember: It is much better to aim for a healthy weight through reasonable nutrition than it is to starve yourself for six months. If you use the starvation approach, you know and I know you'll be back to where you started within a year. Learning to eat well consistently is a step toward taking control of your health, a preventative measure, a piece of the healthy-living puzzle. I don't have trouble blaming much of the poor eating habits of this country on the diet industry. We have come to accept that if we can't stick to a thousand-calorie-a-day diet, we have no self-discipline. But underfeeding ourselves has nothing to do with self-discipline and everything to do with false information -- that is equating skinny with healthy. They're not the same thing!

Trial & Error

For fifteen years I went from one diet to the next. Did I learn about eating well? No, but I certainly learned the precise caloric value in a chocolate bar and in potato chips! You can eat healthfully without counting calories, fat, or anything else. Eating well is about making choices that work best for your body. It doesn't take a genius to know that a fresh fruit salad is better for you than a candy bar. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that a double cheeseburger is really more food than you need. Healthful eating means eating foods that make you feel good and that fit your lifestyle. Yes, sometimes fast food will fit into the equation, but do we really need a "biggie" to fuel our bodies adequately?

So many of us have dieted for years and are trying to figure out why none of the diets have worked. For too long we have practiced deprivation or excess and nothing in between. Reality Fitness is all about the in-between. Learning to eat well will take practice, research, and trial and error, and that's fine. We all overindulge at times, but it's not the end of the world. The problem is when overindulgence becomes the norm. Sure, there will be times when you'll splurge on a sund' or a wonderful piece of chocolate. That's okay! If you keep away from diets, no foods are off limits. 

What's important is that you learn what foods fuel you well for your day-to-day performance and what foods drag you down. You are now in a proactive position to make sound choices about your nutrition. Begin to experiment with new and exciting foods, plan meals, be creative. If you have children or a spouse, include them in making changes in your nutrition. We need to take the responsibility by selecting foods that strengthen and energize us and our loved ones.

Of course, most of us have spent our entire lives developing our nutritional habits, so don't expect to change them overnight. Also keep in mind that everyone's diet (and I mean it in the healthy sense of the word) is different. Commercial diets are usually one size fits all. How successful will anyone be on a generic program? If one client is a working mom and another is a stay-at-home mom, my nutrition suggestions are going to be much different because of the difference in daily schedules. And certainly holidays, seasonal changes, and stressful events all affect how we eat. That's one reason why you need to spend a good amount of time tracking nutrition and experimenting before you find just what works for you. Don't worry if you do overeat at Thanksgiving. It's not an everyday occurrence, and, also, if you don't deprive yourself, you'll be less inclined to overeat generally. Holidays are the time for celebration, so celebrate! It's when that celebration goes on for 365 days a year that you need to reevaluate.

It all goes back to the all-or-nothing syndrome. Eating well isn't about depriving yourself. It's about ridding yourself of the diet mentality and instead acquiring good information about fueling your body properly. When I realized that no diet in the world was going to make me a different person, I became far more interested in finding ways to make the most of who I am and what I have the potential to be. But it took time and introspection. When we begin to make changes, we rarely think about what obstacles lie ahead, and when we encounter them unprepared, we sometimes revert to our old habits. So do yourself a favor, and spend a full year making sure that the changes you've decided to make are realistic for you and your lifestyle. It's exciting to rid yourself of the diet mentality and finally understand that healthy eating no longer means not eating.

This article is excerpted from the book:

Reality Fitness: Inspiration for your health and well-being, ©2000,
by Nicki Anderson.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher, New World Library/HJ Kramer, Novato, CA 94949. www.newworldlibrary.com

For more info or to order this book.

About The Author

NICKI ANDERSON is a working mother of four children, president and owner of Reality Fitness, Inc., a full-service personal training studio in Naperville, Illinois. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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