Forty-five percent of Americans will kick off their 2017 New Year’s resolutions January 1st. The top three New Year’s resolutions year after year are to lose weight, get healthier and be more organized. Without a plan and strategy to achieve your resolution, this is merely a statement and outcome goal that doesn’t lend itself to behavior change.
 
Creating new healthy habits take time, commitment, planning and action. To help you overcome obstacles, achieve and sustain your resolution, follow these 5 tips for New Year’s resolution success.  

1. Be kind to yourself.  Your self-talk matters. The past is unchangeable and you have each present moment to make a healthy choice that leads to a healthier future. Stick to your plan and allow for flexibility. Focus on what is working in your life and keep it positive.
2. Create a clear vision.  What do you want to feel and look like in one year? Picture yourself as you already are what that is, and write it down as if it were already happening. No more quick fixes! This time we are playing for keeps.
3. Create three-month goals.  Break down that vision into an achievable three-month marker.  Three months is short enough that you stay motivated and far enough out that you can make, see and feel progress toward your vision.
4. Set several achievable S.M.A.R.T. goals. The acronym is S-Specific, M-Measurable, A-Achievable, R-Relevant and T-Time-bound. Make goals each week that have the right amount of challenge. If you make them so easy that you have no sense of accomplishment, then you may not be motivated to continue. If you make them too challenging, then you never achieve them and that doesn’t work either. Progress will keep you engaged.
5. Allow for missteps when they come. And they will come. One setback does not blow your entire resolution. Life is not an all or nothing approach and is not about perfection. The plan and strategy to overcome missteps is to simply get back on track, focus on your motivators and what you value most, and be kind to yourself.

 
Start with what you are willing to do and take the path of least resistance. You got this! Inch by inch it’s a cinch—pun intended! Happy New Year!
 
©Kathryn Scoblick
www.healthinspires.com

Health Inspires.

Have you ever had that day at work or in any part of your life when somebody takes a cheap shot at you in e-mail or to your face?
How you decide to process this and how you respond makes all the difference in the world. Keep your positive attitude and keep creating, progressing and sharing your smile.
Here are the Top 10 Ways to stay at your best, give your best and not let others’ moments of ugliness affect you. ​

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1. In your deepest despair or frustration … Ask yourself what is in your control right now to change your feelings to hope. 
2. Your thoughts ... Allow only those thoughts to process that propel you into positive action. You can control only what is controllable. It starts with your thoughts. 
3. What is controllable? … Your thoughts, actions and reactions. 
4. When you are disappointed by people … Decide to believe they did exactly what they know how to do in this very moment of their life. Your choice is how you respond or not, and how long you dwell on those perceived or real misbehaviors.
5. When people don’t respond to your e-mails or calls or they respond in a way that isn't aligned with your expectation … You cannot control other people’s action. Stop and take a deep breath. You do not have to react to their actions. If it is something that is more important to you than it is to them, the it is up to you to be resourceful. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. 
6. Don’t blame others … Sometimes things don’t work out the way you wanted them to. However, there is always something YOU can do to make YOU better, to take the next step, to make it happen for YOU.
7. Love and kindness and speak your truth in love and kindness … Nothing but this, every minute, every day and all of the time. The Golden Rule is the Golden Rule for a reason. Treat others as you would like to be treated. 
8. When you want something bad enough … Be resourceful and look at what YOU can do to propel YOU into action. 
9. When you need to blow off steam … Say nothing until you are calm. Go for a walk and take some deep breaths and allow only the right thoughts to process. Magic.
10. The right thing to do is ALWAYS the right thing to do … Put ego-centric thinking aside and then ask the question at hand. The tricky part here is recognizing when you are thinking fro your ego. Being in your own head too long can make you believe anything! 

 
Health Inspires.

As a Certified Health and Wellness Coach, I want to see you succeed in the mastery of your wellbeing.   That means health and wellness for you in all things mind, body and spirit.  The fundamentals of wellbeing are the same for all of us.  What we do to get there, is different for each of us.   My hope for you is that you find some new healthy habits that you are willing to stick with for the long term.   Although you might start looking pretty good…the real prize is your health and wellness.
 

How to Achieve your Goals in 7 Steps: 

1. Create a vision for yourself and make it big.  It can be bigger than weight loss.  It can be as dreamy and as farfetched as you like.  It is yours to make happen.  Write your vision in the present tense as if it is already happening.  For example, you might write, “I am 20 pounds lighter and I feel good and look good in my new clothes.  I have more confidence and abundant energy, and I am peaceful and happy.  When I feel that I am getting stressed, I take a moment to pause, and clear my head, take a deep breath and tackle the situation at hand.
2. Create your three month goals. What do you want to be doing in three months consistently that moves you toward your vision?  Those are your three month goals.  Three months is long enough to create new habits and short enough to stay motivated to reach your goals, and gain momentum and excitement around your actions.
3. Set weekly goals. Your weekly goals are to help you reach your three month goals toward your vision.  Choose actions you are willing to do and keep your commitment to yourself.  Keeping your commitment to yourself makes you stronger.
4. Ask yourself what behaviors you will practice daily to reach the outcomes you want for yourself.  The reason why so many New Year’s Resolutions go by the wayside is because we set “outcome goals” without the behaviors needed to reach them.  For example, “I will lose 10 pounds”, is an outcome goal.
5. You will encounter obstacles- we all do- this is life. To overcome obstacles and get back on track fast, you will want to know what your obstacles are likely to be, and what strengths you will use to overcome those.  For example, let’s say you have a new born baby who demands much of your time.  Your weekly goal is to walk twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursdays with your neighbor at 7 pm.  Your spouse said he/she would watch baby while you go for your walk with your friend.  What could happen? – Your friend could bale on you or your spouse cannot get home from work on time to watch baby.  What will you do?   Here is your game - you will play the “If this happens, then this is what I will do” …If this, then what?   Have a plan.  The plan might be to walk on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon instead, or wake up early to go for a walk the following morning.   The purpose of this game is for you to get back on track fast.  Life happens.  Your strengths may be resilience, or determination, or conviction.  Use those to get you through obstacles.  When you fall off track, all you need to do is decide in the present moment to get back on, and make your next choice a good one.  It is not an all or nothing approach.  
6. Write your goals (both weekly and three-month goals) in the S.M.A.R.T. format (specific, measurable, action oriented, realistic and time bound).  Weekly Goal Example:  I will drink water from my green cup at lunch each day this week.
7. Finally- know your motivators and why your vision is important to you.  Unless you attach deep meaning for your changes, they might not stick.  Your motivators will change overtime.  Once you reach your goals, your motivators change because you are now in a different place.  Recognize that to keep your healthy practice inspired, you need to keep creating, learning and growing.  Here is the secret:  Ask yourself why losing weight is important to you.  You may say—“Because I want to feel good”.  Then ask yourself 3-5 more times - Why do I want to feel good? You may answer, “Because I want to have more fun in life”.  Why do I want to have more fun in life? – “Because I do not want any regrets”.  Why do I not want any regrets in life? “Because I want peace and happiness and total fulfillment”.  ©Kathryn Scoblick

 
© Health Inspires.

I gave a nutrition and fitness talk last week and the question came up about the cost of eating healthy.  I love to answer that question.  The real question might be to ask, “What is the cost of not eating healthy?”   I will let you think about that one to create meaning around that for yourself.  For these purposes, I am going to focus on what I shared with this audience. That is to say that this statement in general,  is a myth.  


I shared the example of the cost of green beans as measured by cost per serving. To illustrate this point for you, I pulled the chart from a USDA resource.  Green beans are a healthy and whole food.  Let me show you how they measure.



Green beans—Average retail price per pound and per cup equivalent, 2013
                       
Form      Ave. retail price   Size of a cup equivalent   Ave. price/cup equiv.
Fresh      $2.14 per lb.        0.276 lbs.                           $0.70
Frozen    $1.67 per lb.        0.298 lbs.                           $0.55

In general, this cost is not more than processed foods, and green beans offer so much more nutritionally than what you might find in a packaged bar.  Let’s say you want to have green beans, grilled chicken and farro for dinner tonight.  Maybe even a small spinach salad to go with that.  That may sound like a lot of food, but per serving, it makes a really healthy and cost efficient meal.  Also, you can prepare your own dressings and marinades with olive oil and lemon, etc…

I estimate this meal to cost no more than $5.00-$6.00 per serving for a family of 4. 

• Package of chicken breasts ($10)
• Giant tub of organic spinach ($5)
• Package of farro ($4) 
• Fresh green beans ($3)

…and then you have leftover of spinach and farro leftover and possibly some leftover chicken that you can make tortilla soup with.  The cost to prepare tortilla soup is about as much as two cans of chicken broth, a large can of whole tomatoes, celery, onion, avocado, some cheese if you have it, and some crumbled chips if you have them…so what do you think?….about $2 or $2.50 per serving?    That is two meals for a family of four at $7 per person or $3.50 per person each meal.

The real cost is your time.  You have to shop, plan and prepare foods, cook and clean up. The key to success for time, money and health savings is planning and prepping.

Luckily, grocery stores prep many fresh foods for us and for that we pay premium.   If you find yourself throwing out fresh veggies that spent too much time in your fridge wilting, then it might be worth the extra penny to purchase the already prepped veggies.  Another method, and the one that I adhere to is to “always be prepping”.  When I come home from grocery shopping, I put most groceries away and immediately start cutting up or peeling fruit and veggies to have those ready and available for meals.  I also start preparing my “go to” foods then.

A few thoughts on planning ad preparing cost efficient healthy meals for the busy person that you are:

1. Take time to plan your meals for the week and shop for the ingredients you need
2. Prep ahead of time.  Cut up veggies, onions, and have fruit available, cleaned and some cut   and ready to eat.  This also means open the chicken package, clean and cut it how you want it for your meal plan.  You can freeze it or make your marinade now and start that process.  This is key.   If you come home from a busy day and you have to clean and cut and cook the chicken- then you might not.  If you have already started the process, it is easier to get a healthy dinner on the         table.  You will eat what is available when you are hungry.  You want to make it easy to make the healthy choice.
3. Have your go to foods prepared.  Have a beet salad, or hummus and veggies waiting for you in the fridge so you don’t come to dinner starving.  Even having a bowl of already peeled mandarins available can mean the difference of you and your children trenching for those instead of a less healthy snack. 
4. Use leftover meats in salads, soups or make sandwiches.  This brings costs down and will fill you up with nutritious foods.  Salads are so easy to make these days with those giant tubs of greens.
5. Always have a whole grain prepared that you can recreate a couple of times during the week.  For example, you can make quinoa and then one night add dried cherries and chopped pistachios, and another night add chopped spinach, carrots and walnuts. You can whisk a light olive oil, lemon and honey dressing for the sweet version and maybe a little olive oil salt, pepper and garlic powder for the other. It doesn’t have to be difficult.  Salad dressing recipes here.

Consider how much you spend on real food vs. packaged food and you may discover that it isn’t the real food that we are spending our money on. 


 © Health Inspires. 

1. http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/fruit-and-vegetable-prices.aspx#26396 Retrieved March 17, 2016

I had the privilege of seeing and hearing Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., our 19th Surgeon General of the United States speak on March 3rd.  For me, it was like waiting in line for my favorite sold out concert.  It actually was sold out, I begged for tickets and that didn’t work.  Then I found out I could go early and wait, while I hoped there would be an extra seat available.  It worked out!  He is America’s doctor, even though many of us thought that was Dr. Oz!  I wanted to share three of his inspiring thoughts with you.   Although this was a lectureship on childhood obesity, the words apply to all of us. 

He said:

•  “Kindness is healing.”   
• We must stop focusing solely on the body, and that we must address the emotional and spiritual aspects as well. 
• We must teach our children that healthy food and exercise is pleasurable and stop making exercise seem like such a chore.  He was talking about modeled behavior.

He is probably the first mind, body, spirit Surgeon General of the United States.  His words bring people together and his thoughts are simple.  I am grateful I was able to be there.

Having our needs met is a necessity.  When our needs are not being met, we sometimes engage in less than healthy behaviors.   We want to be well.  That is to say that being well describes this buzz word “wellness” and wellness is being in a state of wellbeing, and wellbeing is when you are in good emotional and physical health, especially when supported by healthy lifestyle habits, including a healthy diet and exercise.   Mastering your wellbeing takes practice, practice, practice every day.   To master your wellbeing means that you make equally important your sense of purpose, life satisfaction, practice of gratitude, health, diet, and physical activity among other lifestyle habits.

The kindness I see and hear about on a daily basis in America is remarkable.  The media might consider covering more of that.  The kindness I see in our educators with our children, and with our nurses that give of themselves each day to the most vulnerable is heart warming.  I like to focus on the kindness and good in the world.   Many of us are care givers in various degrees.  It might be in the form of nurturing a relationship, or helping a friend in need.  

The big question is, are you caring for yourself and allowing time for you?   We all have the same fundamental needs and buckets to fill.  We are also different from each other and we fill our buckets in different ways and with different things.  Do you know what goes in yours?  If you do, fill them with constructive things.  If you don’t know at the moment, focus on what is working in your life, keep practicing gratitude, spend some quiet time listening, and it will come to you.  Dream big and take a step!  That will fulfill the Surgeon General’s request of focusing on the mind, body and spirit.  It will also fill you up. 

Health Inspires.

Not everybody practices the rituals of the Lenten season. Lent is observed by catholics and many Christians, and is a time to reflect and make positive changes in their life for the better, through prayer, fasting and charity.  Lent means "spring" or "new birth."  No matter what your spiritual belief, spring is a time to start fresh.  The sun comes out, we tend to feel better and we are compelled to clean house…whether literally or internally.   

It is so often that we “give up” something for the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday, and then we go back to the same routine.  Not this time. 

This season,  I offer you a state of mind that reduces stress and anxiety, blood pressure, helps you sleep better and helps you maintain a more positive disposition.  You may be thinking this sounds like a new diet or exercise regimen, or maybe you think it sounds like the results of getting 8 hours of sleep each night.  Yes, all of these things offer the same benefits.  However, the daily ritual I am speaking of is gratitude. 

The mind, body, spirit is connected.  Studies show that we can create a new normal for our mind.  We can bounce back to a positive state more easily once we have established a new peaceful and positive “baseline”.  We bounce back to our new normal faster and deviate from it less. Practicing gratitude, in essence, is no different from what physical exercise does for our muscle strength and mind.  It is no different from what a healthy diet provides in mental clarity and a healthier physical state.  Gratitude is no different from what eight hours of sleep offers in terms of clarity and mental capacity.  It makes us feel good and helps us focus on what is working in our lives.

Like any other habit, one must practice it until it becomes automatic.  This Lenten season, I am in, with my family, for 40 Days of Gratitude.  Do it with us!    

40 Days of Gratitude:

• Each day/night either privately in your personal journal, or share with your family, 1-3 things you are grateful for 
• In addition to those things, add the WHY you are grateful for them. This creates more meaning 
• Do this for the 40 days of Lent 

Whether you are planning for your spring renewal through Lent (begins February 10th this year) or in your regular spring ritual, play for life this time.  Practice gratitude for 4o days and you will create a beautiful ritual that makes you feel good, brings you peace, helps you handle stress better, and takes not extra time, money, or energy.  As a matter of fact, you will have more energy and peacefulness.   Gratitude is powerful.  It makes you stronger, it broadens your perspective and opens your mind to possibilities.  That is for the greater good.

Health Inspires. 
Gratitude:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQ7SEAnGRD0

This last day in January is your day of lifestyle change commitment. 

Choose two-three of these January 2016 Daily Victories that you enjoyed and realized, “I can do this”!  

Your action item for today is to continue those good habits.  You will find that more good habits will follow because success breeds success.  It is how we are made. 


Health Inspires.

Are you still drinking more water than you have in the past?  Focus on drinking more water and less sugar or artificially sweetened beverages.  The general rule is about 8 , 8 oz. glasses per day  (although that recommendation used to be the hard and fast rule...now that 8-8 concept is full of caveats).    The bottom line is, water is what you are made of and that is what your body needs to function properly and healthily.

It facilitates every system in your body including every cell and every organ.    Make it convenient and available, make it cold, bring it with you, put it in a measurable bottle or glass so that you know you are drinking enough.  Make it a habit.

Health Inspires.
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It's Friday!  That means the weekend is upon you and so are all the things we think of as rewards which might include food.  Today, plan which of your meals this weekend will be your treat.  You may have Friday lunch plans out with (work) friends, Friday night plans for pizza with the kids, Saturday out with friends and Sunday brunch.  That is a lot of eating out!

How can you do all of that eating out out without ruining the benefits of all the healthy choices you made this week?  By deciding now, and choosing one or two of those meals as your treat.

 It looks like this:  salad at lunch on Friday, 1 slice of pizza Friday night with a salad, Saturday might be the night you have your favorite because you are going out  (control portions but have your favorite; share or split...), then Sunday brunch is eggs with veggies and fruit on the side and seconds are a thing of the past.  You can have it all, without having it all.

Health Inspires.