As a kid, did you enjoy taking a bath everyday? I didn’t. I remember a day when I planned a somewhat elaborate scheme to avoid it. Needless to say, my mom saw right through it and I still had to get wet! 25 years later, taking a shower is such an important habit that I could not fathom the idea of going to work without a prior healthy dose of body wash.

I developed a taste for exercise much the same way. Although I was always relatively active, as a teenager I didn't like being sweaty and out of breath. When at 18 years old, a man about 12 years older than my Dad raced by me gracefully in a 3.5-mile cross-country run, I realized that physical activity is an integral part of personal hygiene. It is not the outside we are refreshing so we look and smell good, it is the inside we are cleansing so we function well. That was when my excuses ended.

Last June I wrote an article entitled Top 10 Stimuli to Exercise Your Body (find it a few articles down) which discussed strategies to make your workout routine more compelling. The present article should have preceded my Top 10 Stimuli, because it is meant to help to people who contemplate starting to work out in the first place, a process I remember well.

Einstein and Insanity

There is more info about the benefits of exercise today than ever before, yet 80% of American adults are too inactive to reap these benefits. Also concerning, an increasing number of developed countries around the world are on that path as well.

As Einstein once said, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different outcomes is insane. So I'll avoid telling you why you should exercise. Chances are you already know it all too well and the appeal to logic has failed to motivate you. In fact, there may be so many people telling you why you should exercise that it may have killed whatever internal motivation you once had.

Rather, I’d like to explore what may cause your resistance to take on a practice you know is good for you, and then provide suggestions to help you break out of that resistance.

Your Like-O-Meter 

In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, researcher Jonathan Haidt explains that our decision-making ability functions much like a rider on the back of an elephant. The rider – i.e., our logic - can control the direction in which they go, but only if the elephant – i.e., our instinctive and emotional thought processes - agrees to comply. When the elephant has his own desires, whether the rider asks, pulls, pleads, shouts or begs makes no difference.

For many, personal experience has proven that physical activity is code for clumsiness, discomfort, difficulty and pain. If that’s your case, you probably feel you have low skills to face a high challenge, a scenario sure to produce anxiety. I can’t blame your elephant for wanting to run away!

When your “Like-O-Meter” – the only real decision-making factor in an elephant’s world according to Haidt - indicates “-153,” your creativity is busy finding excuses, rather than solutions. While your excuses initially served to rationalize your gut reaction, they eventually become part of how your rider thinks. That’s when you get stuck thinking that exercise just isn’t for you.

For Each Excuse, a Solution
Having trained people for close to a decade, I’d like to offer ways to reprogram this dead-end thinking.  I have paired the most common excuses people use to avoid physical activity with a possible solution to bust the excuse.  Find your own excuse(s) from the list below, and see if my suggestions work!

1 - “I wasn’t made for exercise.”
In her influential book Mindset, Carol Dweck, PhD explains that there is no such thing as an athletic gene. Sure, some people may be genetically more flexible or stronger than others, but what really differentiates you from the athletes you waste energy comparing yourself to is how many hours they spent at it.

Train your elephant: Change your mindset. It’s about dedication, not predisposition. If predisposition there is, it would be that human bodies were made to be active – including yours! Up until about 100 years ago, people used to walk almost everywhere they went. So at the very least, you can start walking everyday - or find another excuse!

2 - “I don’t have time.”
Here’s the Mother of all excuses! No time, huh? And exactly how many hours of TV did you watch last week? Are there no TVs on the cardio deck at your local gym? Oh! I get it! You have to stay home with the kids. Don’t they play football or jump rope every once in a while? In many cases, the “no time” excuse just means that exercise isn’t high on your priority list.

Train your elephant: Let’s be honest.  Truth is, the human brain needs down time. As much as you'd like to say you work 96 hours a week, you can’t be optimally efficient unless you rest and sleep every now and then.  Now maybe exercise doesn’t fit your definition of down time. However, since we know from research that fitness increases attention, it really is a productive hobby for busy people. If you end your workouts with some breathing and stretching, you also get to relax in the process.

Equally interesting, numerous studies have shown that exercise increases longevity. So there you go. More time!

3 - “Exercise is real torture!”
Yes, if you want to build your capacity, you need to reach past your comfort zone.  We tend to tense inactive muscles when trying a new exercise, which can increase soreness the next day.  

Train your elephant: If you are aching for two days following each workout, maybe you're trying too hard. Use mindfulness. Pay attention to what your body says, and respect it. It doesn’t matter if other people are stronger or more agile: one day they were in your shoes, just learning the moves.

4 -“The gym is SO boring!”
Here we have the opposite situation. If you are bored, you are probably just plugging in time. Those who get involved with their sport aren’t bored. To the contrary, they get increasingly interested. The same theory applies to any workout routine.

Train your elephant: Try learning more about what you do.  If you picked lifting for example, learn about muscle groups, exercise combinations, cardiac output and periodization.  You’ll get mentally engaged. Author of Flow Mike Csikszentmihalyi said it best: “When we choose a goal and invest ourselves in it to the limits of our concentration, whatever we do will be enjoyable. And once we have tasted this joy, we will redouble our efforts to taste it again.”

5 - “I’m not a discipline person. I already self-regulate all day at work, and so when I’m on my own time, I want to enjoy myself.”
This excuse means that exercise can’t be fun for you - or that you’ve given up trying to make it enjoyable.

Train your elephant: Challenge this defeating belief: when have you enjoyed physical activity?  Identify the root of your pleasure and build from there. Oh? Exercise has never been fun for you? Then let’s go back to Einstein: doing the same thing will perpetuate the same results. Try something else. If you’ve always been involved with solo activities, try a team sport. If you’re not enjoying high-intensity, go for Tai-Chi. Your joints are the problem? Try a water sport. Ever tried martial arts?  Ballroom dancing? Maybe hiking? Tennis? Badminton? Surely, with some goodwill, you will find something that is enjoyable.

6 -“It takes too long before I get results!”
You are plagued with the Big Gain Syndrome or you can’t delay gratification. We want it all, and we want it now, and TV shows like Biggest Loser doesn't help us take it slow, which creates frustration.

Train your elephant: Move your attention towards mini-process-goals. Rather than wait until you have lost those 10 pounds to feel proud and accomplished, give yourself kudos for each section of your workout. If today you plan to bike 30 minutes and that seems like a challenge, start by focusing only on your warm-up time – about 5 minutes. Once you are through with it, think only about the next 5-minute increment, surely you can handle that much. An upbeat song is playing on your iPod? Use it to increase your pace. When the rhythm is gone, take it slower for a bit, and use that time to build in an active rest period.

Training with micro-goals will naturally create intervals of different intensity. Since interval training typically brings about faster results, micro-goals will also diminish the time needed before you attain your end goal. This technique has worked wonders for me; I'm confident it will for you too!

Tuning Your Like-O-Meter
Lastly, remember that your elephant and your body will get conditioned together. At that point, physical activity becomes very self-reinforcing. When I feel stressed or anxious, I know a good jog will get me back on track.  My elephant now bounces toward the opportunity to exercise, rather than away from it.

For me, exercise has become a habit, just like showering before work in the morning.  And so it can for you also!

References:

Rights to all images were purchased by the author for the sole use of this article.

Brooks, D.S. (2004). The Complete Book of Personal Training. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2004). Fostering healthy self-regulation from within and without: A self-determination theory perspective. In Linley, P. A. & Joseph, S. (Eds.), Positive Psychology in Practice (pp. 105-124). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Dweck, C. (2007). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. New York: Ballantine Books.

Haidt, J. (2006). The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. New York: Basic Books.

Csiksentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience.. New York: Harper Perennial.

Loehr, J. & Schwartz, T. (2003). The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal. Free Press: New York.

Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C. & Diclemente, C.C. (1994). Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward. New York: HarperCollins.

Rejeski, J.W. & Kenney, E.A. (1988). Fitness Motivation: Preventing Participant Dropout. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Roizen, M. F. & Hafen, T. (2006). The RealAge Workout: Maximum Health, Minimum Work. New York: Harper Collins.

You are in front of the traditional, very tempting Holiday buffet. Initially you had planned to eat reasonably, but now that you are facing the spread, your will is melting faster than the candles illuminating the table.

If you choose self-regulation over temptation, chances are you will be satisfied and energetic. If on the other hand you give in and pig out, you will experience the bloated and guilty feeling that inevitably follows overeating. So what do you do? Here are my top 10 strategies for healthy buffet-management.

1. Be Prepared.  Studies by Roy Baumeister of Florida State University and colleagues demonstrate a small dose of carbohydrate can help replenish a depleted ability to self-regulate. My first suggestion: make sure you are not completely starving when you get to the buffet! If you deprive yourself of food prior to the event, not only will your will power be long-gone, but your ability to justify overeating will also be increased, quite a counter-productive strategy.

2. Pace Dishes.  Take out healthier foods (a veggie tray, multigrain crackers with low-fat cheese) before you serve the buttery puffed pastries and other creamy bites. Your guests will fill up on the good stuff and be stronger for what follows.

3. Choose Your Trays Wisely.  Serve healthier options in larger serving trays and use larger serving utensils. Keep the least commendable options in smaller dishes and serve them with your tiny cutlery.  Paul Rozin of the University of Pennsylvania has found that Americans use larger serving sizes than Europeans, and that when smaller serving sizes are used, people eat less.

4. Place Your Trays Wisely.  To maximize profits, buffets tend to place cheaper foods in areas that are most accessible because they know that patrons are more likely to serve themselves more of it. Use this strategy to your advantage and make lighter foods the easiest to grab.

5. Decorate. The more abundant the food, the more we eat. Plan room on the table for a fresh flower bouquet and other decorations. This will make your spread look plentiful without having to serve more food.

6. Water It Down. Replacing one or two alcoholic beverages with water can easily shave as much as 300 empty calories off your meal, not to mention that it helps fill up the stomach quicker. To make your pitcher nice and appealing, add slices of strawberries, orange, lemon as well as mint leaves.  This option is tasty, interesting, and full of vitamins!

7. Just Right.  People tend to agree that “one is appropriate.” If you serve a piece of pie weighing 10 ounces, that’s what your guests will eat. If your serving size is 4 ounces, they are very likely to stop there. Try serving your deserts in small pre-cut pieces. (Caution here! If the serving is so small that it looks bite-size, the strategy will backfire!)

8. Get Moving.  Plan an activity shortly after the meal to detract attention away from eating and towards connecting. If that activity involves mild caloric expenditure (a Wii or ping-pong tournament, walking in the neighborhood to admire decorations, etc.), you get bonus points. Your family get together will have more to offer than just food.

9. No To Arm Twisters!  Discourage anyone to tell others that they have to taste, that one more drink won’t kill them, or that they should indulge a bit more. This might have been a fun behavior a century ago when overeating was a rare occurrence, but should no longer be socially acceptable in a society where overindulging already happens too often. We know better.

10. Yes To a Buddy System.  Getting peer support is an important ingredient when enacting change. If food acts on you like a magnet on metal, ask a buddy to nudge you if you go overboard. If that’s not enough to discourage you, take a formal bet to pay your accomplice $100 for each plate of food you eat past your main course and desert. That should do it!

Lastly, the Holidays may be the last week of the year, and you may want to give yourself carte blanche to not self-regulate and that’s fair game too. If that’s your choice, just remember that the expression “use it or lose it” applies here, so I would recommend using a “controlled self-deregulation” strategy rather than total gluttony!

Happy Holidays everyone!
May 2009 be filled with peace, warmth, health and accomplishments! 

Images: Holiday Buffet , Holiday Bouquet,  Arm Twister

References

Baumeister, R. F., Gailliot, M., DeWall, C. N., & Oaten, M. (2006). Self-regulation and personality: How interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. Journal of Personality, 74(6), 1773-1801.

Boyle, M.A. & Long, S. (2007). Personal Nutrition (with InfoTrac 1-Semester Printed Access Card).Sixth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Prochaska, J.O., Norcross, J.C. & Diclemente, C.C. (1994). Changing for Good: A Revolutionary Six-Stage Program for Overcoming Bad Habits and Moving Your Life Positively Forward. New York: HarperCollins.

Rozin, P. (2006). Lecture for the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology.

Thaler, R. H. & Sunstein, C.R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Did you know that the average American puts on 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

And how much do you figure the average Holiday shopper has spent per year for the past 10 years?  $500?  $600?  Try $961!

This year may be different: according to a recent Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Measure, the majority of Americans report they are struggling financially at the moment and almost 90% of people think their situation will continue to deteriorate. Our national savings rate has been steadily negative since 2005, a first since the Great Depression years.

Three Epidemics: Obesity, Inactivity, Indebtedness

If the financial news worries you, there is more to be thinking about. In America, over two thirds of adults and 17% of children and adolescents are overweight or obese, which costs over $117 billion annually to the country.  In addition, fewer than 20% of the population exercises sufficiently to experience the health benefits associated with physical activity.

Yes, we are observing what are now referred to as epidemics in obesity, inactivity, and indebtnesess. These concerning trends are all on the rise, and there is no sign that they are slowing down. While any single individual may not solve the economic crisis, there is a lot each one of us can do to reverse the obesity, exercise, and spending trends.

Victimiology 

What if we first take accountability? We hear about credit card debt and obesity as if they were viruses we could inadvertently catch through no fault of our own. Few people have costly medical conditions that drive them deep into debt, or that make them much more prone to put on pounds.

For the majority of indebted people, it’s overspending that’s driving them into debt. Who spends the money? It is not some external uncontrollable force. It is the cardholder. Similarly, what if we take accountability for the weight we put on?  We have to eat 3,500 calories over our caloric expenditure to put on one pound of fat.  To gain those unwelcome ten pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, that would be 35,000 calories inside 35 days - or, yes, you got that right, 1000 calories per day!  That’s a lot of food. If your arm is easily twisted by family members wanting you to “pound down” - literally - one more piece of pie, keep reading.  This article is for you.

Self-Regulation

Often dismissed as a no-glam strength, self-regulation may be the key to the ills here described. Problem is, it requires work and we tend to prefer the easy road.

But here’s the good news:  Dr. Roy Baumeister suggests that self-regulation is a core capacity with spill-over benefits. In other words, if you can self-regulate in one domain of your life, you can do so more easily in other domains.  Are you surprised that self-regulating in food may lead to better money management?

I have been working with a client for quite some time - we’ll call her Sarah.  Sarah was obese, sometimes moody, and admitted she spent too much. We decided to get her started with a regular exercise program. Here’s what happened.

While Sarah trains, she’s away from the temptation of spending. Physical activity also boosts self-esteem, so these sexy new Versace jeans and that overpriced Coach handbag no longer appear necessary anymore. Her new posture - shoulders back, tummy in, chest out - is working wonders for her.

Physical activity is not only calorie expenditure, but it also keeps Sarah away from food for some time. What’s more, since she trains regularly, her body needs higher quality energy, and so she is naturally drawn to healthier food choices. Better food, better mood (for more details on this topic, please see my previous article Food Influences Mood below).

Today, Sarah is still overweight, but no longer obese.  Her spending patterns are much healthier and her credit cards are paid off. The best part? While exercising used to be an act of self-regulation, she now enjoys it and is convinced she will continue to be physically active all her life. (Need to get started?  Try reading my Top 10 Stimuli to Exercise Your Body below)

Sarah got herself out of the national statistics thanks to self regulation and exercise. This strategy may not solve all the world’s problems, but it certainly can address the bad news about obesity, inactivity, and indebtedness - and help us avoid making things worse over the Holidays.  It does require work, but the pay-off may be well worth it.

So how will you approach the Holidays this year?  Will you mentally equate the Holiday enjoyment with a food coma or with cozy conversation?  Will you need to undo the button of your jeans after your Thanksgiving dinner, or will you support the idea that self-regulation is sexier?

Images: Holiday Shopping Cart, Thanksgiving Dinner , Mother-Daughter Hug

Baumeister, R. F., Gailliot, M., DeWall, C. N., & Oaten, M. (2006). Self-regulation and personality: How interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. Journal of personality, 74(6), 1773-1801.

Boyle, M.A. & Long, S. (2007). Personal Nutrition,Sixth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Brooks, D.S. (2004). The Complete Book of Personal Training.Champaign, IL: Human Kinetix.

Fleming, J., Rath, T. and Conchie, B. (2008). Your Organization’s Survival Plan: When the going gets tough, high-performing companies make sure they double down their investments in people.Gallup Management Journal, Web Edition, November 13, 2008.

American Research Group (Nov 14, 2008). Shoppers Cut 2008 Christmas Spending Plans in Half from 2007. Retrieved November 22, 2008 from http://americanresearchgroup.com/holiday/

Ratey, J. (2008). Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Seligman, M. (2008). Address at the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology Summit, October 2008.

Thaler, R. H. & Sunstein, C.R. (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Have you ever noticed how food influences mood? What should you eat to be alert and persuasive for the big presentation? Or to be a divine conversationalist for the cocktail party?

If you feel lazy after a large cheeseburger, bacon, fries, and ice cream, that is no surprise - and it is not only because your stomach is busy digesting a high-calorie meal.

Yes, what we eat is first processed in our stomach and pursues its road to the small intestine. From there it either gets rejected down or it gets absorbed into our bloodstream and circulates up to our brain. Since our CPU is an organ that is fed by the nutrients in our blood, what we eat definitely influences its workings.

Here’s more detail about how it happens: neurotransmitters are basically the vehicle used to transport information between neurons and other cells. Two important neurotransmitters responsible for mood regulation (amongst other functions) are serotonin and dopamine. These communication vehicles are made from amino acids, which in turn come from the protein we eat. Already the connection is established.

Since the good mood regulators are made from amino acids, it would be intuitive to think that eating a lot of protein is the perfect good mood diet. However, too much protein at once is not the way to go. The various types of amino acids compete with each other, which confuses the brain into wondering how to process all this input in such a short time frame.

Now you might wonder, “Where are the fruits and vegetables in this picture”? Well, you’re right. To keep things simple, let’s simply say that the ability for the brain to produce and store neurotransmitters is also dependent on certain vitamins mainly found in fruits and vegetables.

What, then, is the optimal brain food for good moods? Here are the four golden rules:

1. Frequent meals. Eat lighter and more frequent meals to avoid giving too much to your body to process at once. If you overeat, your body is so busy digesting, less energy is left for other tasks.
2. Complex Carbs. Eat complex carbohydrates like whole grains, oatmeal or brown rice. Complex carbs are “thought to be our most valuable energy nutrient” inform Marie Boyle and Sara Long, authors of Personal Nutrition. They also take longer to process completely, so they will keep you satiated longer and they facilitate a slow release of nutrients in the bloodstream and therefore to the brain, thus insuring a speed that is easy to process.
3. Protein. Include moderate amounts of protein at every meal or snack. Proteins are mainly found in meat, fish, eggs, beans, dairy, nuts, and various soy products. Of course, the daily requirements will vary from person to person, depending on a wide host of specifics, but the recommendation is to have between 10 and 35% of daily caloric intake come from protein.
4. Fruit and Vegetables. Top your meals off with generous servings of colorful fruits and/or vegetables. “Eat all your vegetables!” our mothers used to tell us!

We’ve all been told very many times that we should eat well if we want to be healthy, but the connection between food and mood is more recent. If you are in the habit of skipping breakfast in order to arrive at the office a few minutes earlier, you might want to revise your morning routine. “Try eating a hard-boiled egg for protein along with a bowl of plain oatmeal topped with fresh berries to boost your mood first thing in the morning”, suggests RD Lynn Grieger.

This resonates exactly with Martin Seligman's advice, “Positive emotions are not only indicators but also producers of success.” I would challenge meal-skippers to see if following the above suggestions not only helps you maintain a better mood, but also your productivity level throughout the day. Don’t hesitate to try it out and send me your observations! Bon appétit!

Images: Burger and fries, Eat Your Vegetables Skull

References:

Boyle, M.A. & Long, S. (2007). Personal Nutrition, Sixth Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Grieger, L. (May/June 2008). Your Mood: What’s Food Got to Do With It? Today’s Diet & Nutrition: Health, Nutrition, Fitness, Lifestyle, Beauty, Cuisine. Volume 5 Number 2, 60-63.

Seligman, M (2008). Address to Geelong Grammar School Educators, Australia.