Unhealthy Eating Cylce

Dear Dr. Gary.

I frequently feel guilty and ashamed after eating. These feelings usually end up with me eating even more. How can I break this cycle?

Dear Aware Of Cycle,

You are smart to be aware of your cycle. Recognizing that this is part of a regular cycle is an important beginning to addressing your problem.

Your cycling is part of a process that needs a process to change it. Having a short answer will give you the answer but by failing to participate in the process you won’t get the long term solution that you desire.

I wish I could give you a short answer to your question. Your question is too complicated to answer in a blog. It is what my You Didn’t Get FAT From Breathing! is about. Please go to the website of the same name; www.youdidntgetfatfrombreathing.com, register, read the material and if you like what you see and read, sign up for the program.

Your question will be professionally answered during this program and you will be able to participate in a process that will give you the solution to ending this cycle once and for all.

　

Healthy Balance

Dear Dr. Gary.

My career requires that I work long hours and can be stressful at times but it’s very rewarding. If I am to be successful and get promoted I have to invest the time in my work.  How do I find a healthy balance and not let my work consume me?

Dear Healthy Choices,

Your career is important. So are the Choices about the rest of your life. I am assuming that your comment about your career that it is both rewarding financially and spiritually yet there is a conflict of stress and lack of balance.

You need to build a plan that includes stress relief and balance as part of the plan and then become an expert at balancing all. Otherwise rewards of body and spirit will be lacking and their absence will catch up with you.

Your commitment to yourself and your well being needs to equal if not surpass your commitment to work and ambition.

In the same way you have regular hours and responsibilities at work, you need to have regular eating, exercise, rest, relaxation, stress relief, sleep and spirituality away from work.

You owe it to yourself to make those guarantees to yourself. If you can’t succeed on your own, get a life and wellness coach.

Without taking care of yourself first you will eventually burn out and all you work and responsibility at work will be for naught.

Healthy Living

Dear Dr. Gary.

How can I get my family/children to eat healthier without them complaining at dinner time?

 

You can model healthy living and can serve healthy choices. You can respect their not liking what you serve and serve it anyway. You can say that you love them and show it by emphasizing wellness and nutrition rather than enabling them though contrition and allowing their refusal and complaining to dictate what you buy or serve.

Don’t get into a power struggle with them. Smile, say I love you and serve them and yourself wellness.

Eat what you have prepared with a smile on your face and engage in meaningful and supportive conversation.

They don’t have to eat what you have prepared.

They can choose from any and all other offerings available in the refrigerator or pantry.

“Fat Gene”

Dear Dr. Gary.

It seems like it would be a losing battle trying to fight against our genetics since it is proven that there is such a link as a “Fat Gene” and that it can be hereditary. Do you believe that　some people just meant to be fatter than others?

Dear Fat Gene,

Yes, some people are going to be fatter than others and heredity plays an important part in who you are. As of now, we are both blessed and stuck with the genes that we inherited.

Body type is something that we inherit. You can’t change what you inherited. You have control about what you consume, food and beverage, how much you exercise, stress relief, sleep and support. You can foster wellness and accept your individual control and responsibility.

You can say the Serenity Prayer, then focus on wellness and enjoy being you.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can

and the wisdom to know the difference.”

5 factors to Weight Loss

 

Dear Dr. Gary,

What are the top 5 factors that aids in weight loss? I know dieting and exercise are 2 but what other factors contribute to weight loss since I’ve tried dieting and exercise but I’m only maintaining my weight not losing.

Dear Five Factors,

In my opinion, you are correct naming the first two as diet and exercise. The other 3 that I consider mandatory are stress relief, sleep and support.

You are what you eat, digest and burn off. So following a nutritious diet and having a regular aerobic and strength training exercise plan are essential for your well being.

In addition, you need to have 7-9 hours of sound sleep, a predictable plan for regular stress relief and a solid support system you can confide in; i.e. complementary others who are capable of supporting you without enabling you.

Without all five successfully and regularly in place you are working against yourself.

Bulimia

Dear Dr. Gary.

Do you work with people who are bulimic or have other eating disorders?

Dear Bulimia Question,

Yes and no. I deal with the mindset not the psychological.

I can address how important it is to address the ravages of a psychological disorder such as bulimia or anorexia. I can teach my You Didn’t Get FAT From Breathing program as applicable.

The health risks and deep psychological underpinning of these diseases require intense psychotherapy and possible medical and hospital interventions that are beyond the scope of my coaching practice.

Specific Diet

Dear Dr. Gary.

Do you follow a specific diet? What do you recommend?

Dear Specific Diet.

Since I am about mindset, I follow a mindset that focuses on eating healthy, taking some supplements and exercising, de-stressing and sleeping regularly.

My most obvious regular diet consists of lots of water and a health shake that I developed. It keeps me healthy and full.

It consists of:

Water, cranberry/raspberry juice, pomegranate juice, Superfood; i.e. a blend of antioxidants and greens, soy protein powder, raw oatmeal, walnuts, broccoli, carrots, an apple, banana, frozen strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and marionberries.

My most important suggestion is that you develop your own mindset about how important wellness, nutrition, exercise, stress relief and sleep are to you.

Details of what to DO and how, when, where and with whom follow having a mindset that your health and wellness are non-negotiable aspects of your life.

As you guarantee you commitment to your well being, you can add details to your plan as you proceed, the way that I decided to add frozen Costco berries instead of fresh to my morning shake.

Economy Hopeful

Dear Dr. Gary,

Can we ever get this economy turned around with different priorities than we have now?

Dear Economy Hopeful,

Our Economy Is Based On Illness Not Wellness!

Since I am neither an economist nor a political scientist, I am not sure how we allowed our economy to be dictated by the illness industry. I just know that it happened and like a cat’s hairball, it is difficult if not impossible to unravel.

I, however, know a lot about mindset and if you are ever going to fix a complicated problem, you “gotta” start someplace!

So I suggest that begin with mindset as we go about the enormous task of converting from an illness economy to a wellness economy.

My belief is that once a wellness model is firmly entrenched, we can figure out the specific steps to get us out of the mess we are currently in.

We need to start with the end in mind and build our plan backwards from where we want to be to where we are now. It gives us the chance to make proactive decisions about what needs to be done.

My purpose is not to assess blame. It is to simply choose an appropriate target: Wellness and to identify those parties most responsible for directly helping us to get there.

I start with the doctors. Historically their job was to treat illness. We need doctors to continue to treat illness. We, however, need them to recognize that they can have a major hand in establishing wellness as a preemptive strike against combating illness. With greater energy devoted to wellness they can us help prevent illness.

The same is true about the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. They were created to insure against catastrophe, accident, death etc.

Change the mindset from reaction to death or illness to a proactive mindset of prevention of catastrophe or illness and we create new industries. Research and develop drugs that cure illness rather than just treat its symptoms.

Our schools can be learning labs for wellness, exercise, social and work skills, safe havens for learning about successful healthy living.

Keep the schools open longer, with meaningful activities available so that healthy fun and recreation are encouraged and supported.

Kids and families can be taught to learn together about fun safe wellness.

Like I said at the beginning of the article, I am about mindset.

Once wellness mindset is in place, creative details from creative others can be worked out and integrated into a new economy, with more people working in new jobs to support wellness rather than the present after the fact cleaning up after illness and societal degradation.

It is cheaper to do the job properly the first time: wellness, than to clean up and repair the mess later.

Holiday Eating Tips!

Dear Dr. Gary,

Can you give me some tips for healthy eating during the holidays?

Dear Holiday Tips,

Yes.

Tip number one. Implement the tips. Tips without implementation have no value. They are but other ideas that get filed in the “I know that file!”

Listen to and this holiday season follow the tips that you have already heard during all the years you have been hearing about and reading tips about holiday eating. I am sure you have heard many valuable tips. Many of mine will be repeats of wisdom learned elsewhere.

For many it is not the tips that they lack, it is the willingness to comply with them. Usually the problem isn’t the lack of tips or their validity, it is about mindset. You need to implement the tips.

If you are unwilling to follow the wise tips of others who have preceded me, the likelihood is that you won’t follow mine or this one either.

This year become the follower of tips rather than the collector of tips that you promptly ignore. Change your paradigm.

Tip 2. Start by changing mindset.

Begin with the idea that the greatest gift that you can give yourself this year is a healthy trim body. Remember it is not what they or your friends or family offer or sell, it is what you accept, buy, eat or drink.

In a few moments, I will list my other eight top tips for the holidays but first some ideas, some truths I believe about what the opposition is doing while you are remaining unprepared getting ready to be festive. 

The holiday saviors, the merchants and party throwers of the world have already started to fatten up the Christmas Goose. The problem is the goose is you. Rather than rubbing your neck to force the grain down your throat, they have already begun to sell you holiday spirit.

Holiday spirit equals excess. Excess food and drink and spending and…

Their task is to get you to spend to fatten their bottom line or to be festive the way they determine festive to be.

Your task, our task, is to beat them to the punch and prevent your fat bottom from being manipulated by their marketed or familial/friendly CRAP! (Created Realities Appearing Real).

Tip 3. Your task is to never shop, party or eat when hungry.

Tip 4. Never shop, eat or party when stressed.

Tip 5. Never shop, go to a party when it their idea not yours.

Tip 6. Never shop, eat or drink from urgency; that you must have it NOW or it might be unavailable later or sold out at this price.

Tip 7. Always shop, eat and drink, from now on, for health, wellness and stress relief.

Tip 8. Always shop for the wellness of others, it helps you encourage them while reinforcing your need for wellness.

Tip 9. Always guarantee that you eat from your wellness plan, if necessary, before you go to the party.

Tip 10. Always remember that festive means celebrating your success today without having to be regretful tomorrow.

Enjoy the holidays your way, not theirs. To your health and wellness!

Muscle Atrophy

 

Dear Dr. Gary,

What is sarcopenia and can it be corrected?

Dear Thinking Ahead,

“Sarcopenia (from the Greek meaning “poverty of flesh”) is the degenerative loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength associated with aging. Sarcopenia is a component of the frailty syndrome: 0.5-1% of loss per year after the age of 25.”

Wikipedia

They named the condition a long time ago. They know what causes it. Yet, we fail to accept that we can do something about it beginning early in life.

Yes, from the moment of birth, we begin our inevitable march towards our death. Not a fun thought, but true. We can’t stop the inevitable but we can do what we can do to strengthen our participation in our own life.

We can exercise and strength train or not. We, like grapes on the vine, can wither till we become raisins or we can do some things to replenish our systems and slow our aging process.

Our muscles are meant to be exercised. Without exercise, they atrophy. Our chose: To exercise or to atrophy.

Aging will slow us down and some things like entropy and sarcopenia are part of the process. No one however, has to believe that we should or have to cooperate with the process. We can renew our selves, spirit and vitality through proper nutrition, exercise, stress relief and sleep.

To prevent sarcopenia from progressing we need to know that we can continue to strength train for as long as we live, as long as. we have to desire to do so. Aging will slow us down and the process is irreversible but we can fight back for as long as we can if only we choose to.