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The Five Secret Words

If You Only Do One Thing This Month….

Bleeding Edge Science

Ask the Doc

Exciting Developments from Dr. Peeke

It’s no secret that times are tough for us all. The economy, swine flu, housing crisis….It’s enough to make the strongest of us want to put our heads in the fridge and never come out. But eating yourself into a food coma is not the answer—it only increases your misery when it wears off and you survey the destruction. There is a better way—with my five secret words. They help me power though today’s challenges and they can help you too.

The first three words I learned from the runner Flo-Jo: Believe. Achieve. Succeed. And the way to carry these out is through the other two words: Adapt. Adjust. Taken together you have a recipe for navigating life’s dilemmas and achieving your dreams.

Here’s how it works. First, believe in your ability to create what you want. For instance, a healthy response to the stresses you’re facing. Then set a goal that you will achieve, for instance, staying away from sugar and relieving stress by walking for 30 minutes a day. Then watch yourself succeed by learning to adapt and adjust as you go along.  

Adapt is a mental attitude that says I’m facing a situation that I have to come to terms with. You’re a human being and you’ll have a wave of emotions about the situation. That’s fine and the better you know how to adapt, the sooner the wave can dissipate. It’s about accepting the situation—I’m going to lose my job—with as minimum negative effects on yourself—shame, guilt, anger, denial, inertia, stress overeating--as possible.

Adjust is about asking yourself: Given this new reality, what actions do I need to take to get the best results possible under the circumstances? It’s about formulating a plan, a strategy to respond to the situation in a healthy way. In the case of a job loss, it might be getting great recommendations, seeing your company’s benefits office, putting the word out about what you’re looking for to everyone you know, etc.

When some circumstance comes out of left field and throws you off course, the trick is to put the five secret words into effect as quickly as possible so you don’t spend a lot of time in unhealthy responses that you have to recover from later—gaining 30 pounds or racking up $1000 on your MasterCard. Believe. Achieve. Succeed. Adapt Adjust. And the key is really, truly, getting it that change is a natural part of life. It’s not personal! The more you accept that one fact, the less time you’ll spend fighting against it or fooling yourself that any day now things will calm down and stop changing.

If adapting and adjusting is hard for you, check out my good friend M.J. Ryan’s new book AdaptAbility: How to Survive Change You Didn’t Ask For, out this month from Broadway Books.

If You Do Only One Thing This Month…

Mind:

Create a Mission Mantra

A Mission Mantra will help you stay on track because it reminds you of what truly matters to you and therefore helps you make good choices. Here’s how to do it. Imagine it’s the end of your life and you go up to the Pearly Gates where you are asked one question. If you can answer yes, you get into heaven. What is the question you want to be asked? Some examples: Have you learned to love yourself? Have you made a difference in the world? Have you used your abilities on behalf of something that matters? Then turn this question into your Mission Mantra: My mission is to learn to love myself. My mission is to make a difference. When faced with choices, use it to stay on target: Will this help me love myself? Will this help me make a difference?

Mouth:  

After you serve yourself, sit somewhere where you can’t see the serving dishes. It will help you not go back for seconds.

Muscle:  

I’ve always been a fan of resistance bands. Now a study has shown that they are as effective as weight machines for removing fat and adding muscle. And the price is right too--you can buy them for as little as $12. Maybe this month is the time for you to give them a try.

Bleeding Edge Science

When A Calorie isn’t Just a Calorie

In Fit to Live, I wrote about how my colleagues and I are talking about sugar having a priming effect on certain people. Meaning, they eat something sugary and then want more. Now new research indicates that is indeed the case, but sugar is not alone. The list of foods that can fuel your appetite like pouring gasoline on a fire also include bread, pasta, juice, wine or beer before dinner, and artificial sweeteners. They create what’s called “fullness resistance,” for some folks, interfering with the body’s hormonal messages of fullness that it usually sends to the brain to stop eating. Instead, they make you feel hungrier.   Tell yourself your true truth if you are one of these folks, announce proudly to yourself and others, “These foods just don’t work for me” and stay away! The good news—research has shown that foods high in water, protein, and fiber have the opposite effect.

Ask the Doc

Dear Dr. P,
I got the message to do my exercise. I feel terrific when I hit the gym after work. My problem is that I end up eating so late and it's making my weight loss slower than I want. Help!
--AB, Miami

Dear AB,
The later you eat the lighter you eat. On workout nights, spread your calories throughout the day and night to avoid a huge dinner when you get home after 8 or 8:30pm.   Eat every 3-4 hours starting with breakfast. Then have an excellent mini-meal mid afternoon snack (you can have 1/2 of what you had for lunch) and then 3 hours later (around 6), have a pre -workout snack like a serving of low fat peanut butter on a multigrain cracker or a low fat yogurt within an hour prior to workout. Then, when you’re done, have 3-4 oz lean protein and veggies. You'll do fine.

Exciting Developments from Dr. P

Start your healthy, mindful living today. If not now, when?

Pam Peeke MD, MPH, FACP