Category Archives: Habit Building

Blogging for good health!, Food Talk 4 You!, Habit Building

Tips, Tricks, and Hacks

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Time to go through the old photos. Ever do that? Pictures of fascinating objects, moments, or maybe a recipe or two. I snap pictures for this column all the time, and then – sometimes – forget to share. Today’s the day to go down memory lane to bring some useful ideas to light.

This tip comes for anyone repairing a hem that is unraveling. Manufactured clothing – especially for women, often comes with hems that have double rows of stitching for hems. The factory machines are actually doing some kind of chain stitch which – if you don’t totally pull out the raveling thread that makes the stitch on the front side – will result in loops on the back side.

Very often, you can run your repair thread through those remaining loops of the chain on the back side to create an invisible fix. I’ve done this twice in the last month and created totally flawless repairs when viewed on the front side.

This trick was revealed to me by a dear, vertically-challenged, friend. Not sure Betty is even five feet tall, but this tip has even helped me – at 5’ 7 1/2 “  – to have better control with an electric beater.

Imagine my surprise when she placed her bowl in the sink to use the mixer. It helped with the task at hand, in spite of her being short, but when I also did it,  I was rewarded with an improved general control, catching those normal random splashes, and basically, made the job easier.

Thank you, Betty!

This one I’d classify as a hack. When it comes to pushing a grocery cart through the aisles, there’s quite a difference between over-handed and under-handed when it comes to hand placement.

How do you push your shopping cart? Probably over-handed like this:

Try pushing the shopping cart under-handed like this:

You will notice a little tension, and maybe even some minor ‘niggling’ in the abdominal area. Abdominal exercises in the middle of Harris Teeter! Now, I don’t know how many miles of cart pushing equals one crunch, but everything helps. If I can feel something going on, no matter how subtle, that’s a plus in the right direction.

Here’s another idea, if you like to do arm circle exercises, make a similar switch. Normally, people do arm circles with their palms facing down. Switch to palms facing the ceiling for a definite change and a bit of a challenge.

It’s been pegging near 100 degrees these last two days in Eastern North Carolina, that’s about all I can squeeze out today!

Stay cool. As one who used to love being in the heat on the back porch swing, I have had to come inside. Never been this old before … The heat causes vasodilation – blood vessels get bigger – and my blood pressure plummets. Even a cold glass of water or iced tea won’t help.

Sigh.

From the indoors-

Deidre

Blogging for good health!, Exercise, Habit Building

Ready – Set – Go!

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Are you trapped in a cycle of plotting, planning, wishing, and dreaming but never doing? If you could just actually get started, things would be great. But you never take that first step. We look for a push, a shove, someone to take our hand…or better yet, lift us up and carry us through so we don’t actually have to do it.

Seems others are busy doing their own things; so, we continue to plot, plan, wish, and dream. Sometimes we may even be worried about the mound of unaccomplished tasks before us. How to start ticking off those boxes so we can really get going?

I want to share five points about getting started that have worked for me and others:

  1. Don’t think about it – just do it. This mantra got me through high school and college and relates to finishing reports, speeches, reading texts, and doing homework – not as an encouragement to do stupid stuff. Long before there was a Nike, I practiced and shared this phrase to get myself and others through mountains of tasks.

Don’t think about the five things you need to get done in the next little bit, just reach out and grab one and do it. Then grab the next one.

Over-thinking, over-planning, over-ruminating gets nothing done – it only delays the start.

Don’t think about it – just do it.

  • Start a change with small tweaks. If you think about it, just about everything we do is a habit. Habits require little to no thinking. Our brain has limited band width and loves to run on autopilot – it likes to save real thinking for important things.

When I want to change an old habit or start a new one, I’ll begin by breaking down that habit into such a small component – what I call a tweak – that not doing it would be silly. If I backslide from doing ab exercises, I’ll start by doing just thirty seconds of full planks (elbow to toes) followed by thirty seconds of half planks (elbow to knees).

Now, who doesn’t have one minute for exercise? Then, I note on my calendar this accomplishment. Not so hard. By the end of the week, I’m doing a minute of full planks followed by a full minute of half planks. My goal is to work back up to two-minute planks both ways.

Trying to eat better? Conquer one meal at a time. Make sure to note your change on a calendar. Those check marks, stars, or notations look mighty good as they add up. Then you can move on to add another meal.

Instead of going cold turkey on cutting out sweet tea or sodas, simply cut down by bits. Share all cans of sodas with a still addicted friend, or switch to smaller cans. Sweet tea can be cut by ever-increasing amounts of unsweet tea. Then you can experiment with drinking more water instead of tea or soda.

  • Five-hundred-pound man. A Facebook video popped up while I was scrolling through the other night that I had seen before, but something compelled me to watch it again with new eyes. Perhaps you have seen it, too. This young man, maybe in his thirties, weighed over 500 pounds. His human form was all but obliterated by the extra weight.

His doctor pretty much said lose the weight or die. Because he was engaged to a normal-sized woman who loved the man inside of him, he decided he needed to reveal that man to himself and the world.

Long story short, he started by doing something simple. He videoed himself throwing out all the junk food in his house. Then he went to the grocery store with a new kind of shopping list. Then he went to the gym. One step at a time. He did what he could that day.

Thinking about the long haul for a 500+ pound man would have crushed any hope of getting the job done. Don’t think about it; just do it. Today. Then tomorrow when it becomes today.

At the end of his story, he weighed 300 pounds less and was having skin reduction surgery. He was alive, fit, and loving his active life. Both he and his new wife could fit into one leg of his former pants.

What a wonderful story about starting, and then starting again the next day, and the day after that!

  • Help yourself. Those were the words that popped into my depressed and numb mind as I lay on the bed, unable to get up. Help yourself. Learning to live with grief was hard. I knew it was going to be hard. Maybe I’d just stay there the rest of the afternoon…

Help yourself.

Well, I realized that there was no one else who was going to help me. It boils down to me. Get my body up. Move. Go somewhere there are other people. Do it. Now. Don’t think about it – just do it. Help yourself.

Closely resembling an emotionless robot – I got up, slipped on some shoes, and drove to the riverside park.

Fresh breeze. Pretty clouds. Children playing. Folks walking their dogs. Life.

Life was around me and I had to participate. My loved one was in heaven, but I was here. I was called to actively live here and now – the choice was mine. Help myself by being a part of the life around me. So I did.

  • Dominoes. Getting started and maintaining forward motion can be almost self-perpetuating. Once you tip over that first domino, that accomplishment will help tip over the next. That’s why I like putting those notations on my calendar, so I can see that momentum.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Enjoy that exhilarating feeling as you do more exercise, eliminate toxic foods, complete those tasks, write the next chapter of your book, start that business, or take that new class.

You are doing this! You have started and you are moving forward.

Congratulations!

So, what are you desiring to start? Find the smallest part of it, don’t think about it anymore, and just do it! Pat yourself on the back. Put a star on your calendar and do it again tomorrow.

In health and accomplishment-

Deidre

Anti-Inflammatory Foods, Blogging for good health!, Food Talk 4 You!, Habit Building, Titles Worth Reading

Earliest Food Explorers

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I’ve been a silent blogger of late. Somehow the inspiration of sharing helpful messages about healthful habits and recipes with my readers escaped me. Earlier this year, I pushed through the pressing personal concerns surrounding me to nurture the creative process, but I have sort of let you down of late. Apologies.

I had been trying a different coping technique, whereby, I gave in to my limited bandwidth. I just concentrated on being a dedicated caregiver and staying active, with weekly trips to the gym and outings to enjoy a leisurely breakfast in solitude. It was so nice drinking coffee I did not brew and eating a brunch I did not prepare. A needed journey in self-indulgence, perhaps.

Then there was springtime at the local nurseries! I wrote about the rejuvenating atmosphere found in nurseries last year (HERE), and I, once again, bathed in the essences of new growth and promise. Spent a bundle buying my little plants, but I am assured of months of color and beauty.

I get a relaxing therapy session every time I look out the back windows. Why, even doing dishes is fun while glancing up to appreciate my own little Eden.

 

But something was missing.

 

When there’s a song in your heart, you sing – right?

The teacher/writer in my soul still wants to help others.

Looking around some of my favorite online resources for nutrition and book marketing, I began to see, the nutrition camp is melding into a marketer’s paradise. So well, in fact, I hardly ever open their exhausting, sales-pitching emails anymore. I now recognize when I’m being encouraged and steered into making another purchase.

They are just trying to earn a living, I know; but the “lather, rinse, and repeat” process was becoming so transparent that it created a great ennui. It’s like putting the gum by the cash register. Here’s how it works:

Savvy marketers love labels. Identify (or create) a need. Write a book with an answer to that need. Write a blog to grow the mailing list. Sell a product that embraces the new hip label. Go to the bank.

Have you noticed the paleo writers all seem to have a side hustle about “Keto” related? After writing how-to books, recipe books, and countless blogs, my favorite paleo gurus are now on the Ketogenic bandwagon. Their new book releases all sport Keto-friendly labels. Their latest products are “Keto-centric” as well- meaning, they are totally focused on low-carb, high-fat foods.

Just another “trendy” diet?

New, deeper knowledge is never a bad thing. I’ve been aware of ketogenic diets for fifteen years as a part of successful approach to dealing with seizure disorders and perhaps a life-extending diet for cancer patients. Getting one’s metabolism to burn body fat through ketosis is all fine and good for weight loss as well.

When a new thought turns into a buzz word, however, I get a little suspicious – especially, if there are related products to sell. Of course, selling a product puts food on the seller’s table; I understand that.

While we’re at it, please buy my own book, Toolkit for Wellness! (Pssssst! There’s good stuff in it!)

But my readers are still floundering a bit with the whole label thing. Should they be learning about this new way of eating? Maybe there’s some keto magic pill they should be taking each morning? To be sure, there are books, blogs, recipes, and a ton of keto products to buy!

Is the label going to make you feel better?

NO!

LET’S RIP ALL LABELS OFF!

Label exploration can be an excuse to delay action – which is what is really needed – not study.

A recent Facebook posting by my son brings this very point home. With his permission, I am quoting his post to demonstrate what our actions are doing for us:

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James: Wow! I gained, then lost, 12 lbs. inside 7 days. Because biscuits, gravy, syrup, and fried food, followed by none of that nonsense. Also zero trips to the gym.

Friend: What did you eat?

James: Make that 13 lbs. …. Garbage, essentially. Sweet, sweet, delicious garbage. Followed by the usual steak, salmon, eggs, sausage, bacon, olives, oils, tons of nuts, red wine, and lots of spinach salad…all the stuff I post food pics of! …down 35-40 lbs. in last year and was reasonably fit when I started. It’s just astounding though that carbs have such an overnight effect.

Friend: Diet is everything but exercise helps a lot too!

James: Exercise is a must, for sure, but seems to relate mostly to muscle mass and overall metabolic rate. Diet composition (rather than calories eaten…because I eat like a champ) seems to be directly tied to body fat % and water retention/bloat.

Friend: Sodium is another weight adder. I recently had a cheat day where lunch was a cheeseburger with chili cheese fries followed by Chinese for dinner. I woke up the next day 7 pounds heavier! Couldn’t believe it. Went back on the good diet and lost all that water weight in three days

James: Exactly. Crazy.

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Our son posts mouth-watering pictures of his large Reverse Sear Steaks…  Oh, my goodness…  Along with huge green salads. No baked potatoes. No dishes of linguine.    

“Boy, his cholesterol must be through the roof! How’s that doing for him?”

Funny you should ask. The doctor just checked his levels and pronounced them “phenomenally good,” with a marked improvement in blood sugar readings, which were down from a pre-diabetic level 4 years ago.

Remember the science lesson from my book (listed above): Carbohydrates drive blood sugars and insulin levels, and insulin levels drive cholesterol. Done.

In the coming posts, I shall share some awesome, health-friendly, taste bud rapture-worthy meals that will send you to the kitchen to duplicate.

In the meantime, re-read James’ post. It’s really that simple. Love that boy! He’s been teaching Mama a trick or two that she’s going to be sharing with all of you!

In health-

Deidre