So you want to make a change

This is a very thought provoking article written by a friend of mine. Take a minute to read this and I ask you all, are you ready to make your change???

So you want to make a change? Commit!

John Bottoms, BSPH

Heart disease, Cancer, Chronic lower respiratory diseases, Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases), Accidents (unintentional injuries), Alzheimer's disease, Diabetes, Kidney Disease, Influenza and Pneumonia, Intentional self-harm (suicide)

I begin this article with a list of diseases. Diseases that may not look that important to you but statistically if you are reading this article, one of the diseases on this list will be what takes your life. This list is the top 10 causes of death in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Why is that important to our discussion of wanting to become more healthy, to lose weight, or to exercise more? Well you see, 5 out of the 10 major causes of death in the US are directly related to our lifestyle. Even more specifically to what we eat and the amount of exercise that we do over our entire life. That is an alarming fact! However even though that is alarming for you reading this, it should also be encouraging because for most of you by making the lifestyle changes that you are trying to accomplish you can totally improve and often times even reverse the pathways for these terrible diseases. Don’t let your only motivation to change be the way you look because when you are craving unhealthy food or just don’t want to do 20 more minutes of exercise, remember I will live longer and have a better quality of life long term because of the changes I am making now!

Now that we have introduced the word change, let’s talk about it! Why do most people fail in trying to make the long-term changes that you are trying to make now? If we were to complete a survey of the people who are trying to make these types of changes and failed the top couple of responses are typically, “I don’t have time”, “I can’t afford it”, or “I am too old” but those point to someone who really didn't make the upfront commitment that they should have. When it comes to making changes for your health your plan has to be to make lifestyle changes that will last for your entire lifetime not just temporary changes that will get you to a certain point like losing 30 pounds or a leaner body. Why? Because you will not maintain that and we are talking about living longer, looking, and feeling better for the rest of your life! When people chose to follow the fad diets, or chose to exercise really hard for a certain period of time, as soon as they stop then they return not only to where they were before they started but often times even worse than when they started. Before beginning you need to ask yourself, “Is what I am changing something that I can maintain for the rest of my life.” If the answer is no then don’t do it. We have to retrain our bodies to be healthy long-term! Our bodies are designed to find and maintain a place of normalcy; the scientific term for this is called homeostasis.

Homeostasis is an important concept that I want everyone to understand. Essentially it is the processes in your body that are designed to maintain normal levels in every process and every system in the body. For example if your blood pressure become outside of your body’s normal range, then there are systems that kick in- mainly the kidneys, that help to bring you blood pressure back to a normal level. Where we get into trouble is when our body gets confused about what normal is because after a certain period of being out of the normal rage (usually around 2-3 weeks) you body will reset what it considers to be normal and will then begin maintaining the unhealthy level as normal. However in most cases this can be changed. (Before you ask, if you are taking medicine for hypertension, I am not saying you should stop and try to control it yourself because the risks of doing that for most people are too high without a medical professional’s guidance!) Let’s make application of this to what you guys are trying to accomplish with your health change.

The number one problem for most Americans from obesity, to heart disease, to stroke, to diabetes is primarily caused by the consumption of too much sugar. The American diet is filled with either sugary foods or foods that turn to sugar like potatoes, breads, and pastas. I am not saying that your body doesn't need the sugar because it is required for every process that takes place; I am saying that you don’t need the amount of sugars that we typically consume. For most Americans simply cutting back on the amount of added sugars in the diet long term will make a major difference in your long-term health but because of that word we just mentioned, homeostasis, this is much more difficult than it sounds. You see if your body is used to being fed a certain level of sugars it is designed to want to maintain that level of sugar coming in so as soon as you cut back you will begin to start to crave more sugars. Well how do you win?! Just like with the blood pressure example, give it 3 weeks! In about 3 weeks of you cutting out that excess sugar in your diet, you body will then begin to set its level of normal and you will lose the cravings then it is easy as long as you maintain! You can take this principle and add it to salty foods, fatty foods, and many diet related things. Bottom line if your are going to commit to change for one day commit to 21 days and let your body learn its new normal. Its healthy normal! If you are not going to commit for at least 21 days then don’t waste your time with one day!

In summary make your plan to change. Write it down and work to make the changes but remember the changes that you will make are not just for the next month or the two months but for the rest of your life! Remember to ask yourself, “Is this something I can maintain for the rest of my life or is this just a fad.” Commit to at least 3 weeks and see if those tough cravings don’t go away and remember, its not just about looking good for a couple of weeks but about looking good, feeling good, and being healthy for the rest of your life!