Month: July 2020

The Changing Seasons of Life

The changing seasons of life will impact each woman differently. You may be about to embark on your college experience, a new relationship, ending a relationship or becoming an empty nester. Each of these will bring a new challenge to you.  Are you ready for your new adventure?

My youngest child is 22 and I moved her out of her college apartment this weekend. I can remember moving her into her college dorm 4 years ago and then crying as I drove back to my hometown. My husband thought we should be celebrating and here I was with tears streaming down my face.

We were officially empty nesters. Back to where we started. Now I could do whatever I wanted to do, whenever I wanted to. Right? Why was I so sad?

I was mourning the end of a great season of my life.

How many of you are transitioning to a different season of life? Everyone’s journey is so different. You could be raising your own child, someone else’s child, your parent, a fur baby or taking care of yourself. Maybe you decided to put your career on pause or decided to retire earlier than you had planned.

This past spring was stressful with all of the altered celebrations and milestones. This fall looks like it will be just as challenging. How did you do with all of the changes? Looking back, is there something you would have done differently?

The last week of July signaled the end of our summer for many years as my world revolved around the school calendar. I no longer have to look at the year through that lens.

So what does the rest of 2020 look like for you?

Are you working on the frontlines and considering a career change? Are you still trying to redefine what your new business model will look like? Did you lose your employment and still have no available options? Did your business flourish due to the recent events? What about your partner? Who else in your household has uncertain plans?

All of you will fall somewhere on this spectrum. If you are looking at new opportunities, keep your eyes wide open. Maybe it is time to take a deep dive into your personal skill set and redefine who you will become in this next year.

If you find that you need to pivot into a new career or path, the hardest thing about this whole process is giving yourself permission to do this. Guess what? You are allowed to do this.

Is it scary? YES!

Will it be hard? PROBABLY…

Will it be worth it? ABSOLUTELY!

We have a large group of friends who have all kind of life experiences. Would anyone like to share their story about how the changing seasons of life impacted you?   I would love to learn from your stories and know that some in this group need a hug and a little inspiration right now. 

Obesity Screening and Counseling: Part Two

Happy Meatless Monday!

I hope that you were able to find some time this past weekend to focus on yourself. Daily hugs are good for the soul so hug yourself and grab your favorite drink for this next part.

Obesity Screening and Counseling

Dieting…

A team member send me a DM and said this. “Enough! Just tell me what diet I need to go on.”

In the last 22 years, I have read about and tried many different diets. I have educated myself about healthy eating and nutrition. I have seen the scientific literature sway from one norm to another. Who do you believe?

In my opinion, the most successful weight reduction programs are those that combine cognitive behavioral therapy and eating foods that are as unprocessed as possible the majority of the time.

What the hell does that mean????

 

This means that you need to eat the healthiest foods possible to fuel your body. Food is fuel. Just like putting gas in your car. Eat because you are hungry; not because you lost your job, are bored, are happy, are in pain, are drinking your favorite drink, your partner cooked it for you, you drove by your favorite donut shop, you are worried about COVID, etc.

You need to prepare this fuel in the healthiest way possible. The more natural it is, the better. The less red meat, the better. A plant based diet is the current favorite but this only helps you if you minimally prepare it. Breaded, cheese covered, fried zucchini sticks are not the answer.

The cognitive behavioral therapy part is understanding your relationship with food. Emotional eating. Foods that are ‘comfort foods’ have that label for a reason. If you are using food as a substitute for other things or as your solution to a particular problem, you need to address the original problem to be successful in the long run. There are many good programs on this topic. This is what Noom is based on.  Wholist, a program that teaches “comprehensive nutrition and mindset coaching programs based on weight science and neuroplasticity, that accomplish amongst many things, conquering using food for emotional buffering.” 

Having said this, if I was going to pick one ‘diet’, it would be Weight Watchers. The most important part about this program is that it teaches you about portion control with the normal foods that you and your family normally eat every day. Programs like Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig are not the foods that are eaten in my home. They may be effective while I am eating their food, but it will not be sustainable when I go back to my normal Hispanic-Italian cuisine.

So I hope I have given you some food for thought. Let me know what questions you have as we wrap up our overview on this screening topic.

Leverage the science and psychology of healthy lifestyle change and lifestyle medicine for effective weight loss, better health, and fitness that lasts.

 

Obesity Screening and Counseling

Obesity Screening and Counseling–the majority rules!  The Facebook Group members voted on this for our next topic so here we go. I approach all topics by giving you the background for why the screening is recommended and how the screening is done.

Background

Obesity screening and counseling is recommended for  everyone from the age of 6 and older. This screening is done by your clinician to determine if there are treatment options and counseling that is needed.  

In order to standardize this topic and its metrics around the world, the Who Health Organization adopted the Body Mass Index (BMI) back in the early 1990s as the gold standard to use. This allows all countries to use the same data when comparing how one country does in comparison to others. This also allows a country to determine their own health metrics by region, state and/or county levels.

The BMI is not a perfect tool as it does not differentiate between body lean mass and body fat mass; that is, a person can have a high BMI but still have a very low fat mass and vice versa. For instance, think of your bodybuilder who is very buff and has minimal fat. They may have a BMI that labels them as ‘overweight’ but their physical exam negates that.

The BMI is used in conjunction with the rest of your health metrics to determine whether you are at risk for other disease processes. You and your clinician will need to review this information to determine what counseling or treatment plan is needed in your specific case.

There are many online calculators that you can use. As they are gender and age specific, use the one that is specific for you.  This value is going to be useful for the vast majority of us as we are not in top physical forms. This is your baseline as you proceed on your health journey.

 

Financial Literacy Is Important For Your Health

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Money Monday!!!

I hope that you all had a great weekend celebrating yourself, your family and your country. I was going to share another great Meatless Monday recipe but a blog about financial literacy came in my email today and I just had to share this instead.

The White Coat Investor was started by a physician for other physicians but it is open to everyone now. Physicians do not learn about the business side of medicine or personal finance in medical school, so just because they have a high income does not mean they are wealthy. Many live paycheck to paycheck. Dr. Dahle started this forum to educate them about how to save their money and his advice is great.  If you need a place to begin learning, read this article and click on the links for more information, especially if you are still paying off student loans.

 

You may ask what financial literacy has to do with your health?  Did you know that financial stress is one of the top reasons that relationships have issues? Financial stress also impacts your personal well being. A few conditions are listed below.

  • Anxiety and depression
  • Panic attacks
  • Guilt
  • Weight loss
  • Weight gain
  • Disruptive sleeping patterns
  • High blood pressure

Over the last 30 years, I have spoken to so many women who are at a loss when it comes to their own finances. Not because they are being lazy but because they either relied on their partner to ‘take care of all of that’ or they feel overwhelmed about where to begin finding good information.

Either way, I feel that it is crucial for all of you to become financially literate so that you can take control of your personal finances and have a say in how your money is spent. You need to be in a solid financial position so that you can walk away from a toxic work environment or a toxic relationship.

Explore this blog today and you will find a nugget to help you on your journey.  https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/how-to-fix-your-financial-problems/