Use the 1/2 rule. Aim for 1/2 as much protein and carbohydrates while doubling your servings of vegetables and fruit…
…walk around inside your house, or even outside, while talking on the phone…
…or drink a tall glass of water before you eat – it’s easy to mistake thirst for hunger.
Over the last two weeks, I’ve incorporated these three small changes into my regular routine. It was part of our challenge to pick three simple changes and commit to them for ten days.
But we’ve also been doing a little experiment of our own here in the office.
A couple of months ago, I bought a Fitbit for everyone on staff.
It’s a nifty little gadget that clips onto your clothing and tracks your activity level throughout the day – number of steps, distance, flights of stairs, and how many minutes per day you were extra active.
The program was voluntary, but as it turned out, almost everyone wanted to give this a try. But to make the experiment a little more interesting (and add a little bit of friendly competition into the mix), I divided the group into two teams . . .
. . . and from there it was easy. All we had to do was put on our little tracking devices when we got dressed in the morning and go about our daily routines.
The Fitbit wirelessly tracks data from each of us on a website where we can easily see how we are doing, both individually and as a team.
So, did tracking our daily activity levels make any difference?
To find out, I asked each person to complete a survey (this was voluntary too).
We found that almost everyone wore it daily, the only deviations coming from the few people who said they just forgot to put it on in the morning.
But I was really interested to see if wearing it had any impact on daily activity, and if it did, what change occurred?
The majority of our staff reported that wearing the Fitbit actually encouraged them to be more aware of, and in most cases, to increase their level of activity.
Everyone who participated in the survey said they planned to keep using their device even though our challenge ended, and I was pretty excited when two people responded with…
… “Can we do this again?”
The challenge certainly made us more mindful about being active, and it was cool to see just how many steps we’d each taken at the end of every day, just by checking our Fitbit.
So now I’d like to hear what you think . . .
. . . what are some things you’ve done or perhaps suggested to a patient to encourage a more active lifestyle? Please share your experience below.
I agree with all of Ruth’s comments and I recommend the Fitbit Flex — much harder to lose.
FitBit totally rocks!!! I would and have recommended it to anyone and everyone. Tracking my activity is the push I’ve needed to lose that last 5-10 tough pounds. I’ve met that goal and now feel more energetic and toned. It’s been life changing for me and I’m completely addicted.
Being in Human Resourcss, I would love to get one for all of our employees. That’s my goal at least!
Dear Ruth,
With all due respect, are you out of your mind? Do you realize that most of us now live in a soup of electromagnetic pollution? The ambient electromagnetic frequences are reportedly 100,000 times higher than they were 100 years ago. Since we humans are electrical beings, all of this EMF onslaught takes its toll on us. In industrialized countries, between five and eight percent of the popluation is now electro-hypersensitive.
People who are now electromagnetically sensitized to their environment are rendered dysfunctional because they cannot tolerate being in proximity to wireless frequencies or high EMF’s. Exposure is biologically cumulative, with a myriad of symptoms: headaches, muscle spasms/pain, insomnia, nausea, temporary loss of short-term memory. I know this because I am one of these people.
There are people all over the world with this condition, including the former Director of the World Health Organization (and former prime minister of the Netherlands), Gro Harlem Brundt.
What you are advocating, in the name of health, is to walk around your home with a phone, presumably a cordless phone. These phones are usually DECT phones these days, which radiate throughout the house from the base station 24/7. Cordless phones that are not DECT are as damaging as cell phones.
Add to this mix wearing a wireless device ALL DAY on your body, to monitor your activity in order to be healthier, while radiating the heck out of yourself!
People always think they are immune to things like the dangers of electromagnetic radiation, cell phone/wifi microwave radio frequency, until they are not.
You and your readers might find Ann Louise Gittleman’s book, “Zapped”, to be of interest. ( Ms. Gittleman is a best-selling health author.)
Thank you for the extraordinary program of highly useful and informative material and speakers that you produce, and make available to all of us. Your work is very much appreciated!
Suggestion:
For those who are dietarily and therefore health-challenged, consider looking beneath the surface problem to a systemic issue, even in the case of mental health….an imbalance of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that overwhelm the internal organs, including the brain. Note that obesity and bipolar disorder have something in common…imbalance of microbes overwhelming the system.
Visit you local Ayurved, Naturopath or Homeopath first.
I started using My Fitness Pal and the Fitbit in April this year, and it totally changed my exercise and eating habits! I love my Fitbit [mine is the smallest one and does not track stairs or sleep]. I now totally get my 10 000 steps in and my eating goals!
As a person in my 60’s, my dr is concerned about my having enough protein. Am paying more attention to having enough. Can cut carbs though.
Esp. in the summer, I like to have a meal-sized salad w/ tuna, chicken or whatever protein for dinner
several times a week.
If I work at home all day, I go out for a walk in the afternoon.
In the nutrition training my chiropractor did there was a formula but he distinguished carbs into types. The slow burning carbs were preferred versus pasta or other high sugar type of carbs. Also he strongly encourages relatively high consumption of ‘good fats’: avocados, olive oil, etc. I don’t have the formula at my fingertips, but it was, in my understanding, a balanced diet of predominantly natural or organic or ‘God food’ basically cutting out processed food, and trying to buy organic or grass fed protein sources as much as possible. But the difference, to my way of thinking, was the emphasis on ‘good fat’ compared to diets such as the Atkins or other (higher comparatively) protein diets. You might want to do some research on the value of ‘good fat’ if you are going to use a formula diet. Whatever we do that results in healthier eating and less toxins in our systems is sure to get really great results! And America’s SAD eating habits have got to change if we are going to have less medical problems!
I began a private practice January 2012 when I retired. I don’t yet have a secretary, or bookkeeper, or maintenance worker or billing clerk . . . . etc. All the hats I wear typically require a lot of computer time. I have been focusing on being more mindful of my consecutive time at the computer. I have scoliosis and have been working with a chiropractor for 7 years on corrective care. I actually had some deterioration in my spine over the first year in practice. Now, I set my timer on the microwave for 20 – 30 minutes and when the timer beeps, I either get up and move around,or at least look up and at a distance of 20 feet complete some visual exercises before I get back to it. I am hoping that this intervention will reduce the negative impact of the quite lengthy computer time. And I have also been more mindful of the exercise opportunities during lunch, such as running errands, walking around the complex, window shopping, etc. instead of working through lunch or eating as I work.
Fitbit is awesome! Just be careful with your first statement. According to our weight, we need a certain amount of protein a day. We also need a certain amount of carbs per day (140 minimum), otherwise we can start to have brain cell damage. That’s why low carb diets are so dangerous. I’m a certified nutritionist. I use MyFitnessPal and Runtastic (for my pedometer/exercises). Fitbit is too expensive for me right now. Good luck with your health goals everyone!
I also wanted to mention the dangers of detox diets and not getting the accurate amount of calories per day. When that happens, your body goes into starvation mode and you can cause damage to your vagus nerve (Stephen Porges’s area of study). It happened to me. I tried this fanatical diet (long before I got my certification) and it ended up damaging my vagal verve. To this day I have difficulty digesting and rapid heartbeat.
Think twice, please. And don’t go it alone. Contact a nutritionist or dietician.
ABOUT TO DO DR. SARA’S DETOX/HORMONE CURE CHALLANGE.SHE RECOMMENDED FITBIT. I LOVE IT! MADE ME REALLIZE HOW LITTLE I MOVE AND HOW WELL I SLEEP. I JUST UPED MY GOAL FROM 10,000 TO 15,00 STEPS A FEW MINUTES AGO. WELL OFF TO HANG UP WASH AND WALK. HAVE A HEALTHY DAY!
I keep athletic shoes in my car. Many times I find myself waiting somewhere and put on the shoes and walk the wait. I give the receptionist/whomever, my cellphone # and they call me when ready. Works while waiting for the restaurant beeper to buzz. I lost 75 pounds at age 50 and have maintained weight loss for eight years. ps. good therapy helped with weight loss too. We wear Virgin Health Miles pedometer through my company and I earned 400.00 last year clocking my steps. I used the money to pay for my athletic center fees.
You have shed a ray of susinnhe into the forum. Thanks!
Wearing a pedometer for my insurance benefits felt like big brother watching over and judging.
I like the experiment idea. Perhaps how the motivation program is offered is
a more affirming approach.
Thanks for the reminder Ruth! I too purchased my Fitbit over a year ago and had great results. Then ‘fell off the Fitbit wagon’. I think it is so important to be part of a like minded community as we focus on achieving our goals. Many thanks for the NICABM community!
I have been using the Fitbit since early June 2013! I love it. I was given a Jawbone the same week I bought the Fitbit and it was not user friendly so I gave it away to my grandson who doesn’t use it either. I have upped my steps and I love that it keeps track of the stairs. You just have to make sure that you go up at least 10 feet of stairs. I found that out on the Fitbit website. I automatically park farther away from my destination to get more steps. The other thing that is SO helpful is it has a connection to My Fitness Pal where I can enter my food, exercise and water intake with all the nutrient components. I find that very helpful as I am working diligently on alkalizing my eating program. I even forgot to take it off my slacks one day and it went through the washer and dryer! It was still in the rubber attachment and I took it and put it in a bowl of rice to absorb any moisture. It works perfectly. I love how the Fitbit motivates and inspires me to walk a lit bit more each day and I have highly recommended it for my family, friends and clients. BTW Fitbit sends out a weekly Progress Stats to keep you updated and motivated.
I use my fitbit flex every day and find that it definitely motivates me to move more. I encourage my clients to do the same to help with their depression and anxiety.
I can only agree. I use a simple step counter and have given these simple cheap gadgets to others. Thet really stimulate people.
Thanks for this technological advice. Monitoring creates motivation. Another possibility, if you also want to add more love and affection to your love while making sure you get your healthy dose of movement, is to get a dog. Sure keeps you moving daily….and loved 🙂
What a wonderful idea, I will suggest we do the same in my clinic to make everyone aware of this, and use it to convince our patients! I’m so pleased to have all these great new inputs from Ruth into my work!
That’s a wise answer to a tricky qustoien
Sometimes a bit of encouragement is all we need, and healthy competition of course. Great idea. Also love the daily changes, my main one is a daily walk, no matter what.
That takes us up to the next level. Great poigsnt.