by
David Junno Psy.D.
We
hear it all the time: that eating better,
losing weight, and exercising more are all
good for our health. So why don't we all do
these things? One reason many of us use is
that it is too difficult. Eating right requires
planning meals, watching nutritional content,
avoiding certain foods we enjoy. Getting enough
exercise requires setting aside time to do
it, exerting ourselves, sweating, experiencing
discomfort, etc. It is a wonder anyone does
these things.
Is
it always easy not to make healthy choices?
So
how can we get ourselves to make these healthy
choices? To overcome the difficulties of eating
better and exercising more we need to ask
ourselves: "difficult compared to what?"
·
Is it easy to struggle to get our pants buttoned
because we've grown out of them?
·
Is it easy to look in the mirror and not like
what we see?
·
Is it easy to have to avoid discussions and
information about the health effects of being
a couch potato because it makes us feel too
bad about ourselves?
·
Is it easy to have to stop and rest when we
try to do something physical because we are
so out of shape?
·
Is it easy to deal with our constant self-criticisms
when we think about how we continue to make
unhealthy choices about what we eat and do?
·
Is it easy to tell everyone how we don't care
about the health risks we face when secretly
we feel ashamed of having let ourselves go
for so long?
Overestimating
the difficulties of making healthier choices
and underestimating the difficulties of not
making these choices keeps us stuck. The more
stuck we are, the more we feel the need to
justify our choices. This requires disputing
and avoiding information about making changes
and minimizing the impact of staying the same.
This just keeps us more stuck.
One
way to handle the difficulties of making changes
in eating habits and physical activities is
to remind ourselves of the difficulties of
not making these changes. It is not like making
healthier choices is difficult and doing nothing
is easy. Both are difficult in different ways.
We
all want to feel like responsible people
One
of the greatest difficulties with not making
healthier choices, when we know we need to,
is how this makes us feel about ourselves.
Addressing this is very important. I read
about a research study asking IV drug users
why they wanted to quit. The main reason for
wanting to quit was not the legal consequences,
or the health consequences, but wanting to
feel like a more responsible person.
The
bottom line is we all want to feel like responsible
people. Making efforts to improve our diet
and exercise habits is difficult, but it also
makes us feel more responsible and in the
end better about ourselves.
So
the next time we find ourselves saying dieting
and exercising is too difficult, we need to
ask ourselves- "compared to what?"
Quotes:
"When
I hear somebody sigh that "Life is hard,"
I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'"
- Sydney Harris
"Hard
work is the accumulation of easy things you
didn't do when you should have."
- Anonymous
"Conquering
any difficulty always gives one a secret joy,
for it means pushing back a boundary-line
and adding to one's liberty."
- Henri Frederic Amiel
"In
this age, which believes that there is a short
cut to everything, the greatest lesson to
be learned is that the most difficult way
is, in the long run, the easiest."
- Henry Miller
"If
something's hard to do, then it's not worth
doing!"
- Homer Simpson
Remember,
having the right diet and getting enough exercise
will not only improve your health- IT WILL
IMPROVE YOU LIFE.
Until
next time, Dave Junno Psy.D.
David
Junno Psy.D. is the author of Lower High Cholesterol-
READY OF NOT!, and a personal coach. Sign-up
for his free newsletter- Ready Or Not!and
learn more about healthy living by visiting:
http://www.lower-high-cholesterol-ready-or-not.com
Copyright:
2002 David Junno
