Having written about the less obvious scenario of healthy eating being taken to the extreme, it makes sense now to also mention the more commonly discussed notion of exercise addiction. We refer here to people who compulsively exercise to a degree that negatively impacts on their relationships and other life areas, while ignoring signs of fatigue, hunger or even injury. 

The question of what constitutes a healthy diet, takes up a huge amount of space in both scientific journals and the popular press. And perhaps it should. But what happens when analysis and self-judgement around eating behaviours takes up a disproportionate amount of our headspace? When planning and food preparation starts negatively impacting on our relationships and other important life areas?

The past week has seen a lot of media coverage for a study coming out of Sweden that has linked noise pollution (from traffic, aeroplanes etc) to increased waist size. This is interesting, but needs to be kept in perspective – eating patterns and physical activity levels naturally have a much bigger role to play in determining weight than traffic noise specifically. But when it comes to stress in general, I’m not so sure.

In the previous blog entry I spoke of will-power as the ability to make and then to follow through on implementing a decision. It was also suggested that we inherently all have this ability, but sometimes lose it (through lack of practice) in certain life areas. Here now are the key steps towards regaining trust in your ability to follow through on your own decisions:

Last year there was a series of adverts on South African television featuring young children struggling to resist a marshmallow that had been placed in front of them. They were based on some well-known experiments originally carried out in the 1970’s by psychologist Walter Mischel of Stanford University.

Being stuck, repeating the same old pattern is a scene we know all too well.  But this stuckness - is it sabotage, or could it be about self-protection? In all likelihood, it’s a little bit of both.

The phrase “the freedom of a disciplined life” was coined by a member of the Lifestyle Support Group, after she had experienced somewhat of a ‘light-bulb moment’ in one of the meetings. For many years this person had rebelled against the structure associated with exercise programmes, claiming that it just wasn’t in her nature to be disciplined or overly ‘routinized’. 

Just a few questions to help you review the year gone by:

When I meet a new client, I usually start by asking what it is that they are hoping to achieve through working with me. One of the most common answers is; “to be more motivated”.  But what does this really mean?