Archives 2017

Image credit Spring.st

Who hasn’t heard of the power of deep breathing?

“But how,” you ask, “can something so simple influence my shape and size?”

I hear you!

It can seem like breathing as a way to calm emotional eating is a bit ‘low tech’.

I get that.

The good news is that it works.

Because nothing communicates to every fibre of your body more eloquently than your breath, that you’re safe.

Shallow breathing—think about when you’re stressed, anxious or overwhelmed—sends an immediate message to our body: alert alert danger!!!

OK, not sabre-tooth tiger life or death physical stress as in caveman days.

But in modern days, rushing, hurrying and being super busy has become ‘normalised’. We’ve got presentations to make, kids to collect, meals to cook, quick, quick, quick—so there’s a lot of psychological stress.

Why’s this important?

Your body doesn’t distinguish between the ‘types’ of stress.

That’s right.

It responds in exactly the same way to both types of stress by flooding our body with stress hormones—adrenaline and cortisol.

And, here’s the thing. An elevation of either of these hormones in our body causes emotional eating.

Interesting, isn’t it?

So I hear you—breathing can sound a bit low tech.

But, given we breathe up to 30,000 times per day, can you see the enormous potential to influence your body—positively or negatively?

Do you breathe optimally?

Most women breathe while holding their stomachs in—to make them look flat and firm—which means they’re breathing only from the upper part of their lungs.

To breathe optimally, we need to be breathing from that space behind our tummy button—our diaphragm.

The easiest way to determine if you breathe correctly (or not) is to stand in front of a mirror and take a deep breath.

If your stomach was the only thing that moved, then you’re one of the rare individuals to retain correct breathing past childhood.

If your shoulders introduced themselves to your ears—most people do (!!!) you’ll benefit by changing where you breathe from which’ll reduce the stress hormones in your body.

How to breathe yourself calm

1. Put your hand on your tummy and, as you inhale, make your tummy push your hand out. Your chest and shoulders stay still.

2. Count to seven as you inhale, and nine as you exhale.

Research suggests a longer exhalation than inhalation has an even stronger calming effect. Also, focusing on the uneven counting takes a little mindfulness which brings you back to you.

3. Repeat 10 times.

Notice how you can actually feel the relaxation response switch on. Notice the stress hormones leaving your body.

Calm

Peaceful

Free

Is it natural to be perpetually serene every second of the day?

Nope. You’re human.

That’s part of the process. Just keep remembering to remember to breathe deeply.

And next time you feel yourself stressing—hello, Christmas is just around the corner!!!—take the time for 10 slow, deep, calming breaths.

You can always tense up again after your 10th. But you probably won’t : )

Love etc, Avril

Image credit to Lee Diddy

I’ve just had a weight management hypnotherapy session with a delightful lady.

She’d gained weight during her pregnancy. As much as she loved her little one, she was frustrated by her post-bub size and energy levels.

In her own words, “I’ve been trying to lose weight since my little one was born.”

Please, make a note of the word ‘trying.’

You see, ‘try’ is a deceptive, tricky term.

When we use the word ‘try,’ we feel all virtuous and warm inside because we’re on the way to achieving the thing we’re ‘trying’ to do.

But here’s the here’s the kicker—it also neatly provides us with an excuse for when we fail.

“Well… at least I tried.”

The problem with ‘trying’

Yes, we mean well.

But the message our unconscious mind receives is —”yeah, I’m kinda interested but when push comes to shove, I’m not that serious.”

Think about it.

If you need a plumber to do a job, you know instinctively whether their van will be in your driveway at the previously agreed time—just by listening to their language.

If they say, “I’ll try to there on Thursday afternoon,” good luck, dear reader, because you know it’s unlikely they’ll arrive.

When on Friday you call and ask “what happened?” there’ll be some BS reason or other.

“I tried to get there but well…this, that and the other….”

Their integrity is intact.

After all, they tried, didn’t they?!

However if your plumber says, “I’ll be there at 3pm Thursday,” you trust they’ll be at yours Thursday at 3pm. Their language has commitment in it.

It’s a subtle but powerful distinction.

So, next time you say the word ‘try’—whether it’s speaking to your partner, your child or yourself—consider replacing it with a stronger and more committed alternative.

For example, instead of “Son, go and try it” use “Son, go and think about it” or better, “go and do it, son.”

Feels much more powerful, doesn’t it? See the commitment.

Remember there is no such thing as try, you either do or you don’t.

Love etc, Avril

Image credit lds.org

Can you remember the olden days when we’d say grace at the dinner table?

Haha, no not in my family either—but we’ve all seen it in the movies!

By saying grace, the intention was to bless the food and to be grateful for it.

Gratitude is a very powerful emotion. It releases dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin—all those good feeling hormones—into our body. When we’re grateful our body moves into the relaxation response which means our self-repair mechanisms work more efficiently and we digest the food more easily.

There are many other benefits to gratitude. When we’re grateful, we learn faster, we heal more quickly and we’re more receptive to change. Who doesn’t want more of that?

How to practice gratitude?

I encourage you, the next time you sit down to a meal, to remember that food is sacred.

Chances are if you’re eating, an animal died to provide for your nutrition.

Appreciate the food, perhaps by sending a prayer of gratitude—in your own mind—to the farmer who raised the crop, to the person who cooked the meal (even if it was you!) or the teenager who packed your groceries.

Grateful
Appreciate
Acknowledge

“Thank you for the food, thank you to my miraculous body for taking nutrition from this food, thank you… thank you…thank you.”

Remember to practice eating with a grateful heart and allow yourself to discover the power of counting your blessings!

Love etc, Avril

Photo credit Tambako The Jaguar

Hands up if you’re a perfectionist.

C’mon, you know who you are.

If it helps, I’m lifting my hand up with you!

We perfectionists are very accomplished fibbers.

The fib is usually something along the lines of “when I lose weight, my life will be perfect and I’ll be happy.”

Or, “I need to lose weight perfectly to be happy.”

Having worked with hundreds of women, I can let you in on a secret.

Perfectionism works NOT at all as a weight management strategy. It’s the enemy of weight loss.

In our photoshopped world, we’ve been tricked into believing that we become our happy shape and size by “being perfect.”

But the problem with perfectionism is that it conveniently forgets something vital —that we’re human and we live in the real world.

How often do you say…

“Oh no! I’ve eaten a chocolate mallowpuff, and since that’s imperfect, well heck, I may as well eat the entire packet, and I’ll go back to ‘being perfect’ next Monday (or first of next month or at New Year’s).”

In the meantime, we eat like a bear anticipating hibernation!!!

The trick of the ego

To liberate yourself from perfection , it’s important to understand the trick of the ego.

It’s that small voice in our head that says, “I’ll be happy when I’m size X…when I’ve climbed that mountain…when my To Do list is complete.”

What a trick!

Because, what do you see from the mountain summit? That’s right, another mountain in the distance. And now we want to climb that mountain!

That’s the illusion of the ego— that there’s somewhere to get to, something else to achieve, another thing to do—before we allow ourselves to be happy.

Sure we want to get to the summit, to have a completed To Do list, to be a particular shape and size.

But the real gold is enjoying the journey. Allowing ourselves permission to feel happy now. Not only at some future destination.

There’s a vast difference between ‘healthy achieving’ and perfectionism.

Perfection is overrated. Instead, I encourage you to:

1. Celebrate the small wins—the more you focus on what you’re doing well, the more momentum you gather.

2. Allow yourself to stumble—you’re human. Pick yourself up and keep on keeping on because consistent improvement wins every time.

3. Become a ‘good enough-er.‘ Perfectionism is exhausting. Embracing being a ‘good enough-er’ makes the journey more fun!

Look, I’m all for climbing mountains and nailing To Do list items, but I encourage you to remember to remember to enjoy the journey… imperfectly and step by step.

Love etc, Avril

Is this you?

You’re sitting at your desk mid-afternoon and you start to feel drowsy. You reach for a cup of coffee and a biscuit for that quick shot of energy. After work, you collect takeaways on your way home and skip your walk, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” you tell yourself. Later, when it’s time for bed, you’re too wound up to sleep.

Arrrgh—it’s a vicious cycle.

More and more research is identifying how sleep deprivation can sabotage the fit of your jeans.

Not getting enough sleep is common—we wear it as a ‘badge of pride’ around the water cooler.

“We brag about pulling that all-nighter, but we do pay the price for staying up late and getting up early,” says Mark Mahowald, MD, director of the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorders Center in Hennepin County.

On average, we need about 7.5 hours of quality sleep per night, he says.

“If you are getting this already, another half hour will not help you lose weight, but if you are a five-hour sleeper and start to sleep for seven hours a night, you will start dropping weight.”

How does lack of sleep impact our weight?

Mainly, lack of sleep affects our ability to lose weight because of the two hormones: ghrelin and leptin.

Ghrelin is the hormone that tells you when to eat—your “hunger” hormone if you like—and when you are sleep-deprived, we have more ghrelin in our body. Leptin is the hormone that tells you when to stop eating—it’s the “I’m full now” signal—and when we’re sleep deprived, we have less leptin.

In a nutshell, this hormonal imbalance causes us to eat more, and typically we reach for the less nourishing food options.

So, more ghrelin plus less leptin equals weight gain.

Secondly, when we’re sleep deprived our metabolism slows down.

And thirdly, when we’re sleep deprived we take less exercise.

There are fourth-ly’s and fifth-ly’s, but these three are the main weight control issues!

So what can you do, tonight?

Sleep needs vary, but in general, most adults need seven to nine hours a night. Some people can do with less, and others require more. So start to experiment with yourself and find out what works for you.

For starters, avoid any caffeine after midday because it will keep you in the lighter stages of sleep during the night.

Moving your body helps improve sleep quality. Go for your daily walk.

Also, watch what you eat before bedtime. Eating a large meal close to bedtime is less than ideal. Heavy, rich meals before bed can increase the risk of heartburn, which will keep you tossing and turning all night.

Begin a night time routine—and stick to it. Switch off your smartphone, turn off the telly, and allow your body to start to relax at least 30 minutes before you actually want to drop off to sleep.

Sweet dreams!

Love etc, Avril