Managing Time & Yourself

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As some of you have noticed, I have missed a week or two in submitting an article to the MORFit Blog. I do apologize to the readers out there. I wish I could use the excuse that I have been too busy, but this very article is about time and stress management, and winding down on a weekly, if not daily basis.

Lists
We do them with our groceries, so why not with the rest of our daily to-do’s? Have you ever noticed how much more time you spend in the grocery store if you don’t have your list with you? You have to check every group of products in every aisle, just to make sure you don’t forget something. And if you do, then it’s an immense waste of time making that second trip.
As we get older we seem to develop more responsibilities. I would highly encourage you to try making a list of things to do during times of stress (home renovations, balancing a busy weekend with the kids, University exam month, etc.). Make a column for “urgent”, “non-urgent”, and “reminders”. Take ten minutes to brainstorm everything you need to get done, and write them under one of the columns. There will be times when you’re adding to the list more than removing, but it is such a relief to have it written down, and not worry if you’re missing something.

Take Time For Yourself
This has been an extremely hard thing for me to do, now that we’re in the throws of building the MORFit Training Centre. I’ve been trying to spend every spare minute in the gym tearing up floors, hauling out garbage, or looking for something to do. My contractor and good friend Dan gave me a lecture this past week about taking time off. I heeded his advice, and was more productive on other tasks that I had been ignoring (such as the MORFit Blog). Often we get caught up in one task that is in the forefront of our mind; neglecting to realize our efficiency is needed somewhere else. Many times, that somewhere else, is simply relaxing. When we relax, we let go of stress, which is one of the healthiest habits to get into.

Stressful Times
Next week I will dedicate an entire article to stress. This natural process is experienced by every human, is a major leading cause of chronic diseases, yet is commonly overlooked. Most people strive for a healthy body through diet and exercise; yet completely ignore stress as a major component to health. Diet and exercise contribute to stress in their own ways; which can be a good or a bad stress. This will be explained in greater detail in the next article. For now, we just want to plant a seed in your mind that stress could be the reason why you feel fatigued all the time, could be the reason you seem to keep putting on weight despite your regulated diet and exercise, could be the reason why your doctor is worried about your lipid/cholesterol/blood sugar levels.

Bit of a shorter article today. But now we both have an extra 5 minutes to sit back, listen to some Nick Drake, and simply, breathe.

-Stuart

Portion Control Strategies

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Getting To The Root
Portion control can be tricky to manage, as many times the overeating is triggered by emotions, stress, boredom, or habit. Developing strategies for controlling portion sizes or overeating can be accomplished more readily if the the cause is known. For example, if you find you always grab some food when you’re bored at home, one strategy might be to drink a glass of water prior to eating any meals and snacks throughout the day. This will increase your water intake, make you aware everytime you’re going for food, and may discourage you from taking multiple snacks between meals (thereby decreasing amount of food you eat in a day). However, if you find you simply eat too much during dinner time, this strategy may be less effective. After your one glass of water, you can still eat two or three helpings without “breaking your rule”. Forcing yourself to do the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen before you go for a second plate would be a better strategy for this type of portion control. Other helpful strategies are presented at the end of the article.

One Step At A Time
The most important advice I can give on adopting portion control strategies (which can also be applied to any other lifestyle change), is to start with small promises to yourself. You may have a clear vision of where you need to be to take full control of your diet, or perhaps you’re attempting to adopt a strategy someone else has set out for you. Either way, I encourage you to break down the finished product into smaller goals. Everytime you succeed in one of your smaller goals, your confidence will build, and tackling the next goal will seem much easier. As an example; Jack only eats two vegetables a week, overfills his plate with pasta for dinner, and enjoys his late night chips before bed. Instead of shooting for 8 servings of vegetables every day, reducing his pasta portion to 1.5 cups for dinner, and swearing off chips; he may set an initial goal of trying to get 2 portions of vegetables per day. And that’s all he focuses on for the first month. Once that becomes routine, he may increase this to 4 servings of vegetables, or look at addressing one of his two other problem areas.
Trying a complete overhaul rarely lasts in the long run, because it is too much change to our daily routines. Some people can pull it off, but most of us respond to smaller, manageable adaptations.

Leave The Best For Last
Following the principle of building confidence and realistic goals, I would also suggest not starting with your arch nemesis. If you’re absolutely gaga for chocolate, I don’t recommend trying to cut chocolate out as your first goal. Even if you think those daily chocolate bars are the primary barrier between you and a healthier diet, consider working on increasing your water intake throughout the day, or not eating deserts Monday through Friday. Build the self-belief that you can take control of what you put in your body, and work towards the chocolate battle. When you get there, maybe you promise yourself you won’t eat chocolate after 5pm. This doesn’t completely dissipate the privilege of enjoying chocolate, but it starts to give you self-imposed accountability for when you can enjoy the privilege.

A Few More Strategies
Below are a few more tips and tricks that you can use in managing your portions:
– Bring your lunch to work instead of buying
– If you bring your lunch to work, pack it after eating dinner. You’ll be full when doing so, which may help you keep portions in line
– Brush your teeth before having an unplanned meal/snack. Toothpaste is great for getting rid of the hunger response
– Make a pact with a friend that you’ll call/text them everytime you’re about to go for a second plate (one of my favorites!)
– If snack food always finds it’s way into the cupboards; dedicate one cupboard to snack food, but you can only fill it once a week
or month. Work on reducing how much snack food goes into the cupboard every month
– Find an activity you can do with your hands, which will keep you busy when bored
– Find an activity/outlet for when things get too stressful in your day; going for a walk/jog, clean, write in a journal, buy a punching bag…

There are countless other strategies out there. If one didn’t work for you in the past, it just wasn’t the right strategy for you, or you may have been trying to change too much at once. Your health is worth giving it another try. I wish you all the best of luck, and remember that there’s always people around that are more than willing to help and answer questions. I encourage you to join MORFit’s Community Forum, where people are voicing their experiences and suggestions on this and other health topics. If you have any other tips for portion control, please share them, every strategy is bound to work for someone reading this article.

-Stuart