Gateway to Health Challenge
Newsletters
Week 12
Celebrate
Your Accomplishments!
By Linda Rellergert, University of Missouri Extension, adapted by Molly Vetter-Smith, University of Missouri Extension
Celebration is a vital part of good health. Celebration
allows us to express joy and a sense of accomplishment. To
celebrate also means to commemorate. As the CEO Health
Challenge comes to a close, take a moment to commemorate all
that you have done to improve your health in the past 12
weeks. Celebrate all the ways you choose to be as healthy as
you can be.
Perhaps you have chosen to:
- begin or keep up a regular physical activity;
- honor your hunger and eat when your body signals it
needs fuel;
- stop eating when you are satisfied and comfortably
full;
- choose to eat out less often;
- show more love and respect for your body by taking
better care of it;
- get enough sleep on a regular basis so you are less
stressed;
- find a new place to walk or ride your bike in our
area;
- build relationships with others to enlarge your
social support network;
- quit or cut back on smoking;
- tried a new activity/sport, or started doing an
activity/sport again you used to enjoy;
- give more attention to meals and snacks while
eating;
- resign from the clean plate club, allowing yourself
to leave food on the plate once hunger is satisfied;
- discover the satisfaction factor in eating food that
truly tastes good;
- take care of emotional needs without using food;
- evaluate portion sizes so that you don’t automatically eat more than you want or need;
Not that anyone should have tried to take on all these
changes in 12 weeks, rather, it is my hope you have
considered and perhaps even been motivated to try one or
two. Celebrate a healthier you and continue to seek ways to
improve your health!
NUTRITION TIP OF THE WEEK:
Breaking the Food Mood Connection
By Linda Rellergert, University of Missouri Extension, adapted by Molly Vetter-Smith, University of Missouri Extension
Food has many emotional associations. For example, celebrations of holidays, birthdays, weddings and religious events often include a feast or special foods. These positive food-mood connections are greatly valued by society.
However, some food-mood connections are not so positive, as when food is habitually used as a way to cope with emotions.
Occasional emotional eating is normal, but frequent emotional eating leads inevitably to weight gain. Many people with weight concerns eat in response to stress, boredom, anger, loneliness, joy or as a reward. These questions can help determine if emotional eating is a problem.
Consider what is true most of the time for you.
- Do you tend to snack more when you are alone?
- Do you treat yourself routinely with food?
- Is eating a favorite food one of the most pleasant
things you do for yourself?
- Do you have a hard time recognizing when you are
physically hungry or full?
- Do you eat when you are stressed, even if you are
not hungry?
- Do you ‘feel’ hunger in your mouth rather than your stomach?
Someone who has been using food to cope with emotions for
years can find it difficult to know when they are physically
hungry, and as a result tend to overeat. One helpful
suggestion to determine which type of hunger you are
experiencing is to locate where in the body you feel the
hunger. True physical hunger is felt in the stomach unless
ignored for too long when it may cause headache. Hunger felt
in the chest, throat or mouth but not the stomach is likely
to be emotional hunger.
The next time you reach for food, pause long enough to ask yourself the following:
Am I physically hungry?
Tell yourself you can eat, but wait 5 minutes to check your
feelings. If you are still hungry, honor your hunger and
eat. If you are not physically hungry, try to sort out what
you are feeling. This can be difficult to answer. Are you
angry, bored, anxious, depressed, nervous, happy?
One way to discover feelings is to keep a food journal.
Record not only when and what you eat, but also if you ate
fast or slow and how you felt emotionally and physically
before and after eating. Review this journal to discover
what feelings may trigger eating. You may not be able to
identify an emotion, especially at first, and that is okay
too.
What do I really need?:
- Something to drink?
- Rest?
- Comfort?
- To express feelings?
- To be heard, understood and accepted?
- Intellectual or creative stimulation?
- To feel needed or respected?
- Movement?
Try the following activity to explore ways to break the
food-mood connection. Below is a list of emotions or
feelings.
- Lonely
- Grouchy
- Elated
- Nervous
- Sad
- Excited
- Discouraged
- Confident
- Bored
- Jealous
- Happy
- Irritable
- Anxious
- Hopeful
- Mad
- Angry
- Scared
- Confused
- Worried
- Disappointed
- Ashamed
- Frustrated
- Mark the ones you experience frequently, or write
down others more pertinent to you.
- List the food you associate with 2 or 3 of those
moods.
- Write down the first non-food action that comes to
mind for those moods.
- What would happen if you broke the mood-food
connection and went straight to the action?
- Cross out the foods and go straight to the activity
to make a mood-activity connection.
Developing this connection will take persistence,
patience and commitment. Experiment with different responses
and allow yourself the flexibility to sometimes eat in
response to emotions.
Most of the time, the emotions, moods and stressors that trigger eating are the everyday garden variety. In these cases, trading actions for foods is a beneficial and positive way of coping. However, when problems have existed for a long time, interfere with the joy of living and seem to have no solution, professional counseling may be advisable.
EXERCISE OF THE WEEK TIP:
Staying Active in the Hot Missouri Summer
Staying active during hot weather is a real challenge.
With triple digit heat indices, outdoor exercise can be
dangerous for some people, and downright unpleasant for
most. Don’t throw in your sweat-soaked towel and just sit in
the easy chair in front of the air conditioner.
Try some of these strategies instead to help you stay
active in hot weather:
Get out during the very coolest times—early
morning or later in the evening.
- Apply insect repellent if mosquitoes are
biting.
- Carry a flashlight or wear reflective
clothing to make yourself visible to motorists.
- Drink plenty of water before, during and
after activity to help your body stay cool and
sufficiently hydrated.
- Wear loose fitting, light colored and airy
clothing. Lightweight cottons will help absorb sweat
and keep it evaporating to aid in cooling your skin.
- Reduce the intensity of your activity. Go a
little slower or walk instead of jog. Extend the warm-up
and cool-down phases, and spend less time on the more
intense part of your movement session. You can pick up
the pace again once the weather is more moderate.
- Move indoors to an air-conditioned facility
like the mall or a gym. Mall-walking is easier to do
before stores open for business when you might have to
dodge strolling shoppers.
- Set up a studio in your basement with a TV
and VCR for showing dance, movement or yoga videos.
Cushion the concrete with a mat or rug. Put your
stationary bicycle or treadmill in front of the TV so
you can watch favorite programs or videos while working
out. A great way to combine fitness with fun.
- Jump in the water. Swimming is an excellent
activity, but there are more wet ways to stay active.
Wading, canoeing, running through the sprinkler with
your children, water balloon fights are just the start.
Remember to apply waterproof sunscreen before diving in!
- Play indoor games that involve movement like
bowling, ping pong, even Twister.
- Dance—with a partner or without. Just have
fun!
RECIPE OF THE WEEK:
Spinach Salad Plus
By Linda Rellergert, University of Missouri Extension
Salad:
2 cups cooked bowtie or rotini pasta
2 cups torn raw spinach
¾ cup sliced celery
¼ cup sliced green onions
1 medium tomato or 1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup seedless grapes
½ cup raw snow peas
½ pound cooked shrimp or chicken breast
Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 packages artificial sweetener or 4 teaspoons sugar
Cook pasta according to package directions, but do not
add salt or oil to water. Drain, rinse, cool.
Place all dressing ingredients in jar, close with lid and
shake well.
Wash and prepare salad vegetables and place in salad
bowl. If using fresh or frozen shrimp, remove peel and
veins. If using chicken, cut into bite-size pieces. Add to
salad bowl along with cooled pasta.
Shake dressing well and pour over salad. Toss with salad
tongs or two large spoons.
Makes 4 servings. Each serving made with artificial sweetener provides 276 calories, 32 g carbohydrate, 8.5 g fat, 18 g protein, 85 mg sodium. Exchanges: 2 Starches, 2 Very Lean Meats, 1 Monounsaturated Fat.
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