Stay the path

There is a continuum between excellent health and chronic disease. Each one of us is somewhere on that continuum — from an Olympic athlete to a heart patient. Our goal with this New Year, New You Challenge is to assist you, wherever you currently are on that line, in moving up the continuum toward better health. Even those people with a chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes or arthritis can move toward greater health by following a wellness lifestyle. Taking steps such as getting regular exercise, eating a healthy diet that is low in fat, high in fiber and includes fruits and vegetables, losing weight, quitting smoking, monitoring your risk factors for heart disease will move you toward a healthier, longer life. The goal is to maintain better health — functional health — throughout your life.

During the past eight weeks you have all been making changes to become healthier. Maintenance of a lifestyle change is the real battle. Often, people will start an exercise plan, lose weight or quit smoking to find a few weeks or months or even years down the road that they are back where they started. They quit going to the gym, they gain back the weight that was lost or they have started smoking again. In a sense, changing the habit is easy, maintaining the change is hard. Maintenance is the key. For a day, we can all make a change but to maintain the change, to refrain from falling back into old habits, that takes a real commitment and persistence.

In our struggle to make lifestyle changes, we often complain of not having enough time. Time management, our lack of time or our lack of prioritizing time to be healthy can be a challenge. Women especially have a hard time with this concept because we tend to be the caretakers of our families. We need to take care of ourselves first, so we can stay healthy for everyone else. When struggling with the concept of “me first,” just remember the instructions from the flight attendant regarding oxygen masks. You are always instructed to put the mask on yourself first, before assisting anyone traveling with you who needs help.

Experiencing uncontrolled stress can also take a toll. Being under high stress is a high-risk situation. When under stress, we tend to fall back on old unhealthy behaviors. So take to heart the lessons on stress management and continue to practice stress management on a regular basis. Exercise regularly to help keep stress at bay.

If you do have trouble with a new behavior, remember that the longer you stick with a new behavior, the more confident and comfortable you will become. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Lifestyle change is a lifelong process.

In order to maintain the lifestyle changes you have made over the last eight weeks, follow these tips to help you succeed in Staying the Path to Heart Health.

1. Set a new goal. You can always find a new peak to climb — just set your sights, make an Action Plan and start taking the Action Steps to get there.

2. Record and reward your behavior. Use positive reinforcement. Keep a record of how many minutes you exercise, how many pounds you have lost or how many days since your last cigarette. Reward yourself along the way.

3. Get support from friends, co-workers, and your family. Studies have shown that having support for your lifestyle change helps you to be more successful.

4. Make plans for your healthy lifestyle. You need to pre-plan your meals, plan the time you will fit in exercise, plan for plateaus and set backs. Be prepared with a plan each week.

5. Monitor your frame of mind. Relapses or slides, where you fall off the wellness wagon, are commonly experienced. Expect to have a relapse on the road to health and prepare yourself to overcome it. Try to avoid high- risk situations and have a plan as to how you will get back on track if you get side-tracked.

6. Motivate yourself. When things start getting tough — mix up your workout, buy a workout video, get a new healthy cooking cookbook, read a fitness magazine, join a new fitness class or join a gym. Do something to re-energize!

7. Focus on what you want most! Every day, what you eat, how much activity you get is up to you. It’s your life, it’s your heart, it’s your choice — choose wisely.

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Resources:

Log on to the American Heart Association website (www.americanheart.org) for information on Start! a walking program or the BetterU Go Red for Women lifestyle makeover. Both are 12-week programs you can use to assist with lifestyle change.

Tags: new year new you, life, health