Repent--of your Health Habits?

So, hopefully you have been tracking your food for the week like I have. If I'm being honest, I was a very good tracker over the week and the weekend was a little bit harder for me. How did you do?

In church this morning Fr. Tom gave an excellent sermon on repentance. Of course, his purpose was not to give me motivation and encourage me in my fitness--however, his sermon did just that. (You can check out his sermon once it's posted here) The focus of his sermon was on the root of the word repentance which from the Greek and Latin root means to re-think. This was very interesting to me as I often think of repenting as "feeling sorry about," but rarely think about it as "re-thinking my actions."

So, now you're wondering how this relates to health and fitness and more specifically. how does this relate to tracking our foods for a week? Well, perfectly. Often when we make goals for our health, we focus on what we "feel sorry" about--eating too much sugar, not eating enough vegetables, eating too many carbs, etc. In doing that, we "feel sorry" then move on and try to change without really "re-thinking" why we are having that problem in the first place. For example, in my tracking, I realized that I struggle with mid-day snacking at work. My initial thought was to "feel sorry" and stop snacking--however, this does not address my main problem. So, "re-thinking" means looking back and saying, "why do I struggle with unhealthy mid-day snacking at work?" And here's what I found:

1. I get hungry in the afternoons. Every single day. 
2. I don't bring enough healthy snacks with me to work. 
3. When I do bring snacks, they usually aren't as tasty as the chocolate cake & cookies my patients bring me. Seriously. My patients bring DELICIOUS treats. We are very spoiled.

So, in re-thinking, I realize that in order to truly "repent" of my poor health habit, I need to start bringing healthy and delicious snacks with me to work every day, so that not only will I stop eating unhealthy snacks, but I will instead choose to eat good healthy foods. 

Now, it's your turn. Let's assess your week of tracking. Look through your week and ask yourself these questions: 

• Where did I struggle with eating/drinking healthy? 
• Do I eat powerful, wholesome snacks or high-sugar, low-nutrient snacks?
• Am I drinking enough water during the day? 
• Did I eat enough fruits/vegetables? 
• Did I eat processed foods or natural foods? 
• How large were my portions? 
• Where was I successful in eating and drinking well? 

After you assess your week, choose 1 or 2 areas where you would like to improve. Then, "Re-think" why you are currently struggling with these negative health habits. Is it because you aren't eating regularly enough? Are you eating foods that are lacking nutrients? Are you not drinking enough water? Now, choose 1 action step you can do this week to change those habits. It will look like this. 

• Problem Area #1: Poor snacking habits during the day at work. 
• Solution: Bring healthy, high-energy, delicious snacks to keep me satisfied while working. 
• Problem Area #2: Over-eating high sugar foods late at night. 
• Solution: Eat a healthy, strong dinner & keep low-sugar, delicious snacks to eat if needed after dinner. 

Now, it's your turn. Let me know how your analysis comes out! And watch out for your next challenge tomorrow for this upcoming week! 

http://womenshealth.gov/heart-health-stroke/heart-disease-stroke-prevention/