Book Review: The Small Change Solution

I just finished reading Kim Petrosino’s book "The Small Change Solution: A 52 Step Guide to Getting the Naturally Healthy Lifestyle You Want". Kimberly is a fellow Holistic Health Coach at Happy Healthy Heart, who I met at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Even though I finished the book, I will not loan it, or put it back on my bookshelf. It is the type of book you want to keep out forever on your night table, and refer back to it whenever you “mess up” on your healthy life journey. I would compare it to how a young child feels having a security blankie! Its there for you to remind you that you will be OK and you can do anything. It will keep you motivated and on track. The great thing about Kimberly’s book is that it is written in such a simple, honest and clear style. You feel like you are talking to your BFF while reading it. I believe this is because Kimberly wrote about changes she actually lived and implemented herself, so it is real, and doable. It is also very easy to read because you can read just a few chapters at a time, and try to implement them into habits before you move on.  

While you might think this book is all about buying quinoa and eating vegetables, it is not. Kimberly addresses both primary and secondary foods in her book. Tips like creating goals, creating nighttime rituals, and revamping your social life all affect your secondary food choices. For most people until they can get their primary food choices (career, spirituality, relationships, self-care) in order, they will never be able to control their secondary food choices (actual food which they eat). Kimberly’s ability to address both of these types of foods is what makes her Small Change Solution so effective and so different from many other Health Books.

I think my favorite line in Kimberly’s book is “Stop comparing yourself to others. The only person you need to be better than, is the person you were yesterday.”  I will surely be giving all of my Harmonious Health Coaching Clients a copy of Kimberly’s new book. The Small Change Solution is available in paperback and kindle on AMAZON.

Stay tuned for my interview with Kimberly coming soon on my  Harmonious Health Website www.suzyharmonioushealth.com  as well as a guest blog post written by Kimberly in November which I will announce on my  Facebook Page

Creating Time You Can Count On

CREATING TIME YOU CAN COUNT ON

Over the past few weeks it seems like everyone I know is becoming super busy. For those with kids, the school year is in full swing, homecoming dances, fall sports competitions, exams looming.  As the weather begins to cool off, visions of Thanksgiving and winter break begin to tease everyone’s mind and put them in planning mode. College students are settling in to the start of mid-term exams, and some of my health coaching college kiddos are emailing me for “help!” because they are starting to notice their clothing getting snug around the middle. Friends are telling me how work is suddenly so busy and they are the heaviest weight they have ever been. What is going on? This is stress people!

When you feel under pressure, and you have stress, your body starts releasing “fight-or-flight” stress hormones like cortisol, that are produced in the adrenal glands. When your stress and cortisol levels are high, the body actually resists weight loss. Your body is smart, it wants to provide you with extra energy and strength to compensate for this stress, so it hoards the fat you eat or have present on your body.  In addition, with increased levels of cortisol, our body also does not respond as well to leptin, the hormone that makes us feel full, so we eat more. That is what is causing that “belly bulge”.

Diet, exercise, relaxation, yoga, proper sleep….all of these things can help you reduce your stress levels, calm your body down, reset your hormones and help your body end this cycle of hormone imbalance so you can regain control of your life, your weight, and ultimately your health. However, in order to incorporate any of these positive strategies step one is: CREATE TIME YOU CAN COUNT ON.

We cannot be available to our clients 24/7. We cannot be the only person on call for our children day and night. We cannot internalize our responsibilities and believe that we need to do everything ourselves. We need to rely on others. I will say it again, in order to create balance and take back control of your health, you need to CREATE TIME YOU CAN COUNT ON.

What does that mean? Well, it looks different for everyone. For a stay-at-home Mom or Dad, maybe it means dedicating one weekday while the kids are in school where you create “ME” time. No volunteering in the classroom, no room-parent meetings, no bake-sales. Instead find time to address your physical and emotional needs. A nice long walk in nature, take an exercise class, go to a museum, read a book. Reconnect with who you are as a person, not as a Mommy or Daddy.

For the busy executive, maybe it means choosing 2 days a week in 2 hour time intervals, where your clients know you cannot attend meetings, respond to text messages, emails, or calls. This is time where you address your own needs, in whatever form that looks like. For some, a mid-day massage. For others, 2 hours to write the proposal you need to get out, with no interruptions. When you learn to set boundaries on your time with your clients, they will not be angry. On the contrary, when you take control of your schedule you earn respect of others.  Developing personal boundaries sends a message to others that you know how to examine your priorities and do what is important. Clients see you respecting your own priorities, and incorporating structure in your personal life and they develop a trust in you that you will do the same when it comes to their business needs.

You will never find an exercise routine that will work if you cannot count on a set time frame each day when you can do it. You will never get your eating under control if you do not have a set time weekly to do your meal planning. You will never feel fulfilled, and you will continue to use food to compensate, if you do not create time you can count on to ponder your hopes and dreams and plan for them. You will never get a good night’s sleep if you are struggling to put away that laptop, stop replying to emails, and create good bedtime hygiene. In order to accomplish any of these health building activities, you need to CREATE TIME YOU CAN COUNT ON. (Have I said that enough yet?)

One of the best ways I have found to help my clients to do this, is to start by working with them in my 6 month Health Coaching Program. I schedule appointments with them twice a month at the same day and time each session. Eventually this time slot becomes a TIME THEY CAN COUNT ON, to address their health concerns, and create a plan to take back control of their health. My hope is that they will continue this habit when they have completed my program. My goal is to help my clients to “crave” that positive feeling of well-being so they will feel a need to carve out time each day to focus on their health and well-being.

If you would like to learn more about my Coaching Program, and learn ways to understand that CREATING TIME YOU CAN COUNT ON is not selfish or wasteful, but a necessary step to achieving weight loss, lower stress and overall well-being please email me at harmonioushealth@sbcglobal.net or to schedule a complimentary initial consultation SIGN UP HERE 

Harmoniously yours,

Suzy

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!!

Change. Do you like that word? I am beginning to embrace it. It used to sound like a command to me, change your behavior, change your tone of voice, change your evil ways!! These days, I hear the word less as a command and more as a kind suggestion from a friendly motivator, a gentle advisor, helping me to live my life more authentically, and more "harmoniously".

I recently went back to school at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and I am in the process of changing my career from being a CPA to a Health Coach. This was a change that was by choice, a decision I made, to live my purpose and my passion. While all change is hard, this change has not caused me too much discomfort. I believe that is because when you truly have realized what your purpose is, you wake up excited everyday to figure out how to make it work. While I know I have a long road ahead of me to build my Health Coaching Practice, the challenges and obstacles I encounter each day do not scare me, they motivate me.

This past weekend however, I experienced a very different type of change. My husband and I moved my middle son to Austin, Texas for his Freshman year in college.

Now this is the second time I have done this, moved a kiddo into college, and while it is another change in our family's journey,  I thought to myself, "I got this! This time, second time around, piece of cake". Nope! 

This change did not feel exactly like a choice in my mind. This felt like something I "had" to do, more along the line of the command. Maybe because the school is so much larger than my older son's school, maybe because we were moving him in "early" due to my husband's upcoming business trip, or maybe because having 2 kids in college seemed really scary. While I still have my daughter in high school at home, somehow this change felt very uncomfortable to me.

Yet I embraced it, bravely went to Bed, Bath & Beyond (with years worth of saved coupons), Target, and Staples to get all the necessary items to set up the dorm room. I methodically made the bed... bed topper, bug protector, mattress pad, sheets, blanket (still not sure I did it in the right order, but it worked). All went well, a good meal with the new roommate and his lovely parents, some parting words of advice, "eat well, work hard, make good choices" I think I sounded like this,( Momisms (The Mom Song) , a long tight hug goodbye.  And then the long drive back to Dallas. My husband and I chatted, he talked mostly about his upcoming trip the following day to Australia for business, I listened to songs while fighting back the tears, like Cat Stevens, "It's not time to make a change", "hope you make a lotta nice friends out there",  Green Day, "I hope you have the time of your life", REO Speedwagon "I know it hurts to say goodbye, but its time for me to fly", Lee Ann Womack, "if you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you'll dance".......you get the drift. 

Then, the next day, the "change" hit me. Instead of engaging in my usual routine, I blew off my morning workout. "Well, I am tired from getting home at 1:30am last night so I can skip just today", I thought. Instead of eating my usual healthy breakfast, I snacked on some out of the box processed cereal, drinking way too many cups of coffee, while staring at my cell phone looking at all the photos I took of his dorm room. Instead of grabbing my calendar, seeing what was coming up this week and starting the day, I buried myself back in bed under the covers and wasted a lot of the morning on Facebook. 

I will pause here to say that his school has an awesome closed Facebook group for Parents Only who provide incredible support to one another, and my post about not wanting to bug him and text him did receive over 130 likes and about 35 posts of advice for me!! But I am digressing.

The day lingered on, my husband left for the airport, I drove my daughter to an overnight party and came home to just me and the dog. (The dog who by the way has an ear infection, poor thing!). It was then that I thought to myself, I have wasted most of this day fighting this change. I need to embrace it. I need to hear it as that gentle guide, that kind motivator. SO I pulled out a book I have been trying to read on how to build your health coaching practice. I made a list of things I needed to do this week. I wrote in my journal. I stretched. I munched on cacoa nibs instead of cookies and drank herbal tea. I promised myself I would finally get my BLOG started. I did all the things I tell my clients to do when they feel stressed. And you know what, it helped. I felt better. I still felt uncomfortable, but leaning on those things that are good for me helped me to feel good and embrace this new change.

As a new season gets underway and a new school year starts, whether you have kids starting college or preschool, or no kids at all, I encourage you to look at change in a new way. Not as a threat, not as a command, not as something mean or evil, but as something new and exciting that will lead you on a fantastic adventure. When you look at change in this new way, you stop fighting it and you begin to embrace it, and in doing so, you will add harmony and purpose to your life. 

So here it is, I am proud to say, my very first blog post, that was inspired by change! I hope you enjoy it.

Please share your comments with me and let me know what you would like to hear more about on my blog. Also check out my website Harmonious Health and like my Facebook for more great health tips, recipes and ideas on how to improve your well-being. Remember, your greatest Wealth is your Health. 

Fondly,

Suzy