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This little-known way we can help our overall health – Gut Health Series Part 1, Partners in Slime

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

Did you know that we produce 10 litres of mucus a day?

That gooey, slimy stuff we cough up, is a lubricant for our food as it makes its way through our digestive tract. As icky as it seems, it has a crucial role. Imagine swallowing a bite of an apple in a mucus-free esophagus, food would stay lodged in there for days! We need mucus.

It’s like living in a house with a sturdy roof that keeps you sheltered, warm, and protected. Now imagine life without a roof, leaving you vulnerable and exposed to harsh elements and triggering pain and suffering.

Why is mucus so important?

Mucus is our protective shield from the caustic elements of digestion (think stomach acid and digestive enzymes), and is our front-line barrier, preventing food particles and the trillions of microbes that live in your gut from passing through into your blood. The health and strength of our mucus layer mean the difference between resilient health and conditions like ulcerative colitis. 

How do we produce mucus?

Our intestinal cells secrete some, but a significant amount comes from healthy bacteria (aka your microbiome) as well!  The bacteria that produce our protective mucus layer thrive and feed off prebiotic fibers. But less than 3% of us get enough prebiotic fibers daily, finding it a struggle to pack in such fibrous plant foods like lentils, beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. Add onto that, when we consider the near-sighted benefits of high fat and low carb diets, paving the way to long-term digestive problems and symptoms related to chronic inflammation.

What destroys mucus?

When there isn’t enough food for our healthy bacteria, they turn to munch on our mucus instead! This leads to the destruction or loss of our mucosal layer inviting digestive dysfunction and body-wide inflammation that can take many forms such as constipation, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome and disease, as well as other autoimmune conditions.


Even worse, processed foods use emulsifying agents. This is how food chemists prevent the separation of ingredients, so things stay creamy and uniform. Think ice cream, salad dressings, and nut butter which are some of the most common culprits for their emulsifying effects. Emulsifiers like polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose disrupt mucus-like dishwashing liquid and disperse oily film. It thins and breaks apart the mucus layer, opening holes for bacteria, and harmful proteins to get direct access to our intestinal lining. The best way to avoid emulsifying our protective and precious mucus is to eat Real Food and avoid foods that have more than 5 ingredients, or ingredients you can’t picture in your mind.

A 3 Course Meal for Mucus Building

  1. Enjoy lentils and beans ¼-½ cup daily, you may need to slowly ramp up the amount as your body regrows bacteria to help you break this down.
  2. There’s a species of mucus-producing bacteria that thrive off olive oil. So, while there is no fiber in this product, some of the anti-inflammatory benefits of olive oil can be due to this mechanism.
  3. Matcha green tea contains compounds that provide extra scaffolding for our mucosal layer. It makes mucus thicker, stronger, and more resilient to damage.

We are just scratching the surface of what our incredible microbiome can offer us, so stay tuned as the science continues to unfold better ways to understand the components of health and longevity!

Reference:

Charlotte, A. et al., (2020). Impact of diet and the bacterial microbiome on the mucous barrier and immune disorders. European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 76(3), pg 714-734. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/all.14548

Paone P, Cani PDMucus barrier, mucins and gut microbiota: the expected slimy partners?Gut 2020;69:2232-2243. Retrieved from https://gut.bmj.com/content/69/12/2232

Annika Braun, MD, et al. (2009). Alterations of phospholipid concentration and species composition of the intestinal mucus barrier in ulcerative colitis: A clue to pathogenesis, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Volume 15, Issue 11, 1. Pg 1705–1720. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1002/ibd.20993

Davis, W. (2022). Super Gut: reprogram your microbiome to restore health, lose weight, and turn back the clock. Harper Collins, Toronto CA.

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Belly Laughs Are Good For You

By Dr. Stacy Irvine

I was reading a fantastic book called “Train Your Brain Like an Olympian” and I came across a very interesting passage.  Did you know that on average children laugh approximately six times per day?  This number drops off dramatically as we get older, and our lives become more serious.  Here is the problem…Laughter provides both our neuromuscular and hormonal system with essential feedback and stimulation that helps keep us healthy and ultimately happy.

Now let’s talk a bit about the last two years.  How much do you think you missed out on great belly laughs?  I am sure, like almost all of us, that joyous sound and feeling has been hard to come by.  Anyone living in Toronto has had a particularly hard time with our extreme levels of lockdown and restrictions.  This is part of living in the largest city in the country.  Hopefully you and your families are working towards a full recovery and are starting to feel like life may be returning to a time where laughter becomes a part of your regular life again.

But how can we make sure of this?

Try these three things:

  1. Social Time – A critical component to mental health, as well as physical health, is social activities. These are situations where you are spending time with friends and family, and they almost always involve laughter.
  2. Sign up for a daily laugh – There are many sites that will send you daily content that will make you laugh. Daily Laugh is a good example.
  3. Turn Up Humor – It is virtually impossible to avoid bad news. The media loves it and for some reason we love consuming it. Instead of trying to avoid it altogether, let’s reduce the amount we take in and replace it with content that makes us laugh. Just searching for the ‘funniest’ anything will be sure to discover many segments that put a smile on your face.

And to help you kick off some laughable time in your day, take a look at any of these three segments. Enjoy the amazing feeling that laughing brings you.

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Secrets To Living Long

Written by: Tim Irvine

The picture you are looking at is that of Arthur Kennedy Sr. He’s one of my heroes and a shining example of how to live life. You can learn from him, so read on to find out how.

Arthur is 90 years old and took this picture a few weeks before writing this article. His trip to the Grand Canyon was part of his 90th birthday celebration. I’ve only known him for the last ten years, but in that time, he’s travelled to many exotic locales in the world, usually multiple times a year. Herein lies the important message.

Arthur isn’t managing his health to the nth degree; he’s just enjoying life doing things he loves to do.

Sure, he pays attention to what he eats, but not religiously. He loves a great meal and a nice bottle of wine.

He exercises regularly but does so to continue to do the things he loves, with travel being at or near the top of the list. It helps to keep him young.

He has family that he spends a lot of meaningful time with, including some of his travel.

Regardless of a person’s age, there are many lessons to be learned from Arthur. There is, however, one thing that he has just nailed:  He fills his life with experiences and people that he loves, and supports it with behaviours that allow him to do it whenever he wants. That’s the secret sauce that brings him happiness. It is also the same sauce that brings the rest of us happiness.

It’s worth thinking about how you might be able to adapt to this simple overarching approach. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, give yourself a score on how well you are doing but exclude 7 altogether. If you are 8 or higher, you are already doing a great job. If your score is 6 or lower, you may want to consider adjusting some things to have a bit more joy in your life. Pick just one thing you would like more of and take any size of steps towards it. You will get there one way or another.

To adapt a slogan from Nike, forget about ‘Be like Mike’, be like Arthur instead!

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Are You Embracing ‘Micro’?

Tim Irvine

I was reading this article on micro vacations and it reminded me how my thoughts on ‘workouts’ have evolved over the years.

Back when I was a part of a national championship university football team (I had to get that in there 😊), my workouts were much, much different than they are today. High performance sports, full control of my own schedule, lots of free time, etc. I could have worked out for 3 hours at a time and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference to the rest of my schedule.

Today, I run a business with five locations, an amazing team,  and have three children who are all involved in sports. Needless to say, my life as an athlete was much different than mine is as a parent and business owner.

That’s where ‘micro’ concept comes in. 

As a whole, I think we spend too much time pursuing the optimal way of doing things. We look at examples on social media, elite athletics, or people that we know who seem to ‘have it right’. A different approach is necessary to take into consideration the rest of us. 

I encourage you to drop the notion of doing things perfectly or optimally, and instead, take a micro approach to all things wellness and do what you can.

Don’t have 10min to put that salad together? Then crunch on a carrot.

Finding the time to get to the gym in short supply? Go through a body weight routine at home.

Can’t get away for that 10-day vacation? Make it a weekend within a couple of hours of where you live.

The point is, a little is better than none. It can be less stressful and sometimes more enjoyable than the full version. Remember, even small steps get you somewhere.

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Do your workouts make you feel this good?

Dr. Stacy Irvine, DC

Why We Care So Much About What We Do……

An important part of working in the Health and Fitness industry, includes staying on top of the latest research along with developing an awareness of what is being presented to your clients and patients through a wide variety of media sources.  The normal scenario is when a completely bonkers fad diet is being promoted by a well-known celebrity, or a risky new type of workout is all over Instagram. We need to be prepared to explain what is happening and why is it probably not the best answer or solution any of us are looking for.

Rarely an article comes along that reflects a GREAT story of why we do what we do, and how our hard work and efforts can pay off. That happened with the article below from 56-year-old Nicole Haggerty.  In this well written, First-Person account, she eloquently explains what weightlifting has done for her, and how it has changed her life….

My favourite quote from this article is as follows:

“The past five months have unfolded as the most empowering journey I have every been on – and that includes getting a PhD. Every other accomplishment has been centered in my head……..But on reflection, I wasn’t paying much attention to my body.”

Please take a moment to read the full article. If you are an avid weightlifter, or just starting out on your weightlifting journey, we are sure you will find some extra motivation in these words.  

In the event the link above does not work, here is the article in full.

Nicole Haggerty

Published in The Globe and Mail, February 27, 2022

Red-faced, sweating and gasping, my brain tries to focus on what my trainer just said. I’ve just set down a 130 lbs hex frame and stepped off the platform to gulp water.

“Describe that to me,” asked Rob. He is looking for an answer that requires me to do something I’m just learning to do – connect my brain to my body.

Yes, I know. My brain is connected to my body – that slowly and inexorably expanding thing, below my neck that has been carrying my head around for the last 56 years. Since completing my undergraduate degree, work life has increasingly immobilized me. Sitting stationary at a desk, staring at a screen – it’s mostly through my fingers that I connect to my brain. I am an academic working at a business school – so they work feverishly to keep up as I pour out my thinking onto the screen, into the memo, e-mail, journal article … whatever the work is.

“It felt great,” I reply. “I could feel the work down my whole posterior chain.” (Who says that? – oh ya, I do!) “But my breathing and bracing weren’t great and I think I let my knees fall inward a couple of times.” Rob is quick to correct, encourage and set up more weight. Then cheerfully he’ll say, “Okay, next set.”

The last five months have unfolded as the most empowering journey I have ever been on – and that includes getting a PhD. Every other accomplishment in my life has been centred in my head – grades, degrees, promotions, published papers, even teaching. I’ve had a few close calls with fitness before – short triathlons, spin class, jogging. But on reflection, I wasn’t paying much attention to my body. These were instead, great opportunities to think my deep thoughts or focus on the world around me while I drowned out my panting breaths with the throbbing 80s music of my youth.

Weightlifting is different. Rob, my guide, has patiently walked me through a whole new world of specific functional movements, made possible by specific muscles moving in particular ways with increasing weights. He is a trainer and manager at my local gym and I was seeking someone who would help me with a single goal – get strong. I was tired of obsessing about steps and macros, and infinitely weary of the “eat less, move more” advice.

Getting strong (“not toned, not thin, not ready for a 5k”) seemed simple if a little embarrassing at my age. But Rob immediately took me seriously. It started with a humbling assessment of my strength and mobility.

Despite my age, size and beginner status, Rob has made me feel safe. Through his knowledge, patient demonstrations and encouragement, he has induced this body to squat, hinge, press and squeeze its way to all kinds of personal bests (which frankly is a low bar when you start from nothing but still – they keep coming). He’s taught me a new language – hypertrophy, eccentric, isometric … and more. He’s there when I falter, ready to ensure I don’t hurt myself even as he grins and asks for three more torturous reps.

The first weeks, I did everything he asked (glad for the mask mandate since it hid my ‘ugly lifting face’ though not my groaning). And always, he was there, clipboard in hand, a watchful gaze and posing questions like “Where did you feel that?” or the more general request, “Describe that for me.”

Early on I took these as rote pleasantries. Over time I realized he wanted more than rote answers. They were part of what needed to be trained. Having shown me how to do an exercise, Rob would explain where I should feel it and he encouraged me to think about the muscle or chain of muscles as they moved, stretched and strained. The questions were a test of that connection. Gradually, I started thinking my way back into my body. Not my body as an undifferentiated whole but as individual, electric connections to newly identified places – my traps, my quads, my delts, my glutes, my triceps and much more. Intentionally. Specifically. Magically. It’s surprisingly difficult and often funny. Like my recent five-second pause, struggling to repeat a lunge move that Rob had demonstrated because my disconnected brain couldn’t fathom what my legs were supposed to be doing. It’s hard work and relentless – every rep, every set, every time. Unnatural and unfamiliar. Yet infinitely natural and amazingly powerful. Rob has led me on a journey of discovery that I didn’t know could be so sacred and so glorious.

I am five months into a new way of living with this 56-year-old body. It talks to me in a totally different way now. A year ago, the simple act of standing up would provoke a cascade of little pains in my knees and hips, and a unique sort of unbending, wobbling walk as I unfolded myself. Today, my body still aches when I stand up – but the pains I feel now don’t scare me with their portending impairments. They are my quads, glutes, pecs and more – I’m still getting to know them all. Now they remind me of their capabilities, they call to me for movement, they demand to be challenged. And I long to continue this dialogue with them and represent their needs and experiences so I’m ready the next time Rob says:

“Describe that to me.”

Nicole Haggerty lives in London, Ont.

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How Inflammation Makes You Sick

Dr. Tamara Kung, ND

Inflammation is a protective signalling process from our immune system. It becomes amplified when we need to deal with an infection or injury and then quiets down so our body can regenerate, heal, and free up resources for other important bodily functions. The problem comes when the signal to ‘fire’ is left on for no good reason.

The image of acute inflammation after an injury is hot, red, painful, and swollen. But chronic inflammation can easily fly by the radar in our day-to-day life. Chronic inflammation is something that’s happening in all of us, but the level of intensity and amount of internal buffer we build determines how quickly our tissues get broken down. 

Chronic inflammation can be measured through a blood test called c-reactive protein (CRP), and those who are at the top third range are twice as likely to have a heart attack than those at the bottom third. A similar trend can be found for diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s, as risks for these diseases rise with the level of CRP measured. Cancer for instance was described in the 1870s as “a wound that doesn’t heal” by the father of modern pathology. He observed, and rightly so, that tumours often formed in sites of chronic inflammation. It is a generic fertilizer for every disease, and accounts for more than 50% of all causes of mortality. 

In addition, when the immune system is already revved up, a small insult like a cold or flu virus can trigger our system to overreact. This is when we see people who may meet the same virus but have drastically different responses. Those who have more chronic inflammation tend to have exacerbated symptoms and feel way more ill. Compare those who seem to never get sick. Those people are likely dealing with the same viruses, but their systems are strong enough that they don’t need the ‘big’ reaction which shows in the form of symptoms.

Physical activity is one way we can consistently lower inflammation. Did you know muscles also secrete some hormones? Specifically, when they contract, they release hormones that help reduce inflammation throughout the body. A large meta-analysis was done on over 1 million participants across Europe and the United States and found those who achieved 150 minutes of movement per week saw a reduction in risk for cardiovascular deaths by 23%, and type 2 diabetes by 26%. Another study found that hitting this number for physical activity reduced the risk for Alzheimer’s by 40%.

Staying active can mean anything that gets your body to move. Walking with a group of friends to your favourite spot in the city, gardening, taking a group class, rock climbing with co-workers, doing some neck rolls, stretches during work breaks, or air squats while you brush your teeth. Getting your muscles engaged, contracting to release anti-inflammatory hormones, and pumping your lymphatic system (immune system’s superhighway) are both ways to protect you from getting sick now and into the future. 

The bottom line is, keep inflammation down and you will be sick less, and when you do get sick, it won’t be as bad.

Reference:

https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/inflammation-a-unifying-theory-of-disease

Furman, D., Campisi, J., Verdin, E. et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med 25, 1822–1832 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0675-0

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0

Santos-Lozano A, Pareja-Galeano H, Sanchis-Gomar F, Quindós-Rubial M, Fiuza-Luces C, Cristi-Montero C, Emanuele E, Garatachea N, Lucia A. Physical Activity and Alzheimer Disease: A Protective Association. Mayo Clin Proc. 2016 Aug;91(8):999-1020. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.04.024. PMID: 27492909.

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/jaha.115.002495


Santos-Lozano, A. et al. Physical activity and Alzheimer disease: a protective association. Mayo. Clin. Proc. 91, 999–1020 (2016). Retrieved from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27492909/

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Could Our Instincts Unlock Our Health and Happiness?

Part 1 of 3 – How To Cope Well Well In Our Modern Society

By: Dr. Stacy Irvine, DC

 Have you ever wondered why certain behaviours and actions happen before you even have a chance to think about them? Or why do certain feelings and drives return even though you do everything in your power to control them? This is exactly how our instincts work in our everyday lives.  If we were able to understand them even just a bit better, we could hopefully harness these powerful pathways for good.

What if the answers to unlocking better habits and performance were within us all along?  Maybe we are just ignoring them as we spend endless minutes diving deep into our social media, or late-night bingeing the latest Netflix series.  Is it possible that alcohol, food or even prescription drugs are enabling us to numb our senses and instincts in a way that allows us to manage and cope better within our 20th-century lifestyles?

I recently listened to a fascinating interview of a researcher, Rod Phillips, who was discussing both the positive and negative impacts of alcohol in modern society.  Part of the discussion was around the idea that when human beings are placed in stressful situations, for example flying in a plane, consumption of alcohol can help alleviate anxiety. My recent book, Your Better Instincts, explores some similar concepts about when “humans are placed in stressful situations” we often reach for ways to dull our senses or distract ourselves.  Unfortunately, most of these distractions have a negative impact on our long-term health.  You could argue that our sedentary, screen-filled work environments lead to increased stress, and it is possible our coping mechanisms have just not caught up to the fast pace of technology. Could it be that our continued success might be our downfall?  We have invented so many ways to digitize our lives, create comfort, and reduce effort, but I am worried we may have tipped the scales too far in one direction.  We may have outperformed ourselves and are now paying a huge price in our health.

In our extremely busy, highly connected lifestyles, we are ignoring many of our basic instinctual patterns. We develop our instincts as we age and navigate life. Instincts are responsible for our survival as a species, and they are the amazing attributes that separate us from machines.  Spending time in nature, connecting with friends, moving daily as much as possible, are all proven techniques that allow us to thrive as healthy and happy humans.  By realizing these ancient patterns are within us, it will help us understand how best to use them in real life.  When we develop our Instincts to their full potential, we can spend less time avoiding and distracting ourselves from the world around us.  Finding our way back, moving away from distraction, toward awareness could be the easiest way to live our happiest and healthiest “In the Moment” lives.

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HOW MOVEMENT STRENGTHENS IMMUNITY 

Tamara Kung, ND

With all this talk about protecting ourselves from viral infections, many of us are seeking the best ways to support our immune system.


Our immune system is a potent world of strong, frontline defenses, and highly specialized backup troops. 

While we have many drugs that are effective at stopping bacterial infections (antibiotics), drugs for the more prevalent viral infections, are lacking. Why? Because bacteria are easier to target. They look very different from our own cells. Viruses, however, are sneaky, and they infect our cells and effectively turn our own cells against us. So having medicine that targets viruses, means they target us too, making antiviral drugs riskier, and something we deploy only after careful consideration once we factor in the serious side effects that result. This is where your medical professional comes in.

So how do we effectively fight against viral infections without the elevated risk? A strong immune system. One of the best ways we can enhance our own immune system’s effectiveness is through movement. Why is this seemingly boring, and redundant answer an untapped and often unrecognized immune enhancer?

The answer relates to a parallel system that runs throughout our body that is like our circulatory system. Instead of blood, this track is used by immune cells, and it is critical for full force activation of your immune defenses! It is called the lymphatic system. While the circulatory system has the heart to pump fluid, movement is what helps those immune cells get to where they need to be.

The lymphatic system is like a superhighway where your immune cells communicate with each other to keep updated on what’s happening. If it’s flowing well, and there are no traffic jams, information can be relayed quickly, which is what we need. Especially if our body gets breached with a harmful virus. We don’t want any delays here as this will give the virus lots of time to replicate and cause more serious damage. This is why regular movement is so important, and any kind of movement matters. Typical gym workouts, running, sports, but also stretching, rolling your head from side to side, getting up for a glass of water, taking stairs, brushing your teeth, and doing air squats. Any activity that stretches and squishes your muscles and organs acts as a pump and is an effective way to improve the movement of lymphatic fluid

As an example, here is what happens when an immune cell notices a viral infection in your lungs. Initially, the immune cell swallows up the virus, destroys it into small pieces, and carries the remnants of the virus as proof. It travels along the lymphatic system superhighway where it will be able to alert your immune system’s big guns (B & T cells) and tells them to wake up and get over to the lungs. These highly effective immune cells then travel to the battlefield. If we can pump this fluid at a greater rate, then we get faster communication, activation, and response.

The second key to the lymphatic system are lymph nodes. We often notice these as annoying lumps swelling up under our jawline or neck when we’re sick. Your lymph nodes are like megacities, where immune cells congregate after their highway journey. It’s where they meet each other and sit down to communicate what’s happening and alert your B & T cells to gather up their troops and move to battle.

Much of our lymph nodes are situated in our neck, shoulders, elbows, abdomen, hips, and knees. Your body’s clever way of maximizing the impact of movement (like doing squats, or something that feels as good a head roll, or shoulder stretch) as it keeps the immune cities flowing and prevents congestion. 

So keep those highways open and flowing by pumping your body. You will be helping to activate and “boost” your immune system’s efficiency and effectiveness on a daily basis!


Reference:
Immune: A journey into the mysterious system that keeps you alive. Philipp Dettmer.

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Try this one thing for more success, happiness, satisfaction, and more!

Tim Irvine

If you are reading this, the headline of this article got your attention, and you are interested in knowing this ‘secret’. I’ll get right to the point.

I’m quite certain that 99% of people reading this have something they would like to do but have been putting off. Is that you? You can be honest. The nice thing about this is virtually everyone in the world is in the same boat. Whether you seemingly have everything or nothing, we all procrastinate on one or more ideas.

Back to the secret. The ‘one thing’ I’m talking about is simple.

Action

That’s it. To get what you want you must act.

Before you stop reading, I need another two and a half minutes of your time to prove this works. Here is a mini-workshop for you. Seriously, try it out.

  1. In 30 seconds or less, pick the first thing that you want to do or achieve that comes into your head. Small or large, it doesn’t matter.
  2. In 60 seconds or less, write down two steps that you will take to start the process. This could be on a piece of paper or an email to yourself. Use whatever method you like that you know works for you.
  3. In 30 seconds or less, put dates you will act beside each of the steps.
  4. In 30 seconds or less, send this information to someone you know well that you feel a sense of responsibility towards, and let them know you are excited about starting this journey.

That’s it! If you have done the above, you are on your way to achieving your goal, and building a technique that will pay incredible dividends to you for the rest of your life. And the great thing? It also fills you with satisfaction and pride that you have overcome the procrastination that has prevented you from starting. Once you get rolling with this process, it becomes infectious, and you won’t want to stop.

One caution though is don’t overdo it. Temper your excitement, match it with real-time availability, and build consistency so you don’t overwhelm yourself.

If you like, add a second layer of accountability, post it on Instagram and tag Totum (@totumlifescience). Good luck!

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What’s really driving your habits?

By: Tim Irvine

A couple of days ago, I talked with a friend of mine about their food choices over the last while. It ended up being a deep, hour-long conversation about what drives habits in general. I have to say; it was very illuminating.

To provide context, this friend has quite a bit of knowledge around health, wellness, and, specifically, nutrition. They are not professionals in the area but have worked with professionals enough to know what works for them and what doesn’t.

Our recent conversation began with their contemplation of seeing a nutrition professional as they can’t seem to get on track with their eating. Why were they looking to see someone when they already knew what works? There was one specific example of a meal they prepared for themselves. They were going to make something that they enjoyed and was healthy, but instead chose unhealthy yet still enjoyable. It was a conscious decision to go with the unhealthy option, after which they felt disappointed in themselves.

This cycle may be familiar to you either because you identify with it personally or apply to someone you know. It is common and, I would argue, happens to all of us somehow. If not with food, then with drinks, TV, social media, etc.

In my conversation, two essential elements surfaced. The desire to make a choice that we know is not ideal is often driven by emotion rather than logic. Something is going on in our lives that day/week/month/year upsetting us. Sometimes we are aware of it; sometimes, we are not. We can also be aware but underestimate how much it is impacting us. In these situations, we make emotional decisions to provide ourselves comfort. With food as an example, we know the bag of chips isn’t ideal for us, but we feel like we’ve had a bad day, so we’re going to treat ourselves. We support ourselves through these acts, and they can become habitual over time. A lousy day equals a bag of chips.

We can even be disappointed in ourselves because we have ‘failed,’ are ‘weak,’ or made a ‘bad decision.’ I acknowledge what it feels like, but I don’t think it’s an accurate description of what has happened. Believe these are simply mechanisms we use to try and ‘treat’ ourselves when we feel down. T’s human nature, and of course, we all want to feel supported and have our spirits buoyed.

The second element is closely related to the first. T is the ‘why’ behind the emotion. Sing me as an example; I can manage a fair amount of stress well. The problem is, if I have enough of it, I’m blind to the fact it is affecting me. Get more irritable, and those around me notice it. I’m lucky because those close to me call me on it. This has helped me understand I need to be more aware of the stress I’m under. I think some version of this is valid for most people. The result is not typical or ideal behaviour for us compared to less stressful periods. Like picking a food we know is a treat when we know better or that glass of wine or cocktail after a hard day.

The bottom line is our decisions are not simply a product of a ‘do’ or ‘don’t’ mechanism. It’s often much more complex, with other factors driving our choices. It’s good to reflect on the stresses in our lives to help better understand the root of some of these decisions.

*It’s important to note that I am not a psychologist, and these are my observations over many years of seeing clients. Please take it as such and not as professional advice. I’m hopeful psychologists would agree that being more self-aware in positing.