Myintegrativehealth Blog – Adrenal Fatigue – Natural Hormone Therapy – Thyroid Dysfunction – Pain Relief – Digestive Health

It’s a complaint I hear in the office nearly everyday: my joints ache. From the lower back, to the hips and knees to the neck, nearly all of us at some point will deal with joint pain. Also known as arthritis, joint pain for a large number of people can be nearly constant and as a result can impact daily routines and prevent folks from accomplishing their greater fitness goals as well.

Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) put the number of Americans suffering with all types of arthritis at over 43 million. In general, there are many different types of arthritis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus and ankylosing spondylitis, to name a few. The most common form is osteoarthritis that we associate with the aging process; rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is an autoimmune condition where the body mysteriously turns its own immune system against the joints. Both conditions can cause significant joint pain and in some cases, deformities to the joints.

Joint pain is not a “modern day” problem, however, as skeletons excavated from as far back as the Paleolithic times have shown physical changes to bones consistent with arthritis (1).  It is thought that the high incidence of arthritis within this primitive population was a result of an extremely high level of physical activities such as hunting and gathering.  Yet as time went on and especially through medieval times, evidence suggests that as we became more sedentary (agriculture vs. hunter gatherer), incidence of arthritis dropped, probably a result of the vast difference of physical stress placed on the body during primitive times compared to more “civilized” periods.  There does seem to be a balance, however because around the 18^th and 19^th centuries, when we became more sedentary compared to our medieval counterparts, cases of arthritis started to rise again (2). These studies do not suggest that a sedentary lifestyle can prevent or, on the other hand, cause arthritis, but recent data indicate that moderate exercise, three times a week, can actually reduce arthritis-related disabilities by 47%.

This leads us to ask, besides regular mild to moderate exercise, are there other treatment options for arthritis? At the top of the list lies the food that you put into your body. It appears that foods that cause gastrointestinal inflammation like sugar, members of the nightshade family, trans fats, and to some degree red meat can worsen joint pain. In addition, the lack of good omega-3 fatty acids in the diet along with absent fruits and vegetables, particularly berries, green, orange and yellow veggies (not corn!) prevent your body from creating its own anti-inflammatory mechanisms. Another simple addition to your diet is fresh, clean drinking water. Arizonans are chronically dehydrated and you should try to aim for about half of your body weight in ounces for water intake each day.

Secondly, nature has also provided us with a number of botanical herbs that for centuries have been highly effective in treating arthritis. These botanicals include quercetin, boswelia, curcumin, nettles and cramp bark to name a few. More recently, studies have demonstrated that botanicals target a number of inflammatory signaling molecules and shut down the inflammatory process. One well-designed study in 2009 showed that curcumin and resveratrol were superior to traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines in reducing inflammatory markers, but more importantly reducing pain felt by test subjects.

Finally, a treatment option becoming more and more popular (although founded in the 1940s) is prolotherapy. It is a type of injection medicine where regions of tendons or ligaments around joints are injected with a non-pharmacological natural solution (glucose, lidocaine, vitamin B12 and folic acid) to stimulate the body to strengthen weakened connective tissue and therefore reduce or eliminate pain. Unlike steroid injections (“cortisone”), which only provide temporary relief and carry numerous side effects, prolotherapy is designed to stimulate tissue growth and promote true healing that ultimately alleviates pain without any side effects.

Although arthritis is quite common, it is not something that derails you from your daily routine or causes significant discomfort. From the foods you eat, to naturally occurring herbs to modern interventions like prolotherapy, your arthritic pain can be controlled and help you return to normal range of motion in your joints and feeling pain free!

1. Rogers J et al. Arthritis in Saxon and mediaeval skeletons. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1981 December 19; 283(6307): 1668-1670.
2. MacLennan WJ: History of arthritis and bone rarefaction evidence from paleopathology onwards. Scott Med J. 1999 Feb;44(1):18-20.

Mention the phrase “food allergies” and most of us imagine those poor kiddos who get near a peanut butter sandwich only to have massive swelling around the eyes and throat, followed by difficulty breathing and hives.  The constellation of these symptoms make up what’s known as an anaphylactic reaction which, unfortunately, has become more and more frequent in the general population over recent years.  In fact, some newer studies suggest that approximately 3-8% of Americans run the risk of anaphylaxis when exposed to any number of foods, although tree nuts, milk and shellfish are at the top of the anaphylactic list.

Even more, we are seeing a less severe variation of these dangerous food allergies, called “allergy sensitivities” that don’t typically cause life-threatening symptoms, but can still be quite uncomfortable nonetheless.  If you have symptoms like indigestion, gastritis, eczema, asthma, celiac disease, arthritis, and even depression, anxiety, and chronic fatigue, it could be a result of a “food sensitivity.”  Additional reports suggest that at least 60% of Americans suffer from symptoms due to adverse food reactions as a result of food sensitivities.

Food allergies/sensitivities may be a reaction to a protein, a starch, a contaminant found in the food (e.g., pesticide residues) or a food additive (e.g., colorings, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc).  Once the body decides it’s uneasy with a food, a complex cascade of events takes place that can result in either a life-threatening situation (anaphylaxis) or simply the aforementioned unpleasant symptoms.

Driving this reaction is the immune system’s production of multiple types of antibodies.  For example, during an anaphylaxis response, IgE antibodies are produced within two hours of exposure.  These antibodies then bind to specific cells called mast cells and basophils which release their inner contents–histamine.  This is why an anti-histamine, like Benadryl or Quercetin, is often prescribed for allergies.

Yet, it’s the more delayed allergic response found in food sensitivities, one that can take up to 72-hours after exposure, that causes the aforementioned “uncomfortable” symptoms.  This response is usually driven by IgG antibodies and although it can stimulate the release of some histamine, it usually recruits many more players of the immune system, further complicating the reaction in the body.

Studies suggest that dairy, wheat and eggs are the three biggest sources of food sensitivities in people.  How is this determined?  In the past, the skin prick test was used where small amounts of foods were injected into the skin either on the back or forearm.  Now a simple blood test does away with this antiquated test.  These blood tests can measure for both IgG and IgE antibodies and help guide you and your provider in a direction for food avoidance, which is the mainstay of treatment.

So if you suffer from indigestion, asthma, eczema, etc., simply avoiding problematic foods could be your ticket to feeling well.  In addition to elimination, I recommend rotation of food families (e.g., veggies, fruits, meats, etc.) along with assisting the body with its normal digestive processes through the use of pancreatic and stomach enzymes.  Probiotics can be quite helpful as well.

Living in fear of foods because of their potential to make us sick is unnecessary when you recognize there are easy ways to identify possible sources of food allergies/sensitivities.  Combined with practical and realistic interventions you can take to calm the reaction and subsequent symptoms, you can alleviate a multitude of health conditions.

I recently had the pleasure of enjoying an afternoon at the  Musical Instrument Museum  in Phoenix.  If you haven’t made it to the museum yet, I encourage you to do so.  Not only can it be a great way to get out of the summer heat, but you can hear some fantastic music and get an impressive cross-cultural experience.  There’s also a large “hands on” department where kids and adults alike can try for themselves a myriad of unique instruments from around the world.  There’s no other museum in the world with the approach the MIM is taking, and we’re lucky enough to have it in our own backyard.

During my recent visit, one particularly striking feature about the MIM is how quiet the whole place is.  You would expect a musical museum boasting over 10,000 instruments to be quite the cacophony but, in fact, it’s easy to confuse the building as a library.  They achieve this feat through personal headphones that guests wear and, as you approach each exhibit, a sample of music from the displayed instrument is played wirelessly to your own headphones.  Walk away, the music fades out and you’re once again brought back to the silence of the museum.

The whole experience got me thinking about the concept of listening.  I have the honor everyday of listening to my patient’s stories, and I take for granted the listening requirement that my profession entails.  The concept of “conscious listening creates understanding” consistently comes up in the research done in the field of effective listening.  It made me wonder if there are ways to improve our abilities to consciously listen, especially in an ever-increasingly noisy world around us.

Most data suggest that we spend 60% of our time listening but only 25% of that information is retained.  We are simply exposed to so much information that it’s impossible to remember it all and, unfortunately, our listening abilities have been deteriorating over time.  More specifically, with the capacity to record our thoughts in the form of written words or recorded sounds, we can “listen or read it later,” thereby removing the need to pay attention now.  We’re also more impatient, looking for ever-shorter and shorter sound-bytes to summarize ideas.

Yet, there is hope!  I challenge you to take the following three simple steps for the next 30 days and you’ll be on your way to becoming a more conscious listener.  First, take three minutes a day in complete silence (or as close as you can get it).  There are excellent studies demonstrating that as little as three minutes in complete silence actually “recalibrates” your ears and their ability to filter out the noise.  It’s a little like hitting the “reset” button when there is so much stimulation that the brain is overwhelmed.

Next, most of our environments are a complex mixture of sounds, even the seemingly most peaceful ones.  Take for example a city park: children playing, people talking, birds chirping, nearby traffic, etc.  Just try and focus on “one channel” of sound.  In our park example, focus on just the birds.  How many are there?  Where are they?  Try to eliminate all the other background noise.  You’ll be amazed at the subtleties you’ll hear and your ability to truly focus on what’s important in other situations.

Finally, when listening to others, the acronym RASA (Receive, Appreciate, Summarize and Ask) can be a highly effective tool.  In other words, “receive” the words being said to you.  Then “appreciate” what’s being said by saying things like, “uh-huh” and “I see.”  By “summarizing” what was just said, not only do you get a better understanding of what was actually said, the person you’re talking to will truly recognize your ability to listen.  Along that same line, “asking” further questions can solidify your listening experience and create true conscious listening.

The ability to hear is one of our greatest senses but truly listening takes practice.  Use the next 30 days to improve your listening skills and not only will you see improvements in your relationships, but also in your outlook of the world around you.

By now most of you have read or heard directly from me about my bicycle crash two weeks ago.  I’ve been overwhelmed by the deluge of positive thoughts, emails, cards and well-wishes from everyone.  For those of you who missed the story, I shattered my collarbone into six pieces two weeks ago following a crash during a Saturday century ride.  This photo is right after the crash as my ride-mates loaded my broken bike into the car before my ER visit.  Thirteen screws later, the bone is back into one “piece” and the pain is improving everyday.  With my doctor/patient roles reversed and this being my first broken bone and surgical procedure, it’s been an emotionally eye-opening educational experience for me.  The constant pain and the mental lows lead to my inability to perform my daily work and home responsibilities requiring major adjustments.  No fun.

Yet with the help of my wife, I made some powerful insights that have been invaluable to me and, I believe, to my future practice with my patients.  Maintaining good physical and mental strength through a medical challenge can be, well, challenging.  But with all my down time (I felt like I visited every website ever created) I was able to pour over the research and I think I’ve discovered three approaches that seem to apply to nearly anyone with any difficult medical situation.  If you can implement these three tenets, you should be able to overcome most challenges.  They are:  1) keep moving, 2) monitor your daily progress, and 3) design a healthy environment.

There’s a lot to consider in those three tenets and that last one may sound intimidating, but I promise, they’re all very simple.  First, keep moving.  Our bodies are designed to stay in motion.  In no other time during our history as humans on this planet have we been able to survive through our daily routines with so little physical movement.  From desk jobs to nearly limitless access to goods and services, we physically work much less than we should.  Most studies suggest as little as 30-minutes of dedicated briskly-paced walking can do the trick although upwards of 60-minutes a day is even better.  Even with my busted shoulder, I made it a point to keep moving with walks around the neighborhood to waist-deep plunges in the pool.  Make it a point to move around and your body will thank you for it.

Next, monitoring daily progress.  With half of 2011 already over, you too might see how easy it is to let the days slip by without recognizing both positive and negative changes you make to your lifestyle.  There is nothing more powerful than frequently tracking your progress throughout each day in order to take control of your lifestyle.  I constantly recommend to patients “Diet Diaries,” or writing down everything you eat and drink, along with fitness achievements.  Studies have shown time and time again that this simple approach is more effective than any other strategy at evaluating and modifying basic lifestyle behaviors. With my collarbone, I measured the angles surrounding my shoulder’s range of motion daily, along with slow but daily additions of gentle strengthening exercises.  Sprinkle on multiple cryosauna applications and my surgeon, during a recent follow-up visit, couldn’t believe my progress in two short weeks.

Third, create an environment that is conducive to better health. Surround yourself with positive influences like people who have healthy lifestyles–studies show it will motivate you to do the same.  Think of it as a healthy dose of peer pressure.  Also, build into your daily routine healthy food choices at home and work that are readily accessible. More specifically, if healthy food choices are not easily available at home, when you’re hungry, your concept of what’s healthy quickly becomes skewed.  In addition, when it comes to a healthy diet, use smaller plates (which decreases portion-sizes), serve yourself a healthy portion and then store left overs before eating.  One last strategy I discovered is to consider eating in front of a mirror, which seems weird, I know, but a great German study last year showed it dramatically decreased the amount of calories test subjects ate.  You have incredible control over the environment in which you live.  Take the time to make it conducive to better health.

Finally, after doing all that you can to implement the first three tenets, be sure to be kind to yourself.  Don’t be hard on yourself if you have a tough day and “fall off the wagon.”  Studies show that the stress hormones released as a result of this added pressure on yourself is much more harmful than simply moving back to your healthy baseline. Life isn’t about being perfect.  Do the best you can, strive for your best, but allow yourself to recover from expected and unexpected setbacks.  On the day of my crash I was in great physical shape through great strides I had made during my training.  Instantly I was forced to “slow things down” and quickly have lost my physical stamina.  But, by taking proactive and preventative steps now, including the above ideas, my recovery has been relatively quick.

A major health issue can very quickly derail you from a healthy lifestyle.  But by following the above three tenets, you can regain control of your health, your surrounding environment and treat yourself better than you ever have before.

Over the last two weeks I’ve witnessed, and been a part of, a group of the first 100 people in our office who have experienced our cryosauna.  We’ve discussed this revolutionary new piece of equipment in our office during past newsletters and explained the profound effect it can have on improving your metabolism, burning calories, heal sore joints and calm down inflammation.  During this short period of time I have seen patients have less pain, improved mood and better athletic performance.  Personally, this past weekend I rode my bike up Mount Lemmon in Tuscon and have found the cryosauna to significantly improve my recovery time.  Bottom line, the therapeutic effects are impressive.

Let’s start with a small example.  I’m willing to bet you can’t look at this picture of my new 11-week-old daughter, Julia, and not smile.  Universally people are happier at the sight of babies, but the effect isn’t one way.  You might have noticed that babies smile quite a bit themselves.  In fact there have been multiple 3-D ultrasound studies that show smiling babies while still in the womb.  Their smiling, however, continues almost involuntarily during the first few months of life while they are sleeping.  Even more profound is the study of blind babies who smile upon hearing their mother’s voice.  It seems like a simple act, but smiling has powerful effects that can be appreciated even at the very start of life.

It’s smiling’s long-term effects that are even more surprising. Two studies found smiling to improve overall success in life and even lifespan.  The first study, done at the University of California Berkley in the 1950s, was a 30-year longitudinal examination of a group of students’ photos in the school’s yearbook.  By studying the “amount” of smiling in one yearbook picture and after following students for 30 years, researchers were able to predict with amazing accuracy how fulfilling and long-lasting their marriage would be and how inspiring they would be towards others–a strong leadership trait. The other study, done in 2010, looked at pre-1950 baseball cards and found that those with the widest smile “span” also had the longest lifespan (72 years vs. 80 years).

The trouble, unfortunately, is that only about 1/3 of people smile more than 20 times a day, meaning the vast majority of people smile much less, except for one group of people.  Younger people, that is.  Children can smile up to 400 times a day!  This exaggerated amount of smiling, you might not be surprised to know, reduces stress-inducing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, can increase endorphins and reduce blood pressure. In fact, a 2008 British study showed that one smile can generate the same amount of brain stimulation as eating 2,000 bars of chocolate.

Saying smiling is good for you is a little like saying exercise, good food and clean water will improve your health.  It seems obvious.  But numerous studies suggest that faking a smile actually does more harm than good.  The positive thoughts behind that smile are just as important as the act of smiling itself.

So don’t be surprised the next time you come in the office and see us all smiling–we’ve known for years that smiling is good for you and we love to spread that happiness.  I hope this article helped you think about your happiness but most importantly, I hope it helped you smile.

“I will never understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.”  Mother Teresa

When I turned 7, I thought it might be fun to take up ice hockey.  In the cold Colorado mornings, getting up at 5 a.m. for a 5:30 practice wasn’t too tough (my dad might not agree), and I quickly learned the importance of perseverance and teamwork.  Over the years, I’ve kept up with my hockey playing and have suffered with the typical bruises and sore muscles and joints.  A few years ago, however, while playing in a playoff tournament, I skated towards the opponent’s net, as I typically would, but collided with a defenseman and tweaked my knee in a way I had never experienced.  For months I suffered with daily aching and decreased range of motion and more importantly, had to stop playing hockey!  Then I decided to try prolotherapy (more in a minute) as a natural solution to my knee pain and am quite pleased to say that not only am I back on skates, but I am absolutely pain free!  In addition to prolotherapy, I have discovered a number of natural options to treating arthritis.

Hope for a Debilitating Condition

Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) put the number of Americans suffering with all types of arthritis at over 43 million.  In general, there are many different types of arthritis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, lupus and ankylosing spondylitis, to name a few.  The most common form is osteoarthritis that we associate with the aging process; rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, is an autoimmune condition where the body mysteriously turns its own immune system against the joints.  Both conditions can cause significant joint pain and in some cases, deformities to the joints as well.

Arthritis is simply the pain associated with any joint in the body, although the knee and lower back are the most common sites.  These joints tend to take the brunt of abuse we put on our bodies as a result of poor posture and increased demand on these joints, which leads to inflammation.  This is where standard therapy targets:  the inflammatory process.  Specific messengers within the body known as prostaglandins initiate the inflammatory process, while at the same time protecting stomach lining and regulating blood pressure.

With the advent of anti-inflammatory medications, millions of people have found relief from their joint pain.  Unfortunately, more and more studies are suggesting that anti-inflammatory use comes with a price, particularly irritation to the gastrointestinal tract, kidney and liver disease, elevated blood pressure and prolonged bleeding after injury (easy bruising).  If you use anti-inflammatory medications, be sure to use the smallest dose for the shortest amount of time possible.  As an interesting side note, I have heard plenty of patients admit to using anti-inflammatory medicines (e.g., Advil, Motrin, etc.) before exercise to hopefully prevent joint and muscle pain.  In theory this makes sense, however, research has shown that not only does this not prevent joint and muscle pain, but it can affect the kidneys such that electrolyte balance can become wildly disrupted and in some cases cause kidney failure.  Yikes!

Three Natural Solutions for Arthritis

Addressing inflammation in the joints does not have to come with the many side effects seen with traditional approaches and the following strategies can be quite effective.  First, aside from avoiding the obvious sources of trauma to joints that can cause inflammation, like playing hockey when you have knee pain, there can be other external factors that can lead to joint inflammation.  At the top of the list lies the food that you put into your body.  It appears that foods, which cause gastrointestinal inflammation like sugar, members of the nightshade family, trans fats, and to some degree red meat can worsen joint pain.  In addition, the lack of good omega-3 fatty acids in the diet along with absent fruits and vegetables, particularly berries, green, orange and yellow veggies (not corn!) prevent your body from creating its own anti-inflammatory mechanisms.  Another simple addition to your diet is fresh, clean drinking water.  Arizonans are chronically dehydrated and you should try to aim for about half of your body weight in ounces for water intake each day.

As mentioned above, prolotherapy was highly effective in treating my knee pain and provides millions of Americans pain relief each year as well.  Prolotherapy was formally introduced into the medical fray in the 1940s and its usage grows each year, with notable athletes like Tiger Woods and many members of the U.S. Olympic team employing the technique.  A few well-designed studies have demonstrated improvement in the structures that support the joint following prolotherapy.  So, how does it work?  It is a type of injection medicine where regions of tendons or ligaments around joints are injected with a non-pharmacological natural solution (glucose, lidocaine, vitamin B12 and folic acid) to stimulate the body to strengthen weakened connective tissue and therefore reduce or eliminate pain. Unlike steroid injections (“cortisone”), which only provide temporary relief and carry numerous side effects, prolotherapy is designed to stimulate tissue growth and promote true healing that ultimately alleviates pain without any side effects.

Nature has also provided us with a number of botanical herbs that for centuries have been highly effective in treating arthritis. These botanicals include quercetin, boswelia, curcumin, nettles and cramp bark to name a few.  More recently, studies have demonstrated that botanicals target a number of inflammatory signaling molecules and shut down the inflammatory process.  One well-designed study in 2009 showed that curcumin and resveratrol were superior to traditional non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines in reducing inflammatory markers, but more importantly reducing pain felt by test subjects.

When you start to feel the aches and pains that typically settle in your joints, you might consider examining your foods and discussing prolotherapy or botanical interventions with your doctor to help you feel better.  But if you’re ever out on the hockey rink, you might want to watch out for me!

Most of us recognize that eating fast food hamburgers and french fries on a regular basis, while involving ourselves in little to no exercise, is not good for our health. But how can you change those behaviors? More importantly, how can you change those behaviors on a long-term basis? I frequently see patients in the office who proclaim their eating and exercise changes to me, only to fall back into their old habits after a few short weeks. Is it possible to actually make meaningful lifestyle changes that will last a lifetime? Yes!

Lifestyle changes, composed mainly of our eating and exercise habits, can be one of the most difficult things for any of us to accomplish. On a daily basis, I am asked by patients, “How can I stay motivated to lose weight, exercise, eat better, etc.?” I’m also often asked why do some people seem to have a better knack for eating well and exercising, while others (I argue, the vast majority of people) struggle to stay on track toward accomplishing their goals? There is actually a considerable amount of scientific research already done as well as a number of studies currently underway to answer both of these questions. Here I present a number of simple skills and practical concepts that you can implement right away into your daily life to help you accomplish your lifestyle goals.

The Science Behind Finding Productive Motivation

Take a second to think about what motivates you to stay healthy. Is it fear of getting sick or following in the footsteps of an ill family member? Do you feel better physically when you eat well and exercise? Do you find joy in caring for yourself? Or, is it difficult to find the motivation to stay healthy in the first place? A few well-designed studies suggest that a large portion of the American population falls into that last category. In fact, a recent study found that only 5% of Americans engage in vigorous exercise on any given day, but over 80% spent a good part of the day watching TV. Is it possible to change these folks? You bet! By educating yourself to discover your own personal motivators, you can change!

Most scientists believe motivation is found from two major places: external and internal sources. External motivators are those we perceive from other people or environments. For example, some people find motivation to lose weight when they receive praise and support from their spouses, friends or physicians. This type of motivation would also include sticking to a healthy lifestyle regimen to avoid getting sick. Internal motivators, on the other hand, come from within and include those that give people a sense of personal accomplishment or pride, or a love for the work they complete. Finding joy in caring for yourself fits this bill perfectly. Most of the research has found that the majority of people try to make drastic lifestyle changes because of one or many external motivators, but it is for this exact reason that most people don’t stick with their goals. More simply put, inspiration may come from watching others, but motivation comes from within. If you look at some of the most successful people around the world, they all have internal motivations for their work that basically comes down to a true love for what they do.

So, how do we find this internal motivation? One newer and very interesting concept includes the idea of “Flow” which has been pioneered by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian psychologist. He has written a number of books on the idea, and in fact you can watch a brief lecture by Dr. Csikszentmihalyi himself at my new favorite website, www.TED.com. As a side note, I encourage you to check out this site as it is devoted to sharing “riveting talks by remarkable people.” The site has archived hundreds of 5-20 minute talks from scientists, artists, politicians, and businesspeople. So far I have found these to be quite interesting:

Plug into your Hard-wired Happiness

How Stats Fool Juries

Sound Health in 8 Steps

Without getting too philosophical, and it can be difficult to wrap your head around some of the concepts in his books, his theory basically says it is possible for us to live in a state of optimal internal motivation where we feel in “the zone” or in “the groove.” We’ve all experienced this feeling whether it be at a job we truly love, or trying to solve a problem that we’re truly interested in. Think about the time you had to write a paper in school on a topic that you were genuinely interested in and the “paper practically wrote itself.” It is also possible to achieve this sense while working to improve your lifestyle. The basic key comes down to finding the perfect balance between your own personal challenge and acquiring the skills necessary to address that challenge. If you’re interested, Dr. Csikszentmihalyi has created a visual representation of this concept.

So taking dietary changes, for example, you will need skills about nutrition including which foods are the most healthy and which are not, but also how to prepare them, how to combine them, etc. Through the accumulation of these skills, you will accrue the tools you need to address challenges such as being overweight, having high blood pressure or diabetes, and so on. After a certain amount of time, you will reach a point when the skills you’ve acquired will make it possible to address any challenge and you will feel “in the groove” to solve these challenges.

Tips to Staying Motivated

So far this all sounds philosophically interesting, but you might be wondering what you can practically do now to move towards this ideal situation. First of all, remember that people like to be good at what they do. Feeling skilled or accomplished is an important human need. Create small and manageable goals. Let’s take exercise for example. If you are currently living a completely sedentary lifestyle, consider a walk around your block, something that might seem challenging right now, but in all likelihood is doable. By the end of your first week of your new exercise regimen, you will feel competent at this basic level, which will in turn create a sense of accomplishment. This ultimately will generate a sense of intrinsic value to sustain motivation and drive you to go to the next step in your program. In other words, challenge yourself to accomplish small and (this part is really important) personally interesting goals. Don’t take up jogging if you loathe the idea of running, but if you’ve been interested in cycling, try a spin in your neighborhood for the first week then move up to a short 3-mile ride and so on.

Take time to make decisions. You have real control to decide what you want to do each day to address your lifestyle choices. By taking this time, you will be able to believe in what is truly worth believing in. For example, I often hear people say that because they have such little time in their daily schedules that it’s not worth “taking on” a new lifestyle. Although it may be true that time is limited, it’s unhelpful to believe that “I don’t have time to make changes,” as there are always ways to make small and manageable goals to get you started.

Be careful not to get complacent with your new regimen; this can quickly breed boredom, which is the number one killer of motivation. If you find yourself getting bored with cooking or exercising, change it up to make it interesting again. Think about the passion you might have for a hobby. How can you integrate that passion into something you do for your own health?

The bottom line is that true motivation comes from within. Finding your internal motivations will make you much more likely to succeed at your goals.  However don’t forget that external sources like friends, family, spiritual leaders, and health care providers can help you acquire the skills you need to face your challenges and find that perfect balance to get you “in the groove.”

Dr. Phil Wazny’s interview with HipMomsGoGreen.com on the topic of pediatric health. Follow the link here.