Have you tried to create a new health habit?
It's hard to change habits, because habits drive most of what we do. Many are automatic. Most of us have said things like "I must go for more walks", "I want to go to try new recipe" or "I should join that class". However these statements more often than not, don't change our behaviour.
All year I've been saying that I'd like to go paddle boarding, but it hasn't happened!
If you really want to make your goals a reality, it's new habits which will get you there.
Habit change starts with your "why".
Find Your "Why"
Your "why" is the purpose, which underpins the goals. for example
"To have more strength for gardening" "Energy to do the things I love"
"To have zest for work and still have energy for outside-work activities"
Ask yourself these questions:
1. What would a healthy body mean for you?
2. What do you really want?
3. Why are these goals important to you?
4. How will you achieve these goals?
5. When will you start?
Why we need habits
Our brains are geared to building habits, they require less processing effort, freeing up the brain for other tasks.
Imagine if you had to think through every task. Habits are at the core of nearly everything we do.
Take the simple task of unloading your own dishwasher and putting the items away, and contrast this with how much longer this takes when unloading the dishwasher in an unfamiliar house.
This is why putting healthy habits in place will make it a whole lot easier to stay healthy, without having to overthink and motivate yourself. Creating new healthy habits can be challenging, but is totally doable!
Sustainable habits start small and grow.
Initiating new habits
We often have good intentions of creating new healthy habits, whether it's taking time to make that turmeric & ginger smoothie, packing lunch for work or stretching for 10 minutes in the morning. However even small changes can be surprisingly hard to make happen. Have you wondered why you don't go for that 10 minute walk, even though you want to?
It's even harder to create a habit for something you don't want to do.
The habit drives the behaviour, whether it's a "good" or "bad" habit.
I prefer to say "healthy" or "unhealthy" when it comes to habits. "Helpful" or "unhelpful" may resonate with you. We are all unique and what is "good" for one person might actually be "bad" for another.
We also are hard-wired to seek reward.
The reward in this instance might be the sense of achievement and piece of mind knowing that your body is nourished with the salad.
Gradual change works well. You may still eat the chips, but add salad and gradually crowd out the chips, more on rewards and "crowding out" below.
Let's have a look at habits, why we need them, and strategies for changing our habits.
When a "good" habit is dropped
Have you ever had a good habit, then realise one day you've stopped doing it? What happened?
Did something interrupt the loop? Or did the reward for you change? Maybe there was a change in the family routine?
For several years I was in a habit of doing Pilates each morning, sometimes as a live class or just from memory, either way the habit was there. I hardly though about it, pulling on yoga pants when waking up. Then a few months ago I realised I'd stopped doing Pilates first thing in the morning and had to think through why. I loved Pilates, so needed no motivation to do it and still attended the weekly local class.
It happened after Marmalade, our cat and Poppy, our little dog came into our lives. The new routine involved greeting the animals first, then feeding them whilst making a cup of tea. The cue to do Pilates had been interrupted.
One job led to another and the morning Pilates moves slipped to the wayside.
Hanging a new habit onto an existing habit, described by James Clear as "Habit Stacking" in his book Atomic Habits.
It took a couple of months to bring Pilates back into the mix.
The same time slot didn't work, then I would just forget. I
I'm a member of My Pilates Time in New Zealand and Beth's team sends out a weekly schedule for classes each week. However, it still didn't happen, because it wasn't in the diary and there was no cue.
I used my habit of checking the calendar each day, to check the timetable and enter the times in my calendar, with a reminder half an hour before the class.
Now when I receive the email with classes, I enter them into my calendar.
When the goals are too big
"I'm going to start the health kick next week" "Join the gym", "eliminate processed foods", "run 10 km every morning", "start fasting for 16 hours", "give up eating out" and "cook from scratch every day"....Many of us have set unattainable goals and promises.
Do any of you relate to this?
Even if we reach the goal, we often lapse back into old habits afterwards. Some of you are nodding.
A good example is when my husband and I did the Global Corporate Challenge some years ago. We were in different teams and were spurred on to do as many steps as possible, running everywhere, including running on the spot in front of the TV. Our two kids were right into it too, going running with Chris every night in the dark during winter.
The second it finished, our behaviour reverted to the status quo before the GCC started!
Why is it so hard to change our behaviour and create new habits?
When it comes to their health, many clients are already half-way there, knowing plenty about about antioxidants, the benefits of whole-foods and what they need to do to change! Just knowing something is a good idea, isn't enough to make us do it, because habits drive much of our behaviour, whether it is "healthy" or "not healthy".
We make around 35000 decisions every day!
When something becomes a habit, we do it without thinking. We are relieved at not having to make that particular decision.
Imagine how much time and headspace you can save by creating new habits.
We have "change" muscles, so with every new habit change, they get stronger!
Each time you flex your "change muscles" you will go from strength to strength, and be empowered to incorporate new health habits.
If your new habit is to add more veggies to meals,
What can be the new cue for the new action?
What will help you achieve your new habit?
Saying "no" to yourself rarely works.
Simply telling yourself "no" has been shown to increase the likelihood of focusing more on the food you can't have, and can result in eating it more! If the brain keeps hearing "I can't have cake" then cake is all the brain will think about!
To create a new health habit, put the spotlight on the desired habit: diverting attention away from the old habit.
Taking bite-sized, achievable steps
increases the likelihood of reaching goals.
Small steps are key
In this blog, we explore ways to empower yourself to change habits, for life. Yes, you have to want it and motivate yourself, but taking small steps toward changing habits is easier than you think!
There is no silver bullet
The actions of joining the gym or signing up for a weekly veggie box don't necessarily lead to continued weekly work-outs and healthy eating, without the habit change at the core.
It takes time and effort, systems and strategies.
When a healthy behaviour becomes habit, becoming a healthier happier you will be a whole lot easier!
Steven Covey wrote "The 7 habits of Highly Effective People" over 30 years ago. Based on solid principles of integrity, they still stand the test of time. His focus is about being proactive, focusing on what you can change, working with others and getting organised with tools for running your life. His book is a good read, and there's a great little 7 minute You-tube clip which explains these habits in sketches.
He later added an 8th Habit "Finding your voice and inspiring others to find theirs".
Temptation bundling
Katie Milkman researched the effectiveness of "temptation bundling".
EG: A person likes trashy novels, but feels guilty taking time out to read them. They also can't find the motivation to go to the gym. They set a rule that they can only read the trashy novel if they are at the gym. At the end of the work out, they've enjoyed the book and made the time go faster! They can't wait to get the gym again to find out what happens next! This strategy works to an extent for some people.
BJ Fogg describes the way to change habits is by adding a new habit to an existing habit:
He explains the strategy of taking really tiny steps and then congratulating yourself.
For example, each time he got up to go to the bathroom, he did 2 push ups. Then said "I'm awesome"!
He did this and formed a habit for doing push ups throughout the day and regularly still gets to about 60 push ups in a day.
Saying "I'm awesome" each time, might feel silly, but self-talk is powerful and celebrating each tiny step is a key part of creating the habit.
BJ Fogg's approach worked for me. Doing 10 dips every time I passed the sofa, before heading out, has built to a habit.
Taking an easy step can have big repercussions when it comes to habit loops:
Have you ever noticed that positive people regularly say positive things and the same is true of negative people? That's largely because their behaviour becomes a habit.
If a tired parent walks in the door each day and starts with a negative comment, such as, "Look at the mess in this place", it creates a negative narrative, which can have a flow on effect.
They can create a new habit by deciding what to say before they walk in the door "Hey everyone, how was your day?" In spite of being wiped out, the parent will benefit by changing the comment, which takes no extra time or effort.
Creating a cue is key, such as a reminder before leaving work.
There's a better time to addressing the issue of the messy house.
Atomic Habits
In his book "Atomic Habits", James Clear describes how he builds on Charles Duhigg's "Habit Loop".
Clear explains that simply using a goal to create habits isn't enough, we need systems. This is because once the goal is reached, the behaviour often reverts to how it was before
The 4 laws of atomic habits are a simple set of rules we can use to establish new habits:
1) make it obvious, 2) make it attractive, 3) make it easy, and 4) make it satisfying.
He outlines also how our self-talk is a habit and the way we react to things. I've used his strategies to shape how I react to certain situations.
Clear also explains how "Habit Stacking" works.
The Habit Loop.
Charles Duhigg.
Experiments have shown that nearly all habitual cues fit into one of the following 5 categories. Take these into account when working out your habit cues.
Time
Location
Events
Emotions
People
The habit loop involves:
Identifying the triggers (cues) for the behaviour you would like to change.
Determining the routine for the habit
Identifying the reward which drives the behaviour - (by trying different rewards with the same cue)
Then breaking habits by interrupting the habit loop
Changing the habit loop:
Identify the behaviour: This is the routine or behaviour that you'd like to change. Eg: popping to the local café for a work break and buying a snack.
Explore different rewards, what is your motivator for the behaviour? It could be the short term sense of satisfaction, or the continuing journey toward a healthy body. Is the reward the food, or what is associated with that food? Are you actually craving social interaction, or comfort, like sitting on the sofa after a long day) Identify the reward for the habit? What are you craving or avoiding?
Identify the cue: this is the trigger which leads to the behaviour/routine. Is the trigger the sight of the café? Or, is it hunger, caffeine, or craving a change of scene? Or is it social? If you know a certain friend will be there, that could be the cue to go to the café.
Interrupt the behaviour by making a plan: Explore ways to achieve this: Is it possible to drive or walk a different way, so you don't pass the cafe? Can you bring a healthier snack to have instead? If seeing the friend is the motivator for going there, try asking if you can pick up take away & walk and chat instead. or go for a walk before the coffee, then the coffee is the reward. Maybe the friend would like to increase healthier foods too, so you can explore different options on the menu together. If flopping on the sofa at the end of the day with junk food, determine if the sofa is the cue for food or hunger itself. Try eating the food first or lying on a yoga mat instead of the sofa - something to interrupt the behaviour. An idea is to allow the habit of the sofa, but choose a different food, by putting the healthier food front and centre of the pantry or fridge. Try small strategies. Eg: rather than taking the whole tub of ice cream, serve a little in a bowl, add some fruit/hemp seeds and put the whole tub away.
Duhigg suggests not trying to rush the process, it can take a while to work out your cue for a particular habit. He suggests adjusting your routine. EG: You've identified that the coffee & cake is a behaviour you'd like to address.
Day 1: Go for a walk instead of going to the café;
Day 2: Go to the café, buy the usual, but take it away;
Day 3: Use the time to chat with a friend instead of going to the café.
Try to determine the cue for the behaviour and the reward. If the cue is social, go to the café to chat, but buy a healthier food to munch on whilst chatting to the friends. Or ask the friends to go on a walk.
Time how long the café visit usually takes, and set an alarm for when it is finished. Then write down how you're feeling when the alarm goes off. Are you still hungry?
If you replaced the outing with a walk around the block and after the alarm, you feel fine and happy to work, then the reward was the break from work. If the alarm goes off and you're hungry, the reward was to satisfy hunger, so you need to eat! Try swapping a healthier food to satisfy the hunger.
Was breakfast nourishing and sustaining?
Gradual change works best:
1. Add veg to the cookie
2. Crowd out the cookie, by increasing the healthy morsels
3. Choose a healthier and smaller cookie.
Changing habits can take time, but start today by biting off a tiny piece and keep flexing that "change muscle".
Many years ago, when the children were young, I was in a habit of making pasta the centre of most meals. Even though the meals were reasonably healthy, I wanted to branch out.
My body was demanding more nutrient dense foods and less gluten, as I faced each new stage. Replacing pasta with brown rice was challenging. The flavours were unfamiliar and unpopular with the family.
I was also on auto-pilot at dinner time and kept cooking the pasta.
Eventually, I identified some of the rewards for the habit: It was easy to cook pasta, and everyone liked it.
The calendar is a great tool and acts as a cue for a new habit.
I wanted to change, so I put it in the diary and on the to-do list to cook up a big batch of brown rice the next day. Adding a little to meals was easy, because it was ready to go.
We gradually crowded out the pasta on some days! I'd put the quinoa or brown rice to soak at breakfast time, so it was right there when I started preparing dinner.
The kids learned to enjoy brown rice by mixing it with white rice and adding garlic & herbs etc. This took many months. This is all about looking at the cue for the habit of making dinner, plus the reward of how it tastes and how it feels to be healthy. It's easier when you start to associate the new food with favourite foods.
Eventually, the habit of putting out some ingredients on the bench after breakfast, ready for dinner, was ingrained. I still do this. It's definitely easier to plan meals in your mind, before waiting until you're tired and hungry.
My cousin, Tania, preps veggies at the weekends, so they are ready to grab and go for work lunches, stir-fries and salads during the week. This not only saves time, but saves headspace. When you open the fridge wondering what to take to work, it's easier to make a healthy choice if the food is chopped and ready to go.
Positive self-talk
Learning about the health benefits of the food and positive talk play a huge role in making the change too.
Positively talking about the new foods to the family and myself, plus planning, prepping in advance, and using the diary were strategies which worked for me, even though it took a while. Now I crave only the healthier options and never feel like eating pasta or white rice. I love the earthy nutty flavour of quinoa and use sweet potato regularly as my carbohydrate in meals. These foods are associated with feeling good. Now the habit is in place, I chop up a tray of sweet potato to bake, or soak quinoa in the morning as second nature.
"Add more" and "crowd out"
I love the strategy of adding a new habit (behaviour) onto an existing one, then gradually crowding out the original behaviour for that habit. This can be a useful way to adopt a new eating habit, without giving anything up initially. In this following example, the goal for Marie is to add more fruit & vegetables, then gradually replace the muffin, by "adding more & crowding out"
Everyday, my client, Marie had a muffin & a coffee. She enjoyed the coffee, but decided that the muffin needed to go as a step toward her health goals. Telling herself just to stop having the muffin didn't work, after a couple of days, she couldn't resist the muffin Saying "I can't have the muffin". resulted in Marie thinking about the muffin even more than before! The sense of failure was demoralising.
Firstly, we unpacked the cue for the habit, which was partly hunger and partly the coffee.
We came up with a plan, using the small step approach. Marie introduced a small breakfast of yoghurt & hemp seeds, to take away the hunger craving.
For the first few days, she had the muffin, but add some berries. After a few more days, cut the muffin in half (in advance) and pop it away for tomorrow. Add some berries, eat half the muffin and enjoy.
Each day, the additions varied, sometimes carrots, 4-5 nuts, etc.
The new variety in morning tea, meant Marie sometimes didn't have the muffin, but chose hummus and veggies, or a tablespoon of natural yoghurt with 1/4 sliced apple and 4 walnuts or made a smoothie.
After a couple of weeks, Marie had time for some baking, so she made some oat & nut cookies.
Four months later, Marie happily reported that she had successfully created a new habit of choosing a healthy bite to have with her coffee. She was empowered by the success, so then added a new habit of taking the stairs whenever possible.
Hang a new habit to an existing habit. This pic shows adding piece of fruit (the new habit) to an existing habit of having a cup of tea.
Visualisation is a powerful tool for changing habits,
Visualise yourself having more energy and positivity
and your body's cells becoming healthier. Picturing what the healthy food is doing
for your body is the reward. As you eat more healthy food,
the reward becomes the vitality
and energy you're enjoying.
Inspiration for giving up smoking
A lady I know wanted to quit smoking. She was struggling financially and was single parent. She found it hard not having enough for school excursions etc. I casually suggested that she place a dollar in a jar every time she didn't have a cigarette.
I forgot about our chat. Months later I bumped into her and she said she actually did the jar strategy, at the end of a couple of weeks, she had enough to buy new shoes for the boys! She was so excited and kept going! A few years later I bumped into her again, she said she'd still given up smoking. She had gone on to create her own business too. She went from strength to strength.
Let's look at how to
Whilst reading this blog, have your thought about your "why" and what goal you'd like to achieve?
Why: With any new behaviour change, finding your why is the first step.
How: Identified the behaviour
What: Decide what is the cue for the behaviour?
Goal: Set an achievable goal: For example, to start the day with a glass of water.
Strategy: Make it happen by popping the glass on the bench next to the kettle, ready for the morning.
As you achieve the goal, congratulate yourself and enjoy feeling empowered by the success.
Achieving small goals will empower you to face bigger goals and achieve true habit change.
Seek inspiration
We all know that purpose and motivation need to come from within, however
other people in your life can be a source of inspiration too. It may work for you to engage others at work. If they see you with healthier food, ask them for encouragement. Is there a friend you can chat to regularly about health food ideas? Or get together in person and prep together?
Focus on what you can have, not what you can't
Writing a note to self saying "no more cake" is unlikely to work, since your brain then focuses on the cake, as mentioned above.
A note saying "yoghurt, nuts & blueberries" for morning tea, brings the focus on what you can have, not what you can't.
Use cues: like putting a note near the front door as a reminder to take the piece of fruit. Or set a rule, every time you pick up your bag to go to work, there has to be a healthy snack in there.
Use positive self-talk. Changing the habit of what you say to yourself takes no extra time, but is an essential part of habit change.
Changing a habit:
Is one of your goals to take lunch to work? Try this:
Behaviour: Picking up fast- food during the work lunch-break.
Plan: Cooking extra at dinnertime, to allow enough for lunch the next day.
Creating new cues to change the behaviour:
Place a portion of the dinner in a take-away container, ready to grab & go when in a hurry in the morning.
Cue: Add cues to remind you to pack the lunch and to take it to work in the morning.
Leave out the to-go container near where you plate up dinner.
Pop a sticky note on your handbag as a reminder to pick it up in the morning.
Remember the reward. This helps the brain to incorporate the habit.
The habit of taking left-overs the next day has a multiple rewards!
Feeling good about remembering to take lunch
Feeling good about eating healthy food
Saving time and money
one step closer to being a healthier you.
6 coaching tips:
1. Find your WHY - This helps to shape your goals.
2. Ask Yourself: What's the trigger for the habit you would like to change? Is the cue hunger? A routine? Something that triggers fond memories?
3. Set realistic goals; celebrate every win, however big or tiny and remember that small steps build confidence and lead to success
4. Set time aside in the diary for learning and food prep. A calendar is a powerful tool, and the more you understand about healthy choices, the more likely you are to make them. Put "choosing fresh produce", at the top of the list and shop at a time of day when you're at your best. Head to a farmers market, use positive language and inspire others around you!
5. Use the power of positivity: Good self-talk is key. Saying positive things about your new health goals, both outwardly and inwardly have a powerful impact.
6. Team up with a buddy to keep you accountable. Stating your goals, and chatting with your buddy on how you'll get there increases the chances of reaching those goals to create new habits. Inspire each other by shopping, prepping and exercising together and continue to encourage, send positive messages and keep each other on track.
I was keen to incorporate more exercise, whilst working from home. Joining up to My Pilates Time with Beth was a good decision and great step in the right direction.
I attended the live classes, knowing that Beth and the others would see me there on zoom!
Then I needed to tackle the habit of doing the recorded Pilates classes on other days!
It worked to place hand weights, yoga mat out each morning and pop gym clothes on when I woke up.
I love a to-do list, so it worked for me to add exercise to the list. It's different each day, varying from "do stretches" to "do the core class" or "go for walk"
Leaving out the weights and mat meant I could just a few mins at any time. The habit of stopping for a few stretches and exercise increased.
I began to associate my living space with exercise!
Whatever I wear in the morning, seems to set the scene for the day. Writing this during the tail end of covid, many people have confessed to wearing pjs, track pants and slippers all day. Personally I found that putting the gym gear on was a good motivator!
What works for you will be different from what works for me. It's individual.
Think about your habits, cues & rewards and how you can change them.
Feel empowered. Celebrate every step.
The more your mind focuses on the new healthy habit, the more you'll think about it. Building habits is like working a muscle. The more you do, the stronger you become!
Stay healthy everyone.
Are you experiencing health challenges? Maybe weight management is an issue, or you would like to enjoy better sleep, more energy and improved mood? Schedule a 30 minute free chat to see how we can work together. Tailored, individualised programs, or one-off consulting.
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