 It’s been a little over a year since our country, or world for that matter, changed dramatically. The infiltration of this pandemic has been second to none. Over 400,000 lives have been lost in the US, and that’s just as a result of Covid-19, never mind all of the lives lost to other illnesses. These deaths and an environment filled with lockdowns, masks, social distancing, perpetual hand washing, and fear have changed the landscape of mourning the loss of a loved one. I can’t imagine what it might have been like attempting to organize myself and my family back in 2007 in order to face the death of my husband amid a pandemic. The idea of having to plan a funeral, shiva and navigate daily life while mourning seems insurmountable in our current state of the world. And yet, people seem to be successfully navigating grief during the pandemic. Missing Closure and Waiting on GriefAccording to Jody Michael Armata, owner/director of Northshore Funeral Services in Shorewood, WI, “funerals are all over the board,”. However, “people who want to view their loved ones seem to be wanting to do that for a longer period of time—sometimes hours.” This may be due to the fact that often our loved ones who perish from Covid are not allowed to have visitors and thus often people die alone with hospital staff by their side. Sitting with the person for a period of time, can be comforting and helps provide an essential element of the 7 stages of grief—closure. Mr. Armata also went on to explain that, since the pandemic, all funeral directors have been asking people to hold off until Spring/Summer so gatherings can be outside in addition to solely inside—but how far into the future can one wait? Does waiting deter the mourning process, leading to people having difficulty processing the stages of grief? Do people, for example, move into the anger stage of mourning and stay there longer? Personally speaking, I think I was in this stage quite long enough even without facing a pandemic back in 2007. What Funerals Look Like During the PandemicCremations have skyrocketed, and preliminary meetings with Mr. Armata are held mainly by phone. From his perspective, missing the face-to-face contact with family members seeking out his services is unfortunate but necessary in this current environment. Though he prefers to meet with family members in person for the planning stages of a funeral, he admits technology has played a critical and probably permanent role in his industry. “People don’t seem to mind the Zoom meetings and funerals” he stated. However, he finds himself not only allaying people’s fear about the funeral process itself, but educating people on the use of technology during a funeral. Many older people don’t do well with technology so Jody finds himself or a grandchild assisting in this regard. My own kids, along with their cousins, planned a Zoom meeting just after their grandmother died last fall to share the many funny “Alice stories”. This brought them comfort during a time they either couldn’t attend her gravesite service due to avoiding airlines, or sitting in the car watching from afar while her casket was lowered into the earth. In addition to the funeral services themselves, friends and family of the deceased often show their love and care through food. Unfortunately, catering has all but disappeared into boxed meals, wrapped individually in layers of plastic wrap, disposable utensils, and delivered by staff practically dressed in hazmat suits! And unfortunately, it is simply what has to be right now. Warm, comforting casseroles cooked with love cannot be dropped off at the bereaving family's home, for fear of safety. Processing the Loss of a Loved One During the Pandemic“In my case, my family and I got to see my late husband. We were lucky….we had to dress like Martians but we got to see him and say good-bye. This was huge for my family and me. His biggest concern was that we not be ‘mad’ at him for leaving us. He died 2 hours later.” Cheryl and her family tested positive for Covid as well. And while her late husband was cremated (not atypical with a Covid diagnosis), the family was in a strict quarantine. According to Cheryl, the celebration of life is being planned for the summer, when everyone will celebrate with a drink, share stories, be outside, and continue the grieving process. Right now, she and her family are grieving quietly, and her late husband’s ashes are safely with her in their home. This brings her some closure and peace, although she will have to watch the Packers become the NFC Champions from her home---alone. Cheryl feels fortunate in that she was able to donate many of her late husband’s medications back to other patients that will benefit from them, and she is fortunate to have such a strong family support system. This is how she is getting through the stages of grief. She is working full time and she admits this is a benefit and a curse. Her attention span is shorter and so is her patience. She admits to shutting down at certain points and that her “fuse” is shorter with people who are complaining. These are all very normal reactions during the stages of grief. Yet, during our phone conversation her voice was strong with occasional breaks, silence, taking a breath, and tears. Cheryl has command of her environment, and is weathering the great changes that have occurred in life both personally and as a result of Covid. So one year later, everything has changed, including our concept of grief during a pandemic. And yet, nothing has changed. Funeral directors continue to organize, advise, comfort, process, and bring to completion the funeral process—albeit from in front of a computer screen. Their value is immeasurable in regards to loss in this current state we live in. People like Cheryl are adapting to their environment, thinking outside the box, and progressing through the ever-critical stages of grief successfully in order to push forward and live life. My heart goes out to these funeral directors who are a large group of essential workers in more ways than one, and to the families who have lost loved ones in this last year. May 2021 be less traumatic and may the lost loves’ memories in our lives be a blessing.
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By Eileen Sherman PhD, MBA, BS, RN  Though it may not seem like it, the concepts of food and love are actually quite tied to one another. I believe that preparing food for someone is an intimate act of love! Even just this morning, I came downstairs to make a cup of coffee, and I found that my love had left me a small but powerful cartoon depiction of a man enjoying his partner’s cooking with the caption “Love is…” Love and Food in the MediaCooking and food have served as symbols of love throughout history. Great minds have used the very visual and tangible example of cooking as a metaphor for loving someone. The Columnist Harriet van Horne once said, “Cooking is like Love: It should be entered into with abandon or not at all.” The work and selflessness it takes to produce good food are much like what it takes to nurture love and relationships. And not only is the concept of cooking a great metaphor for love but cooking itself is also an act of love. Alan D. Wolfelt said, “Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.” Cooking for someone is not only a kind deed, but it can be an act of sharing oneself. And as the Playwright George Bernard Shaw said, “There is no love sincerer than the love of sharing food.” Look at how the idea of a “romantic dinner” became the standard setting for courtship in the media. And we can’t forget what Dolly Parton said, “My weaknesses have always been food and men.” There is no question that food and love share a very close symbiotic relationship. So, what does this have to do with health and life coaching? Let me try to explain. 5 Love Languages and FoodDr. Gary Chapman wrote a book entitled: The 5 Love Languages. Although it was published in 1995, it has become increasingly popular over the past few years, especially to health and life coaches who specialize in relationship building—a key component in positive health and life. According to Dr. Chapman, the 5 Love Languages highlight the way we feel loved and want to be loved. Based on our personality, we want to be loved, and often, differently than our partners do. So it’s important to discover what your primary love language is as well as your partner’s needs and expectations. Otherwise, you’ll each remain a mystery to each other. While food is not a specific love language per se, I would suggest that food does fall under each of the 5 languages defined by Chapman. In fact, not only does food transcend all the Love Languages, it appeals to all of our 5 senses. The 5 Love languages outlined by Chapman are:
Think about the nature of how food appeals to all 5 of our senses. We often take these senses for granted; what we hear, see, taste, touch, and smell come naturally and so we tend to ignore how much our senses play a role in health, life, and love. Reconnecting with your senses through food and cooking something special for yourself and a loved one really is truly an example of self-care—reconnecting with yourself in the bigger picture. This concept of self-care is critically important in successful health and life coaching, and it is often the missing ingredient that keeps you stuck in old habits and practices. In reconnecting with your senses through food, you begin to reconnect with yourself and are more aware of timing, purpose, and direction. Life seems a bit less chaotic and balanced. You begin to regain an attitude of gratitude for yourself, and those you love. You to notice what you can appreciate—like good food and great love!! And there it is: Love thru Food. Enjoy!!!! Namaste Eileen Seek Support from a Certified Life CoachNeed a little support? Contact me to schedule a free initial consultation or view my other services: divorce coaching, grief coaching, cleanse and diet reset and the 90-day transformation. Receive a customized plan that will boost your well-being and have you feeling balanced in all aspects of your life.
By Eileen Sherman PhD, MBA, BS, RN  I have come to learn that even the most difficult change leads to positive outcomes. Being a junkie for change, I’m ecstatic that the theme for International Women's Day 2020 is "Be Bold For Change". With that theme in mind, I can't help but think back to a concept I've used in the past with different audiences of professionals and students: The 3 Zones Everyone Should Know About by Seth Sandler  Credit to Seth Sandler: https://sethsandler.com/productivity/3-zones/ The Comfort Zone According to Seth Sandler, "The comfort zone is where many of us operate. It’s the location of the skills and abilities we’ve acquired. While the comfort zone is by definition the most ‘comfortable’, we can’t make progress or build skills, or change in the comfort zone since it consists of the abilities we can already do easily." As you can tell, many people love to stay in our comfort zone. The Panic Zone The panic zone lies outside of our skills and abilities, and therefore outside of our level of comfort. Operating in this zone can cause stress and anxiety because the task(s) at hand may be difficult, unknown or even dangerous. Seth says, " The overall feeling of the panic zone is that we are uncomfortable and possibly discouraged. Like the comfort zone, we can’t make progress in the panic zone. We become fearful in this zone." The Learning Zone The learning zone lies in the space between comfort and panic, in which we are stretching our abilities and taking on new experiences without putting ourselves in a position of overreaching, avoiding panic. According to Seth, " One can only make progress by choosing activities in the learning zone. The skills and abilities that are just out of reach are in the learning zone; they’re neither so far away that we panic nor close enough where they’re too easy." So what does this visual have to do with being bold for change? Well, I can tell you from my own personal and professional stories that no change for me takes place when I am squarely in my comfort zone, where I am confident in my abilities. Staying in this comfort zone doesn’t happen all too often. Frankly, I can’t even recall a time I hung out in this zone for an extended period of time. Being bold for change requires us to stretch our abilities and strategically move out of our comfort zone and into the learning zone. Extending Our Learning Zones You’ll notice in the visual how small the learning zone is. Straddling the learning and panic zones can be a delicate balancing act. A few years ago, I became The Dean of the School of Business at Alverno College, an all women school (with men in the graduate programs). I taught the capstone course in an MBA program a few years back: Creating Agility in Dynamic Environments: a course focusing on change management, leadership and teamwork in response to changing environments and markets. Incorporating my passion for community engagement and stressing its importance for future business leaders, I readily accepted a challenging project from a corporate foundation. Our capstone students were to practice as consultants for the foundation in a community of great need. The project, part of a larger grant that the foundation had been working on for impoverished community neighborhoods, was to identify a vacant lot of land and establish a grocery store. We were tasked with determining how to bring healthier food sources into an impoverished neighborhood on the city’s north side. This neighborhood had high crime and unemployment rates, and it was considered a USDA Food Desert (without a grocery store within a 5 mile radius). We not only needed to establish healthier food sources, but the sources had to be easily accessible and affordable. The class learned that the foundation's agenda didn't necessarily match the neighborhood's agenda at the start. As a group comprised mostly caucasian students in a neighborhood that was mostly African American, we were strangers to this neighborhood. We didn’t know anything about the issues in this community per se, and the residents didn’t really trust us at first. As you can imagine, the students, as well as myself, had to be bold for change despite being in our panic zones. We were a bit uncomfortable with our surroundings, and we had to approach this project with humility. We began to ease into our learning zones, stepping back and listening to what the community history and residents were telling us. Then we started building important relationships with the neighborhood, reflecting on our own biases and stereotypes of poverty. We were all afraid of failing the foundation, this community and ourselves. I'm happy to say that after three semesters and three cohorts of students, the project was still ongoing. We had a seat at the neighborhood association’s table as a major stakeholder. We had continued to edge this community forward, building trust and lifelong relationships along the way. We were even assisting the neighborhood association to become a 501(c)3 non-profit and developing a resident-owned food co-op that would provide access to healthy affordable locally grown choices. In addition, we continued to work with the foundation to develop a 5-course certificate program for neighborhood residents, often women, who had expressed interest in continuing their education in business. This would empower them to become the future voices and leaders of their own communities. These women were stretching their own learning zones, taking on their own challenges in spite of the socio-economic situations they were in. And they were already leaders by leaving their comfort zones. I am forever proud of all of these students, and the work we had accomplished. It was a bold move, and it was clearly building a case for change. My Own Life Zones So what was my personal journey throughout these life zones? I never planned to be the Dean of a Business School, but rather a Cardiologist, starting off as a critical care nurse, hoping to go to Medical School. Alas, it wasn’t in the cards. Instead I decided to go the administrative route, attending Grad School at Boston University, getting my MBA and becoming the COO of a major hospital system in Massachusetts. I continued to push beyond my comfort zone every chance I could. I moved from Boston to Wisconsin, got my PhD from Marquette and had the good fortune of being a faculty member at several great Universities before leaving academia and opening my own coaching practice. My life hasn't always been a smooth ride in the comfort and learning zones. Thirteen (13) years ago, I had to bury my second husband and best friend. He died too soon at the age of 59 from stage 4 esophageal cancer. If there was ever a time that I felt most yanked out of my comfort zone, straight through my learning zone, and into my panic zone, that was it. Hearing the words from the doctor that he only had 8 months to live was the worst thing I could've ever imagined. Though my husband, a cancer specialist, proved his own diagnosis wrong by having the strength to live on 5 1/2 years more than projected, it was still too soon. I was never in my comfort zone during those 5 1/2 years, always teetering in my learning zone, gaining more knowledge of this hideous disease and trying very hard to stay out of my panic zone. I was pretending to be the rock everyone was expecting me to be. It has taken me almost 13 years since 2007 to migrate fully back into my comfort zone. Life had changed for me, and if there was ever a time to be bold for change, this was it. My identity was in question. What was I supposed to do? How would I continue to be a role model for my kids? How could I continue to push out of my comfort zone and continue learning, stretching, changing, and wanting that? Since that time, I have owned and operated and sold 3 small businesses based on my passions. I've watched my kids grow up, graduate, get deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, get married and have children of their own. I’ve continued to learn through several certifications in continuing education and coaching, and have had the good fortune to work and travel. I took a break from academia and retrained as a professional chef. I’ve sold a couple of properties, have had several broken bones from riding and jumping horses, and even ventured back into my comfort zone a few times a week riding my current horse Zeus. I now have a great “significant other” in my life, we have a beautiful home with our beloved pups, Diesel, Daphne, and Trixie. We are surrounded by great people: people who encourage, challenge, push, and sometimes even pull us into and out of our different life zones. So get involved, be bold, come out of your comfort zone. Push well into your learning zone, take a risk, develop a cause, support a cause, whether at an individual level, team and work group level, or community level. Seek Support from a Certified Life Coach Need a little support? Contact me to schedule a free initial consultation or view my other services: divorce coaching, grief coaching, cleanse and diet reset and the 90-day transformation. Receive a customized plan that will boost your well-being and have you feeling balanced in all aspects of your life. Never stop being bold for change and exercising your voice when you feel strong, while practicing humility. I’m thankful to the many who have allowed me to migrate into and out of my three zones.
By Eileen Sherman PhD, MBA, BS, RN  My experience as a certified life coach and divorce coach has equipped me with the tools needed to navigate and assist families battling parental alienation and tumultuous familial relationships. In this article I highlight my work with a father with the goal of repairing and regenerating the parental-child relationship. Understanding the Family DynamicsDad and I have been working together for almost a year (10 months) on various different topics and issues around the guidelines set for him in his Partial Marital Settlement Agreement (PMSA). Important to our work together was the item in the PMSA that stipulated that he would need to work closely with a life and divorce coach assisting him to reintegrate with two children in a healthy, positive, productive manner. To this end, we have been working monthly (twice a month at least) on this since our professional relationship began. After familiarizing myself with this case and while I have never actually met or had discussion with the Mom directly, I have read through over 650 pages of email exchanges between Mom and Dad over the past 10 months and continue to do so almost daily. In my professional opinion there is a distinct pattern of numerous instances of Mom’s interference with Dad’s placement, undermining his parenting, Mom rewarding the children for bad behavior, and coaching them to behave poorly. These instances seem to me in my professional opinion to be clearly intentional although often couched in “wanting to keep the children safe at all costs.” In my professional opinion, this type of level of undermining rises to the level of parental alienation. What is Parental Alienation?  Parental alienation is a set of strategies that parents often use to undermine and interfere with a child’s relationship with his or her other parent. In a sense, parental alienation can be defined as a form of abuse whereby one parent convinces his or her children that their other parent is bad and having a relationship with him or her is wrong. Research also is very clear on the fact that children should be allowed to develop an independent relationship with both parents even when parents are divorced and living apart. If the parental alienation is allowed to continue, it can lead to a severe loss of a valued relationship between a parent and child. Sometimes the loss can never be made up even after the children have grown up and are adults. The long-term effects of one parent’s deliberate acts of anger and revenge toward the other ‘targeted’ parent is devastating and far reaching. In this particular family’s case, I am suggesting that Mom in fact exhibits this toward Dad. However, it is not uncommon for the parent practicing the alienating behaviors to not realize she/he is doing this. While the research on parental alienation shows this often occurs during a protracted custody battle, this is not the case in this situation. In this particular situation, this occurs on almost a daily basis. To me, the sole focus of Mom appears to be to keep Dad away from the children as much as possible. For example, in Our Family Wizard (OFW), there are numerous emails about counting hours as if these two children are a commodity. As stated previously, Mom regularly and overtly rewards poor behavior toward Dad. Core Set of Parental Alienation Strategies With the concept of parental alienation, there is also no one definitive set of behaviors that constitute parental alienation but again, research has revealed a ‘core’ set of alienation strategies including:
20 Signs of Parental Alienation Douglas Darnell, PhD highlights 20 signs of parental alienation that every divorcing parent should be made aware of.
Examples of Parental Alienation Eleven of these points seem to apply in this particular case, but I have highlighted three examples of parental alienation in this particular case: 1. Giving children choices when they have no choice about visits. Allowing the children to decide for themselves to visit when the court order defines placement time sets up the children for conflict. The children will usually blame the non-residential parent for not being able to decide to choose whether or not to visit. The parent is now victimized regardless of what happens; not being able to see his children or if he sees them, the children are angry. Coach response: This just recently was identified in this case. One child was acting angry, defiant, and disrespectful toward Dad that resulted in his phone being taken away for the remainder of his visit with her Dad that day. This child stated she needed to go for a walk and then did not return. His brother went after him to find out the angry child was going to his friend’s home and would not be back to his Dad’s. Dad alerted Mom of the situation. Mom picked up the child and did not return him to Dad (to finish his placement time) but refused to bring him back there verbally stating she would “never return the children to an environment they perceive as toxic” In this regard, the angry child (with the assistance of her Mom) was able to decide to choose whether or not to visit with Dad. This left Dad victimized and without any closure to the unfortunate disrespectful conversation that occurred. 2. Refusing to acknowledge that children have property. Refusing to allow transport of their possessions between residences. Coach response: Dad did take a chance in purchasing a cell phone for one child as the other already had one. He did this as a prudent measure to be able to have the children contact him if they were going to be late getting out of school on the days that Dad picks them up and/or if Dad was delayed at work resulting in delay in picking them up. The phone was also purchased as a way to encourage further communication between the children when they are not physically with him during the week. Unfortunately, according to Dad, one childs cell phone is taken away at Mom’s house every time he enters Mom’s house regardless. This has also occurred with an iPad that Dad bought, thus constricting the communication between Dad and child. Children will become angry with a parent. This is normal, particularly if the parent disciplines or has to say “no”. If for any reason the anger is not allowed to heal, you can suspect parental alienation. Trust your own experience as a parent. Children will forgive and want to be forgiven if given a chance. Be very suspicious when the child calmly says they cannot remember any happy times with you or say anything they like about you. It is important to note here that according to the research, often children who are being alienated are scripted in their responses and when diverted from the script, they have a difficult time responding. 3. A parent suggesting or reacting with hurt or sadness to their child having a good time with the other parent. This will cause the child to withdraw and not communicate. They will frequently feel guilty or conflicted not knowing that it’s “okay” to have fun with their other parent. Coach Response: Research suggests that children often need to be re-taught in therapy that it is ok to love both parents (especially with the parent from whom they are being alienated). However further research suggests that it is very difficult to have consistent therapy for children in this situation, as the alienating parent will often try to “control” the type of therapist or professional working with the children. The alienating parent will push to find the “right” type of professional—one who confirms her/his own biases in the matter. Ways to Reduce the Likelihood of Parental Alienation In light of coaching always being “coaching forward” and slowly trying to change old habits, there are 10 documented guidelines to reduce the likelihood of parental alienation. 10 guidelines for reducing the chance of parental alienation, in no particular order of significance: 1. Children should have their own phones so that Dad or Mom can contact them during mutually agreed upon times when they are in the home of the other parent. Neither parent should be the gatekeeper regulating the communication between a child and a reasonable parent. I would imagine this may become part of a future parenting plan. 2. If there in fact is a pattern that develops in which Mom reports “the children don’t want to participate in visits with Dad” the children may very well need a parenting coordinator to determine precise reasons that visits with Dad have been interrupted. Every effort must be made to honor these important visits with the noncustodial parent. 3. Any communication regarding the children shouldn’t be passed along via the children. Children aren’t messengers. The children should not be informed about outstanding issues between their parents that will put them in a position to negatively “judge” the other parent. 4. Parents need to permit children to bring items such as clothing, gifts, iPad, pets, and other personal items that have been given to the children by the “other parent” into their homes. Children shouldn’t fear or feel guilty for having a beloved item which is associated with one parent and then rejected by the other parent. 5. The children shouldn’t be asked details regarding visitations with the other parent. 6. Any derogatory comments directed to the children about the “other parent” is really forbidden. Such comments are a form of parental alienation and are extremely painful for the children to hear. 7. These four messages should never be conveyed to the children: I am the only parent who truly loves you; Feeling good about yourself can only come from me; Your other parent cannot be trusted; If you want love and care from me; You cannot have a relationship with your “other parent.” Often these messages can be delivered by the alienating parent in a myriad of ways. These messages are devastating and cause lasting damage to the children’s overall well-being. 8. Both parents really should be encouraging the children to love and respect their other parent. This should be the benchmark for both parents working toward positive change for the good of the children. Children need to be free to develop separate relationships with both parents. It is not for either parent to dictate how a child should feel about the “other” parent. 9. Visitation needs to be carefully crafted with room for negotiation to avoid leading to conflict that can easily slip into parental alienation. 10. Parents should be able to negotiate w/o constantly calling on the parent coordinator to break “the tie.” Prevention of Perinatal Alienation Parent Alienation has been referred to in the literature as emotional abuse. As well, parent alienation attempts to eliminate or reduce the natural right of a man or woman to parent his or her children. Prevention of parent alienation is really the only reasonable approach. Once parental alienation has been determined, changing it is difficult and can have limited success. From the examples above and in my professional opinion, there is a strong likelihood that there is parental alienation exhibited in this family situation. In addition, there is much empirical evidence that I have reviewed to support parental alienation by Mom against Dad. I have been coaching Dad on a regular basis as explained in the beginning of this report NOT to engage in the alienation and consistently work with him on different strategies, skills, and tools to diffuse this alienation. Seek Support from a Certified Divorce & Life Coach A Certified Divorce Coach can also assist you with the impending process of change and provide you with the tools you need to move forward. If you find yourself going through the divorce process, contact me. I can help you through this process in a manner that is flexible, goal driven, and individualized for you.
Coaching can be done by phone, in person, Skype, Facetime or Zoom. By Eileen Sherman PhD, MBA, BS, RN  If you Google the term “diet reset program,” you will be bombarded with an overwhelming number of diet programs, metabolic reset programs, some branded programs and some not branded, some well-known and some new to the market, some rapid weight loss programs, some programs that only take five days to accomplish, some that take 30 days to accomplish, but in none of these links will you actually see exactly what a diet reset program is. From my own perspective as a health coach, life coach, and years of experience working with hundreds of clients on this issue of changing their diets—the best successes have been not on denying yourself foods, but on making sure you have an abundance of healthy “real” foods—preferably organic. So a diet reset is really an eating or body reset—no focus on deprivation, rather focus on abundance. Now doesn’t this sound better already? Changing Your Food Habits with a Diet Reset Program  An eating reset is really focusing on habit change. Over time we all build up many not so great habits around food and eating; we binge eat when we are stressed, we eat too late at night, we often practice the “grab n’ go” approach to eating, and we don’t exercise enough. None of this leads to an increase in our metabolism, a decrease in fatigue, feeling lighter, healthier, and more energetic. Research tells us that it takes about 90 days to change a habit—we go through five stages of change. 5 Stages of Change The 5 Stages of Change are based on the Prosci Change Management Maturity Model. 1. Awareness to change the habit 2. desire to change the habit 3. Knowledge on why and how to change the habit 4. Acceptance which is actually when the life change takes place 5. Reinforcement of the change daily through the practice of different behaviors that reinforce the change in eating How to Hit the Reset Clock and Successfully Make a Habit Change Let me give you a simple example of how this happens. I had a client who came to me wanting to really change her evening eating habits. She would often sit down in front of the TV, with a glass of wine and a bag of chips, crackers, pretzels and eat—sometimes getting that second glass of wine and finishing the entire bag of whatever snack she decided on for that evening. This actually was her nightly ritual; a habit that she had created. Identify and Use an “Anchor” We went to work over 12 weeks to help her change that behavior very slowly—she downloaded an app on her phone that was a reminder that she needed to get up from the TV and go into another room to read, or take a walk etc. This is called an “anchor”-something that anchors you to realizing you are about to make a less than desirable decision around eating and the anchor is meaningful to you so that you pay attention to it. Often people have photos on their refrigerator of them when they felt as though they were in better shape and had a handle on healthier eating, some download a favorite song on their phones as a reminder, some set their alarm on their phone, some journal their behavior. Whatever works for the individual is what we go with in terms of the anchor. Over 12 weeks, my client stopped her nightly binge eating completely, was cooking more simple meals at home at a reasonable time, and felt much more energetic as well as sleeping better at night. This in one very simple example, but as you can see and appreciate, it is just not about “RESETTING YOUR DIET.” It is a series of baby steps taken that WILL lead to life-long habit change. This is also not a ‘canned’ approach like you often find on the internet. A diet reset program should be different for every individual. Take the Leap to Break Old Habits You will benefit from a diet reset program delivered by a certified health coach and life coach that will provide you with the right system, approach, and accountability to help guide you to being successful. Visit my diet reset programs page for more information on how I can help you reboot your system or contact me today for a free initial consultation.
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