[[:encoded, "Today, we are honored to have an expert with us. I’ve asked him to talk about what I call the “I’m on Vacation” mentality. Denis Collier is a Registered Dietitian, a Certified Exercise Physiologist and has a Masters degree in Kinesiology. The company he founded specializes in helping individuals reach their most valuable goals by integrating nutrition with a physically active lifestyle. \n\nDenis, I hear often people lamenting the fact that their efforts to eat healthily are sabotaged by different life situations; I am sure I am not alone in hearing complaints like these I bet many of the listeners today have heard them too, and maybe even uttered some of them themselves at some point! Denis, I want to talk to you today about what I call the “I’m on vacation” mentality. I would like to get your opinions on how we can prevent our health from being hijacked when we travel. I mention the “I’m on vacation mentality” because in my experience, I have often heard people use this as an excuse to forget about their health.\n\nAre you up for the challenge?\n\nDenis was up for the challenge. You will really enjoy Denis’s insights and perspectives on this topic. His interview is fun, thought-provoking, and enlightening. \n\nWe appreciate Denis spending his time and expertise with us today. He certainly provided us with some great insights and things to think about and implement so we can be healthier. For those of you who might be interested in learning more about Denis, he has a program called The Fitness Phone. The Fitness Phone is a revolutionary way to consistently access the world’s leading health and fitness experts – and you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Feel free to review his website by going to www.thefitnessphone.com."]]
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[MUSIC] Hello and welcome to the Accountability Coach podcast where we will discuss topics, ideas, questions, and issues related to having a totally balanced and successful life. This is Anne Bakrak. We are honored to have an expert with us today. I've asked him to talk about what I call the "I'm on vacation" mentality. Dennis Collier is a registered dietitian and a certified exercise physiologist and has a master's degree in kinesiology. The company he founded specializes in helping individuals reach their most valuable goals by integrating nutrition with a physically active lifestyle. Dennis, I hear often people lamenting about the fact that their efforts to eat healthier are sabotaged by different life situations. So I'm sure I'm not alone in hearing complaints like this, and I bet many of the listeners today have heard them, too, and maybe even uttered some of them to themselves at some point. I want to talk about what I call the "I'm on vacation" mentality, and I'd like to get your opinions on how we can prevent our health from becoming hijacked when we travel. Are you up for that challenge? I am Anne, and I'm ready to go. Oh, great. Well, I mention the "I'm on vacation" mentality, because in my experience, I have often heard people use this as an excuse to forget about their health. Dennis, do you agree there is danger in this kind of mentality? I certainly do, Anne, and I'll tell you why. The reason is because it is very easy to be on vacation all the time. Think about it. You retreat to the cottage for the weekend. You go on a business trip. Christmas comes up, and that's a vacation. Thanksgiving is a vacation, Easter is a vacation. Your birthday becomes a vacation, not to mention any actual vacation that you may schedule in any given year. And life is so full of events like these, it can become quite easy to spend more time justifying unhealthy behavior than actually doing what it takes to be fit and healthy. Well, now Dennis, how would you respond to those who would call you a party pooper or a buzzkill? No, no one called me that Anne, would they? Well, they might, because people like having fun when they're on vacation, and often that does not include living healthy. Well, and first of all, let me say that I have good news. The things that I am going to recommend are only applicable to people who have an interest in enjoying a long life in which they have an abundance of strength, energy, and good health. That's all. So, if that doesn't appeal to you, then law meetings go about indulging in whatever hedonistic pursuits tickle your fancy and stand vacation forever. But, if you are interested in enjoying a long life in which you have an abundance of strength, energy, and good health, then I would urge you to kick this on-on vacation mentality. Okay, Dennis, you made your points. Most of us think certainly about those things that you mentioned, but how can we get them while we still are enjoying our vacation? The first thing Anne is to identify what truly is a vacation, because I'm not actually a buzz killer or a party gooper. But, and a business trip is not a vacation. Every single weekend is not a vacation. My rule for regular life Anne, now listen very carefully, is to enjoy two meals per week when it is okay to disregard the constraints of healthy eating. I repeat, that's two times per week when you can sit down for a meal and just eat something for the exclusive purpose of enjoyment. That's my rule. There are 52 weeks in a year, Anne. This is the strategy I would recommend for most of those weeks. However, my second rule is this, practical vacations. And this is going to sound strange coming from a registered dietician, but Anne, I follow this rule myself, and I think it is the rule anyone could use, and it is this. There is one week every year. So, one of those 52, when I simply forget that I have a registered dietician, and I spend a week enjoying the things I want. Let me give you a personal example. Last year, almost exactly one year ago, actually, I went on vacation and to Belgium. Now, first of all, if you make the effort to go to Belgium, I think by any definition that would count as a vacation would you agree in? I would agree. So, the last year I was on vacation in Belgium. What do we know about Belgium, the land of chocolate and beer and waffles? If someone were to go to Belgium and deprive themselves of these things, and they're really missing out on some of the finer things life has to offer, excuse me, this is often the entire point of vacation. And I'm sure that that week in Belgium, I drank more beer than I have in the last five years combined, because I'm not really a beer drinker. But hey, I'm in Belgium. Or maybe Anne, you're in a resort in Hawaii where they're serving pineapple cheesecake. Or maybe for you, Christmas is the one week of the year when you can go home and get together with old friends and family and enjoy mom's old home-style cooking. Can you see how these situations are different than going on some lame business trip? And thinking it's okay to stuff yourself at the hotel buffet breakfast because of the eye monitor vacation mentality. Well, definitely Dennis. Now, Dennis, I know that it's easier to put on the weight than it is to take off the weight. Well, at least for me and my own personal experience. I was on vacation in the British Virgin Islands one year for two weeks and tried not to overindulge and still gained seven pounds in those two weeks. Now, it took me about five months of hard work to get just those seven pounds that came on off. So be crystal clear with the listeners today about what you mean when you say one week a year. They can eat whatever they want and what that actually means to each person listening. Okay, I guess and the main point I'm trying to make is to just try to enjoy the truly finer things in life. And each individual should identify what that is for them. When I say eat whatever you want, I need to be clear about this. I don't mean to wake up and eat chocolate bars for breakfast and ice cream for lunch and so on and so forth. That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is for seven days out of the 365 per year, I'm giving you a license. As a registered dietitian, by the way, I can do that. I'm giving you a license just to relax your guilty conscience and truly say, now for these seven days, I am on vacation. And I'm going to enjoy the things I've identified as really enhancing my life, my time on planet Earth. Now, on that note, I said it's important for each individual to identify what they consider to be the truly finer things in their personal life. It's totally reasonable that an individual might say, hey, what's most important to me is to ensure that I'm at my peak physical fitness all the time. You know, I don't want to take a vacation from healthy eating. And if that's your preference, then by all means, you should pursue it. So in summary, for most of the 52 weeks of the year, operate under the rule, I'm allowed two occasions this week when I can treat myself to a meal that I know is not going to be so great for my health and nutrition, but hey, I'm really going to enjoy it. It's going to enhance my time on planet Earth, as I say. And identify one week a year when you are actually really on vacation. And as I say, this is a week when you can relax your guilty conscience and really have some of the finer things in life. Like drop them in Belgium. Okay, well as a registered dietitian, you've given us that okay now. So I think these are actually really good rules to live by. It really allows people to feel more at ease and not feel stymied by, hey, I have to eat good all the time. So I really think these are great rules to live by. So if we are allowed two meals per week when we can eat purely for enjoyment, it would be helpful to have some strategies for how we can try to maintain a healthy way of eating. For all those other times. So for example, when you are on vacation or traveling, it's almost inevitable that we will be eating the majority of the time in restaurants. Can you give us a few points on how to preserve a healthy diet when you have to eat in restaurants? I can and will and because you are right that we often have no choice but to eat in restaurants when traveling. So it becomes very important to follow a few strategies for maintaining healthy eating. Let me start by telling you something you already know. They serve portions that are too big in restaurants. We don't need all that add. So here's how you can get around it. A client of mine really now is more of a friend and a mentor even than a client, lost 140 pounds. And he did it during a time when he was traveling weekly and eating mostly in restaurants. Sounds impossible almost but it's not. One of his strategies was this. As soon as the meal was brought to him, he asked for a doggy bag. Not after he had overstuffed himself and finally had to admit defeat and ask for a doggy bag in shame. As soon as the meal was brought out, he asked for the doggy bag. Before he even began, he would put a portion of the meal in this doggy bag. There you go, breakfast or tomorrow or lunch. Another strategy he would use was to again, as soon as the meal was brought out, was to say to his dining mates, boy this looks good. Does anyone here want to try some of this? And he would offer some of his meal to his companions. So you see, before he actually began eating, he'd already cut down his over and inflated portion size by using these two techniques. Brilliant. I mean, I think everybody could benefit from that. You know, it's interesting, we know the same person and the same person that you're talking about told me one day when we were talking about eating and portion control to make a fist. So I did, I made a fist and then everyone on this call, make a fist and then look down at your fist that you have in front of you. And he said, that was the size of my stomach. So that's all the food that I can eat at that meal. So it gave me a new perspective of portion control. And you can see the size of your fist, usually the portions that you're talking about at these restaurants, are three times that in many cases. You may have taught him this example that I'm giving you. You may have taught that to him as well, to help him lose 140 pounds. Well, portion control is absolutely key. And I know we both know the same person. You are also involved in instrumentally and losing all that 140 pounds with your accountability coaching. But as you say, the portion control that we're talking about here is key. And the other thing I'll point out about the size of the stomach is that our brain actually realizes our stomach is full after. It actually is. So that means we can keep cramming big food into our small stomach and not even feel full. This is why it is so important not only to watch the portion size, but also eat slowly. Once again, this helps to enjoy the pleasant experience of eating, which I'm so big on. So doing these two things and watching portion size and eating slowly can be two very powerful tools. Dennis, great. Is there anything else that you would like to recommend to me and our listeners today as it relates to our topic today? The other huge point then we cannot forget the other huge component of a healthy lifestyle and that is exercise. And we must make time for exercise. And listen, that goes for all 52 weeks of the year. No exceptions. We don't necessarily have to think of exercise in the same way, however, for all of 52 weeks of the year. For example, I'll go back to my own personal example of my vacation in Belgium. Last year when I was enjoying chocolate and beer and waffles. While I was doing those things then, I was also spending literally hours a day walking around medieval cities and battlefields from the world war. Clearly, not something I regularly do in my usual life, but that part of the vacation. While you're on vacation, take the opportunity to exercise in a way that is so novel and interesting, it really can't be considered exercise. I sure didn't consider it an exercise while I was enjoying those sites in Belgium. Or say you're on a tropical holiday for relaxation purposes, jog or walk on the beach. In many cases, you can really kill two birds with one stone and take in some of the sites and atmospheres that brought you to that vacation destination in the first place while getting in some exercise. No, Dennis, perfect. These are great examples. But I want to ask you about another of the situations that we've been mentioning here. Let's say that you are away on a business trip or at a conference to some city that you might have been in a thousand times and you'll be booked to work most of the day. This is often the situation where I hear people use the excuse, "Well, there's just no way I can exercise today. What would you say to that person?" Well, first of all, I might not say it to the person, but I'll say it to you. That expression is just no way I hate. There's always a way. But for sure, going to a routine business conference is certainly different than a vacation to Belgium or Hawaii or the British Virgin Islands. But I would like to adapt one of the concepts I was talking about earlier. That means changing up your regular routine. Okay, so you have neither the time nor the means to jog on a beach while the sun is setting. Perhaps you don't even have time to do your usual workout. I need to emphasize that in situations like these, it is okay to adapt. If your usual workout, say, takes 60 minutes, it's okay to only do a 30-minute workout. I really think people feel them fall into the mind frame. Well, if I can't fit in my usual workout, there's no point in doing anything. Not true. Anything is better than nothing. And I have done workouts in the most lackluster hotel gyms you could imagine. Are they like my regular workouts when I'm at home and have access to my usual stuff? No. Are they much better than sitting on my butt in a hotel room staring at television? You bet they are. The point is that if you're in a less than ideal situation, it is okay to do a less than ideal workout. But making sure you do something is far and away the most important thing. Well, I totally agree with that, Dennis. I remember hearing Peter Vidmar, the Olympic champion telling the audience at a meeting I attended once, that you only have to exercise two times. The first one is when you feel like it, and the second one is when you don't feel like it. He said that he used to have to get the hotel manager to even open up the exercise room for him at odd hours based on his schedule, so he could actually get some exercise time in while he was on the road. And I even tried that at a hotel before, and it's very easy to do. So where there's a will, there's a way. Absolutely. Well, Dennis, we really appreciate you spending your time and expertise with us today. You certainly provided us with some great insight and things to think about and implement so we can be fitter and healthier. For those of you who might be interested in learning more about Dennis, he has a program called The Fitness Phone. And The Fitness Phone is a revolutionary way to consistently access the world's leading health and fitness experts. And you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Feel free to review his website by going to www.thefitnessphone.com. That's The Fitness Phone.com. My hope for our time together is that you got value and an idea or two that will help you be even more successful, personally and professionally. You may be wondering, what should you do next? Well, on my website, www.accountabilitycoach.com, you have access to at least 11 free personal and professional development resources you can take advantage of right now. Review the 30-day self-study course so you can discover for yourself how to focus on your highest payoff activities that produce the biggest results in the shortest amount of time so that you can experience that feeling of true and total success and have a fantastic quality of life. This program is effective and powerful at improving every area in your life in 30 days time. This program will change bad habits into habits that will lead you to achieving all your personal and business goals. Aim for what you want each and every day. Until next time, make it a great day, today and every day. Thanks for listening. [music]
[[:encoded, "Today, we are honored to have an expert with us. I’ve asked him to talk about what I call the “I’m on Vacation” mentality. Denis Collier is a Registered Dietitian, a Certified Exercise Physiologist and has a Masters degree in Kinesiology. The company he founded specializes in helping individuals reach their most valuable goals by integrating nutrition with a physically active lifestyle. \n\nDenis, I hear often people lamenting the fact that their efforts to eat healthily are sab...
