Week 11 Healing Habits 2-Minute Checklist
Reintroduce. Return. Regroup.
Redo. Refit. Recount. Replay.
In Weeks 10-12 of Checklists for Healing Habits, you will see the entire Metacardio Method summarized point-by-point at-a-glance day-by-day.
[American Heart Association Infographic on Mediterranean Diet]
Week 11 Day 1
Reintroduce
MINDSET RESET
The Mediterranean Diet Feast Menu
Good & Goodness Time-tested – by millions of diverse peoples in many countries over centuries. Scientifically validated in recent decades to reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, many cancers, depression, and dementia.
What Diet? – Seafood like fish, white meats like chicken, some red meat if preferred, tomato sauces, olive and other oils, fruits, vegetables, herbs, beans, peas, nuts, eggs, yogurt, cheese, and even a glass of wine if you like. Use Google or AI to look for more.
Smart Subs: Make “starches” out of mashed cauliflower or canned Italian white beans, hummus from black or Garbanzo beans, or Guacamole from mashed avocado. For salt, try rosemary, thyme, garlic, or smoky paprika. Use free AI to generate recipes for specific taste and ethnic preferences.
Breathing has been time-tested to be good, with no substitute.
Breathing practice is like using an automated necessity as free therapy.
MOVING
Walking is another time-tested excellent exercise (ordinary activity, really) that’s doable nearly by anyone. It’s easier to just do it than to justify why you can’t do it.
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Sadly, Sitting and Sitting is Sickly as Smoking
Stop Sitting Still. Stand-Stretch-Smile. Smarter Still, Stroll.
Set to do this for Several minutes every Second hour or So:
Stand to face challenge.
Stretch to erase complacency.
Smile to embrace change.
EATING
Consider saving the hassle and money of diluting sweet drinks by drinking plain or sparkling water.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
Events in recent years are feeding all of us huge humble pies. Pandemics and other major global disasters are exposing our many old dysfunctions. Since we’ve been forced to build back, we might as well build a future even better than our past.
Recovered from the COVID disaster and in this program, you’ve learned how to be healthier, fitter, and more stress resilient than before. If not there yet, you’re well on your way.
Not everything is a zero-sum game. With your body-mind-spirit, even in calamities, you can play a better ‘open-sum’ game where all can be better off. Let’s see how this week.
“Don’t despair, repair.
Don’t just repair, fare fairer than ever.”Metacardio©
REMINDER:
Another Ex-excuse
“I’m no purist. I can’t just drink pure water.”
Point taken. Add some ice, squirt in some citrus juice, make it bubbly. OK, go all out. Put it in a fancy tall glass, and garnish it with fruit peels or flower petals. Make it a joy to enjoy it pure.
See you tomorrow.
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Footnote for The Newcomer:
Healing Habits for a Happy, Healthy, Hasslefree Lifestyle for Life are success stories collected from some 2000 of my patients and coworkers in a non-profit private clinic after-hour coaching program over 25 years. This series of posts are Metacardio Methods’ daily checklists in that 3-month program.
Pick and choose which of the items are useful for you to follow. The nutritional suggestions are as applicable to weight loss as transitioning to a healthier eating habit.
Where relevant, all suggestions have been updated to current national health guidelines and state-of-the-art expert consensus. Wisdom from sages over the ages remains perennial.
The basis for these suggestions is discussed in long-hand on 15 prior posts here. All are archived under “Healing Habits Blog”.
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Week 11 Day 2
Return
MINDSET RESET
Food Industrial Complex & You (FIC& U)
You Da Boss – It’s your call. What you demand, industry supplies. When you don’t, they don’t. That’s how we’ve beaten the tobacco giants.
Frankenstein Food – FIC& meticulously engineers junk food with the right mix of sugar, salt, and fat to hike your addictive cravings. They call it “hyper-palatable” (aka hyper-profitable).
Supersizing Schemes – Don’t let supersize food items supersize you. Fill up your cart with supersized non-food items first. Re-package supersized food items in smaller bags at home. Make handy only what you need right away, and put the rest away.
Eat-Out End-Game –
· Avoid buffets; at least take shortcuts to cut them short.
· Preview menus online before going to a restaurant.
· Replace the old bread-and-butter habit with nuts or crackers and olive oil.
· Start with lemon and water. Drink alcohol only in the middle part of your meal.
· Make left-overs ‘leap-overs’. Stash away those portions before starting to eat.
· Many appetizers are tastier and cheaper than main dishes.
· Share dishes—save the fund and share the fun.
· Eat family style so you can take only what you’ll eat.
· No pushing food on one another. Showing respect for others’ food sensitivities and preferences is better than showing generosity at others’ expense.
Taking a breather before eating out can give you room to eat better.
MOVING
If your workout today feels like the Battle of the Bulge, make FIC&-U your enemy, at least for the duration.
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Stand to win.
Stretch to create win-win.
Smile, you can’t lose; and no one has to for you to win.
EATING
Liberally substitute your old habitual food choices from the Mediterranean Meal Menu. Pick according to your liking. For example, pick other nuts if not almond, other oils if you don’t prefer olive. The ‘Mediterranean style’ can be stylish Asian. Use free AI apps to design choice recipes for various occasions from the Mediterranean Diet.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
In health and wellness, to “heal” means to optimize the whole. This is so for your body as well as your world. A zero-sum game would be very suboptimal for both.
Your body plays an open-sum game, allowing unrestricted exchange inside and out, with all that’s around and about you. You have no limit on optimization. And it can be for growth or trimming.
Your world, and the world, can play the open-end game in most instances. Yet, out of (bad) habit, we make everything a zero-sum game, thus severely restricting our potential. And it is a very stressful game because someone must lose, even be offed.
How about healing yourself? And then, as a matter of (good) habit, your world?
REMINDER:
The food industry has a complex. You don’t. Together, we can give them another one.
Another Ex-excuse
“The food industry is too big to fight.”
True, in a zero-sum game. You lose (by gaining weight) and they gain (by gaining profits). Let’s change it to an ‘open-sum’ game. You gain (by losing weight while eating less but better food) and they also gain (same profit but less manipulation and bulk).
See you tomorrow.
. . .
Week 11 Day 3
Regroup
MINDSET RESET
A Party is for Pleasure, not Pressure
See NUTRITION below to regroup and enjoy yourself without destroying your health.
What a relaxing, ordinary thing to do just before a special (stressful) occasion.
MOVING
Thank the host for the occasion to re-engage an old friend with whom you’ve just returned from the outside for a nice walk and a long talk. This way, you have your cakewalk and eat it, too.
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Stand to join the party.
Stretch to liven up the party.
Smile and really enjoy the party.
EATING
Ready to Party?
Don’t go hungry, go happy – A feeding frenzy from feeling famished can make a frantic fool of you. So, just before you go, sneak in a small snack.
Go properly dressed, not painfully stressed – Comfy shoes to walk/work in. Skin-tights under your party attire as an under-cover prompter for “I’m full”.
Head start – The host(s) first, friends after, strangers next, munchies last. Drink less, eat least; talk more, listen most.
Anti-tipsy tips – Liquidate liquid landmines by watering down hi-cal-hi-octane eggnog, ciders, and punches with ice and aqua. Sparkle up with sparkling water.
Small Plates, Fig Leaves – Put on fluffy stuff first, dessert dead last. Bread makes a nice ‘fig-leaf’ to cover up your private unwanted items for discard later.
BYOD – Bring desirable desserts to share. Take decadent desserts to store. Any dessert you can’t desert, dissect or discard.
They Spiel, You Chill – People enjoy “your” conversation most if they talk. You just listen, never with your mouth full, and briefly repeat or recap once in a while.
Laughed-over Over Leftover – You’ll soon forget what you chowed down at the party, but people will long remember how you lifted up their spirit, often just by sharing a cool, fun time with them.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
The trillions of cells in each body are all different. Yet, they naturally function together as one, in coordination and cooperation, for the greater good of the whole, and with everyone included in it.
For example, even though your kidneys have their own self-interest and “identity”, they never hate your guts, attack your heart, or bash your brain.
Your body conducts an ‘open-sum’ enterprise. It does not play a zero-sum game.
REMINDER:
Another Ex-excuse
“I’ll go on a diet after this special occasion.”
Fair enough. Looking at only our public holidays, your anniversaries, birthdays, and personal celebrations, bad-hair days, etc., etc., there seems to be no end to special occasions. So, no end to being on-diet and in-debt? How special and occasional is that?
See you tomorrow.
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Week 11 Day 4
Redo
MINDSET RESET
Activity is not a 4-letter word, unlike exercise to some
Often, making it a big deal ends up getting no deal. Many ‘Blue Zone’ people who live in good health to over 100 don’t ‘exercise’ in the gym. They integrate plenty of moderate physical activities into their daily living routines. Walking, gardening, housework, dancing, moving around the house all qualify. They don’t sit and sit, and they often do things with other people.
If you work out in a gym daily, congrats, you earn the bragging rights as an athlete.
If you do enough physical activities that readily fit into your day, you fit the bill for a lifestyle artist.
Not making breathing practice a big deal is also wise. Be creative at finding a quiet spot that works best for you. Examples: your parked car wastes no gas; a quiet bathroom wastes no water.
MOVING
Be Sure Or Be Sunk? Better to follow realistic plans and succeed than to attempt unrealistic dreams and fail.
Many Turtle Steps, Not One Hare Brain — Succeed, not speed. Putting time and consistency on your side, you become unbeatable, like the turtle.
10,000 Banker’s Promises – Of the 10,000 daily steps, whatever % you can manage, you get the pro-rated benefit. Your body banks it and doesn’t withhold the interest. Will more than 2,000 steps accrue more interest? You can bank on it.
Bingo, Your Way – Divide your total exercise time into any number of convenient segments so you can do it. As long as you hit 150 minutes per week, you hit Bingo.
Satisfaction is just a faster way of saying satisfied-action.
Metacardio©
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Stand to look to your goal.
Stretch to reach for your goal.
Smile to ease into your goal.
EATING
Trimming your portions gradually by ¼, and subbing in healthier food choices to replace some of your old habitual selections will not be flashy enough to invite unwelcome comments or sabotage. If someone questions, invite them to try your method.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
Many of your body parts will sacrifice themselves as necessary to safeguard others. For example, if you’re hemorrhaging, your mouth dries up and your kidneys shut down in order to preserve blood flow to your brain.
Every tissue and organ is hardwired for self-preservation, just like every person. Yet, it doesn’t hoard anything in excess at the body’s expense, unlike some people. If it does, that’s called obesity. And if it does so like an extremist, it grows into a tumor.
When ill-played, a worldly game can easily turn joyless, as in a zero-sum. When you play it well, your joy can be endless in this open-sum game of life.
REMINDER:
Another Ex-excuse
“I can’t. I want to fit in with my people; they aren’t that healthy or happy.”
Get fit gradually, then you’ll fit in—your clothes, your life, and your world. And maybe more people will find it more fitting to fit in with you.
See you tomorrow.
. . .
Week 11 Day 5
Refit
MINDSET RESET
What’s MATR with SMART?
Nothing matters. Get smart. They’re the best ways to get fit. See below.
No matter how smart you are, silent stillness can grow your wisdom beyond what you can say or think, before you know it.
MOVING
M.A.T.R. of Fact
Put neuroscience to work for you to spool up a “Habit Loop” in your brain. Once spun down, a habit will feel effortless to practice and hard to break, like brushing your teeth.
M – Motivation: you already have that, having gone this far
A – Action: regular, repetitive, even if small, like a stitch time after time
T – Trigger: couple activity with a daily thing you always do, such as watching videos
R – Reward: set your own milestones and reward system
Get S.M.A.R.T.
Set personal goals that will definitely, not hopefully, work.
S – Specific (What exactly?)
M – Measurable (How much, exactly?)
A – Attainable (Which is workable, exactly? Not just wishful.)
R – Realistic (To what extent, exactly?)
T – Timed (When? For how long? When again? Exactly?)
A goal is a better tomorrow
that tricks you into living a better today
without knowing better.
Hmm…that’s even better.Metacardio©
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Stand for your own good.
Stretch for the greater good.
Smile for it’s all good.
EATING
SMART MATR is just as good for the feeding goose as for the moving gander.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
In your body, if one part selfishly jeopardizes the good of the whole, like a cancer, everything goes down. In many ways, the same is also true at home, in society, and globally.
The COVID pandemic has made us realize that many people who were once considered low-level, expendable, insignificant personnel, like sanitation, custodial, store, and farm workers, are very ESSENTIAL, many of them minors, minorities, and migrants.
In our world, as in your body, every element makes a key contribution. We need brighter eyes and bigger hearts to see that we need everyone at all levels to work together as one, as if for one.
An open-sum game opens it to all. A zero-sum game zeros out to naught.
REMINDERS:
Safe and sustainable goals for winning the weight-losing game for good:
1-2 lbs. a week, 2-3% in 3-6 months, 5-6% in 6-12 months.
Another Ex-excuse
“Forget it. I wanted to lose 40 pounds. I gained 20 instead.”
With the Motivation you already have, you just need to get to the bottom of the MATR at hand and set new SMART goals.
See you tomorrow.
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Week 11 Day 6
Recount
MINDSET RESET
Not Today? – If you really don’t feel like exercising today, just do a few of the beginning movements and see if you feel like continuing after that. This outsmarts your brain to keep your neuro-loop in progress unbroken.
No Time to Burn – You burn 100 Cal per mile (walk, jog, run, or crawl), equivalent to a 1-inch cookie. Got 3-4 hours to walk off a typical 1,000-calorie serving of dessert? Sure, what’s a mile for a taste you crave? But 10 miles?
Set Setbacks into ‘Set-forwards’ – Burn off extra calories before, not after, eating those extra calories. Trim off extra portions for several days before your upcoming food feast. It’s like using a pre-paid debit card, not a high-interest credit card.
On a day when it’s absolutely impossible to squeeze in your meditation, find a quiet place to be alone for just a few minutes, like a car or a bathroom, to take a few slow and easy breath cycles. Ahhh…Yezz. Greater quality for lesser quantity.
MOVING
Doing extra exercise to pay off an out-of-control indulgence makes exercise more unpleasant—even if you had the time. Payback is hard work not worth the penalty.
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Stand to stay within budget.
Stretch but don’t break budget.
Smile as you get in under budget.
EATING
Pre-paid extra credit in your calorie budget makes those extra bites of your favorite food taste extra good, guilt-free, and debt-free.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
In building better eating and activity habits, you will get more fit and healthy while saving both money and the environment, for one and for all.
Strong stress resilience resets your mindset for success and happiness, not just for yourself but also for the people around you. Stress is very contagious. Don’t fan this “stress pandemic”.
It’s an awesome ‘open-sum’ game if we play it that way, as a healing habit. It defaults like a bad habit to an awful zero-sum game if we don’t.
REMINDER:
Another Ex-excuse
“I know I’m way behind. I’ll eat less and exercise more later, somehow.”
Well, it’s all settled then. Let’s say you get away with it. Who’s the poor creditor who got stuck with your bad debt? Oh…
See you tomorrow.
. . .
Week 11 Day 7
Replay
MINDSET RESET
Fat-and-fit is healthier than slim-and-slack. If fitness fits you better, don’t slack off.
Effortless Discipline – “Discipline, in the beginning, is merely taking one more step when you want to quit. Soon, it becomes a habit you cannot break. From then on, it hardly takes effort anymore.” – Metacardio©
When you get to a point where it takes no discipline to make you do this, and it’s just something you do, like brushing your teeth, then it’s not a forced practice. It’s just a natural lifestyle habit.
MOVING
Once cranked up, an exercise habit can be a wonderful crank. If you skip it, you can get cranky, and your loved ones might kick you out the door to do it so you come back wonderful again.
Sedentary Sickness Stopper:
Stand to reduce personal calories.
Stretch to conserve global calories.
Smile when you don’t have to count calories.
EATING
You’ve settled in with eating ¾ of what you used to 3 months ago and subbing in healthy and tasty new choices. You hardly eat snacks anymore because you feel satisfied and fulfilled. You’re on no diet. You haven’t been. You’re just eating the food you like, when you like, as much as you like. It’s no big deal. You got it. That’s the deal.
THOUGHT FOR FOOD
‘Open Sum’ not Zero Sum
Eating more plant-based food improves your health, drops your weight, also cleans the air, and saves the planet’s energy. Walking or biking instead of motoring, and using stairs instead of elevators increase your fitness and decrease your carbon footprint while minimizing disease exposure. All win-win-win choices.
Consume (burn) more personal calories.
Conserve (save) more global energies.
The two happen to go hand-in-hand to help save you and our planet.
Turning the global zero-sum game of energy shortage into your personal win-win ‘open-sum’ game, you now have more energy to spare than ever.
REMINDER:
When you exercise regularly and repeatedly (as in doing reps), you burn fat, which is light, and build muscle mass, which is heavy. So, at least initially, your weight may not drop. If you do it along with trimming portions and watering down sweet drinks, you’ll lose 1-2 pounds a week, mostly fat.
Another Ex-excuse
“My weight loss is slowing down, but my waistline is smaller. Something wrong?”
Muscle is heavier than fat, and it is also a furnace for burning fat. If your waistline is down 2-3 inches from 2-3 months ago, regardless of your weight, you’ve converted belly fat into body muscle mass—a massively healthier condition.
[Mayo Clinic Mediterranean Diet Infographic]
See you next week to conclude our 3-month program.
Metacardio© 2024
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Coming Up Next :
Week 12 - One body. One life. Destiny now.
A Free Enhancer:
Get the Metacardio® mobile app on your iPhone for all 12 weeks of daily prompts with illustrative graphics, animations, audios, and videos. (All non-monetized. No one could pay me enough to have this much joy.