Healthy Lifestyles begin with a vision followed by baby steps

Along with a colleague and 3 undergraduates research assistants, I am creating a health program for use in the residence halls here at my school, Virginia State University.  We call it Healthy VSU and it has been three years in the planning. The program is partly based on the scientific literature on weight loss and also from research on the physiology of dieting and the psychology of behavioral change. The other part of our information comes from our own experience as African American women. While there may be a thirty year span in our collective ages, our stories about body image and weight loss disappointments and the role of stress and emotional eating sound amazingly similar.

There are many reasons that African American women have been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the segment of the American population most likely to be overweight/obese. We could argue that the CDC's  measure of obesity does not take into account other research suggesting that the Body Mass Index (BMI) for black people should be 3 points higher than what it is for white people.  We could also point out that our campus, like many HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges/Universities) is in a low income area of Petersburg, VA and  has a number of fast food restaurants on the main road leading to the campus (5)  and a number of liquor/convenience stores near the campus (4) but no (0) grocery stores that sell fruits and vegetables are within a close distance.

However, we chose to focus on something that we could do something about...the behavioral choices that students make around diet and exercise.  We know that there is a problem. Our students eat on average 0-2 servings of vegetables per day (the recommendation is 9); a substantial number don't exercise at all which results in a greater proportion of our students that are overweight/obese. So, since most of our students are female, we looked at research that targeted African American women for some ideas on successful strategies.  

We found one study that established a registry of college educated African American women who had successfully lost 24% of body weight and maintained most of the initial loss for a minimum of one year. Behavioral strategies used by this group included limiting their fat intake; eating breakfast most days of the week;  avoiding fast food restaurants; engaging in moderate to high levels of physical activity;  and use of a scale to monitor weight on a regular basis.

We combined this information with successful ideas from our own experience, including insights gained from Sacred and Fit participants and information from a focus group of students held last semester. Then, we came up with our own program created specifically for African American women.  In essence, the program has four parts-

Part #1- Creating a VISION that is aligned with your highest good and highest purpose. The vision.seeks to answer the question- What would I like to express through my life and my body?;  

Part #2  Focusing on UNHEALTHY THINKING with inspirational texts and scriptures that help confront attitudes/beliefs. This step begins with an acknowledgement that some habitual thinking about food/exercise and/or my body will have to change- What current thoughts am I willing to give up? What new thoughts must I begin to cultivate? 

Part #3 Creating SUPPORT STRUCTURES so that new healthy behaviors can be incorporated slowly and systematically over time. We are using websites and mobile apps such as BJ Foggs, 3 Tiny Habits to start with baby steps.

and Part #4 - engaging a system of ACCOUNTABILITY and PARTNERSHIP so that no one is left to fight against our obesogenic and appearance-obsessed culture alone. 

Over the coming weeks, I will be reporting on their progress of our pilot group of 30 young women. But in the mean time, I and my colleague and research assistants are doing the program ourselves, starting with visioning our own highest good. Here are some of the statements from our visioning session:
No more dieting...ever!
i want to make a lifestyle change for a larger purpose than being thin.
He is not worth your health.
Being healthy, happy and my right size is better than being sick, depressed, and hungry all the time. 
I want to love my body instead of fighting with it.
Loving myself means loving my body, too.
I want to to scuba dive with grandson when he turns 16 (that statement is mine!).

January is a particularly good time to create a vision for the coming year, but the vision must be f
followed first by a change of thinking- not a change of behavior. Without a change in underlying thoughts new behaviors don't last.   It is a common mistake to imagine yourself in a bikini and then join the gym. Gym owners know that most of the new January signups will be no-shows by March. Instead, imagine yourself healthy and happy. Then, you can do what we are doing, choose one eating habit to start; one eating habit to stop and one increase in physical activity.  Baby steps that will make 2013 your healthiest year yet.

What is your Vision for yourself in 2013?

The church fast has entered week #3. It is not too late to join in.