The Cooper Institute

  The Cooper Institute in Dallas Texas is many things.  In fact, its name has been expanded to include Cancer Prevention and Research.  This makes sense.  The institute provided the very first evidence on the benefits of physical activity.  Now we know that being physically active is one of the three most important things a person can do to prevent cancer.  The others are consuming a quality diet that meets your energy needs and not smoking.
   The scientists, physicians, exercise specialists and health promotion experts affiliated with the Cooper Institute concentrate on individual level factors and programs.  They have determined  the most successful strategies for losing weight, maintaining weight loss, becoming physically active and staying physically active.  Not only do they have programs and tools to help people achieve their goals, they also train the people who will assist you.
   In fact, I received a Wellness Promotion Director certification from them several years ago. My attendance at the week long training is among my top 10 best experiences.
   I introduced the Institute so that I could let you know that they have updated their website.  It provides many tools - and the research to support them - for the public and for professionals.  
    Please click here and explore their new website if you have any struggles with eating well, maintaining a healthy weight or exercising.  In order to have the best chance of a healthy, active, long life - you need to do all three - and not smoke.
   Of note - I do not agree with every thing on their website.  To be fair, my area of interest is policy and not individual behavior change, which is their specialty.  For instance, I noticed that they made a very low daily calorie recommendation for weight loss and I think that is inappropriate.  On the positive side, they have information on realistic calorie expenditures for persons who weigh around 150 pounds.  Also they have a calorie needs estimator which appears to be accurate.  It said that I need just over 1600 calories a day to maintain my weight at my high activity level.  So play around with the site, use what you like, leave the rest but ALWAYS think things through and make informed choices.

Self Regulation

Professor and Psychologist, Albert Bandura is credited with identifying one of the most used theories to explain and  predict behavior.  It was once known as Social Learning Theory - as its roots are in how people learn or adapt new behaviors, but it is now called Social Cognitive Theory - perhaps to capture the thinking part that goes into our learning.

There are nine or more concepts in his theory and they fall under five categories.  One of the concepts is self regulation and within it are six steps.  I am going to tell you what they are and you can see if you are using any of them.  

The reasons you might use self regulation include: to limit sitting, increase physical activity, moderate alcohol or sugar or saturated fat intake.... etc.

Here they are:

self monitoring -  a systematic way of watching what you are doing, like keeping a food diary or log

goal setting -  seems self explanatory but remember that goals have to be measurable, doable, quantifiable  and time sensitive (I will walk 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week, starting 2-11-2012 and I will review my progress every Sunday and also once a month)

feedback - perhaps a friend or wellness coach will tell you how it seems you are doing (this is because you have specifically asked them for their input which is different then someone just pointing out your failures!)

self reward - please don't let that be food (note - binging one day a week is NOT okay if you limit the other days, that has been scientifically falsified!)

self-instruction - harder to explain, but it is rather like talking yourself through something - maybe reading a label and thinking about the amount of salt or sodium that is in the package and then thinking about how much salt you should have in a day.

social support - let people know what you are doing and maybe they will be encouraging (for instance, they won't suggest going out for drinks when it is your time to go to the gym - or they will tell you how much sat fat is in the dish they brought to the party, etc)

There are many webpages and resources that discuss this theory in its entirety, but I am afraid I might inadvertently send you to a bad website, so instead, here is a link to a reputable document that contains an overview of many theories of behavior  - not just those at the individual, interpersonal level.  The monograph is a product of the National Cancer Institute.  SCT is discussed in part 2, but there is a table of contents so you can go directly to it if you like.

Brief O&E Update

Throughout the day I pondered over a topic - I thought, I do not want to think so hard tonight. I have begun reading an article that I think might be good for tomorrow, but tonight I am just going to share a couple of thoughts I have had since Sunday when I posted this entry.

I want to say first that I messed up the info on my generation and obesity. I kind of felt like I had it wrong, but by notes were in the car and oh my gosh, I was too lazy to go down and get them - I know, hard to believe. Funny though that the notes were on this little notepad I keep on the visor. Why do I have a pad stuck in my visor? To take notes when I hear a news story that I want to explore further in order to share on the blog!

So what I meant to say was that people born in the 1960s and 1970s tended to gain weight up until their 20s where the numbers peaked. This generation then tended to lose some of that extra weight. One fifth of the them were said to be obese. Now, I can say that I personally weighed more in my twenties than I do in my forties, so there, research experiment of one! I think I did get the second part of the statement correct last Sunday, which is that later generations are obese at higher rates and they do not peak but appear to continue to gain weight indefinitely. Currently we have an obesity rate of 33% in the USA.

Also in the last O&E I mentioned the concept of behavior placement as an extension of product placement. Since then I saw two blatant examples of both - in fact, they both occurred in TV shows that I was watching simultaneously last night! On Damages, (FX Mondays at 10), a character was at a laptop computer and wanted to look something up. VERY clearly the search engine he used was the lesser known Bing. On the show I was really watching, Saving Grace on TNT , the phenomenal Holly Hunter (whose character smokes all the time :() Stomped out a cigarette in the sand and then picked up the butt and either put it in her pocket or in the trash. Either way, she did not LITTER or cause a fire with her discarded smoke. It is against the law to throw out cigarettes in Florida, where I live - If you have ever seen a wilderness on fire, even on the news, you will understand why.

That's all then - tomorrow I will tell you more about brown fat, as I believe I have mentioned it at least once in the past.

Odds and Ends

Odds and Ends is pretty cool, and I think that I should keep doing it. I am also thinking that it is supposed to be easy and I keep making myself think too much. So here is an idea. I keep O&E on the weekend, but I give up Saturday or Sunday all together so I have a six day blog, not a seven day one. Or I just might be over tired today... anyways.

Fruit Cups: I was at an event during which lunch was served. The people attending were of various ages. I looked up at one point and noticed happily that the young persons all had cups of fruit. In front of them at another table were two overweight older women and both of them had cookies. I did mention how awesome it was that the young persons were eating fruit! I said this maybe before I realized that the ladies were not. One said something about her bad choice and I concurred in a way, saying that the youth were roll modeling for the adults. And they were. (I am not the food police. The women spoke of their struggles with regulating food intake. It is sad and hard for me because I like the women and want them to be healthy)
Short Cuts Don't Help: At a popular place for walking I noticed a person get out of her car and instead of walking to the sidewalk at the stop light to then go on the mile walk over the bridge, she cut through the grass and up the embankment. She obviously came there to exercise and then took about a 100 steps off the walk. My question is WHY, why shorten your workout like that? There are NO shortcuts to health, people.
Self Efficacy: At first thought, you might think that self efficacy, self confidence and self esteem are the same thing, but they are not. Self esteem and self confidence really cannot be willed "improved." Self efficacy, which is often discussed in regards to behavior change, CAN be nurtured and expanded in such a way as to increase ones self confidence and self esteem. Self efficacy is one's belief in their ability to do something. There are several ways to boost it. One is to successfully do something, so set achievable goals. The more things a person has accomplished or survived, the more that they believe they can do or endure. Also, one's belief in their ability to do something can be increased if they see someone very similar to themselves doing that same thing. People who encourage a person also build their self efficacy as does the trickier interpretation of results. What I mean by that is knowing that what you did led to the outcome that is positive For me the simplest example is knowing that my body is tired because I accomplished a certain physical activity goal which is making me stronger. I am a much more confident person in my 40s than I was in my 20s and 30s and I owe this to a exponential improvement in my feelings of self efficacy.
Time to Exercise: I was the speaker at a training this weekend. At a break someone was telling me their story of losing 50 pounds and striving to be healthier. She asked me if I worked out and a discussion ensued between several of us. At some point, then or later, I cannot be sure, one of the participants said to me, "You seem to work a lot, when do you find time to exercise?" And you know, it isn't even EVER a question. I don't consider my exercise to be something I will do if I have time. My exercise is how I start most of my days and everything else can wait.

ok, Minn is still playing as I blog - and I am forecasting the Vikings and the Colts for the 44th Super Bowl. This sucks because a Manning is always worth routing for - and yet, I am a fan of the Giants who are an NFC team.... so that is it, the Vikings have my support.... of course, if the Saints win.... Peyton gets me back...