Living your best life happens one step at a time. In a sea of too much, and often conflicting health information, Healthy Bites provides the simple, specific information and guidance you need to make a small step – or, a “healthy bite” – toward a healthier and happier life. Local wellness expert, board-certified health coach and lifestyle counselor, Mikaela D. Martin, of Guidance for Growing in Souderton, writes the monthly Healthy Bites. For more healthy living news and tips, her website at www.guidanceforgrowing.com.

Last week, over 300 million United States citizens reveled in Thanksgiving, a 390-year-old tradition that gives us an opportunity to celebrate and show gratitude for the blessings we received over the year. For most of us, the day included a big meal with all the fixings, football games on the TV, and family traditions. Whether or not your Thanksgiving table had a turkey or a Tofurkey, and whether or not you watched football, almost all of us all share at least one tradition: using Thanksgiving as a time to be thankful.

This annual practice of reflection and giving thanks actually provides quite a compelling peek into the benefits of gratitude. For those who focus on being thankful regularly, the benefits are even further reaching, and can affect mental, physical and spiritual health in quite significant ways. December’s “healthy bite” is a step toward understanding gratitude and learning how to practice in a way that allows us to be happier and healthier – beyond the Thanksgiving table!

Why is gratitude important?
Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California-Davis (UCD) is a pioneer, author and expert in the study of gratitude. His lab is involved in longitudinal research devised to provide insight and data on the “nature of gratitude, its causes, and its potential consequences for human health and well-being” (UCD, 2011). Excerpted here from the Emmons Lab website are some pretty incredible results they’re already shown (http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Labs/emmons):
Those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life events (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

• Participants who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals compared to subjects in the other experimental conditions.
• A daily gratitude practice with young adults resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy compared to a focus on hassles or a downward social comparison.
• In a sample of adults with neuromuscular disease, a 21-day gratitude intervention resulted in greater amounts of high-energy positive moods, a greater sense of feeling connected to others, more optimistic ratings of one’s life, and better sleep duration and sleep quality, relative to a control group.
• Children who practice grateful thinking have more positive attitudes toward school and their families (Froh, Sefick, & Emmons, 2008).

“Gratitude is the ‘forgotten factor’ in happiness research. Scientists are latecomers to the concept of gratitude. Religions and philosophies have long embraced gratitude as an indispensable manifestation of virtue, and an integral component of health, wholeness, and well-being,” says Emmons (UCD, 2011).

How do I practice?
The easiest place to start is to simply write down what you were grateful for each week. The format of the list can be whatever you choose; it doesn’t matter if it’s a list or a journal entry, and it doesn’t matter if it’s 50 words or 500 words. Likewise, some people prefer an exercise that engages them several times a week or even every day, so you may want to reflect and write more than once a week. Do what feels right. The idea is to dedicate regular time and acknowledgement to being thankful.

Writing “thank yous” to others is another exercise that puts us in touch with our gratitude – and is sure to spread the thankfulness by bringing smiles to the recipients! Remember that thank you notes are not just for the tangible gifts we receive, but also those intangible ones. Taking time to send a letter of thanks to someone important in your life who has shown care or love is incredibly meaningful for both the writer and the reader, and gives you time to really appreciate the supportive people in your life.

Most of us focus on what our problems and issues are and on what needs to be fixed. Instead, try refocusing on the discovery and development of your strengths, so that you can be thankful for them. Those practicing Positive Psychotherapy recommend writing a “positive introduction,” in which a person tells a story that illustrates one at his or her best, and shows what “highest character strengths” were used (University of Pennsylvania, 2006). Choose a specific instance when you were at your very best, and then tell the story in several paragraphs, focusing on what you believe to be your top strength or strengths. Your positive introduction could be about a milestone in your life, an occurrence at work, making a change in your lifestyle, etc. There are many more activities for utilizing positive psychology on the University of Pennsylvania’s Authentic Happiness website, all of which help facilitate being thankful for our awesome abilities, http:/authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu.

Finally, limiting complaints leaves room for thankfulness to grow. Negative, fearful and stressful feelings are normal and even useful, so this is certainly not a suggestion to ignore them. Rather, when you find yourself dwelling on an unhappy thought or feeling, ask yourself if it’s helpful. Limit venting sessions with coworkers to once a week instead of once a day. When you have the urge to relay the negative aspects of your day to your best friend, try relaying the positive ones instead. Pay a compliment to your spouse rather than a complaint. These little steps go a long way in fostering an attitude of gratitude.

This month’s “healthy bite” invites thankfulness off of the Thanksgiving table to join us throughout the rest of the year. Use December as an opportunity to establish a practice of gratitude that will nourish you until it’s turkey (or Tofurkey) time once again.

Do you have a great tip for or story about being thankful? Please share it with us in the comments!

Living your best life happens one step at a time. In a sea of too much, and often conflicting health information, Healthy Bites provides the simple, specific information and guidance you need to make a small step – or, a “healthy bite” – toward a healthier and happier life. Local wellness expert, board-certified health coach and lifestyle counselor, Mikaela D. Martin, of Guidance for Growing in Souderton, writes the monthly Healthy Bites. For more healthy living news and tips, her website at www.guidanceforgrowing.com.

To support the important message of American Diabetes Month, November’s “healthy bite” focuses on gaining insight into this disease and learning behaviors that will prevent against prediabetes and type-2 diabetes.

Insight into diabetes, from The American Diabetic Association (ADA):
In type 1 diabetes, the body doesn’t produce insulin, a hormone necessary for converting food into the energy we need to live. Only about 5% of people who have diabetes have type 1; far more common than this form of the disease, is type 2. In type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Before people develop type 2 diabetes, almost all have prediabetes, which is identified by blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. In some cases, long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during prediabetes.

Common complications from diabetes include vision loss, high blood pressure, depression, gum disease, nerve damage, stress, stroke and kidney disease. Here are some surprising statistics from the ADA:

• In 2005-2008, 28.5% of people with diabetes aged 40 years or older had diabetic retinopathy, a condition that leads to impaired vision and can cause blindness.
• In 2008, a total of 202,290 people with end-stage kidney disease due to diabetes were living on chronic dialysis or with a kidney transplant in the United States.
• In 2007, diabetes contributed to a total of 231,404 deaths.

While genetics play a role in the development of both types of diabetes, we can influence our risk of developing type 2 diabetes by adjusting our lifestyles. Exercising, eating well and maintaining a healthy weight can delay and even prevent type 2 diabetes.

Behaviors that reduce risk for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes:
The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) recently showed in a study that people with prediabetes can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes simply by making changes in their diet and increasing their physical activity levels. For those at risk to develop prediabetes, these same lifestyle recommendations can be applied. According to the American Diabetic Association, “While the DPP also showed that some medications may delay the development of diabetes, diet and exercise worked better. Just 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity, coupled with a 5-10% reduction in body weight, produced a 58% reduction in diabetes.” These are easy, inexpensive, safe and small steps that will lead to big changes!

• Diet – A diabetes prevention diet is filled with real foods (not food products or fad diets); is rich in fiber and complex carbohydrates; includes beans, nuts and seeds; has lots of whole vegetables and grains; and meets your caloric needs. Foods that interfere with a healthy diet include an excess of fruit juices and fruits; artificial sweeteners; and simple carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, candy, soda and other sweets.
• Physical activity – Adults, aim for 30 minutes most days; children and teens, aim for 60 minutes most days. Any type of activity that gets your heart rate up and your brow a little damp can help you meet this goal. Try walking, an exercise class, cleaning the house, weight lifting or yard work.

Be sure you also know your numbers. Check in with your doctor for a blood glucose test, and take the diabetes risk test at www.diabetes.org.

The prevalence of diabetes and its related healthcare costs is sharply increasing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), the number of Americans with diabetes has nearly quintupled in the past 30 years – and those numbers continue to rise. Today, every 17 seconds someone is diagnosed with diabetes, and recent projections show that as many as 1 in 3 American adults will have diabetes in 2050. This year, 25.8 million adults and children in the United States have diabetes and another 79 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $174 billion. That means the cost of caring for someone with diabetes is $1 out of every $5 in total healthcare costs. Chances are that every person reading this article knows someone who has been diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes. This month’s “healthy bite” brings community- and self-awareness to a disease that affects us all.

For more information on diabetes and American Diabetes Month, visit the ADA online at www.diabetes.org or call 1-800-DIABETES. You can also sign up for our health and wellness newsletter at http://guidanceforgrowing.com/subscribe/ for healthy living, diet and exercise tips.