Friday, March 1, 2013 - EDGEWOOD Addiction Treatment

EDGEWOOD News
Fitness Matters
in your grill
“... eating the same way you
did when you were up for a
week on a bender is a pretty
solid way of triggering yourself
back into old behaviours.”
So you just sobered up and are trying
to get this whole life thing figured
out. Meetings are in place, you’ve found
a sponsor, you’re connecting with some
of the people in your recovery community,
but there is just something
missing. Could it be that Kraft Dinner
that you are having for the fourth night
in a row?
You’ve probably heard, “If you do what
you have always done you will get what
you have always got.” Eating the same
way you did when you were up for a
week on a bender is a pretty solid way
of triggering yourself back into old
behaviours.
In early recovery your body has often
been dehydrated and deprived of
nutrients, and will be craving a variety
of things to make up for the deficit. For
many people this creates a scary problem:
how do I learn how to cook?
Don’t panic.
Like just about everything else, it is
not nearly as hard as it looks from the
outside. Take a few minutes to check
out YouTube, search out some recipes,
and maybe call some friends who seem
like they have it going on in this area.
Like many areas of your recovery the
secret here is all in how you approach
it. Your gourmet ideas will fall flat a
few times and that is okay. They are
supposed to. Get curious, have some
fun with it, and don’t be afraid to play
around with new ideas.
Counsellor Bill
Caldwell’s weekly“Bill’s
Grill” sessions show patients
how to plan and
prepare healthy meals.
TAKING SHAPE
Before going through the stages of
beginning a new fitness program
for either health and/or weight loss
benefits, it is beneficial to review
which outcomes you wish to achieve.
We are a people that love to set
resolutions at the beginning of a
new year. The sad reality is that the
majority of us will fail to achieve
them. How many swear they’re going
to lose weight for the umpteenth year
in a row? Or say that this is the year
they will “get healthy” only to stop
going to the gym after one month?
Unfortunately, after a few years of
this, setting resolutions can become
“Success is knowing where
you want to go and having
a plan to get there.”
something to avoid. After all, why
would you consistently set yourself
up for failure?
But what if I told you there was
a better way? What if you could set
yourself up with a better chance of
success? The trick is, you’ve just got
to be SMART about it.
Cheryl Wilson is
Edgewood’s BCRPA
Certified Fitness Leader,
a qualified Weight
Trainer, Group Fitness
Instructor, Third Age,
Yoga Fitness Instructor
and Personal Trainer.
Set SMART goals:
Specific: the who, what, when, where and how of your goal.
Measurable: you’ve got to be able to measure your goal in
some way. Otherwise how will you know if you’ve reached
it? Set some criteria by which the goal can be measured.
Attainable: if you really want to set yourself up for
success, the goal should be something you can feasibly
attain (i.e. winning the lottery so you can quit that job
you hate is probably not a good goal).
Realistic: something that you are willing and able to
work toward. This doesn’t mean you can’t set the bar
high — sometimes just fully believing something can
be accomplished can make it realistic.
Timely: your goal should have a specific time line; a date
by which you want to achieve it. This will motivate you to
get started.
12 EDGEWOOD News