Struggling to Get Results?
Access to the Internet and the arrival of AI means we're not lacking information about how to look after our health so why are so many people still struggling to get results or relief from treatable and common health issues?
Could unconscious behaviour be sabotaging results?
'I know what to do so why am I not getting results?'
Sound familiar? We've never had better access to information yet we're more confused than ever about what to do with it all. To much choice or too many options creates overwhelm and a desire to move onto another diet, exercise, supplement or worse, social media fad, before the current approach has a chance to create change. Seductive marketing means we add more products or changes to an already unstructured approach that simply burden's the body with conflicting messages sabotaging results. Self-diagnosing and treating symptoms using the internet or AI fails to make the connection between symptoms meaning we could be wasting our time and money on things that will never resolve symptoms leading to frustration and despondency. So what's the answer? The difference between people who get results from their diet and lifestyle changes and those that don't are those that recognise the role that behaviour and coaching plays in achieving those results.
Whilst a session with a Nutritional Therapist or Naturopath isn't a counselling or therapy session, there's no getting away from the effect past experiences have on shaping how we respond or react to our present environment and situation including our attitudes towards success and transformation which is why coaching and behaviour change is part of what we do when designing a health or healing programme. If you don't believe you can do it, then you probably won't achieve it. Harsh but how we respond to any challenge including getting on top of a health issue is fundamentally linked with how we feel about ourself and our identity. A big part comes down to our attitudes which are shaped from childhood and our parents, past experiences, society and media influences, and opinions of people we value or respect. People struggling to get results are often self-sabotaging on some level which reinforces lower self-esteem and an expectation to fail.
The good news is it's totally possible to break out of this cycle with a few simple techniques that include looking at things from a different perspective, recalibrating expectations, investing in the long-term, accepting relapse as part of the journey, and tracking progress over time rather than day by day or week by week. Setting yourself up to succeed is an important part of a transformational health journey and working with a practitioner will ensure you start from a place of strength both emotionally and practically. The science and the art of healing are two different things. The internet is full of 'science' but lacks the ability to tailor it to your personal circumstances. The science is useless if you don't know how to implement it ito achieve results.
Getting results from anything we put our mind to is tied up with complex behaviours including self belief's, identity, perceived ability, environment, emotional states, and conflicting or competing behaviours that lure us away from making the right choices. Understanding and accepting that relapsing or 'falling off the wagon' is a normal and essential part of the health journey can make the difference between getting results and giving up. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another because we all respond uniquely to our environment based on these concepts. Being aware of what influences you and how you respond can greatly improve your chances of success in achieving a health goal.
The top 5 behaviours fueling self-sabotage...
1. What are my beliefs about myself?
What are the repeated stories and assumptions you make about yourself? These stories and assumptions are having a direct effect on what you perceive to be possible, what feels safe, and what is worthwhile doing. These stories and assumption are sub-consciously filtering what you notice, what you hear, and what you tell yourself. When starting a health journey its important to believe what's possible and this often starts with simple changes to language or reframing situations in the past or present. Rather than 'I'm learning to love my body' we can say 'I'm learning to respect my body'. Same concept but different language means it now feels real and actionable.​
2. What roles and labels do I apply to myself?
A role or label is a social or personal identity we attach to ourself. They can relate to our family situation such as being a mum, wife, sister or daughter. They can relate to our work or occupation such as 'I'm a CEO' or head of department, lawyer, teacher, nurse, housewife, social worker, carer, or business owner. They can relate to personality traits such as being organised, being tidy, or being sporty or competitive. The roles and labels that sabotage results however are the negative ones that reinforce negative attitudes towards our future success. Our behaviour aligns to maintain and protect these negative labels so changing behaviour by expanding our identities, looking at facts rather than assumptions, or becoming more flexible in our roles can create new labels that shift us out of a negative mindset and into one where we begin to notice our successes.​
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3. How much do past experiences and memories affect my decisions?
Emotionally significant past events affect our behaviour because they create unconscious predictions about future outcomes. By understanding the timeline surrounding the event and the behaviours that are occuring right now can help re-shape our beliefs about ourself. If the origin of a belief stems from a past event then techniques such as reframing can help shift us from 'I failed' which is a dead end to 'that approach didn't work' making it harder for the self-sabotaging to take hold since when something doesn't work its logical to try something else.
4. What are my emotional patterns and responses?
Our nervous system is the running the show behind the scenes. All day long its deciding if we are safe or not and is ready to release stress hormones at the first sign of danger. Modern society and especially Western lifestyles create stress pretty much all day everyday and our ability to handle stress is completely individual. What stresses you out might not affect someone else. Why this is relevant is because the state of our default nervous system controls our emotional response and our emotional state influences our behaviour way before rational thought kicks in. Nervous system regulation and behaviour pattern interruption are powerful ways we can begin to change behaviour and response to a difficult or stressful situation reducing the times where we 'fall off the wagon' and reach for a packet of biscuits to 'calm' ourselves down leading to guilt and a predictable cascade of self-sabotaging decisions.
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5. What are my habits and typical behaviours?
Habits are repeated actions performed over time and repeated behaviours reinforce beliefs and identity. We naturally align our habits with our desired goal e.g. I want to loose weight so I'm going to restrict my calorie intake and this is one of the biggest behavioural mistakes. New positive healthy habits are more likely to become ingrained if we align them to our identity which is why understanding and recalibrating our sense of identity is intrinsically linked to achieving results.
How a simple environmental change powers real transformation...
Let's take a real life example of how a simple change to your environment can create the motivation and capability to change self beliefs and identity. Let's say your one of your health programme goals is to increase movement. You're going to have to consider when, where and how you can do this. To do this you're going to have to change something about your environment whether that be joining a gym, attending an exercise class, laying out your exercise mat at home before you go to bed so you see it first thing in the morning, or maybe putting a sticky note up in the kitchen reminding you to go out for a walk or run. By changing your environment you've made is easier for yourself to begin working on your goal of increasing movement. By showing up at the gym or going out for a run for example we create observable actions and a change in behaviour. After doing this for a few times we start to build and increase our capabilty in this area, perhaps you're now walking or running for a bit longer or perhaps you are starting to lift heavier weights at the gym or in a class. This increase in capability increases motivation and willpower to keep the training up and become consistent. This is where the magic happens. Your belief about yourself begins to change from 'I'm just not designed to exercise so what's the point' to 'I can do this' or 'this really matters to me' and you begin to identify yourself as 'I'm someone who trains/workout'. You have now adopted a new identity or over-written an old one and achieved the most powerful and permanent level of behavioural change that lies behind real transformation and lasting results. ​
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Find out how Nutritional Therapy can help you achieve transformational results that last, book your free Discovery call today!