Welcome to January's Slim Down

Here you'll get nuggets from the forum, snippets and ideas from fellow No Diet Dieters, a sprinkling of science and anything else we think might raise a smile and inspire you to keep things fresh…from nodietdietway.com

Goodness Gratitude Me

Welcome to 2008 and all the possibilities and opportunities that lie ahead. This month, in the name of flexibility, we're doing the opposite of what most people do at this time of year. We're anchoring ourselves in the present as opposed to reflecting on the past and pondering the future (January takes its name from Roman mythology's 'Janus' – God of beginnings and endings).

We're noticing what's good about now and some of things we can be grateful for. A leading expert on gratitude, Robert Emmons, has shown that thankful people are more satisfied, less stressed and experience a greater sense of vitality than less grateful people. In a study with two groups, one kept a 'gratitude journal' for three weeks and the other kept a 'whining and moaning' journal. Every day those in the first group wrote about things they were grateful for – nature, the rain staying away, their home, their recovered health – whilst the people in the second group noted down what was going wrong for them. Dr Emmons found that the gratitude group reported higher levels on almost all measures of wellbeing – including optimism, vitality, enthusiasm for life and ability to manage stress. In particular, keeping a gratitude journal led to the participants getting better sleep and exercising more, which we know is good for weight loss.

 
 
 
 

How to be more grateful this month:

  • Start off by making sure you’ve written your ‘thank you’ letters, acknowledging all the kindnesses and goodies bestowed on you by your loved ones over Christmas. It’s so easy to get so distracted by the commercialism of Christmas that the real meaning gets swept away with the tinsel and tree needles afterwards.
  • Then try something different. Write ‘thank you’ letters to yourself. Each day try listing three things you are grateful for, however trivial. It might just be that your car started, your home was warm and cosy and you enjoyed listening to a new CD. Psychologists say this leaves a positive memory trace that protects us against negative emotions in the future.
  • Next, try thanking a person every day for something you might not ordinarily comment on. Whether it’s the cleaners at work (for doing a worthwhile but thankless job), a friend (for recommending a brilliant film) or your partner (for taking the kids out when you had a headache) it doesn’t take much to say thank you.

We can multiply the good feeling of gratitude by sharing what we’ve noticed at the forum on www.nodietdietway.com. Karen and Jessica have been paying homage to things they say are profoundly important but they rarely even consider. And the more they look, the more good things start to crop up in their lives (OK, they were there all along but it’s about what we choose to notice).

This coming year, use your senses and tune into what’s good,

 

The No Diet Diet Way Team