• What stress is, what causes it, and how can you better manage it
• The elements of a healthy support system
• Self-care and self-management skills
• Relaxation skills
• How to develop a personal stress care plan

What are some of the signs?

• Irritability
• Feelings of anger or frustration
• Increased tobacco or alcohol use
• Disrupted eating patterns
• Communication Difficulties
• Black and White thinking

How Does Stress Impact Common Medical Conditions?

• Fight or Flight responses create physical changes, even if the stressor is psychological
• Evolutionary response
• Physical changes

§         Increased heart rate

§         Rapid breathing

§         Pupil dilation

§         Digestion slows or stops

§         Vasoconstriction

Hypertension and Stress

• Due to sympathetic nervous system activation
• Chronic stress leads to:

§         Neuroendocrine changes

§         Cardiovascular changes

§         Peripheral vasoconstriction

• Mild hypertension found to be reduced by meditation and relaxation

Diabetes and Stress

• Norepinephrine alters glucose levels, especially for Type 2
• The body attempts to make more energy to manage the stressor by dumping glucose into the system.
• People make less healthy choices when stressed.  This makes the consequences of other medical conditions more acute.

Migraines and Stress

• Can actually be a causal or aggravating factor
• Stressor often occurs hours to days before the migraine
• Decreasing reactions to minor daily hassles decreases number and intensity of migraines

Back Pain and Stress

• People with psychological distress are 3 times more likely to develop back pain than others
• One prospective study discovered that psychological stress was actually found to be a better predictor of developing back pain than some physical methods

What can cause stress?

• Negative and positive life events
• Personal relationships
• Financial commitments
• Work
• Lack of sleep
• Illness

How do you know when you are over-stressed?

• Change from baseline

§         In reactions to events

§         In ability to think through solutions

§         In physical health

§         In coping behaviors

§         In thought patterns

• Immobilization
• Loss of joie de vivre (joy of life)

How can you manage stress?

• You don’t have to become a yogi!
• Develop support systems
• Take care of yourself
• Take charge of your time
• Change your mind
• Resolve conflict
• Know how to manage change

Develop support systems

Supportive people are those who:

• Listen
• Provide honest feedback
• Support
• Nurture
• Respect

Take charge of your time

• Plan/prioritize daily
• Focus on one project at a time
• Know your peak time
• Don’t procrastinate/set deadlines
• Reward yourself
• Organize
• Delegate

Take care of yourself

• Avoid perfectionism
• Engage in positive self-talk
• Assess effects of workaholism
• Vary work and play activities
• Relax
• Exercise
• Eat well

Resolve Conflict

• Learn to be assertive
• Identify unresolved or displaced anger
• Create win/win solutions

Change Your Mind

• Changing the way you think can change the way you feel
• Learn your ABC’s
  • Antecedent
  • Behavior
  • Consequence (emotional)

Relax

• Schedule decompression time
• Laugh
• Avoid the “happy hour trap”
• Practice relaxation techniques

Know how to manage change

• Do one thing differently
• Plan changes thoughtfully
• Make easy changes first
• Practice change for 3 weeks
• Assess enjoyment levels and results
• Keep or drop change
• Be patient

How Do I Start My Stress Management Plan?

• Inventory past solutions
• Tell someone about it
• Pick one thing
• Schedule the change
• Pick a time to check in
• Dig deeper into ABC’s if needed
• View it as an experiment

§         Give interventions a try

§         Keep the ones that work, throw out the ones that flop

When Is It Time for Professional Help?

• Any medical conditions
• Thoughts of harming self or others
• Inability to perform your usual roles
• Symptoms of anxiety disorders or panic attacks
• Exhaustion of your options – what you’ve tried hasn’t worked
• Unavailable or inadequate support system

Special thanks to Courtney Aberle, Licensed Psychologist, Ph.D.

Having to lose weight is not fun but the key is that it is simple math.

Burn more calories than taken in = Weight Loss

Six months ago I embarked on a journey to lose weight.  I had gone to my doctor and I was concerned about the blood sugar becoming elevated and that gave me the spark to move in a positive direction.  It has been almost 6 months and I have lost 21 pounds.  This month I am getting my blood work done again to see if I have brought my blood glucose down to under 100.

Even without those results, I am already seeing and feeling the benefits of losing the weight.  I have gone from around 189 to 168 and do have about 25 more to go.  I am eating better (bring on the veggies!) and have been walking a lot.  On the weekends I generally go between 5 and 6 miles a day and during the week I try to get a couple of 3 mile walks in.  It is getting harder as the days get shorter.

Anyway, thanks for the great articles.  It’s nice to know you are there.

Ginny

The Good News…

It is my thought that you are one of the best speakers I’ve experienced in Dallas during the decade; I would place you in the top ‘5’… Additionally, I think that most if not all of the folks at Nishmat Am yesterday, thoroughly enjoyed the time you shared with us, and came away with something positive. Thank you for visiting with us!

Of import, virtually everything that was delineated on the page in your presentation, “How to Determine if Your Metabolic…”, resonated within me. I need some help to do a better job taking off the last 14 to 19 lbs of a painful diet experience, and maybe in another area or two. Could you email me a copy of that page from your PowerPoint presentation? It would be greatly appreciated.

Of your books, which would best deliver additional information to supplement your program yesterday? I found the following on Amazon this afternoon: Larry North’s Slimdown For Life, Living Lean, Get Fit!: The Last Fitness Book You will Ever Need, and The Great North American Cookbook.

There is no bad news. You are a kind man, and seemingly a great son. Beverly speaks highly of her boys, and yall appear to have the greatest of Mother-son relationships; I applaud you!

We all have our stories; thank you for sharing yours. I am

Kindly yours,

James

Now I want you to image all that oil spreading all over the place. Whatever emotions you feel when you witness the images are the exact same feelings I have about the rapid weight gain that is going on in this country. In fact it is spreading much faster than the oil spilling in the gulf. The obesity in this country is at alarming proportions never before seen with no end in sight. Be prepared because the impact will affect all of us directly or indirectly. Not one single day goes by where someone isn’t mentioning the over weight state of our nation, NOT ONE SINGLE DAY. Not one day goes by where I do not gasp at seeing someone so overweight where I don’t shake my head in disbelief.

To know me is to know that I am extremely sensitive to those who struggle with weight control issues. However I’m at the point where I feel I’m on the beach removing oil from the ocean with a coffee cup. In other words people like me are not only having zero impact on the war on fat we are down right losing the war. Shows like the “Biggest Loser” don’t have an impact either, popular with viewers but did you know that most finalist actually regain the weight back within a year. This past Memorial Day weekend I went down to Austin Texas with my fiancé and her 20 year old daughter. We decided to float down one of the rivers on an inner tube. There were hundreds of twenty something’s lined up to catch the bus down to the river. As we waited in line I was shocked not only how many out of shape young people there were both men and women alike, the really odd thing is that not one of them seemed to care. In my entire life I have never witnessed so many people comfortable shirtless or in two piece swimsuits while obviously 20-100 lbs overweight. It came at a big surprise to me because my generation was the last of the self conscious when it came to body identity. Lately I have noticed the casual attitude of being obese more than ever.

Many years ago Oprah lost 70 lbs with Med-fast and squeezed into her tight size 6 jeans only to regain ALL the weight back in less than 8 weeks. She was so mortified that she vowed to never go on a diet ever again and started preaching a message of acceptance. She said not everyone is meant to be thin and those who aren’t should love themselves regardless. I totally agree with the latter part of her message, we all should learn to love ourselves and our bodies but I went crazy on my weekly radio show spouting that you should not ever accept something that you can do something about. Should poor people accept being poor, uneducated people accept being uneducated??? Please do not do what everyone appears to be doing and that is to start waving a white flag and just give up. Apparently Oprah was convincing at telling people to accept being overweight because that is exactly what has happened. If you don’t believe me go to the mall, sporting event, amusement park or school yard. Obesity doesn’t discriminate against anyone except old people that is because obese people never die of old age.

I bet most people reading this have know idea how obese I would be if I did not follow my own program, its true I come form a long lineage of family members who have either struggled with their weight or who were obese long before the word was ever used. I witnessed first hand the pain, struggles, torment and ridicule that many of my loved ones went through do to weight control issues, I also knew in my heart there had to be better way. The thought of living my entire life struggling with my weight and more importantly not feeling good about myself was not the life for me, I knew I had to devote myself to finding answers as opposed to being a hope seeker thinking that the next fitness fad fraud would work. Yes, I inherited the fat gene and the “I don’t get full” gene. Since my teenage years I have dedicated myself to discovering the secrets to staying lean, healthy and most of all happy. A day rarely goes by that I’m not reminded by the fact that if I deviate to far from the “program’ that I will have to bare the consequences, I’m not perfect yet always strive to make progress. Do you think I like waking up at the crack of dawn and getting out of my warm bed only to go to a cold gym? Yet every morning after I walk out the gym doors I’m sure glad I did. Do you not think I get cravings for food that are so strong in the middle of the night that I could devour a half gallon of ice cream in one sitting but while the 15 calorie popsicles aren’t as good as the ice cream it does the trick. While my industry maybe losing the war on fat, I wont let you down and I refuse to accept anything other than anyone can make progress should they choose to.

One of my all time favorite stories describes exactly where I’m at in my quest to help other.

A young boy is walking along the beach with thousands of starfish washed up along shore. The boy starts throwing the starfish back into the ocean one at a time. A man is strolling along from the opposite direction and comes across the boy. He asks the boy what is he doing? The boy says I’m saving the starfish. The man sort of chuckles and says there are thousands, you can’t save them all. The boy then grabs a starfish and throws it in the ocean and looks up at the man and says; I saved that one.

Have a blessed day,

Larry North

Thank you for being you!
Peacelove,

Adam

Larry,

Blake

Thanks for a creative take on the issues!

Rick @ ACS

Of import, virtually everything that was delineated on the page in your presentation, “How to Determine if Your Metabolic…”, resonated within me. I need some help to do a better job taking off the last 14 to 19 lbs of a painful diet experience, and maybe in another area or two. Could you email me a copy of that page from your PowerPoint presentation? It would be greatly appreciated.

Of your books, which would best deliver additional information to supplement your program yesterday? I found the following on Amazon this afternoon: Larry North’s Slimdown For Life, Living Lean, Get Fit!: The Last Fitness Book You will Ever Need, and The Great North American Cookbook.

There is no bad news. You are a kind man, and seemingly a great son. Beverly speaks highly of her boys, and yall appear to have the greatest of Mother-son relationships; I applaud you!

We all have our stories; thank you for sharing yours. I am

Kindly yours,

James

I have spent the last 25 years attempting to help people learn how to look and feel their very best through exercise and good nutrition often forgetting about my larger and much bigger purpose in life and that is to help them discover the joy of living a healthier lifestyle as opposed to the results from it.

When I was 15 I was on the thin and flabby side and have the pictures to prove it. When we settled down in Texas, it was a monumental transition moving from the east coast to a huge Dallas High School. My early indoctrination and inspiration to lift weights and exercise came from the school running back on the football team. Ironically he was relatively new to the area himself but he was an athlete, had a build way beyond his age and model good looks. His name was Dave Lucas and he would later become one of the best friends of my life. His father had played professional football for the New York Giants and while I was far from an athlete, which you had to be to use the school weight room, David would sneak me in after school and on the weekends and show me how to lift weights properly. This was 1978 and I can tell you now he was light years ahead of his time on exercise and nutrition.  The guy studied this stuff way before the age of the internet. He would read everything on the subject he could get his hands on. In time I learned he had a good reason to be passionate about his body and his health. He had congenital heart disease and his own father had died of a heart attack at age 36. David was the oldest son of six children. I really took to the weights and before long my own body started responding.

One day David said he wanted to share something with me but no one could ever find out. I said sure and he said I mean it! No one can ever find out and you can never share this information with anyone ever at anytime. I’m like Ok, what could be so important? He said his cholesterol is over 450 and they are going to have to run a number of tests on him over a long period of time in an effort to arrest the problem. He was adamant that this never get repeated or in all likelihood he would not be aloud to play football and his family had agreed to keep it under raps, they knew sports were everything to him. Then he said I don’t want this to come across like I’m negative but as my best friend I want you to know that I am not going to live a long life unless there is a scientific break through. As I started to talk he said please don’t say a word. I am prepared to become as fit and healthy as I can and live my life to the fullest and have long accepted my potential fate.

The guy was such a passionate person and truly was my first trainer and inspired me in so many ways. He was one of the most popular guys in school yet chose me as I chose him to be best friends with. Unlike many high school friendships that grow apart quickly after graduation, David and I remained in close contact and continued to speak on a regular basis for many years to come. To this day no one could make me laugh as hard as he could. I would literally be sore the next day in my abs from laughing so hard. Among many of his passions from his family, dog and friends, he was crazy about sports. I was very instrumental in getting him his own radio show on the station where I broadcast my “Weekend workout” show. I really loved this guy and just writing about him makes me smile, brings a tear to my eye and warms my “Heart”.

David jogged 5 miles everyday rain or shine and often took his golden retriever with him. I wasn’t sure if David was the marring type but then one day he informed me he had met the love of his life. I was happy for him and knew she had to be a special person. David died of a massive heart attack 3 days after proposing to his beloved girlfriend. He was jogging with his dog at the time of his death. He was only 36. He died the same week, month and age of his father before him. His family while prepared were devastated and his friends in utter shock.

Last year I called his mom and took her to lunch. It had been over ten years since David’s passing and I guess a parent never really gets over the loss of a child. It was good to see her nonetheless and I knew David would appreciate the fact that we continue to stay in touch. For the first time I shared the secret that David shared with me over 30 years ago. I never ever told anyone until that day! She looked at me like she had seen a ghost. While she of course knew his condition she had no idea he knew his own fate.

I still think about David from time to time. He would be proud of what I have accomplished and even prouder to know he help start it all. He taught me much more than pumping weights. He believed in me in spite of my academic challenges and lack of athleticism. In spite of knowing his own fate he went above and beyond to learn about health and fitness in the small hope that medical science might catch up to his unique situation. Today we now know that early symptoms such as David’s aren’t the only answer. Heart disease is still one of the biggest killers on this planet. Now it is your turn to have a healthier and happier heart. Maybe the bigger reason David came into my life is for me to become the voice to help guide others to a healthier existence. Now it is your turn!

Have a very happy Valentines!

Yours truly,
Larry North

To many people’s surprise, I was often on the other side of the line growing up, so I know all too well the feelings of emptiness during the holidays. I guess when I get right down to it.  I’m not all that crazy about the holidays.

I’m not a scrooge.  I’m far from it! This is a great time of year!  However, I know that this can be a very stressful time of year for many people.  I believe my feelings stem from my childhood, and I know that I am not alone in those stressful feelings during the holidays.  There is a monumental amount of stress that many people and families go through this time of year. The stress develops due to lack of funds, old feelings resurfacing, property taxes due, relatives, and apparently much more.

Did I forget the unwanted weight gain? Oh! Many people attribute it to the overeating when I know it has more to do with dealing with real life than the food itself.

My Background
I was an only child up until age 10. I grew up in a household with a father that never worked a legitimate job until he drove a cab in Las Vegas at age 60 for the last 3 years of his life. My Dad was a degenerate compulsive gambler from Brooklyn, New York. My Mom, who has a heart as big as Texas, was an overeater who suffered from low self-esteem due to her negative self-image, which was exasperated by an abusive husband.

I was very much loved by both parents. I wasn’t physically abused, but the environment I was forced to live in was abusive itself. We were forced to move repeatedly because my Dad was always avoiding bookies, loan sharks, or local and federal authorities, and often it was in the middle of the night with just the clothes on our backs.

With bowl games, playoffs and basketball, the holiday season for a compulsive gambler is comparable to toys under the tree to an 8 year old. The outcome was always the same, and as hard as I try, I cannot recall one single holiday during that period of my life that did not end in mayhem. The fondest memory I have is when I was about 6 or 7 and my Dad had about six bucks and some change. They were raffling off free turkeys.  Our family won the turkey, and then my father let me buy as much candy as his money would allow. I was happy for as long as there was no fighting in the house, as short lived as that was.

Please don’t get me wrong. I LOVE spending time with loved ones and close friends, and I am blessed to have many in my life. But my background reminds me that the holidays can be as stressful as they are wonderful.

Emotional Soup
I know that the soup lines will be full in December, so I have to prepare my organization for a different kind of soup line. I call it emotional soup. Having been in the fitness business for almost 30 years, I am well versed at helping distribute the single best stress buster on this planet. It is exercise, healthy food and a mountain of positive energy.

In the past, I just survived the holidays and held on for dear life, hoping to get through it. I’m now a 10th degree black belt in thriving during the holidays. I have mastered getting leaner, or should I say my leanest, in the month of December. I practically am standing outside of Wal-Mart like the Salvation Army jingling my bell.  Instead of looking for a donation, I’m handing out buckets of healthy information.

What I Have Learned
Looking back, it was what it was and I’m somewhat glad I came from humble beginnings.  I realize that, as bad as it might have been, there are many people who have it much worse.

I am now approaching age 50, and I realize that regardless of their upbringing, many people have skeletons that tend to resurface this time of year. I know some people that get completely knotted up at the thought of having to visit certain relatives over the next few weeks. I also know people that refuse to visit their relatives.

So just how do I always find a way to thrive during the holiday season?

I start with a goal, and that leads into a mindset that says I can and will get leaner in the next 30 days while also enjoying all the food I want.  I know that I can be successful in this because I know just how much to eat and when to stop. I know that if I eat 5 times a day, which is 35 times per week, that it is not only OK to have a bad food choice. It is actually preferred. I slowly ramp up my cardio to a full hour and never miss a workout. I lift weights with an idea of how I am going to look headed into the New Year. I stock my refrigerator with plenty of healthy food. I even get a manicure, pedicure, massage and start taking better care of my skin. I give myself permission to eat whatever I want, and the good news for me is I usually want the better choice foods. I catch up on my reading and the first person I buy a gift for is me. That’s right me.

I have learned the most valuable secret in the world and that is if I am going to be able to love and take care of all the people that are important in my life, I must also learn to be selfish to the point of taking care of myself to the highest level. If I don’t love me, I certainly can’t love you! If I don’t take care of me, I certainly can’t take care of you.

Therefore, my gift to you this holiday season is the gift of understanding that YOU and YOU alone are the most important person in your life! To neglect yourself for the sake of others may appear noble.  However, if you really love the ones you love, you will know that they want you to be healthy, positive and most of all happy. If you take this approach and revitalize your efforts, you will start to feel the stress you normally feel this time of year slowly evaporating.

I want to thank all of you for such a wonderful experience and for allowing me to be your Voice of Wellness. The best gift you can give me is the gift of success. If you or someone you know has benefited from our wellness initiatives, please send a brief story of your success to larry@larrynorth.com and to wellness@acs-inc.com.  Also, don’t be afraid to share those wonderful before and after photos.  And congratulations on making the decision to make your health a priority in your life for the New Year!

Happy Holidays,

Larry North