Personal success and goals in action:
Making dietary changes for health from head to toe


Eating well has become a popularity contest for what food product offers the most health benefits, who sells the most diet books, and which web site claims to be the health guru resource for all. But the success in eating well, with the prize of optimal work performance, health and well-being does not come in a box, printed in a book, or glows on a screen. It starts with you. So before you go down the shopping aisle of health, making life changes, buying food products, and devising diet plans, you will want to first step back and ask yourself a few realistic questions.


Why do I want to address my health through food choices?
Do you have:

• a medical condition (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, high blood cholesterol),
• a warning from your HR department (e.g. need to pass an annual healthy wellness check-up, decrease sick-time absences, improve work performance), or
• a life-changing goal (e.g. complete your first marathon, lose extreme weight, have a healthy pregnancy)?

There are a myriad of reasons people choose to make personal changes. What is your reason? This answer is what helps motivate you, gives you the power to challenge temptations, and keeps you energized when times get tough.

What do I want to promote?
Promotion, part of the "why," is sourced in achievement and accomplishment. Is the goal as concrete as losing 20 pounds, or to look toned and vibrant while giving a presentation to colleagues at an annual conference? Perhaps it is to successfully compete in a fund-raising tennis game sponsored by your workplace? Whatever this is, it needs to be specific, difficult, and realistic because this goal is a risk with promising rewards.

What do I want to prevent?
Prevention also has its roots in the "why," and what we ought to do. Your goal could be dependent on preventing a negative health condition, preventing you from failing to safely perform your job, or preventing past set-backs from occurring again. Regarding prevention, your goal is to minimize loss, danger, or unnecessary mistakes with lasting results. This means your goal may be a necessity where failure is dangerous.

When you are ready to set your health goals, you will have identified your expectations and the desirability of the outcomes. Your motivation will be intrinsic, meaning you own it! Now to take the steps to bring your goal to fruition…

So what am I going to do about it?
This is a concrete question requiring answers with specific action items which can be difficult, unfamiliar, or complex, and which are realistic, attainable, and provide lasting results. If your unique skills do not give you the foresight and experience to establish and follow action items which bring success, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, educated in nutritional science and practices in this arena, can guide you towards your success.

This article concept is sourced from the book Succeed: How we can reach our goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson, Ph.D.; Plume, New York, NY 2012