As a society, we have grown to appreciate and lean into preventative medicine as opposed to symptom management. We have become curious about our health and how to optimise the way we feel to live a longer, healthier life. But with all of the misinformation that surrounds us on social media and the internet, it can be overwhelming for patients to filter through the noise and know how to curate a health plan that is best for them. This is why working with a healthcare professional that can formulate a comprehensive and individualised plan, based on your history and health, is imperative to making long-term change.
SETTING GOALS
This is the most important, yet hardest step in creating your health plan. In practice, goal setting is something I speak about with every single patient. It’s integral to discuss habit formation and goal setting, and this is often where we can find the top three mistakes patients make with their health plan. A foundational understanding of how these changes will fit into a patient’s life is just as important as the recommendation itself.
A goal must be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound; making this goal is the first step to habit formation. It’s easy for us to run off of motivation and adrenaline to shoot for the stars, but this approach can be the most detrimental part of someone’s health journey.
GOAL SETTING VS. HABIT FORMATION
When forming a new habit, we have to identify the “minimum viable product” that we are happy with. For example, let’s say we have a postmenopausal patient and we are recommending strength training to preserve muscle mass and bone density. If they have a goal of three times per week for strength training, they can decide that their minimum viable product is two times per week. That way, if they become sick or have a late night at work, their goal is preserved—a positive impact on their health is made while remaining consistent. If they kept the expectation of three times a week, this patient, through fear of failure, may become too discouraged to keep going.
When it comes to women’s health, we’re often met with obstacles to reaching these goals due to other obligations, such as work, family commitments, lack of time and energy, and overwhelm as we try to fit everything in. Having a minimum viable product allows patients to weave the habit into their lifestyle as they build up to their maximum goal. It allows exercise to become a part of their routine, just as brushing their teeth.
TOP 3 MISTAKES IN YOUR HEALTH PLAN
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Focusing on perfection instead of consistency: This is why I’m not a fan of New Year's resolutions. We are motivated, encouraged, and supported to make a goal that usually isn’t sustainable in the long term. We typically quit within two to three weeks and end up feeling discouraged; this results in the goal completely falling through the cracks, and we drop back into the loop of poor health habits.
With my patients, I like to discuss the 80/20 percent rule. This basically means that 80 percent of the time we stick to our goals, and the other 20 percent allows some flexibility for life and unexpected events to happen that would usually “derail” us, without allowing the feelings of guilt to arise when we have no choice but to deviate from our goals. This rule commonly comes up when we discuss movement goals, and you can employ the minimum viable product concept as your 80 percent rule.
The same goes for nutrition, where we want to remove the terms “cheat day” and “treat” and instead form a positive relationship with food by eating what we love 20 percent of the time in addition to our healthy foods. This also applies to any supplementation as well. Evidence-based supplements are meant to supplement, not replace, a healthy diet and lifestyle. - Your goals are not sustainable in the long-term: Creating a goal or habit with room for too many obstacles, barriers, and challenges already sets us up for failure. We aren’t looking for quick fixes, but rather for long-term, sustainable solutions that naturally become part of our routine and won’t feel like a bullet point on our daily to-do list. We often see this with foundational health goals around nutrition, movement, stress management, and sleep hygiene.
A common area where we see this in women’s health is weight loss. It can be tempting to follow a restrictive eating plan which is hard and only provides short-term gains, but due to its restrictive nature, we usually end up reverting to old habits and any “benefits” we gained are reversed. Additionally, many of these dietary recommendations are not evidence-based and cause more harm, chaotic eating habits, and further health challenges. Our current conventional medical system has created the assumption that we can just do something quickly to remove our symptoms and not do the hard work; that doesn’t give us much incentive to make long-term changes.
We are rewriting this narrative by including more education on why we are doing certain things in our health plan, so we can stick to it even without seeing initial results. For example, we know that correcting vitamin D deficiency can positively impact mood; however, this benefit may not be noticeable until after the first eight weeks, depending on the level of deficiency and dose of supplementation. By being informed about this recommendation, we may feel more motivated to follow it long-term.
- You’re not filtering out the noise by using non-evidence-based and non-individualised recommendations: We live in a huge virtual world filled with do’s and don'ts coming from unqualified professionals; this makes it difficult to know what the next right step is. This is why it’s so important to work with someone on your healthcare team who is qualified to help assess, treat, and monitor your health. Every treatment plan should be individualised—and it won’t be found in a 30-second reel on Instagram.
A lot of time in my office is spent debunking health and wellness misinformation and myths that are harming my patients. Money, time, and energy are wasted filtering through the noise out of desperation to feel better. I allow space for this in my practice because feeling confused about your fatigue, constipation, menopausal symptoms, and fertility struggles is difficult. But a state of desperation and being misinformed doesn’t set you up for success—every patient is unique, and your health plan should be too.
If you feel like you’ve made any of these mistakes, you’re not alone. Reach out to your naturopathic doctor or someone on your healthcare team that you trust to help you navigate through your obstacles and barriers, and you’ll be one step closer to feeling your best!
