WHY Build A Team

A very long time ago I decided that my mission was to help people achieve their goals whether big or small. And anyone who has known me for a while knows that I often refer to myself as “Your Keto Cheerleader.” We all need support, encouragement, and a high 5 to achieve our dreams, goals and life transformations. You were never meant to travel life’s road alone wherever you are heading.

The truth is that teamwork is at the heart of great achievement.

John C. Maxwell

When you decide today is the day that I’m going to choose differently when it comes to my health and wellbeing, it is the day that you decide who will be on your healthcare team to achieve that goal. You are the only one who truly cares about you – other than perhaps your family who want you to live your best life. Making a decision to change how you eat or move means you’ll need to surround yourself with likeminded individuals to encourage, support and build you up to be your best and most vital version of YOU.

Who’S On Your Team?

Hire a Keto/Carnivore/Ketovore Coach — well, this is what I do! I choose this modality for my nutrition consulting because I have found that living a low carb lifestyle (food plan) reduces inflammation, symptoms and so much more. Want to know more? Send me an email and we can schedule you for a free Discovery Chat.

Healthcare Team — Healthcare Physician, Naturopath, Nurse Practitioner, Healthcare Specialists, Chiropractor — you have many different types of healthcare modalities that you can “invite” to be on your wellness team. I have found that selecting my teammates I have greater control over my health outcomes and how I want to achieve those outcomes. After all, I’m the only one that has me in mind and cares deeply about how I feel.

Supportive Family + Friends — surrounding yourself with voices that are supportive will aid in making healthy decisions and improving your choices while you’re figuring out how you’ll achieve your health and wellness goals/aims

Limit Your Health Influencers – too many voices can muddy the waters or simply overwhelm you. Dr Eric Zielinski suggests in The Healing Power of Essential Oils, “A practical way to move forward is to limit your teachers to just two or three when you’re first starting out…resist the urge to get a fourth, fifth, or sixth opinion, or else you’re likely to hear such conflicting information that you won’t know what to do.” (New York: Harmony Books, 2018, p 7)

Strategies for A successful Health journey

Don’t Overanalyze — act before you think through all of the potential objections. Basically, don’t agonize over the details. Getting deep in the weeds means you’ll become ambivalent and unable to change because you’re caught up yes, I should change and no, I can’t change (now). Instead make a pact with yourself to educate yourself at your pace and implement the changes that will make a difference for you. Of course, I would highly recommend you limit those online and social media voices as I suggested above. Choose a few and go from there.

Quiet the Noise — As I said, limit the voices, because too much information can completely overwhelm you and become counterproductive. Checking out too many online keto/carnivore influencers could muddy the waters, cause confusion, and reveal contradictions that further confuse you. When I started keto, I stuck to 3 blogs and that was it. I started this food plan and went from there.

Focus on the Low-Hanging Fruit First — As Dr Z (aka Dr Eric Zielinski) said in his book, The Healing Power of Essential Oils, “Even though the journey to health is a marathon, not a sprint, quick wins are a must because they create confidence, which is the foundation for a long-term success.” (p 7) This is the mental and physical shifts that will move you from thinking about it to deciding on a habit or two to put into action. On keto, this could simply start with limiting the number of carbs you include a meal or day of food.

Remember You Are Uniquely Made — What works for me may not work for you. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, not even on a keto/carnivore meal plan. I usually tell my clients that I’ll work them to use a framework that we customize as we work together until we have created a food plan that is unique to them. Dr Ken Berry calls this the Proper Human Diet — insert your name for human. Canadian nutrition expert, Meghan Telpner says, “Labels are for tin cans.” You don’t need a label for your chosen food plan, you need food that nourishes your body well and brings about health and wellness.

my journey – my family doesn’t do keto

Since I started on my keto journey, I have had no takers in my family to join me. Truthfully, my family has never joined my on any of my various weight loss and health diets because, well, they simply aren’t plagued with any noticeable health issues (yet). For me, on the other hand, my health issues showed up as a variety of symptoms along with the weight gain and girth increase.

As I’ve tackled various health issues along this journey to improved wellness, I’ve explored dairy-free, gluten-free, paleo, auntoimmune paleo, GAPS diet, keto, carnivore, and ketovore. You just have to look at my cookbook collection to see this progression. Each way of eating brought various improvements. Today, I eat Brenda’s way — zero to low carb, mostly meat, limited to no vegetables and rarely any fruit (usually reserved for seasonal availability). I have found that eating this way most of the time means I don’t experience digestive issues, inflammation or other symptoms that have plagued me for decades.

Does my healthcare providers agree with me? Nope and I don’t discuss it with them. The GI specialist recommended I add fibre and must use his dietician to receive his “care.” Yep, he didn’t like my approach to eating either. I have resolved that by educating myself and making decisions for my health outcomes I am in control. My family physician doesn’t ask what I’m doing anymore because my bloodwork continues to improve as are many of the other health markers he uses to measure where I’m at. He knows and trusts I’ve done my homework to make the health decisions I’ve made — besides I come with a 3-inch binder with my out-of-pocket test results and research, so he doesn’t have the time to discuss these on his limited appointment time with me.

In the end, I feed my family what I eat — real food! We eat what we raise and grow. If we don’t raise it or grow it, I’m purchasing it from a farmer or farmers market. I know that I’m feeding all of us well and we are thriving. What more could you ask for?

YOUR TURN

Are you ready to build your healthcare support team? I just heard someone refer to this collaborative team as her “happiness” team because these people will be the ones she has handpicked to be her health and wellness support network. Having help with the dietary and nutritional aspect of your team is a good investment. Watt Works Nutrition is available to be a member of your team. Not sure how we could work together? No problem, we offer a free 20-minute Discovery Chat. Reach out today to schedule your free chat.