Author: HarrisGroup

JMH Blog

Water

Nearly seventy five percent of the world is covered in water. Water plays such an important role in our lives. Yet, we often overlook the importance of water in our health. For me, drinking water was essential to weight loss.  If you are properly hydrated, you body functions, looks and feels better. Additionally, for me, water filled me up and curbed my appetite.  Here are my four tips to drinking enough water.

First, drink 16 ounces of water each morning before you consume anything else.  For nearly a year, I have started each day with a glass of water.  I have varied what I put in the water.  Sometimes it is just straight tap water.  Sometimes it is cold filtered water.  Some mornings, I will slice a lemon and squeeze its juice into the water.  I’ve even tried some celery juice water and other green juice.  Recently, I have been adding a dietary powder supplement.  But the routine is the same every morning 16 ounces of water before anything else.  NOTE:  My wife thinks I am crazy for doing this before coffee.  Truth is coffee is not good for supporting your hydration.  While I do drink coffee, I also limit my intake and don’t count coffee as part of my hydration.   

Second, as you drink water, track how much you are drinking.  You will quickly get a feel for how much water you need to stay hydrated.  I use an app on my phone for tracking water.  I measured out how many cups/ounces were in the glasses I use at home.  An added benefit of tracking is added a level of accountability for me.  I have a goal of at least 80 ounces of water per day.  On most days, I exceed that amount. It was easy to track using the app. Easy to know where I was.    I didn’t include coffee, pop, beer, or wine in this calculation.  I did include herbal tea. 

Third, drink 12-16 ounces of water before each meal.  For me, that water gave me a sensation of being full sooner.  I have noticed my food digests better with a glass of water in my stomach. Finally, when I did not drink the water before the meal, I tended to eat too much.   

My final tip made the biggest impact for me.  Losing weight requires you to change your habits and attitude. Why people eat is different for each of us.  I was terrible at listening to my body.  Occasionally, I would eat when I was hungry.  I mostly ate meals because it was time to eat meals.  Breakfast in the morning, lunch at noon and dinner around 6pm.  It didn’t really matter if I was hungry.  Confession, I AM A BOREDOM EATER.  Put another way, if I am at all bored, I get cravings.   If I am bored and food is available, I eat.  Though I often eat throughout the day, the most dangerous time of the day is after 7pm.  I get bored and just start munching on whatever food is available – and it isn’t always a good choice.

While the cravings persist, my approach since early in the journey has changed.  Early in my journey, I decided I would drink a glass of water whenever I had a craving outside of meals.   The result has been transformative.  Most of the time, the water cures the craving.  Most of my cravings are from boredom not hunger.  While I don’t know if this method works for other non-hunger cravings, it is worth a try.

So, to sum up, want to lose weight, drink more water. You will be glad you did.

Pivot from Beginning to End

Yesterday, I wrote about new beginnings.  Today, I was going to write about whether I achieved my goals yesterday (all of them for the most part).  I was also going to write about the importance of diet in weight loss (extremely important).   Yet, sometimes we need to pivot and write about an end.   

In many ways, it seems entirely appropriate that I learned of the passing of mentor, colleague, and friend while I was giving an examination at the institution where we met 35 years ago.  Additionally,  it seems appropriate that the man who ignited my love of  Constitutional Law and the Supreme Court of the United States passed away on the first Monday in October. 

I have spent much of the day reflecting.  There has been some laughter and smiles.  Some stories shared on social media and privately.  There have been some tears about what has been lost and profound impact this man had on my life.  We all have teachers that changed the course of our life for the better.  The teacher that believed in you, challenged you, inspired you, guided you and supported you.   For me,  Dr. Peter Schotten was one of those teachers.  There are so many stories I could tell you about him.  I could tell about his propensity for puns.  I could tell you about his quick wit.  I could tell you about his intelligence.  I could tell you about his fashion sense.  I could tell you how he helped students like no other professor I have ever seen.  In the end, I am at a loss for words.  I will simply say, he is the mentor and professor that I have aspired to be since returning to Augustana. 

I met Dr. Schotten thirty-five years ago when I was a freshman in college in the fall of 1986. He was the prelaw advisor at Augustana.  Though he clearly had concerns, he supported, encouraged, and challenged me to be the best I could.  I listened to him but often fell short of both our expectations. He helped me prepare for the LSAT and apply for law school. Without him, I would have never been accepted to law school.  Years later, I would be fortunate to return to Augustana and call him a colleague.  He always treated me as an equal.  He had good advice.  But most of all, he was honest.  Brutally honest at times.  If you ever dealt with him, you understand what I mean. 

In my last correspondence with Dr. Schotten, I thanked him for being such a great mentor to me and many others.  I wrote “There are few people that have had a greater impact upon my life.”  What I didn’t say is that outside of my parents and immediate family, he made the most significant positive impact upon my life. I simply would not be where I am today without him. Life is short.  Thank those who help.  Hug those you love.  Make sure they know.

You can read his obituary here – Peter M. Schotten The picture at the top of the blog post is from my college graduation party. It shows me, looking a bit startled and intimidated. It also my father (far right) and Dr. Schotten (middle) with expressions that are priceless. Rest well Dr. Schotten. You made the world better. Say hello to my dad.

New Beginning

It is the first Monday in October. For US Supreme Court junkies, this is the beginning of a new year. What cases will they hear? What decisions will they make? It certainly will be an interesting Supreme Court term

The start of a new day, week, month, semester, or year is an excellent time to start something new. It serves as an important reminder to start a new. Your failures of past are erased with a fresh start. It’s like a do over or a mulligan. Further, research shows when people utilize these fresh start points, they are more likely to succeed in achieving their goals.

So, rejoice in this new beginning today. Set new goals. Make yourself better today.My goals for today are:

⁃ To write a short blog post

⁃ To finish the book How To Change

⁃ To finalize an exam I will be giving to students tomorrow.

⁃ To grade at least 1/3 of the outstanding assignments that have been turned in by my students.

⁃ To prepare for class tomorrow.

⁃ To drink at least 90 ounces of water.

– To walk at least 10,000 steps

⁃ To make healthy eating choices all day

⁃ To send a card or letter to at least one person in my life

⁃ To celebrate each goal I achieve

I better go! looks like I’m going to have a busy day.

My body, My Choice

My body – My choice

Most diet books and/or programs discuss the importance of knowing what is going in your body. It is my opinion you will not be successful in weight loss if you do not determine what is going into your body. How much? What kind? When? How many calories? This information is key.

Unlike 20 years ago, it is easy track your food. There are several phone apps that now make this virtually seamless. In previous weight loss adventures, I have used Lose It! – Calorie Counter.  I have read good things about MyFitnessPal but have never used it. One can always just write it down on pen and paper. In a later post, I will discuss what app I used, why I used it, what I liked about it and what I didn’t like.

I chose to track what I ate on my phone. I am never far away from my phone. Additionally, most apps will allow you to scan the barcode and the relevant information will pop up immediately. For me, this was a game changer. In the beginning when I tracked precisely and daily, I always knew the score. I remember counting the number of grapes for my afternoon snack. I knew if I had calories left or was over budget. If I was not having the success I wanted, I looked at the data and found my answer.

Now with the above said, I do not think religiously tracking everything you eat, the amount, and the calories is a healthy long-term approach. Today, I mostly track the calories in my head or enter most of the calories into my app. It is more important to learn to listen to your body. Spoiler Alert: If you learn to listen to your body, it will tell you when you are hungry and/or thirsty.

By tracking my food, I learned

  1. I was taking in too many calories – aka eating too much on most days.
  2. I learned what foods were calorie budget busters.
  3. I learned what foods were calorie budget winners.
  4. I learned to listen to my body

Through tracking and the lessons that tracking taught me, it was easier to put together a food plan that was healthy, filling and allowed me to lose weight. While I will talk about specific food plans and eating in future posts, it is essential to understand that I was not forced to “give up” any foods. I have eliminated some foods from my diet. I have increased foods in my diet. Mostly, I have limited foods in my diet. Long story short, I spend more time in the produce section of the grocery store than anywhere else.

For those wanting specifics, I have reduced my dairy and meat intake. I am also very conscious of my alcohol intake. When your daily caloric intake budgeted is 1500-1750 calories for the day, you think twice before having that filet mignon (500 calories) and baked potato (150 calories) with a couple glasses of wine (240 calories) (Total of 890 calories). Doesn’t mean you can’t do it; just means you have to plan throughout the day.  It was my choice to not eat the steak regularly.

But remember all this matter because of my why. Why was I doing this. Every morning my why provided my focus. With the end goal solid, the how is easier. Next time I will write about one strategy that I implemented which for me made all the difference.

Persist, Pivot or Concede

“Persist, pivot, or concede. It’s up to us, our choice every time.”
― Matthew McConaughey, Greenlights

I started reading Matthew McConaughey’s book this week. The above quote jumped out at me. When faced obstacles and challenges, we have three choices. Last week, for the first time since George W Bush was President, the woman’s soccer team at my alma mater defeated a longtime conference foe ending an 18 game losing streak. I was fortunate to be there to capture this picture of the woman who scored the winning goal.

The picture, the winning goal, and my weight loss are all the result of persistent and steady pursuit of a goal. I could have given up of weight loss many times. The soccer team could have conceded. Neither of us did. We persisted and pivoted until we found something that worked. Both of us are celebrating our success.

Take time this weekend to examine The obstacles and challenges in your life. What is the best strategy. Persist? Pivot? Concede? To me, it seems obvious that two of these strategies will lead to more success than the other.

Moving from focus to facts

I apologize for not posting sooner.  Life has been hectic.  My goal is to have one or two posts per week.  Today, I want to spotlight my second pillar of weight loss success – FACTS. 

Facts don’t lie.  Nearly every day since November 2020, I have stepped on my scale.   I did so again this morning.  The scale gives me a number. The scale doesn’t care about my feelings.  The scale doesn’t care if I had a busy weekend.  The scale simply gives me a fact.  While I recognize there a numerous ways to measure one’s health, I have used the scale to measure my journey.  And, according to my scale, I am 70 pounds lighter than my all time high and 64 pounds lighter than November 2020.   So before, I write anything more, I am celebrating this.   

Like many, I have struggled with weight for most of my life.  If I am being honest, I was active and healthy until my family moved to a new house shortly before the start of 2nd grade. A new house in a new neighborhood with a new school was a lot for my 7-year-old mind to process.  I had to start over.  It wasn’t easy.  I most likely used food to feel better.  Further, the new neighborhood had fewer kids my age, so I wasn’t as active.  I developed poor habits at a young age.  Knowing this helped in my journey.  I knew I needed to break some habits and create new ones. 

A major challenge to weight loss is cutting through the crap.  To be successful in weight loss, I knew had find a program that worked for me.  Go to a book store and look at the number of books dedicated to weight loss.  There are hundreds.  I estimate that I have read over a dozen weight loss books over the years.  I’ve tried many of them and had some short term success. Ultimately, each diet failed, and I regained the weight (and often a bit more). 

For me, the reasons for the failure were the same.  First, I never had focus.  Second, each of the diets was missing essential nutrients.  Third, the diets were based on junk science.  Fourth, there was no support. 

I found some common ground with all the diets.  I have concluded there is a unifying theme with all the diets.  At its core, weight loss is simple.  Eat fewer calories than your body burns, and you will lose weight.  There are all sorts of formulas and/ calculators on the internet to figure out how many calories you burn each day.  Most will say you burn between 2500-3000 per day depending on you activity level.   Eat less than 2500-3000 calories and you will lose weight. 

Yet, with the simplicity of caloric intake formula, there is the complexity on the outside.  This includes what kind of food should I eat? How should I cook the food?  Can I have sugar?  Can I eat meat? Vegetables? Fruits?  As will discuss in a future post, the answer is it depends on you. I ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and not very much meat.  It worked for me.  It might not work for you.  We are all made differently.  

In my next post, I will discuss the importance of tracking what you eat.  It is essential to your success.  It is also eye opening.  Have a great day!

One Year Ago Part II

But mostly, today, I am sad. I miss him. I miss his smile. I miss his hugs.

This blog is mostly about my health journey. It is about how, in less than a year, I was able to transform my health and maintain it. The story of my transformation began one year ago today.

From the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, I have been worried about my brothers. They both have significant health issues due to Trisomy 9. They are very vulnerable to viruses. What I had read COVID19 indicated this was a bad virus.

I was hoping this virus would fizzle out like the Swine flu in 1976 and 2009. But as numbers began to grow in South Dakota in late August 2020, so did my concern. Though the staff at his home took many precautions, on September 4, 2020, I received word that my oldest brother, Jefferson, was confirmed COVID19 positive. He was quarantined in his home and monitored. Staff checked on him regularly and took his vitals. Because of the nature of the virus, nobody was allowed to visit. I received frequent status reports on his progress. For the most part, things were looking good.  After 11 days with no major symptoms, I hoped the worst was behind us.

Around 4:30 pm on September 14, 2020, I received a text update regarding Jefferson. It said “Oxygen 92% . . .Temp 99.9 Eating well. Was little agitated this afternoon so Tylenol was given.”    This was the last update I would receive.

At approximately 2am on September 15, 2020, I was sound asleep when I was awakened by my dog barking. As I stumbled out of bed to discuss the inappropriateness of barking at 2am, I heard an electric buzz. It sounded odd. I didn’t know what it was. When I got to the main floor of my home, there was the dog still barking. Somebody was on our porch with a flashlight. It was just a bit freaky. Quickly I found the source of the light when I saw a uniformed police officer through the window. I immediately knew why he was at my house. I opened the door and he asked if I was Jason. I said yes. He asked if I had a brother name Jefferson. I said yes. He then informed me that he had passed away in his sleep. Dead at 59 from Covid19. SIDENOTE:  I never got the name of the police officer. But I do want to thank him. I can’t imagine how awful it must be to tell someone you don’t know about the death of a loved one.   Also, the buzzing was due to the doorbell breaking and needing to be replaced.

Statistically, my brother was COVID19 death number 200 in South Dakota. We now have nearly 2,000. His death unleashed a torrent of emotions that are still flowing through me. I am sad because he is gone. I am angry because I couldn’t stop his death. I am mad that we can’t seem slow this virus down and many more will die. I am pissed that the virus has become a political game to many. I am happy he isn’t in pain. I grateful for the perspective all of this has provided me but frustrated that I have even less patience for BS.

But mostly, today, I am sad. I miss him. I miss his smile. I miss his hugs. I miss talking with him. I miss the perspective he gave me. I didn’t visit him enough, but each visit made a difference for me (and I think for him). He will never know that I am the person I am today because of him. It is not coincidence that it was only a couple of days after what would have been his 60th birthday that I began this journey.

So today, I ask my readers, take a moment to reach out to those that you love. Tell them you love them. Give them a hug because you don’t know when you won’t be able to anymore.

Weekend Why

Earlier this week, I wrote about the importance of why. A clear and powerful why propels you towards your goal. It is also very important to revisit your why. Often life changes. This weekend, I will spend time reflecting on my why. Is it still applicable? Do I need to modify it? Is it working? Spend time everyday with your why. It will move you towards your goal.

The Power of Why

Where I work, one of our teams has the motto #KnowYourWhy.  This is brilliant, if you can follow it.  To succeed, you need to know why you want to succeed.  Some say that to get to your true why, you need to answer “why” you want to do something seven times. I didn’t need to do this here but because I discovered my why.

Over the weekend, Naomi Osaki lost in the third round of the US Open Tennis tournament.  She is a player with an incredible amount of talent.  She won the US Open last year and the Australian Open this year.  Yet after her loss, she made the following statement – ““I feel like for me recently, when I win I don’t feel happy, I feel more like a relief. And then when I lose I feel very sad. And I don’t think that’s normal.”  To me, this is an example of someone who is searching for her why. If you don’t know your why, your likelihood of success is low. 

To be effective, your why is something you must have.  It cannot be a should.  The difference between “I must lose weight” and “I should lose weight” is the difference between success and failure.  I long thought I SHOULD lose weight.  But when I looked at that picture, my should became a must. 

Yet, my why is more complicated than a picture.  I have long known that obesity is significant risk factor for many health issues. Yet, I have been fortunate that most of “health statistics” were within normal range.  I also know a lot of your health is dictated by your genetics.  Because I was adopted, I knew very little about my genetics until recently.  Add to all of this, in November 2020, my state was one the leaders in the county for COVID19.  Everything I was reading about COVID19 pointed towards obesity being a significant comorbidity.  My oldest brother had just died from COVID19.  Though I didn’t know it when I made the decision to take action, my other brother soon would contract Covid19. 

In the end, all these factors motivated me to not be a statistic.  I was scared that my years of not caring for my body would finally catch up to me.  I wanted to take control of the things I could control.  I resolved that I must lose weight.  In addition to better health, I didn’t want my sons to bury me when they were young like I had to do with my father.  I didn’t want my wife to be young widow. I wanted to see my youngest son graduate from high school.  I even worried about who would take care of my dog if I died.  I knew I didn’t look well.  What I finally admitted was that I didn’t feel well either.  I was depressed (perhaps not clinically but still down).  My why is that I wanted to lose weight and become healthier for me but mostly to make sure that I am around for my family.  Every day of my journey, I remind myself that this about a better health so I can enjoy life with those that I love.  They are my why.   

So, to sum up the last couple of posts, to get where you are going, you need your map.  Your map includes your why and your what.  In a perfect world, you would write them down.  Though I didn’t initially write them down, every morning I said to myself my goal weight.  I looked at the picture and I thought about why I was doing this.  Knowing my why, made the challenging days easier.  Once I had these two steps set, I was ready to tackle the next phase which is how.  This is where I started gathering facts but more about that later.  Have a great week!

One Year

One year ago today, I received word that my oldest brother Jeff had tested positive for COVID. He would pass away in his sleep 11 days later. This picture is the last one I ever took of him.

The death of my brother is the most painful experience in my life. It took me to a dark place. Today, I am going to celebrate. I am going to celebrate his life and the lessons he taught me. I am going celebrate by focusing on what I have and not what I have lost. I am going to celebrate, in part, by watching my students play football, cheer and march for the first time in nearly two years.

The last year has reinforced that I can’t control much. I can’t control what happened to my brother. I can’t control the virus. I can only control my focus and my response. Today I chose celebration.