Health esteem: Healthy mind and body

It’s no secret that we’re facing an obesity epidemic in the United States. According to a report released in August by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than one-third (35.7 percent) of American adults are obese and that number is expected to continue to climb. Despite the illnesses – such as heart disease and diabetes – and threats that this poses to our society, health and medical experts are perplexed by how to reverse this dangerous trend and drive people toward healthier living.

The truth is that the answer isn’t as simple as telling people to get moving and preaching the health dangers that await those who eat poorly and don’t exercise. Instead, it’s imperative to understand that one can only have a healthy body once he or she has a healthy mind.

Allow me to back up. As a psychotherapist specializing in eating issues, I have seen an alarming number of clients with very unhealthy eating habits. With this in mind – and knowing that exercise can reduce stress and improve self-esteem – several years ago, I began referring my clients to Rosemarie “Bud” Seaman, a former Olympian and long-time fitness professional fixture in the Orlando community. Beginning an exercise regiment proved to be an excellent compliment to my clients’ psychotherapy treatment, and they began reporting an improved quality of life. However, more interesting was the feedback I received from Bud. She told me that my clients had achieved success and maintained their healthy lifestyles more so than her other clients. And that’s when the light bulb went off and we began developing a theory called “health esteem.”

A cornerstone of our health esteem theory is mind-body therapy. We learned that many of our clients have subconsciously responded to the twists and turns in life by formulating faulty belief systems, such as “You can’t trust anyone” or “I don’t deserve to be happy,” which negatively impact their self-esteem to the point that they have become disconnected from their body and emotions. Consequently, once they are unable to meet their basic emotional needs, many people fall into destructive or addictive patterns and behaviors, such as overeating or a lack of motivation to make positive changes in their lives.

Once I can help clients understand this and heal their wounds through therapy, they are able to make the critical mind-body connection we all require to have our needs met, and experience the pleasure, satisfaction, meaning and connectedness that human beings need to improve self-esteem. And it is at this point that we begin to see the big changes and weight loss that can improve someone’s quality of life.

By working together – both through our independent businesses and our Full Fill Your Life Retreat, a six-day weight-loss program that provides participants with daily therapy and fitness and nutrition plans – we’ve been able to provide many people with the ingredient that’s been missing from their multiple attempts at dieting and incorporating an exercise plan into their lives: Psychotherapy that gets at the real root of their inability to improve their lives and health. Together, we’ve seen clients drop – and, more importantly, keep off – an amazing amount of weight. Anyone who has been through our program steadfastly maintains that the psychotherapy was the real key in setting them on a path to success and enabling them to embrace the fitness and nutrition component. Nothing makes us happier than knowing that not only are we helping people get in shape, but we’re giving them the tools to improve their self-esteem and entire quality of life.

Sandy Canfield is a licensed mental health counselor and has been in private practice in Winter Park since 1981. For more information about Sandy and her practice, please visit sandycanfield.com. Visit the Full Fill your Life Retreat on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/T8Klxp