Fit2BTide S08.E10: Attitude of Gratefulness

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Getting a flu shot is one of [00:00:01] Speaker B: the most important things you can do [00:00:02] Speaker A: to stay healthy this year. Flu shots are available and free to University of Alabama students at sites across campus and at the UA Student Health center and Pharmacy. Check out our schedule at CCHS UA EDU flu shot. [00:00:17] Speaker B: Call 205-348-6262 for a flu shot appointment at the Student Health center or walk up Monday through Friday from 4 to 4:45pm WVUAFM, Tuscaloosa. [00:00:36] Speaker A: Happy Sunday, y'. [00:00:37] Speaker B: All. [00:00:37] Speaker A: You are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. And let me just go ahead and say, thank goodness we pre record our show. And it's good material. Like, you know, we're intentional, but I think our producers are very intentional with making sure that we are pre recording show versus being super live. Because, y', all, I just totally messed up the intro. I was like, oh, what do I say? What day is it? What's happening? [00:01:07] Speaker B: And it was funny because it was a really funny way to get into it. And I'm sitting here like, do we keep it? Can she keep it going? And then all of a sudden, I was like, no, no, no, we gotta scrap this. [00:01:15] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:15] Speaker B: I just started watching, which doesn't happen very often. No, we really. I mean, even though we get cut off on the wrong foot, we still. We can, like, get our words and make it happen. So. But yeah, we do pre record. If you didn't know that, we just dropped a bomb on everybody. [00:01:31] Speaker A: We. Yeah. So sometimes. So that's why you never hear us talk about Alabama football games. [00:01:36] Speaker B: Right. [00:01:37] Speaker A: We ain't predicting the score. [00:01:39] Speaker B: We're not predicting the score. No. [00:01:40] Speaker A: Or a win or whatever. Like, yes, we love our coach, but. [00:01:43] Speaker B: Mm. [00:01:44] Speaker A: Mm. We're not gonna do that. [00:01:45] Speaker B: Just a little insight. But how have you been doing? [00:01:47] Speaker A: You know, I've been good. It's crazy that it is November now, so I just turned 38 on the third. And so it's kind of crazy. I don't know. And it's. What's funny is, like, over this past year, I've mistaken. Been telling people I've been 38 this whole time. [00:02:05] Speaker B: Okay. I have been doing that too. I'm like, I'm 38. And then I realized, what am I doing? I'm not 38 yet. Yeah. [00:02:10] Speaker A: It's like, I'm only 37. [00:02:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:11] Speaker A: So now I can legitimately say I'm 38. And I'm not lying. [00:02:15] Speaker B: Well, okay, so now that you're 38, how do you feel, you know, I feel pretty good. [00:02:21] Speaker A: Yeah. I, you know, I think about other 38 year olds. I don't really know if I hang out with other 38 year olds other than you. [00:02:30] Speaker B: I was gonna say, I don't know, you might be the only other 38 year old. [00:02:33] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, honestly, I either have friends that are older, in their 40s, you know, maybe even 50s, and then like some, some like mid-20s people just from like the younger moms at my boys school. So I've lost this concept of like, what should I look like or embody or what kind of habit should I have as a quote unquote, 38 year old. [00:02:58] Speaker B: I really like that though, because I'm the same way. All of my friends are either younger or older than me. I think you're the only one that's the same age as me. And you're the only one I can literally think of right now that's actually, you know, my age. But I think that's good because I think you kind of get to a point where you don't really have to put a label on your age and how you should look and how you should feel. I think it just kind of depends on the person. [00:03:21] Speaker A: Yes. And, you know, I feel like if I think about older TV shows or say older, but you know, they are technically older TV shows. And you think about like characters like especially like mom and dad characters or whatever, and they'll say something about their age. It's like, oh, I'm 33, you know, she's a old maid and she's single. And I'm like, why are you judging her? Like, excuse me, but she's in the prime of her life. [00:03:50] Speaker B: It makes me think of Home Improvement because we started watching that again. Cause I love Home Improvement. And thinking about when I was younger, seeing Tim and Jill Taylor on the show, the parents, I used to think they were so old, but in the show they're probably like my age right now. [00:04:03] Speaker A: Right. [00:04:04] Speaker B: Isn't that weird? [00:04:04] Speaker A: Right. And I don't think I have have the maturity of Jill Taylor. [00:04:08] Speaker B: No. She was such a good TV mom. [00:04:11] Speaker A: I feel like working around the college students, I love it so much because it keeps me young. But I'm like, is it keeping me young in the wrong way? Because I'll like, I'll talk to Terri about things and then I'll use some of the quote unquote jargon that the kids are saying, like sus and different hashtags. And he's like, what are you talking about? And I'm like, oh, I don't know if this is. [00:04:33] Speaker B: Well, at least you can understand the language because I hear that stuff and I'm like, I don't understand. [00:04:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:37] Speaker B: And you're probably like, I'm set in my ways. As a 37, almost 38 year old, I am definitely set in my ways. But I'm grateful for my age. Just like, you know, I'm sure you're grateful. [00:04:46] Speaker A: I am. I really am. You know, and that goes along with our theme for today. [00:04:51] Speaker B: Like how I slid that in. [00:04:52] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I love that you do that. But I do want to ask, how do you feel? Cause, you know, I'm just like a month ish older than you. So, like, I don't know. [00:05:01] Speaker B: My birthday's on the 18th, December 18th. Today as I was walking in, I was like, man, my body hurts today. That's really what my thought was because I was like my knees and my hips and I. And I. I will honestly say mentally I feel really good because I feel like when you're older and you get to that point in your life and you've been through things, it's just like you mentally have a good awareness. Not that you know everything, but you have a good awareness of what life is and your understanding of life. But like, physically I can still hang and teach, but like, I've noticed that joints will be stiffer. I have to move my body more. It doesn't come as easily. And this is coming from someone that. I mean, I teach a lot of classes like yoga and pilates. Maybe that's why my joints hurt. Who knows? That could be a whole other topic for discussion. But I do feel that the creeks that come along with getting older. And I'm not upset about it, but I do look at my body very differently. [00:05:51] Speaker A: Yes. Well, I will just say I think we are aging gracefully, so I'll just say that. But I know we gotta take a break. We're not talking about graceful aging today. We are gonna be talking about an attitude of gratitude. So get hydrated, use the restroom, do what you gotta do. You are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. [00:06:15] Speaker B: Wvuafm tuscaloosa. Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney. And I will have to say I have my co host back this week because last week Charles jumped in for us for a Halloween edition. It was super scary, mostly because I was a little nervous running the show by myself. But Charles was there and we talked about that, but I think everything went well. So if everybody had a happy Halloween, but now we're on our way to Thanksgiving. [00:06:45] Speaker A: I know. And, you know, it's just. I love all things. Well, most things fall. You know, there's just something about. I don't know if it's the weather or whatever. I don't know. And I know you and I, we've talked about some things, like if you're a pumpkin spice person or not. I don't think you are. [00:07:01] Speaker B: No, I'm not. [00:07:02] Speaker A: I remember I was like, I think [00:07:04] Speaker B: I like apple stuff. [00:07:06] Speaker A: Oh, see, I do like apple stuff. [00:07:07] Speaker B: I like apple stuff over pumpkin spice stuff. [00:07:09] Speaker A: So, yeah, so just something about this time of year. Quite lovely. [00:07:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:07:14] Speaker A: Right before the break, we mentioned a little bit about an attitude of gratitude. And, you know, when we were thinking about our schedule for the semester with the show, we thought, oh, at the beginning of November, let's talk about how having an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness, you know, how does that correlate with health? And when I started doing the research for today's show, I was actually really surprised at the amount of studies that intentionally look at that. So I kind of want to share with you some of that, what I have seen. Apparently there's been over 15 years of research with this, if not more, but some of the latest studies have really correlated with gratitude, making people happier, improving their relationships, and even counteracting depression and suicidal thoughts. But one of the studies that I was taking a look at, it said that people who described themselves as grateful had reported fewer health problems, such as headaches, GI problems, respiratory issues, and sleep disturbances. And I feel like even though there's not enough studies for them to call it, you know, evidence based, just having several that are even just anecdotal to me, I'm like, that's good for me. [00:08:28] Speaker B: Well, I mean, think about it. All those things that you mentioned, we've talked about it before on the show, and I brought my fun little your Body Speaks yous Mind. But remember, like that that says everything right there. A lot of mental things that go on attribute to, you know, stomach issues, things like that. But specifically, when I think about giving and giving thanks and doing things that are from a selfless point of view, it takes the focus off of what I'm currently going through, and it helps me to see things in a bigger picture, like going to work at the food bank. I remember the first time I ever did that. I didn't know what I was doing, but I think I went with like student life group when they had us go to like, you know, do some around the holidays giving. And I'm not gonna lie, I probably didn't have the best attitude going into it because I remember thinking, I got things to do at work. I can't take time out of my day to go do this. And then of course, once I went and I saw what I was doing and immediately your attitude changes. That little stomach flutter of like, okay, I don't know what I'm getting myself into, or maybe I'm having stress about the rest of the day, or maybe I'm having bad thoughts. It immediately went away because I was serving somebody else. [00:09:38] Speaker A: There's just this sense of accomplishment that's there that like you said, it's selfless. And, you know, I know that. With our past guest, Ms. Nico Morgan. You know, when we've talked about how stress affects your health and we think about high blood pressure as the silent killer and everything else, you know, just think about how much just having an attitude of gratefulness really does affect those stress levels. Because you're just, you've just got this attitude adjustment about things. [00:10:06] Speaker B: You know, I sometimes, and this could totally be like stepping out on a limb saying this, but sometimes I think our stress, not all the time, but I think sometimes our stress comes from a very self centered place. I wouldn't say all the time because I do realize that stress can also come from, you know, having to do things for your family or having to take care of things at work. But I think sometimes we're so in our heads of like, what we need to do for ourselves that when we do serve somebody else and we do see the impact that we've had on their life, it can't just be like a, a small little thing, like very small. We see the bigger picture. And so I don't know, that might be a little too extreme to say, but I would wonder if part of our stress does come from what we think we need to do for our lives instead of just opening it up to the bigger picture. [00:10:53] Speaker A: No, I love that. And you know, again, when we start thinking about some of the research that has been done, there was another study where they had folks keep an online gratitude journal for several weeks. And then again, the reports of decreased issues with fewer headaches, less stomach pain, clearer skin, decreased congestion. And then the craziest thing, as I was geeking out over all of this, is it said gratitude may even help patients recover from a heart attack. And I was like, what? And it said in the Gratitude Research and Acute Coronary Events Study, which the acronym stood for. Grace. Interesting. It said that more optimistic and more grateful people showed signs of improved blood vessel function two weeks after being hospitalized for heart attacks compared to less grateful patients. And I was like, what the. What? [00:11:54] Speaker B: It's the Grinch. It's the Grinch. His heart grew two times or three times the size of his chest. [00:12:00] Speaker A: Man. [00:12:01] Speaker B: But, you know, it's so interesting because that's the truth. Like, your heart is an organ of your body that pumps blood and oxygen, and you have to have it to survive. And that was just proof that your heart, although figuratively of what you feel, has to do with your actual organ and how you heal the body. [00:12:19] Speaker A: Yeah, I just. I don't know. It's really cool. I was really, again, was really geeking out of this, and I'm like, why are more people not talking about this? I think this should be talked about more. There was, like, even stuff talking about lowering people's hemoglobin A1C, which is indicative of how well somebody controls their blood sugar. [00:12:42] Speaker B: Wow. [00:12:42] Speaker A: And then it also says here, like, you know, there was the question of, like, but what is the actual mechanism for this? And so a lot of it really is just something about the gratitude allowing the body to unstress. And those. Yeah, those vascular muscles and tissues and veins just are able to open up more. They're not as tense. [00:13:07] Speaker B: Yes. You don't have the tension, the stress. [00:13:09] Speaker A: Yes. I love this. [00:13:11] Speaker B: So I'm kind of curious. Sheena. You know, we talk about gratitude and the word gratitude, and I'm wondering, like, it's easy to say, okay, you should be thankful or grateful, which are thankful and grateful different? Are they the same? [00:13:25] Speaker A: You know, I don't know. [00:13:26] Speaker B: We're gonna Google it. [00:13:27] Speaker A: Yeah, we'll have to take a look at that. But I think, you know, just having that attitude in general of acknowledging what we have. Cause again, I think, you know, we're in a society with. Oh, my goodness, with social media, where, you know, we're looking at people's highlight reels, and unfortunately, we get ourselves into a place of wanting what we don't have at the moment. When we think about the diet, wellness and weight loss industry, even cosmetics industry, they're banking on the fact that they're intentionally wanting you to feel like crap about yourself. Bullying so that you'll buy their expletive. [00:14:02] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's very interesting. Yeah. Just my own personal take on thankfulness and gratefulness. I feel like the word thankful. And again, I'm not looking this up. This is just Whitney's brain and, like, how she thinks. But thankful is like an outward gesture maybe of like, you thank somebody of like something that they've done for you, you're thankful for that. Grateful. I don't know if it's an. It's like necessarily outward. Maybe it is, but. But I think that those terms have been used synonymously, but they might be a little bit different. I feel like grateful is more of an internal focus, whereas when you think it's external and you can be very thankful for something. But I feel like grateful is one of those words that we don't really focus on a lot because we talk about Thanksgiving. We're sharing our thankfulness of the things, mostly things that we have, which I probably need to refocus, like that mindset. But I don't know. We'll have to Google it after the break. [00:15:00] Speaker A: I think so too, because like you said, you know, with gratitude, internal, something more intrinsic. I think some people would even call it maybe spiritual for themselves too. But we're going to talk about how do we cultivate that attitude of gratitude? But we gotta take a break. So you are listening to Fit to be tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 capstone. [00:15:24] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney. And I was gonna try to say something fun like we're grateful for you, but then I kind of got tongue tied. [00:15:41] Speaker A: So it didn't really to me today. [00:15:42] Speaker B: So I get it. Well, I mean, it didn't really, really work out. But Sheena, before the break, we were trying to just, you know, define the words thankful and grateful and if they're actually the same, if they're actually different. So we looked it up and Sheena, you took thankful. I took grateful. And my definition of grateful, it's an adjective. It's the feeling of showing an appreciation of kindness. But it's a synonym. Would also be be thankful, but it's also a received experience with gratitude. Or you're welcome, which that might actually be thankful. I think that's the other. Other version of it. Was that what you found? [00:16:19] Speaker A: It is. And you know, because this was saying that being thankful is more about expressing a feeling, like saying thank you when someone opens a door. And then when I was looking at one more resource, it was saying, I think it's with this psychiatric medical care manual. They went deep into this. They were saying where thankfulness is an emotion, gratitude is an attitude. Of appreciat under any circumstance. So I really like that. And I'll just say as an aside, I think my church actually did like a message related to this one time where it's like, kind of being thankful is more like in the moment about something. Whereas, like, being grateful is like an attitude that you're like choosing to have, like, regardless of what's going on. Like, thankful is kind of like an immediate reaction to like something pleasant that's just happened. Whereas, like, gratefulness is like describing a person in general. Like they're just so like, quote unquote grateful for the life that they have. [00:17:17] Speaker B: Yeah. Kind of like joy and happy. Like, happy would be considered like, thankful and you're happy in that moment and thankful. But joy would be a deeper appreciation, a deeper feeling. I could see that. And so my question is, you know, for our listeners that are trying to figure out, you know, okay, am I grateful for things like, how would one be grateful? [00:17:37] Speaker A: Yeah, well, according to the folks at Harvard. Harvard, you know, we've got to. Got to look to our little. Our peers over there, our fancy peers. It says gratitude helps people refocus on what they have instead of what they lack. And although it may feel contrived at first, this mental state grows stronger with use and practice. So they had some different things that they recommended. You know, it doesn't necessarily have to be keeping a gratitude journal, although that is one of the recommended tactics. Have you ever done anything like that? [00:18:09] Speaker B: No, I've done journaling and I think within my journaling I have done, you know, grateful thing or how I feel, but I've never actually written a gratitude journal. [00:18:19] Speaker A: Like every day another recommendation was writing thank you notes. And it's funny, you know, sharing that on the radio, especially here in the South. Cause I feel like that is like a huge southern etiquette thing. Like I can always. I've gotten so many thank you notes over the years. I'm like, their mother raised them. [00:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I love the age old saying of like, if you get a thank you note for something, you're like, well, they were raised right. [00:18:44] Speaker A: Yes. I mean, honestly. And we have so many campus partners that are very good at sending thank you notes for the different collaborations that we do. Because, you know, sometimes you think like, oh, this is just part of my job, no big deal. But you get that thank you note and enter campus mail and it's like, aww. [00:19:02] Speaker B: Sometimes a little nifty gifty with it as well. [00:19:04] Speaker A: Yes. [00:19:05] Speaker B: Swag. I mean, it works for pro staff too. [00:19:07] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. I'm like, I won't turn down a koozie. I might have have 200, but I'll take yours. So, yeah, so that was one. Was writing thank you notes. Even just the action of thanking someone mentally, I thought that was interesting. Like, maybe just acknowledging, like, oh, my gosh, I'm so thankful. Whitney was really forgiving about the fact that I messed up recording the show this morning. Just kind of being like, oh, yeah, that's awesome. [00:19:39] Speaker B: You know what I think that does. Again, this is just Whitney's brain and her experiences in life. But I think that when you are thankful, it takes, like, it lets go of an expectation. It shows, like, transparency and, like, real human nature. Because we all know that we mess up and things always happen, but if we're able to just like, look at little things and just think that in our head and think, oh, I'm so grateful for that, and it's. Then let go of something that we would have perceived as a negative or a bad thing. So I think that's. I think that's great. I mean, I'm not gonna lie. The thank you card thing, growing up, I hated that my mom used to always be like. And like, I just didn't want to do it. But now as an adult, I understand, like, why that's important to show that side of you, you know, it's a healing thing for yourself as well. [00:20:25] Speaker A: Yes. I remember one of the first times I had to write quite a bit of thank you note notes to folks. It was when I graduated from high school. And my mom was like, you gotta write thank you notes to all these people that send you money. And so, you know, like, you want to tell them, like, thank you so much for this. But then I. I'm a talker. Like, I feel like I need to [00:20:45] Speaker B: put more stuff, explain things and put [00:20:48] Speaker A: stuff in the space of the card. Like, thank goodness. Thank you cards are, like, small. But I was like, I gotta, you know, So I was telling these people, I was like, thank you so much for this. This is, like, so such a huge blessing, you know, I really hope you'll come visit us in Fort Payne sometime. And my mom was like, why did you tell these people to, like, come visit? She was like, I don't want to see that person. [00:21:09] Speaker B: And I was like. [00:21:11] Speaker A: So anyway, she just. [00:21:12] Speaker B: It's the thought that counts. [00:21:13] Speaker A: Yeah. She was just horrified that literally I told 75 people, like, come see us, come visit us. Come visit this summer. She's like, I don't have time to host all these Things. [00:21:22] Speaker B: That's pretty good. [00:21:23] Speaker A: So I thought that was really funny. Yeah. And another thing, in general, counting your blessings. I know that that's just, you know, we kind of have it just as a saying, but I mean, really, again, kind of similar to the gratitude journal. Just even if you're just, you know, sitting about to, like, have your lunch break or, you know, you just. You're sitting down for breakfast or whenever you have a little bit of quiet time, just being like, oh, my gosh, there really is so much for me to be grateful for. Just kind of taking inventory of. I'm getting to work in a really awesome place. I actually have a job within the field of study that I went to school. You know, just things like that. [00:21:59] Speaker B: I don't know, I almost feel like sometimes, I mean, let's. Let's just be real. We're Americans and we are very entitled, and that's just how it is. And I think sometimes taking a step away from your culture and where you currently live and maybe going on, like a community service type of trip, whether it's. It's just to another city or a mission trip or something, to step outside of where you currently live, that's a big eye opener. Because then you realize sometimes, and just to vouch for everybody out there, because we're all in the same boat, like, it's really hard to see sometimes to be thankful and grateful for what you have when you haven't been removed from it and you don't realize those things. And so I think just, you know, keeping that in mind, if you feel like you're not able to find gratefulness, you're like, I don't know how to do it. Think of, like, one thing you could do that's. That gets you out of your comfort zone. It could be to go to the food bank and just stock bags or to go help out at, like, emergency clothing stores, or maybe go to the soup kitchen, things like that. Or go even bigger and take a step out, do a little Eat, Pray, love. Yes, but I mean, I think that you have to remove yourself because some of you are probably listening to our show. Like, I don't know how to be grateful. I don't know how to be thankful. And I think some. Sometimes you need a change in your environment to see what you really do have. [00:23:16] Speaker A: Absolutely. And speaking of Eat, Pray, love, the last recommendations were related to prayer and meditation. So, you know, people who are religious, spiritual, can use prayer to cultivate gratitude. You know, when we're meditating and we're in that mindfulness, we can have a, you know, a thankfulness for the warmth of the sun that's hitting our face if we're doing that, that movement outside or even just the oxygen that is going into our lungs as we take those deep breaths. Do you ever have folks have grateful or thankful related thoughts as they're going into some of the yoga movements with you? [00:23:55] Speaker B: Yeah, and sometimes I'll do it very indirectly where it's like they don't know that they're doing it. But one thing that I'll always focus on is kind of finding your happy place or when one thing or one person or something currently right now that just makes you feel good. And it could be something simple as like a bowl of ice cream where you're like, you know, I know it's like an inanimate can't even say the words today, but. And it makes you think of like just the endorphins that are released from that texture of the ice cream or maybe like going somewhere. And so that has a tendency to bring you back to the things that you're truly grateful for. But you were talking about, like, being around your surroundings and breathing, to me, is one of the most grateful things you can possibly do. Because when you take a yoga class and when you visualize a breath and you have somebody go through this three dimensional breath in the body, and then you kind of meditate on, like, what that breath is actually doing, the first act of life is a breath. The last act of life is a breath. And so when you think about how that breath facilitates things in your body, everything, it gives you a different focus in your yoga practice. Deep. [00:25:00] Speaker A: That's deep. Like, I was just thinking. I was like, we just went there. We just went there. Well, okay, I know we gotta take a break, but, you know, in our next segment, we're gonna talk even more about gratefulness, even just having a different attitude when it comes to nutrition and exercise goals, what that looks like. But stay tuned. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7 McAfee St. [00:25:27] Speaker B: Wvuafm tuscaloosa. Welcome back. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney. And man, we're getting deep over here. Yes, we are being grateful and thankful and we're just all gonna jump on a boat to Haiti and go do some work. I feel like we're just feeling all the feels, but let's switch gears a little bit. [00:25:52] Speaker A: Yes. [00:25:52] Speaker B: So we've been talking about what it is to be Grateful and thankful. We've been talking a lot about it, but I think that we do need to talk about our bodies and how we move and how we eat. And I'm kind of curious, Sheena, when it comes to nutrition and just the clients that you work with and the experiences that they have, and just you being kind of that voice of reason and showing them your resources and things to find relief from certain things, do you have any tactics that you use or do you have any resources or ways to get them, you know, maybe to be more grateful towards food? [00:26:28] Speaker A: Yeah, no, that's a great question. And I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned this on our show before, but one of my favorite eating disorder dietitians, Kara Harbstreet, she has a sign that she has in her office, and I think she's even shared it on her social media, that it basically says, whatever you do in regards to food or exercise for your body, are you coming from a place of love for your body or a place of hate? And so, you know, just to kind of briefly explain that, you know, if somebody is, you know, really having a lot of negativity with their body, like, oh, my gosh, you're so gross and disgusting. Like, I'm so frustrated with myself. You're probably gonna have goals that are very punitive. Like, I'm thinking, like, with physical activity, thinking of something that it extremely hard and is gonna be hurtful to your body. Cause you're thinking, this body needs to be punished. Same thing with eating. Many times we're creating nutrition goals where it's like, I can't eat fried food. I can't have this. I can't have that. But if we're coming from a place of love or gratefulness for our body, we're thinking, oh, my body hasn't been getting enough fruits or vegetables. Let me find goals that really cool. Cultivate, you know, that love that I have for my body of, Let me make sure I'm hydrating you enough. I'm giving you a lot of these things. And so I think that's probably one of the biggest things that I will often initiate conversation with any new patient about whether they're just coming in for general weight loss, coming in for some disordered eating, but really figuring out where is their head space in terms of, like, how they feel about their body. Are we coming at it from a, Like, I don't really like my body right now or a, actually, I love my body, and that's why I'm here. I want to Figure out how to change things up. [00:28:18] Speaker B: It's the same thing with fitness. And I kind of going back to the whole social media thing, and I could just wring all their necks about this because there's such a negative, I guess, output from social media that. That you do kind of start to hate who you are because you don't look like the person on social media. You're not doing this diet or you're not doing this workout. It's the same with exercise. And I think the most common thing for us in the gym is people are going to work out super hard, doing really hard exercises that are probably going to hurt their bodies or put them out for a while. And both of these issues, like with nutrition and with exercise and body image, it all comes from a deeper place. It's psychological in the sense of we create these behavior patterns because we have different feelings going on inside of us. And so I think for exercise, you know, I think we do a pretty good job at the rec center in our classes promoting levels and modifications. We don't even really call them modifications anymore for exercise exercises. It's more like here, if you want to do this today, if this works better for your body. We're changing our language to try to be more inclusive in the sense of that everybody that comes through our doors is going to have a different body type. Everybody that comes through our doors, they're going to have a different fitness level. And if we want people to be healthy and well and care for their bodies, we're going to have to make it accessible to everybody that walks through our doors. It's the same thing with nutrition and what you guys do. [00:29:47] Speaker A: Definitely. You know, whether it's myself or the therapist that's also working with the same client that I'm working with, you know, one of the activities that we often do with individuals is getting them to acknowledge different body parts and saying something positive about themselves. Because, you know, again, it. Many times people are saying, oh, I really hate my thighs or my upper arms or whatever else. So kind of getting them into a place of, well, let's acknowledge something positive about your body. And I will say some folks can do it, and then some are still in a tough place. For example, several years ago, I had an individual that I was seeing. They were a graduate student and had. They were married and trying for children. And because she could not get pregnant, she had an even deeper frustration with her body feeling like her body was failing her. And so one of the baby steps that we took was, I just want you to do this exercise and maybe even just say something neutral about your body. Like, I have arms, or I'm grateful for my arms because they work right now and they help me type at the computer at my job. So, you know, even just again, making that baby step switch from I hate my body. All you do is disappoint me. Not do what I want you to. To. I have these legs. They don't look the way I want them to, but I'm very grateful that they, you know, help me walk from my car to my office. So even just starting with something like that, and, you know, I may be getting in the weeds with that, but I think that, again, this is really important when it comes to that attitude shift. [00:31:29] Speaker B: Yeah. The baby steps, I think, are great because I was just thinking about fitness for us at the rec center. It's very, very easy to just say, okay, the first step, just to making this step, no pun intended. I guess it's actually the same word on. On my health journey is I am just going to step foot in the rec center and put on a playlist that I like to listen to and walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes, 20 minutes. Like small, little goals. Small, little smart goals. I think smart goals are super nice. But all those smart goals can sometimes, sometimes be a little too, too much for people to say, I have to pick, you know, something that's super measurable or timely. And so I think that, you know, the baby steps, Sheena, that you said is helpful because really we're trying to change a culture of how we view ourselves. And so, you know, I think just little by little, that's all I really can say for advice. [00:32:21] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think, you know, if our listeners were to take anything from today's show, like our. Our quote unquote call to action with all of this is really just, you know, think about what would it take for you to have an attitude of gratitude and inventory how you notice that change how you feel, whether that's physically or mentally. You know, we would love to know what that experience looks like for you. You know, we may have some folks that try this out. They keep a little gratitude journal or, you know, they're intentional about verbally thanking people, and they're like, oh, I found that I'm, like, a little more chill these days. I'm not so, like, tense about things. And I feel like that really does trickle into when we start thinking about, like, health goals. We have just a better attitude about it versus a what's the point? I'm Just gonna fall off the wagon anyway. So, like, oh, I'm just. I'm just cool. I'm chill. Like, let's see what it would look like to change my eating or start getting into a walking routine with a friend. Sure. [00:33:23] Speaker B: Well, and it goes back to, we're entering into this season of good food, good time with our families. And I think, Sheena, you might have said it a couple of shows ago about how people create these really strict goals and diets for themselves. It's very detrimental because they'll fall off the wagon over the holidays, and it's hard to, like, get back on. So you have to kind of view it in a bigger picture. And I was just thinking about this one of my co workers for their birthday, instead of the traditional thing where, like, you get things for your birthday, you celebrate, they do random acts of kindness, like, during the day. [00:34:03] Speaker A: I like that. [00:34:03] Speaker B: So instead of, like, like, yes, you're into this world. Your. Your mother gave birth to you, and it's a gift. But at the same time, like, how are you gonna impact the world? And I think we always think about our special day as, I'm gonna get this, I'm gonna get that. Why not shift the gears? And one story he told me is he went to Krispy Kreme and he bought a box of donuts, and he just went to a local fire station and just walked in and was like, hey, thought y' all could use this. I just want to drop this off. Hope y' all have a great day. And it was, like, the nicest, simple little thing to do on his birthday. And it was just one of many, like, he does it every year. [00:34:37] Speaker A: I love that. And I know we've got to take a break, but that legit just makes me think of an episode of Full House where Uncle Jesse, he either takes Michelle or Stephanie to, like, do something. Yeah. Because she was being, like, real like, oh, I can't wait to get this, this, this, this, and this. [00:34:56] Speaker B: It was for Christmas, right? I think it was both the kids. I think it was, like, stuff. I don't think DJ because, you know, she's older, but I think, like, Stephanie and Michelle. [00:35:03] Speaker A: Crazy life lesson. Anyways. Okay, we gotta take a break. You're listening to Fit to Be Tied with Sheen and Whitney on 90.7 the Capstone. [00:35:15] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa. Welcome back to Fit to Be Tied with Sheena and Whitney. And we hope you guys have enjoyed listening to the show today. I mean, we're super cool grateful that we still have A show after like seven years, we're still on the air and people want to listen to us, run our mouths about things that we know about or maybe don't know about. You never know. [00:35:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you never know. [00:35:42] Speaker B: You really never know. [00:35:43] Speaker A: But see, that's where we go to Harvard and some of the other places to look at the research because we don't want to talk out of our butts. We want to make sure that we're in line with what the research is saying. But before the break, I had made a quick mention of how, Whitney, what you were sharing about your co worker definitely reminded me of Uncle Jesse Katsopolis. Just gotta throw that out there. [00:36:09] Speaker B: Cochrane. He was Cochrane. And then Katsopolis. Yes. [00:36:13] Speaker A: The drama took Stephanie and Michelle for a little attitude adjustment over the holidays. So that got us on the topic during the break of favorite old school show, you know, because what, what did they call it? Was it Friday night? Was it tgif? [00:36:30] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. TGIF had like Boy Meets World on there and all that. But I was thinking back to when I was, I guess maybe middle school. In high school too. Golly. Yeah. And you know, the very, very early 2000s, and I remember like coming home in the afternoons when I would like eat a snack or something, just like, just sit on the kitchen counter and I always flip it over. I don't even know what station it came on, like TBS or something. I don't know. And it was always like a couple of shows back to back. And I always remember Full House and Family Matters. And I think I had to like stop watching because I had to go do my next thing, like dance or something. But I used to always watch Full House and Family Matters and both of those shows always had the best life lessons. [00:37:12] Speaker A: Yes. [00:37:13] Speaker B: And what I appreciate about specifically those two shows is you have Full House, which was like an all white family, and then you had Family Matters, which was an all black family. But yet we had the same type of issues going on. But then also some different issues that you got to learn about. And I don't know, I just felt like it was the best life lessons I could have ever learned. Yes. [00:37:33] Speaker A: I mean, I'm even thinking about how the music changes towards the end of the episode where they finally come to the climax of or conclusion. Like they have that serious talk, like, why didn't you just tell me? Da da da, da da. So you know, when I'm thinking about those, definitely step by step, that was a good one. You know, that that stands out in my head. And for sure, Full House. [00:37:59] Speaker B: Full House. [00:37:59] Speaker A: Because everybody wanted to be D.J. tanner. [00:38:02] Speaker B: They did. [00:38:02] Speaker A: She was just so cool. You know, I was probably closer to around the age and maturity of Stephanie, but I wanted to be dj. Like, she was dating Steve. Like, life was great, you know? And then I always think, like, oh, they even did, like, the eating disorder episode where she was, like, paranoid about going to the pool party. [00:38:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:38:22] Speaker A: All the emotions. [00:38:23] Speaker B: And they went to Disney. And I will say this before we tie this all together. Did you ever see the Torkelsons? Did you ever watch that show the Torkelsons? [00:38:31] Speaker A: I don't think so. [00:38:31] Speaker B: Okay, well, I'm gonna find a link to it. But anyway, if you guys have been listening and you're like, like, what the heck is she talking about? It was a Disney show, but it was, like, a Family Matters type and Full House type show with great life lessons. Anyway, I was curious if you ever heard about that one. [00:38:44] Speaker A: No. And watch me go Google it later. And I'm gonna text you and be like, yes, I have heard of it. But anyways, we hope you all have an attitude of gratitude. Keep that gratitude journal. Do all the things you have been listening to fit to be tied with Sheena and Whitney on 90.7. The capstone. [00:39:05] Speaker B: Wvuafm Tuscaloosa.