Everything You’ve Learned about Building Habits is Flawed with Michelle Segar
March 17, 2022
Dr. Michelle Segar talks about her new book, The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise, and new ways to develop good habits, particularly those not reflected in existing research.
She has studied for 30 years how to help people adopt healthy behaviors despite the complexity and unpredictability of the real world. With this experience, she has combined her entire career in academic research with real-world health coaching to craft joy-infused methods that lead towards sustainable and healthy behavior.
She brings forward a fresh, brain-based approach in instilling sustainable behavior change in eating and exercise, as highlighted in her forthcoming book.
She explains how to understand behavior change in terms of our choices in life. While many behavior changes look great in theory, there are flaws in their underpinnings that cause these to fail when applied in real-life contexts.
She brings up the idea of “habiters” and “unhabiters.” Habiters tend to have a personality deeply rooted in self-control and discipline. While unhabiters tend to be distracted by unexpected things that strangle them from the things they’ve outlined for themselves.
She shares the key elements leading to lasting behavior changes and explains why terms such as choices and options are safer than the word habit. We need to set our brains up to be flexible since it is one of our three primary executive functions to ensure sustainable changes with healthy lifestyles.
Dr. Segar gives tips on what parents can do to help their growing children develop healthful choices and options.
Download my FREE resource How to Nourish a Healthy Child! This checklist is designed to give you a clear path and the steps you need to take to raise a nourished child, inside and out.
What You’ll Learn in Everything You’ve Learned About Building Habits is Flawed:
- The language of behavior change
- Why habit is a vague global word
- How to evaluate the assumptions underlying habit formation
- Difference between a “habiter” or an “unhabiter”
- Key elements for lasting behavior changes
- How our brain self-management system works
- Picking the joy choice and having a flexible mindset
- How to help kids feel the positive experiences from physical activities
Listen to the Show:
Resources:
Featured in this Show:
This episode was sponsored by KiwiCo. Use code NOURISHED for 30% off your first month.
- Subscribe to this show
- Follow me on Social Media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn
- Subscribe to my YouTube channel and see the latest videos
- Dr. Michelle Segar: Website
- 11 Good Habits for Kids that Improve Overall Health
- The Munch Weekly Newsletter
- The Shop on The Nourished Child
Enjoy the Show?
- Don’t miss an episode, follow on Spotify and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or RSS
- Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts.
- Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!
- Don’t miss our deep library of podcast episodes focused on child nutrition and feeding kids!
Enjoy the Show?
- Don’t miss an episode, follow on Spotify and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or RSS
- Leave us a review in Apple Podcasts.
- Join the conversation by leaving a comment below!
Jill Castle, MS, RD
I like empowering parents to help their children and teens thrive at every size with realistic advice centered on healthful habits around food, feeding, nutrition and health behaviors. As a pediatric dietitian and author, my goal is to share strategies and realistic advice to help you raise a healthy and happy child through my articles and podcast.