september-is-the-new-january

5 Reasons Why September Is The Perfect Time To Meet With A Dietitian!

September always brings a sense of “renewed energy” to me. Do you feel the same? Perhaps it’s the return of kids to school or the changing seasons, but there’s something comforting about routine. When I lived on the West Coast, I didn’t notice this “renewed energy” as much. However, here in Manitoba, our seasons have distinct endings and beginnings. The clear transition between seasons acts as an external motivation for change. September seems to bring a positive state of mind that makes getting back into a routine easier compared to January or any random time during the year.

September can spark a feeling of “new beginnings”, but it also often reminds us that we haven’t achieved the health goals we set for ourselves months ago. Now is the time to start making real and lasting changes in our lives, and September provides an ideal opportunity to form lasting habits. From setting realistic goals, minimizing stress levels, improving how you nourish yourself, and getting more sleep to dedicating time to regular exercise – fall offers an optimum chance to focus on your well-being. So if you’ve been putting off taking positive action towards improving your health until now, there’s no better moment than right now. Let’s explore all of the ways September can help you realign your health goals.

We feel that September or the fall is a great time to work on health goals, and we have 5 reasons that we want to share with you regarding habit formation and making changes!

#1: Harness the positive state of mind!

With the changing of seasons and kids going back to school, psychologist Victoria Plant recommends that we should be harnessing this positive state of mind. “The excitement of the ‘back to school’ September feeling can result in an increased willingness to make changes and greater productivity. Historically, there may even be a link between harvest time and preparing for the winter that makes us more willing to take on new challenges.

If you think about it, January is a pretty crappy season for weather for most of us in Canada. Maybe not in other parts of the world, but we get long dark days that are cold and very little sun. For some of us, seasonal depression sets in, and our energy levels are very low. However, in September, the days are brighter, and the sun is still shining, so it just feels better.

#2: Master your health in time for the holidays.

When everyone is just getting started, you’ll be ahead of all the New Year’s resolutions and not get caught up in it. Plus, you will be able to protect yourself from getting caught up in diet culture and jumping on the next new fad diet.

If you start plugging away at forming positive health habits now, you will be better able to manage the holidays and not just “check out because you’ll just start in January.” You will actually be able to handle those office parties and social get-togethers without deprivation and then ultimately overeating and then feelings of guilt.

You know, that time when you knew you were going out for a big holiday dinner and you under ate all day “to be good” and then ended up overeating because your body was seriously biologically hungry and you were massively hangry? Well, maybe you can start working on positively nourishing yourself now so that you can feel good about how you nourish your body and get off the restrictive and binge cycle.

>>> Click HERE to check out our Intuitive Eating Program for more help in this area

#3: In September the pressure is off.

The failure rate to New Year’s resolutions in January is pretty high. According to Forbes.com, the statistics on how many people actually follow through and accomplish their New Year’s resolutions are rather grim. Studies have shown that less than 25% of people actually stay committed to their resolutions after just 30 days, and only 8% accomplish them.

There is no pressure in September to make changes because it isn’t the “typical time” to make changes. Your family and friends aren’t going to be asking you what your New Year’s Resolutions are, and there won’t be any pressure from the media or social media.

You can ease into making changes without anyone noticing or having any pressure to follow the norm. The other thing that is great about September goal setting is that it can set a foundation for January, which for many people offers another fresh start and a chance at setting goals for the year.

#4: Medical Insurance Reset

When making health behavior changes, it is great to know what your extended medical health benefits cover.

Did you know that meeting with a dietitian or therapist is covered on most extended health care plans? Yup… working with a dietitian or therapist can be an expensive investment into your health, but if you can get a little bit of it covered by your employee health benefits plan, then why not?

Our most successful clients are the ones that work with us for 3-5 sessions or more. This is based on what their medical condition is or what results they want to see with their health.

And to be totally transparent, we don’t have a magic wand that will get you the results you want in a specific amount of time. We can’t tell you how many sessions you need, but those who gain the most confidence and lasting changes to their nutrition are meeting with us for over five sessions.

Our coaching model is not to just educate, but help you implement the education, make health behaviour changes, fail at it, evaluate what worked and what didn’t work then keep revising and adapting.

If you have more than one area that you want to target, it is unrealistic to think that you will get huge results with just a few coaching sessions.

September is great because if you are using your medical health benefits to pay for your appointment, you can start working with a dietitian on a regular basis because most benefit plans reset in January. For most plans, if you start in September you can stretch out at least 6 months of support when it comes to working with a dietitian!

#5: Better access to the professional support you need.

January is usually a very busy time for coaches and nutrition experts, and getting in for an appointment can be longer than a few weeks.

You might be ready to start in January but then have to wait until February to get an appointment. Plus, the experts you want to work with might be on holiday, so getting that individual approach might not be as easy as it is in the fall.

In September, our workloads are just picking up from the summer holidays and getting in is much easier than later in the year or in January. Especially when using medical benefits. December tends to be packed as everyone wants to use up their insurance before the year resets.

Are you going to start now?

I encourage you to think about the Fresh Start Effect.

According to the fresh-start effect, people are more likely to take action towards a goal after temporal landmarks that represent new beginnings.

Take a few minutes this week to think about what you want out of the rest of the year for your health.

If you could have a wish list for your health, what would be the top three areas you would like to make changes?

Are you struggling with a digestive problem that you have been ignoring and just suffering through it?
Do you have low energy and know that what you eat and how you nourish your body might be the culprit?
Would you like to finally commit to learning how to implement meal planning so that you are not scrambling to piece together meals that ultimately you are still unsatisfied with?
Do you have food cravings and emotional eating issues that you feel you should probably start to tackle? Maybe learn how to make peace with food and normalize your eating?

Well, if this sounds like you, then a dietitian can help.

Myself, Andrea and our teams are university degrees medical health care professionals that know what you are struggling with. We have helped thousands of people with these exact problems and helped them get the results that they are looking for. Now is the time!

I’ve added a free resource to this blog post at the bottom. It is our habit tracker tool, and we use it to help start and stay on track when it comes to making health goals stick. So go ahead and get your free copy.

If you would like to work with one our team members, you can go to www.alittlenutrition.com and click the link in the middle of the screen that says “book an appointment” or follow the instructions below:

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN WORKING WITH A NUTRITION COACH? HERE’S HOW TO GET STARTED.

HOW DO I BOOK AN APPOINTMENT WITH A REGISTERED DIETITIAN?

To book an appointment with one of our Registered Dietitians or therapists, you can:
Phone: 204-515-7466
Email: admin@alittlenutrition.com
Book online: https://alittlenutrition.janeapp.com