Day 3: SWOT Analysis - Identify Opportunities and Threats
Yesterday, we assessed our Strengths and Weaknesses. These are internal factors that would affect our dietary and lifestyle modification program and goals.
Next, we will assess the external factors that could help or deter us from achieving our mission.
OPPORTUNITIES
In 2010, when I injured my back at work after lifting the leg of a 300-pound patient, my life drastically changed. Even after eight weeks of rehab, the pain persisted and stayed with me for seven years. I couldn’t lift a bag of groceries from the trunk of my car without flinching. Even coughing would bring severe spasms. I couldn’t walk for more than an hour without suffering after that. I even had to give up running. I did yoga at 5 am so I could function at work. I also bought an indoor bike, so I can easily jump on it even in my pajamas. A 30-minute ride every day in our basement would help relieve the pain. I couldn’t take any pain reliever for more than a few days without getting sick in the tummy. So I lived with this pain for years. Only here in Dallas did I find my cure. It was a miracle that I was able to run the Disney half-marathon in 2019 and the Irving Frost Marathon in 2023. I never dreamt I would ever regain my back, but I did! The opportunity came by chance when we moved because of my husband's job.
In the past, my rehab doctor also advised me to give up dairy and decrease my intake of red meat and processed foods. I did it half-heartedly. But one day, my college daughter came home and declared, “Mom, I’m now a pescetarian.” And that was after I labored to cook the beef stew for her. My thought bubble was, “Peste-tarian, right.” (In English, what a pest!)
And then, a few months after, my husband came home and declared, “I want to be a vegetarian.” My thought bubble was, “Is he in a midlife crisis or something?”
And finally, my youngest says, “Sorry, mom, I’m carnivorous.”
That was a period of intense challenge. Suddenly, I felt like I ran a hospital kitchen preparing food for patients with many dietary restrictions. I’d sometimes stand in the middle of the grocery aisles wondering what the heck am I going to cook for the week? But thanks to human adaptation, the capacity to change, and the grace to cater to the needs of the people I love, we have evolved for the better as a family.
Although everyone is a vegetarian of sorts, we have gravitated comfortably to our preferences without imposing on others. What I feed my mouth is my choice. I live with the consequences of my action. My duty is to provide healthy options in the table, ref, and pantry and to remind them of what’s healthy or not. Sometimes unhealthy choices creep into the mix. It’s up to them to know when to eat and when to stop.They live with the consequences of their actions.
I started as a flexitarian, a vegetarian who eats the Mediterranean way, and then as a lacto-ovo pescetarian, taking off all meat and leaving fish, egg, and cheese in my diet. The Vegan diet is something I’d do during Lent and when I have to get my numbers back on track.
I try to stick to the average carb load that my body needs. I used to eat like a carpenter (a common Filipino terminology to mean eating a mound of rice topped with a plateful of vegetable-meat dish.
My youngest now eats more vegetables than meat. And my older daughter is more of a lacto-ovo vegetarian. My husband still sticks to a predominantly vegan diet but would eat cheese when it’s pizza night, which is a feast for him.
The opportunity for me to change came because my family made me 🙂 And when I learned about Culinary Medicine, I thought, “I spend most hours of my days in the kitchen. Maybe I can make this as my retirement plan, my personal advocacy, a mission I can pursue until my last breath. So, I took the Culinary Medicine Certification Program, passed the exam in December 2020, and got certified in January 2021. I’m still groping as to how I can make a difference with my new skills, so I’m embarking on this health journey with all of you, hoping to find more clarity and a higher purpose in this new endeavor.
I invite everyone to feel free to share their health journey here.
When I created the Culinary Medicine Facebook group, my vision was to provide a platform for all to share their food journey and become a source of inspiration.
What about you? What opportunities have you encountered these past days to improve your health?
I invite you to grab this opportunity to do a make-over.
Next, we will assess the external factors that could help or deter us from achieving our mission.
OPPORTUNITIES
In 2010, when I injured my back at work after lifting the leg of a 300-pound patient, my life drastically changed. Even after eight weeks of rehab, the pain persisted and stayed with me for seven years. I couldn’t lift a bag of groceries from the trunk of my car without flinching. Even coughing would bring severe spasms. I couldn’t walk for more than an hour without suffering after that. I even had to give up running. I did yoga at 5 am so I could function at work. I also bought an indoor bike, so I can easily jump on it even in my pajamas. A 30-minute ride every day in our basement would help relieve the pain. I couldn’t take any pain reliever for more than a few days without getting sick in the tummy. So I lived with this pain for years. Only here in Dallas did I find my cure. It was a miracle that I was able to run the Disney half-marathon in 2019 and the Irving Frost Marathon in 2023. I never dreamt I would ever regain my back, but I did! The opportunity came by chance when we moved because of my husband's job.
In the past, my rehab doctor also advised me to give up dairy and decrease my intake of red meat and processed foods. I did it half-heartedly. But one day, my college daughter came home and declared, “Mom, I’m now a pescetarian.” And that was after I labored to cook the beef stew for her. My thought bubble was, “Peste-tarian, right.” (In English, what a pest!)
And then, a few months after, my husband came home and declared, “I want to be a vegetarian.” My thought bubble was, “Is he in a midlife crisis or something?”
And finally, my youngest says, “Sorry, mom, I’m carnivorous.”
That was a period of intense challenge. Suddenly, I felt like I ran a hospital kitchen preparing food for patients with many dietary restrictions. I’d sometimes stand in the middle of the grocery aisles wondering what the heck am I going to cook for the week? But thanks to human adaptation, the capacity to change, and the grace to cater to the needs of the people I love, we have evolved for the better as a family.
Although everyone is a vegetarian of sorts, we have gravitated comfortably to our preferences without imposing on others. What I feed my mouth is my choice. I live with the consequences of my action. My duty is to provide healthy options in the table, ref, and pantry and to remind them of what’s healthy or not. Sometimes unhealthy choices creep into the mix. It’s up to them to know when to eat and when to stop.They live with the consequences of their actions.
I started as a flexitarian, a vegetarian who eats the Mediterranean way, and then as a lacto-ovo pescetarian, taking off all meat and leaving fish, egg, and cheese in my diet. The Vegan diet is something I’d do during Lent and when I have to get my numbers back on track.
I try to stick to the average carb load that my body needs. I used to eat like a carpenter (a common Filipino terminology to mean eating a mound of rice topped with a plateful of vegetable-meat dish.
My youngest now eats more vegetables than meat. And my older daughter is more of a lacto-ovo vegetarian. My husband still sticks to a predominantly vegan diet but would eat cheese when it’s pizza night, which is a feast for him.
The opportunity for me to change came because my family made me 🙂 And when I learned about Culinary Medicine, I thought, “I spend most hours of my days in the kitchen. Maybe I can make this as my retirement plan, my personal advocacy, a mission I can pursue until my last breath. So, I took the Culinary Medicine Certification Program, passed the exam in December 2020, and got certified in January 2021. I’m still groping as to how I can make a difference with my new skills, so I’m embarking on this health journey with all of you, hoping to find more clarity and a higher purpose in this new endeavor.
I invite everyone to feel free to share their health journey here.
When I created the Culinary Medicine Facebook group, my vision was to provide a platform for all to share their food journey and become a source of inspiration.
What about you? What opportunities have you encountered these past days to improve your health?
I invite you to grab this opportunity to do a make-over.
THREAT
Now, no one is threatening you or anything. I know there’s always a fear factor that some health coaches employ on their mentees.
But I’m not your coach. Neither am I claiming to be your mentor. We are all on this journey together.
We become our own advocates, coaches, and mentors. As I said earlier in this journey, nobody knows your body more than you do.
I am here to share what I learned from the Culinary Medicine course. And I haven’t even started yet.
The first days are to prime our minds to get ready to embrace a better lifestyle. Change often starts in our mindset. Unless we are willing and fully committed to embarking on the journey, it’ll be hard to embrace the challenges that will come with it.
As I mentioned, the threats are external conditions that may prevent you from achieving your goal. What are some of these?
Disruptions in your routine.
Are you going on a holiday trip? Do you fear that you can’t adhere to your plans because of it? Is it possible to plan ahead of time? Many times, I lose track of my goals whenever I'm thrown in an environment that's hard for me to control. I gain weight whenever I spend a week outside my home, eating food I did not prepare. Is there a way that I can have a better hold of the things I put in my mouth?
External conditions are not conducive.
During the pandemic, resources were hard to access—no daily fresh produce on hand. Ingredients are not available. Exercising seems an impossible task. You can come up with as many reasons, which in the long run can become mere excuses. Look at all these factors in the eye, stare at them, and think... Are these really roadblocks or just me putting the roadblocks on myself?
Distractions.
We can engage in the program and start strong but, in the end, lose our fire. We get distracted by other endeavors. We pursue a diet and get hooked to cooking and baking and, in the process, eating more! We lose track of our goal.
Bad influence or temptations.
Earlier, I shared how I pursued a healthier diet because of the opportunity that my family presented to me. It was a positive peer pressure of sorts. But the opposite can also happen. What if you try to stick to a clean diet and the other family members aren’t on board with you? That’s going to be a challenge. How do you plan to stick to your regimen when everyone else is eating your favorite dessert?
There are ways, and there are techniques to overcome or even ride through the temptation without selling your soul to it.
As long as you know the threats, you can tap on your strengths to overcome and address these.
Now, no one is threatening you or anything. I know there’s always a fear factor that some health coaches employ on their mentees.
But I’m not your coach. Neither am I claiming to be your mentor. We are all on this journey together.
We become our own advocates, coaches, and mentors. As I said earlier in this journey, nobody knows your body more than you do.
I am here to share what I learned from the Culinary Medicine course. And I haven’t even started yet.
The first days are to prime our minds to get ready to embrace a better lifestyle. Change often starts in our mindset. Unless we are willing and fully committed to embarking on the journey, it’ll be hard to embrace the challenges that will come with it.
As I mentioned, the threats are external conditions that may prevent you from achieving your goal. What are some of these?
Disruptions in your routine.
Are you going on a holiday trip? Do you fear that you can’t adhere to your plans because of it? Is it possible to plan ahead of time? Many times, I lose track of my goals whenever I'm thrown in an environment that's hard for me to control. I gain weight whenever I spend a week outside my home, eating food I did not prepare. Is there a way that I can have a better hold of the things I put in my mouth?
External conditions are not conducive.
During the pandemic, resources were hard to access—no daily fresh produce on hand. Ingredients are not available. Exercising seems an impossible task. You can come up with as many reasons, which in the long run can become mere excuses. Look at all these factors in the eye, stare at them, and think... Are these really roadblocks or just me putting the roadblocks on myself?
Distractions.
We can engage in the program and start strong but, in the end, lose our fire. We get distracted by other endeavors. We pursue a diet and get hooked to cooking and baking and, in the process, eating more! We lose track of our goal.
Bad influence or temptations.
Earlier, I shared how I pursued a healthier diet because of the opportunity that my family presented to me. It was a positive peer pressure of sorts. But the opposite can also happen. What if you try to stick to a clean diet and the other family members aren’t on board with you? That’s going to be a challenge. How do you plan to stick to your regimen when everyone else is eating your favorite dessert?
There are ways, and there are techniques to overcome or even ride through the temptation without selling your soul to it.
As long as you know the threats, you can tap on your strengths to overcome and address these.