Mission to Change

At HeatlhCa.mp/DC yesterday, we created a session to talk about behavior change particularly as it relates to health and wellness. Behavior change, and figuring out how to get people to make positive choices for their health, is critical for our future. Diseases and conditions caused by lifestyle choices are eating our healthcare system alive and will take our economy down as well.

Yesterday, we made a quick list of the most obvious reasons people begin to change their behavior:

• Medical diagnosis (diabetes, heart disease being the most popular)
• Death of a friend or family member
• Pressure from our kids (worked great for smoking and seat belt use)

There are more but those, generally, are the biggies. What seldom makes the list are things like: "I know better." Why is that? We know we shouldn't smoke and yet some of us do. We know we should get, at least, some exercise each day and most of us don't. We know soda lacks any useful health properties, yet we drink it by the gallon. Some call this the "intent-behavior" gap. I mean to do the right thing, I just don't.

The holy grail? Figuring out why and doing something about it. I have a theory: People aren't making the best choices for their health because they haven't figured out their own purpose or mission.

To explore this theory, I asked a fellow HealthCamper (Doug from Infield Health) this question, "What got you out of bed this morning?" Doug's answer can best be summed up as wanting to make a difference, in healthcare and for his family. I asked the other group members to think about it, too. And, wondered with Greg from BreadForTheCity if such a question would be an important part of the work he does with their clients.

I contend if you are passionate about life, if you're working on something bigger than yourself and are driving toward your own important mission, you're more likely to make good choices for your own health. Why? Because you have work to do and you want to be sure you'll have the energy and health to see your "project" through to the end.

I'm beginning to think the "mission" part of life is the most important and perhaps more powerful than all of the exercise you can get and all of the vegetables you can eat. Perhaps we're going at this "wellness" thing from the wrong angle all together.

Maybe we need to help each person figure out their own personal mission and then support them to get there. After all, when you're working on something really important to you, there isn't anything that will get in your way.

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Label. The Newest Generation.

The design keeps improving! In case you haven't been following along, we're on a quest to design a new front of package label for our food. The whole thing started with the ridiculous commercial on TV that says one serving of Manwich has a full serving of vegetables. Then talk started about how to rebrand High Fructose Corn Syrup so we wouldn't be aware of what is in our food. The idea really blossomed at HealthCampDC 2010 a few weeks ago with some terrific thought leaders in health and wellness. Then a trip to the United Kingdom further refined the idea (am I the only one who loves going to grocery stores in other countries???).

Today, I'm happy to unveil the latest generation of our front of package food label!

Front of Package Food Label © 2010 Cybercise®

Now, we have this lovely little color-coded bar which helps consumers choose food based on an easy system of red, yellow and green. The idea is simple... choose products with mostly green and avoid products with mostly yellow and red. It is universal. It is easy to understand. It is clear.

What a revolution! The simplest ideas are always the best.

A Simpler System?

Can we make the previously discussed label even more simple? Of course we can. While traveling through the UK last week, I noticed this nifty little label on the front of food packages sold by Tesco. This is a box of cake mix which produces 12 cupcakes.

I think we can further adapt our last food label version to assign a red, yellow or green label for the calorie count and to identify the kinds of fat. I also think the "V" on the label for vegetarian is a nice touch.


As we go back to the label design room, we'd love to hear your ideas. Remember, our goal here is to help people make better food choices. Stay tuned for the next version!

Seven Days Postscript

Seven days ago, I spent the day in a room with other people all with an interest to make the healthcare system better and being healthy easier. That day, in and of itself, was very powerful. And, what has happened since is even more powerful.

I've gotten new ideas for Food Label Redefined. Cybercise (@Cybercise) has a whole slew of new Twitter followers, including some people who could really further the idea. The food label project is a small diversion from the real work of Cybercise but we are focused on educating people and having clear food labels would certainly help learn how to make better food choices.

In the next several weeks, I have meetings with some of the people I met at HealthCampDC 10. Some of the meetings are to talk about Cybercise and some of the meetings are to learn more about what my newly-found friends are doing. I was kindly educated by some of the HealthCampers on matters of technology and those brief conversations have given me new ideas to make Cybercise better, stronger, faster. I have increased energy, faith and hope that a group of people getting together really can make a difference.

And, most importantly, I've remembered and confirmed something I long suspected. If I can help someone else get to their goal and achieve their mission, I gain just as much (if not more) in the process. The beauty of an un-conference is it gives people with a common spirit a place to get together, swap ideas, offer advice and lend a helping hand.

If you haven't attended a HealthCamp, find one near you soon. Matthew Browning is hosting one in Connecticut in April. (For the scoop follow @MatthewBrowning). I'm working on some space to host one of my very own in the Maryland-area. If you can't find one near you, host one. Mark (@ekivemark) elegantly hosted HealthCampDC 10 (follow him!) and can offer advice.  To catch up on what happened last Friday, search for #hcdc10. And, get in the conversation by using the hashtag, too.

HealthCamps are for everyone. The more the merrier. And, together we can, and we will, make all the difference in the world.