Of Dietary Supplements and Flying Unicorns
Why is the diet industry replete with so many phony claims?
Recently, I was exposed to yet another “miracle diet product” that got my hackles up — and rest assured you don’t want to be around when I have elevated hackles.
The radio ad began something like:
“We are looking for a select few people in this listening area that want to be involved in a new weight loss study who want to lose no more than two pounds a day.”
Firstly, announcements referencing “this listening area,” are not from “this listening area;” they’re part of a national or regional campaign pretending to sound local. Should they be homegrown, they would say something such as, “We need people in Northern California…” Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with national advertising; however, the fact that it’s disingenuous raises the first in a series of red flags.
Speaking of such, let’s wave some more.
Indeed, there are countless people “in this listening area” who would easily want to shed the required poundage at approximately two pounds every 24 hours. It ain’t gonna happen. Granted, they reference “no more” than two pounds a day. I mean, who would be upset if all they shed was a pound a half a day?
In one month, I have the perfect body. How cool is that?
An important admonition: One cannot lose weight — and sustain it (and that’s essential) — that rapidly without sacrificing one’s health. Therefore, the set up is not only promoting unrealistic and unhealthy expectations, but it’s setting up “participants” to feel like failures should they lose the more realistic one to two pounds per week.
Being your dedicated diet detective, I ventured to the website to suss out the details. What I discovered was that we could purchase a new miracle supplement “electromagnetically encoded to copy the effects of homeopathic formulas.” To get the aforementioned results, one consumed a few drops regularly and followed a “VCLD” (very low calorie diet) of approximately 500 calories per day.
Let’s put that in perspective.
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Happy Heart Month! Take Care of Your Heart
by special guest author Eliz Greene. (Note: Join Eliz as our special guest on Feb 22, 2012 at 10AM in a live interview. There is no charge and you can find out more here.)
Each February EmbraceYourHeart.com focuses on Women’s Heart Health – to build awareness, improve treatment, and end research disparities.
Over the past ten years, we’ve done a pretty good job! Most women recognize heart disease as the number one killer of women of all ages.
Are you putting your heart as your #1 priority?
To celebrate Heart Month 2012 – here are 12 ways you can Embrace Your Heart. Share them with a woman you love and ask her to take care of #1 (her heart)!
- Wake Up! The majority of women don’t know their own personal risk of heart disease. Take the time of get your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar checked and have a conversation about your family history, weight, and lifestyle with a medical professional.
- Know The Signs: Women’s symptoms of heart attack can be very subtle. Any unusual pain in your jaw, neck, shoulder, torso – really anywhere from the top of your head to your hips – can be a symptom of heart attack. Uncomfortable pressure, burning or squeezing in your chest, shortness of breath, dizziness, cold sweat, and nausea can all be symptoms as well. Play it safe – call 911 and get help right away.
- Call A Friend: Stress increases your risk of heart disease – one easy way to reduce stress is to talk to a friend. Women who maintain positive relationships with other women reduce their risk by 30%! Girl talk is good for your heart! Read More »
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Monday Motivational Memo: Overcoming Resistance to Change
Rarely – if at all – does anyone WANT to change.
The results of the change are what actually motivate us.
Keep your focus on those.
“Logically,” we usually know what to do to improve our health and our lives. We just don’t do it.
Why?
Usually, it’s because we’re focusing on the mental work it takes. That seems taxing and overwhelming and not worth the effort. Therefore, we quit.
The key is to focus on the benefits you will receive by doing the work. For example, don’t focus on how hard it is to stick to your diet; picture how you’ll feel in one hour when you’ve resisted the habit.
In effect, focus on where you will be from your efforts, not what it’s taking to achieve them.
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Terrifying Video: El Camino del Rey Narrow Walkway
Sometimes, you have to face your fear to change.
This example however, is extreme. This 9 minute video will keep you on the edge of your seat.
According to Wikipedia: El Caminito del Rey (English: The King’s little pathway) is a walkway, now fallen into disrepair, pinned along the steep walls of a narrow gorge in El Chorro, near Álora in the province of Málaga, Spain. The name is often shortened to Camino del Rey (English: King’s pathway).
The walkway is one metre (3 feet and 3 inches) in width, and rises over 100 metres (350 feet) above the river below. Constructed of concrete resting on steel rails supported by stanchions at around 45 degrees into the rock face, it is currently in a highly deteriorated state and there are numerous sections where part or all of the concrete top has collapsed. The result is large open air gaps that are bridged only by narrow steel beams or other support fixtures. Very few of the original handrails exist but a safety-wire runs the length of the path. Several people have lost their lives on the walkway in recent years and after two fatal accidents in 1999 and 2000 the local government closed both entrances, but not the gift shop.
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You’re Finished! Congratulations.
What have you finished today?
What will you finish this week? This month? This year?
What are you waiting for?
Look around your office. How many projects are on your desk at present? Which ones have taken up permanent occupancy? I consider my desk to be a high rent district. Squatters aren’t welcome. If it stays, it pays.
After coaching from colleague John Tenza I now awake each morning and ask myself: “What am I going to finish today?”
There’s great satisfaction in completing projects, of shipping orders, of finishing manuscripts and closing deals. Conversely there’s negative energy that surrounds projects with no end in sight, ones that just seem to hang on. Liberate yourself from these energy drainers. Commit to complete!
Just as the best time to make a sales call is right after you’ve just made a sale, so too will you feel fantastic about existing projects when you complete one of them today.
Become a Master of Time and Space
According to Tenza, a multidimensional sales trainer, “clutter is a killer. When you put things in their rightful place, toss or give away items, you clear your mind as well as your desk and office.” The key is to get into action. You must decide to do it!
Completions Not Just for Quarterbacks and Receivers
Strive for completions. Coach Tenza knows: “completions give you freedom from that gnawing stress that something needs to be done. Each time you complete an existing project you create new space and new energy for yourself.” John and I concur: your brain and body will thank you or the successes you will realize through completions.
On Becoming A Terminator
Here are some tips to complete more projects.
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Where are my Crayons?
I was “row monitor” in second grade; sitting in the last seat making sure the students in my row behaved. On this day, all was quiet; no one messed with the law when Scott was around. My enforcement duties complete, I was able to turn my attention to the current “quiet time,” period that daily session where we did whatever we wanted, just so it was without sound. Priority one was schoolwork; so I pulled out my assignment list; decorated with pencil-drawn army men and a poorly drawn reproduction of Mighty Mouse. Nothing was pending so I re-filed it, still seeking something to occupy my time.
When our assignments were up to speed, we were allowed to retrieve our coloring books and engage our more artistic personae. Eagerly, I flipped pages, seeking the perfect image on which I could express by imaginative abilities. Alas, I had used all 64 colors on every image; every page had been filled; nothing remained
Sadly, I folded my hands on my desk, looked up at the ticking clock and waited. I had nothing to do, probably the last time in my life that has ever happened.
Fast-forward 50 years…
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Overcoming the Negative
It’s impossible to go through life without experiencing negativity.
A cheating spouse, a horrible boss, a conniving friend or family member; the list is endless, and we’ve all had at least one negative experience in our lives. It’s important, however, that we overcome those negative people and experiences so that we can learn, move on, and live.
Here’s how I overcame a negative personal experience.
I dated someone for nearly seven years and was expecting for us to grow old together, happily-bickering into our late years. I was sorely mistaken, so mistaken in fact that I was caught off guard when he broke up with me… over a social network. I later found out that he had been cheating on me for quite some time.
My initial reaction to the break-up was to harp on the fact that not only had he broken up with me, someone he claimed to love, in such an insensitive, cruel way, but on top of everything he had been so conniving as to be unfaithful. I just couldn’t let it go; it consumed me and was all I could think about. I was stuck. I couldn’t begin moving on because I wasn’t allowing myself; I was just so concentrated on being outraged with the way he had treated me and our relationship. Now, nearly a year after this experience, I have a completely different perspective. Like that Cardigans song, “You live, you learn,” and here is what I learned one needs to do to overcome a negative experience:
Analyze Your Situation
My mistake in overcoming my negative experience was harping on what this man had done to me. What we need to do when something negative happens to us, is understand that:
- It happened.
- Someone else perpetrated the negative action brought against us.
- We cannot control what that person decided to do.
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Want to Really Change? Keep Track of the Numbers
When my children were young, I registered their growth on the hallway doorjamb with pencil marks and knife notches.
Next to each was inscribed a date and name. Since those statistics are most likely meaningless to the latter owners, I assume sandpaper and lacquer have removed that chronicle; yet I wonder if they left those markings intact, pondering periodically where went “Daniel, January 28, 1988” or “Brandon, April 7, 1989.”
Numbers are the language by which lives are recorded; history is kept; and even how the universe communicates. This does not denigrate the clout of intuition, emotion, nor hunches; yet, the bottom line — quite literally — is what the numbers say. Whether checking the weight of a newborn; success of a business; leadership of a country; or the future of our planet; it’s “in the numbers.”
Our language is strewn with numeric references. We hope no one “does a number on us,” or that our “number is up.” We “dress to the nines” for elegant receptions, but refrain from becoming “three sheets to the wind.” There are “no two ways about it;” numbers count (um, pardon the pun).
It therefore stands to reason that that which we monitor expands our awareness, affording concern or confidence. So logically, if we want to change something about us, we must establish a baseline and “keep score.”
This process starts before we can count, as illustrated by how the amount of gold stars on a refrigerator can be extremely effective in fine-tuning a child’s behavior. As adults, step one in altering our lifestyles might involve tracking our accumulation of wealth (or lack thereof), or when we anticipate joyful occasions, “counting the days.”
Of course, that means should better health be the objective, we must track the behaviors associated with those goals. A smoker can become an ex-smoker by paying attention to how often he lights up and setting targets to lower that count over time. If physical fitness is the desired outcome, we can write down how often — or how far — we walk or run. We record our blood pressure. We check our weight. We can even monitor our attitude.
All this has been a preamble to one question: “If we agree that keeping track can make our lives better, why don’t we do it more often?” What’s the resistance? Read More »
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Calibrating Your Thought Compass: What Thought Feels Better?
By Dave Berman
Your feelings reflect your thoughts.
It may often seem that your emotional state is caused by external circumstances, but this “outside-in” paradigm is an illusion and your reality is actually created “inside-out.” The Thought Compass is a way to remember how true this is and to guide you in selecting better feeling, more useful thoughts.
Just as a regular compass points north and helps you find your way in the forest, your Thought Compass is calibrated to True North, represented by holding both arms straight out in front of you with the palms of your hands together. In this position, you sense connection to your inner wisdom, an emotional GPS system. You are aware of feelings of freedom, love, joy, appreciation, knowledge and empowerment. True North indicates high quality thinking that can be believed, trusted and acted upon. Take a moment now to recognize your relationship to True North. Find some thoughts that bring you to this good feeling place.
Feelings are always the indicator of when your thinking is on course, as well as when thoughts are off course. Remember a time now when you had to make a big decision but weren’t yet ready to choose. Indecision is common. Use your Thought Compass now to calibrate how it feels. Keep your left arm straight in front of you and begin moving your right arm clockwise until you find the point that represents this feeling. Indecision, by definition, is a lack of readiness to take action. Notice the contrast between this feeling and True North, where you do feel that inner direction to take action. Sometimes we may call this a “gut instinct.” When it kicks in, it means you’re ready to believe the thoughts causing that feeling, ready to take action based on them, and you’ve calibrated back to True North.
Play around with some other feelings now.
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Motivational Monday Memo: Slow Down and Listen
To get answers, you have to ask questions.
To hear the answers, you have to listen.
Our minds listen “faster” than people can speak.
Therefore, especially when we’re busy, we sometimes don’t take the time so slow down and really listen to what others are telling us. We respond to what we think they’re saying, not necessarily what they are really saying.
Take just a few seconds to “slow down your listening speed,” especially when the conversation is important. You’ll hear what you normally don’t, therefore, you will diminish the possibility of conflict. You will also actually be more productive because you will have fewer repeat conversations.
Read More »
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Monday Motivational Memo: Focus on Success
Focus on how far you’ve come, not how far you have to go.
But keep moving forward.
It’s almost always frustrating when we compare where we are to where we want to go. It’s better to compare where you are to where you started. That way, you’ll see the progress.
Even if it’s not much, it’s validation that you’re on your way and that you’re moving forward.
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Lesson Learned – No Matter Our Age, We’re Still Learning
OK class, today’s assignment is to create the most annoying place ever; ready?
Let’s begin by populating it with lots of tired, irritable inhabitants confined to a cramped area with hardly any places to rest and absolutely no spot to get comfortable. Many of these folks will wear too much perfume or, better yet, haven’t seen the working end of a shower in days. Of course, the whole environment has to be far from home, and — oh yes — let’s make it extremely loud.
Now, let’s spruce up the annoyance factor by tossing in some arcane commands.
Rule one: You are only allowed to have in your ownership one container of essential items; but the consequences for possessing those is that is you must drag them behind you wherever you go; a ball and chain.
Rule Two: Not for a minute can you let them leave your custody. If you want to add more items, you can purchase from a very limited supply of things that will be far more costly than they should be, and you must stand in long lines to obtain them (don’t forget, you must have your container always in tow).
Rule Three: Nosy, ill-mannered, discourteous natives will handle and interrogate you at will, sporadically rummage through your package of personal belongings, and time after time subject you to yet additional seemingly useless rules which may change at any time.
I think we’re done.
What shall we call it? Dante’s Infern
o? Hell? How about, “An Airport?”
Traveling has a knack to make anybody cranky; so, I had empathy for the nine-year-old with the pink suitcase waiting in the petrified line to board the jet. Her dad, bent close to her, staring unflinchingly into her eyes, was wagging his finger for emphasis and scolding her sotto voce. “We don’t push people out of the way. We wait our turn, do you understand?”
Her eyes drilling into the floor of the gateway, an angry expression contorting her face, she rocked defiantly from side-to-side, holding steadfast, “He’s not ‘people;’ he’s my little brother! And he’s slow! I want to get on the airplane all ready! I’m tired!” Read More »
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Video: Humorous Take on Procrastination
While procrastinating, I found this fun video about procrastination.
I can so relate. (By the way, if you’re watching this, you too are probably procrastinating.)
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