If You Can See It, You Will Eat It
October 31, 2008
Are you familiar with Tough Love for troubled teens? Well, think of this email as Tough Love For Halloween.
Here is Wikepedia’s definition of Tough Love- “an expression used when someone treats another person harshly or sternly with the intent to help them in the long run.”
Also, to be defined as tough love, there must also be some genuine feelings of affection behind the stern words.
Ahem, are you sitting down? We need to talk.
I am walloping your inbox this week with tough love emails (meanmails you might call them)
out of concern that unless I demand it, you will not get that candy out of your cupboards, off your desk, out of your candy dishes and car and purse and out of sight.
Do NOT let people bring it to your office! If you see them hauling it in, demand that they put it on their OWN hips!
I bet if , on Monday afternoon, you dumped the whole candy bowl in the lunchroom garbage can everyone would actually THANK you for taking the initiative.
If you do not GET IT GONE it will get itself gone…into your mouth and onto the part of body you are resting on right now.
Now, not everyone becomes a skid in a candy store when faced with their favorite Mr Goodbar, although I don’t really trust people who tell me they don’t like candy (I lump them into my distrust category of people that don’t like dogs) but most people (okay, women) I know do what I did today.
I preached all week about how you all should buy candy that you don’t like or better yet, are allergic to and what did I do when I got to Costco? I bought (or someone who looked just like me, it wasn’t really me) THREE jumbo super duper size combo bags of…
PEANUT M&Ms! SNICKERS! and MINI M&M’s!
What happened?!!?
I’ll tell you what happened. It’s called compartmentalization. Think Bill Clinton.
In your conscious mind you think one thing and you get determined and psyched and you make a SMART plan and then. And then. And then your shadow mind sneaks up on you and
YOU BUY THE CANDY YOU LOVE.
We all know how this story ends.
So.
I need you to wait until November 1st (that’s tomorrow).Then first thing in the morning you have to clear it ALL out. Let your kids keep only what they promise on their life not to let you have, then ask them to hide it from you or if they are too little to keep it themselves, use
TOUGH LOVE on them.
I apologize for my stern tone but,
Just like with alcohol, no one wakes up the next morning and says “Honey! I wish I’d drunk MORE.” The same theory applies here. No one in your family, and especially not you, will wake up Sunday morning and say, “Damn, I should’ve had ANOTHER snickers!”
Trust me. I know these are hard words to hear on the evening of literally the sweetest day of the year, but if you can get it out of sight, it really will be out of mind.
But if you can see it, you will eat it.
Acai (Ah-sah-EE)Said The Blind Man
October 31, 2008
Many of you have expressed what I’d describe as guarded curiosity about my last blog post on the newly researched Acai (ah-sah-EE) berry. But when Oprah gets on the bandwagon, we all have to stop and take notice. Oprah’s Dr. Perricone listed Acai as NUMBER ONE of his top 10 Superfoods.
I agree though. Suspicion is a healthy thing.
Anytime I get emails trying to convince me to try the lastest ThighMaster or the almighty Bowflex, I usually do one of two things. I either allow my eyes to glaze over and wonder what’s in the fridge
OR I hit the delete button.
But occasionally something revolutionary comes along that gets me all twittery inside. Spinning was one. The foam roller was another. Wonder Bras and Hanky Pankies come to mind. And don’t forget Starbuck’s Venti Skim Cappucino as another. The hoax-busters try to find the hoke in the hoax, to no avail.
Even still, I would have normally ignored these “Miracle Berry” promos. That is IF I hadn’t just arrived back home from a weekend at Canyon Ranch where their up-to-the-minute staff of physicians were extolling the virtues of this acai berry and other purple skinned fruits.
The acai berry, as well as other highly ranked ORAC foods are related to reduced risk of arthritis, muscle irritation, pain, and the aging of our skin.
Studies are being done around the world to find out the effects of Acai juice on diseases like cancer, heart attacks and cardiovascular issues.
These Canyon Ranch staff physicians are the very same doctors that I heard six long years ago quoting new research on the dangers of heating and freezing substances in plastic. Of course that took 5 more years until I actually heard what they were saying. I remember smirking when they said that I should only freeze or nuke food in GLASS! How inconvenient!
I was unwilling to throw out my Tupperware.
Fast forward to present day.
It took Cheryl Crow’s breast cancer assertions that plastic water bottles had leached toxins into her drinking water to get us to pay attention. I guess People Magazine carries more clout than cutting edge doctors with the American public. I feel pathetic!
Then the following year, those same doctors were recommending a test for CRP (C-reactive protein), which is a test that detects inflammation in the body and can be a marker to indicate heart disease before it shows up on standard cholesterol tests.
Back then, my doctor at home had never even heard of a CRP test, let alone administered it. Nowadays, all doctors worth their stethoscope will order this test as a general rule of thumb during physicals on baby boomers.
So I finally get it. Maybe it’s wisdom. The Canyon Ranch staff calls it the Butterfly Effect-which means that little lifestyle changes we make today can have a huge effect on our health in years to come.
I wish Cheryl Crow was with my Canyon Ranch group six years ago.
But now, instead of waiting for the FDA to post a warning or for People Magazine to feature some celebrity cancer survivor five years from now, I am trying to listen and follow their guidance more promptly.
Acai juice is expensive to make. But production of this native Amazonian berry has created many jobs for the people of Brazil, as there are several pulping and freezing factories located in the Amazon. The harvesting of the Acai berry is still done by hand to protect the rain forest. Acai berries need to be processed within 24 hours to avoid spoilage. A lot of workers will pick the berries fast in an effort to get them to the factory more quickly.
The reason I am putting my endorsement behind MonaVie is that they had the business acumen to patent their freeze-dry method for berry preservation so that the antioxidant benefits remain the same as freshly picked berries. No other company can use this preferred method of harvesting so other products have lesser nutritional benefits.
You will see other juices in stores. The cheaper ones are very diluted. The pricier ones in stores use a makeshift flash drying process that sacrifices nutrient content.
MonaVie will also only sell through distributors-no stores carry MonaVie and EBay type auctions are prohibited. That’s why I am getting on board.
And you can too. by emailing me right now.
Or you can wait to read about it in five years in People Magazine.
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