The Basics…2012 Style-Part I

Marty Marsh, marketing expert  and a personal acquaintance, recently told a story in a blog post that caught my eye.  It was about a marketing concept that had to do with finding your perfect client.  Its message, at first, seemed unrelated to those of us who have a serious interest in health and fitness.  But since it was about Vince Lombardi, I read on.

   

I’ve always been drawn to stories about Vince Lombardi because for one, he was one of sport’s greatest coaches and an incredible role model and inspiration for me but also because he was a personal hero of my father’s so my interest in him has always been twofold. The article was about the importance of “the basics,” and it is pretty incredible.  Here is how Marty’s story went:

...Vince Lombardi, the great and legendary football coach for the Green Bay Packers would

Chocolate Forever

I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. I think it’s a made-up commercial holiday that only serves to line the pockets of Hallmark, Whitman Chocolates and the florists of America (Bah! Valen-bug!)  But it will always hold a place in my heart.  When we were kids, my mother would buy us each a card and a little mini box of chocolate and place it on our place at the kitchen table Valentine’s morning.  It was so nice to be remembered like that, really nice.

I would imagine there isn’t a person alive that doesn’t have some sort of happy memory associated with chocolate. “…Come with me and you'll be, in a world of pure imagination…” Willy Wonka sang.  But as we got older, chocolate was demonized wasn’t it?  But it needn’t be. 

Have You Been Screened?

Many health and wellness professionals have an alphabet soup of letters or “designations” after their name.  These letters appear on business cards and published articles and represent credentials and qualifications that the professional deems important enough to tell the world about.  Never mind that most people have no idea what any of these credentials mean but it looks impressive, doesn’t it?  Now those of us in the industry…we know what they mean-which implies that we’re out to impress each other rather than the people we’re supposed to be serving.  But in an industry as competitive as ours, we must do something to set ourselves apart from others that do what we do.

But that is not the reason why I have the initials, FMS after my name.  FMS stands for Functional Movement Screen (certified) and it is a part of my practice that I am proud to promote (hence the initials.)

We’re All Narcissists Now

I was once at a mentorship for advanced level training when one of the coaches I had just paid a pile of cash to, told me that your success at getting a client to achieve their goals was 85% (yes! 85%) mental.  If that were true I thought, then, what am I doing here?  Why am I here at all?  Isn’t it really a psychiatrist that would help my client the most?  While the “mental” component of training comprises several things such as  good attitude, behavior, discipline and self-awareness (things that clients do need in order to be successful), what we can do as fitness and lifestyle experts is to guide people to use their training as a new way of looking at behavior and lifestyle that will impact their health forever.  So yes, that’s why many health coaches like myself spend so much time harping on “mindset…” it’s because of that 85%.  Sounds great doesn’t it?

But what if we’ve created a monster?  In our zest for giving people the tools with which to give themselves the gift of optimal health, we may be creating legions of the self-obsessed.

How to Calculate Your Daily Calorie Needs

There are many complicated calculations available that can be used to estimate one’s daily caloric needs.  The question is:  How reliable are these formulas?  Regardless of the source, or how valid the formula seems to be on paper, all calorie calculations are simply estimates-best guesses if you will.  They can give you a general idea but there are simply too many variables involved to come up with a hard and fast formula for calculating daily caloric intake that can be applied to a majority of people without taking into consideration age, gender, height, amount of lean body mass, hydration, frame size, individual goals and more.  

Some formulas are better than others, naturally, but keep in mind that even the most seemingly scientific formula should serve mainly as a baseline or a starting point from which you can gauge whether your body is really changing and what should be adjusted in your program in order for more fat loss to occur and/or more muscle to be gained.

A Sweet and Healthy Fat you HAVE to Try

Product  highlight

MCT Colada from Designs For Health

Not too long ago, my Designs for Health sales rep sent out an email asking if anyone wanted to purchase a few discounted bottles of MCT Colada available through an overstock.  I bought all that she had. This is one of my favorite products and I was thrilled to be able to buy it in bulk at a discount because this is a product I use a lot of-almost every day.  It tastes just like  pineapple-coconut syrup.  I put it on my chicken to give it a delicious tropical flavor, I add it to my shake at lunch and I'd pour it over my waffles at breakfast (if I had them...but I don't.)  Next thing I know, my friend Mikell is featuring it as the product-of-the-month on her website.  That sealed the deal.  If Mikell was featuring it, I knew I was about to benefit by reading a great review of this product by a true expert and that I would probably learn something new in the process. Well, I was right...

For those of you who want to exercise to help burn fat, MCT Colada needs to be a part of your workout program. What makes this product so special? 

Can Coffee Prevent Cancer?

Today's post was too good to pass up.  Or rather, not to pass-along.  It comes from my friend and holistic nutritionist, Karen Roth, MS, NC who does a feature on her website (and in mailings to her "community") every Thursday called Food for Thought Thursday in which she examines a food, nutrient, practice or other topic of interest to the holistic health community in a brief and always informative post-like the one below.  Karen maintains a clinical practice in the Los Angeles area with offices in both Santa Clarita and Encino, CA.  

Karen and I see eye-to-eye on many issues in the world of health, wellness and alternative medicine but this one is near and dear to my heart so I wanted to share it with you.  Although I am not one of those people who turns into a zombie if they don't have their morning coffee, I really do enjoy it.  If it seems as though research has coffee falling in and out of favor every month, here's your chance to catch up on the latest....

I admit it, I like coffee. But in recent years I have cut back and almost totally eliminated it from my daily routine. But I recently read an article by Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen about the benefits of coffee that made me want to dig deeper into the research and make sure this was not just a sound bite. According to the article:

"In the war against cancer, caffeine may turn out to be one of the most beneficial, surprising weapons you never suspected. But with at least one type of cancer, even decaf coffee may be just as powerful as the caffeinated stuff."  Woo Hoo!

The article (Good News for Starbucks Lovers: Coffee May Prevent Cancer) stated that "coffee has been linked to lower rates of four kinds of cancer." Let's take a look.