Thoughts About Weight Loss

THOUGHTS ABOUT WEIGHT LOSS
Thinking about starting a 2011 weight management program?
Consider these beginning thoughts.

Keeping It Real With SMART Goals (1)
Like Yogi Berra once said "If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else." Don't let this happen to you. Setting specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time driven (SMART) goals from the beginning of your weight management program is essential to your success.
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Realistic
T = Time driven

Specific
The more specific you can be the more it will help you focus on your effort and clearly define what you are going to do. Instead of setting a general goal to lose weight or be healthier, set a specific goal to lose 2 lbs per week or take off 2 inches on your waistline or to walk 3 miles at a challenging pace.

Measurable
If you can't measure it, you won't be able to manage it. Choose a goal with measurable progress, so you can see the change occur. Then pull out the scale, tape measure or smaller pair of pants and see how your goal measures up.

Achievable
If your goals are too far out of reach you probably won' be able to make the commitment to accomplish them. Your goal should stretch you slightly but just enough to feel like you can accomplish it with a real commitment. Then when you do achieve that goal you will feel successful and feelings of success, not failure are what keep you motivated.

Realistic
Realistic does not mean "easy." Realistic, in this case, means "do-able." A goal of never again eating sweets, cakes, and chocolate may not be realistic if you really enjoy these foods. It may be more realistic to set a goal of eating a piece of fruit each day instead of one sweet item. You can then choose to work towards reducing the amount of sweets gradually and realistically.

Time Driven
Setting a timeline for reaching your goal (i.e. in a week or over 12 weeks) provides an end point and a clear target to work towards. Without a timeline, you'll feel you can start at any time, and you'll lose your sense of urgency. Telling others your timeline also helps keep you on purpose. Ask them to check in with you at certain dates to confirm you're on track.

Getting a SMART Start (2)
These 6 simple steps apply to weight management activities.
Shaklee Cinch is my product choice so you will see it referenced below. ~Cheryl

Congratulations! You've made the commitment to improve your health by losing weight and inches. Cinch will help you get there and getting started can be a cinch too. Just follow these 6 simple steps:

1. Set a realistic weight loss goal. A realistic goal is one that you know is achievable with in a reasonable time frame. We recommend planning on a 1-2 lb. per week weight loss with adherence to the Cinch Inch Loss Plan. So for example, a realistic goal would be "I will lose 20 lbs in 12 weeks."

2. Find your starting calorie level. Use the chart on page 6 of the Cinch Success Guide or calculate your calorie needs using the Cinch Coach™ software (both found in the Cinch Starter Kit) to help you determine which calorie level to begin at.

3. Decide on your meal-planning approach. Some people like a more structured approach. If that's you, follow the meal plans available on Cinch Coach or posted on CinchClub.com. Pick the meal plan closest to your estimated calorie needs and that fits your food likes and dislikes (ex. Lacto-ovo vegetarian or no red meat). If you prefer to build your own meals and choose your own snacks, follow the flexible approach using the servings and portion control guidelines on page 7 of the Cinch Success Guide. Using the food group and portion control lists that follow on pages 8-12, eat the foods you enjoy from that food category to achieve your allotted serving. Remember to watch your portion sizes and get familiar with what a "serving" is for each category of food.

4. Take all products as directed. Cinch will give you the best results when the products are used as directed and incorporated into a healthy lifestyle. Having two shakes and taking your 3-in-1 Boost™ is an important foundation. The bar provides added leucine and helps to protect muscle mass. The tea will provide energy — so it's OK to drink it several times per day!.

5. Commit to being active. Cinch works best when you boost your level of physical activity. To help you get moving, strap on the pedometer in your Starter Kit and work up to 10,000 steps per day.

6. Take your baseline weight and body measurements. You will know Cinch is working by the way you feel. Your energy level will be high, and you should feel satisfied. But monitoring your success is another great way to quantify your results. It's also a great way to keep you motivated so you stay on track. Feel free to jump on the scale and get your baseline weight and check your weight periodically. However, taking body measurements is another great way to monitor your success. Take your Cinch tape measure and measure the inches around your waist and hips. If you like, measure your arms, chest and thighs as well.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here is a great way to get started:
1. Go to http://www.cinchplan.com/babyboomerhealth and complete your personal profile to get the number of recommended calories you need daily. Many times people start a program eating too little calories.
2. Then go to http://www.cinchclub.com/recipes and type in the number of recommended calories and you can get 2 weeks worth of menus. It is also strongly recommended to purchase the daily log on the Cinch site so that you can be accountable.
3. Another very important action is to use the glycemic index for food selection. Select products that are 55 and below on the index. A recommended glycemic index site is http://www.cylive.com/content/125/International_Foods. You can easily put a food item in the search box and find the glycemic index for it. If you look at the daily log and compare your calorie intake on your personal profile, the log will tell you how many fruits, veggies, protein, fats, etc that you should have daily.

* * *

1 From http://www.cinchclub.com/displayContent.html
2 From http://www.cinchclub.com/displayContent.html


I am committed to losing weight and inches. I will be starting a new program next week and would love to have you partner with me. I am using Shaklee’s Cinch program. I am also going to use Brad Lamm’s concept of Just 10 LBS at a time. (Find his workbook here at http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/just-10-brad-lamms-workbook).

Come join me!
It’s going to be an excellent adventure!!
Healthy Blessings,
Cheryl

Twas a Time Before Shaklee

'TWAS A TIME BEFORE SHAKLEE...

‘Twas a time before Shaklee, when all through the place,
Not a corner was gleaming; there was no Basic-H.

Our food was all packed in the closet with care,
in hopes when we ate it some nutrition would be there.

The children all wrestled and tossed in their beds,
because they lacked Calcium from their toes to their heads.

And Papa without Protein and me without Herb-Lax
we’re both quite a wreck and about to collapse.

When from out of nowhere there came such a clatter,
I feebly got up to see what was the matter.

Over to the window I moved like a snail,
my struggle with the shutters left me quite pale.

The soot and pollution on the new fallen snow
made me quite nauseous to see it below.

When what through my bloodshot old eyes did I see,
but a shining lease car and a license plate that read "Shaklee".

With Aunt Mildred driving and moving so quick,
I thought, she must be on drugs, or some brand new health kick!

With boxes and bottles and bundles she came.
She jumped up and kicked her heels calling them by name.

"I've Protein & Vita Lea, Herb Lax & Lecithin,
Basic H & Basic G and some bottles to mix ‘em in."

She leaped to the porch, almost kicked down the door.
We were all quite amazed cause her health used to be poor.

As I drew in my head and was turning around,
she had flown in the kitchen in one single bound.

She was dressed in a cloth coat and a cute little hat,
but they were both sparkling clean, and you couldn’t miss that.

A bundle of bottles she dropped on the table,
and said, “Soon I'll tell you the Basic H Fable!”

Her eyes, how they twinkled. She said, "I've a mission!"
Then she sat us all down and began with nutrition.

She was sharp as a whip and her memory quite keen,
as she told us of Herb-lax, Vita Lea and Protein.

She told us that Calcium was good for our teeth,
and that smoking would make them turn green as a wreath.

Then she took off her coat and said "Look at this belly,
before Shaklee's Cinch Plan, it looked all full of Jelly."

She used to be plump and a crabby old elf,
and she laughed as she said, "I've gotten hold of myself!"

Then I pinched myself hard and I rattled my head,
perhaps I am dreaming, I must be in bed.

She spoke lots of words about cleaning and work,
and filled all those bottles and then turned with a jerk.

Picking up a sponge and the sink’s sprayer hose,
she cleaned off the sink; now the porcelain shows.

Then she whipped on her coat as she sprang to the door,
"I've got Shaklee Members to sponsor, haven't time to do more!"

I heard her exclaim as she drove down the street…

"If you're not into Shaklee, your life's not complete!!!"

Author Unknown

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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Get some great Christmas ideas at:
http://babyboomerhealth.myshaklee.com/us/en/about_2011_product_guide.html

Christmas Treats

Christmas Treats

It's that time of year when I get out my faded yellow notepad with my favorite Christmas treat recipes on it. It is over 30 years old now. My husband told me I might want to look at rewriting these recipes so they don't fade off the paper. He might have a point. But there is a nostalgic side of me that likes to look at the curled edges of the page, including a spot of green food coloring here and there. Ahh, fond memories of Christmas past with family all around.

I started a Cookie Day tradition with our family about 20 years ago, when my nieces were very young. We pick a day close to Christmas and start baking very early in the morning until evening. The aromas that fill the house are amazing! There is much laughter and even more sugar, spice and all things nice. I'll never forget how proud I was when one of my nieces was in a math class at school that had a session on fractions. She told me she did well that day because she remembered how we added different fractions like mixing 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup in our recipes. The largest variety of recipes we have used (to date!) were multiple batches of 14 different treats and soups--had to have lunch, too! (see picture).

This year two of the nieces have one-year old girls of their own. So we are bringing a whole new generation to Cookie Day! We are also "required" to make a new (to us) recipe in addition to our favorites. I have included one of our family favorites below that you are welcome to use and enjoy.

Please reply and post one of your favorite family recipes.
Happy Holidays everyone!!

HOLLY WREATHS

Ingredients:
1/4 pound (1 stick) Butter
30-36 large Marshmallows
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1 teaspoon Green Food Coloring
4 cups Corn Flakes
Red Cinnamon Candies

Directions:
Melt Butter. Add Marshmallows (cut up works better). Mix well and heat until molten (melted and blended together). Add Vanilla and Food Coloring. Mix well. Add Corn Flakes and gently stir until flakes are well coated. Shape into wreaths on wax paper. Decorate with Red Cinnamon Candies.

ENJOY!

Tips From The Professor: Are Multivitamins Dead? - Part 2

I subscribe to online health tips from Dr Chaney. I want to share his most
recent post with you as I believe we need to be as informed as possible
when making decision regarding our health.
Healthy Blessings,
Cheryl.
**********

Tips From The Professor: Are Multivitamins Dead? - Part 2

In last week's "Tips From The Professor" I was critiquing
the November 2010 article in Prevention Magazine titled
"Should You Kick the Multivitamin Habit?"

I made the following points:

1) It is very difficult to prove that any intervention
is beneficial in an essentially healthy population.

As an example I discussed the recent study showing that
you cannot even demonstrate a benefit from statin drugs
in a healthy population with elevated cholesterol.

2) If you wish to demonstrate the effectiveness of an
intervention, you need to focus on those individuals
who are actually at risk.

And I gave examples of studies that show supplementation
does make a difference in populations who are at risk.

This week I would like to continue my discussion by
making several more observations:

3) Not all multivitamins are the same.

Shaklee is unique in the food supplement industry in that they
design their supplements based on solid science, employ
pharmaceutical grade quality control standards and conduct
clinical studies to prove the effectiveness of their supplements.

For example, Shaklee designed their multivitamin Vita-
Lea and their calcium supplements based on the research
of Dr. Paul Saltman, who studied the micronutrient
composition needed to optimize the utilization of
calcium for bone formation. And an independent clinical
study showed that the calcium in Vita-Lea was twice as
effective as a calcium carbonate supplement at
decreasing bone loss in postmenopausal women (JAMA,
244: 1915, 1980).

Similarly, an independent clinical study showed that
Shaklee's Vita-Lea improved immune response in older
healthy adults (J Am Coll Nutr, 17: 511, 1998).

My perspective is that when interpreting studies of
multivitamin usage in the general population it is
important to remember that most of those multivitamins
have never been tested to see if they actually work!

4) Multivitamins are good, but you can do better.

This is one area where I agree with the basic premise
of the Prevention article.

Multivitamins are the most economical form of
supplementation, but based on what we know today they
are clearly not the optimal form of supplementation.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of that is the Landmark study
conducted by Dr. Gladys Block of UC Berkeley (Nutrition J,
6: 1-11, 2007).

She compared people who had followed a comprehensive
program of supplementation using the Shaklee
supplements for 20 years or more with people who just
used multivitamins or used no supplementation.

The people who used the Shaklee supplements had
significantly better health than the multivitamin users
and the non-supplement users.

In fact the multivitamin users fared no better than the
non-supplement users - which is to be expected because
the study was conducted in a healthy population.

Shaklee followed up by combining the key nutrients that
the Shaklee subjects were using in the Landmark study
into a supplement called Vitalizer, which represents
the latest in nutritional science.

Let me give you some examples:

Prevention made the point that one major problem with
multivitamins is that they often contain nutrients "in
isolation". For example, they quote Dr. Neuhouser as
saying "The vitamin C in a multivitamin is likely just
not as effective as the vitamin C in a citrus fruit,
where it is surrounded by fiber and flavonoids and
carotenoids."

I agree with this assessment - although the interaction
of vitamin C with flavonoids and carotenoids is much
stronger than its interaction with fiber.

In Vitalizer the vitamin C is surrounded by flavonoids
and carotenoids - and if you add Cinch you'll get fiber
as well.

Prevention recommended omega-3 fatty acids. Vitalizer
contains the 500 mg of omega-3 fatty acids that the NIH
recommends for healthy adults. If you have health challenges
you can get more omega-3 fatty acids from Shaklee's
OmegaGuard.

Prevention recommended 1,000-1,200 mg of calcium from
food and supplements. The Vita-Lea in Vitalizer
contains 450 mg of calcium. When you add that to the
500-600 mg of calcium that most Americans get from
their diet you are right on target.

I personally think that the Prevention recommendation
is a bit low for post-menopausal women and men over 50,
but Shaklee has calcium supplements that you can use to
increase calcium intake to the 1,500-2,000 mg that some
experts recommend.

Prevention recommended 800-1,000 IU of vitamin D. I
personally think that is a bit low, but Vitalizer alone
provides 1,000-1,200 IU of vitamin D3 (depending on
which Vitalizer you use) and you can increase your
vitamin D intake further with Shaklee's Vita-D3.

Probiotics (friendly bacteria) are increasing
recognized as important for health, and Vitalizer also
contains probiotics.

These are just a few of many examples of how Vitalizer
represents a comprehensive, holistic approach to
supplementation.

This is why I recommend Vitalizer as the foundation for
anyone wanting to start a nutrition program to improve
their health.

5) The risks of multivitamin use have been over-hyped.

There are only a few studies that suggest risk from
multivitamin use and in every case they are
overshadowed by many other studies showing no risks.

I have pointed out in my previous "Tips From the
Professor" that it is normal for individual scientific
studies to report negative results.

A good scientist keeps an open mind but is guided by
the overwhelming preponderance of published studies.

On the other hand, journalists and those with an anti-
supplement bias tend to hype every negative study.


To Your Health!
Dr. Stephen G Chaney

****ABOUT DR CHANEY:
Dr. Stephen Chaney, Phd

Dr. Chaney has a BS in Chemistry from Duke University and a PhD in Biochemistry from UCLA. He currently holds the rank of Professor at a major university.

Dr. Chaney has taught biochemistry to medical and dental students for more than 30 years and has won several awards for teaching excellence.

He runs an active cancer research program and has published over 100 scientific articles and reviews in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He has also written two chapters on nutrition for a popular medical biochemistry textbook.

Dr. Chaney and his wife have also built a business part time that has earned them a 6 -figure income for the past 15 years and he has spent the last 10 years teaching other people how to do the same.