Balance and Enhance Your Life Event

It is a choice- it always is.

You can be ripe and rotting- or green and growing.

If you are stretching your comfort zone (rather than stepping out of it only to get back into in as quickly as possible), then you are gaining new skills, adding new routines to your life, engaging with new friends, reading new books…you are GROWING!

I invite you to grow with me as I will be one of three speakers at a local Columbus, OH event on June 16.

Each of us will be presenting  from our area of expertise: Dalia will be sharing tools for managing stress, Jovanna will be giving a demonstration that will ignite your self-confidence, and I will be exploring four guardians of your health.  A brief description of each of us is available here. We are confident that you will leave our event with tips and tools to make positive changes in your life- if you want to.

Check out a short promo video that Dalia and I made at a recent networking event.

If you have any questions, contact me via email, mari.dezago@gmail.com or give me a call 614.804.0291.

Are you ready to grow?  Take a step in the right direction and join us on June 16, DeVry University, Room 305, Polaris campus, 9:30-11:30. Register here.

It’s a Brand New Day!

100 years ago, a Polish biochemist Casimer Funk, made a fascinating discovery that spawned the huge nutritional supplement industry most of us support.  Read about Funk’s role and what he discovered here. Unfortunately, the industry quickly got off on the easy track of providing high-dose, synthetic supplements.  Currently about 95% of the supplements sold are formulated from rocks, coal tar, and petroleum- not good for our bodies!

Today, the nutritional company with which I partner, Mannatech, is releasing for public purchase a totally different nutritional supplement that might interest you.  NutriVerus, which means ‘true or real nutrition,’ is an easy-to-use and affordable nutritional powder that can be added to just about anything, with this result: that food or drink will be the most nutritious  you take in all day- and you won’t even know it’s in there!

NutriVerus is a blend of several of Mannatech’s patented and nutritionally effective technologies, including glyconutritionals, anti-oxidants, and hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables, all in a base of Stabilized Rice Bran and organic fruits and vegetables.

If you’d like to know more about NutriVerus, you can go to this website, watch a short video, and read about the benefits of this unique product.

If you’d like to order it for yourself or your family, get in touch with me via phone (614.804.0291) or email (mari.dezago@gmail.com).  The price is very affordable, but the icing on the cake is that Mannatech put a customer program in place that allows customers to receive discount credits on their next purchase, and that could mean free products!

Sound interesting?

I look forward to hearing from you very soon.

Are You Showing Up?

My business mentors, Phil and Kathleen, send out short emails regularly to educate, inform, inspire, or motivate us as business partners.  Today, their email included some thoughts from the book, The Science of Opportunity, by Howard Melamed.

Melamed makes the observation that there are opportunities all around us, but how we respond is our decision. A quote from p.9, “A coincidence offers an opportunity worth exploring and these improbable events often lead to Opportunity…Become sensitive to chance happenings.”

Another observation from Melamed  applies to those who are successful.  He has noticed that successful people  SHOW UP!  For what? Everything! Life! Birth! Celebration! Work! Concerts! Walks in the park! Meetings??

One of my business mentors, Jim Rohn, whom I have quoted a number of times on my Biz Tips page, has said that you never know which event is going to be the one that changes your life: which sermon will impact you forever; which speaker will inspire you to take action in a totally new direction with amazing results…so take good notes, and DON’T MISS ANYTHING!

Here’s a question for you: What activity or event is missing YOU? Something that you are debating about attending, participating in, supporting.  You do have a choice…you always have a choice. So make a decision to SHOW UP!

Although my theology gives me the confidence to know that my choices are never a surprise to God, I also know that choices result in ripples of effects, sometimes bigger than others.  Good choices result in benefits or even rewards.  Poor choices result in consequences, many times unpleasant, and sometimes long-term.

Those observations lead to another thought: Does The Science of Opportunity apply to more than business? Of course!  The opportunity to meet someone new, the opportunity to try a new restaurant or a new food, the opportunity to take a new walking path, the opportunity to read a new book or a new author, the opportunity to visit a new city…any of these opportunities could ultimately change your life! Isn’t that exciting??

Wow, The Science of Opportunity could have some unexpected results in any area of your life.  Certainly an interesting concept.

Click here to read a chapter of the book.  Here you can listen to an audio clip of the same chapter. What are your thoughts? Your comments are welcome below.

 

National Nutrition Month

The month is almost gone…yes, only four more days of March.

Perhaps you have read headlines, articles, blogs providing nutrition tips for you and your family because March is designated as National Nutrition Month.  Certainly, this is  a worthy focus!

It’s never the wrong time to make a decision, then make a commitment, and finally take action about improving your nutrition.  Why is that?

You have certainly heard this quote: Clothes make the man (unable to verify the original author) and while that is true enough, here’s a better one: You are what you eat  (Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote, in Physiologie du Gout, ou Meditations de Gastronomie Transcendante, 1826: “Dis-moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es.” [Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are]. I’m sure that was more information than you wanted to know about that phrase,  but amazingly,  it is all available on the internet! Is that a good thing???).

Look at the big picture of why food is so very important. Food affects all 100 trillion of our cells, and therefore, all of our functions: mood, energy levels, food cravings, thinking capacity, sex drive, sleeping habits and general health.

So is it worth it to make some changes?

Absolutely!

It’s never too late.  Here are two action steps you can take today:

1. Be conscious of what you are eating. Whenever you eat, including snack time, you should include something in each of these categories- carbohydrates, fats, protein. The percentage on your plate depends on your metabolism.  Contact me for a complimentary survey to identify your metabolic type.

BTW, carbohydrates should be of the fruit and vegetable category, food groups that probably every major health organization or disease-prevention-organization and even doctors would agree need to be increased on a daily basis.  It is also important to realize that counting french fries and ketchup as 2 of your suggested 7-11 daily servings of fruits and vegetables is not putting you on the path to optimal health!

2. Exercise portion control.  Mealtime portions can be helped by dishing up the food onto the plates in the kitchen, away from the table.  Snack portions can be reduced by measuring out or even counting if necessary, a serving size. Here’s a link for a handy portion control guide that you can print out for yourself.  The website also has visuals of serving sizes of foods.

One of my personal biggest challenges is what I call “amnesia eating,’ which occurs when I graze all day long and grab a few nuts (they’re good for you, of course!)- multiple times throughout the day.  It has been shocking when I have measured out a serving size and limited myself to that quantity for the entire day- what a concept!

This tip also reflects the necessity of reading labels.  Serving size is listed on packages that you purchase and serving size is connected to caloric and  nutritional intake.  This is true for beverages as well.  The bottles and cans of drinks that people are downing in one sitting  can be as much as 2.5 servings.  Check it out before your next purchase and decide if the calories and non-nutrients are what you want to take in versus a glass of pure water.

Portion control is also helped by the size of the plate that you use. Our grandmothers served meals on plates quite a bit smaller than what most of us use today.  Bigger plates translate into bigger portions, and this is exactly what has happened in both home and restaurants.  Our brain takes visual cues from everything about food, including how full the plate is to start!  If we see it on our plate, we seem to need to eat it (you remember, the ‘clean your plate’ philosophy or perhaps ‘the starving children in Africa would be glad…’  philosophy) Review this article for other tips about portion control.

In our home, we have been using  luncheon size plates for a number of years. We also regularly take home 1/3 to 1/2 of what we are served in the restaurant for a future meal.  Using a smaller plate as a visual cue for quantity allows us to leave the table satisfied, and not stuffed.

Trust that these two tips will be helpful to you today as you consider what you can do to improve your own level of health via better nutrition.  What tips can you share with our readers that have helped you make better choices about eating?

Remember, if there is anything I can do for you to help you on this journey of better health and fitness, just let me know.

Aging Changes Everything!

I just read an interesting blog that puts the choice of exercise as we age into a good perspective.

All of us are getting older. Have you noticed that you need to do more just to maintain a credible level of health?

In our home of two (my husband Ed and me), we regularly evaluate what we’re eating, our level of activity, and other lifestyle choices that we know have contributed to our measure of good health.

We watched the food documentary Forks Over Knives this week.  I highly recommend it*. I have seen it, shared it with others, and knew that it was time for Ed to see it.  He embraced the message- which is great!  After being conscientious for the past three years, Ed’s comment was that he didn’t have to make many modifications to his diet. We have been pretty clean! We have actually been making good dietary choices for many years.

The point is that everyone needs to regularly evaluate his/her lifestyle practices.  My suggestions: keep reading, keep listening, and evaluate content as to whether or not it is simply reflecting a current fad, fodder for a new book– or is a legitimate consideration for good health.

The author’s comments provide a good overall philosophy for understanding the need for ‘upping the ante’ when it comes to exercise as we celebrate another birthday.  Check it out.  Feel free to leave your comments below.

*If you are in the Columbus area, I’ll be glad to loan my copy to you so that you can watch it yourself in the comfort of your own home!

Who’s in Charge?

Last night I talked to a friend on the phone and the conversation turned to her need to make some decisions that would help her get to her ideal size.  One comment that J made is a great validation of a point in an article I read recently about the power to make lifestyle changes.

J realizes that she has to be “prepared for success” rather than failure when she visits ‘Grammy’ who lives nearby.  Grammy always has some homemade cookies or other delightful temptations that easily sabotage J’s best efforts for healthy living.  J has decided to be more purposeful in her visits: instead of simply going to hangout, she wants to go with the mindset of being helpful.  She is also carrying her own water so that she is not tempted to take in extra calories with food or drink!  Good for you, J!

We are successful when we achieve objectives we have established in advance.

Tony Jeary in his book Strategic Acceleration.

J’s actions are also an illustration of Tony’s description of success.  In advance of her visit to Grammy, J has established certain health objectives. She needs to take certain actions to accomplish those objectives. That strategy requires some thinking before she can be doing.

J, thanks for sharing!

The article that I initially referred to gives several tips about making changes. The tips can help anyone win in the lifestyle arena of achieving a healthy, ideal size. The authors mention four tips that if applied with the Slight Edge philosophy (a small change implemented daily over a long period of time), could result in any number of major health benefits for you. The bottom line is a realization that YOU are in charge of making good decisions, and YOU need to exercise that authority!

Feel free to contact me if you’d like to talk through your situation and get some suggestions to fine-tune your objectives and strategy.

What change have you  recently made that has already given good results? Would love to read your comments below.

Thinking About Giving Up Soda?

It’s still January which means you can make a commitment to change one of your health habits, say that you started in January, and yet you have “enjoyed” your life for the entire 4 weeks of January.

Does anyone else out there think like this?

Whether or not you followed that dizzying logic, here’s my suggestion for a lifestyle change that might save your life, won’t cost you any money, and should actually put money in your pocket!

OK, you say—I’m on board.  What do I do?

Stop drinking soda.

Regular, diet, caffeinated, de-caffeinated, clear, cola…small size, Big Gulp…and anything else that can be construed to be soda.

Doesn’t seem like it should be that difficult to do.  So why haven’t you done it yet?

Perhaps it is a habit that is controlling you, rather than a choice that you are controlling!

Perhaps you have thought about giving up soda, but you don’t know if it will make that much difference.  Please keep reading.

In an article posted last week online, columnists David Zinczenko with Matt Goulding, gave 3 Surprising Reasons to Give Up Soda, including the reality that “many American soda brands are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a heart-harming man-made compound derived mainly from genetically engineered corn.” Think about the implications of long-term ingesting of a large quantity of untested ingredient such as genetically-engineered corn.

Dr. Oz and Dr. Rozen add their own reasons as to why we should Just Say No to Soda.

And there are more articles! If you google the words ‘soda and reasons to stop drinking it’ you will come up with 4,510,000 hits.  It seems that this is a topic that people like to talk about!

Many people are drinking about 450 calories a day!  When I am talking with a client about a weight-management plan, I am suggesting that they decrease their daily caloric intake by about 500 calories.  Just dropping soda (and flavored water, and juice, etc.) could probably do the trick.  If you want additional help in the decreasing-the-calorie project, you could also substitute a great-tasting meal replacement drink mix made with unsweetened almond milk (only 35 calories/8 oz and 50% more calcium than dairy milk!).  Check out Mannatech’s GlycoSlim Meal Replacement Drink Mix on my website.

One last thought.  Instead of unhealthy sugars, you might consider ingesting some very healthy sugars that your body actually needs.  Check them out here.  More information can be found on my website.

Is giving up soda one of those dietary changes you are considering, would never consider, or have already made? You’re welcome to leave your comments below.

To Plan or Not to Plan. Is That the Question? Part 3

If you have read my two previous blogs, you probably agree that planning doesn’t guarantee results.  Sometimes when you don’t plan, the results are amazing, i.e., the unexpected adventure in the elephant yard at the Phoenix Zoo.  Sometimes when you plan, the results are amazing, i.e., getting lost in the desert for 3 hours!  Sometimes when you plan, you have to be flexible and re-schedule, i.e., Daniel’s birthday dinner.

However, if you look at each of those situations (and please feel free to add your own), you would probably agree that overall planning is required.  These three incidents all took place in Phoenix, and we live in Columbus, OH.  We were involved in them because we planned to be in Phoenix Jan. 1-10. That involved schedule considerations, airline reservations, finances, and family communication.

Planning for the birthday dinner meant that Erin, our daughter-in-law, came up with the idea, made the reservation, and asked us prior to our trip if we would be willing to baby-sit for the boys on the same day we arrived.  Of course, we had no problem saying yes.

Planning for the hike started years ago when we realized that hiking was an activity that combined our desire to explore the country close up and personal, to be outdoors, to be physically active, to observe and identify birds in the wild, etc. But this particular hike required a number of considerations I mentioned in my blog: the purchase of an appropriate guidebook, family schedule, food prep, communication.  Each of those considerations took some time and forethought.

I think you get the idea.

Planning takes place on many different levels.

Setting goals (where so many people start) is, I believe,  the result of dreaming, of creating a vision. Planning is a natural outcome of setting goals. Writing down what you want to do, what you want to have, what you want to be, where you want to go, what you want to see, is an almost meaningless activity if you don’t take that list to the next level and put some Realization Procedures in place.

Sharing these recent incidents with you from our lives was helpful for me.  I realized again that the experiences I treasure the most are the result of dreaming and visualizing the future, and not the result of  a to do list.

I didn’t hear a lot of chatter about New Year’s Resolutions last year in December.  Perhaps more of us are realizing that any changes have to be made in a bigger context of: ‘Why do I want to do this? Why is this important to me? What difference will it make in my life, in me, if I make this change, or have this experience?’ Thinking, ‘I need to lose weight,’ just doesn’t work.

What does all of this have to do with wellness?

Much.

People who have purpose, who have direction, who have passion are catalysts. They make things happen. They  seem to be healthier, have better relationships, and probably have fewer chronic health challenges.

My first suggestion is to be or become a person of purpose.  Find something bigger than yourself that will fill you with passion, maybe even make you ‘scary’ to some people because you have an awesome reason for getting out of bed each morning-and it isn’t a paycheck!**

Once you’ve discovered your purpose, then dream and visualize how the process of fulfilling your purpose will shape your life in 2012- and beyond.

Next,  take some time to write down what actions you are going to take as you head in that direction. There are books, CD’s, apps, courses, and coaches who are very capable of helping you get started and keeping you on track.

A small conclusion to the matter at hand might be the lyrics of a song  popularized by Bing Crosby in the 1944 movie Going My Way.

(Chorus) Would you like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar?                                        And be better off than you are?

Or would you rather be a mule?

A mule is an animal with long funny ears. He kicks up at anything he hears.

His back is brawny and his brain is weak. He’s just plain stupid with a stubborn streak.

And by the way, if you hate to go to school, you may grow up to be a mule.

(Chorus)

Or would you rather be a fish?

A fish is an animal that swims in a brook. He can’t write his name or read a book.

To fool the people is his only thought and though he’s slippery, he still gets caught.

If that’s all of life is what you wish, you may grow up to be a fish.

(Chorus)

Or would you rather be a pig?

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face. His shoes are a terrible disgrace.

He’s got no manners when he eats his food.  He’s fat and lazy and extremely rude.

But if you don’t care a feather or a fig, you may grow up to be a pig.

(Chorus)

And all the monkeys aren’t in the zoo- every day you see quite a few.

So you see, it’s all up to you.

You could be better than you are.

You could be swinging on a star.

Seems to say that dreaming is the ticket to a new you!   What do you think?

(**BTW, if you are stuck on this part of the process, get in touch with me via phone, text or email and I’ll be glad to help you get started.)

Family time and focus, Part 1

Today I am in Phoenix visiting with family: son Daniel and his wife Erin, and our oldest (and currently only) grandson Greyson.   We  have been packing boxes, loading and unloading the van, and were ready for the UHaul on Friday: the kids relocated a couple of miles away. This is a different-paced visit for sure, but in the midst of being in the ‘ugly stage of moving’ (something that we as a family have experienced many times!), working together to complete a major project provides great bonding!

To be available to family has been one of my major  motivations of being a social entrepreneur.  Since we are geographically separated from our family, having the freedom in my schedule to travel, whether it is simply a visit or to be of assistance, has been very important to me.  I have observed though, that whether family is around the corner, in the same town, an hour away, or in another state….a person chooses how much interaction to have with family.

We have been pushing very hard since I arrived on Tuesday night. Yesterday we all hit the wall. As we left the old house, with a loaded van and three people in various stages of the need for food, the van wouldn’t start.  After several attempts, we prayed.  God was gracious and answered prayer: we did get home, the van stalled out twice in the short trip, and the last stall out happened about 200 yards from the front door.   I was able to maneuver the van safely through the last two turns even without power steering.

We ate some lunch, made a couple of phone calls and realizing we couldn’t do anything to further the repair process….we crashed. We got horizontal and took much needed power naps, although I don’t know if two hours qualifies as a power nap!

It would have been very easy to have been frustrated at the van situation.  I couldn’t get the cleaning project done on my timetable. But I saw the situation as God intervening and requiring both Erin and me to simply rest.  We needed it!

This morning, at the suggestion of my friend, I called our auto insurance company and discovered that towing of the kids’ van was covered under our policy. Fantastic!  Greyson and I sat on the sidewalk together and watched the entire process: we even filmed some of it (tow truck like Mader, flashing lights, saying good-bye to the van).  Now we are headed to a new park for an explore.  The joys of being a nana!

When one door of happiness closes, another opens. But often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.  Helen Keller

What door are you focusing on-  the closed one, or the open one?

Share your comments below.

Bumps in the Road Avoided!

Catching up!

If you’ve made some lifestyle changes that are putting you on the right path to getting to your ideal size, you know that there are any number of events, attitudes, habits that can unravel your progress. Traveling is one of those scenarios.

My September  included back-to-back trips to Seattle and Chicago.  Of course, it is always a bonus when trips include not only business but family and friends as well, and such was the case with these two trips.

When friends and family have made their own decisions to eat healthy, mealtime is a great time to experience new foods and new recipes.  My college house-mate Bev and her husband Bryan hosted me in Seattle for a couple of nights.  Bev became involved in a food co-op this past summer and had fresh fruits and veggies each week along with recipes.  It was fun to share in their new-food adventures and to experience the Seattle Market.

Fun sidewalk trio at Seattle Market

My extended family in the Chicago area is committed to eating healthy as well, and our birthday party for Mom (celebrating 89 years and going strong!) included a delightful tilapia dish that my brother grilled, waldorf salad (which my mom and I made), and a couscous dish, the recipe of which I have shared with a small group.  Of course we did have some delicious chocolate birthday cake, and that was OK.  After all, birthdays provide opportunities for special treats!

Brother Dan at work on a super meal

Mom's Chocolate Birthday Cake treat!

So thankfully, I was able to avoid the typical bumps in the road that travel brings! It is refreshing to know that travel can be an opportunity to stay on track!

Locally, I’m  a student again taking Wellness 101, a nutrition course at Wellness Forum, here in Columbus, taught by Dr. Pam Popper, ND, PhD.  Dr. Pam promotes a well-structured plant-based diet and provides not only instruction, but research to back up the guidelines she teaches. Dr. Pam not only talks the talk, but walks the walk, so her lectures include tips on how she puts the research into practical living. I’ll be sharing some insights from classes over the next few posts.

BTW, if you need some assistance in getting on track to optimal health—or back on track—get in touch with me. Let’s finish 2011 well!