Oprah. An icon. Oprah Winfrey is the most successful talk show host ever, media mogul, philanthropist, award winning actress, and book critic – just to name a few. Everything Oprah does seems to become a success. She is smart and works hard. She also espouses eating healthfully and exercising. So why is she pushing 200 pounds?

According to an early snippet of the article “How Did I Let This Happen Again?” in the January issue of O Magazine, Oprah attributes her weight gain to thyroid problems, blood pressure, and a very hectic schedule. Based on this summary, she sounds like she’s got the same things to contend with as the rest of us. However, Oprah also has to deal with the embarrassment of being in front of the press all the time, and although this is her choice, it doesn’t make it any easier.

Despite Oprah’s list of successes, she continues to struggle with her weight. So if Oprah can control so many things around her, why not her weight? Well, if there were any easy answer to this, people wouldn’t have weight problems! Come back tomorrow for my plausible theory on weight gain and loss.

a

Oprah – How Did The Woman Who Inspires Millions Let This Happen Again?

Nothing new there, but it works. Who can forget “Have a Coke and a smile” among others. In brainstorming different ideas, my marketing manager, Kim, suggested putting “Happiness is…” with several different answers, the last of which would be Zoe’s Granola. Nice idea. Simple. Everyone wants to be happy.

Then I started to over think it… happiness means so many different things to so many people. For me, happiness is…

… laughing with my family
… sharing stories with friends
… hugging my dog
… reading emails from happy Zoe’s consumers
… helping Zoe Foods to grow
… my mom’s chocolate cake

What does it mean to you?

a

Happiness is…

My girls had finally both gotten rid of their slight colds and it was time to get their annual flu shot. I think I had casually mentioned it at dinner at the beginning of the week. Mistake #1. Don’t ever talk about getting a shot with your kids. The fear of getting a SHOT is far worse than the reality – try explaining that to four and six year old children.

At the end of the week, after my poor girls have had all week to stew on their upcoming flu shots, we finally go to the doctor to get them. They fuss and cry in the car almost the entire 20 minute ride there. In order to get a little peace and quiet so that I can focus on driving, I bribe them with ice cream for dessert. It works until the nurse calls us into the exam room at the doctor’s office. Mistake #2. Don’t waste a bribe too soon, save it for when you’re really going to need it.

Like many doctor’s offices, ours has a waiting room with a serpentine hall to the multiple exam rooms. There is no door to keep the patients in, or keep them out. My two girls walk very reluctantly behind me and their nanny, (Stephanie, our awesome Au Pair!). We all step into the exam room. The nurse asks the girls who will go first. Both children backup very quickly out of the exam room into the hall so that there backs are against the wall. One starts crying and fussing, the other follows suit. With 17 months between them, they take turns copying each other’s bad behavior.

Neither child will come into the exam room. The nurse is waiting and starts to look a bit impatient. Her look says “Can’t you control your own kids?”. Clearly, not I think.

Bribe #2. Whoever goes first can select some extra play gemstones from the party favors I had gotten for an upcoming birthday party. My older daughter starts to step forward hesitantly. She puts one foot across the threshold of the exam room and then makes a break for it. Before any of us can blink, she and her sister are screaming at the top of their lungs and running back into the exam room and heading for the elevators. Mistake #3. Bribes are meaningless in the face of an impending shot.

I look at Stephanie not sure if I should laugh at this ludicrous situation or be truly mortified. I look at a group of doctors and nurses all watching our spectacle, and they nod reassuringly and tell me that this is normal behavior. Hmmm… I’m not convinced.

Stephanie and I take off after the girls and pick them up, crying, thrashing and all. I take my older daughter into the exam room and have to hold her down for the shot. A really horrible experience that makes me feel like a bad parent. The shot is over before she knows it, I hug her tight and pass her to Stephanie who she clings to like a monkey around a tree. The same thing happens with her younger sister. There must be a better way…

We’re all finished and I think, thank God, maybe next year when they’re a year older it won’t be so bad. The nurse then looks at me and says, please book an appointment one month from today so that your younger daughter can get her booster flu shot since she didn’t get it last year.

You’re kidding. Right?

a

Have You Ever Seen Your Child Run for Her Life?

The report found that girls who ate cereal for breakfast were generally healthier than those that don’t. The positive health may be associated with the ingredients found in cereals that provide fiber and protein, along with the fact that most people have milk with their cereal which provides calcium and often Vitamin D. Cereal for breakfast also contains more healthful micro nutrients, less fat, less sugars and less total carbohydrates than non-cereal breakfasts.

Lastly, the study found that eating cereal for breakfast was related to healthier eating throughout the entire day, including more fiber and less fat consumed, less soda consumption, as well as greater physical activity.

So, have a bowl of cereal and start your day off right!

a

Cereal for Breakfast Associated with Positive Health

If only I had known this years ago when I actually tried to go on a diet to lose a little bit of weight. If only I had understood that my great desire to lose weight only caused me to think about food more and actually gain a little weight! So when that diet didn’t work and I had resigned myself to being several pounds heavier – poof – I lost the weight in no time and only realized it when my pants were a lot looser.

So my theory on diets is this. Only go on the “no diet, diet.” If you want to be thin and fit, just start to believe and feel that you already are thin and fit. So when faced with food choices on the “no diet, diet,”  you will make good ones because you are already feeling “thin and fit” and once you feel better, you will not want to feel worse again.

a

The Law of Attraction and The No Diet Diet

This pattern of eating heavily from Thanksgiving through the end of the year conveniently leads into the next holiday as if Hallmark, the turkey farms, and all of the gyms dreamed up the idea of the New Year’s resolution to eat more healthfully, exercise, and lose the weight we had put on over the course of the last year.

I think it’s high time we reclaimed the holiday season to focus less on its commercial value and more on family and friends. So this Thursday, enjoy spending time with all of your extended family, and appreciate your family and all of the delicious food that you have to share this day and every day. By giving thanks for everything that you have received, and by this I mean to hold the thought lightly in your consciousness, you just might find that you are enjoying your meal even more, and not gorging yourself quite as much as you have in year’s past. So for your New Year’s Resolution this year, don’t worry about your diet, but rather pick something different that you’ve always wanted to achieve.

a

Holidays, Diet, and Remembering to Give Thanks

In general, most people get 75% of their daily salt from prepared or processed foods. In order to cut back on the amount of salt you consume, try the following:

-    Use fresh and unprocessed foods instead of canned, frozen, or processed foods.
-    Read the nutrition facts label to find out the sodium content and select foods with less sodium than the alternatives.
-    Don’t add salt when cooking, try using more spices and herbs to add flavor instead.
-    Don’t add salt to your food once it is cooked.
-    When eating out, ask them not to add salt to your food when preparing it.

So how much salt is too much? If you are under 50 years old, your blood pressure is in a healthy range, and your overall health is good, you probably don’t have worry about how much salt you consume. However, if you are 50 years old or more, of African American descent, or have high blood pressure or diabetes, you should limit your sodium intake to no more than 2,300–2,400 mg a day. People with heart failure or kidney disease are advised to consumer less than 2,000mg sodium per day. (Source: Harvard Health Publications).

a

A Low Sodium Diet Can Improve Hearth Health

What I didn’t know until recently is, how bad for you processed meats really are. The World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research’s “Second Expert Report” concludes that “processed meat is a convincing cause of colorectal cancer.”

The National School Lunch program, a federally funded program that often provides the best meal a child may get in a day, currently distributes and subsidizes processed meats like hot dogs to 30+ million children. Given the link between cancer and processed meats, it’s time to eliminate these meats from the National School Lunch program.

As a concerned parent who wants to make a difference, I’ve signed the petition to the Secretary of Agriculture requesting that the government halt the distribution and subsidization of processed meats like hot dogs through the National School Lunch program. Whether you have children or not, if you’re reading this blog you’re concerned about nutrition and health, please take a moment and click on the following link to sign the petition too. Thank you.
http://support.cancerproject.org/site/PageServer?pagename=usda_national_school_lunch_program_petition

a

Controlling What Our Kids Eat

I discussed my personal values with my Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) Forum last night (a small group of 9 Boston entrepreneurs who meet monthly to share experiences and learn from each other – part of a worldwide organization of 9,000 members). From this I realized that if I make sure that my actions are consistent with my values, I’m happy.

Sounds simple, but this is how it works (for me). One of my values is to “make a difference”. When asked last night what this means, I replied that it’s simple. As long as I feel like I’m making a difference in someone’s life, I’m happy. It could be as simple as opening the door for someone who has too much to carry, letting someone who is obviously in a rush cut ahead of me when driving, etc.

Given the economy, I decided to apply my values to my work at Zoe Foods. This lead me to rereading emails that Zoe Foods and I have received from its customers (i.e. you!). When I read emails from people who tell me that they love Zoe’s new crunchy granolas because they taste good and have great nutrition, I can’t help but think “Score!”. There’s another person I helped make a difference for today. So… if it makes you happy to make someone else happy, please keep the emails coming and commenting on the blog.  I promise that I will pay it forward!

a

What Motivates You In A Difficult Economy?

We not only need to provide our children with healthy choices, but we need to teach them how and why we combine these healthy choices. Yet, the puzzle is still larger.

I believe we also need to teach our children to appreciate the wonderful choices that they have and the importance of not wasting food since it is a precious gift. When I was a child, my mom used to tell us that children were starving in Ethiopia and that we needed to finish the food that we had taken. As a child I don’t think I fully understood the implications of what she was saying, but it clearly made an impact on me since I recall her words 30 years later.

I am torn on this issue because I have been asked to participate in a group of concerned parents who want to improve the nutrition at my kids’ school. I would love to see my children have healthier choices with no fast or fried food. And yet spending my limited free time to help my children’s school is like tutoring a child who scored 90% on a test so that they can get 100% the next time. There are so many children who need much more help since they’ve only scored a 30%.

The National School Lunch Program provides $2.57 per lunch for over 30.5 million children, and for many of those children, that’s the best meal that they get. If I am to help my children’s school improve its nutrition, then at least I can make sure that my children learn that there are others less fortunate than themselves and that we all need to make an effort to help others less fortunate than ourselves in any way we can.

a

Nutrition In Schools