Body Healthy. Soul Happy.

If you’re an allergy sufferer, you know this year has been absolutely brutal on the sinuses. But you don’t have to live indoors or become the next bubble boy (or girl) to escape the sniffling, sneezing, itchy dryness of Cincinnati’s allergy season. And as if saying goodbye to the aggravation of your allergies weren’t enough,  how would you like to experience beautiful skin and lose 10 pounds or more? All it takes is giving your body the nutrition it needs to be strong, healthy and feel great.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the letter we received from Kris:  

“Hi! My name is Kris and I’m 27 years old. Before Herbalife I suffered from chronic sinus infections and seasonal allergies since the time I was fourteen years old. It was not uncommon for me to have four to six sinus infections per year and they were so bad that they often came with flu-like symptoms. Having witnessed my condition first hand, my Wellness Coach, Kim, started me on a program in October of 2008 that included Formula One shakes and Schizandra and Rose Ox supplements. Since then I haven’t had a single sinus infection and am finally able to breathe clearly for the first time in thirteen years. Also, about two weeks ago I started doing two shots of Herbal Aloe per day and the adult acne that I have suffered from for years is all but gone. I have tried countless prescription and over-the-counter medications, none of which have been effective, and am thrilled to finally have found a product that works. The best part is I have lost 20 pounds since that time and have gone from a size 12 (pushing a 14) to a size 7 and I’m still dropping in size! I am in the best shape and health of my life and have Kim and Herbalife to thank for it. I sincerely hope that your personal results are as remarkable as mine have been.”

If you want to know more about how changing your nutrition can change your life, call me. I’m always happy to answer questions and meet with people one-on-one. White Oak Nutrition is located at 5830 Cheviot Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45247. I can be reached at 513.741.8600 or through email at kim at slimcinnati dot com.

And don’t forget! The next community weight loss challenge starts in one week on Monday, September, 14 at 6pm. It’s free to participate and you get the boost of friendly competition and the guidance of a personal wellness coach to help you meet your goals and take home the Grand Prize!

To your good health,

Kim

We all know people who look like this. Sure, they’re overweight, but they’re not bed-ridden or even close to the weight of some of the people featured on the Discovery Channel and TLC. Yet wait until you hear their story.

The Chawner family

The Chawners, who live in Blackburn, England receive a monthly stipend that equals a yearly salary of $30,000 American dollars because, “they’re too fat to work.” Philip and his wife Audrey, 57, weigh 336 pounds each. Daughters Emma, 19, and Samantha, 21, weigh in at 236 pounds and 252 pounds, respectively. Audrey Chawner, who has epilepsy and asthma as a result of being overweight, told “Closer” magazine her family’s weight is genetic and they cannot afford to eat healthier. Philip Chawner has Type 2 diabetes and was eligible for gastric band surgery until he developed a heart condition.

“I’m a student and don’t have time to exercise,” Emma Chawner said. “We all want to lose weight to stop the abuse in the street, but we don’t know how.”

“What we get barely covers the bills and puts food on the table,” Philip Chawner, 53, told the The Daily Telegraph, a London newspaper. “It’s not our fault we can’t work. We deserve more.”

This article gulls me on several levels. First of all, no one wants to help people live healthier, eat more nutritiously and feel better about themselves than I do; I’ve dedicated my career to it! I know that our relationship with food is often a very personal one and I absolutely get that changing that relationship can be difficult both physically and emotionally. I myself battled with my weight most of my life.

But, this family is NOT completely unable to work and it’s not fair to place the burden of their care on the shoulders of the tax payers. Moreover, it’s doubly unfair to both the family and the taxpayers to provide the family with money for the rest of their lives and no support or guidance helping them to change their lifestyle and live healthier, productive, enjoyable lives.

Which leads me to the second level on which this article gulls me. Hearing a 19 year old student say that her family doesn’t know how to lose weight simply makes my face turn pink. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age anyone doesn’t know *how* to lose weight. It’s been scientifically proven time and again that to lose weight you need to burn off more calories than you take in. I wholeheartedly agree that losing weight is often difficult and that many people benefit from and even need help, whether in the form of a professional coach, a support group, a nutrition/meal plan, an fitness trainer or exercise buddy and perhaps a physician or any combination thereof, is 110% perfectly understandable and OK. But to say that you simply can’t lose weight because you don’t know how really is absurd.

The third thing in this article that gets my goat is that the family says they can’t afford to eat healthy. Yet look at what they are choosing to purchase at the store. “We have cereal for breakfast, bacon butties for lunch and microwave pies with mashed potato or chips for dinner,” Mrs Chawner told Closer magazine. Purchasing prepackaged foods is at least as expensive as buying fresh fruits and veggies and cooking meals at home. The difference is that it takes considerably more effort to plan and prepare meals than it does to simply pop a high fat, high sodium, high calorie one in the microwave.

What do you think? How fat is too fat to work and should families (or individuals) who are overweight be paid a monthly disability stipend without being taught and assisted in losing the excess pounds?

I mentioned the other day that I have a friend in emergency medicine and we were talking about the effects our country’s rising weight is having on emergency medicine and the ability of EMTs and Paramedics to help save lives. 

From our conversation I’ve put together a Top 10 List of reasons why your weight can be critical to saving your life in an emergency.

#10. There’s only two of us.  Ambulances generally only carry crews of two people who together can lift a weight of about 200lbs. larger people require more people to lift them, which means it takes longer to get a patient into the ambulance and to the hospital.

#9. The stretcher won’t hold you. Extremely large people often cannot fit on a stretcher and through doorways, through hallways or in staircases which means that firefighters must spend valuable time finding another way to extricate the person from where they are so they can be taken to a hospital.  

#8. We have to wait for another department to get here.  Fire Departments are having to replace perfectly good equipment with new equipment that can handle heavier patients. If the department does not have this equipment and the patient’s weight to great for the equipment they have, they must call another department to bring the proper weight-rated stretcher or other equipment. This can mean an additional 30 minutes or more until the patient can be taken to the hospital.

#7. I can’t feel your pulse. The more obese a person is the harder it is for medics to take vital signs, assess breathing, start an IV and determine the correct dose of life saving drugs. Once at the hospital, CT scanners and MRI Machines generally have a weight restriction of 250lbs.

#6. I can’t get you out of the car.  Extricating heavier patients from a car wreck is considerably more difficult and more time consuming than removing a lighter person.

#5. Between you and me, there’s no room left to work.  The larger the patient, the less room there is for medics to work in the ambulance. The lack of space can negatively impact the care a patient receives en route to the hospital.

#4. Oh, it shouldn’t have been this bad.  Heavier patients are often more critically injured in a car wreck or other traumatic event because of the additional force that is created from their body weight during impact.

#3. Uhoh, your heart’s giving out. Heavier patients’ bodies are often less able to sustain life after a significant trauma because their hearts, blood vessels (especially arteries) and vital organs are already overworked, stressed and damaged from their daily diet and weight.

#2. I can’t get your airway open.  Obesity can make airway management extremely difficult. And if you’re not breathing, you can’t survive.

And the number one reason weight can affect your ability to survive and emergency…

#1. CRAP! We’re losing ‘em! The heavier a person is the more at risk they are for heart attack and stroke, two conditions that are EXTREMELY time sensitive, require precise treatment and immediate transport to a hospital.

The next time you pop through the drive-thru, decide to skip your workout or put off losing those extra 20lbs, think about how weight can affect your chances of survival in an emergency. It’s a whole new reason to treat yourself well, live healthy and be happy.

If you’re ready to take control and lose that extra weight give me a call. White Oak Nutrition has a weight loss challenge starting in September. Its fun, has great prizes (like cash), and best of all YOU CAN DO IT!

Stress. We all have it and we all manage it differently. Exercise is a great stress buster and has about a gajillion other benefits associated with it, but it’s not always possible to get out for a walk or go to the gym.  Sometimes stress hits us at the times when we need a clear head the most (like when we’re at work.) These are often the most difficult times to get through because we need to stay focused and can’t take time out to calm down, work through what we’re dealing with or feeling and regroup.

If you find yourself frequently feeling stressed in the middle of the day, whether you’re at work or at home raising your family, the best way to combat it is to never let the stress get a foot hold on you in the first place.

Now I know you’re thinking, “Yeah, right. If it were that easy, I’d have been doing it all along.” But it can be easy if you have a little help. Herbalife’s Relax Now is made of all natural plants extracts that not only soothe your mind but can boost body’s health too!

First discovered in China, thousands of years ago, The Jujubee fruit has commonly been used to lessen anxiety and promote overall good health. Below are 6 reasons you should have a little Jujubee in your day:

• The Jujube fruit contains heavy concentrations of niacin, riboflavin, thiamine and two forms of vitamin
• A 100 times more vitamin C than apples and 20 times more than citrus fruits
• Jujube contains the minerals calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc
• Jujube contains and array of phenols and nine bioflavonoids, which support vascular function and cellular health
• Jujube contains 18 of the 24 amino acids humans need to live
• Jujube contains a wide variety of organic acids, the most notable being betulinic acid

Another plant that has been used in Eastern cultures for centuries, and is now becoming more popular in the US is Ashwagandha. This plant is actually in the same family as the tomato but is originally native to the dry regions of India and the Middle East. In 216 studies that have recently been conducted on the health effects of the Ashwagandha root the following benefits have been found:

• Reduces anxiety and depression without causing drowsiness
• Confers immune system protection
• Combats the effects of stress
• Improves learning, memory, and reaction time
• Stabilizes blood sugar
• Lowers cholesterol
• Reduces brain-cell degeneration
• Contains anti-malarial properties
• Offers anti-inflammatory benefits

Last but certainly not least is Passion Fruit. Originally used in the Amazon to treat anxiety, depression and hyperactivity in children, the Passion Fruit has long been known for its calming effects. Passion Fruit is also a great source of antioxidants and fiber.

Next time you’re feeling those twinges of stress creeping into your shoulders and behind your eyes, try Herbalife’s Relax Now tablets. I’ll guarantee you’ll love how you feel. If you’d like more information please come see me at White Oak Nutrition, 5830 Cheviot Road, Cincinnati, OH 45247-6225 or you can call me at (513) 741-8600. I’m always happy to answer questions.

Peace and happy thoughts,

Kim

I have a friend who is studying to be a paramedic. Her father turned 80 this year and her mother is now 70. My friend decided to return to school to study Emergency Medical Services because of her parents advancing age and the high likelihood that sometime in the not too distant future she would be called upon to help provide care for them.

When my friend’s class began studying geriatric health it got her thinking and she came to me with some questions. I decided to write about our discussion because I’m sure that some of you out there in cyberville also have aging parents and some of the same concerns for your own family.

Question: My father has a history of stomach troubles and no longer gets the same enjoyment from eating as he used to. Even though my mother is a wonderful cook and prepares 3 meals a day, he eats very little and has lost a lot of weight over the years. It was recommended that my dad drink Ensure Plus as a nutritional supplement, but after looking at the ingredients, I wonder if that’s really a good idea. How does a drink like Ensure measure up to Herbalife’s Formula One Healthy Meal?

Answer: As you know, as a person ages, many things contribute to their loss of desire to eat. Ill fitting dentures can cause pain, the body produces less saliva which makes chewing and swallowing more difficult, our tongues lose taste buds, which makes food less enjoyable and our stomachs are often more sensitive to the foods we eat. We even make less of the amino acids that allow us to digest proteins. Good nutrition is even more important in our golden years, but nature often works against us. That’s why finding a superior nutritional supplement that is easy to ingest and enjoyable is so important for our seniors.

First of all, let’s get one fact out on the table (if you like puns, feel free to assume it was intended.) All the nutritional supplement drinks that are on the shelves of your local grocery store are what’s called “food grade” by the FDA, assuming they’ve even been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, which many haven’t. Food Grade products are allowed, by law, to contain up to a 30% variance in their actual nutritional contents versus what they print on the label. Keep in mind that companies do not usually put more of the good stuff and less of the bad.  Pharmaceutical Grade products on the other hand, have in the container what is on the label, nothing more, nothing less.

Now let’s look at the label of Ensure, knowing that it is a Food Grade product and that the actual nutrition contents may vary up to 30%.

(source: http://abbottnutrition.com/products/products.aspx?pid=14#top) 

Now let’s compare that to the nutritional Label of Herbalife’s Healthy Meal Formula One, which is Pharmaceutical Grade and therefore has less than a 1% degree of content variance (HF1 is allowed to be labeled a “Healthy Meal” by the FDA because it is a meal, unlike Ensure which must only use the term “supplement” because it does not meet the FDA criteria for a meal replacement):

As you can see there is quite a difference between the two products.  Even when made with one cup of non-fat vitamin A & D fortified milk the Formula One Healthy Meal contains only 180 calories and only 15 of them come from fat, as opposed to Ensure’s 355 calories, 103 of which come from the 11g of fat in the product. HF1 only has 1g of fat. Ensure contains 50g of sugar to Herbalife’s Formula 1 9 grams of sugar.

 Even for seniors who are not heavy or overweight, you want to be very conscious of the fat, cholesterol and sodium in their diet because of the the strain these can place on their hearts. Ensure has 5mg of Cholesterol, whereas HF1 has 0mg.  Ensure also packs 220mg of sodium to HF1’s 140mg. 

Potassium and protein are extremely important for seniors because they need to protect their muscle mass to remain active and mobile. Ensure and HF1 both offer 13g of protein but the cholesterol in the Ensure blocks the absorption of some of the protein and the Ensure actually offers about double the amount of potassium, but Herbalife’s Formula 1 has 37g fewer carbohydrates. The differences between the products continue on, but the bottom line comes down to this: while Ensure does contain important vitamins and nutrients, it is a food grade product and therefore not manufactured to same quality standards as HF1 and the amount of sugar and preservatives that are used in the production of Ensure greatly impact the product’s ability to truly be a healthy meal replacement for seniors, whose bodies are often very sugar sensitive and require more nutrition to continue to function properly than younger folks.

This morning I was reading a very interesting blog that was recommended by Steve Browne (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/steve-browne/2/ba6/4a6), Executive HR Director of LaRosa’s Inc.

 The blog, www.wingspouse.com is written by Steve’s sister-in-law and gives great insight to a role in marriage that I imagine is becoming more and more important to many families and it got me thinking.

Anyone who has ever had a job, whether is was delivering pizzas, serving drinks or in the C-Suite of a fortune 500 company, has been exposed to the company mission statement and been taught to internalize it, believe in it and live it. But even though we’ve been taught the value and importance of a mission statement to the creation of a successful business, few of us have incorporated the value of a strong and definitive mission statement into our own lives and families.

Mission statements are simple declarations of who we are, what we stand for and what we promise the world. They express the foundation or lens that we view the world through and give clarity to our beliefs, which comes in mighty handy when it’s time to make a decision about something.

Kathi mentions that her family has a mission statement (which doesn’t surprise me given the thought and intention she has put into creating a life that works for her, her husband and her children) but she doesn’t talk about what their mission statement consists of.

It left me wondering if Kathi (who is the wife and partner of a well respected doctor) or any individual or family that has a mission statement ever thought to make eating healthy and taking care of their body and health a central part of their mission.

The Harvard School of Public Health says right on their home page that with the exception of not smoking, eating right is the single more important factor in living a long and healthy life. Even more important than exercise! But how many of us really understand what ”eating right” is and actually make it a part of our life’s mission?

Well here is my life’s mission statement: ”I, Kim Blatt, dedicate my life to learning everything I can about the nutrition our bodies need to support a happy, active and most importantly, long life. I will freely share all that I know with anyone who is interested and I will spend my working hours helping people incorporate good nutrition into their busy schedules and the lives of those they love most. Additionally, I dedicate myself to helping others learn how to begin their own career in nutrition and open up the opportunity to build a protective wall of income around themselves and their families.” 

I believe in the positive power a mission statement can have on our lives and I’d love to know about yours. Please feel free to share your personal and family mission statements in the comments section of my blog!