Sugar-free, fat-free, cholesterol-free. No trans fats, no saturated fat, no fatty fat. Added fiber, added protein, enriched, and nutrient-enhanced.

Take a look at any packaged food label and you’ll find a litany of claims designed to make you think these foods are good for you.

Sounds great, right? But what does this really mean?

Let me answer this question by illustrating a comparison.

Take a bushel of apples. What do you find on this packaging? Or how about a bunch of carrots, a head of broccoli, or a bag of grapes? Find anything here?

You don’t find any claims, right? You may find a short list of nutrients (even though there are literally thousands of nutrients found in these foods – many more than you could fit on a single package) that the government requires as part of a food label, but there are no messages persuading you of the nutritional value.

You know why?

Because you already know these foods are good for you. No one needs to convince you that an apple is nutritious. You don’t need any persuading to understand that carrots, grapes, and broccoli should be part of your daily diet. You learned this simple fact as a child, and it is supported by mass media every day (just in case you missed class the day they taught the food pyramid in first grade).

Here’s the deal.

Nature doesn’t need any propaganda.

Food that is either picked from a tree or pulled from the ground is just plain good for you! No tricks, no gimmicks, no confusion.

So the labeling you’ve grown accustomed to – which advertises health claims rather than resting on the laurels of inherent nutrition – is feeding into a cultural Fat Kid Mentality that says, “Fake food is okay as long as I lose weight”.

I know in your heart you don’t believe this. I’ve mentioned in previous lessons that it’s easy to fall trap to tribal thinking, which currently says food is healthy if it’s “fat-free,” “sugar-free,” and labeled “diet.”

Trust me, you’ve been misinformed!

In fact, these are the very foods that are making you fat.

When you buy a zero-calorie, sugar-free lemonade, please note that this will make you fatter faster than a few lemons sweetened with honey or a touch of sugar.
When you are convinced that a bag of frozen green beans, slathered in butter and sodium, are good for you because the bag states there are no trans fats, then you have been tricked.

If you believe a 100-calorie pack of cookies is better for you because it has less sugar per serving than a banana, then think again.

And if you are buying the bag of fat-free chips believing that they are healthier because they have fewer calories than a baked potato, then you are deceived by the labeling myths that are crippling your health.

That’s because these foods are processed. They are tampered with and manufactured to satisfy palates gone awry. They are designed to support a contemporary way of eating that puts fruits and vegetables at the bottom of the totem pole. All of these factors combined supports a method of food production that enhances flavor through fat and sugar, along with a lifestyle based on convenience and cost, rather than optimal nutrition.

Oddly, this way of thinking and eating conveniently supports the Fat Kid Mentality that is making you fat, and it is making you sick.

So what’s the answer? Plain and simple.

Eat. Real. Food.

I like to refer to real food as that which has been “kissed by the earth.” Eating real food is eating the way nature intended, where you cut out scientifically formulated food and focus on the inherent nutrition found in the plant kingdom.

Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains are all part of this food category.

What is so amazing is that once you start eating real food, you will acclimate your palate and your physiology so that you will start to enjoy these foods!

One of the largest world health studies is actually proving this. This multi-year survey is designed to determine what effect adding a whole-food-based nutritional product (Juice Plus+®) to the family diet can have on children’s health. The study is designed around three interrelated premises:

• Improved nutrition leads to healthier lifestyles and overall better health.
• Good nutrition and other important health habits are best established in childhood.
• Parental support and involvement are the keys to successfully establishing good health habits in children.

*Adult and child participants report that over 80% of them have become more aware of their health in general and over 90% of participants have some positive result to show for it. The study also shows that participants are eating more fruits and vegetables, are reporting fewer sick days, and are taking fewer over-the-counter and prescription medications.

Remarkable results!

Now, let’s see what happens when you buy into the labeling myths of processed food.

I refer to processed food as “fake food,” because these items are stripped of their nutritional value, serving only to satisfy taste, hunger, and your need for calories. They are not designed to provide solid nutrition with the essential nutrients found in whole foods.

Without these vital nutrients, your body will go into a starvation mode. That is because you are starving your body of the building blocks it needs to survive. Depriving your body of nutrients is like building a house without the foundation.

And here’s the real catch.

A starving body will constantly be hungry.

You may ask how you’ve survived thus far with the processed foods you’ve been eating. This opens up a critical shift in our conversation from one that centers on mere ”survival” to a more meaningful discussion focusing on life, optimal health, fitness, abundance, vitality, and longevity.

Fake food will keep you alive. And you may or may not live a very long life. The inherent risk is that eating all those chemicals, without the protection of those nutrients found in fruits and vegetables, will lead to disease. So you may live long, but will you live well?

Real food, on the other hand, gives you LIFE!

You can merely survive or you can have life. Life equals energy, power, strength, mental clarity, sexuality, beauty, greatness, prosperity, harmony, laughter, family, opportunity, and sheer joy.

Compelling, don’t you think? A little different than the Fat Kid Mentality that keeps you stuck in a world where you spend more time focusing on what NOT to eat, rather than exploring the guilt-free enjoyment of all the foods you CAN eat!

When you eat real food, you provide the nutrients that allow your body to regulate hunger, burn fat, and eliminate cravings. The other profound benefit of eating real food is you increase your desire for other healthy habits, like drinking more water, exercising, and a getting restful sleep.

A starving body never experiences these habits as desires. A starving simply lacks water, fitness and restful sleep.

When you starve your body by eating fat-free this and low-cal that, your body cannot do what it was designed to do. You don’t have the raw materials from phytonutrients – plant nutrition – that allow your cells to function properly. So the orchestra that’s your body will be without the essential “players” to regulate all the systems that keep you in tune.

When you starve your body, you lose the ability to eliminate sweet cravings. You kill off the hunger and full cues that allow you to regulate your portions naturally. You deprive your body of the flavors that actually acclimate your taste buds to fruits, vegetables, grains, and other foods from the earth.

Without a diet rich in real food, you will continue to lose the battle for a healthy body and a healthy weight. The only ones winning are the food manufacturers who keep telling you that fake food is good.

SMALL CHANGE:

The more whole foods you eat, the more your palate will crave these foods. Your body craves what you give it most. Ideally, you should be eating seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Athletes and pregnant women should be eating closer to twelve servings. This may sound like a daunting number, but with a few adjustments, you’ll be hitting that number before you know it.

Try new produce: Instead of sticking with the same five fruits and vegetables you always choose, add one new produce item to your cart every time you go shopping. Vegetables like kale, bok choy, and Swiss chard are often overlooked and can be amazingly delicious additions to your diet. Try this yummy recipe:

Sweet Potato Cakes with Kale
2 c. mashed sweet potatoes or yams (I prefer yams with orange “flesh”)
1 bunch kale, trimmed and sauteed in 1 T. olive oil
1 T. chopped, fresh sage
1 egg white
2 T. ground flax seed, Salba seed or whole-wheat bread crumbs
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425°. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Form into four patties. Lightly grease aluminum foil and place it on top of a cookie sheet. Put patties on top of foil and bake in oven for 30 minutes or until patties are slightly firm. These are also yummy served cold the next day and easy to tote to work, etc.

Incorporate fruits and veggies into every meal: For example, make sure you’re eating at least one fruit or veggie with breakfast and lunch, and two with dinner. I have my clients – adults and children – send me a list of ten fruits and ten vegetables they are willing to include as a permanent part of their diet. I take the list and e-mail them ideas for integrating these foods into their diet. Here are some examples:

Fruits

Raspberry – in pancakes or waffles; mixed into plain Greek yogurt or kefir topped with honey; in a bowl topped with milk, soy milk, or cream.

Strawberry – on top of salad greens with poppy seed dressing (1/2 c. canola oil, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup honey and 2 t. poppy seeds); on a peanut butter sandwich; dipped in creamy, low-fat cream cheese.

Pineapple – mixed with cottage cheese; as a pizza topping; mixed into coconut milk yogurt; cooked into chicken or shrimp stir fries.

Cranberries – dried cranberries (unsweetened) sprinkled on a salad; dried cranberries (unsweetened) mixed with wasabi peas for a crunchy, sweet snack; in granola and trail mix.

Green grapes – in Waldorf Salad (see recipe); frozen (delicious!).

Olives – make an olive paste by putting olives, olive oil, and sea salt into a food processor and spread on crackers; chopped and mixed into chicken or tuna salad: great on their own;

Avocado – yum…half an avocado sprinkled with sea salt; cubed on top of salads; mixed into rice and beans; spread on a tortilla wrap with shredded carrots and lettuce.

Vegetables

Broccoli – as a pizza topping; lightly steamed and topped with butter and sea salt; mixed with olive oil, lemon, salt, and roasted walnuts; Broccoli with Sun-dried Tomatoes (see recipe).

Asparagus – roasted or grilled; cooked, diced, and mixed into pasta sauce; lightly steamed and chilled, then rolled up in a tortilla with turkey slices and honey mustard.

Corn – mixed into black beans and rice; on the cob; cooked and sprinkled on top of salads.

Brussels sprouts – roasted and sprinkled with shaved Parmesan cheese (or cheese of your choice) so that it melts on top; steamed to very soft and then mashed with butter and sprinkled with salt and pepper – this is delicious!

Carrots – shredded and added to chicken salad; dipped into hummus or guacamole; in Minestrone Soup (see recipe); made into Carrot Pattie (see recipe).

Lettuce – use in place of tortillas for yummy wraps (e.g., turkey, grilled chicken, cheese); put in sandwiches and burgers every chance you get; add a salad to every meal, especially when you eat out.

Potato – homemade fries; baked and topped with cottage cheese or salsa or guacamole; red potatoes boiled, chilled, and dipped into your favorite salad dressing or hummus.

Cucumbers – on salads; as a sandwich: peel cucumbers, slice thin, and put on whole-grain bread with a little mayo or Italian dressing and sea salt (one of our family favorites for picnics, although when we were little we loved this on white bread ; Cucumber Salad (see recipe).

Artichokes – yum…my son Max loves these grilled; put artichoke hearts on top of pizzas and salads; Healthy Artichoke Dip (see recipe).

Edamame – lightly steamed with sea salt; put beans on salads; great snack!

Build meals around vegetables: There are a hundred recipes that use vegetables as the main course. Homemade veggies burgers, stir-fries, and gourmet salads all use veggies as their main component. This is not to say you need to be a vegetarian. It is simply my recommendation to explore new ways of eating vegetables by making them a main course.

Incorporate fruits and vegetables into all of your recipes: Chop produce into most recipes for an added boost. For example, grated carrots into turkey burgers, shredded cabbage into soups, chopped zucchini into pasta sauce.

Understand serving sizes: A serving of fruit or vegetables is 1-2 cups with the depending on your size. A real easy way to remember what is right for you is to use your fist as a guide. If your portions match your clenched fist (including fingers), then you’re doing great. But remember, you really can never eat too many leafy greens and other non-starchy vegetables.

Prepare food ahead a time: If you don’t feel you have the time to prepare a whole food meal every night, set aside a few hours during the week dedicated to making meals that can then be frozen and eaten in a hurry later in the week.

Make it fun: Make introducing more whole foods into your diet an enjoyable experience by picking your own fresh produce from local farms that offer “pick your own” services. Or hire a nutritionist to take you to the grocery store to explore the produce aisle and come up with new creations for your menu. (Contact us at: www.JulieHammerstein.com to locate one in your area.)

Explore Farmers’ Markets: Spend a Saturday exploring your local farmers’ market for the freshest and most delicious produce available. The farmers are very passionate about their crops and will take extra time to offer cooking suggestions.

Whole Food Concentrates: When you just can’t eat your total servings of fruits and vegetables – whether due to time or financial constraints – then please consider a whole food concentrate. Whole food concentrates take fruits and vegetables, render them into a powder, and deliver them in capsule or chewable form so that you can get all the benefits of the phytonutrients in a cost-effective and convenient form. The most effective and safe products will have the following:

1) Primary research – peer-reviewed, double-blind, and placebo controlled, showing the health benefits of the product itself
2) All natural ingredients without processed fillers, sweeteners, or artificial coloring and flavoring
3) Approval by the FDA to be sold as a “food” rather than a supplement, which is not controlled by the FDA

BIG IMPACT:

My client Pam was stuck on fake food.

She proudly proclaimed hating vegetables (except for lettuce) and admitted to liking fruit, but only apples, strawberries, and tangerines. She said bananas scared her because they had too much sugar, and she stayed away from potatoes because they were too starchy and she liked them only with butter, sour cream, and bacon bits.

She drank three Diet Cokes every day, chewed sugarless gum to stave off hunger, and doctored her coffee with nonfat creamer and the powdery stuff in the pink, yellow, and blue packets. She ate sugar-free yogurt, snacked on fat-free chips, and lunched on low-sodium, low-calorie frozen meals. For dessert she’d fill up on sugar-free, low calorie ice cream, after having eaten her standby dinner of low-fat cheese, popcorn, and lettuce with fat-free Italian dressing.

She worked eighty-hour weeks, wasn’t exercising, and her idea of drinking water was the one glass she got at night when she downed her handful of nutritional supplements.

Pam was tired, she was hungry…and she was fat.

She had gained forty pounds over a five-year period and was tired of spending her days ruminating about food. Her fridge was bare, but her cabinets were stocked with packaged foods that supported her life of dieting.

Pam was also scared, because all she knew was fake food. She grew up eating diet food because that’s what her mother ate. And it served Pam well during her teens and twenties, where much of her focus was on staying skinny.

Pam couldn’t figure out why she was gaining weight around her middle and, at just thirty-five years old, was feeling achy when she got out of bed and caught every virus that came her way. She was constantly craving sugar and fat and couldn’t stand the idea of one more high-protein, low-carb, energy bar.

Thank goodness Pam was a good sport! When she was describing her habits to me, it was as if she was in a stand-up comedy routine, openly hazing herself and laughing at the insanity of her food choices. She had me in stitches when she described hearing the soundtrack to Jaws every time she entered the periphery of the grocery store…you know, the area where all the fresh food resides?

With that admission, I knew Pam was ready for change and was going to be a willing participant in the plan I had for her—a plan that included a balanced plate, focusing on small amounts of lean protein and healthy fats (as described in Daily Lesson #6), and TONS of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.

I also knew that I had to meet Pam where she was and take her where she needed to go. I needed to bridge the gap – or the deep abyss, in the case – between what Pam needed to do (eat real food) and what she was actually doing. She was capable of eating more healthfully, but it was a large space to fill, having spent her entire life in the world of fake food.

I started her on JuicePlus+, a whole food concentrate offering a combination of seventeen fruits, vegetables, and grains. I explained to Pam that this was not a substitute for fruits and vegetables, but something that could augment her diet so that she could achieve the 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables that I recommend to all my women clients. (Men require 9-12 servings of fruits and vegetables per day.)

The JuicePlus+ was going to offer Pam much better outcomes than the handfuls of vitamin supplements she was taking, which were causing her stomach upset and putting her further into the Fat Kid Mentality that supported fake food. Pam believed that she could keep doing what she was doing, and her vitamins would protect her.

What she didn’t realize is that her body was still starving for synergy – the natural “coming together,” so to speak, of nutrition that is found in REAL FOOD! The JuicePlus+ naturally serves as a catalyst for the body to want real food, to better assimilate and absorb real food, and to continually send messages that it is thriving on real food.

Pam loved the idea that she could get some solutions to her problems in an easy-to-take capsule. I loved the idea that she was getting whole food nutrition that was going to radically retrain her brain and transform her physiology.

Within four months, the JuicePlus+ did just that.

We devoted one of our sessions to looking back at the previous four months to measure her progress. We had made an itemized list of things she wanted to accomplish, and we started to check off the completed goals. It looked like this:

1) Eat more fruits and vegetables – Check. Pam was drinking a fruit smoothie every morning and had expanded her vegetable intake to one vegetable at night, such as zucchini, sweet potatoes, spinach salads, and grated carrots.

2) Drink more water – Check. Pam was down to one Diet Coke per week (remember, it used to be three per day) and had set her phone alarm to notify her to drink a glass of water every hour. She was successful most days.

3) Eat fewer artificial sweeteners – Check. Pam had not used a pink, yellow, or blue packet in four months! She sweetened her tea, oatmeal, and plain yogurt with honey and cut down on her foods with fake sugar. She was still eating the sugar-free ice cream at night, but that was it!

4) Do more cooking at home – Check. Pam was rotating seven different recipes I’d given her that focused on whole grains, olive oil, lean protein, and tons of vegetables. I also gave her some ideas for baking to get her acquainted with wholesome treats that did not come packaged on a shelf. She actually baked me some cookies with real sugar, whole wheat, oats, walnuts, butter, raisins, soy milk, and eggs. They were delicious and Pam admitted to enjoying them in moderation.

5) Exercise more frequently – Check. Pam was experiencing more energy, so she was able to get up early two mornings during the week to fit in a twenty-minute workout before work. We were still working on this goal, but this was a start that Pam relates directly to eating more real food.

6) Lose forty pounds – Partial Check. In four months Pam had lost twelve pounds. I told her that to lose weight, she had to first correct the imbalances in her body that had occurred while eating all the fake food. She felt frustrated until she noticed all the other benefits that were supporting optimal health. She knew in time that even though she was eating food with more calories, they were more nutrient-dense and for the first time in five years she wasn’t starving!

Throughout my professional career, I have never seen shifts in health and client compliance in the way that I do now with whole-food intervention that introduces the body to real food.

I know that Pam was grateful to have found a solution she could commit to every day without feeling like she had to change everything in her diet at once. It was a gradual, yet totally natural process that has become a habit for life—a habit that she enjoys because it has given her back her life in ways that she never imagined.

She enjoys shopping for food now and finds joy in a sale on artichokes. She takes her friends to the farmers’ market and makes them dinner out on her patio. Gone are the days of popcorn in front of the TV. She looks forward to parties where she can eat freshly prepared dishes, knowing that she is feeding her body what it needs to self-regulate.

You too can harness the power of real food nutrition. Just small changes of adding more produce into your life every day can manifest huge life changes in your health, your weight, and your well-being.

For more information on JuicePlus+ please visit www.maxjuiceplus.com, and for The Children’s Healthy study, please visit www.childrenshealthstudy.com.

Fall is nearly here, and the sporting season is full throttle.

If you’re a fan of stadium sports – baseball, basketball, hockey and football – then you’re most likely a fan of the traditional stadium foods. The foot-long and the icy-cold-one are an integral part of the experience, right?

The only problem is that a game’s worth of snacks and beverages can quickly sabotage a healthy nutrition plan and pack on the calories.

I’m not a fan of counting calories. However, it’s good to know about the calories that occur outside of your normal eating plan. Having this knowledge helps you avoid blind spots and make better decisions around some of your favorite foods when eating out.

Take note of the calories in these stadium beverage selections:

12 ounce beer = 120-180 calories

12 ounce light beer = 70-125 calories

1 shot (1.5 ounces) 80-proof rum = 100 calories

4 ounces red or white wine – 80 calories

Clearly the better options are light beer and wine, since the shot of liquor may also include high-sugar mixers. Please note that the draft beer served at stadiums comes in 20-ounce cups, making over 200 calories.

Now lets look at food choices:

Small popcorn with butter = 580 calories, 47 grams fat (72% of daily recommendations)

Medium popcorn w/o butter = 650 calories, 43 grams fat (66% of daily recommendation)

Cotton candy on a stick = 105 calories

Cracker Jack = 420 calories

6-ounce hamburger with a bun = 490 calories

6-ounce grilled chicken sandwich = 280 calories

4-ounce turkey burger  = 147 calories

Wrap sandwich (6 ounces)  = 345

Six ounces of chicken tenders = 446 calories, not including the barbecue dipping sauce

(Did you know: Most sold-out stadiums sell as many as 16,000 hot dogs a day!)

Regular hot dog w/bun = 290 calories: 180 for the 2-ounce dog, 110 for the bun, and virtually no calories for regular yellow mustard.

Foot-long hotdogs = 580 calories

Pizza at the stadium is a bit larger than a typical slice  = 435 calories per slice.

A 12-ounce serving of super nachos with cheese (40 chips, 4 ounces of cheese) has more than 1,500 calories — wow!

You’re better off with a 6-ounce serving of fries, which is still a whopping 500 calories.

Peanuts – 8-ounce bag = 840 calories, and a 12-ounce bag = 1,260 calories

The popcorn that comes in a huge tub  = 1,500 calories – that ‘s my total intake of calories in a day!

Soft pretzel (5.5 ounces) = 400 calories –and stay away from those huge pretzels (7-8 ounces), which have about 700 calories.

Here’s the deal on snow cones…a 12-ounce snow cone has only 120 calories.  Yes, low in calories, but LOADED with unhealthy dyes and sugar, so I’d much rather you spend more calories on something like peanuts, a pretzel or unbuttered popcorn – choices that don’t contain the harmful food colorings.

What about healthier options?

The best option is to eat a healthy meal ahead of time, or to opt for the lower-calorie options above. Be mindful of how two beers, a hot dog, and small buttered popcorn totals 1,230 calories. With that, choose the healthy wrap sandwich and skip the beer and wine, or keep it to one glass.

Today, many stadium food-service providers, such as Aramark, offer healthier options. For instance, at Atlanta’s Turner Field, you can buy freshly made salads; at Anaheim’s Angel Stadium there’s corn on the cob; at Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards, you can find fruit smoothies; and at Boston’s Fenway Park, enjoy a fresh fruit salad. There are even veggie hot dogs and burgers at Oakland’s McAfee Coliseum and baked potatoes at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park at North Shore. (Source: www.ballparkfoods.com)

Helpful Tips:

• Eat before you leave home so that you’re not starving when you see the vendors selling enticing treats.

• Share the snacks to share the calories.

• Watch out for unconscious eating. When you’re focused on the game, you can consume large amounts of calories without paying any attention to your full-cues.

• Don’t eat directly from the bag — ask the concessionaire for an extra container or plate and split things up.

Once you start paying attention to your choices, you can enjoy the game and not have any regrets the next day. Have fun this season!

Please Join SUE SHUSTERMAN & JULIE HAMMERSTEIN
for a
WINE & WELLNESS PRESENTATION
6:00pm Meet and Mingle; 6:30pm Presentation
Tuesday, September 27
427 E. Bayaud Avenue, Denver 80209
www.renaissancewellness.com

Find out how you can:

• Get your 9-12 servings of fruits and veggies every day
• Improve the health and eating habits of you and your family
• Reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer Increase levels
of protective antioxidants
• Enhance your immune system
• Slow the aging process and inflammation
• Improve skin health and attain ideal weight
• Learn about the free Children’s Health Program

Join us for practical nutrition tips, wine and healthy snacks
You are welcome to bring guests!

Please RSVP to Sue Shusterman,
sue@teamspirit.net or 303-941-4636 or Julie Hammerstein,
juliehammerstein@gmail.com
Sponsored by Juice Plus+

I had dinner last night with a friend who told me about a speech she heard recently.

The speech was actually a toast, given by Denver Nugget’s coach George Karl at his 60th birthday celebration. Karl was diagnosed with throat cancer last February, and has since rallied a team of healers, doctors, coaches and guides to support he and his family with his fight.

What struck my friend about Karl’s toast, was how genuinely he shared his life-priorities.  Things like meditating and working in the garden were among the top four things one should do every day. This from a professional coach who could have easily made metaphorical references to commitment, persistence, team-work and never giving up.

Rather, he shared that in his home they have a rule that everyone must laugh a minimum of three times a day. Bellyaching, side-cramping, cheek-hurting laughter. If he comes home from work, and his daughter didn’t get in her three laughs, he’ll wake her up and tickle her so that she can meet her quota.

Indeed, he’s doing something right since he’s now in remission.

It made me think…how often do I laugh so hard it hurts? Once a day? Once a week? Is it even once a month? Gosh, I’m not sure.

Did you know that the physical effects of laughter on the body include increased breathing, increased oxygen use and short-term changes in hormones and certain neurotransmitters? Many hospitals and cancer centers have special rooms with humorous materials for the purpose of making people laugh, such as movies, audio recordings, books and games. Pretty cool.

So here’s our challenge.  Let’s take on Karl’s philosophy, and find ways to laugh more often, with more fervor, and with more people.

I have a favorite YouTube video that will get you started. This makes me crack up!

And, if you really want to laugh out loud, then please join me for a fabulous speaker coming to Denver on August 8th.  His name is Dave O’Brien, and at 56 yrs. old, he is the oldest male competitor to run the “4Deserts” series in a single year! In 2010, Dave completed all four of the 155-mile endurance races that comprise Racing the Planet’s “4Deserts” series (4deserts.com).
Not only is Dave brilliant and inspiring, he is hilarious and I guarantee you’ll be doubled over laughing.

You can learn more about Dave’s Denver and Boulder events HERE.

Summer schedules call for a change in routine.

Often times this change creates stress and tension. Entertaining kids, overloading at work to prepare for a vacation, and opening your home to visitors have the potential to zap your energy and ignite an emotional outburst.

When this happens, you might seek out remedies to “cool off” and check out, such as that third glass of wine or the pint of ice cream.  My friend Kathrine Lee of  www.ilivethesource.com calls these choices “stress boomerangs”. Meaning, the wine and ice cream may serve to calm you down in the moment, but in the end, they cause more stress because you feel yucky and you know these choices aren’t aligned with your health goals.

A healthy alternative is to have a list of things you can do to cool the temper and ignite your positive energy.  Here are a few ideas:

•    Go for a walk with your dog, a friend or your family.
•    Find a quiet place in your backyard to sit, close your eyes, and take 30 deep breaths.
•    Call a friend or partner, and ask permission to “download” for five minutes (anything longer is a stress boomerang).
•    Write a letter to a friend focusing on all the good things that are happening in your life.
•    Listen to your favorite music really loud, or download some new songs to your computer.
•    Stop what you’re doing, and see if your stress is caused by multi-tasking. If so, choose one thing to work on, and save the other tasks for another time. When I focus on spending time with my kids, rather than trying to juggle work with their needs, the stress immediately falls away.

These are just a few.  Take some time today to come up with your own list and see if just by making the list, your tensions ease and you get into a place of creative thinking.

Join me to hear Ultra Marathoner and ultra-funny Irishman:

Dave O’Brien, Desert runner

At 56 yrs. old, Dave is the oldest male competitor to run the “4Deserts” series in a single year! In 2010, Dave completed all four of the 155-mile endurance races that comprise Racing the Planet’s “4Deserts” series (4deserts.com). He conquered Chile’s Atacama Desert in March, the Gobi desert in China in June, the Sahara desert in Northern Africa in October, and “The Last Desert” in Antarctica in November.  Quite a feat for anyone, let alone a 56-year-old businessman from a small town in Ireland.  Guaranteed to be an evening of inspiration and entertainment!

Monday, August 8th – DENVER EVENT

6:30pm Registration – 7:00pm Lecture

Location: Marriott Denver Tech Center – 4900 South Syracuse St. Denver, CO 80237

This is a FREE Event for all of my GUESTS

Monday, August 8th – BOULDER EVENT

11:30 lunch served, 12 – 1pm lecture

Location: Dal Ward Athletic Center Auditorium, B1 Level – Parking in lots 169 & 396

This is a FREE Event for all of my GUESTS that includes LUNCH – must RSVP for lunch by August 5th.



RSVP for both events: Julie Hammerstein – 303-885-1818,  juliehammerstein@gmail.com