Yesterday was the last day for my Emotional Eating 101 free articles emailing. In the last article we are given what are called 6 failure strategies and are asked to look at them to see where we fall. For space and times sake I am going to just give you the strategy and the first sentence to give you a glimpse into the description of the strategy.

Failure Strategy #1: Deprive and Binge
Almost every single diet book and diet plan leads to the deprive-and-binge approach, and so this is the most common strategy.

Failure Strategy #2: Binge and Run
This is the approach where
you allow yourself to overeat, or try to exist side by side with your
addiction, but try to compensate for it with exercise.

Failure Strategy #3: Binge and Purge
The binge and purge
cycle of bulimia is a very dangerous strategy, and luckily it is
normally viewed as an unhealthy approach to weight management.

Failure Strategy #4: Going Public
I call the fourth failure
strategy “Going Public.” I’ve seen many variations of this strategy,
including losing weight for a specific event such as an upcoming
wedding or family reunion, or making a public declaration that you’ve
started a diet, or buying clothes that fit only if you lose weight, or
paying to join a support group that encourages success but rejects you
if you fail.

Failure Strategy #5: The Blame Game
Do you curse parental
genes for giving you a slow metabolism? If so, you’ve fallen prey to
the fifth failure method–blaming the extra pounds on your metabolism.

Failure Strategy #6: Medicate the Hunger, Trick the Metabolism
In
our culture, many seek a magic pill to dissolve cellulite, reverse
weight gain, and make getting thin a breeze. This search constitutes
the sixth and final failure strategy.

Then we are asked to think back to a time when you tried to lose weight with one of the
failure strategies. Describe the attempt in detail. Was emotional
eating the main reason it was unsuccessful? If not, why didn’t that
strategy work?

For me the first strategy certainly holds true. I am one to find a diet that restricts me and then when it puts me into feeling like I am deprived I want to immediately go off of it because I don’t want to be hungry all the time. Now with the fifth strategy that is something I can honestly say that is a problem for me I don’t blame it on genes that my metabolism has slowed over the last couple of years. When I started taking birth control and Zoloft together it did cause some weight gain and also caused my metabolism to stall out. This is where the vicious cycle of depression rears it’s ugly head because I am on both medications for a reason. I need the birth control more for regulating that time of the month and allowing for an easier time of it during that time. I need the Zoloft to function every day.

I tried Nutri System and that diet was too restrictive. Even though I had great immediate results I felt starved and the cost was too much. I have sat in on a Weight Watchers meeting but when I went it felt too robotic. I don’t do well with that approach. I have tried Isagenix which again has some great short term results but I couldn’t handle being physically hungry for the first week on the program and it was an MLM type product that they would try and sell you only if you became a distributor. I didn’t want to become a distributor at the get go I just wanted to lose weight and see if the product was right for me. I have tried ephedra based products. Now I am here to tell you that is one thing that did work for me. In a matter of two months I easily lost 10 pounds because it kick started my metabolism so I could lose the weight.

I know I know what your thinking,”that’s failure strategy number 6,” and your right. I needed it and to be honest if it sounds like a cop out here or a sell out if I could find it on the market again I probably would go out and buy it because it was the only thing that worked. With that being said though I still have deep seeded emotional issues to deal with and I know this too.

What I need to do is refocus my energies back into running my support group full steam ahead because that is what has helped me with my emotional eating. I need to bring us out of the box and make us more main stream, but everyone that I talk to says I have to have a degree to do this and that so I have a lesser chance of being held liable in case someone runs into a problem. To that I can only say even though I am not a Dr. I am still someone who has the same struggles that people who are losing weight have. I don’t need a degree to support someone and to be a source for assisting them in finding resources in their community to help them with their weight loss needs. I don’t need a degree to sit quietly by while someone sobs their frustrations in life out to me and I don’t need a degree to take that persons hand and tell them I DO KNOW what they are going through. I don’t need a degree to take that person in my arms and give them the comfort of a hug to make them feel they are not alone. I got my degree in the school of hard knocks a very long time ago. I have street smarts and am working on the book smarts. Those two combined can be a very lethal combination.

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In Part 2 of this series Teresa shares her personal issues with weight loss.

My head

So in my head it went like this. Usually it was one of those times where my body really mounted a great defense against me and had decided that this new low caloric intake was just not acceptable and it tried its best to make me eat. And it really pulled out all the stops and cranked the appetite up so high I thought I hadn’t eaten, ever. So I’d start with the raw carrot, then the popcorn, celery and peanut butter and finally, I’d just pig out on dinner and eat so much I felt bloated. And my body won and I just gained back a week’s worth of work of losing weight. But I told myself, oh well, more work this week. And usually it was an easier week because my body got the calories it wanted it usually left me alone. I might throw in an extra 10 minutes into my walk/run or do a few more laps on the rock wall or throw in an extra day of biking or go around the block one more time, stuff like that. No big deal.

But people who “fail” tell themselves lots of huge things, with big words, with lots of drama and negativity and bigness. Can you change what you tell yourself? Can you learn how you identify yourself? Can you see that failure is only a definition created by you? Where was this line? Where was this place you dropped off? Where did this failure exist, except in your mind and your own decision to stop eating well and moving your body? No one can define it but you, there is no end point, there’s no certain amount of days that if you haven’t eaten well, then you failed.

If I stop eating well for a month, then I can tell myself one of 2 things:

1. I failed, that diet is over, time to shelve it and find something new after I eat a lot of crap that I deserve now that I did without for a month and yet again I failed.

2. Geeze, I think it has been 4 weeks that I haven’t eaten right, now. I bet that set me back a few pounds. Actually it only set me back 4 weeks, but in the grand scheme of things what’s 4 weeks, if I start looking better in a month, any looking better is good and at the back end of it, what’s 4 more weeks, when I’m a size 8 versus a size 7? So now I eat better and get back to moving my body more. And again, in a few weeks, actually probably less, I’ll start feeling better and noticing a difference.

When people ask me how the diet’s going and I hadn’t eaten well in 4 weeks, I can answer in one of these ways:

1. Yeah, that didn’t last. Not so good, it failed. That book was stupid anyway. I mean there wasn’t even a diet to follow, plus you know it was birthday party time and all that cake, LOL you know. Oh well, better luck next time.

2. Great! It’s up and down but it’s all part of the process. I’m learning a lot about my body and I can’t wait to see a difference. (Then be grateful for the wonderful gentle reminder to eat better and keep at it).

Do you see how the external circumstances were the same but it was the choice on the individuals part that determines the failure or success?

I’ve been there. I had to make these choices. I had to answer these questions, I had to face these feelings and circumstances and I had choices. I had to face my victim identity, I had to not know who I was for a while. And so do you. Just don’t ever choose failure and you will never fail.

Epilogue

I began my endeavor to lose weight in the spring of 2004. I worked at it hard fast and steady throughout 2004, continued in 2005 but somewhere in the fall of 2005 my weight loss kind of stopped or plateaued out between 115 and 120. Sometimes it would dip a little below 115 but usually bounced back up. My size steadied at jeans size 7. Once I realized that this was where my body was going to stay I backed off on dieting and enjoyed a few more carbs and relaxed some on the training. For the rest of 2005, and all of 2006 I remained there. In 2007, somewhere near the fall, I started losing weight again. I didn’t do anything different, didn’t eat differently, or exercise differently, my body just started burning more fat. So I decided to work with it and started watching what I ate, and started doing more core work. I lost another size and instead of a soft smooth tummy, I was starting to see ripples of obliques and abs. Hubby was quite pleased and so was I, especially with so little effort on my part.

After thinking a lot on what was different, I realized some things. I hope this helps you understand the power of your mind and the power of stress on your weight loss. During 2005 I was a victim  experienced hurricane Katrina. The depression and stress, and fall out and move and subsequent debt stayed with me for 2 years (the debt hung around longer). When I started pulling my way out of that, I started feeling happier and getting back into wanting more for myself again. I started seeing other girls’ abs at the gym and wishing I could get that. I started thinking much more about my tummy I was looking at it in the mirror and trying to see what I might look like with ripples and how it would feel.

My body responded to these wishes and with my new found lack of stress it was able to, once again, put energy toward weight loss. These wishes were suggestions put to my body much like cancer patients are counseled to do during their support therapy. It works in the same way imagery works. Each time I looked in the mirror and saw my abs and ripples, even though they weren’t there, I was doing imagery.

There’s a lot of research that backs up the power of imagery. In college I was a gymnast and cheerleader then went on to coach a swim team and teach gymnastics. A fundamental part of training to was to imagine, in great detail, any part of what you’re working on. I remember every single night, when I went to bed, the new stunt I was learning, going over and over it in my mind, where my hands were, when I jumped, where I looked, where my legs went, in perfect execution. I would do this many times. We know through research that this causes changes in the part of the brain where the physical actions are stored, not just memory. There’s emerging research now that is studying how this affects the nerves and muscles.

So I don’t doubt that each time I looked in the mirror and visualized the abs I wished I could have I was making changes in my brain and eventually after several months of this, my body began to respond by creating that. This, mixed with the new lack of stress, caused this turn around. I wonder how much my body could have done without my help physically but I know that of all the weight I lost and muscles I’ve built, those last pounds and these abs came the easiest.

As I write this epilogue I sit at 110 and feel strong and fit, my abs look great and I must say, I never figured at 42 I’d be looking like this.

I’m not done yet though.

I’ve always had a rear end that hung down a little lower than most but after 2 kids, forget it. I have been recently picturing the buns from a beer poster girl, as being what’s actually back there, every time I look in the mirror. I can’t wait to see what I’m going to do with this……

To learn the science of how the body is programmed to hang on to or let go of fat, click here to read lots of free excerpts from the book, The Reality of Weight Loss by Teresa Bondora or log onto, www.HowToTeachScience.com where you are welcome to stay and read and learn.

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I am running this article which I was given permission to use by Teresa Bondora in a two part series. There is a lot of good info in it and I don’t want anyone to miss getting that info.

You can’t fail to lose weight.

The only way you can fail is if you decide you’ve failed and then stop trying for a very long time. And even then, really, it wasn’t failure, it was you stopping for a while. Losing weight isn’t something that happens to you, that you do what you’re supposed to do and then sit back and hope that the weight comes off. That supposes that you are not in a position of power, that something else is. That losing weight is some mysterious thing your body does or doesn’t do for you. And you’ve got to sing the right song and dance the right dance and then IF your body agrees it will let go of the fat. Actually there is a formula to making your body let go of fat.

Powerlessness is the root of what some people call failure. Until you grow up inside your body and take charge and own the power you hold, you will remain a slave to your body and will stay feeling powerless. Every set back will be proof that you can’t do it. The truth is that your mind IS your body. Your will IS your body. You have control over what your body looks like and does.

By reading this you are learning more tools and information on how your body functions so that you can use those tools to be in control and guide the fat loss and muscle building. It’s math, it’s formulaic, it must happen. There is no failure, there’s no “let’s hope”. If you eat well, if you move your body and IF you intend to lose this weight, your body must do what it is programmed to do, it must let the fat go and build muscle.

So you are not powerless, you’re not a child, you’re not at the whim of a body that does strange crazy things. It’s measurable, it’s science, you control it. And now you understand it more. So once you take charge and realize you will lose, and the only question is going to be how quickly, then you know there’s nothing to fear, nothing to question.

If you are scared, if you are looking for the first sign of “failure” so you can quit, then you are looking to identify with failure and you need to stay overweight so you can continue to be the victim. Look inside yourself and feel if this rings true to you. Are bad things always happening to you? Do you find yourself always saying “See, I told you”, do you feel unlucky? These things are indicators that you have identified with a victim mentality. It’s alluring and easy to slide into, especially if you grew up hearing it in your home.  But look underneath that. It has sort of a childlike “somebody help me” quality to it, doesn’t it?

I’m not laying blame and I know nobody would ever WANT to be a victim, we’re talking about going underneath the surface and feeling something a little deeper. I don’t think identifying with victim-hood is something anyone wants on the surface, I believe it is frustration, a lack of answers, a true, “What’s going on, why are things like this, why is this happening to me?”,kind of thing.

It’s strange that stopping asking those questions, is actually the answer to those questions; that to help yourself, to end fear, powerlessness and confusion you have to stop feeling powerless and fearful and stop asking for help. In doing so, you have to grow up, you have to be wiling to not know and be okay with that. You have to not have an identity with “help me”, you have give up the “poor me” talk, you have to stop feeling broken and unlucky and you have to begin to say, “Okay, if I’m not those things, then what, and who, am I”? And for a while you may not know. It’s weird how people will lose friends, abuse others, make bad choices and stay overweight just so they don’t ever have to experience not looking at who they are for a while. But once you do it, once you sit in a lack of victim-hood but not yet in a place of power, you begin to get good at it. And after a while it’s not so bad. Until one day you realize that you have slowly begun to find out you are powerful. This beautiful person emerges that, all that “I can’t” was covering up all along. It doesn’t mean you have all the answers, it doesn’t mean you are perfect or that now you’ll lose weight, you won’t fail (there’s that word again) and that life will be rosy. But it does mean that now you see everything differently. And hopefully you’ll understand what I write next.

There’s no failure

So when you fall off a diet, you used to tell yourself, “See, I’m a failure, I can’t do this, I thought this diet would help but it too failed, I’m a failure and there’s no point continuing if this is just going to fail too.” But when I “fall off a diet’ , firstly, I don’t consider it falling off a diet. I consider it, eating badly for a few days. By calling it a diet, I’ve created this campaign that I’m a part of that has some direction that’s right or wrong. Then by saying the word, failure, I’ve created finality to it, not continuity. It’s not a diet, it’s eating differently to steer my body in a direction, it’s not final, everyday is a new day. Each day bleeds into the next, each hour into the next, each moment into the next. How can I separate that? So the BIG difference, the IT that will decide whether or not “this” diet works and you will lose the weight lies in what we call it, what we tell ourselves and how we see it all. Do we see some big campaign with a win/lose proposition or just another day where we are doing our best because we TRULY don’t want to be victims to our body anymore and we really want to lose the weight.

Read on tomorrow for part two of what Teresa has to say. 

To learn the science of how the body is programmed to hang on to or let go of fat, click here to read lots of free excerpts from the book, The Reality of Weight Loss by Teresa Bondora or log onto, www.HowToTeachScience.com where you are welcome to stay and read and learn.

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For years, the common knowledge has been that if you want to lose fat, you have to do aerobic exercise. But while it is in part true, that belief unfortunately led many women to think that they could skip strength training. A study changed that way of thinking.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics recently found that strength training — or weight lifting — plays a key role in controlling a woman’s weight. They discovered that women who lifted weights just twice a week were able to avoid the slow, one to two pound weight gain per year that’s so common in middle age. While that might not sound like a lot, over the years it can really add up. Another plus? Women who lifted weights had healthier hearts.

So how does lifting weights help keep you slim? It’s simple — strength training builds muscle, and muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, 24 hours a day — even when you are asleep! So if you aren’t already, make strength training a part of your fitness program. Your efforts will pay off for years to come!

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Cutting calories doesn’t have to mean drastic changes in the way you eat! It’s actually the little things that add up! See how many calories you can easily cut out with these eight little changes:

1. Use mustard instead of mayo: 100 calories.
2. Skip the wine or beer with dinner: 100 calories.
3. Take the skin off your chicken breast: 100 calories.
4. Switch to fat-free salad dressing instead of regular: 100 calories.
5. Drink water or herbal tea instead of a soda: 150 calories.
6. Order your sandwich without the cheese: 200 calories.
7. Choose an English muffin instead of a bagel: 200 calories.
8. Have a turkey sandwich instead of tuna salad with mayo: 250 calories.

I already try to use skinless chicken breasts when and where possible, I have maybe one glass of wine a month, instead of regular mayo I use light mayo, I drink diet soda and or ice tea when I can I stay away from high calorie drinks and I love English muffins just as much as I do bagels so that is an easy compromise.

I really enjoy getting these things from Denise Austin she is equally as good as Dr Phil but she is more experienced in giving good sound nutritional advice. Most if not all of what she talks about is what I have learned and is tried and tested by many experts if the nutrition and weight loss field. That is why I post her tips here that I recieve in my email over on MSN mail.

Have a good one.

Joe

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Resolutions ready? Take the plunge

12/29/2007By KALEY LYON

Hays Daily News

It’s back!

As 2008 draws near, The Center for Health Improvement is preparing for a repeat of what turned out to be its most popular event yet, Pound Plunge.

The program, which encourages locals to eat healthy and exercise right, shocked staff members and the entire community when about 1,500 people signed on last year to drop the pounds.

While it’s too soon for exact numbers, the second annual event is expected to be another big one, said Stephanie Schaffer, fitness manager.

“They keep coming in every day,” Schaffer said of this year’s registrations. “I’m expecting a lot more.”

The 12-week weight loss program will begin on Jan. 10 and end April 3. Each team must consist of four members, and the deadline to register is Jan. 6.

The beginning of the year is a good time to have such an event — New Year’s resolutions often help keep participants motivated, she said.

“New Year’s is a time when a lot of people in our country set goals,” Schaffer said. “The big thing is to lose weight and to exercise. It’s just a perfect time of the year to implement a team like this.”

Overall, the routine will be about the same as last year. Participants will receive a weekly nutrition or exercise tip to help them drop pounds and keep them off, she said.

The teams also will weigh in each week to track their progress, and at the end of the program, the team with the highest percentage of weight lost will receive a prize.

Unlike last year, when only the first place team received a financial award and free membership to the center, the top three teams will be rewarded.

Also unlike last year, team members will have the opportunity to weigh in on new digital scales, and individuals’ blood pressures will be recorded at the beginning and end of the program to gauge improvement, Schaffer said.

The program isn’t limited to the center — it strives to include the larger community and encourages participants and other local entities to get involved, she said.

“It’s just about getting people moving,” Schaffer said. “It’s just to teach people about fitness and exercise and nutrition, and they love it.”

Schaffer said she expects many of last year’s participants to try it again, and there also are many new team members already signed up.

“I think we’ll have people who did it last year who had great success. They’ll come back,” she said. “I think you’ll have people who did it last year and maybe have found out they need to do it a different way this year. And then you’re going to have the people who are going to come back, and this motivated them to lose weight and keep weight off.”

Deanna Staab, Hays, is one such individual. She participated in last year’s health challenge and has continued losing weight ever since.

At November’s Pound Plunge reunion, Staab took first place for having lost, and kept off, the highest percentage of body weight since the challenge began in early 2007.

Staab lost 13 pounds during pound plunge, and by continuing to eat and exercise healthy since then, has lost an additional 24 pounds.

“I really enjoy it,” she said. “I feel better and started exercising regularly, so that was the key — just to lose a little at a time.”

Staab’s team dubbed themselves the “hot tamales,” and the team support is what kept her going, she said. Her goal for Pound Plunge 2, which she has already signed up for, is to lose an additional 10 pounds, she said.

“I’m just happy about it,” Staab said. “It’s a good deal and everybody should sign up. It just gives you an idea of where you’re at and what you should be doing.”

Reporter Kaley Lyon can be reached at (785) 628-1081 Ext. 138, or by e-mail at klyon@dailynews.net.

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When I think of weight loss motivation I think of what motivates me is the desire to see the end result. However, quite simply motivation is defined as the direction and intensity of one’s effort. So in respect to weight loss motivation can be construed as self motivation to lose the weight once and for all.

Motivation often wanes when we are three weeks into a diet and we aren’t getting those fast results we had hoped we would see. You have to remember that slow and steady wins the race in weight loss. You should only be losing about two to three pounds a week for safe weight loss. There are other contributing factors to motivation though. We want the approval from others. We want people to see that we have finally lost the weight and look great. I have a friend named Paula who lost weight and she looks fabulous. I try to keep her motivated to keep it off by offering positive words of reinforcement.

Peer pressure is another thing that motivates people to lose weight. The most blatant form of peer pressure is the media hype that focuses on thin being in. I had to applaud Tyra Banks when she told the media to kiss her fat black ass on national TV. The media had distorted her image to gain readership and when I actually saw this gross misrepresentation of how one actually looks to how the media tries to depict them to make a buck I was sickened. With the media there will never be a  happy medium they drag celebrities through the mud for being too thin and then drag them through the same puddle of mud for being too fat.

There are things that we can do to keep us motivated to keep losing the weight. Yes this sounds redundant I am sure but all I ask is that you try at least one of the five things I am going to mention that I am using to keep me motivated to lose weight and keep it off.

1. I like to see continued low numbers at the Doctors office.
2. I am using non food rewards now for achieving e.g, my goal not to over indulge in sweets for one week. I have used things such as a new hair color, getting my hair done, buying a new article of clothing, or buying a new pair shoes.
3. Buying new music
4. Buying myself a new scented candle from Yankee Candle Co.
5. Buying a new piece of jewelry

Now for men I realize this would be too feminine of a list to try so maybe you could try:

1. Buying yourself a new DVD
2. Consider getting a male facial and massage
3. The low numbers at the Doctors office can still apply to you
4. Buying new music could also apply to you
5. Maybe you could splurge on that new tattoo you have always wanted to get

In order to stay motivated to lose weight you still need to reward yourself. The trick is learning to reward yourself without the food reward system

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These are all great reads I encourage anyone to check them out and spread the word about them.

Simple Toning Meditation posted at Tupelo Kenyon

Why excercise is absolutely necessary posted at 360 Degree Success

Your Friends are Making you fat posted at Witch on White Mountain

The Crude Reality Of Bodybuilding posted at MuscleBolism: Build Muscle Beyond Anabolics

When Business is Incontinent posted at Trust Matters

Dominic Acito.com - Stretching Guide posted at Dominic Acito

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Lack Of Or No Energy? Always Feel Tired? It Might Be Your Diet posted at Tall Muscle Actor Blog

Kitchen Essentials posted at Frugal Aussie

I Want to Lose Weight, But… posted at New Hampshire Fitness Personal Trainer NH

Benefits of intramural sports in college posted at CampusGrotto College Blog

Funny things to do at the gym posted at Weight Master

From Chubby to Studdly Part 1 posted at Arun is bringing you…Your Daily Remedy

Statistical Analysis Of Diet posted at Weight Loss Dude

Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Blog: Pilates After Menopause posted at Pilates & Reiki In Paradise Blog

Top 10 tips to keeping fit posted at about islam about life about me about you

Fish Oil. Huh? Fish?Oil?? posted at FitBuff.com’s Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog

Lose Weight in 10 Easy Steps with Traditional Chinese Medicine posted at The Authentic Bartender Blog

Towards a Better Life Articles » Archive » Lose Weight through Self-Affirmation posted at Personal Development Articles

How To Design A Workout posted at 60 IN 3

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This was from a blog post from my 360 page a few months ago I wanted to repost it here as I thought it is still something worth keeping on the front burner.

Kids’ Advertisers Bolster Defenses at ANA Conference

Lawyers Warn Marketers to Prepare for a Litigious 2007

By Stephanie Thompson and Lisa Sanders

Published: January 17, 2007

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Lawyers are rolling up their sleeves for the bounty of work in the children’s advertising arena this year surrounding obesity and, likely, a whole lot more.

Despite intimating that no peace is in sight for an industry trying to protecting itself against potential litigants, John Feldman was adamant that food marketers not be constrained by critics and regulations.

“2007 will be a year of focus on kids’ advertising,” said John Feldman, partner at law firm Reed Smith, at the Association of National Advertisers’ Advertising Law & Business Affairs Conference that began today. At the conference, Mr. Feldman announced the creation of KidAdLaw.com, a website offering news and updates on regulatory activities pertaining to marketing to children.

Right now, he said, the scrutiny is on food marketers’ advertising to children, but a number of other self-regulated categories could be next on the docket. “Politically,” he said, “what gets traction better than kids?”

‘Children’s Advertising in the Crosshairs’
Mr. Feldman and C. Lee Peeler, president-CEO of the National Advertising Review Council, appeared in a panel dubbed “Overweight and Overwrought: Children’s Advertising in the Crosshairs.”

At issue were what Mr. Feldman calls the “rules of the sandbox” for marketers of children’s products or services amid newly revised guidelines for the Children’s Advertising Review Unit and the creation of a Children’s Food & Beverage Advertising Initiative led by the top 10 marketers in the kids’ package-goods space.

Despite intimating that no peace is in sight for an industry trying to protecting itself against potential litigants, Mr. Feldman was adamant that food marketers not be constrained by critics and regulations. “If you’re in the business of selling candy, sell candy; if you’re in the business of selling burgers, sell burgers,” he said. Where marketers need to tread carefully in this high-stakes game of “gotcha” is in dressing up products as healthy when they’re not.

“If you make something that is a treat, full of fat and calories, any implication that it’s healthy is dangerous,” he said.

‘The No. 1 commercial pariah’
Indeed, if food marketers aren’t careful, said Guy M. Blynn, VP-deputy general counsel, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., they could end up like his employer, which he called “the No. 1 commercial pariah in America.”

Mr. Blynn, along with Geoffrey K. Beach, a partner at law firm Jones Day, spoke on a panel called “Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire.” They shared lessons learned and advice going forward for attendees, such as those from Big Food, who may find themselves in similar situations.

For example, Mr. Beach suggested several approaches to writing and keeping documents that may help marketers in the case of a lawsuit. When even a memo outlining a brainstorming session can come back to bite a company in court, “context is key,” he said. One little explanatory paragraph at the start of a document could be enough to show the true weight of a printed statement. It is also important to remember that documents will be around for a long, long time, so “mean what you say, and say what you mean.”

The ultimate key to staying out of the courts, however, may lie in permission-based direct marketing, they said. It’s all about making it hard to opt in and easy to opt out. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco’s age-verification process is multitiered and backed up by either face-to-face proof or third-party verification — but that’s a lot to go through to buy a box of Oreos.

We need education in society to make healthy food choices it is sad when we have left common sense so far at the end of the universe that we now have to have regulatory measures to keep us from buying junk food not only for us but our children. Furthermore what the hell is up with letting children control the junk food that comes into the house and the marketing anyway. Just say no to your kids they will get over it. They dont need moon pies, candy bars, snack cakes, and all that other crap. I say no to my kid at least a thousand times if not more when it comes to junk food and the purchase of it in the store or wherever we may be. We have at minimum ice cream on a regular basis around here. I did buy him Yogos the other day but I rationed them out to him. I don’t let him have all the candy he gets at Halloween, and Valentines day. I go through it pick out the junk and then let him have what I consider the healthier of the lot. Then I trash the rest of it. He is better for it and he has demonstrated at school to his teachers that he can make healthy food choices at breakfast and lunch.

It starts in the home parents need to get the kids out from in front of the TV anyway if they arent in front of the TV 24/7 then they arent exposed to the ads pure and simple. I let my son watch maybe two hrs a night tops of tv. On the weekends it is negotiable depending on what there is on TV that I want to watch. Moderation is also key if you really feel that it is going to be detrimental to your relationship with your child to never let him or her have junk food then learn how to ration it out to them so they dont make gluttons of themselves.

I am on a limited income but just because I am on a limited income doesnt mean I have to eat junk. I can still eat healthy. Instead of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs with white bread have a lean hamburger with low fat sliced cheese and a vegetable it really does cost about the same maybe just a little more but it is worth it to spend more on healthy foods than junk foods.

I want to hear your thoughts fire away and hold nothing back. Just try and be respectful and no name calling at the very least.

Joe

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