January 5, 2006, Vol. IV Issue 1
Dear Friends,
As we embark on this new year, we’re seeking ways to optimize the service we offer our clients. One of my primary purposes with this e-news is to help us help each other. So I thought I’d pose a few questions in this issue, and let you share your thoughts and ideas back with me. It won’t work, however, if you don’t respond, so please, if you have experiences or ideas, take a moment to share by replying to me and I’ll share them in future issues.
The health word I see popping up all over the place in this new year is habit. The connotation, however, is different than usual. Seems like it’s often been associated negatively, as in the habit of smoking. You’ll be seeing habit in a new light after reading this issue.
And, it wouldn’t be a new year if we didn’t have some healthy eating books to showcase, now would it?
Penny for Your Thoughts: Who’s Got the Money?
Let’s get right to the heart of the matter. Many times, the key determining factor in selecting a speaker is your budget. No matter how much you like a speaker or want to bring them in, if they’re out of your budget, and you exhaust all of your ideas for sponsors or other support, you’re forced to throw in the towel or go in a different direction. That’s always so disappointing to me, yet as many of you know, I’ll work hard to find someone who will fit your budget and parameters (while meeting our high standards).
The questions I’d like to pose in this issue have to do with how your budgets are generated, approved, subsidized or otherwise created and approved. Because some of you do get adequate budgets year after year for your events and some get big budgets approved for celebrity speakers.
How do you do it?
What are your secret words of success?
Is it all in the numbers?
Those who are struggling just to get any budget approved are the inquiring minds who want to know, along with those who want to step up the ante.
I work with hospitals and associations large and small. I’ve worked with small ones that had amazing budgets and large ones with paltry budgets.
One speaker shared with me that there was an association who wanted her so badly, that they scrimped on their speaker budget for 3 years to accumulate her fee (and we are not talking a large fee here).
If you’ll answer my questions, I’ll share my perspectives on speaker fees (very revealing!) in a future issue. Gotcha!
Habit-Forming: It’s A Good Thing
Perhaps it’s our collective consciousness at work here. Just as I was putting this e-news together, the idea of habits being good things was rising to the surface in emails and press releases for new books. It seems to be an idea whose time has come.
Zonya Foco, RD, CSP, has been talking about “The Power of One Good Habit,” for a couple of years now. In the coming months, you’ll be hearing how that topic has evolved and is being expanded in her new book, Water with Lemon: The Power of One Good Habit, a collaboration with Stephen Moss, America’s Health Novelist. A health novel, they’ve put together an intriguing, extremely digestable, if you’ll forgive the pun, story of personal transformation that chronicles the power of one good habit to change lives.
Meantime, this month, Elizabeth Somer, RD, released her newest book, 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman’s Diet. She reveals the bad habits, many so subtle you don’t even know you’re doing them, that stand in the way of successful weight loss. And she offers everyday solutions that really work. Elizabeth says that at least half of people’s harmful habits occur not at the dinner table, but in their heads. Examples include eating without thinking, not being honest about how much one eats and drowning your sorrows in chocolate or chips.
Which habit is sinking your weight control ship? With examples and self-assessment tests, you can learn what you’re doing wrong. Elizabeth has spent more than twenty- five years on the front lines of nutrition research and counseling. She brings in solid medical research to de-bunk many of the most popular weight loss myths. Using her checklists, menu plans, snacking tips and other successful tricks, you can eat healthfully, lose weight and turn your life around, one habit at a time.
And, remember http://www.happynews.com I shared with you in my last issue? Just yesterday, I clicked on their headline, “Making Breakfast Cool Again” and Elizabeth Somer was being quoted about none other than good breakfast habits.
“When women diet they often make two big mistakes that can actually result in weight gain. They skip breakfast and ditch dairy,” she said.
To bring Elizabeth’s expertise to your women’s event, all or email me. And for more about creating GOOD habits this year, stay tuned to future issues of FOR YOUR WELL BEING.
Heart Healthy Update
Beginning with his Don’t Eat Your Heart Out cookbook, Joe Piscatella’s books and talks have made a difference for millions of people. Joe knows how to talk compellingly and directly to everyone who has heart disease or a cholesterol problem (and he’d rather help you learn how to prevent either of those problems). He knows what to say, what to do, and how to motivate.
He’s not a doctor. He’s a patient who took control of his health. At the age of 32, he went from the operating table after emergency bypass surgery to recovery, and subsequently learned how to restore his full cardiac health through good diet and lifestyle habits (there’s the habit word again!).
Now 28 years later, a milestone he reached by “walking the talk,” he starts a 35-city book tour next week for his newest book, The Road to a Healthy Heart Runs through the Kitchen, a completely revised and updated edition of Don’t Eat Your Heart Out. While keeping the same thrust and plain-speaking tone that made the original a bible used and recommended by thousands of hospitals, the new book reflects the very latest scientific recommendations.
For the first time, it offers easy-to-follow menus that will start every reader on the road to lifetime health. It directly connects 10 major risk factors to diet; explains misconceptions about fat and carbohydrates, including the unhealthful effects of low-carbohydrate diets; and offers 300 recipes (60% all-new) that are delicious, healthy, easy-to-prepare, completely family friendly (because the patient isn’t the only one who should be eating this way!) and analyzed for key nutritional information. This is the book that proves that good food and good health can go together.
A leader in corporate wellness makeovers, Joe is a dynamic and compelling speaker. Call or email me to get more information about his programs and availability.
Take a Drive, Enjoy the Ride
During the holidays, my husband and I took the day off and drove over to one of our favorite places on the Coast, the small town of Oceanside. It was pouring rain on the way over, yet it was just so pleasant to be out driving through the gorgeous Coast Range, I didn’t care if all we did was have lunch when we got there. We were simply enjoying the ride (this is proof positive that I am now an Oregonian. Rain or shine, I go).
In fact, we got into an exciting conversation, exploring questions and ideas for my business, not exactly what I had anticipated for a day off. Being away from the computer and having a sounding board allowed me to dream and think and explore in ways that are not possible for me in the confines of my office, lovely as it is.
As it turned out, the day was beautiful once we arrived at the beach. The sun came out just as we approached the Three Scenic Loops Drive and we got to walk on the beach in the sunshine (and have fresh clam chowder for lunch!). It was a day well spent. I’m so glad we took the time to take a drive and enjoy the ride.
Until next time, be good to yourself, take a drive for your good health and those you love.
Yours truly,
Barbara
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ABOUT OUR SERVICES
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The Speak Well Being Group specializes in providing exceptional speakers for health, wellness and women’s events. Because we’ve worked with so many hospitals and healthcare groups around the country, we speak your language. Our hand-picked speakers are attuned to your needs and adept at addressing the issues while delivering information in an entertaining way, or simply providing a good time with a light message when that’s the ticket. When you work with us, you’ll come back for more “How are we going to top that?” speakers.
You’ll find many of our speakers on our website.
Or please call anytime and let us assist you: 503-699-5031
The Speak Well Being Group, Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035
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