Jun 14, 2007, Vol. V Issue 12

Summer feels like it’s in full swing, with a combination of trips and visitors already filling the calendar. My most recent speaker visitor was Victoria Moran, all the way from New York City. Portland was the first stop (outside of NY) on her book tour for her newest release, Fat, Broke and Lonely No More – Your Personal Solution to Overeating, Overspending and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places.

As Victoria explained, the title to this book (her 10th), wasn’t her idea. She prefers softer, more esoteric titles, like, for example, Creating A Charmed Life, which was a best seller. She had to admit, however, when her publisher suggested it, that she met the qualifications of having been fat, broke and lonely. Adding “No More,” to the title, however, was her suggestion and it put things in perspective. What’s more, Victoria has both the sense of humor and the spiritual insight to make this into a self-help book very much worth enjoying.

Victoria was joined by Jennifer Louden, author of the Comfort Queen books, for a seminar at New Renaissance Bookshop here in Portland. This was the first time they’d presented together and everyone agreed they had great synergy. More about that in this issue, as well as some updates from two of our nutrition expert speakers, Zonya Foco and Anne Fletcher, and a little bit of summer S’Mores, (for the little girl in every one of us).

Victoria Moran: Fat, Broke and Lonely No More

Victoria Moran made major waves when she gave us the fine points for Creating a Charmed Life. Her new book is less sequel than prequel: “You’re never going to get a charmed life,” Victoria says, “until you stop struggling with fat, broke & lonely—either as facts in your life or fears that won’t leave you alone.” Fat, Broke & Lonely No More: Your Personal Solution to Overeating, Overspending, and Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places  (June 2007, HarperOne) offers an up-tempo and on-target 5-part plan for breaking up with inner emptiness (that’s what caused the trouble in the first place).

Each of her fifty, bite-sized essays — i.e., “What You’re Looking for Is Not in the Refrigerator,” “Sex and the Gritty,” and “Fit, Flush, Partnered and Still Empty Are Just Fat, Broke & Lonely in Drag”– guides readers out of the grip of fat, broke and lonely with both the understanding and the tough love that come from having herself parted company with this triple-threat. Victoria was once sixty pounds heavier (a tough role for a gal whose dad was a diet doctor and whose mother worked in fitness salons). She also spent ten years as a single mom whose financial plan implied that if the rent was paid, all was well. “I know what it’s like to wrestle with the size of your body and size of your bank account. I know what it’s like to think that Mr. Right is no more real than Mr. Clean, and that the only women with those cozy-cozy buddy-groups are on reruns of Friends,” she says. “But I also know how to change these things, for the better and for keeps, without becoming obsessive about any of it, which is just another part of the problem.”

“At its root, fat, broke and lonely, whether as fact or fear, arises from emptiness inside a human being, a cavity in the soul,” she says. This book is about looking to ourselves for the answers. And it really has answers for everyone. With its lighthearted, campy pink cover artwork, Fat, Broke and Lonely, may be the living proof that you “can’t tell what’s inside a book by its cover.”

That idea of personal responsibility was definitely the common thread for Victoria and Jennifer Louden in their lively discussion. They addressed the issues of food, money, love, stress, spirituality and comfort, bantering like veteran co-hosts as they passed the baton back and forth.

“The deepest comfort we can have is to start to fill that hole, to come to that place where I am truly okay in this moment,” Jennifer said. “The way to do that is to develop a practice that we can return to anytime, any place – not just when we’re in a quiet place with candles burning. It’s about getting free. We’re always giving our freedom away to these other things. We get comfort from connecting to something bigger than ourselves.”

Both speakers offered ideas for charting a new course for our lives by taking personal responsibility, releasing guilt and filling the emptiness that we all feel sometimes, from the inside out. Oh, and did I mention humor? Both of these ladies know how to poke fun at themselves and expose the humor in their own life stories, making everyone feel comfortable and included.

Victoria Moran, a speaker and spiritual life coach, is the author of ten books and a contributor to Body & Soul and Yoga Journal. Jennifer Louden, speaker, life coach and author of six books, has taken the concept of comfort and self-care and made these essential concepts irresistible and essential to women around the world. Her latest book is The Life Organizer: A Woman’s Guide to a Mindful Year.

Anne Fletcher Speaks at Congress on Women’s Health

Nationally known, best-selling author Anne M. Fletcher, MS, RD, was invited to speak at the 15th Annual Congress on Women’s Health, at Hilton Head, South Carolina, June 2 -5, 2007. The Congress has a reputation for presenting the most authoritative, up-to-date, and practical clinical information for healthcare professionals. The prestigious faculty presented the latest findings, interpretations, and practical tools for both traditional and alternative medicine that impact individualized care and recommendations for patients.

As the special guest breakfast speaker (sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare), Anne launched the morning symposium on state-of-the-art obesity management in women. Symposium topics included clinical assessment, pharmacotherapy, lifestyle intervention, and bariatric surgery in collaboration with NAASO: The Obesity Society. Anne’s presentation was “Learning From Losers: Success Stories From the Front Line of Weight Loss,” a motivating presentation in which she shared her findings about the hundreds of people she’s interviewed and studied who have lost weight and kept it off. She shared before and after photos of these “masters of weight control,” as well as state-of-art, evidence-based practical information for people struggling with their weight. This was especially important in the light of the press release from Harvard that had come out that same week, concluding that most of us can’t keep the weight off once we lose it because of the way we are genetically programmed. Anne affirmed for us that we can.

Anne is the author of the best-selling Thin for Life book series, Sober for Good, and the newly released Weight Loss Confidential: How Teens Lose Weight and Keep It Off – And What They Wish Parents Knew, which was featured on the Today Show, the CBS Early Show, and in the NY Times.  Her speaking topics include weight management (with a focus on maintaining weight loss), recovery from addiction, and lifestyle change.

Her skill at presenting made the program organizer’s work easier and tilted it toward success. “Anne’s presentation on ‘Learning from Losers’ was excellent and highly praised,” Vicki Cohn, program director, said. “The talk was great and it was a fine kick-off for our half-day session on weight management.”

Visit our website to learn more about Anne Fletcher and her programs.

Catch Zonya with Bob Greene on “Oprah & Friends” June 25

Zonya Foco, RD, CHFI, CSP, recently spent the afternoon in Chicago taping two radio shows with Bob Greene on his “Oprah & Friends” XM radio show (XM Channel 156). The first one-hour show airs Monday, June 25, on XM Channel 156. It’s a “Lickety-Split” theme full of nutrition and fitness tips you won’t want to miss. Get the program schedule for all the times Bob’s show airs.

“Bob and I have known one another for years, but this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to do anything together,” she told me. “He is a wonderful host, and his Best Life Diet is as practical as the recipes in Lickety-Split Meals and the habits in Water with Lemon. This is definitely a show you won’t want to miss!”

Joy of Grandparenting

Oh, what a weekend we had. Daughter and granddaughters came from Colorado for the Rose Festival – the 100th Anniversary Rose Parade to be exact. The only thing that didn’t cooperate was the weather. It may have rained on our parade but not on our fun. Part of the fun is getting up and away early (honestly!) to go claim your spot on the sidewalk. As I was doing my meal planning for the weekend, Zonya’s “Breakfast in a Cookie”(from her cookbook, Lickety-Split Meals) popped into my head. It would be easy to take along in the morning with coffee and hot cocoa. You get your oatmeal, milk and fruit all in one convenient, delicious cookie – and certainly that would appeal to the kid in all of us! It became a Friday afternoon project with my helpers, Gigi, 7, and Hope, 5. This recipe has lots of ingredients, so it provided plenty of opportunities for us to make a big mess – the kind that kids (and grandmas) love. And, the cookies were a big hit the next morning – nearly as big a hit as the S’Mores we had toasted in the backyard fireplace Friday night.

Until next time, be good to yourself by making a summer memory, for your good health and those you love.

Yours truly in good health,
Barbara