April 14, 2005, Vol. III Issue 8
Dear Friends,
Pop the champagne corks! At long last, we’re on line with our new website! Please visit our new URL, https://www.speakwellbeing.com
To get you started, I thought it would be fun to go on mini-treasure hunts. There are prizes, should you choose to take a minute or so to explore! This time, find the speaker on the website who has produced an audio CD, “Sleep in Peace, Wake with Joy.” And to make it REAL EASY for you, here’s your HINT: Search by Topic: Sleep. Reply to this email with her name, and from a drawing of all the right answers, one of you will win that CD!
This afternoon, I’ll be front and center at 1:30 tuned to OPB, my local PBS station, to catch the debut of “Zonya’s Health Bites,” a 26-week series of 30 minute lifestyle shows. Now, remember on PBS there are no commercials, so you get a full half hour of information.
AND, more of our speakers on television . . . Dr. Robin Smith will be on OPRAH, TOMORROW, Friday, April 15, continuing in her role as an expert on young women and self-esteem or more correctly the lack thereof. This is her third appearance in just a couple of months. Her popularity with OPRAH and the audience, I’m sure has to do the self-assured, authoritative yet empathetic and humorous way she handles tough issues. Tape it or tune in, if you can. More in our next issue.
AND, Miriam Nelson debuts her new book Strong Women, Strong Hearts, on NBC’s TODAY Show, Friday, May 13. More on that in our next issue, as well. Stay tuned . . .
Yours truly,
Barbara
Behind the Scenes of Zonya’s Health Bites
At long last, Zonya Foco’s PBS series, Zonya’s Health Bites starts airing nationwide this week. I say at long last, because I’ve seen a lot of footage you’ll never see! Like anything else you’ve never done before, it doesn’t start out exactly perfect. Until you produce one, you just can’t imagine what goes into a television show, from the naming of it, to the marketing of it, finding locations and every close-up shot in between. Luckily for Zonya, her husband, Scott, is a videographer and editor, who also wore the hats of director and producer. That is one talented man!
Scott told me that he and Zonya have always wanted to do their own show. “I was always producing shows or videos for other people,” he said. “When we both made the commitment, and the time was right, I sold my business to develop this series and have been working on it full-time for a year and half.”
The show includes much more than the usual cooking show that we’re used to seeing on television by cookbook authors. That’s because Zonya offers a much more rounded viewpoint. She includes lifestyle tips, exercise ideas, and trips to the grocery store to read labels and get the inside scoop (truth) on the best choices you can make at the grocery store. Now THERE’S another production challenge: finding a real grocery store that will let you come in and film! That comes to mind for me at the end of every show, when I see Zonya and Scott’s 5-year old son, Ridge, zooming around the store in a miniature shopping cart.
“Without directly working with kids,” Scott said, “I wanted kids to be part of the program, because this is in the end, all about family. We gave the kids the carts and off they went! Ridge, just like his Mom, is the leader, taking the kids on a tour of the grocery store, and just as he’s learned from his Mom, pointing out foods that have food colorings or other bad ingredients.”
The show is designed to help busy families, busy Mom’s, anyone who wants to know more about eating healthy, losing weight or getting exercise into their lifestyles. Zonya makes it comfortable for people, helping them laugh at their healthy lifestyle lapses while ever-so-gently nudging them onto the path to wellness.
She waves away excuses with do-able, delicious ideas for getting dinner on the table in 15 minutes, baking up a low fat cheesecake (no one will ever guess) for a special dinner, while giving out motivating tips to help you stay on track.
Now, notice there’s no mention here of doing the dishes. Scott told me that preparations for each cooking segment included prepared ingredients for three shoots if necessary. “We didn’t rehearse,” he said.
Check it out and share the energy! Motivating and fun, Zonya dishes up an inspirational, educational “shot in the arm” each and every week on Zonya’s Health Bites
If you want to bring Zonya in to speak for your group (Great Idea!), email me at barbara@speakwellbeing.com or call 503-699-5031.
A New Angle for Morgan Spurlock and the Case Against Super-Sizing
Those of you who have been with me for a while know how I feel about fast food fallacies and the rhetoric (polite-speak) that comes out of their advertising and public relations departments.
Zonya and I are big fans of Morgan Spurlock and his experiment with McDonald’s (see past issues of FYWB). I was thrilled to see Morgan will be one of the closing keynote speakers at the National Wellness Conference, July 9-14, in Stevens Point, WI, this summer. And there in the brochure, right next to his photo is our very own Jana Stanfield (he must be the warm-up act, what do you think?).
Well, there’s more. I hope Morgan hears about this so he can add it to his arsenal.
A new report at last week’s Experimental Biology Meeting in San Diego revealed that super-sizing at fast food restaurants does more than add calories. University of Wisconsin researchers said the initial 67 cents saved from just one extra-large meal was offset by $1.57 spent on medical costs. And that’s not to mention that it has an additional 400 calories and 36 grams of fat.
As they say, it all adds up.
Menopause the Musical: “Taking Over the World”
Attention Bay Area readers and visitors to San Francisco: “Menopause the Musical” is opening April 28 at Theatre 39.
You may remember I went to see it last fall in Fort Smith, Arkansas, when Sparks Regional Medical Center brought the show in for their annual Woman to Woman conference.
I loved what Sam Hurwitt had to say in his preview in The San Francisco Chronicle: “There’s no easy way to put this, and there’s nowhere to run: Jeanie Linders is building an army of menopausal women in cities all over the country, and all signs indicate she’s well on her way to taking over the world.”
Jeanie, is, of course, the creator of the show.
It has been playing off-Broadway for three years with open runs in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and its native Orlando, and in the past few months, has added Atlanta, Charlotte, Indianapolis and now San Francisco. On the world stage, it’s playing in Australia, Israel, Mexico and the Philippines, with South Africa slated for September, and South Korea next year.
Laughing through menopause definitely has universal appeal. I still play my CD whenever I want to have my own private sing-along and smile from ear to ear.
It will be running indefinitely. 8 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 2 p.m. Wed. and Sun. and 4 p.m. Sat. Theatre 39, Beach Street and Embarcadero, San Francisco. Tickets are $46.50. (415) 433-3939,
And, speaking of change, please add my new email address barbara@speakwellbeing.com to your email address book, especially if you have s*pam filters. Don’t worry if you forget or lose it, the old email and URL will point to the new ones.
Until next time, be good to yourself, for your well being and those you love.
Yours truly,
Barbara
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ABOUT OUR SERVICES
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My vision for The Speak Well Being Group is to be a connector for speakers I know, love and believe in, with the audiences who will be inspired, motivated, and transformed by their perspectives, knowledge, and, most importantly, capacity to enjoy the process, laughing at themselves and with you along the way.
You’ll find many of our speakers on our website.
Or please call anytime and let us assist you: 503-699-5031
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