Brown Bag Diet

You can make "Just Say No", work for you

2011-03-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

When Nancy Reagen was the first lady she started a campaign against drug addiction with the slogan "Just Say No!" That sounded pretty foolish to expect someone with a physical dependance to Just Say No. After all their bodies had developed a reliance on these drugs.

So how could Nancy expect them to go cold turkey?

Wait a minute you say. I'm not an addict so why are we talking about drugs and addicts?

We're talking about addiction because while most people who need to lose weight are not addicted to their bad eating habits but they have become "Habituated" and depend on the wrong sources to feed these wrong habits.

Well now we're back to talking about cold turkey and that's not easy, right? Well it might not be the easiest thing to do but I'll give you some clues on how it can become easier. And guess what?

It works.

Now for the clues:

(Remember: As we discussed earlier, Portion Control and Awareness are two of the most important keys to your success.)

Now, make a short JUST SAY NO LIST of the foods you eat when you start losing control and wind up falling off the wagon (seriously depart from you diet program). Write them down on a piece of paper that will fit in your shirt pocket. Keep it in your pocket or if you don't have pockets keep it somewhere that's real handy.

Let's say that when you're tired at the end of the day or when you get frustrated or when you have an unconfortable disagreement at work or with your spouse these foods just find you and pretty soon you're up to your ears in
ice cream or
beer or
cookies or
candy or
crackers or
bread or
pastry or
whatever.

Now you have your list and when that urge comes on you pull out your JUST SAY NO list and read it out loud. If it embarrasses you, take the list with you to the bathroom and read it softly, but out loud.

You know what good can come of this? If you have the right attitude and really want to succeed in your diet program, after you have taken 20 or 30 seconds to read your list and if need be repeat it, your temptation will subside. And when you keep doing this the urge will either go away or it will calm down so you can exercise you will to JUST SAY NO.

Let me know if this tip helped you. You can post a note on this blog or send me an email on ErwinRPh@gmail.com

Who is the worlds fattest man over 90 years old?

2009-07-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

I interrupt this blog for this important question:

Who is the worlds fattest man over 90 years old?
I just read a review of an article from the respected "Science Magazine" that told of a long term scientific experiment with rhesus monkeys. It said that those monkeys on a resctricted diet not only live longer but they show far fewer signs of aging in both their bodies and brains. This got me thinking about finding the oldest person I could find who was at least 300 pounds overweight.

I scanned the internet and found lots of super- heavyweights but they were all relatively young. Think of it. The average life expectancy for men is at least in the middle 70's to 80's. Many people are now living to see 100. And the question is do fat people make it to those higher ages?
Or are many people who live into upper old age those who have changed their eating habits and gotten slimmer? I've looked and I didn't find too many obese elderly in the nursing homes I've visited.

If you know of super-heavyweights in their 90's and above let me know. In the meantime I've posted some exerpts from the review article I saw about the monkeys so you can have another reason, another incentive to get with your diet program and stick to it.

Write me Erwin RF. Send your email to brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Shattering Myths

Many centenarians are remarkably robust. The New England Centenarian Study (NECS), initially a collaboration between Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, now moved to Boston University Medical Center, has found that:
One quarter of the 169 study subjects—all of whom were at least 100—were completely free of any significant cognitive disorders and even surpassed the research interviewers on some mental tests.
Fifteen percent still lived independently in their own homes.
Some still held jobs.
Medical expenses for centenarians are significantly lower than for those in their sixties and seventies.
Most are uncommonly healthy until the very end of their lives.
Conventional wisdom says people inevitably decline into worsening health and senility when they reach their eighties, nineties, and beyond. In reality, centenarians, 80% of whom are women, are actually healthier as a group than people 20 years their junior. They have somehow managed to weather the stresses of life and avoid major threats like heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease.
Good Genes, Stress-Resistance, and Determination
Researchers are beginning to understand how centenarians reach this amazing milestone. In their book describing the NECS, Thomas Perls, MD, and Margery Silver, MD, point to characteristics shared by most of the 169 people they studied:
Good longevity genes
Emotional resilience—ability to adapt to life's events
Resistance to stress—excellent coping skills
Self-sufficiency
Intellectual activity
Good sense of humor, including about themselves
Religious beliefs
Strong connections with other people
Low blood pressure
Appreciation of simple pleasures and experiences
Women tend to have borne children after age 40
Zest for life
Don't currently smoke or drink heavily
Many play musical instruments
Follow an anti-inflammatory diet that has been linked with longevity (eg, Mediterranean diet)

Some Are Genetically Privileged
If any of your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and siblings have lived to extreme old age and if your family has a low incidence of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart disease—congratulations! You are considered to have optimal anti-aging genes and have a great chance to make it to 100 if you take reasonable care of yourself.

Tips for a Longer, Healthier Life
"The average person is born with strong enough longevity genes to live to 85 and maybe longer," Dr. Perls believes. "People who take appropriate preventive steps may add as many as ten quality years to that. The vast majority of baby boomers do a terrible job preparing for old age," he continues. Many consume high fat diets, smoke, drink excessively, and don't exercise.
We have great potential to extend our lives, researchers say, if we just take care of ourselves.

Tune Up Your Attitude
Reduce stress—Try meditation, exercise, or yoga. You can learn to modify your responses to negative situations even if you can't change your basic personality
Stay connected with other people—Social support is vital and maintaining close relationships is associated with better physical and mental health.
Cultivate optimism—A Mayo Clinic study shows that optimists live longer and have better health, because pessimism may lower immune system responsiveness and enhance tumor growth. Good news: an excessively pessimistic outlook on life is changeable. Brief programs can change your thinking about life events and lower the risk for physical illness and even death.

Watch Your Diet
Emphasize fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fiber, and polyunsaturated fats.
Avoid cholesterol, saturated fat, and hydrogenated fat (red meat, egg yolks, fast food burgers, and fries, etc), which are linked to heart disease, breast cancer, and prostate cancer.
Avoid refined sugar and excessive calorie intake.
Avoid processed foods and those supplemented with high fructose corn syrup.
One glass of red wine a day still appears to lower the risk of heart disease.
Drink green tea, which has antioxidants that may fight cancers.
Consider taking antioxidant supplements like vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium. But if you choose this path, be sure to follow the medical literature on vitamin risks.
Consider supplementing your diet with omega 3 fatty acids.

Exercise: Even a Little Helps
Many of the centenarians in the NECS had lived in second and third floor apartments of three-family houses. This afforded them a perfect opportunity for daily weight-bearing exercise—walking stairs—which builds muscle mass.
Just 15-30 minutes a day of walking or bicycling is enough to gain longevity benefits and reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Resistance exercise—for example, walking up stairs or hills—guards against loss of muscle mass and benefits the heart. Exercise also provides a sense of well-being and helps maintain an agile and alert brain.

Use Your Head
According to the NECS researchers, retaining cognitive capacity "most often determines whether people can attain extreme old age while remaining active." Here is a sampling of mental workouts that can keep the brain razor-sharp as you age:
Crossword and jigsaw puzzles
Playing bridge
Learning foreign languages
Playing musical instruments
Learning dance steps
Writing
Sports, including yoga and tai chi
Taking classes
Traveling
Memory training
Experiencing the new and unfamiliar

Floss Your Teeth!
You heard right. Flossing may help prevent heart disease. The last of Dr. Perls' pearls cites preliminary evidence that inflamed gums release substances into the bloodstream that cause clogged arteries. Whether or not it will help you live longer, flossing keeps your gums healthy, prevents tooth loss, and—with all those shining teeth—gives you a nicer smile, too.
DISCUSSION
There are many factors accounting for the longevity of centenarians, inclu ding congenital factors (heredity) and acquired factors such as environment, m ental state, diet and nutrition, physical exercise, life style and behavior. Am ong these factors, diet and nutrition are important in building immunity and in affecting the occurrence of angiocardiopathy, cerebrovascular diseases and malig nant tumors.
As shown in Table 1, the staple foods of the centenarians were low in calories, protein and fat, but high in fiber and rich in mineral substances. Their foods equate to 1419kCal/d, although it suggested that adults taking part in man ual labor need an average 3000kCal/d. According to the FAO/WHO, a 30% decreas e is suggested for persons above the age of 70,£Û2£Ýwhich means that 2100kCal/ d is needed for centenarians. There is a significant difference between these t wo figures (P<0. 01). The daily consumption of protein and fat of cente narians is low (P<0. 01) compared to the standards of modern nutrition. Thi s may be one of the factors which lead to longevity, but its mechanism remains u nknown.
The typical diet of Japanese centenarians shows dried sweet potato slices as the ir main staple food which is very similar to the diet of Chinese centenarians, leading to the question of whether dried sweet potato slices play a role in pro moting good health and long life. Dried sweet potato slices contain low fat, hi gh fiber and are rich in mineral substances. Among various cereals, the sweet p otato is low in calories. This factor may slow down the occurrence of arteriosc lerosis and avoid the ossurrence of life threatening diseases such as angiocardi opathy, cerebrovascular diseases and maligmant tumors.
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Newsweek: How to Live to 100
Newsweek
How to Live to 100Decrepitude isn’t inevitable. New research shows we all have the tools to live longer lives and die faster deaths.June 30, 1997
By Geoffrey Cowley
At 104, Angeline Strandal doesn’t place much stock in doctors. “If they start poking around you,” she says, “they’ll only make you sick.” The Massachusetts centenarian does go in for a physical once in a while, but she hasn’t been seriously ill since the time she came down with appendicitis–in 1925. “People ask me what I eat,” she says. “I’m a vegetarian, more or less. I never smoked. I don’t drink either. That’s one of my good qualities. And I keep my bedroom window open 365 days a year.” Strandal has outlived 11 siblings and a husband, who died back in 1931, but she still cooks every day except Sunday for her 67-year-old daughter and her 69-year-old son. She also catches a daily mass on TV, roots faithfully for the Boston Red Sox and loves nothing more than a good heavyweight fight. “Every day I ask God to give me one more day,” she muses. “And believe it or not, he does.”
We baby boomers may soon find ourselves emulating Angeline Strandal, or someone like her, as devoutly as we once did Jim Morrison. We’ve watched our parents or grandparents die in their 70s–often sick, lonely and helpless–and we’re beginning to sense that life should be longer and richer than that. “When the boomers started turning 50, it was like the start of the Oklahoma land rush,” says Dan Perry, director of the Washington-based Alliance for Aging Research. Surveys by Perry’s organization suggest that today’s 50-year-olds are suddenly serious about living to 100, and keen to get there in reasonably good health.
“They don’t want to spend any time at all in a nursing home,” he says. “The fear of losing independence and the ability to fend for oneself is overwhelming.”
Well, it turns out we may have a say in the matter. A growing body of research suggests that chronic illness is not an inevitable consequence of aging, as we’ve long believed, but more often the result of lifestyle choices that we’re perfectly free to reject. “People used to say, ‘Who would want to be 100?’ ” says Dr. Thomas Perls, an instructor at Harvard Medical School and director of the New England Centenarian Study. “Now they’re realizing it’s an opportunity.” So are booksellers and magazine publishers. “Live long, die fast,” the dust jackets urge us. “Dare to be 100.” Many of us will fall short of that number simply through bad genes or bad luck. And high-tech medicine isn’t likely to change the outlook dramatically; drugs and surgery can do only so much to sustain a body once it starts to fail. But there is no question we can lengthen our lives while shortening our deaths. The tools already exist, and they’re within virtually everyone’s reach.
Life expectancy in the United States has nearly doubled since Angeline Strandal was a kid–from 47 years to 76 years. And though centenarians are still rare, they now constitute the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population. Their ranks have increased 16-fold over the past six decades–from 3,700 in 1940 to roughly 61,000 today. And the explosion is just getting started. The Census Bureau projects that one in nine baby boomers (9 million of the 80 million people born between 1946 and 1964) will survive into their late 90s, and that one in 26 (or 3 million) will reach 100. “A century ago, the odds of living that long were about one in 500,” says Lynn Adler, founder of the National Centenarian Awareness Project and the author of “Centenarians: The Bonus Years.” “That’s how far we’ve come.” If decrepitude were an inevitable part of aging, these burgeoning numbers would spell trouble. But the evidence suggests that Americans are living better, as well as longer. The disability rate among people older than 65 has fallen steadily since the early 1980s, according to Duke University demographer Kenneth Manton, and a shrinking percentage of seniors are plagued by hypertension, arteriosclerosis and dementia. Moreover, researchers have found that the oldest of the old often enjoy better health than people in their 70s. The 79 centenarians in Perls’s New England study have all lived independently through their early 90s, taking an average of just one medication. And when the time comes for these hearty souls to die, they don’t linger. In a 1995 study, James Lubitz of the Health Care Financing Administration calculated that medical expenditures for the last two years of life–statistically the most expensive–average ">2,600 for people who die at 70, but just $8,300 for those who make it past 100.
These insights have spawned a revolution in the science of aging. “Until recently, there was so much preoccupation with disease that little work was done on the characteristics that permit people to do well,” says Dr. John Rowe, the New York geriatrician who heads the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on Successful Aging. Over the past decade, Rowe’s group and others have published hundreds of studies elucidating the factors that help people glide through their later years with clear minds and strong bodies. The research confirms the old saw that it pays to choose your parents well. But the way we age depends less on who we are than on how we live–what we eat, how much we exercise and how we employ our minds.
The Magic of Exercise
Suppose there was a potion that could keep you strong and trim as you aged, while protecting your heart and bones; improving your mood, sleep and memory; warding off breast and colon cancer, and reducing your overall risk of dying prematurely.
Respectable studies have shown that exercise can have all those benefits–even for people who take it up late in life. Experts now agree that most of the physical decline that older people suffer stems not from age but from simple disuse. When we sit all day, year after year, our bones, muscles and organ systems atrophy. But exercise can preserve and even revive them.
When Dr. Ralph Paffenbarger started tracking the health of 19,000 Harvard and University of Pennsylvania alumni back in the early 1960s, many experts thought vigorous exercise was downright dangerous for people over 50. But by monitoring the volunteers’ activity levels and health status over the years, the Stanford epidemiologist turned that wisdom on its head. In a landmark 1986 study, Paffenbarger showed that the participants’ death rates fell in direct proportion to the number of calories they burned each week. Those burning 2,000 a week (roughly the number it takes to walk 20 miles) suffered only half the annual mortality of the couch potatoes, thanks mainly to a lower rate of heart disease.
The alumni study wasn’t set up to gauge the benefits of any particular exercise regimen, but subsequent studies have shown that different activities bring different rewards. Everyone now agrees that aerobic exercise preserves the heart, lungs and brain. And researchers at Tufts University have recently shown that weight lifting can do as much for the frail elderly as it does for high-school jocks. When Dr. Maria Fiatarone got 10 chronically ill nursing-home residents to lift weights three times a week for two months, the participants’ average walking speed nearly tripled, and their balance improved by half. Two had the audacity to throw away their canes.
Miriam Nelson, another Tufts researcher, has since shown how a series of simple strength-training exercises could help keep women from resorting to canes in the first place. She recruited 40 volunteers–all past menopause, none taking estrogen–and split them into two groups. Half continued life as usual, while the other half went to Tufts twice a week to pump iron. Over the course of a year, the women in the control group suffered a predictable loss of bone density, but the weight lifters enjoyed slight increases. They didn’t lose weight (that wasn’t the goal), but they lost fat, and many ended up measurably stronger than their daughters, who were 30 to 40 years younger. Dorothy Barron, who was 64 when she joined Nelson’s experiment, says the experience not only remodeled her body but gave her more energy and confidence than she had had since her youth. Five years later, she still lifts weights–and she has added power walking, horseback riding and white-water rafting to her hobbies. When people ask why she pushes herself so hard, she replies, “I’m too old not to.”
Eating to Nourish Long Life
We all know that living on fat, salt and empty calories can have a range of nasty consequences, from obesity and impotence to hypertension and heart disease. Yet we seem to forget that there are other ways to eat, and that people who adopt them stay younger longer. George and Gaynel Couron will never forget that lesson. The Sacramento, Calif., couple gave up eating meat back in the early 1920s, when they became Seventh-day Adventists. They eventually strayed from the church and its dietary edicts, but they returned to both in 1943, when George suffered a heart attack. Today he’s 100 years old, and Gaynel is 98. They’ve been married for 81 years and have 14 kids ranging in age from 58 to 80. They have slowed down a bit (they’re not planning any more children), but George still takes great delight in growing and eating his own tomatoes, melons, beets, squash and black-eyed peas. As he puts it, “We’re still perking along.” No one can say exactly what role food has played in the Courons’ good fortune, but the age-reversing effects of a plant-based diet are not in question. In controlled studies, San Francisco cardiologist Dean Ornish has shown that a diet based on low-fat, nutrient-rich foods not only prevents heart disease–the Western world’s leading cause of early death–but can help reverse it. And other studies suggest that dietary changes could virtually eliminate the high blood pressure that places 50 million older Americans at high risk of stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.
“Hypertension is not an inevitable part of aging,” says Dr. Boyd Eaton, an Atlanta-based radiologist who has written extensively on nutrition and chronic illness. “It’s a disease of civilization.” You wouldn’t know that from watching people age in this country. Hypertension afflicts a third of all Americans in their 50s, half of those in their 60s and more than two thirds of those over 70. But preindustrial people don’t follow that pattern. Whether they happen to live in China or Africa, Alaska or the Amazon, people in primitive settings experience no change in blood pressure as they age, and the reason is fairly simple: they don’t eat processed foods. Dr. Paul Whelton of Tulane University’s School of Public Health has spent the past decade tracking 15,000 indigenous Yi people in southwestern China. As long as they eat a traditional diet–rice, a little meat and a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables–these rural farmers virtually never develop hypertension. But when they migrate to nearby towns, their blood pressure starts to rise with age. “Their genes don’t change when they move,” Whelton says. “Their diet does.”
What makes processed food so harmful? Salt is one key suspect. When you subsist mainly on fresh plant foods–as our ancestors did for roughly 7 million years–you get 10 times more potassium than sodium. That 10-to-one ratio is, by Eaton’s reasoning, the one our bodies are designed for. But salt is now showered on foods at every stage of processing and preparation (a 4-ounce tomato contains 9 mg of sodium, 4 ounces of bottled tomato sauce nearly 700 mg), while potassium leaches out. As a result, most of us now consume more salt than potassium. “Modern humans are the only mammals that do that,” says Eaton, “and we’re the only ones that develop hypertension.” Correcting that imbalance takes some effort, but it doesn’t require moving to the bush. In fact a recent clinical study suggests that dietary changes can reduce blood pressure as markedly as drug treatment, and can produce results in as little as two months. In the study (known as DASH, or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), researchers at several institutions placed volunteers on one of three diets. Those on a low-fat menu that included 10 daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables, plus two servings of calcium-rich dairy products, reduced their systolic and diastolic readings by 5.5 mm and 3.0 mm, respectively. And those suffering from hypertension got reductions of twice that magnitude. “We suspected this was possible,” says nutritionist Eva Obarzanek of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the federal agency that sponsored the study. “Now we know the size of the effect.”
Researchers have since shown that a simple potassium supplement can bring similar if less dramatic benefits. That’s worth knowing, but keep in mind that potassium is just one of countless age fighters found in real food. The antioxidant vitamins in a tomato or a green leaf can help boost immunity and slow the corrosion of aging cell membranes, and the B vitamins may help protect your heart. By eating plants, you also bathe yourself in cancer-fighting phytochemicals, bone-saving calcium and the fiber needed to maintain the colon and modulate blood sugar. Best of all, you can down them by the bushel without getting fat.

If they do I'd like to find out about it. Send me their stories.

Why do you reach a weight plateau. I'm still at 176 pounds

2009-06-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm on a plateau right now. I think I've been doing the right things on my program but I've stopped making progress. How can that be?

Almost everyone who diets to lose weight reaches a point where they stop losing weight for no apparent reason. They eat the same size portions, eat the right foods and do the same amount of exercise but they are stuck at the same weight.

Here's what's happening Our bodies have been losing right along and our body detects that we aren't getting the same quantities and same calories that it was formerly used to. A physical defense mechanism sets in and our body in effect tells all of its systems to conserve, to slow down, to be more efficient with the food it gets. It doesn't realize that we want to keep contracting or losing weight. It thinks we are making a mistake and physiologically it is going to correct this mistake. It tries to make one calorie act like two and thus keep us on this no lose plateau.

Don't worry. Don't fret and don't let your underwear bunch up on you. Your body will get used to your new lower weight and let you get on with your business of losing weight. Just "STAY the Course" and it will all work out. Naturally our watchword/slogan for this lesson is:

"STAY the COURSE".

Contact me at brownbagdiet@gmail.com or leave your comments below.

Sorry for the absence of 2 months but I'm still on track

2009-06-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence of 2 months but I'm still on track at 176 pounds.

Last time I reported I was at 178 pounds but since that time I had a little mishap. I thought hiking was a good way to get my exercise in and on a hiking trip I suffered a fall. The contusion on the long bone in my leg was severe but I didn't break anything or so they told me at the emergency room I visited. However the pain was getting worse and worse. So ten days later, after I returned home, I went to my Dr. who told me I had several fractures on one foot around my ankles. Fortunately everything remained in line and I avoided the need for surgery. However I spent the next two months in what they called an air boot. This is a device that acts somewhat like a cast but you can remove it to shower and when going to sleep. At any rate two months later my Dr. told me I had good bone formation and discharged me.

What has all this to do with weight loss? Simply put, life is complicated. Although I expected a smooth program for weight reduction this complication got in the way of my concentrating on my task to lose weight. However in the preceding weeks on my diet program I developed pretty good eating habits. During the entire time in which I had the air boot I never once got on the scale. I didn't try to follow my diet but to my surprise during the preceding weeks I had already developed some pretty good eating habits and those good habits paid off.

Although two months passed before I got on the scale again I was surprised to find that I hadn't gained weight. And I'm on the downtrend again with another two pound weight loss.

So what does this prove? It's simple. Good things happen when you develop good habits and bad things continue to happen when you never start or never try to go on a sensible weight loss program. I suppose we could adopt a new watchword/slogan that expresses this idea. That is Good things happen when you try - so keep trying.

You can contact me at brownbagdiet@gmail.com or post you comment on this blog.
Good luck.

I lost three more pounds on the Brown Bag Diet

2009-04-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

I lost three more pounds on the Brown Bag Diet. Now I'm at 178.
April 5th 2009

It wasn't easy but I went back to the basics. AWARENESS, PORTION CONTROL & EAT BY THE CLOCK.

As you know, the last time I reported I had slipped off the track and actually gained two pounds. So I went back to the drawing board to find the three principles (Watchword/Slogans) that helped me lose weight as I started this program. It helped me lose the two pounds I had gained plus put another pound into the loss column.

You can see by my slow weight loss that this is not one of those weekend starvation programs. But you can see how plugging at it little by little I'm shedding the pounds. I'm still not slim enough to fit into my old army fatigues. But with an additional five pound loss I should be able to squeeze into them.

So today's watchword/slogan is: KEEP ON PLUGGING. You can reach your goal if you stay with the course.

Of course you can reach me at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com. And if you do write me I'll try to cheer you on so you too can begin or continue your weight loss program.

Weight Loss Report # 5 - getting with it - again

2009-03-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

Weight Loss report # 5 181 pounds.

This doesn't seem like good news since it's a gain of two pounds instead of a loss.
I'm suffering from two weekends of backsliding. But the important thing is not to focus on the bad but to figure out what has to be done to get back to a positive outcome.

I'm still down four pounds from the start and I'm not going to try to starve those extra two pounds off. That would only lead to another relapse. I'm pretty sure that returning to my diet schedule instead of trying to make up for the lapse will be the most effective in the long run.

So today's watchword/slogan is - GET BACK ON THE HORSE (your regular schedule of dieting. You know what they say if you fall off a horse? Get back on the horse - and keep riding. That's what I'm going to do.

If you'd like to tell me how you're doing with your diet program write me, Erwin Posner at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com.

Weight Loss Report - 4 - the Brown Bag Diet - 179 pounds

2009-03-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

Weight Loss Report - 4 - the Brown Bag Diet - 179 pounds

The weight is still coming off - but slowly. I'm pleased that I've lost 6 pounds but it seems painfully slow. But then again it is 6 real pounds that have stayed off since Feb. 4th. That's not a weekend of crash dieting only to return to the original weight or more.

So what is the lesson here? I think the lesson is a well used adage that, "Slow and steady wins the race" or "The slower it comes off the longer it stays off".

So let's remember that this lesson's wathchword is, Slow & Steady.

Remember to send your comments and suggestions to me at:
Brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Weight Loss Report -3- the Brown Bag Diet

2009-03-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

Weight Loss Report - 3 - the Brown Bag Diet - 180 pounds

Things are slowing down a bit. I had a two pound loss from Feb. 12Th but considering I began at 185 pounds I'm satisfied with my 5 pound loss to date.

Our last watchword was "PORTION CONTROL". That is so important. And so is the next. Remember we started with "PLAN AHEAD". Now we add the watchword, "Eat by the Clock".

When you plan your eating for the day decide when you will eat each meal. If you decide that 12:30 to 1:00 PM is lunchtime don't start cheating by snacking at 12:15. It's a lot easier to refrain from silly eating habits when you know exactly what time your next meal is scheduled.

So keep this watchword handy. It will help you get through the day without breaking down and spoiling your diet plans.

Any questions? Write me, Erwin Posner, at BrownBagDiet@gmail .com

Weight Loss Report - 2 - the Brown Bag Diet

2009-02-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Weight Loss Report - 2 - the Brown Bag Diet

In my last report was on Feb 12Th I weighed in at 185 pounds. The weight is coming off slowly. Today I weighed in at 182 pounds. Although I'd like to show some dramatic results for these ten days, I'm satisfied with a three pound loss. You know that the hardest part is getting started.

As I said last time, my contribution to our economic stimulus is to change our business model from Brown Bag Diet clubs to the Brown Bag Diet Blog. You can get a full refund of any funds you paid to the clubs we were establishing by simply returning to your club facilitator for your refund.

In the last post we discussed setting a goal and keeping your focus on what, when and how you eat. Now we have to turn our attention to how much you eat. Just this week a new medical study reported that over 800 volunteers were put on various diets. Some on low carb, some on low protein as well as other diets. All the volunteers lost weight and it didn't matter what diet they chose. What did matter was how much they ate.

So you see the importance of, "PORTION CONTROL", which is our next watchword. This lesson is simple and short. Stay focused on what you are eating. Keep the watchword, "AWARENESS" always in your mind. Now add the next watchword, "Portion Control", to your list and you will be well on your way to success.

Write me for special tips on how to improve your portion control. Send your email to:

Erwin Posner, R.Ph. at: BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

FREE membership in Brown Bag Diet Club

2009-02-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

IF YOU'RE HURTING DUE TO THE RECESSION - THEN WE'RE ALL HURTING. THAT'S WHY I'M CHANGING OUR BUSINESS MODEL TO FREE MEMBERSHIP - IN THE BROWN BAG DIET CLUB FOR THE DURATION OF THE RECESSION.

And that's not the only change I'm making. I'm not only writing the material for the club but I'm also joining as an official member dedicated to losing weight.

And I will post my own weight each time as I continue towards my goal weight.

So to start with, today I weigh 185 pounds with a goal weight of 165 pounds.

I don't think it will be easy to lose 20 pounds. I don't think they will just fall off. But I'm starting today and I invite all of you to join me in this effort. Let's begin by setting some short term goals and we can go on from there.

In my case I plan to lose an average of not less than one pound per week. That may seem a small goal especially when you read about all those miracle diets that claim to erase pounds quicker and easier than you can erase a chalk board.
But I'm in it for the long pull and at the end of 20 weeks I hope to look at myself sideways in the mirror and notice a remarkable improvement.

Now that I've set the goal my next step is going to be to plan what I will eat during this dieting period. Notice that I make a point of emphasizing plan. That's because one of the most important slogans in my watchword/slogan system is "Plan Ahead".

When combined with the other most important watchword,
"Portion Control" they form the primary keys to the success of the
"Brown Bag Diet" program. If you already have a favorite diet you can begin immediately with me to plan your next day's menu and prepare yourself to stay within the confines of your portion limitations.

For those of you who have not yet chosen a diet program to follow please send your email to me and I will try to suggest some common standard programs.

Send your email to Erwin Posner at
Brownbagdiet@gmail.com and put menu selection in the subject line of your email.

Easy way to a Bocca Beach Body

2009-02-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

Easy way to a Boca Beach Body

Maybe you had a Boca Beach Body and maybe you didn't but one thing is certain. Your "bod" was a lot closer to "Beach Perfect" than it is today. There are lots of ways to find an answer to getting into better shape than you are now but one of the easiest
is to get on board with the Brown Bag Diet program.

The Brown Bag Diet isn't a diet at all. It's a motivational system that helps you stay on any proper diet. It helps you to stay focused on each day's task. It helps you concentrate your power and energy on achieving your short term goals.

Finally when you reach your long term goal you may still not have a "Boca Beach Body" but you'll be a better you. You'll be a sharper looking you. You'll be a more energetic you. And you'll probably be a healthier you.

Want to know how to get started? Send me an email requesting starting material. Don't send money. Just send your request for starting on the "Brown Bag Diet" program to
Erwin Posner, Rph at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

My friends used to call me "fatty"

2009-02-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

They used to call me "fatty". Now they no longer call me names like fatty or moon face but they're jealous of my great looks and shape. And one more thing. Since most of my friends have gotten out of shape I help them get back to good looks and make money from them at the same time. It's just poetic justice.

Earn cash while you help others to lose weight

(We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club)

Send your request to sign up as a leader and for more information to:

Erwin Posner Brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Here’s the scenario: You want to lose weight so you can get a new job but you can’t seem to follow through with tips you’ve been reading. Sure there are laws that say employers can’t discriminate on the basis of weight. But be real. If you compete against 100 or more others you know the overweight persons have the least chance to catch the brass ring. You’re not alone. It just feels that way to you.

But while you’re looking for a new beginning how about helping yourself while you help others to get into better shape, weight wise. After all, if a bunch of reasonably intelligent people who need to become losers (of weight) put their minds together they will achieve success. But to do so they will need a leader, an organizer and a facilitator. And all of these rolled up in one person can be you.

We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club. These new leaders must be at least 20 pounds overweight.

Overweight? Yes. I don’t know about you but I’m sick of watching and listening to skinny models or athletic body builders preach about weight loss. I want a leader who is believable because he or she is going through the same process that I am when I am in the process of losing weight.

Questions & Answers

What makes the Brown Bag Diet Club unique?

The Brown Bag Diet Club will meet once a week to utilize a weekly motivational diet theme derived from material in my book, “The Brown Bag Diet- tips & Clues for dieters from the pharmacist’s notebook”. After the weekly weigh-in, the motivational tips, called “Watchword/Slogans”, will be discussed. Members of the club will be able to use this theme for at least the next week to keep them on track with their diet program.

What will the leader be expected to do?

The leader will recruit members, host the meetings and facilitate the group discussion.

How will I learn the material in order to facilitate the group discussion of the week?

If you are chosen as the leader/facilitator you will receive a weekly email. This will contain a discussion of the watchword/slogan for the week. Some of the most significant points will be summarized for you to print and distribute to the group. Individual members can keep these summaries handy to refer to like flash cards in order to maintain their weight loss program.

What other materials are available from the headquarters of Brown Bag Diet Club?

Leaders will receive links to non-commercial web sites that will be also helpful. These links can be passed out to the group in the course of the weekly discussion.

How much can I earn by participating as a leader in this club?

If you are chosen you will collect a modest fee of $5.00 per week from each participating member. A portion of that fee, approximately $1.50 per member, will be sent to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. The rest is yours. Each week you will report the number of members who attended to Club headquarters.

Since we expect each branch of our club to start out with small groups, possibly 4 to 10 members, it wouldn’t be practical to rent space for the weekly meetings. Therefore each leader must have adequate space in their home to accommodate a meeting of this size and must agree to host these meetings.

Will I have any start-up costs?

Yes, a very modest of $150.00. This is your guarantee fee to Brown Bag Diet Club national organization that your branch is serving 10 members for the first 10 weeks. It is non-refundable even if your group does not reach the 10 member size.

If you are chosen to establish a club in your immediate area you will receive start-up documents that represent the agreement between you and The Brown Bag Diet Club national organization. Complete the forms, sign and return to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. You must include your start-up fee of $ 150.00.

What does the first $150.00 cover?

This represents the amount of the fee you would be responsible to forward to Club headquarters if you have an attendance of 10 members, who pay you $5.00 each week, for a period of 10 weeks. You will be obligated to send $150.00 at the beginning of each 10 week period, whether you have 10 attendees or not.

What are some of the continuing costs?

At the start of each 10 week period you are responsible for sending the 10 member group guarantee of $150.00. You will be required to report attendance weekly and if your attendance exceeds 10 members you will need to send an additional $1.50 to headquarters for each member in excess of 10. There will be some minimum costs borne by you for printing material on your home computer that will be supplied to you by email from headquarters.

How much can I earn as a leader/facilitator in the Brown Bag Diet Club?

Your earnings are dependant of the number of members who you recruit to join you in this effort to lose weight. Remember, the weekly charge to members is a modest $5.00.
You get to keep $3.50 of this charge. You are responsible to pay a guarantee of $150.00 up-front in each 10 week meeting period. This fee in non- refundable. However it is credited towards the $1.50 fee per member per week required to be sent to headquarters.

If you begin by recruiting only an average of 3 members each week the fees you collect will allow you to break even with your $150.00 up-front fee. From then on you will earn a profit of $ 35.00 per member for each 10 week period.

Note: in the chart below your up front fee of $150.00 is credited towards the amount you will need to send to headquarters.

# of ...Fees you collect Fees you earn....Fees you keep
Members.per week........per week..........per 10 weeks

4.....20.00............14.00..........$-..50.00
5.....25.00............17.50.............100.00
6.....30.00............21.00.............150.00
7.....35.00............24.50.............200.00
8.....40.00............28.00.............250.00
9.....45.00............31.50.............300.00
10....50.00............35.00.............350.00
12....60.00............42.00.............420.00
15....75.00............52.50.............520.00
20....100.00...........70.00.............700.00

If I become a leader and my group averages 10 members I would earn a little more than $1,000.00 for a years effort. That’s not much.

True. The charges for membership are small and the profit is likewise modest. To keep costs down all material sent to leaders will be through email. The leader is expected to print it along with supplementary material for distribution to the members of his group.
But everyone wins with this program. You get to help others lose weight while you also lose weight. The benefit to you is more than the modest profit you can earn.

Send your request to sign up as a leader to Erwin Posner at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

Don't miss the chance to become a leader in the Brown Bag Diet Club

2009-02-01T21:11:00.001-08:00

Don't miss the chance to become the leader in your area of the Brown Bag Diet Club.

The current ten week period is starting on Thursday, Feb. 19th. To become a leader you must register prior to Feb 16th. Send for your application today to brownbagdiet@gmail.com and we will send you the forms you need to apply. Do it ASAP. You can lose weight and you can supplement your income, so act now.

Earn cash while you help others to lose weight

(We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club)

Send your request to sign up as a leader and for more information to:

Erwin Posner Brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Here’s the scenario: You want to lose weight so you can get a new job but you can’t seem to follow through with tips you’ve been reading. Sure there are laws that say employers can’t discriminate on the basis of weight. But be real. If you compete against 100 or more others you know the overweight persons have the least chance to catch the brass ring. You’re not alone. It just feels that way to you.

But while you’re looking for a new beginning how about helping yourself while you help others to get into better shape, weight wise. After all, if a bunch of reasonably intelligent people who need to become losers (of weight) put their minds together they will achieve success. But to do so they will need a leader, an organizer and a facilitator. And all of these rolled up in one person can be you.

We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club. These new leaders must be at least 20 pounds overweight.

Overweight? Yes. I don’t know about you but I’m sick of watching and listening to skinny models or athletic body builders preach about weight loss. I want a leader who is believable because he or she is going through the same process that I am when I am in the process of losing weight.

Questions & Answers

What makes the Brown Bag Diet Club unique?

The Brown Bag Diet Club will meet once a week to utilize a weekly motivational diet theme derived from material in my book, “The Brown Bag Diet- tips & Clues for dieters from the pharmacist’s notebook”. After the weekly weigh-in, the motivational tips, called “Watchword/Slogans”, will be discussed. Members of the club will be able to use this theme for at least the next week to keep them on track with their diet program.

What will the leader be expected to do?

The leader will recruit members, host the meetings and facilitate the group discussion.

How will I learn the material in order to facilitate the group discussion of the week?

If you are chosen as the leader/facilitator you will receive a weekly email. This will contain a discussion of the watchword/slogan for the week. Some of the most significant points will be summarized for you to print and distribute to the group. Individual members can keep these summaries handy to refer to like flash cards in order to maintain their weight loss program.

What other materials are available from the headquarters of Brown Bag Diet Club?

Leaders will receive links to non-commercial web sites that will be also helpful. These links can be passed out to the group in the course of the weekly discussion.

How much can I earn by participating as a leader in this club?

If you are chosen you will collect a modest fee of $5.00 per week from each participating member. A portion of that fee, approximately $1.50 per member, will be sent to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. The rest is yours. Each week you will report the number of members who attended to Club headquarters.

Since we expect each branch of our club to start out with small groups, possibly 4 to 10 members, it wouldn’t be practical to rent space for the weekly meetings. Therefore each leader must have adequate space in their home to accommodate a meeting of this size and must agree to host these meetings.

Will I have any start-up costs?

Yes, a very modest of $150.00. This is your guarantee fee to Brown Bag Diet Club national organization that your branch is serving 10 members for the first 10 weeks. It is non-refundable even if your group does not reach the 10 member size.

If you are chosen to establish a club in your immediate area you will receive start-up documents that represent the agreement between you and The Brown Bag Diet Club national organization. Complete the forms, sign and return to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. You must include your start-up fee of $ 150.00.

What does the first $150.00 cover?

This represents the amount of the fee you would be responsible to forward to Club headquarters if you have an attendance of 10 members, who pay you $5.00 each week, for a period of 10 weeks. You will be obligated to send $150.00 at the beginning of each 10 week period, whether you have 10 attendees or not.

What are some of the continuing costs?

At the start of each 10 week period you are responsible for sending the 10 member group guarantee of $150.00. You will be required to report attendance weekly and if your attendance exceeds 10 members you will need to send an additional $1.50 to headquarters for each member in excess of 10. There will be some minimum costs borne by you for printing material on your home computer that will be supplied to you by email from headquarters.

How much can I earn as a leader/facilitator in the Brown Bag Diet Club?

Your earnings are dependant of the number of members who you recruit to join you in this effort to lose weight. Remember, the weekly charge to members is a modest $5.00.
You get to keep $3.50 of this charge. You are responsible to pay a guarantee of $150.00 up-front in each 10 week meeting period. This fee in non- refundable. However it is credited towards the $1.50 fee per member per week required to be sent to headquarters.

If you begin by recruiting only an average of 3 members each week the fees you collect will allow you to break even with your $150.00 up-front fee. From then on you will earn a profit of $ 35.00 per member for each 10 week period.

Note: in the chart below your up front fee of $150.00 is credited towards the amount you will need to send to headquarters.

# of ...Fees you collect Fees you earn....Fees you keep
Members.per week........per week..........per 10 weeks

4.....20.00............14.00..........$-50.00
5.....25.00............17.50.............100.00
6.....30.00............21.00.............150.00
7.....35.00............24.50.............200.00
8.....40.00............28.00.............250.00
9.....45.00............31.50.............300.00
10....50.00............35.00...........350.00
12....60.00............42.00............420.00
15....75.00............52.50.............520.00
20....100.00...........70.00...........700.00

If I become a leader and my group averages 10 members I would earn a little more than $1,000.00 for a years effort. That’s not much.

True. The charges for membership are small and the profit is likewise modest. To keep costs down all material sent to leaders will be through email. The leader is expected to print it along with supplementary material for distribution to the members of his group.
But everyone wins with this program. You get to help others lose weight while you also lose weight. The benefit to you is more than the modest profit you can earn.

Send your request to sign up as a leader to Erwin Posner at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

Nobody calls you a, "FAT PIG", but you feel like one-but you can do something about it and make money too

2009-01-28T16:19:00.000-08:00

Nobody calls you a, "FAT PIG", but you feel like one. And you can do something about it. And while you're at it you can make money too.

Try the Brown Bag Diet program. Explore the program that has lead others to successful weight loss. In two minutes or less find out what you need for success. And Earn cash as a Leader in the Brown Bag Diet Club. Earn cash while you help others to lose weight

(We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club)

Send your request to sign up as a leader and for more information to:
Erwin Posner Brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Here’s the scenario: You want to lose weight so you can get a new job but you can’t seem to follow through with tips you’ve been reading. Sure there are laws that say employers can’t discriminate on the basis of weight. But be real. If you compete against 100 or more others you know the overweight persons have the least chance to catch the brass ring. You’re not alone. It just feels that way to you.

But while you’re looking for a new beginning how about helping yourself while you help others to get into better shape, weight wise. After all, if a bunch of reasonably intelligent people who need to become losers (of weight) put their minds together they will achieve success. But to do so they will need a leader, an organizer and a facilitator. And all of these rolled up in one person can be you.

We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club. These new leaders must be at least 20 pounds overweight.

Overweight? Yes. I don’t know about you but I’m sick of watching and listening to skinny models or athletic body builders preach about weight loss. I want a leader who is believable because he or she is going through the same process that I am when I am in the process of losing weight.
Questions & AnswersWhat makes the Brown Bag Diet Club unique?

The Brown Bag Diet Club will meet once a week to utilize a weekly motivational diet theme derived from material in my book, “The Brown Bag Diet- tips & Clues for dieters from the pharmacist’s notebook”. After the weekly weigh-in, the motivational tips, called “Watchword/Slogans”, will be discussed. Members of the club will be able to use this theme for at least the next week to keep them on track with their diet program.

What will the leader be expected to do?

The leader will recruit members, host the meetings and facilitate the group discussion.

How will I learn the material in order to facilitate the group discussion of the week?
If you are chosen as the leader/facilitator you will receive a weekly email. This will contain a discussion of the watchword/slogan for the week. Some of the most significant points will be summarized for you to print and distribute to the group. Individual members can keep these summaries handy to refer to like flash cards in order to maintain their weight loss program.

What other materials are available from the headquarters of Brown Bag Diet Club?
Leaders will receive links to non-commercial web sites that will be also helpful. These links can be passed out to the group in the course of the weekly discussion.

How much can I earn by participating as a leader in this club?

If you are chosen you will collect a modest fee of $5.00 per week from each participating member. A portion of that fee, approximately $1.50 per member, will be sent to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. The rest is yours.

Each week you will report the number of members who attended to Club headquarters.
Since we expect each branch of our club to start out with small groups, possibly 4 to 10 members, it wouldn’t be practical to rent space for the weekly meetings. Therefore each leader must have adequate space in their home to accommodate a meeting of this size and must agree to host these meetings.

Will I have any start-up costs?

Yes, a very modest of $150.00. This is your guarantee fee to Brown Bag Diet Club national organization that your branch is serving 10 members for the first 10 weeks. It is non-refundable even if your group does not reach the 10 member size.

If you are chosen to establish a club in your immediate area you will receive start-up documents that represent the agreement between you and The Brown Bag Diet Club national organization. Complete the forms, sign and return to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. You must include your start-up fee of $ 150.00.

What does the first $150.00 cover?

This represents the amount of the fee you would be responsible to forward to Club headquarters if you have an attendance of 10 members, who pay you $5.00 each week, for a period of 10 weeks. You will be obligated to send $150.00 at the beginning of each 10 week period, whether you have 10 attendees or not.

What are some of the continuing costs?

At the start of each 10 week period you are responsible for sending the 10 member group guarantee of $150.00. You will be required to report attendance weekly and if your attendance exceeds 10 members you will need to send an additional $1.50 to headquarters for each member in excess of 10. There will be some minimum costs borne by you for printing material on your home computer that will be supplied to you by email from headquarters.

How much can I earn as a leader/facilitator in the Brown Bag Diet Club?

Your earnings are dependant of the number of members who you recruit to join you in this effort to lose weight. Remember, the weekly charge to members is a modest $5.00. You get to keep $3.50 of this charge. You are responsible to pay a guarantee of $150.00 up-front in each 10 week meeting period. This fee in non- refundable. However it is credited towards the $1.50 fee per member per week required to be sent to headquarters.

If you begin by recruiting only an average of 3 members each week the fees you collect will allow you to break even with your $150.00 up-front fee. From then on you will earn a profit of $ 35.00 per member for each 10 week period. (see previous post for chart of income and profit.

Note:If I become a leader and my group averages 10 members I would earn a little more than $1,000.00 for a years effort. That’s not much.

True. The charges for membership are small and the profit is likewise modest. To keep costs down all material sent to leaders will be through email. The leader is expected to print it along with supplementary material for distribution to the members of his group. But everyone wins with this program. You get to help others lose weight while you also lose weight. The benefit to you is more than the modest profit you can earn.

Send your request to sign up as a leader to Erwin Posner at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

Starving will help you lose weight for a short time

2009-01-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

Starving will help you lose weight for a short time but there must be a better way.

There is. Try the Brown Bag Diet program. Explore the program that has lead others to successful weight loss. In two minutes or less find out what you need for success. And Earn cash. as a Leader in the Brown Bag Diet Club.

Earn cash while you help others to lose weight

(We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club)

Send your request to sign up as a leader and for more information to:

Erwin Posner Brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Here’s the scenario: You want to lose weight so you can get a new job but you can’t seem to follow through with tips you’ve been reading. Sure there are laws that say employers can’t discriminate on the basis of weight. But be real. If you compete against 100 or more others you know the overweight persons have the least chance to catch the brass ring. You’re not alone. It just feels that way to you.

But while you’re looking for a new beginning how about helping yourself while you help others to get into better shape, weight wise. After all, if a bunch of reasonably intelligent people who need to become losers (of weight) put their minds together they will achieve success. But to do so they will need a leader, an organizer and a facilitator. And all of these rolled up in one person can be you.

We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club. These new leaders must be at least 20 pounds overweight.

Overweight? Yes. I don’t know about you but I’m sick of watching and listening to skinny models or athletic body builders preach about weight loss. I want a leader who is believable because he or she is going through the same process that I am when I am in the process of losing weight.

Questions & Answers

What makes the Brown Bag Diet Club unique?

The Brown Bag Diet Club will meet once a week to utilize a weekly motivational diet theme derived from material in my book, “The Brown Bag Diet- tips & Clues for dieters from the pharmacist’s notebook”. After the weekly weigh-in, the motivational tips, called “Watchword/Slogans”, will be discussed. Members of the club will be able to use this theme for at least the next week to keep them on track with their diet program.

What will the leader be expected to do?

The leader will recruit members, host the meetings and facilitate the group discussion.

How will I learn the material in order to facilitate the group discussion of the week?

If you are chosen as the leader/facilitator you will receive a weekly email. This will contain a discussion of the watchword/slogan for the week. Some of the most significant points will be summarized for you to print and distribute to the group. Individual members can keep these summaries handy to refer to like flash cards in order to maintain their weight loss program.

What other materials are available from the headquarters of Brown Bag Diet Club?

Leaders will receive links to non-commercial web sites that will be also helpful. These links can be passed out to the group in the course of the weekly discussion.

How much can I earn by participating as a leader in this club?

If you are chosen you will collect a modest fee of $5.00 per week from each participating member. A portion of that fee, approximately $1.50 per member, will be sent to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. The rest is yours. Each week you will report the number of members who attended to Club headquarters.

Since we expect each branch of our club to start out with small groups, possibly 4 to 10 members, it wouldn’t be practical to rent space for the weekly meetings. Therefore each leader must have adequate space in their home to accommodate a meeting of this size and must agree to host these meetings.

Will I have any start-up costs?

Yes, a very modest of $150.00. This is your guarantee fee to Brown Bag Diet Club national organization that your branch is serving 10 members for the first 10 weeks. It is non-refundable even if your group does not reach the 10 member size.

If you are chosen to establish a club in your immediate area you will receive start-up documents that represent the agreement between you and The Brown Bag Diet Club national organization. Complete the forms, sign and return to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. You must include your start-up fee of $ 150.00.

What does the first $150.00 cover?

This represents the amount of the fee you would be responsible to forward to Club headquarters if you have an attendance of 10 members, who pay you $5.00 each week, for a period of 10 weeks. You will be obligated to send $150.00 at the beginning of each 10 week period, whether you have 10 attendees or not.

What are some of the continuing costs?

At the start of each 10 week period you are responsible for sending the 10 member group guarantee of $150.00. You will be required to report attendance weekly and if your attendance exceeds 10 members you will need to send an additional $1.50 to headquarters for each member in excess of 10. There will be some minimum costs borne by you for printing material on your home computer that will be supplied to you by email from headquarters.

How much can I earn as a leader/facilitator in the Brown Bag Diet Club?

Your earnings are dependant of the number of members who you recruit to join you in this effort to lose weight. Remember, the weekly charge to members is a modest $5.00.
You get to keep $3.50 of this charge. You are responsible to pay a guarantee of $150.00 up-front in each 10 week meeting period. This fee in non- refundable. However it is credited towards the $1.50 fee per member per week required to be sent to headquarters.

If you begin by recruiting only an average of 3 members each week the fees you collect will allow you to break even with your $150.00 up-front fee. From then on you will earn a profit of $ 35.00 per member for each 10 week period.

Note: in the chart below your up front fee of $150.00 is credited towards the amount you will need to send to headquarters.

# of ...Fees you collect Fees you earn....Fees you keep
Members.per week........per week..........per 10 weeks

4.....20.00............14.00............$-50.00
5.....25.00............17.50..............100.00
6.....30.00............21.00..............150.00
7.....35.00............24.50...............200.00
8.....40.00............28.00..............250.00
9.....45.00............31.50...............300.00
10....50.00............35.00.............350.00
12....60.00............42.00.............420.00
15....75.00............52.50..............520.00
20....100.00...........70.00...........700.00

If I become a leader and my group averages 10 members I would earn a little more than $1,000.00 for a years effort. That’s not much.

True. The charges for membership are small and the profit is likewise modest. To keep costs down all material sent to leaders will be through email. The leader is expected to print it along with supplementary material for distribution to the members of his group.
But everyone wins with this program. You get to help others lose weight while you also lose weight. The benefit to you is more than the modest profit you can earn.

Send your request to sign up as a leader to Erwin Posner at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

Earn cash as a Leader in the Brown Bag Diet Club

2009-01-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

Earn cash while you help others to lose weight

(We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club)

Send your request to sign up as a leader and for more information to:

Erwin Posner Brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Here’s the scenario: You want to lose weight so you can get a new job but you can’t seem to follow through with tips you’ve been reading. Sure there are laws that say employers can’t discriminate on the basis of weight. But be real. If you compete against 100 or more others you know the overweight persons have the least chance to catch the brass ring. You’re not alone. It just feels that way to you.

But while you’re looking for a new beginning how about helping yourself while you help others to get into better shape, weight wise. After all, if a bunch of reasonably intelligent people who need to become losers (of weight) put their minds together they will achieve success. But to do so they will need a leader, an organizer and a facilitator. And all of these rolled up in one person can be you.

We are looking for a few good men and women to become leaders, organizers and facilitators of our now forming, Brown Bag Diet Club. These new leaders must be at least 20 pounds overweight.

Overweight? Yes. I don’t know about you but I’m sick of watching and listening to skinny models or athletic body builders preach about weight loss. I want a leader who is believable because he or she is going through the same process that I am when I am in the process of losing weight.

Questions & Answers

What makes the Brown Bag Diet Club unique?

The Brown Bag Diet Club will meet once a week to utilize a weekly motivational diet theme derived from material in my book, “The Brown Bag Diet- tips & Clues for dieters from the pharmacist’s notebook”. After the weekly weigh-in, the motivational tips, called “Watchword/Slogans”, will be discussed. Members of the club will be able to use this theme for at least the next week to keep them on track with their diet program.

What will the leader be expected to do?

The leader will recruit members, host the meetings and facilitate the group discussion.

How will I learn the material in order to facilitate the group discussion of the week?

If you are chosen as the leader/facilitator you will receive a weekly email. This will contain a discussion of the watchword/slogan for the week. Some of the most significant points will be summarized for you to print and distribute to the group. Individual members can keep these summaries handy to refer to like flash cards in order to maintain their weight loss program.

What other materials are available from the headquarters of Brown Bag Diet Club?

Leaders will receive links to non-commercial web sites that will be also helpful. These links can be passed out to the group in the course of the weekly discussion.

How much can I earn by participating as a leader in this club?

If you are chosen you will collect a modest fee of $5.00 per week from each participating member. A portion of that fee, approximately $1.50 per member, will be sent to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. The rest is yours. Each week you will report the number of members who attended to Club headquarters.

Since we expect each branch of our club to start out with small groups, possibly 4 to 10 members, it wouldn’t be practical to rent space for the weekly meetings. Therefore each leader must have adequate space in their home to accommodate a meeting of this size and must agree to host these meetings.

Will I have any start-up costs?

Yes, a very modest of $150.00. This is your guarantee fee to Brown Bag Diet Club national organization that your branch is serving 10 members for the first 10 weeks. It is non-refundable even if your group does not reach the 10 member size.

If you are chosen to establish a club in your immediate area you will receive start-up documents that represent the agreement between you and The Brown Bag Diet Club national organization. Complete the forms, sign and return to Brown Bag Diet Club headquarters. You must include your start-up fee of $ 150.00.

What does the first $150.00 cover?

This represents the amount of the fee you would be responsible to forward to Club headquarters if you have an attendance of 10 members, who pay you $5.00 each week, for a period of 10 weeks. You will be obligated to send $150.00 at the beginning of each 10 week period, whether you have 10 attendees or not.

What are some of the continuing costs?

At the start of each 10 week period you are responsible for sending the 10 member group guarantee of $150.00. You will be required to report attendance weekly and if your attendance exceeds 10 members you will need to send an additional $1.50 to headquarters for each member in excess of 10. There will be some minimum costs borne by you for printing material on your home computer that will be supplied to you by email from headquarters.

How much can I earn as a leader/facilitator in the Brown Bag Diet Club?

Your earnings are dependant of the number of members who you recruit to join you in this effort to lose weight. Remember, the weekly charge to members is a modest $5.00.
You get to keep $3.50 of this charge. You are responsible to pay a guarantee of $150.00 up-front in each 10 week meeting period. This fee in non- refundable. However it is credited towards the $1.50 fee per member per week required to be sent to headquarters.

If you begin by recruiting only an average of 3 members each week the fees you collect will allow you to break even with your $150.00 up-front fee. From then on you will earn a profit of $ 35.00 per member for each 10 week period.

Note: in the chart below your up front fee of $150.00 is credited towards the amount you will need to send to headquarters.

# of ...Fees you collect Fees you earn....Fees you keep
Members.per week........per week..........per 10 weeks

4.....20.00............14.00............$-50.00
5.....25.00............17.50.............100.00
6.....30.00............21.00.............150.00
7.....35.00............24.50.............200.00
8.....40.00............28.00.............250.00
9.....45.00............31.50.............300.00
10....50.00............35.00.............350.00
12....60.00............42.00.............420.00
15....75.00............52.50.............520.00
20....100.00...........70.00.............700.00

If I become a leader and my group averages 10 members I would earn a little more than $1,000.00 for a years effort. That’s not much.

True. The charges for membership are small and the profit is likewise modest. To keep costs down all material sent to leaders will be through email. The leader is expected to print it along with supplementary material for distribution to the members of his group.
But everyone wins with this program. You get to help others lose weight while you also lose weight. The benefit to you is more than the modest profit you can earn.

Send your request to sign up as a leader to Erwin Posner at BrownBagDiet@gmail.com

FREE DIET FLASHCARDS- from Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

2008-08-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

FREE DIET FLASHCARDS-
from Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Those of you who read this blog know that the material it contains come from my book, "The Brown Bag Diet - tips & clues for dieters from the Pharmacist's Notebook". The motivational power of this diet book derives from the "Watchword System" and each chapter has a new watchword to stimulate you to stay on your diet.

A revolutionary, but simple, idea is portrayed by each watchword/slogan and the main ideas in these watchword chapters have been boiled down to a few empowering points. These are available as "Flash Cards".

I am now partnering with others to provide these Flash Cards free of charge to you when you order certain services from one the cooperating partners. Since we are still in negotiations I can't tell you who the partners are yet but you can send me a request to reserve the first two flashcards now by simply sending your email request to:
Erwin Posner, R.Ph., at
brownbagdiet@gmail.com
When the arrangements are complete, you will be one of the first to receive this information to get your first two Flash Cards, FREE.

As usual your comments are always welcome.

Now offering FREE BBD logo licensing for food products used by dieters

2008-05-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

The Brown Bag Diet program is a motivational one that helps dieters have the will to succeed. Since many food products are useful for dieters on their diet regimen, the Brown Bag Diet technique is helpful as an assist to use of these food products.

It's a natural marriage, says a consultant to the Brown Bag Diet program. She gave the example of a breakfast cereal as applying the BBD logo to their boxes of cereal.

Since a sensible diet begins with a proper breakfast a breakfast cereal maker would benefit by displaying the Brown Bag Diet logo on its packaging. The logo alerts potential customers that this food, when eaten in proper portions, will be a good candidate to be approved by their Dr. for dietitian for inclusion in their diet. In fact it's the Brown Bag Diet's "Seal of Approval".

BBD will offer one year free use of our logo for application to food product packaging. Use of this is contingent on being approved by the author of the BBD . For information on receiving the rights to apply the BBD logo to your food product write to: The Brown Bag Diet, c/o Erwin Posner, 28422 Tavistock Tr., Southfield, MI 480134 or send your request to:

BrownBagDiet@aol.com.

This is a limited time offer. Please allow 1o to 14 days for a response.

The Bare Naked Lady Diet - works for guys too

2008-04-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Naked truth that most wishful thinking dieters don't want to admit.

(Most of us believe the clothes we wear make us look thinner than we really are)

One of our readers gave me this hint. She says this helped her lose 40 pounds. It can work for you too.

Our correspondent said she was sick of not getting anywhere on her diet. She read the tips & clues in the Brown Bag Diet and they were very good. The only thing was although she kept promising herself to put them into action she never did. Worse than that, her weight just kept climbing up even as she was dreaming of losing weight.

So one day just after she had gotten dressed for work she got an inspiration. What if I took off all my clothes off and checked myself out in the mirror. Clothes have a way of hiding your flaws, she thought. If she checked her body out while she was naked she had no way to hide anything.

She returned to her bedroom, took every thread of clothes off and went to her bath room where she had a full length mirror. The next thing you know she was standing sideways, completely nude, looking at herself in that full length mirror.

I'll pinch myself here or there to see what areas I need to concentrate on for weight loss. At her weight every area had well over a inch to pinch. Her side, tummy, thighs, waist, you name it were ripe for pinching. You name it and she had extra plumpness in that spot.

All of this took place in the morning when her spirits were high. But when she saw her own bare facts in the mirror her spirits declined. However because of the inspiration on that day she determined to work on the extra flab of her waist. This was going to go starting right now.

So from that moment she began using the tips of the Brown Bag Diet and gradually lost weight. After she weighed herself each day she checked her mirror while she was still naked. Finally she got to see a really great shape staring right back at her.

That's what can happen if you face the naked truth and begin to think, I Can Do It. And she did it. You can too.

The facts in the above case history have not yet been verified, however if it worked for her it can work for you too.

Permission is hereby granted to cross post this posting and to send it to everyone who needs to lose weight and to send them our url
Erwin Posner, R.Ph., Author of
the Brown Bag Diet-Tips & Clues for dieters from the pharmacist's notebook.
BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

New Watchword/Slogan today is VISUALIZE

2008-03-24T06:18:00.000-07:00

Why visualize?
Because it's the method used by some of the most gifted athletes and top notched sales people to help them succeed. Visualizing is a method of preparing yourself for the task. Visualizing is a method of insuring a positive attitude. Visualizing is the first step and makes the second step easier to take.

Before running a race the champion athlete goes over the race. He can see himself getting out of the starting blocks. He can feel the pace at the first turn. He mentally knows how much energy he needs to conserve and expend for each point in the race. The athlete can visualize the win before starting the race.

So can you. Your race is different. ;You're not racing against time. You're not racing to beat anyone else. You're racing to improve yourself. By visualizing each step in your weight loss race you can anticipate your win.

Prepare yourself by visualizing what you will eat for breakfast in the morning. When your actually eat it, you'll find the exercise in visualizing made it more satisfying.

Then visualize the snack allowed by your plan if it's included in your regimen. Continue through your day with lunch and dinner meals, each time making mental pictures before you actually eat them.

Visualize getting on your scale next week and seeing that you've reached the goal you set for the week. You can get on your scale mentally and see the one or two pound difference a week has made. You know you have the power to win and you know you'll get the prize.

Even if you have a setback one week, you can visualize overcoming that. Visualize yourself back on track as your first step back. Then take the second step back to your regimen.

You can do it. You can taste success. It tastes sweet. It feels great. You love it. It's yours.

You win with a slimmer, healthier and better looking you.

Don't forget to send our link to all your friends. We can visualize our success along with yours.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

My Mother made me FAT

2008-03-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

That could be. But being fat is reversible.

First let's examine the possibilities. Of course there is genetics. Say you have similar bone structures, facial features and you even have the same walk or smile of one of your relatives. Certainly that's genetics. And you say all of these people are fat, so being fat is something I can't control.

Then there are eating habits you learned at your mother's knee or better at the kitchen table.
Have you heard these comments from your Mom?

"Have more, it's cold outside".
"Make all gone - millions are starving". (as if making all gone will stop them from starving)
"You hurt yourself? Have some cookies or other chocolate comfort food."

You know the drill. Blame your genetics. That way you can blame your mother or other relatives. Or blame your Mom for teaching you bad eating habits. The nature and nurture arguments allow you to think, "There's nothing I can do about being overweight".

Friends, that's what they thought in the old days. In the new days we know differently.
So how can you change you ask?

Get on one of the standard diet programs and stick to it. If you choose South Beach, Atkins or Weight Watchers give the program a chance to work for you.

Have you seen all the gyms around town. Get ready to sweat some of the blubber off. The people on the tread mills and bicycles aren't waiting for genetics to do their tricks. They're proactive and active is the operable word.

Caution: Before beginning an exercise program get checked out by a doctor.

Once again I say, "YOU CAN DO IT". Go to a mirror and you shout the watchword/slogan of today's post, "I CAN DO IT".

Pass the good news around so all your friends can join you by shouting
<WE CAN DO IT>.

Write me at brownbagdiet@gmail.com or
add your comments to the comment window on this blog.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

America's Best Diet

2008-03-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

Judging America's best diet is like judging wine. There are so many diets to choose from but which is the absolutely best one? Guess what? The answer to that question is no secret.

The absolutely best diet is ... (let's hear a drum roll)

the one that works for YOU.

Let's say you start Weight Watcher's but don't like their system. Then that's no problem. Try Pritikin. But if Pritikin is too strict for you, try Atkins. And you can go down the line.

Just give each one a proper trial. Don't go to one or two Weight Watcher meetings and expect miracles. And don't borrow the printed info from your friend who attends Weight Watchers and try to do it on your own without the meetings.

The same is true for Atkins or Ornish or South Beach or and any MAIN LINE diet program. Give them a proper trial and you will find the one that is best for you.

Remember, even if you have had prior success with one of them you may need a change to get things going for your self this time. The real secrect is to be consistent.

Refer to our earlier post on Choosing the diets to get an overview of what each requires.

You can do it. We are all doing it--- together. Also, keep in mind that we can all have the road map to successful dieting. It's just that for some of us we might need different road maps to get there.

Did this give you a boost today? If so let me know. And send our blog address to others so we can have success for the greatest number of readers possible.

Revolutionary Diet Gets Results

2008-02-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

I suppose you think I'll tell you a secret that will create automatic weight loss. Nothing like that is automatic. But revolution can be good for your weight. Let me tell you how.

As a teen you had feelings of rebellion. Every teen has. You who are teen readers know what I mean. Rebelling against the rules at school, your parents demands and a million other things that society expects. They demand and you feel, IT'S TIME TO SAY NO.

That's the spirit of revolution and you can make it work for you and your diet. Think about the times you felt like starting a revolution in your home to change things so they would be more to your liking. Now apply those revolutionary thoughts to your weight situation.

This is the time to write your own Declaration of Independence. Assert yourself. NO MORE BAD EATING HABITS. NO MORE INAPPROPRIATE SNACKING. NO MORE UNCONTROLLED PORTION SIZES. Say to yourself, I Rebel against temptation and bad habits.

You can do it. You can start a one person revolution in a war against FAT.

Keep these watchwords in mind all this week: . <I'm starting a Revolution> against FAT and you will win the war.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph. Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Why deny a rat a good, satisfying BURP

2008-02-22T13:49:00.000-08:00

Here's some news from the scientific community about dieting. Scientists from Purdue University studied the use of artificial sweeteners in diets as an aid to weight loss. They gave two groups of rats slightly different diets. One group ate yogurt sweetened naturally with glucose. The other group ate yogurt sweetened with an artificial sweetener.

The findings were surprising. Those that ate the yogurt that was artificially sweetened actually gained more weight and body fat than those that ate yogurt sweetened by natural glucose.

Go figure. According to them, we trick our taste sensations when we use fake sweeteners in soda pop and other foods. That tricks our brain into wanting more food and more calories. Both we and the rats in the artificial sweetener group, they say, will gain weight as compared to the control group that used regular sweetener.

That makes a good case for drinking water that has no artificial anything. I don't know why but six to eight glasses of water together with the other restrictions of our diets seem to help dieters lose weight best.

What does that mean to us? Probably not much but maybe it explains why many people who are overweight who never add sugar to coffee, only drink diet soft drinks continue to be fat. It makes a good case for drinking plain water.

Naturally this is only one study. I ask, why deny a rat a good satisfying BURP? If they want to give the rats diet drinks, I think it's OK. Maybe the rats will even take the diet Pepsi challenge.

That's the news from camp wanadiet. Have a great weekend, drink lots of water and don't go too far from a convenient restroom.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

CASINO DIETING

2008-02-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

Did you ever hear of Casino Dieting?

I bet you haven't head of it by that name but you do know about it. I like to think that people who jump from their last fad diet to the latest one might just as well consider themselves at a casino.

Now let's be positive and put this into the best light. I'm not going to tell you these serial diets won't help you. However for the long pull you will be best off with a reasonable diet that has a great track record with lots of years with success. You may not get the dramatic losses that fad diets promise, like 20 pounds in 20 days, but you will probably enjoy weight loss that will stay of your hips and other places FOR YEARS AND YEARS.

By the way, have you heard of any weight loss spas that include a casino? Let me know if you have. It sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Erwin Posner, R.Ph. BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

Pain relief for dieters,

2008-02-13T21:44:00.000-08:00

We were discussing the pain of dieting, both the pain of resisting urges while staying on your diet and the mental anguish caused by being overweight.

Let's not enumerate the troubles that too many pounds causes. Let's find out what we can do about it.

Our last watchword/slogan was NEGATIVE VIBES HURT/ POSITIVE VIBES HELP>. This is a follow-up to that discussion. It's important to keep that in mind when you go shopping for food or clothes or when you get dressed up for social events. BE POSITIVE.

That doesn't mean buying clothes that are too tight because you are positively going to lose weight so you can fit into them properly. What is does mean is that you have to leave the past in the past.

Yes, your feelings have been hurt because of jokes or turned down for dates or passed over for roles of leadership at work. But the positive part of this is that you can overcome this and start new.

If you lost your leg in a car accident you can't grow a new one. If someone in your family met an untimely death you can't bring them back. But losing weight is an art you can learn to do and it is the art of the POSSIBLE.

By keeping this in mind you can break with the past negatives and start fresh with the current and future positives. It's up to you to get and maintain a positive mental attitude. This will alleviate the guilt and pain you have suffered from so long.

I said I'd look into free stuff for our readers. This week I found that Nutrisystem is offering the following for men. They probably have an equivalent program for women. Look into it. You can find it in the ads on the side of our blog:

Lose weight & you can get 2 WEEKS FREE!*
Guys—it doesn’t get any better than this. Get 2 Free Weeks of food* with this exciting offer from NutriSystem!

Erwin Posner, R.Ph. Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

UNDERSTANDING THE PAIN OF DIETING

2008-02-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

UNDERSTANDING THE PAIN OF DIETING

Don't kid yourself. There is pain when dieting. It follows just like the adage, "No pain - No Gain. But if you understand it you can control it and you can overcome it. Next post we will develop some understanding of THE PAIN OF DIETING.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph. BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

FREE STUFF, FREE STUFF FOR DIETERS, FREE DIETING

2008-02-10T13:18:00.000-08:00

This site is full of tips and direct quotes from my book, The Brown Bag Diet- Tips & Clues for dieters from the Pharmacist's notebook. But in addition to tips I've been getting requests free stuff.

Originally I thought getting the tips free instead of buying my book would be stimulus enough for dieters. In other words, I started by offering FREE weight loss tips, directly from the pages of a manual designed as a counselling guide to pharmacists and other allied medical professionals.

That's good, but human nature is bound to get used to that and people ask, "What else can you do for me"? So I scratched my head and thought, you know- that's a good idea. Finding out about nutrition, disease states, and vanity affairs can only go so far.

If the stimulus for losing weight includes free stuff works let's try it. So from now on I'm going to scour the field so I can bring you free stuff along with tips to help you diet to lose weight. So let's give our readers an extra incentive to come back. Next post, in addition to tips, I'll show them where they can get free stuff for dieting. In the meantime lets continue with our tips.

We were discussing the effects of Negative Vibes and how they hurt dieting. Now lets show how positive vibes can help.

When it comes to aattitude it's more than mind over matter. Emotional feelings affect our body chemistry. Body organs react to chemical messengers or mediators. They are called neurotransmitters and three important ones are serotonin, dopamine and nor-epinephrine. Medical science knows a great deal about how these neurotransmitters function. It could be worth spending a few moments talking to your Doctor about this so he or she can put things into the correct perspective for you. You may be asked to help identify those things that trigger your negative or your positive vibes. Don't keep your feelings a secret from your doctor.

Ask to be shown how to handle situations resulting from these triggers causing negative vibes. Ask how to avoid them alltogether. Ask how you can use cool down strategies to relieve tension and frustration. Ask about somatic approaches to relaxation like, deep breathing and muscle relaxation. Finally, ask about cognitive approaches you can use to control your mood.

If appropriate you may be a candidate for antidepressant drugs to elevate your spirits. And elevation of your spirits can be the key to your success.

Remember that positive vibes also use chemical mediation through neurotransmitters. They can enhance your feelings of self worth and make sticking to your diet program eaqsier than you previously thought. Last of all, be patient. Be generous. Be forgiving to yourself. Be a happy dieter and achieve success.

This week I'll be checking for free stuff for you so don't forget to sign in for tips and freebies. As usual I always ask that you forward the Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com address to as many as possible to increase our readership.

I'll be looking for you next week.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph. BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

Diets: The Positive & Negative Vibes

2008-02-07T13:28:00.000-08:00

Diets: The Positive & Negative Vibes

Welcome back to the BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com. I’ve been on vacation also and I know how difficult it is to stay faithful to your program when you’re out of your natural environment and routine. But while I was away I regenerated some positive vibes and that’s what today’s watchword/slogan lesson is about. Today’s watchword/slogan is Negative Vibes Hurt – Positive Vibes Help.

A large component of successful dieting is attitude. I don’t need to tell you that negative vibes make you feel badly. They reduce your feelings of self worth, cause despair, despondency, and depression and lower your willpower to stay with your diet program. It’s easy for me to say just be positive. Let me put it another way. Remove despair and despondency from your vocabulary. They can hurt your chances for successfully reaching your goal.

Nancy Reagan said it when she talked about drugs. “Just say no”, she said. Some are able to follow that advice but most need to find techniques to bolster their resolve and prop up their
willpower to find success.

If you’re just down on yourself because you haven’t yet come close to reaching your weight goals, start thinking positively and DON’T GIVE UP. Don’t get angry. Don’t turn your anger against yourself. Talk to yourself and GET OVER IT.

If you’re having trouble getting started or staying with a weight loss program because of negative feelings, don’t keep it to yourself. Talk to your doctor. Your doctor will measure your symptoms of depression and determine if they have reached levels beyond your ability to cope. There are treatments, both pharmacological and psychological for this.

Next post I will continue developing the subject of how Negative and Positive vibes affect your efforts to lose weight and how you can overcome the obstacles these things present.

I know the information here is useful as we are being quoted in many forums and on many blogs. Your feedback is welcome. Please continue to quote the blog and forward our address to your contacts, forums or internet groups.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

Are you ready to combat Super Bowl diet temptations?

2008-01-19T15:53:00.000-08:00

You don't need a reminder to tell you the Super Bowl is coming soon. Now what's that going to do to your diet?

That's simple. Super Bowl and snack time go together. And for most people that means all the rules you've set for yourself are "Out the Window".

But you don't need go out of bounds just because your Super Bowl party has chips, dips, beer and other party beverages.
Guess what you can eat and still join in the fun of the party? You can eat and drink plenty. It just takes some planning ahead.

Just like with most planning, winning at your diet game is mostly a mental exercise. Like Yogi Berra used to say, "80% of the game is 90% mental".

It's not a process requiring trips to the health food store or picking a batch of extra watercress. You can host a party or go to your friends party and still have fun, enjoy the refreshments and stay close to your diet program. During this "party period" you may not lose weight but you won't gain any substantial weight either.

Keep it simple. Go for the low fat and low fat snacks. Try pretzels. Most parties have them. That doesn't mean you can keep dipping your hand continuously into the pretzel bowl. If you can make a snack bag for yourself you can put a measured amount of pretzels (100 to 200 calories worth) and ration them for the length of the game.

If you divide your "authorized snack" into two bags you can save one for the second half. You'll be surprised how having your own bag of an "authorized snack" will give you the will power to withstand eating too much or eating the wrong food or even eating at inappropriate times.

It's like setting any other kind of goal. In this case goal is making one snack pack last for an entire half. For your party beverages choose no-cal soda or water.

And you can yell and scream and cheer your team like everyone. Best of all water does the same thing as beer. It makes you go to the bathroom a-lot. You can get bottled with a hint of a variety of flavors and some even come with vitamins. The real physical specimens, the workout freaks, the muscle guys drink water with vitamins. Why would you want to drink anything else? Of course if you're a fan of diet cola or other diet soft drinks they work too.

So don't choose the chips, the french Fry's and those high fat sour cream dips. Sure pretzels have lots of salt. But if you can handle that they can be a low fat alternative to all the other things you might choose.

If you have a double chin now you don't need to try for a triple one just because of the Super Bowl. If you already have a beer belly you don't need to try for a double one at the tail gate party.

These are a few tips you can use to prepare yourself for the upcoming super-bowl parties.

Pass these tips out to your friends. Send us some of your own tips. Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

BrownBagDiet.Blogspot.com

Winning in the Losing Game of Weight Loss

2008-01-18T04:56:00.001-08:00

Everyone is talking about winning. They want to win the Superbowl, the hockey game, the basketball game and the lottery. But who is talking about losing?

Better yet, IS THERE ANYONE TALKING ABOUT LOSING (WEIGHT THAT IS) WHO ISN'T TRYING TO SELL YOU SOMETHING? I'm not selling anything. Not even my book on weight loss. I'm giving it to you FREE, chapter by chapter, on this blog.
Maybe that's what makes the Brown Bag Diet different. I'm interested in motivating you to WIN at this game of losing weight. That's why I created the watchword/slogan system for the Brown Bag Diet.

Our last watchword slogan was Portion Control.

Now let's look into how this watchword can help you.

Portion control and awareness are probably the two most important practices for successful weight loss programs. After all, you can eat all the right foods but still not have healthy habits. When you eat the proper foods but you eat them in greater quantities than allowed by your plan your body reacts accordingly. The extra protein that your body doesn't need, the extra fat and sweets, the extra cereals and even the extra fruits get stored in your body. And these extra items will be stored as fat.

Calories from sweets and fat pile up fat fastest. There are limits to everything, IE The food pyramid recommends six servings of bread on a normal non-weight loss diet. Adding each extra slice of bread adds to the calorie stores you carry. And these stores eventually become fat.

The best way to learn what portions are proper for you is to select a diet program together with your doctor, dietitian or nutritionist. Then determine what your daily calorie intake should be. Your dietitian can design meals to meet these goals. Your doctor may give you the values of each food to help you pick out the quantity of foods from each food group you need.

In my next post I'll show you how to right size the portions you choose. In the meantime enjoy the games of sport, of chance and start winning at the game of losing weight.

Got friends who need an extra boost to get into shape? Why not help them with what the advertising people call viral advertising. Pass our blog address on to them.

You can help save the world from tipping over due to all those people you know who are overweight just by passing them our blog address. Then they can sign on for tips and clues for dieters just like you do.

After all, even those who don't need to lose weight have friends and relatives that could benefit.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Don't blame your mother if you're fat- You can lose weight regardless of your genes.

2008-01-17T16:54:00.000-08:00

Don't blame your mother if you're fat- You can lose weight regardless of your genes. And don't blame your father, uncles, aunts going all the way back to Adam and Eve.

Yes your DNA controls much of the way you look but it doesn't control everything. That means whatever you've got you can look BETTER, and if you're overweight you can be SLIMMER.
YOU CAN BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE

and you can start now by getting on a diet program. Once you get on a program you can use the watchwords I post to help you stay with it. The last watchword/slogan was AWARENESS. Our next watchword/slogan is PORTION CONTROL

Sure lots of girls don't have the basic body type that every lets them be a petite super model and most of us guys don't have a body builder's build like the Governor of California. But we need to we can lose 10, 20 40 or more pounds that will make us better looking, more healthy and more confident.

I'll talk about how to beat the comfort food habit later. For now lets be AWARE and watch our portions.

I'll develop the portion control concept in the next post and you will see how you can harness the power of this concept to help you succeed. But now I want to respond to several requests.

Many have asked for a sample menu. They wanted something to give them an idea of what they have to do in order to get going towards their goal. So I searched the government sources and found a neat sample you can use and I'm posting it below. For fun I chose a Southern Style menu. It is for a 1600 calorie daily diet. You might prefer the 1200 calorie daily diet. They can both be found at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/southern.htm

You've gotten a start and that was the hard part. For those of you who are just joining us please read the old posts. They'll help you get started on your way to successful dieting. And you can season you diet with comments to us.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

Breakfast

Oatmeal, prepared with 1% milk, low fat 1/2 cup
Milk 1%, low fat 1/2 cup
English Muffin 1 medium
Cream Cheese, light, 18% fat T
Orange Juice 3/4 cup
Coffee 1 cup
Milk 1%, low fat 1 oz

Lunch
Baked Chicken, without skin 2 oz
Vegetable Oil 1 tsp
Salad:
Lettuce 1/2 cup
Tomato 1/2 cup
Cucumber 1/2 cup
Oil and Vinegar Dressing 2 tsp
White Rice, seasoned with margarine, diet 1/3 cup
Baking Powder Biscuit, prepared with vegetable oil 1 small
Margarine 1/2 tsp
Water 1 cup

Dinner
Lean Roast Beef 3 oz
Onion 1/4 cup
Beef Gravy, water-based 1 T
Turnip Greens, seasoned with 1/2 cup
margarine, diet 1/2 tsp
Sweet Potato, baked 1 small
Margarine, diet 1/2 tsp
Ground Cinnamon 1 tsp
Brown Sugar 1 tsp
Cornbread prepared with margarine, diet 1/2 medium slice
Honeydew Melon 1/4 medium
Iced Tea, sweetened with sugar 1 cup

Snack

Saltine Crackers, unsalted tops 4 crackers
Mozzarella Cheese, part-skim, low-sodium 1 oz

Calories: 1,653
Total Carb, % kcals:53
Total Fat, % kcals:28
*Sodium, mg:1,231
SFA, % kcals:8
Cholesterol, mg:172
Protein, % kcals:20

1,600: 100% RDA met for all nutrients except: Vit E 97%, Magnesium 98%, Iron 78%, Zinc 90%1,200: 100% RDA met for all nutrients except: Vit E 82%, Vit B1 & B2 95%, Vit B3 99%, Vit B6 88%, Magnesium 83%, Iron 56%, Zinc 70%* No salt added in recipe preparation or as seasoning. Consume at least 32 oz. water.

Your Mayor Wants You and everyone who is overweight in his City To Lose 1 Million Pounds. Did you find your Mayor and Your City?

2008-01-17T09:27:00.000-08:00

Your Mayor Wants You and everyone who is overweight in his City To Lose 1 Million Pounds. Did you find your Mayor and Your City? Did you find your city and your Mayor in the links posted previously? If you didn't find your Mayor, call his or her office and tell them about the Mayor's Weight loss Challenge. Your city can get in the game like all the other great Cities are.

Here are the links that I posted earlier.

More than 2,600 people registered in Oklahoma City mayor's weight loss campaign. See links below.
New Haven
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Mayor/ReadMore.asp?ID=%7BBA85BF46-2BA7-4BA5-AF32-F1AC5299715A%7D

Greensboro, NC

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070202/NEWSREC0101/702020303/-1/NEWSREC0201

New Haven, CT

http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Mayor/ReadMore.asp?ID=%7BBA85BF46-2BA7-4BA5-AF32-F1AC5299715A%7D

Springfield, OR

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6155250/Mayor-advertises-weight-loss-program.html#abstract

Des Moines, IO

http://www.mayorswellnesscampaign.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=121

Mobile, AL

http://wkrg.com/medical/article/mayor_wants_city_to_lose_1_million_pounds/8734/
Savannah, GA

http://www.besthealthnews.com/albany-savannah-mayors-to-challenge-weight-loss-walb-news-10

Scarsdale, NY

http://co.westchester.ny.us/health/FitKids/MayorsChallenge/Scarsdale.htm

Get your City with the program. You're on it so get your cousins, your neighbors, and everyone in town into the game. This is the game where everyone can be a winner

Join now. Be a brown bag dieter. BE A PROUD BROWN BAG DIETER.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Special to Truckers and others. Find the Mayor of your city with a diet program

2008-01-16T09:28:00.002-08:00

Special to Truckers who wish to diet for better health, strength and looks
Also:
Find the Mayor of your City and see if he or she is sponsoring a weight loss program.

This may surprise most of you because truckers, especially long haul truckers, have a macho image of being fit, trim and athletic. Indeed, truckers are all of those things but as time goes on many get out of shape. Lots of factors enter into it amongst which are stress, long lonely hours behind the wheel, stops where food choices aren't the healthiest and being tired after a strenuous long day of driving and delivering heavy loads.

That's why I have been preparing a special Trucker's Edition of "The Brown Bag Diet - " Tips & Clues from the Pharmacist's Notebook". I will put that edition on a special blog for truckers only if I receive enough interest for me to work on another blog.

If you are interested or if a friend or family member is a trucker and would benefit from this material please have them contact me by email at Brownbagdiet@gmail.com and let me know that they would like to have a special trucker's edition for the blog.

Remember, there is no charge to sign in and learn the techniques of the Brown Bag Diet. If there are enough requests I'll be glad to oblige.

Other news: A search of the internet reveals that the Mayors of many cities have also joined us in challenging their constituents to join a weight loss program and get into better shape physically. Some of them began their challenges before Jan 1 this year and others just signed on. You might like to see if the mayor of your city is one of them. If not, contact them and let them know that they can recommend our blog as a free site where their constituents can get tips and clues to help then achieve weight loss.

Some of the links to challenge programs recommended by many mayors are below.

More than 2,600 people registered in Oklahoma City mayor's weight loss campaign. See links below.

http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Mayor/ReadMore.asp?ID=%7BBA85BF46-2BA7-4BA5-AF32-F1AC5299715A%7D

Greensboro, NC
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070202/NEWSREC0101/702020303/-1/NEWSREC0201

New Haven, CT
http://www.cityofnewhaven.com/Mayor/ReadMore.asp?ID=%7BBA85BF46-2BA7-4BA5-AF32-F1AC5299715A%7D

Springfield, OR
http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-6155250/Mayor-advertises-weight-loss-program.html#abstract

Des Moines, IO
http://www.mayorswellnesscampaign.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=121

Mobile, AL
http://wkrg.com/medical/article/mayor_wants_city_to_lose_1_million_pounds/8734/

Savannah, GA
http://www.besthealthnews.com/albany-savannah-mayors-to-challenge-weight-loss-walb-news-10

Scarsdale, NY
http://co.westchester.ny.us/health/FitKids/MayorsChallenge/Scarsdale.htm

2008-01-16T09:28:00.001-08:00

New information from the Weight Control Information Network

2008-01-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

Have you started the Brown Bag Diet method without choosing a diet plan yet? If so I recommend you read the following information from the NIH (Weight Control Information Network -WIN).

Choosing a weight-loss program may be a difficult task. You may not know what to look for in a weight-loss program or what questions to ask. This fact sheet can help you talk to your health care professional about weight loss and get the best information before choosing a program.

Talk With Your Health Care Professional

If your health care provider tells you that you should lose weight and you want to find a weight-loss program to help you, look for one that is based on regular physical activity and an eating plan that is balanced, healthy, and easy to follow.

You may want to talk with your doctor or other health care professional about controlling your weight before you decide on a weight-loss program. Even if you feel uncomfortable talking about your weight with your doctor, remember that he or she is there to help you improve your health.

Here are some tips:

Tell your provider that you would like to talk about your weight. Share your concerns about any medical conditions you have or medicines you are taking.
Write down your questions in advance.
Bring pen and paper to take notes.
Bring a friend or family member along for support if this will make you feel more comfortable.

Make sure you understand what your health care provider is saying. Ask questions if there is something you do not understand.
Ask for other sources of information like brochures or websites.
If you want more support, ask for a referral to a registered dietitian, a support group, or a commercial weight-loss program.
Call your provider after your visit if you have more questions or need help.

Ask Questions
Find out as much as you can about your health needs before joining a weight-loss program. Here are some questions you might want to ask your health care provider:
About Your Weight

1. Do I need to lose weight? Or should I just avoid gaining more?
2. Is my weight affecting my health?
3. Could my excess weight be caused by a medical condition such as hypothyroidism or by a medicine I am taking? (Hypothyroidism is when your thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone, a condition that can slow your metabolism—how your body creates and uses energy.)

About Weight Loss
1. What should my weight-loss goal be?
2. How will losing weight help me? About Nutrition and Physical Activity
3. How should I change my eating habits?
4. What kinds of physical activity can I do?
5. How much physical activity do I need? About Treatment
6. Should I take weight-loss medicine?
7. What about weight-loss surgery?
8. Could a weight-loss program help me?

A Responsible and Safe Weight-loss Program

Weight-loss programs should encourage healthy behaviors that help you lose weight and that you can stick with every day. Safe and effective weight-loss programs should include:
Healthy eating plans that reduce calories but do not forbid specific foods or food groups.

Tips to increase moderate-intensity physical activity.
Tips on healthy behavior changes that also keep your cultural needs in mind.
Slow and steady weight loss. Depending on your starting weight, experts recommend losing weight at a rate of 1/2 to 2 lbs per week. Weight loss may be faster at the start of a program.

Medical care if you are planning to lose weight by following a special formula diet, such as a very low-calorie diet.
A plan to keep the weight off after you have lost it.

Get Familiar With the Program
Gather as much information as you can before deciding to join a program.
Professionals working for weight-loss programs should be able to answer the questions listed below.

1. What does the weight-loss program consist of?
2. Does the program offer one-on-one counseling or group classes?
3. Do you have to follow a specific meal plan or keep food records?
4. Do you have to purchase special food, drugs, or supplements?
5. Does the program help you be more physically active, follow a specific physical activity plan, or provide exercise instruction?
6. Does the program teach you to make positive and healthy behavior changes?
7. Is the program sensitive to your lifestyle and cultural needs? What are the staff qualifications?
8. Who supervises the program?
9. What type of weight management training, experience, education, and certifications do the staff have? Does the product or program carry any risks?
10.Could the program hurt you?
11.Could the recommended drugs or supplements harm your health?
12.Do participants talk with a doctor?
13.Does a doctor run the program?
14.Will the program’s doctors work with your personal doctor if you have a medical condition such as high blood presure or are taking prescribed drugs?
15.How much does the program cost?
16.What is the total cost of the program?
17.Are there other costs, such as weekly attendance fees, food and supplement purchases, etc.?
18.Are there fees for a follow-up program after you lose weight?
19.Are there other fees for medical tests? What results do participants typically have?
20.How much weight does an average participant lose and how long does he or she keep the weight off?
21.Does the program offer publications or materials that describe what results participants typically have?

If you are interested in finding a weight-loss program near you, ask your health care provider for a referral or contact your local hospital.For additional, general information, contact:
Weight-control Information Network (WIN)1 WIN WayBethesda, MD 20892-3665Phone: (202) 828-1025Toll-free number: 1-877-946-4627FAX: (202) 828-1028Email: WIN@info.niddk.nih.gov

Additional Resources
Federal Trade CommissionConsumer Response Center600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20580Phone: (202) FTC-HELP (382-4357)Toll-free number: 1-877-382-4357Internet: www.ftc.gov/index.html

For the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publication Weight Loss: Finding a Weight Loss Program that Works for You, go to http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/health/wgtloss.pdf.

For the FTC publication Weighing the Evidence in Diet Ads, go to www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/health/evidence.htm.

International Food Information Council Foundation1100 Connecticut Avenue, NWSuite 430Washington, DC 20036Phone: (202) 296-6540Internet: http://www.ific.org/

Weight-control Information Network
1 WIN WAYBethesda, MD 20892-3665Phone: (202) 828-1025Toll-free number: 1-877-946-4627FAX: (202) 828-1028Email: WIN@info.niddk.nih.govInternet: http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/

The Weight-control Information Network (WIN) is a national information service of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the Federal Government’s lead agency responsible for biomedical research on nutrition and obesity. Authorized by Congress (Public Law 103-43), WIN provides the general public, health professionals, the media, and Congress with up-to-date, science-based health information on weight control, obesity, physical activity, and related nutritional issues. Publications produced by WIN are reviewed by both NIDDK scientists and outside experts. This fact sheet was also reviewed by Susan Z. Yanovski, M.D., Director, Obesity and Eating Disorders Program and Co-Director, Office of Obesity Research, NIDDK.
This publication is not copyrighted. WIN encourages users of this fact sheet to duplicate and distribute as many copies as desired.

NIH Publication No. 03-3700May 2003Revised February 2006

Contact Us
Toll free: 1-877-946-4627 Fax: (202) 828-1028 E-mail: win@info.niddk.nih.govWeight-control Information Network, 1 WIN Way, Bethesda, MD 20892-3665nformation from

Next post will have special information for truckers on fitness and fit weight. Tell your trucker friends to watch for it.
Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Brown Bag Diet is in the news - See what they're saying

2008-01-12T22:18:00.000-08:00

We're in the news.

I was interviewed and see what the Southfield Sun Newspaper has to say about the Brown Bag Diet.

The online version doesn't show the picture they took of me holding the book above but when the photographer came to shoot the photo he said everyone in the office wants to find out how the diet works. There is lots of interest out there and as I've been saying, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Together we can help each other lose the weight we want to lose.

You're local paper might want to hear of us also. Feel free to send them our blog site.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

I earlier posted the link to the newspaper story mentioned above. Several of you wrote to tell me they tried to use this link to sign on to the story but received an error message that says, Your blog time has expired. I apologize for the confusion.

To get to the story type C & G newspapers in a Google search window. After you get to the home page of the newspaper type Brown Bag Diet in the search window at the upper right of the page. This will bring you to a citation that says, "It's in the Bag and on his Blog". Click on this citation for the full text of the story.

Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for your patience.

Hear of the discovery of thef FAT virus? (virus not genes causes overeating)

2008-01-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

Hear of the discovery of the FAT virus? (virus not genes causes overeating)

It would be nice if we could blame a virus for our eating habits. Then the pharmaceutical companies could work overtime to discover an anti- viral drug to combat the problem. While there is no such thing as a fat virus it wouldn't be a bad idea to assume there is. That way we could blame the virus and lose the guilt connected to overeating. We could take countermeasures in a rational and unemotional way. That would make things easier.

And what are the best countermeasure you ask? It's simple. The best countermeasure is to follow the principles of the Brown Bag Diet and watch the weight fall off. It's not a miracle. It's just plain good sense and solid advice, like following the watchword- .

I told you I would help you heighten your awareness and here's a few pointers.

First, remember it's OK to like food. Love it if you will, but be aware of your limits. Since you've already selected one of the diet programs to follow, it's time for you to study how much of each food group you're allowed under your plan. To see how much is allowed start measuring.

Check all the items of each food group your meal budget allows. Weigh, measure or count the number of ounces or slices etc. to precisely determine what your program allows. Be alert to evaluate your intake.

As the day progresses be aware of what, where, when and how much you've eaten. You'll need to be able to make a mental calculation of how much of each of these types of foods you have left to eat on you today's food budget.

Your heightened awareness will make it easier for you to handle your daily food temptations. Awareness is one of the most fundamental and important watchwords in this book.

Our program is getting attention from the press. I had a newspaper interview last week and on my next post I should be able to give you the web site for the news story on the Brown Bag Diet program.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph
brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

S.I. Swim Suit body diet? Mr. America Build diet? - Does BBD promise this?

2008-01-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

S.I. Swim Suit body diet? Mr. America Build diet? - Does "BrownBagDiet" promise this?

No.

If you're overweight but you have the makings for a swimsuit model figure or a Mr. Muscles then the Brown Bag Diet can help you get back to your- magazine star- body looks. But most of us are happy just returning to our normal weight level. We're not seeking the body of a glamorous star. We want to be, like the motto says, "All that we can be". Why be anything less? Are you with me on this?

In my last post I discussed Learning the Watchword/Slogan system and I gave you the watchword AWARENESS. Now let's develop this.

In the course of normal activity we do most mundane acts in a rather routine way. That's probably true of eating as well. It's habitual. It's done with a minimum amount of thinking. It's almost mindless. We need to eat but we don't even know what we've eaten at our previous meal. In fact, exactly what, how much, when and where we've eaten has become fuzzy in our memory. We simply don't give it much thought. It has become so automatic for us to eat that our health may be at risk, our social life endangered and we just plain feel unwell (lousy). Our only saving grace is that we recognize that we have to unlearn the bad habits that got us to this point of being out of shape.

Because of lack of awareness we've lapsed into a process of over feeding ourselves. It's not that we engage in binge eating or have a regular "Feeding Frenzy". You see how lack of awareness has contributed to your current out of shape condition.

In my next post I'll continue by showing what you can do to heighten your awareness and reduce your temptation to over eat. In the meantime let me know what plan you chose and if you have started on it already. By the way, how are you doing?

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Free Weight Loss Program- never a charge to you at BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

2008-01-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

Free Weight Loss Program- never a charge to you at the BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com .

There are lots of programs out there and a lot of them bring you in with teasers and trials. It can be worth the money you spend if you lose weight and keep it off. But you can do as well or better with the Brown Bag Diet and it doesn't cost you anything online. At a later date you may wish to buy my book, "The Brown Bag Diet- Tips & Clues from the Pharmacist's Notebook" .

At this time we haven't decided what the pre-publication price will be and anyway you can get all the most important information FREE by following this blog.

Now we continue with "Learning the Watchword/Slogan system.

(To review- the patterns you develop by

Practicing this system can result in healthy benefits that can last a lifetime.)

By varying the use of these watchword/slogans, you refresh the images that stimulate you to remain faithful to your diet program. When the old stimulus wanes, using a new watchword/slogan as a stimulus gives you the boost you need to remain constant. Once you know the basics of your diet plan all you need to continue is a little reinforcement.

Visualize new watchwords weekly. See how they allow you to conjure up images that convey helpful information. These are the pictures that speak the thousands of words of the chapters. The images themselves describe fundamentals useful to you in following your weight loss program.

While there are many watchwords/slogans, you will note that there are only a few basic categories into which they fall. Oftentimes I use one or more watchword/slogan to describe other watchword/slogans. The redundancies are deliberate. A slightly different viewpoint or a new angle on the same subject can give the old subject freshness. And I continue to use the older watchword/slogans in succeeding chapters since they are interrelated.

Even if you slip backwards to old bad habits the watchwords and slogans will be reminders and help pull you back to compliance with the program that was designed to help you meet your weight goals.

Our online program is growing. To date I've been interviewed by the press and asked to discuss the novel aspects of the online version of Brown Bag Diet. Thank you for your help in publicizing this effort. It looks like we are making the kind of impression I was looking for.

I'm sure that together we will be losing lots of weight andwe'll be happy about that.

In the last post I told you I wouldn't keep you waiting and gave you the Watchword <Awareness>.

In the next post I will explore the implications of <awareness> and show you how using this tip will help you.

Erwin Posner R.Ph.

Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

If you like Atkins diet you'll LOVE the BROWN BAG DIET

2008-01-07T19:58:00.000-08:00

If you like the Atkins diet you'll LOVE the BROWN BAG DIET tips and clues.

Check out our posts because they are full of tips & clues to keep you on your Atkins or most any other diet program.

I wrote the book, "The BROWN BAG DIET - tips & clues from the pharmacist's notebook. I'm Erwin Posner and I am putting the most meaningful parts of my book on this blog so you can have an assist to be motivated to stay on Atkins or most any other standard diet you choose. Check my postings. It's free to you and great for your looks and health.

Do you have friends who need some extra motivation? Send them our blog address.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

According to the Tuscaloosa News the Alabama Hospital Association and the Alabama State Department of Health also has a weight loss challenge

2008-01-06T20:01:00.000-08:00

The Alabama Hospital Association and the Alabama State Department of Health are re-launching a weight loss program for this New Year. Our one to three million pound weight loss challenge is really taking off.

In my last post we discussed the device that Ben Franklin used to make a decision. I pointed out that it's not enough to come to your decision intellectually. To be successful you need to have an emotional commitment to lose weight. This will give you the power, strength and fortitude you need when dieting times turn a little tough.

Now let's see hour the watchword/slogan system works to keep you on track for the long term on your program. Let me start by giving you one of our primary watchwords -

I gave you this watchword to keep your interest high but I really need to show you how this will help by teaching you the watchword system.

Most segments in this book contain at least one watchword or slogan. These watchwords or slogans represent easy to remember themes that describe a principle or tip or clue. They are something to help you visualize in order to help you stay on track as you follow your diet program.

The watchword is supposed to make you raise your guard against forces that would otherwise increase your susceptibility to temptation. Likewise the slogan makes clear one of the fundamental elements that need to be controlled at mealtime as you practice new health eating patters. These patterns will develop into good habits that will have benefits that can last a lifetime.

Lack of sensible portion control was illustrated in the movie, "Super-size me" where the main character showed what eating the super size for every meal at a fast food restaurant would do to him. Of course this was an exaggeration but what we now think of as normal portions has escalated. This is very clearly demonstrated on a National Institute of Health site called "Portion Distortion". This is the link to that site quiz: http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/portion/ .
Go to the site and take the quiz. I think you'll be amazed by the facts that are demonstrated.

On the next post I will conclude the lesson on Learning the Watchword/Slogan system and we will find out the true value of being alert while we eat .

We will also explore who else is running a weight loss challenge programs. One thing we can all agree on is that in North America there is a spirit of competitiveness. We're going to harness that spirit each of us to get into better shape and better health.

We will continue to see who else is challenging us and themselves to lose weight and we'll try to find some programs in your area in order to give you more resources to help you succeed.

Thank you all for recruiting readers for our blog.
Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Another 1 million pound challenge - from Oklahoma City, OK. We'll join together with you and up the challenge to 2 million pounds.

2008-01-04T11:29:00.000-08:00

Last month I announced our 1 million pound weight loss challenge and it seems to really be taking off. According to the Associated press today the Mayor of Oklahoma City wants the residents of his city to lose 1 million pounds. Good luck, Mr. Mayor. Just for some friendly and healthy competition, we'll up our challenge to 2 million pounds.

The Associated Press says, "(Mayor) Mick Cornett has challenged the city (Oklahoma City, OK), to shed 1 million pounds as its New Year's resolution". Mayor Cornett said, "It's always easier if you're doing something hard if you have other people to do it with". That's what I've been saying on this blog. But I go one step further. I offer the tips & clues to help you get to your goal.

So let's continue with the Brown Bag Diet methodology. So far we have discussed the theory, told the secret and reviewed some popular weight loss programs. You started on your program either at once or as soon as possible and we all decided to take up the challenge to lose at least one pound (for a total challenge of 1 million pounds- now raised to 2 million) .

Now we are going to see our first WATCHWORD which is MAKING A COMMITMENT.

We began with the hard part. Even though you understand where you are in this process you probably still need help. Intellectually you started. But emotionally you to need to convince yourself that this time your efforts will result in reaching your long term weight loss goal and keeping those pounds off.

Here's a tip developed by Benjamin Franklin who was not only one of our founding fathers but also America's first self made millionaire. Yes, he was smart.

When Franklin was faced with a difficult decision he resorted to his "Franklin Decision-Maker".
He took a blank piece of paper and drew a vertical line down the middle. He put all the positives on the left, the negatives on the right. This way he could visualize the facts he needed to make a decision. Of course you already know you need to diet and you know most of the important reasons but because of human nature we all need to absorb those facts internally to satisfy our emotions.

To help get to the commitment stage of your decision to get your weight under control, try this exercise. Draw a line down a piece of blank paper. Put all the reasons for starting a weight loss program on the left. Put the reasons for not starting on the right. You'll be able to visualize the arguments for and against making a commitment to get yourself in shape. I'll give you a start.
(Instead of right & left here I'll state the positives first, followed by the negatives)

THE BEN FRANKLIN DECISION MAKER
(helps you decide to make the commitment)

Positives
1. Fit in my clothes next season
2. Improve my health
3. Improve my looks
4. Improve my confidence
5. Help me get a promotion
6. Make me a chick/boy magnet

(add your own reasons)

Negatives
1. It's not easy
2. I enjoy good food too much
3. I'm not too fat- I'm under tall
4. I enjoy painful knees and hips
5. All my friends are fat
6. I like the sound of heavy breathing
when I go up stairs.

Add you own reasons.

OK Brown Baggers. Let's welcome the mayor of Oklahoma City and all his fellow Oklahoma Cityians. We're glad to have you aboard. I hope reading this blog will help you have an easier time reaching your goals. Together we can lose at least a 2 million or maybe even 3 million pounds. That's a lot of improvement in the health of a great number of people.

Next post I will continue with the watchword system and give the two most important watchwords of Brown Bag Dieting.

Continue recruiting so we can reach our weight loss goals together. Pass the Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com link to all you contacts.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

I LOST MY POUND. NOW I CHALLENGE THE REST OF YOU 999,999 PEOPLE TO MATCH ME SO WE CAN TOGETHER LOSE A MILLION POUNDS

2008-01-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

I LOST MY ONE POUND. NOW I CHALLENGE THE REST OF YOU 999,999 PEOPLE TO MATCH ME. TOGETHER WE'RE GOING TO LOSE A MILLION POUNDS.

It wasn't hard but it wasn't easy either. I was determined I would eat three proper meals today but I would also be careful of the size of the meals (portion control) and I would refrain from snacking. Snacking is a place where I can really break down. But I was determined that at least for today I would keep the handcuffs on so I wouldn't be able to reach into the bag of chips or any other snacks.

TODAY WAS THE BEGINNING FOR ME!!! LET'S SEE WHY.

You may ask, why start today?
Why not start sometime -

after the holidays
after the wedding
after graduation
after graduation
after vacation
after the prom?

It sounds reasonable to begin a program of weight loss when you don't have to deal with the temptations of holidays or the stress of dealing with new situations. On the other hand:

You are reading this NOW
You are now in the present
You know you should do it
You want to do it
Your motivation is strong.

Should you begin a program when things are whirling about in your life or should you wait until things calm down? There are two ways of looking at this. Before I let another moment go I'm going to cast my vote. I vote for NOW.

Later in this book I'll suggest that stress and uncertainty should be avoided when on a diet, but I think the arguments favoring starting a weight loss program immediately are really potent. Your decision to defer starting for a better time may be valid for you but for me TODAY is great. When I wake up tomorrow I'm going to feel great that I got off to a good start today.

I'm going to succeed. So will you.

(Next post I'm going to show you how one of America's greatest and most respected thinkers was able to make important commitments to programs that would change both his and your life for the better.) Tune in for the next post and keep recruiting followers for our blog:

http//brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Erwin H. Posner, R.Ph.

I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT FOR THE NEW NEAR BUT I'M FRUSTRATED

2007-12-31T07:21:00.000-08:00

SO YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT FOR THE NEW NEAR BUT YOU'RE FRUSTRATED BEFORE YOU EVEN START?

That's NOT abnormal. That's how most people feel before they start on a new venture.
Think of it. When you start controlling your weight and bringing your weight down to a normal healthy level it's like the first day you left home and went to school. Or it's like the first day you went into business and realized you have huge financial obligations. It is scary.

Have you every heard of buyer's remorse? You buy something really big and important like a house or a new business. You're happy to start a new beginning, mark a new milestone, open the way to a great future. Then something hits you. I have all these oblilgations. I have a new mortgage and or a payroll to meet or other obligations. If you start a business you think, I left my old employer and my regular, though inadequate, pay check.

WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?????

Those feelings are called buyer's remorse. And most have the fear before they even start. But you need a start in order to accomplish anything, so how can you conquer these fears. (Let's call them the fears ante the beginning and the fears post starting.)

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Everyone who is signed into the Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com has been there or is going through this right now.

Remember we said we were going to recruit one million people who to pledge to lose at least one pound by Jan 21st? Well I don't know if we made it to one million or not but we have a huge following and most, if not all are in this together with YOU.

Yes. Let's all do the virtual holding of hands together right now. I'm for you and you're for me. We promise to bouy each other up so we can start a program of diet control and complete it successfully by reaching our goal. And we're starting today.

Tonight we reach the milestone year of 2008. For most of us this is not the year of the mouse or any other creature. It's the year of WE and YOU reaching a heallthy and good looking weight level.

Happy New Year everyone and good luck. We're all cheering you on.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

In my next post I'll discuss the mechanics of why starting now is important.

YOU'RE INVITED TO HOST A BROWN BAG DIET NEW YEAR'S PARTY AND BE ONE OF ONE THOUSAND DIET PARTY HOSTS

2007-12-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Host one of a thousand Brown Bag Diet Parties this New Year. This may be the trendiest party of the season. Start planning. Call your friends. It's healthy. It's fun. It's new.

Tell your friends this is the chance for them to get the New Year off on a great dieting start. Here's the idea:
Invite a group of friends. Decorate with Happy New Year's decor and prepare lo-cal snack food.

On the table have big bowls of salad greens and fixings and no-cal dressings or vinaigrette. Add frozen peas to the salads greens to chill the salads and provide protein. Have bowls of celery stalks and raw cauliflower. Serve no-cal drinks like no-cal diet soda pop, tea, coffee and water.

Want more serious food? Then make sandwich fixings available. These can include tuna salad made with no-fat mayo, sliced or smoked salmon or lox and other lean protein items sliced thin. Include thin sliced whole wheat bread to make mini sandwiches. Check out other lo-cal salads.

**NOTE: No Chips, or fattening dips. No bagels, brownies, doughnuts, cookies, pastry or cake.

Everyone gets a Brown Paper Bag. Inside the Brown Bag are party favors (whistles, party hats, etc from the paper and party store). Also include a dessert such as a piece of fruit in each bag, (apple, pear etc).

Toast the New Year in with club soda with a squeeze of lemon or lime.

Have a contest on who has the best diet plan. Then prepare for the next party in six weeks on Valentine's Day where you can all find out how well you did.

What will happen if one thousand Brown Bag Diet party hosts invite at least ten participants each? I'll tell you. In six weeks time you will find the following: Starting with ten thousand participants you will find some with dramatic diet results. You will also find many with good results. And others will have results that are just beginning to be positive.

The best part is that you will accomplish all of this with friends. So be a one-in-a thousand host. And be a one-in-10,000 participant. Join with us for success. It doesn't take a lot of calories to have fun.

Good luck and don't forget to spread the word about Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

SPEAKING OF THE POST HOLIDAY BULGE -today we review diets that can help you

2007-12-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

SPEAKING OF THE POST HOLIDAY BULGE -today we review diets that can help you.

As you know the principles of the Brown Bag Diet do not limit you to a single diet program. Remember I previously told you that most standard diets fit into three categories:
1. Smaller portions of well balanced meals
2. High protein, low carbohydrate meals
3. High carbohydrate, low protein meals.

The objective of smaller portions is self evident.

That of high protein follows the theory that carbohydrates stimulate insulin for metabolism and at the same time trigger increased appetite. Therefore refraining from carbohydrates and eating a diet of high protein reduces appetite.

The theory of high carbohydrates is that these foods create a feeling of fullness. Since protein packs greater density of calories within it than carbohydrates, reducing protein and increasing carbohydrates will result in satisfactory fullness without the compact calories involved in protein.

Now for the plans. (Note - these very brief descriptions are generalizations. You may wish a complete review)

The Atkins Diet:
(High protein with restricted carbohydrates. Testing advised for ketones in urine.)

Beverly Hills Diet Plan
(Very low protein, very precise rotation of food groups)

Carbohydrate Addicts Diet
(Modified carbohydrate, high protein)

The Go- Diet
(Modified carbohydrate, high protein)

Jenny Craig diet
(Prepackaged meals purchased from the company. Jenny Craig personnel provide counseling to the individual)

Pritikin Diet
(Very low fat. Protein from vegetable sources. High on vegetables and grains)

Slim Fast meal replacement plan
(Pre-packaged milk or juice based shakes. Snack bars available)

South Beach Diet
(Differentiates between "Good and bad Carbs and good and bad Fats. Reduces highly processed carbohydrate products found in baked goods, breads, snacks and soft drinks)

Sugar Busters
(Low refined carbohydrate, high protein. Eliminates bagels pretzels, muffins, breads, pasta, cookies, candies and soft drinks with sugar)

Weight Watchers (balanced meals and behaviour modification through group sessions)

The Zone diet
(Strictly controlled, balanced diet plan according to physical activity, gender and other factors.

Books:

The Brown Bag Diet- Tips and clues from the pharmacist's notebook) -
pre-publication

Dieting for Dummies

Dr Atkins' New Diet Revolution

Dr. Mirkin's Fat Free, Flavor Full

Eating Well for Optimum Health

Losing It

Lose to Win

Making the Case for Yourself

Mind, Body and Spirit: Diet and Nutrition

Portion Savvy

Strong Women Stay Slim

Sugar Busters

Suzanne Somer's Get Skinny on Fabulous Food

The American Dietetic Association Guide to Women's Nutrition of Health Living

The Edible Pyramid

The Glucose Revolution

The Healthiest Diet in the World

The Zone Diet

Prescription Medications for weight loss:

Adipex - P (phentermine)

Bontril (Phendimetrazine)

Didrex (benzphetamine)

Fastin (phentermine)

Fastin (phentermine)

Ionamin (Phentermine)

Meridia (sibutramine)

Plegine (phendimetraazine)

Sanorex (mazindol)
*Note- The above have been approved by the FDA as appetite suppresants. They work by modifying levels of chemicals in the brain that regulate eating.

Xenical (orlistat) *Note- Orlistat works by blocking fat absorption in the gastointestinal tract.

Over the counter products for weight loss and weight control

Ali orlistat (new otc version)

Slim Fast meal replacements

Nestle Success -Liquid prepackaged meal replacement

Jenny Craig- Pre-packaged Meals

Remember the challenge to enlist one million people to join us in losing at least one pound from Jan 1, 2008 to Jan 21, 2008. Ask all your friends and email contacts to sign into our blog:
Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com and give them all a chance to become one-in-a-million.

Next post will be on STARTING. Look for it.
Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

AFTER HOLIDAY SECRETS FOR DIETING

2007-12-27T17:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome to newcomers to the Brown Bag Diet blog and welcome back to our regulars.

My name is Erwin Posner, R.Ph. and my blog contains the basics and secrets from my Book, "the Brown Bag Diet -Tips & Clues for Dieters from the Pharmacist's Notebook".

In my last post I said I would discuss the three basic categories of most standard diets but before I do that let me deal with the title of today's post, After Holiday Secrets for Dieting.

With all the travel, rush, and disruption of routine that happens around holiday time it's not difficult to understand why many simply throw their diet regimen to the wind. If you're one of those who was faced with too much to do, too little time to do it, too much travel and every other stress that holiday time brings it's easy to understand why you were overcome by events and circumstances. You felt you were on the way with a good diet program but now you have to lose weight you thought you already lost, over again. It's depressing and you need some secrets to find your way back to the road, the good path.

I'm way ahead of myself and my book because if you started at the beginning of my posts you know we haven't even dealt with how to make a decision about the kind of diet you will choose.

But because of the season I want to give a few pointers for those already on one of the plans.

The secret is obvious. "Don't despair". Guilt won't help. Think positively. Your discretion is past. That's now ancient history. Today is a new day and it's a day for making a new resolution. Most of all you need to say to yourself, "I CAN DO IT". I can be a winner not a whiner. Maybe this isn't a magical secret but if you follow advice of this "Secret" you'll be on your way back to successfully reaching your weight goal. Now let's get on with the description of the elements of the basic diet plans.

Have you made email contacts to help us reach our goal of one million people losing at least one pound between January 1 and January 21? I've been contacting the media so they can help us recruit dieters too. Every participant who loses at least one pound is one-in-a- million, so have everyone join us.

Most diets fall into three basic categories. They are

1. Reduced portion -balanced meal diets

2. High protein - low carbohydrate diets

3. High carbohydrate - low protein diets.<[p>Make no mistake. They ALL rely on reduced caloric intake to achieve their long-term results.

Tomorrow I will review a dozen popular diet programs so you can see how they fit into the above categories.

Choosing a New Diet Plan can be Confusing

2007-12-25T10:16:00.000-08:00

Remember that I told you that most diet plans work (except for wacko ones). But choosing the right one for you can be confusing. Lets just review some of the major ones by beginning to describe the types available.

Diet plans run the gamut from plans managed by elaborate dieting clinics run by established physicians to diet plans that advertise on sign posts at the freeway entrance promoting alternative medicines that they claim the medical establishment has been trying to hide from you. It's up to you to filter out the hype and settle on something reasonable for you.

Here are the types:

In addition to those diets that depend on portion control or reduction of certain food groups the other means to reduce food consumption are the use of:

1. Prescription only medicines
2. Over-the-counter medicines
3. Pre-packaged meals
4. Meal replacement drinks

All of these methods can point to users who have used their method and achieved dramatic weight loss.

Dieting is big business and lots of people out there are trying to attract the dieting public's dollars. While choosing can be confusing you need not fall for "Snake Oil Advertising". "Snake Oil Advertising" is an exaggerated claim that promises to help you lose an exorbitant amount of weight in a super-short period, often without effort. One lesson we should have from our early American pioneers is that snake oil salesmen who offered miracle cures were simply con men. The same goes for miraculous claims of quick and easy weight loss programs.

Judge this case for yourself. On April 27, 2000, USA Today reported that the makers of a weight-loss product settled deceptive advertising charges made against them by the FTC for $10 million. USA Today reported that the makers of this product, "...used false claims about scientific testing to promote its product"... The makers agreed ... to settle deceptive advertising charges". (At the time) The FTC said, this is the largest settlement involving a weight-loss product or program". (While not admitting that any laws were broken).. "it (the company) is barred from making future deceptive claims about its products or scientific research.

The FTC takes action against those who use false and deceptive claims but they don't catch them all. Don't fall for exaggerated claims of, "Snake Oil", type products. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Later this week I will post the three basic categories of most standard diets.

Keep recruiting for our one-in-a-million diet challenge to lose at least one pound from Jan. 1, to Jan 21. We need one million dieters to take up this challenge. Forward our blog address to everyone on all you email lists so we can reach our million dieter goal.

BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com

Good luck and happy holidays,

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

Media release on dieting and weight loss, Help us contact the health desk of all media.

2007-12-21T12:58:00.000-08:00

Media release on dieting and weight loss, Help us contact the health desk of all media

For Release:
12/26/2007

contact: Erwin Posner
248.356.6660

Email: brownbagdiet@gmail.com

PHARMACIST ISSUES CHALLENGE FOR THE NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE WHO IS OVERWEIGHT.

Lose one pound by January 21, or remain wallowing in your own grease.

Erwin Posner is the author of "the Brown Bag Diet" – Tips & Clues for Dieter’s From the Pharmacist’s Notebook". He is looking for one million people to make a New Year’s resolution to start losing weight by losing one pound by January 21st. He calls this program his "One-in-a Million-Challenge" project because each participant will be the "One-in-a- Million".

Posner is doing more than just issuing this challenge. He is offering help. He is putting his book, ("the BBD") on his blog, BrownBagDiet.blogspot.com. Every week he posts information from his book that includes his tips and clues, charts, unique dieter’s flash cards and links to other solid information. All this help is geared to keeping the "Brown Bag" dieter compliant with his or her diet program.

"The secret of successful dieters", says Posner, "is their sustained compliance with their diet regimen. The "BBD" program helps keep the dieter compliant". He says that the whole subject of obesity was one that was always included only when discussing other disease paths IE: hypertension, diabetes, arthritis etc. Only recently has obesity been considered a disease of its own.

To date the "Preliminary Principles and Precepts" on which the "BBD" is based have been posted to his blog site. The tips and clues are coming in January.

When asked if he thought his statement about wallowing in one’s own grease was provocative, he said. "It was meant to be. Sometimes we need to be shocked into action. Losing weight to improve health and appearance is worth withstanding the shock. Let’s face it. Some will say holiday time is a time for waistline expansion. OK. But I venture they needed to lose weight long before the holidays."

The kickoff for the one million-pound challenge begins January 1, 2008. That’s when the real push will be on. One million people pledging to lose at least one pound is going to be noticed. That’s a lot of weight off everyone’s shoulders and other places too. Want to be "One-in-a- Million"? Then lose a pound and make the claim.

Everyone who signs onto the "BBD" blog is asked to send this blog address to all of the people on their email lists. Since 67 to 75% of North Americans need to lose weight it’s a good bet those people are prime targets for this program as well.

What’s in it for Posner? "About 15 years ago I began to collect notes on the subject of dealing with weight problems. I thought obesity would be an area where counseling by pharmacists could make a real difference. I searched for a pharmaceutical company to sponsor my book. There was interest but no offers".

"Then I realized the internet was the key. This is the place where the "BBD" program can reach the most people and do the most good. I'd like to do for dieters what Col. Sanders did for buckets of Chicken".

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Erwin Posner, please call him at 248.356.6660 or email brownbagdiet@gmail.com

End

Nurses have a special problem with obesity. The BBD program can help.You can be the One in a Million to help & benefit from this program

2007-12-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

Nurses have a special problem with obesity. "The Brown Bag Diet". I can help.

Hi. I'm Erwin Posner. I'm a pharmacist and author of "the BrownBag Diet- tips & clues for dieters from the pharmacist's notebook". We don't know exactly why people in certain professions have a higher incidence of being overweight than the general society but nursing is one of the professions in which this phenomena is found. We think that it has something to do with being part of the healing arts.

Nurses, who are giving care to others in time of their illness become absorbed with their duties. This creates a condition of selflessness in which the giver of care sometimes neglects his or her own needs. That is one speculation but naturally we can't test this theory scientifically. However we can help nurses focus on themselves in order to return to normal weight.

I originally wrote the "BBD" book to give pharmacists a tool to use when counselling patients. I didn't realize how useful this tool was to the others in the allied medical fields. When I showed the "BBD" book to head of nursing at a very large health plan she told me that pharmacists are a nurses best friend. I was flattered.

It is simply the way I presented the subject and that subject is learning the technique of retuning to habits that will allow you to take weight off without so called "withdrawal symptoms". ( No starvation )

Now we are engaged in a program to recruit one million people, nurses and everyone else, to join together and make a pledge to lose just one pound. This is the modest action that will kick off our 2008 year with success. As you know almost everyone knows how to lose one pound.

Thiis baby step is the small beginning we need in order to get started. From this point we can learn the basic principles of the Brown Bag Diet.

I've already set out the basic principles of the program in earlier posts. Take a few seconds to read them. Then read the posts that I will publish two or three times weekly. Each of these should have a tip or clue to help you that week.

Our kickoff for the million pound push will be approximately the third week of January. That will give everyone time to get back to their normal routines.

In the meantime I will give you this assignment. Recruit as many as possible of your colleagues to join us in our million pound effort. Pass out our blog address and ask them to recruit others to join us as well.

Our blog address is

Brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

We can all be the "One In a Million".

The Brown Bag Diet for Truckers - We feel the pain of long haul driving and know what it does to your weight

2007-12-19T13:16:00.001-08:00

"The Brown Bag Diet for Truckers" - We feel the pain of long haul driving and know what it does to your weight.

Hi: I'm Erwin Posner and I'm the author of "The Brown Bag Diet- tips & for dieters from the pharmacist's notebook. I did research to find out what groups would benefit most from the information about losing weight in my book.

I found that many truckers, particularly long haul truckers develop serious weight problems. When you think about truckers you get the mental picture of strong athletic types because you know these guys do lots of heavy physical work. This is true.

What is little known is that it's very difficult for truckers to maintain the discipline needed to keep in shape. Long lonely hours on the road contribute to fatigue. Fatigue contributes to stress. Stress is the cause of much overeating. And finally the choices that are out there on the road often lead a tired, stressed-out trucker to make poor food choices. If you're a trucker or family member of a trucker you know exactly what I mean.

I'm a pharmacist and I've taken care of the medicine needs of many truckers over the course of my career. I think I understand the culture and needs of truckers. That's why I'm making this special offer.

I'm making a FREE offer especially to truckers. Sign onto my blog and read the text and tips of my book, "the Brown Bag Diet- tips & Clues for Dieters from the pharmacist's notebook". I've included information I wrote specifically aimed at truckers. Information I prepared for the hard copy special truckers edition of "the Brown Bag Diet" is found in this online version of the book.

I've seen you and your buddies at the truck stop. Most of you are sadly out of shape. I'll help you get back to where you ought to be.

This blog is online and it's FREE. And YES, you can reach your goals and start working out again on the work-out equipment at the truck stop.

For now you can catch up on the preliminary posts of the BBD.

Next month we begin the 1 million pound push. We're enlisting one million of us to commit to losing one pound in our first week. That will make you and each of us one in as million.

Pass our blog address around and help us recruit one million people so you and each of us can individually be "ONE IN a Million.

Stay tuned to this blog for important solid information about weight loss that you can use.
Erwin Posner, R.Ph.
http://brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

"I am fat, can't get a date and depressed". "Why don't you get on the Brown Bag Diet program?"

2007-12-19T07:13:00.000-08:00

"I'm fat and depressed. I can't get a date. What should I do?"

1. If this is what you're thinking but don't want to embarrass yourself by expressing is vocally -read on.

2. Suppose you're this person who wants to get their life in order but your weight prevents you.

3. Suppose you're not that really bad off but you're weight keeps creeping up and you don't know what to do.

4. Suppose you feel like you eat like the proverbial bird but you aren't losing weight.

Just suppose there are a million reasons why you are either gaining weight or not losing it.

Well if one million other people like you get together you can all either cry on each other's shoulders (misery loves company) or help each other lose a little at a time starting with one pound.

You need help .

You've already started since you've found this Brown Bag Diet site. The Brown Bag Diet program may currently be the single best diet program around.

Join us (FREE) and we will help each other to start losing weight by pledging to lose our first pound. If we recruit one million people to join us we can lose a million pounds in the first week and we'll be on our way (weigh) to success.

My name is Erwin Posner. I wrote the book, "the Brown Bag Diet - Tips & Clues for dieters from the Pharmacist's Notebook". We need one million people like you to join us in losing weight so individually we can each be ONE IN A MILLION.

I am reproducing my book on this blog. I put the tips and clues from the BBD book on this blog and we will all do our best o follow them. Starting in January our push to lose a million pounds begins. Help us recruit a million people to join us. Help us help each other to lose the weight we want to lose.

All of the help you receive is FREE OF CHARGE TO YOU. At a later date, when our success becomes well known, I may find a company to sponsor the book so you can have hard copies as well as this online version.

Forward our blog address to your contacts. Let's reach the million mark. Let's each of us be a ONE IN A MILLION success.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

our blog is:

http://BrownBagDiet@blogspot.com/

Don't forget to pass our url around.

Dieting to lose Weight Made Simple using the principles of the "Brown Bag Diet"

2007-12-17T20:20:00.000-08:00

I've been asked a lot of questions about the brown paper bag itself. Was this an actual brown bag or was it figurative?

The answer is it was real. It was a five or six pound brown paper bag. This is the size often called a lunch bag. You can usually found them in drug, food or discount department stores in the aisle where plastic bags. and picnic supplies are stocked.

Even though there were times when I did away with the bag and ordered things from outside sources I found my best success with compliance was when I packed the brown bag and brought it to work. I even found it a good idea to plan my lunch and pack it in a bag even if I had the day off and was going to remain at home.

If I worked the evening shift my late meal came from the brown bag just like my lunches were. However when I ate evening meals with my family at our home I ate without the assistance of the bag. Never the less I still pre-planned those evening meals. If I didn't go through that exercise I was less likely to adhere to the rules of the "Brown Bag Diet".

Speaking of the rules of the "Brown Bag Diet" let me give you the final three fundamental precepts. For review remember the first six were: 1. Take on the effort of reaching your weight loss goals, one day at a time. 2. Pre-plan each day's meals (either the night before or the morning of) 3. Pack your meals literally or figuratively in a brown bag. 4. If it's not in the brown bag (your plan) don't eat it. 5. Divide your budgeted food plan into meals and snacks. 6. Meals more frequent that three within the day's budget are allowed. (Three meals daily is the minimum standard. Less than three meals daily constitutes skipping meals.)

Here are the final three:

7. Skipping meals is not allowed.

8. Making up for past indiscretions is not allowed

9. Prior approval from your physician, dietitian or nutritionist for your planned meals is required.

Now that you know all the rules you don't need to read the book or follow this blog do you? Well the book has three hundred four pages and I think you would do well to continue reading the book or blog because what follows is how to prepare mentally, to psyche yourself up, to meet the requirements of the program. When you do that you'll find the "Brown Bag diet works", as it has for others.

You can see that these basic precepts/ principles complement most of the diet plans described in the monographs that will appear later on this blog or in the book. My mission is to make it easy to adhere to these fundamental precepts/principles.

I'm preparing a press release for the media. I want to let them know that we're seeking one million people to commit to our program to each lose at least one pound on our kick-off week in January. When that's ready I'll post a copy on the blog and I'm going to ask you to help get the word out. By myself I won't be able to reach all the media from the largest to the smallest. But with your help we can do it.

In the meantime keep recruiting folks to join the programs. Write down the blog address for them. Just like will make your task of dieting easier you can help recruiting people to join to reach our goal of losing at least one million pounds. How long that will take is up to all of us together and the more there are of us the quicker we'll reach it. I don't know if there is a Guinness record for this but if not we'll have to get them to include it in their publication.

In my next post you'll begin to find out what all the diet programs in the market today have in common and how they differ. I think this will help you choose the one plan that suits you and of coarse you'll be able to apply to "Brown Bag Diet" principles to make it easier for you to achieve your goals successfully.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

Did you see an ad that says, "Look Like a Supermodel & eat all you want?"

2007-12-14T11:47:00.000-08:00

Did you see an ad that says, "Look Like a Supermodel & eat all you want?"

If that pipe dream is what you're after you might as well consult with the tooth fairy. Remember this. Since every one's genetic makeup is different we are predisposed to certain body types. But whatever our predisposition is we can make the most out of it. Like the U.S. Army says in its commercials, (you can) Be all you can be.

So let's get on with the process to get the most out of what we've got.

In the last post I noted that my doctor said I needed to lose weight but being very snide he said, "You probably won't". My reaction was, "Oh yeah".

I needed to have a plan of action. I didn't want to start inventing the wheel again. I'm a pharmacist and I've seen both success and failure amongst the patients I've served who have tried to lose weight on a variety of plans. I thought about which plans might be good for me and I chose one that I felt was reasonable for me to follow.

Many diets work well. A doctor or dietitian can help you design a diet. My diet consisted of well- balanced meals with items from every food group. The key to this diet was keeping portions reasonable sized. I've reviewed many of the major diet plans in this book. Some of them concentrate on certain food groups to the exclusion of all others. These can be medically sound as long as a physician closely monitors them. The reason for the need to be monitored on one of these diets is that there may be a potential for irreversible damage to vital organs with some of them.

One of the reasons I chose to go with the portion control plan was to give myself variety even if I needed to restrict quantities of some of the elements of the diet. Of course choosing doesn't guarantee losing, but everyone has to start somewhere. Making a conscious choice was a wise way for me to begin.

Compliance with the plan I chose was another key to reaching my goal. I found the trick was to be compliant with my diet plan over the long haul. That's where the Brown Bag Diet comes in. My tips and clues found in this book offer the dieter many ways to think about achieving the task of losing weight and sticking to the plan they have selected. I tried all the tips. You can choose those that suit you best.

Making a point of eating while in a state of heightened awareness made portion control possible. I needed to elevate my state of awareness to be able to judge the size of the portions I should be eating. I tried concentrating on my food and the process of eating. I didn't allow myself to be distracted by things that were peripheral to my task of eating.

My diet plan told me how much food I could eat and still lose weight. I just had to stick to the principles by deciding what to eat and when to eat it. I made those decisions in the morning when my resolve was strongest. You may prefer to plan each day the night before. That works too.

I ate a sensible breakfast that followed the rules. Then I set out the food I would eat for the rest of the day - lunch, as well as dinner. I packed everything in a brown paper bag, even if I was going to eat it at home.

There were times when Brown Bagging wasn't practical. I certainly wasn't going to pack hot soup in my bag. Nor was I going to pack other hot foods when I ate evening meals with my family. For these times I would have to sharpen my awareness and make sure that I was eating properly. I was able to make judgments eating from each food group and eating proper size portions. With experience making these judgments became easier.

Before I go on I'd like to give you another three of the Brown Bag Diet fundamental rules or precepts.

The first three were: 1. Take on the effort of reaching your weight loss goals, one day at a time. 2. Pre-plan each day's meals (either the night before or the morning of) 3. Pack your meals literally or figuratively in a brown bag.

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4. If it's not in the Brown Bag (your plan) don't eat it.

5. Divide your budgeted food plan into meals and snacks.

6. Meals more frequent than three, within the day's budget are allowed.

(Three meals daily is the minimum standard. Less than three meals daily constitutes skipping meals which is not allowed.)

When we continue in the next post I will finish telling the story of my personal program and give you the final thre findamental principles or precepts of "the Brown Bag Diet".

Keep recruiting for our one million pound weight loss program. One of our readers told me he passed our blog site to the health and wellness director of his company. They are in a big fitness program and can use a stimulating blog like ours. Tell your health department of your company or school that no official membership is required to join our blog readers and there is no fee to readers at all.

Our blog site is

http://brownbagdiet.blogspot.com/

Did anyone see our T shirts yet? If there is demand we can put our logo on mugs, kitchen magnets, baseball caps and many other things. Please let me know. Write me at brownbagdiet@gmail.com

Erwin Posner R.Ph.

News for Dieters: the BEST DIET program, the BrownBagDiet blog will now post 2 to 3 times a week.

2007-12-13T15:58:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to post to the Brown Bag Diet blog more than once a week which is the frequency I began. I've agreed to increase postings to twice or three times a week. I hope that helps those that use the postings to boost their incentives to get on and stay with their diet programs. Let me know how this helps you.

In the last post I said, " If you follow the rules of the Brown Bag Diet you'll lose weight". I can say that because I've been there and done that. I developed the program but I won't mislead you by telling you that dieting to lose weight is simple. It is never simple. However it is something that anyone who is determined can do. You can do it just like I did and it won't take heroic measures to be successful.

I accumulated weight over the years. It didn't just happen suddenly. Most of it was gradual. Whenever I found myself buying new larger size pants or the next shirt size I would resolve to lose enough to return to the weight I had been when I made my last resolution. But the resolutions were just paper promises to myself that I wasn't keeping.

Finally at a medical checkup my doctor told me my blood pressure wasn't being properly controlled, my cholesterol count was over the in bounds line and my load bearing joints, (knees and hips) were taking a beating.

As a pharmacist, most of my work is done while standing and my knees and hips were feeling the pain of lugging around those extra beefy pounds. My doctor said, "You probably won't do anything about it but I'll write you a prescription for something to help you lose weight anyway".

Well those were fighting words. You know how the average American responds when he's told he won't be able to do something? His response is, "Oh Yeah?" And so was mine.

Even though I hadn't followed through on previous resolutions to lose weight, this time I was determined to find a plan that I would stick with. I wanted to show that ignorant doctor he didn't realize who he was talking to when he said I probably wouldn't do anything about being over weight. I needed to lose roughly forty pounds and I was going to put a dent into that goal before I returned to his office for another cholesterol test.

There's more to this story but I promised to tell you the basic guiding principles of the Brown Bag Diet so I will begin with the first three:

1. Take on the effort of reaching your weight loss goals, one day at a time.

2. Pre-plan each day's meals (either the night before or the day of)

3. Pack your meals literally or figuratively in a brown paper bag. (Naturally if soup is on that menu it would be difficult to accommodate it in a small paper bag).

Tomorrow I will conclude my personal story and continue telling you about the other basic principles that make the Brown Bag Diet so successful.

I hope all of you are still recruiting partners who pledge to lose at least one pound so we can find a million dieters that together will lose at least One Million Pounds.

Our blog address is: http://brownbagdiet.blogspot.com/ Pass it around.

Check out our new Brown Bag Diet T shirt at

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/prod.aspx?p=brownbagdiet.200447395

See you tomorrow.

Read today's weight loss tip and continue to the Secret of the Brown Bag Diet

2007-12-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

Read today's weight loss tip and continue reading to find the "Secret of the Brown Bag Diet" .

Today's simple tip is one word.

"Consistency".

That's what made Lou Gehrig great. Consistency is what the BBD program intends to help you learn.

In our last post we all agreed that "You are ready". (to handle the secret of the Brown Bag Diet and be successful using it.)

I noted earlier that for this online version of "BBD" I need to break up the chapters to smaller parts for each posting. Therefore we continue to the "secret revealed".

Watchwords/Slogans form the basis for the tips that lead to success in the "Brown Bag Diet". I tested the tips of the Brown Bag Diet on myself. They worked. Then I invited a small group of fellow workers to try the program. We met every week in the employee lounge of my pharmacy and everyone was successful.

I knew I was on to something when one of the employees told me her fiancee joined her in following the program. She said he had never before been able to eat with reasonable discipline. Now, she said, he follows the watchword "Eat by the clock", religiously and doesn't snack between meals.

The watchwords don't change the fundamentals of dieting. They just sharpen your perception of yourself as you follow your diet program. This new thinking leads you to success.

Some years ago a math teacher had a fresh idea on how to teach math. He called it, "New Math". He reasoned that some students need a different approach in order to understand the way numbers work together.

Thousands of students used this approach and they reached a point where they could say, "Eureka or Ah Ha". "Now I understand it".

That's the point I want followers of the "Brown Bag Diet" to reach. The point where they will feel, "Ah Ha" and react instinctively by eating healthfully, well and feeling satisfied.

When we continue with the "Secrets Revealed", you will learn the NINE Fundamental Precepts of the Secrets.

Don't forget to recruit as many as possible to join with us in our push to lose 1 million pounds. Make some copies of our blog address.

http://brownbagdiet.blogspot.com/

Encourage everyone to join us as you pass our blog address out.

Don't hesitate to comment and let me know how the recruiting is going to find those 1 million people who will join.

Check out our new Brown Bag Diet T shirt with front logo and back message to participate in our 1 million pound march off at:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/prod.aspx?p=brownbagdiet.200447395

Want more Brown Bag Diet items? Let me know.

Erwin Posner R.Ph.

The Secret of the Brown Bag Diet - part I

2007-12-10T10:08:00.000-08:00

Some of you have asked something about my background and how I became the author of "The Brown Bag Diet - tips & clues for dieters from the pharmacist's notebook.

For reference you might go to the News-Line for pharmacists cover story that was done about me and printed in their December 20003 issue.

Last week I promised to conclude the introduction to the BBD and reveal

"The Secret of the Brown Bag Diet".

So here goes –

The medical world has come to the conclusion that being overweight is a "distinct disease state". That means that treatment is required for its own sake and not just incidental to other disease states like hypertension and diabetes etc. Of course medical science has a penchant for putting this in non- PC terms so being even 10 % overweight is considered obesity. Unfortunately this can make you feel bad about yourself before you even start to take corrective steps.

Yes, words can hurt. However we all need to recognize that the state of obesity crosses paths with a myriad of other serious disease states. Some of the common ones are hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, respiratory disease and even gout. By returning to and maintaining proper weight levels can help avoid long term negative consequences.

The outlook for those who maintain normal weight compared to being overweight can be the secret for living longer and enjoying a better quality of life. And the economic Impact of an overweight society is enormous. People of normal weight use fewer health services than the overweight. This is being recognized by industry where some companies are reducing the benefits of overweight employees or requiring them to contribute more towards their health benefits than their normal weight colleagues.

I’ve been told by health plans that they, together with their industrial clients, are seeking ways to give incentives to overweight employees to reduce to a normal weight level. They say that if successful these employees will use fewer sick days and lower healthcare costs will result.

I have even been asked if employers can sign their employees up to read this blog. No need to sign up. The blog is free. Each employee can simply be encouraged to sign in and read the info. However I may provide a weekly five-minute test sheet for companies who wish to quiz employees to see if they read the BBD blog regularly.

I didn’t forget my promise to you that I would reveal the Secret this week.
In the hard copy of BBD, revelation of the Secret takes eight pages so I’ll have to reveal it in two or three parts for this online version.

Here is the secret:

The Brown Bag Diet is not a diet.

It’s an eye opening series of watchwords and slogans that makes your diet program work better. To take off weight and keep it off you’ll have to find a way to change your eating behavior. If you find a new approach to view that behavior you’ll find it easier to change. That’s what the Brown Bag Diet can do for you.

If you follow the tips of "The Brown Bag Diet", you’ll lose weight.

Did you ever feel you needed a little push to help start and stay on a diet? Do you want some inspiration? Need some extra motivation? Are you sick of your doctor’s dirty looks? (You know- when he or she doesn’t say anything but you know what your doctor is thinking)

OK. You’re ready.

BBD can help you.
Watch for the next post - "The Secret" – (to be continued) -

Erwin Posner R.Ph.

You're NOT the only dieter - you're NOT alone!

2007-12-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

You aren't the only dieter – You are not alone

In a song called "High Hopes" Frank Sinatra sang,

"Just what makes that little ole ant,

think he'll move that rubber tree plant"

Sure the little worker ant can't move a rubber tree plant all by himself. But when all of

this ant's brother and sister ants get together, Frank says,

"Whoops there goes another rubber tree plant".

So think of dieting on the "BBD" program this way: You may think the task of reaching a sensible goal for you is impossible but like that little ole ant - You are not alone. Your brother and sister dieters are in this fight together with you. Why? We're together with you to help each other because we all have the same need. And those of us who have already reached our goals are ready to help you and others because we understand your pain.

We plan to have one million people just like you begin our serious diet program right after the holidays so this is the perfect time to start psyching yourself up. We must believe that once we start we will succeed. We can do it together!

I promised to post a chapter of the Brown Bag Diet each week and since our most serious push begins after the holidays this is a good time to present the Brown Bag diet preliminaries.

So let us begin the text of the, " Brown Bag Diet – from the pharmacist's notebook, (tips & clues for dieters from the pharmacist's notebook".

Introduction

Dieting to lose weight has become a needed National pastime. It's needed because two thirds of North Americans are overweight.

This guide was written to assist pharmacists to counsel overweight patients. It offers tips and clues written in layman's language for those on weight loss programs. It's divided into segments headed by watchword/slogans. The segments or monographs are brief essays that develop ideas and principles encapsulated in the watchword/slogans. Each serves to deliver a succinct idea. Some segments are deliberately redundant for reinforcement.

The monographs are followed by a section of Flash Cards. They are easily memorized. The Flash Cards convey the message of some of the most important segments.

Links to important material available online from U.S. Government sources such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Task force on Prevention and Treatment and Prevention of Obesity, Weight Control Information Network and other organizations affiliated with the National Institute of Health are found in the appendix. However in this online version of the BBD book I will sprinkle these links throughout the general text of the book.

The objective of the Brown Bag Diet is to teach dieters to establish an easy to follow regular routine. It attempts to give the dieter a mental reminder of what it takes to complete each week of dieting successfully. Watchword/slogans rekindle the dieter's commitment to their program. Receiving new ideas and refreshing good older ideas on a regular basis enhances progress.

We often say, early detection gives us the greatest opportunity to treat, cure or arrest disease. In order to make diagnoses of disease medical science uses sophisticated tests and laboratory equipment. In the case of obesity early diagnosis is generally quite simple. Early intervention is difficult.

Next week I will conclude the introduction and introduce what you are all waiting for-
"The Secret of the Brown Bag Diet".

Don't forget to send everyone on your email lists our blog link. Keep forwarding it to all your contacts:
Http://www. brownbagdiet.blogspot.com

We want to get our one million dieters on board for the big push in 2008.

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.

When Holidays come how can we manage to diet?

2007-11-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

When Holidays come how can we manage to diet?

(a brief Thanksgiving message)

Today is Thanksgiving day and most of us are giving plenty of thanks for having bounteous food by partaking, heavily. And that's not all bad.

We might feel pretty out of place if we tried to make a spectacle out of ourselves by announcing, "I can't have that. I'm on a diet". So a simple piece of advice is to take a rest from your diet program for the day, but don't pig out. When your host says, "Second helping? There's plenty." You say, "No thanks". - End of conversation.

If you don't over-do you'll probably wound up treading water for the week, not gaining or losing.
That's not bad and you won't have any guilt feelings either.

Don't forget about our million pound program. Have you sent our blog address to everyone on your email lists? Send this link to everyone.

http://brownbagdiet.blogspot.com/

Let's get all the people we know signed up so by the first of next year we can put the real push on for serious weight loss.

Between Thanksgiving and New Years I will post "The Secret of the Brown Bag Diet" and you can get ready to join the team to lose 1 million pounds.

Can all of us together lose 1 million pounds?

2007-11-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

How can a group of people lose 1 million pounds?

My name is Erwin Posner and I’m the author of “The Brown Bag Diet” –tips & clues for dieters from the pharmacist’s notebook". I began to compile notes over a period of 15 years about successful dieters who patronized my pharmacy. I put the tips and clues in my book (BBD) and I’d like to share those tips with you in this blog.

I believe in the whole/part method of learning. Successful dieting usually means learning or perhaps unlearning unhealthy habits. Since “the Brown Bag Diet” is a technique rather than a specific diet it requires learning. The best way to learn the technique is to do so bit by bit. You know, baby steps lead to giant ones of progress. That’s why I plan to put a small portion of my book on this blog each week. Each week we can, as they say, get better and better in every way. We can all help one another to reach our goals successfully by joining together on this project.

Before we begin I’d like to share a thought I heard at a recent lecture. That was that the human brain isn’t that much more advanced than some lower animals. So why have humans advanced and our dogs, cats and rabbits are no farther ahead than they were thousands of years ago. Because, the lecturer said, we know how to network our brains. Each generation of humans uses it’s collective brain power in tandem to advance knowledge. The next generation uses the knowledge we developed as a base to advance their knowledge. Our dogs and cats can’t do that.

I can see that you’re asking, “ What does that have do with dieting to lose weight", brown bagging or for that matter the title of this piece, Losing 1 million pounds"? It’s simple. I think we should fortify our effort by networking with 1 million other dieters. You can lose 1 pound in 1 week. One pound isn’t much. It doesn’t take much education or training to figure out how to do this.

I’d like to give you all an assignment before we begin the text of the book. Enlist everyone on all of your email lists to join with us by adding the BrownBagDiet blog link to their bookmarks. Let’s get 1 million people to join us. Then let’s all lose 1 pound together.

That will be a lot of weight to take off our shoulders and a lot of other places.

Let’s give everyone one week to get the word out to their email contacts. Then lets all lose 1 pound in the following week.

I think we can do it. What do you think?

Erwin Posner, R.Ph.