We lost a shining star last last week, and I lost a client and a very special person. A personal training client I had worked with since 1999 lost her battle with congestive heart disease, caused by radiation for cancer many years ago.

But she left an incredible legacy and stands as a shining example of what a difference we all can make in the lives of others.  After she retired from her own business, she consulted for an international company, traveling the world, even as her health deteriorated to where she could not travel alone, or without oxygen.  She even became the president of her national professional organization, and was recently awarded Alumni of the Year from her medical school she attended so many years earlier. Yet she felt it was improper to feel pride. And she was always striving to do more and have a purpose, even as her activity decreased. Her purpose was to serve and make a difference for those coming behind her. Yea, she left a legacy that she’ll never really realize.

What will YOUR legacy be? What are you creating right now? Is it by chance, or are you clear what footprint you wish to leave on this earth?

There comes a time in all of our lives where we wonder what is next for us. Some people stress a great deal over it, in fact. I know, because I work with many people who are making huge changes in their lives/futures. Sure, it’s scary and represents great uncertainty, but it can also be viewed as an AMAZING time! What other creatures can change the focus and direction of their lives?

If you can’t answer my initial question, here are some questions to help walk you through coming closer to the answer:

1.What do you value most in life? It might be independence, it might be power, it might be service.

2. Where does your greatest passion lie? Stop and consider what conversations light you up. There is a consistency to it, even if you’re not aware of what that is.  When I ask clients this question the first time, often they don’t know. But in conversation I am able to point this out, usually quite easily. I’m sure others notice it, too.

3. Imagine the end of your life and you are sitting on the porch, talking about what you have accomplished. Draft that conversation and focus on just one thing you would like to highlight.

There you go! My client was extremely accomplished, but she was so because she felt it important to serve her profession and help others succeed. None of her accomplishments were for her own satisfaction; it was just who she was and knew this was her destiny. I’m thrilled that she received many acknowledgements for her accomplishments before the end of her life.

We all should be so lucky as to listen to our heart and live our destiny. But I don’t think it’s by chance. We must forge our path and be fearless in following it.

What is YOUR legacy?

Margie

Again I am prompted to comment on the information spread by people who have no education or background in nutrition science. Apparently an actress just shared on her new TV show that grapes are fattening and that if you scoop out the inside from a bagel that you get rid of the ‘bad’ calories.

Interesting. I’d LOVE to hear your comments about this!

Then here are my questions:
1. Do you believe either of these statements?

2. What would lead you to believe (or not believe) either of these statements?

We’ll go from there after I get feedback. Just curious.

Margie

Time and time again, I hear from emerging entrepreneurs who want to start their own businesses in health or fitness. And more often than I’d like, I also hear the comments, “I should…”

This was a recent discussion on one of my listservs, in fact: The person was saying she should offer this and offer that because that’s what the physicians would want.

Oh my. BIG mistake taking this route! Why? Because if you do what you THINK you should do, two things are likely to happen: First, you won’t see the success you envision, and second, it won’t be too long before you dread what you do. So, instead of living your dream with your own business, you’ve just traded a job that bored you to a business that drags you down.

What is the answer? Here are three keys to success that you can’t go wrong with.

#1 – Focus on your passion! Stop thinking about what you SHOULD be doing. What excites you? What motivates you to get up in the morning? What leaves you energized by the end of the day? For me, I LOVE empowering people and when they leave a coaching call energized and motivated and with ACTIONS for moving forward, I have achieved my life passion. When I hear from clients who are literally living their dreams, my work has been complete.

#2 – Focus on your vision. What do you want to ultimately create? One big area that gets new entrepreneurs bogged down is when they start to see opportunities at every turn. Then they want to do EVERYTHING! But, before you do anything else, get very clear what it is you want to create and then continue to ask yourself, ‘does this help me achieve that goal right now?’ If the answer is yes, great, go for it! If the answer is no, add it to your ‘opportunity list’ and leave it for later. As an example, one goal I just achieved was completing my MBA degree. At the same time I started school, I started to increase presentations. Something QUICKLY became apparent. Something had to go. So, I put aside growing my speaking career for after I completed school. NOW I am focused on my public speaking gigs.

#3 – Learn to say no! Oh yea, this is a biggie for most of my clients. In fact, we often will end up with EXERCISES on how to say no. And, the great thing is how free-ing it is for them! If this is an issue for you, practice it! An example would be to practice saying “no” at least 5 times in the upcoming week. Remember #2? If it doesn’t help you achieve your goal right now, it’s ok to say no! Now, HOW to say no without totally closing the door: You can say this doesn’t fit with my plans right now, but do please consider me the next time (or in the future, or I’ll get back to you when…). Although fear may lead you think you HAVE to say yes to everything, it ends up filling your time with things you are NOT currently passionate about acheiving, and prevents you from doing what you love.

What happens when you aren’t doing what you love? It shows! But, when you are doing what brings out your passion, that shows to, and people gravitate to you. And, when it comes down to it, you want to have your own business for success, fulfillment and enjoyment. Dragging through the day isn’t going to make that happen.

Margie

Come check out how I can help you move forward: http://www.meg-enterprises.com

Due to some recent national TV appearances by people who call themselves nutritionists, which have included inaccurate, and down-right wrong information, a colleague went to work to collect videos from registered dietitians around the country who have done TV interviews. Since this was my last topic, I though I’d go ahead and share those interviews on my blog! But as I watched them, I also realized how educational they will be for those of you who watch them! As a consequence, I then did a little more research on my own, in order to add to the list.

So, do spend time watching the particular topics that interest you, to not only learn something new (which we all try to do, right?), but to also take away tips to help improve your life, and also get a better sense of the role dietitians play in helping people learn how to apply the science of nutrition to your own life.

Now, I again want to point out that although there is no standard for someone calling themselves a nutritionist, before either accepting what they say OR ruling them out, do a little checking of your own. Did they graduate from an accredited university with a degree in nutrition, or did they just find a certification program? We are talking about your health, here, so don’t fall prey to someone who says you have to avoid this or that, because of their own mis-information and lack of education.

Curious about gluten-free? Check out http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/food_coach&id=6358243.

What about information on pregnancy? Check out http://www.abc15.com/content/living/yourhealth/story/Pregnant-5-health-nutrition-myths-busted/Wz8Sqx1qCUued8bTH6h3hw.cspx.

With the holidays just around the corner, check this one out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CybyhlV1OR4.

Have young children or picky kids? Watch this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xjcu4nOXR5M.

Curious about fish oil supplements? Then you need to watch this one; http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/food_coach&id=6698760.

Curious about nutrition needs for teens? Watch this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sGoUk5E7c8.

Starting to wonder about Halloween candy? Here is a segment from last year to help; http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6118955

Good segment on eating to prevent cancer http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5620219.

Happy watching!

Margie

Do you know the difference between a registered dietitian and a nutritionist? Chances are, unless you ARE one of either, you do not. But as a professional, you really should, especially if you decide you want the HELP from one!

I like to describe it this way: First, anyone can call themselves a ‘nutritionist’. It really has no meaning. Granted, people who call themselves nutritionists often claim that they focus on the physiology of nutrition where a registered dietitian just focuses on food or providing patients meals in a hospital.

Well, that makes me laugh, because before you can even QUALIFY to become an RD, one of the requirements is at least a bachelor’s degree.  So, would it even be possible that if someone were to get a bachelor’s degree in nutrition that the physiology of nutrition would NOT be covered? Quite often, in fact, a person who calls themselves a nutritionist may not have ANY education beyond a certification.  A certification can come from any type of program, from an online course to something more intense. But a certification cannot be accepted at face value without researching what is required.  However, saying you have a certification as a nutritionist would be like a physical therapist or a nurse or even a doctor practicing with just a certification, but people don’t really think in those terms, because we all eat!

So, I like to say that a registered dietitian is a nutritionist with the education and experience to help people learn how to apply information to their own lives. The difference, then, is further education.

This does not go to say that if a person did get their degree in nutrition and chose to NOT go the extra mile to become an RD isn’t as qualified! The difference between the two is the RD has much more experience, due to the 1,200 hours of practical internship, than the person who didn’t take it to the next level. And, if a person chose to teach, they would be just as qualified with their PhD in nutrition as the RD. This may also be the case if the person chooses to be involved in research.

So, when you read information about nutrition, ask yourself what qualifies that person to write. If you watch someone who calls themselves a ‘nutritionist’ on TV, ask yourself what really is the background of this person. Don’t take it at face value when someone tells you not to eat fruit for dessert or avoid all soy products. Do your research and find out just what the knowledge and education level is of that person who says such things. Just as you would do your research if you were looking for a surgeon, you should also do your research when listening to people telling you what to put into your body.

Jeff Bland says that we are a generation of human gineau pigs; we believe everything we say without questioning it. I feel that’s the case when someone tells me, “OH, I heard the lady on TV say we shouldn’t drink milk because it will kill us!”

Sigh. And the next experiment is on!

Margie

Many professionals are incredible at what they do! But some struggle with maintaining a healthy weight, which can lead them to feel less successful than they actually are.

Green Mountain at Fox Run is an incredible facility to help women learn how to live in peace with their bodies, and learn how to improve their health in a supportive, healthy way, rather than drastic dieting or guilt trips.

Green Mountain falls into the category of “adult weight loss camps”, but it’s much, much more. Here is the link to learn more about it: http://www.fitwoman.com/

So, I could write more, but I think my colleague Monika Woolsey does a much better job. To read what she has to say, click here

Even if you really don’t have a lot of weight to lose, but are looking for an experience of caring and self-discovery, Green Mountain is the place for you!

Margie

There has been a lot of discussion among nutrition professionals, lately about the wealth of inaccurate nutrition information being spread by the media. The problem is the media doesn’t know any better than the public!

Why would the media do such a thing? Do they do this when looking for someone to discuss medical issues? Nope; they contact an MD. Do they do this when discussing teeth? Nope; they contact a DDS or other dental professional.

But when it comes to nutrition, it seems that if someone reads a lot of books or takes some certification program (as many people do to list their qualifications to call themselves a ‘nutritionist’), or just decides to call themselves a ‘nutritionist’, or even today a ‘nutrition coach’, then they are suddenly the person asked to speak to an audience that could be in the millions!

YIKES!

I have shared links of dietitians who have shown up on national shows on Twitter, but not everyone is on Twitter, so I’ll share a couple of them, here:

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8295838

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8278705

As a result of the discussions I mentioned above, another colleague finally had enough and felt compelled to write a blog on the issue, which is here: http://tinyurl.com/p27obu.

What is the point to all of this? My point is that as a business professional, you may not know what is really accurate nutrition information and what isn’t. When a ‘nutritionist’ comes onto a national show and gives advice, some of the advice may be just a bit off. Will it harm you? Probably not. But it also may cause you to change your eating habits that COULD actually put your health at risk!

If someone tells you to eat avocado every day for lunch, instead of a balanced meal, I again cringe. I LOVE avocados, but unless you’re working to GAIN weight, I would NOT suggest you eat a whole one every day. Yes, it’s a healthy fat, but it IS all fat! A fat serving is 1/8th of an avocado, which is 45 calories. This means you will eat an extra 360 calories a day if you ate a whole one each day. At that rate, you could gain a pound of weight in 9 days!

And I’ll use another one of of these issues as an example: Fruit. Does it matter WHEN you eat fruit? NO! What’s most important is you EAT it! Now, maybe YOU can’t eat fruit at certain times, like after a meal, but rather than promoting that eating fruit after a meal will slow down digestion (which is mis-information), you need to determine if eating fruit for YOU causes you problems after a meal.

Now, before I get tons of complaints about disparaging the term ‘nutritionist’, let me end by saying that there IS such a thing as a ‘qualified’ nutritionist. Do your homework. Someone who has taken a certification program is NOT anyone I would want providing nutrition information to any family member or friend of mine. But, not everyone decides to take the next steps and become a registered dietitian after getting a degree in nutrition from a QUALIFIED educational program, which is fine. More important is, what do I mean by qualified? A correspondence school is NOT a qualified educational program. A bachelor’s degree or above in nutrition would be a qualified program.

How do you know if a person is someone you should listen to? Look at where they went to school and what their experience is. If they said they attended a particular school, check out the school! It should be an accredited school in the educational system, not some little hole-in-the-wall that provided a diploma.

I’ve love to hear your comments!

Margie

In celebration of the Healthy Woman Blogfest, today I’d like to discuss health and how it affects business.

As a health professional, I have worked with a lot of women who were very successful professionally, but struggled with health issues that held them back from not only FEELING successful, but being able to take their business to the next level.

How can such a limitation be decreased? I won’t say it’s simple, but there are a few steps one can take to START on the road to improved health:

1. Set goals. What would you like to see your health like? It might be to lose weight. It might be to control blood pressure or blood sugars. It might be just to feel and look better! Until you know what you want to accomplish, you can’t work towards accomplishing it!

2. Investigate what has held you back. Why have you not been able to achieve these goals in the past? Be serious in investigating these reasons. This is important in order to help you create a plan that will be different than previous plans. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.

3. Craft your plan. Now look at what you will do! This is where it might be helpful to hire a nutrition professional or perhaps a counselor or coach to help you move past perceived limitations. A coach can help you set up goals and hold you accountable to those goals.

4. Take tiny steps. In your plan, the more simple the steps, the more likely you will see success! If you want to lose weight, a simple change may be to switch to snacking on fruit at night instead of chips or ice cream. If you want to lower your blood pressure, it might be using herbs and Mrs. Dash instead of salt.

5. Write it down. When we write down our goals, we are more likely to follow through with them.  Rather than just saying you want to lose weight, how MUCH weight and by when? If you want to increase exercise, what does that actually mean and look like? Put it on paper.

6. Share with others. This also increases the likelihood of success, when we share with others what we are doing. Plus, sharing can help gain support for your efforts, too.

These are just a few simple first steps towards improving health. They may not be anything you don’t already know, but it always helps to read them again. You might be in a different place right now in order to hear them!

If you are close to the top of your game with your business, ask yourself what’s necessary to take to TO the top! If you felt better, would that help? If you felt you looked better, would that give you more confidence? If you had more confidence, what could you accomplish? I bet it would be anything you can imagine! Sometimes women use their health/weight as excuses for NOT pushing to be at the top of their game!

Margie

Join us for the blogfest by checking out the other links of participants, below!

BLOGFEST LINKS:
Angela White at Blisstree’s Breastfeeding 1-2-3 – Helpful Skills of Breastfeeding Counselors
Angie Tillman, RD, LDN, CDE – You Are Beautiful Today
Anthony J. Sepe – Women’s Health and Migraines
Ashley Colpaart – Women’s health through women
Charisse McElwaine – Spending too much time on the “throne?”
Danielle Omar – Yoga, Mindful Eating and Food Confidence
Diane Preves M.S.,R.D – Balance for Health
Joan Sather – A Woman’s Healthy Choices Affect More Than Herself
Laura Wittke – Fibro Study Recruits Participants
Liz Marr, MS, RD – Reflecting on Family Food Ways and Women’s Work
Marsha Hudnall – Breakfast Protein Helps Light Eaters Feel Full
Michelle Loy, MPH, MS, RD – A Nutritionista’s Super Foods for Super Skin
Monika Woolsey, MS, RD – To effectively work with PCOS is to understand a woman’s health issues throughout her life
Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog – How breastfeeding helps you, too
Rebecca Scritchfield, MA, RD, LD – Four Keys to Wellness, Just for Women
Renata Mangrum, MPH, RD – The busy busy woman
Robin Plotkin, RD, LD – Feeding the Appetites of the Culinary, Epicurious and Nutrition Worlds-One Bite at a Time
Sharon Solomon – Calories, longevity and do I care
Terri L Mozingo, RD, CDN & D. Milton Stokes, MPH, RD, CDN of One Source Nutrition, LLC – Crossing the Line: From Health to Hurt
Wendy Jo Peterson, RD – Watch Your Garden Grow

We have lost a lot of well-known people in the last few weeks. Although death is part of life, those of us who are left behind are the ones who grieve.

It makes me realize, again, just how short life is, AND that you never know when your days may end.

Since we’ve been discussing controling ‘white space’ and what we do with our time, let’s address these deaths from that perspective.

What are you not doing right now that could a) help you enjoy life more, and b) help you grow your business in the most time-efficient and productive way?

Many of my clients actually struggle with these two issues all the time! Heck, don’t we ALL?

Let’s first look at how to enjoy life more.

One of the first things I did when I finished school in March is start gathering up friends to hike with. If I don’t have more ‘free’ time, I have to MAKE more free time! It’s not going to drop into my lap. This means making free time a priority.

The question to ask is this: When you look back at your life, (let’s say you’re in heaven, looking down at the ‘movie’ of your life) will you wish you had done more or less ‘fun’ things?

Hm; yea, a leading question, and if you say you probably would wish you had done LESS fun things, then perhaps we should talk…

Second, let’s look at how you can grow your business in the most time-efficient and productive way.

Do you have your marketing plan in place? Where do your ideal clients hang out? Do you even KNOW who your ideal clients are? What are their issues, their pains? Why would they come to you instead of someone else?

These are some of the main questions you need to address. Only when you have these answers can you develop a comprehensive and effective marketing plan. And the marketing plan spells out the most time-efficient and productive way you will grow your business!

As a life coach who works with health and fitness professionals who wish to start or grow the business of their dreams, we address each of these issues all the time.

Where are you? I challenge you to get control of these two aspects as soon as possible. Although we sometimes live life as part of a destination, it’s actually a journey, and where you are is in RIGHT NOW! Don’t live for tomorrow. As these last weeks have shown us with the people we have lost, we may not HAVE tomorrow!

If you need help with any of this, call or email me about my coaching services. Come visit my website, MEG Enterprises, or check out my book, Just Jump.  Be in control of your destiny!

Margie

I received quite a few comments after last week’s post about adding white space to my life, so I know many of us all struggle with the same challenges.

Just today I read a great article by Nour El-Zibdeh, RD who provides readers with ten lessons on how to enjoy career and family. Anyone can benefit from what she has to say, and it goes well with what I just wrote about.

I have been quite successful in the last week by putting all my lists into one major list, and then prioritizing that list each day. Now, I can’t say I have been as successful at NOT adding more things into my schedule, but I am doing so with a more conscious awareness of when it’s ok and when it’s ’squeezing just one more thing in’.

We all must keep in mind that to help us be as productive as possible also means ending each day with a sense of accomplishment. We can’t do that if we look at our ‘to do’ lists and see we’ve either not accomplished much or avoided the most important things. Again, this happens when we have TOO MUCH on that list. And this is where controlling our own destiny comes in; we have the CHOICE of how we organize our days. We have a choice of multiple lists, one list, or even NO list!

How must you organize yourself so you feel productive and accomplished at the end of each day? Even if it’s just ONE step, that’s progress! Maybe Nour’s words will spur something for you.

And so, with that all said, in order to add more white space to my life, and to take Nour’s advice, I’m off to take an afternoon nap this Saturday afternoon!

Margie

PS: Make sure to check out my new Just Jump into Business Coaching Membership program!