The Health Blog by Ryan Healy

A Personal Update

I normally avoid talking about myself because I like to keep my blog focused on health and nutrition... the two things you come to my blog to read about.

But late last night a reader (whose name I don't know) asked me about my job. So here's an update of sorts.

If you'll recall, I left my job with Sonlight Curriculum on April 19, 2005 to pursue an opportunity with two financial planners (Scott Kozak and Mark Barrand) and a mortgage broker (Bryon Swanson).

The way it was set up, I was to earn a commission based on how many people I was able to schedule for dinner seminars.

The guys said they were getting about 80 leads per month off a flyer they were distributing through a local newspaper. They also said they were getting about 50-60 of those leads to dinner seminars (about a 70% close rate) .

They based my compensation on getting 30 "buying units" to dinner seminars every month. I thought this would be pretty easy to do given their past results. I'd only have to close 38% of the leads to "make it."

Well, it didn't pan out quite like I expected.

First, the paper they were advertising with went belly up. Advertising ceased for about four weeks. When they resumed advertising, it pulled dismal results. Since I quit my job, I think they've pulled in maybe 15 new leads.

I can't fill dinner seminars without new leads coming in! (Like that's a surprise...)

Anyway, I've got bills to pay and a family to support. So I started thinking about what I could do... besides going back to another job.

Since I've got over three years of copywriting experience and I love to write, I decided to leverage that skill. So exactly two weeks ago today, I decided to launch my freelance copywriting career.

Guess what?

In two weeks, I've landed three clients and four copywriting jobs.

I'm not totally out of the woods yet, but it looks like I may have good success as a freelance copywriter. And I gotta tell you... I love this freelance thing! Flexible schedule, get paid to write, work anywhere I want to, etc. It's wonderful.

So that's the update. I've gone from Sonlight to sales calls to freelance copywriting the last two months. It's been one of the most exciting/stressful/rewarding experiences of my working career.

If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them.

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Splenda and Artificial Sweeteners

As my wife and I discussed Splenda and artificial sweeteners this morning, she said, "People want a low-calorie diet with high-calorie flavor."

That's the truth, isn't it?

We originally started our discussion because of the dialogue I read here. It seems some people think that the debate between sugar and artificial sweeteners is either/or... it's either sugar or artificial sweeteners, so which will it be?

May I suggest the answer could be "neither." You don't have to eat either one. You can live just fine without sweeteners of any kind.

In fact, eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners and you'll be well on your way to improved health.

One lady in the discussion I mentioned above pointed out that continued consumption of sugar can lead to diabetes, as if that justified consumption of artificial sweeteners instead. What she's overlooking is that continued consumption of artificial sweeteners can lead to neurological diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Want some anecdotal evidence against Splenda? Someone who goes by the moniker "aJuJuBean" writes:

"Just wanted to share that my husband works for a tank manufacturer and they had an order from a company that makes Splenda. The storage tanks for the product had to be specially treated on the inside because, if not, the Splenda would eventually eat right through the steel!"

And if you're interested in the science behind Splenda, check this out. In an article about artificial sweeteners, Dr. Janet Starr Hull writes:

"Sucralose (Splenda) is a chlorocarbon—a chlorine-containing compound. The chlorocarbons have long been known for causing organ, genetic, and reproductive damage. It should be no surprise, then, that testing of sucralose revealed organ, genetic, and reproductive damage.  Research on lab rats showed up to forty percent shrinkage of the thymus gland: a gland that is the very foundation of our immune system.  The contamination of water supplies by chlorocarbons is a serious problem in most European countries today, making many people very ill and warranting cancer studies. Due to the chlorine content in Splenda, sucralose can inflame swelling of the liver and kidneys, and calcification of the kidney, as shown in animal studies.  If you experience kidney pain, cramping, or an irritated bladder after using sucralose, stop using it immediately."

If you believe you can consume diet beverages and artificially sweetened food products without eventually paying the consequences, you are sorely mistaken. As Dr. Janet Starr Hull says so eloquently at the beginning of her article "Artificial Sweeteners Create an Artificial Need":

"It's time to admit that there is no free ticket to eating all the sugar-free products you desire without paying the high price of harming your body in the long run.  The 'technology of foods' (artificial sweeteners and manmade foods) has gone too far, and will not secure eternal health, beauty, slimness, or youth."

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More Raw Photos

After my last post, my friend Sarah pointed me in the direction of some more photos that show the results people have achieved by converting to a raw diet. Pretty amazing stuff.

Paul Nison's Cooked vs. Raw Photos

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Raw Results

Have you heard of the "raw diet"... i.e., eating all of your food raw? (This is different, by the way, than a vegetarian diet.)

Anyway, I was stunned when I came across a reference to this photo comparison on Seth Godin's blog. The woman in the picture went from a "cooked diet" to a "raw diet." Twenty-two months later she doesn't even look like the same person.

Take a look: Shazzie Cooked, Shazzie Raw

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Odwalla's Story

When I was at Starbucks a few weeks back, I tried Odwalla's "Superfood" micronutrient fruit juice drink. It was quite good.

But what struck me is how Odwalla markets its products. They use the power of a story to do it. Here's what's printed on the side of the bottle.

Soil to Soul

Odwalla was started in Santa Cruz, California by three musicians with a vision for a better planet. After 20 years, we continue that vision, bringing nourishment from the fertile soil of the nation's fruit basket, straight to your soul.

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Combat Depression with Exercise

Patrick Nolan, a marathon runner, has summarized a great article about fighting depression with exercise.

As he points out, the reason anti-depression drugs are so successful is because of their huge advertising budgets. Yet exercise has been found to combat depression even better than drugs. The reason nobody talks about it? Exercise has no advertising budget.

You can read Patrick's summary of exercise and depression here.

Chew Your Food

I'm a slow eater because I chew my food very well. I'm always the last one at the dinner table, which has earned me good-natured teasing from my father-in-law and friends.

In fact, one of my friends was so stunned when he noticed how long it takes me to eat that he began to count how many times I chew a single bite of food. He found that I chew most foods 50-plus times before I swallow.

Turns out, good chewing is a vital practice for optimum health. Here's what Alex Jamieson writes in her new book, The Great American Detox Diet:

"Chewing is the most important step of digestion, though most of us barely chew our food at all. Chewing is crucial to healthy digestion because it prompts the release of enzymes in our saliva that actually prep the food for further breakdown once it enters our bodies. So if we're not chewing our food and mixing it with adequate saliva, the entire digestive process is compromised. When this happens, we limit the body's ability to extract the nutritional and energy components of food effectively. And isn't that why we're eating in the first place, to fuel our bodies? The enzymes contained in our saliva moisten the food for easier movement, and they begin the digestion of fats and starches. So Mom was right—chew your food! And, I'd add, chew it well: By chewing each mouthful of food until it is almost liquid, you wil ease digestion and get as many nutrients out of your food as possible." (p. 30-31)

This is great advice. And, in terms of improving your health, it's one of the simpler habits to implement. So, this week, focus on slowing down and chewing your food more thoroughly. It will go a long way towards your health and longevity.

Fat Smokers

British researchers decided to study obese smokers and compare them to thin non-smokers. Their conclusion?

Fat smokers show their age faster.

OK. Who actually expected that they show their age slower? And did they really need to spend research dollars to figure this out?

I mean, c'mon. If you're fat and you smoke a pack a day, of course you're going to show your age faster....

Health Experts Bribed

Stay up to date on what U.S. health experts are saying, doing, recommending, etc., but don't place too much trust in them. That's the lesson we can learn from a recent scandal in Germany.

"The tobacco industry paid four top German scientists to produce research downplaying the dangers of cigarette smoking, Hamburg's Der Spiegel reported this week. Jurgen von Troschke of Freiburg University allegedly took nearly a half-million dollars from the German Association of Cigarette Manufacturers for a report concluding that cigarettes were not addictive." Source: The Week Magazine

I personally believe these conflicts of interest have probably tainted a number of health studies that supposedly prove one thing or another. How many studies have been affected, I wonder?

Heartburn Help

If you regularly experience heartburn or acid reflux, then you should think about cutting back on carbonated soft drinks. The Week Magazine reports:

"A survey of 15,000 Americans over the age of 40 found that those who drink large quantities of soda often experience heartburn while they're sleeping. Carbonated soda is acidic, can irritate the stomach, and promotes the opening of the muscle that usually keeps stomach acid from flowing upward into the esophagus."

I don't experience heartburn very often, but those times I have experienced it, I've connected it with eating too much. So there's another suggestion: if you experience heartburn, eating less at meal times may also help.