Successful people are successful not because they never struggle or fail. They are successful because they never quit trying. How many times have you tried to change your eating and given up because the scale went up one or two pounds? How many of you gave up before reaching your goal because of some ridiculous excuse?

Well here's something that I want you to think about--in my opinion it's always too soon to quit! Changing eating habits may not be the easiest thing in the world, but if you take it one step at a time and change the small things, those changes will add up to big changes.

Here's just one example of how small changes can yield big results. If you drink 2 regular sodas a day, then you're ingesting 20 teaspoons of sugar a day. That means you're eating 140 tsp. or packets of sugar a week or, in other words, one and a quarter pounds of sugar every week just from those two cans of soda.

By now we've all seen those stupid ads on TV that tout idiotic statements like "I dropped my cholesterol level by 6 points from eating oatmeal!" like 6 points is a big deal or something! The truth is cholesterol levels within blood is just a transient number that fluctuates from day to day. So let's say you had your blood drawn and 30 minutes later you had it drawn again; did you know that it is unlikely that the numbers would be the same? That's right, cholesterol levels vary by many points from one moment to the next. Fluctuations are the norm, staying the same is very unlikely. Human blood chemistry is in a constant state of flux. Therefore to suggest that oatmeal drops your cholesterol level by a mere six points would be like me telling you how many hairs are on your head before you shampoo verses after. It's virtually meaningless. Major swings up and down are what you need to pay attention to.

The FDA created a list of food additives called the GRAS list. GRAS stands for "Generally Regarded As Safe." Notice the location of the word "generally," it comes before "Regarded as Safe." Why can't the FDA create a list called "Absolutely Regarded as Safe?" As I explain what's going on bear in mind that based on the number of food additives that the FDA has had to go back and remove after approval it suggests that the FDA has not done a very good job of creating a good protocol for studying and testing new food additives. And think for a moment about how difficult that job would be when you cannot control nor test for the interactions of 20-30 additives and chemicals that can be mixed in a food.

Recently Diacetyl, another food additive which has been used in foods for years, has been proven to cause a serious and often fatal lung disease called "The Popcorn Lung Disease."

The first words that came to mind when I heard about "The No Cardio Diet" were, "What an idiot!" But then I quickly thought, "What a genius!" Why the quick change of opinion? Because the author is a marketing genius. What better hook than to give millions of people that he has never met hope that they can indeed achieve the body of their dreams without doing aerobic exercise. And amazingly enough he claims you will "see results within 2 weeks." Man oh man! Sign me up! That claim alone should sell millions of books and skyrocket him to the top of the bestseller list. Please keep in mind that was always his intent from the start. Do not be fooled into thinking he has only your best interests at heart.

To have your dreams come true and to create a life that works, you need to take action. The challenge is to discover what action you need to take.

When you are in a state of fear and upset, you destroy your ability to see what needs to be done. You close down and get tunnel vision. All you can do is to fight, resist, hang on, blame, or withdraw. Almost any action you take in this state makes your situation worse.

Upsets seem to be caused by what happens, but this is an illusion. Upsets are not caused by what happens. Upsets are caused by fighting and resisting what happens.

To see this in your life, select a recent upset. Now notice what would happen to the upset if, somehow, you were totally at peace with what happened. There would be no upset. There would be no upset, because the upset wasn't caused by what happened. The upset was caused by fighting and resisting what happened.

I can't think of anyone that wouldn't want a great six pack of abs. How many of you are doing sit-ups everyday, hitting the gym religiously, and trying to watch what you eat, yet, to no avail, you're still sporting a keg instead of a six pack? The truth about getting a six pack lies more in what you don't know than what you may currently be doing. What would you think if I told you one of the worse exercises you could possibly do to get a six pack of abs was sit-ups?

The truth about getting a six pack lies more in what you don't know than what you may currently be doing.

Did you know that eating only raw foods is the key to speedy weight loss, increased energy levels and a more youthful appearance? How about that a diet rich in raw foods will reverse many health problems and strengthen the immune system? What if you were told that raw foods were the key to maintaining your lean body mass and giving you clearer skin?

Sounds like the fountain of youth to me and a diet with those benefits must be a good choice. Right? With attractive celebrities like Carol Alt, Demi Moore and Gwyneth Paltrow swearing by raw foods as the source of vitality, health and the body beautiful, one might actually believe it. After all, if they follow it and look the way that they do then it must be right for everyone. Besides we all know that celebrities are the best authority figures to turn to for guidance in so many areas of our lives. (If you don't agree with that statement, then you and I are not only on the same page but also the same planet!)

What a pleasure and privilege it is for IEM to share with you information on reclaiming your health every month. By taking charge of your choices and decisions in regards to what you do to your body, mind and health we know that you will begin feeling great. We have such an incredible sense of responsibility that you turn to us at the Institute of Eating Management for information and guidance on your health. We take that responsibility very seriously. In all the years that IEM has been serving the public, we have tried to stay on a solid course of healthy eating and thinking even when the media is bombarding you with odd messages like "the cabbage soup or grapefruit diet."

Many times there are other diets that attract your attention like the Atkins diet or more recently the South Beach diet.

It's no secret; we are simply looking for a miracle. Every year, overweight people in the US spend more than $1 billion on unproven, quick-fix supplements to help lose unwanted inches. We've all seen the ads on TV, in magazines, drug store aisles and almost every web-site from Amazon.com to Drugstore.com. The idea of a pill that offers convenience and the belief that someone has done all of the work for you. It's a shame how easily we forget that the solution to our problems can't be found in a bottle, but in ourselves.

There will always be someone who won't read beyond the fine print, someone who is desperate to find a miracle for weight loss and believes that they have found the magic bullet. It never ceases to amaze me how many people are willing to risk public humiliation to shed a few unwanted pounds. I'm sure that curiosity has gotten the best of some of you. You may have even picked up the box, gone as far as to visited the products web-site or asked your doctor or pharmacist his/her opinion about our newest friend on the market Alli.

By now most of you have heard the news that drinking wine reduces your risk of developing heart disease. Even the vast majority of physicians are telling their patients that drinking wine is good for them because it will increase HDL or "good cholesterol."I guess that just goes to show you how one study (which was sponsored by the wine industry) can mislead even those that we come to rely on for healthy advice.As absurd as it sounds, the statement "drinking alcohol is good for you," just goes to illustrate just how convoluted and misused information can become.Companies have learned that any study showing any possible benefit, regardless of how remote that benefit may be, can spawn a billion dollar industry if the study's results are marketed or spun correctly.

If you had a crystal ball that could show you the person you will be in 20 years what type of person would you see? Would you see a vibrant, healthy, active older adult or would you see yourself shuffling behind a walker, drooling into your soup bowl, unable to find the right words to form a sentence, obese or frail, sick with disease or even worse dead? Aging will occur no matter what. We are all on the same path between birth and death. Some of us, however, will age more gracefully than others and some of us will live longer than others. The worst case scenario I can imagine is living the last 10, 15 or 20 years of your life decaying instead of living. That won't be my destiny. It doesn't have to be your destiny either.

You are the architect today designing your future as an older person. You have actually been designing your future all along through your lifestyle choices and decisions. So tell me do you like the person you have designed so far? If you are fit and healthy and filled with energy then congratulations and keep up the good work. If you are embarking on this New Year with the typical resolutions to lose weight and get healthier then you have been incorporating some design flaws into your lifestyle blueprint. It is time to make some changes. It is never too late to make a change but the key will be consistency from this point forward.

Are you trying to get rid of those love handles? Ladies, how would you like to hop aboard the love train and get rid of the caboose? As strange as this sounds, the very things that most people do in an attempt to get rid of their love handles, is often the very thing that makes them worse. I'm going to give you information that will tell you exactly how to get rid of those love handles and saddle bags.

For starters consider this. While most people understand the benefits of cutting back on their fat intake, don't make the major mistake of cutting your fat intake too far. Here's a defective thought: "If I eat fat free foods, then I'll get leaner faster!" Does that sound familiar? Do you enjoy eating foods that taste like rubber?