Good health can mean success in both personal and business lives for midlife women

How do women (especially midlife women) have time to get healthy and stay healthy so that the subject of weight control can be eliminated from their already busy agendas?  While it's true that anyone can drop a few pounds or even more by giving up sweets for a while and staying away from pasta and bread, it is well documented that most gain back all they've lost with even more pounds tacked on, making it a lose-lose proposition. And like a problem at work that just won't go away by snapping your fingers, there is no magic to achieving good health -- just common sense solutions we may not want to hear.

There's more to what we eat than meets the eye . . .

Anyone who has taken the time to see or rent the movie Food, Inc. should have enough fear injected into them by the time the movie ends to read every label of every item they buy at the supermarket and question where every piece of meat or poultry comes from. Some, like myself, rarely buy packaged foods any longer, opting to spend more on certified organics, purchase fruits and vegetables from roadside stands or farmer’s markets and work hard to stay away from breads, refined sugars and fatty foods. I am not saying this is easy after as many decades of caring little about the aftereffects of the food I ate. It’s difficult and sometimes gut-wrenching to pass up things I used to go crazy for. But if my plan is to be here for the longest term I can muster with the highest quality possible I can maintain in both my business and personal lives to enjoy those years, then I have no choice but to pay attention.

It’s interesting to note that cutting-edge experts on health now no longer regard fat as a ‘condition’ that warrants a fix. They see it as a symptom of illness exacerbated by the food we eat and controlled by organs that try hard to balance hormones in our bodies, sometimes to exhaustion.

In his book The 7 Principles of Fat Burning, Dr. Eric Berg’s turns the ‘lose-weight-to-get-healthy’ philosophy on its head and instead espouses ‘get healthy to lose weight.’  It makes perfect sense. A machine or piece of electronic equipment can’t run at optimum function unless all its systems are in good repair. And the human body can’t become a healthy, fat-burning organism capable of running its personal and business lives to full capacity unless it is ingesting the proper foods that make it efficient.

Good business and good health

If success is a reward to the most ‘intellectually fit’ in the business, then doesn’t it follow that good health is a key as well, since energy, focus and clear-mindedness are keys to good decision-making? Nutritionist Harriet Diamond is a former Silicon Valley executive and her partner, Rick Maltin, have guided numerous Silicon Valley technology start-ups. Together, they came up with Youthingessentials.com, which offers specific solutions for clear thinking, multi-tasking, energy, better sleep and better digestion -- all essential ingredients to business success.

"Good health is a business tool essential to high performance in the professional world," says Diamond. "I founded Youthing Essentials on the idea that improving wellness improves performance. Business women go to extraordinary lengths to do it all, and need a simple program for maintaining balance," says Diamond, who herself struggled to stay healthy and stay productive while juggling leadership roles at work, at home, and in the community.

"Unlike 'anti-aging' the term 'youthing' connotes enthusiasm: embracing our whole selves -- enjoying the moment we are in and looking forward to the future," says Diamond. "Youthing Essentials is here as a trusted resource for guidance and products that really work for professionals under constant pressure."

Diamond's new guide, "Invest in Your Health to Accelerate Your Career and Business: A Youthing Essentials Guide for Business Women," available at http://www.youthingessentials.com/business-women-health-and-wellness-guide, is aimed at "helping businesswomen work smarter, not harder" when it comes to their health.