Winning By Losing And Giving
May 1, 2011 10:15 a.m. ~The Irene, 1st floor party room
Winning By Losing And Giving is a Coach Mindy initiative, inspired by dieter Joe Levitt, former Director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. In 2003, while serving in this leadership position, Joe began losing weight in a very public way. He noticed that many others were joining him—as Joe says,“ like a pied piper effect”. Joe had an image of being in a hot air balloon and throwing the extra weight (ballast) over the side. To do that symbolically, he thought of dropping a large boulder from his 4 story building into the courtyard. Because that was not practical, an ornamental boulder was ordered and “planted” in the office’s courtyard with a ceremony. Employees weight loss registrations totaled 1,157. A plaque commemorating that read, “For taking nutrition personally, FDA employees lost 1,157 pounds!” That plaque and boulder still stand behind the FDA’s building in College Park, Maryland.
Joe Levitt’s story inspired me to think of ways that we, as a group, could visually acknowledge our personal weight loss achievements and at the same give to others. On May 1st we will kick off this initiative at a complementary seminar. There will be speakers, tastings, a cooking contest with prizes, and a non-perishable food and clothing collection. Participation in all or a portion of the events is optional. Further information and the schedule of events will be emailed.
List of event activities
Joe Levitt, former Director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, will discuss the Boulder Story.
Marc Leon, a personal chef who is familiar with cooking phase 1 proteins and vegetables, will be lecturing and we will be sampling.
Peter Martino, CEO Capital Teas (www.CapitalTeas.com), will discuss different varieties of tea, and what is new and easy related to brewing tea. We will taste and learn about Capital Teas unique signature blends.
Lynne Glassman,EdD, Certified Image Consultant (www.DoctorOfDress.com), will discuss "What to Wear on Your Way to Getting There". We will learn about illusion dressing and guiding principles for our personal style.
James Brodsky, M.D. will discuss the effect of weight loss on heart health and quality of life.
Our “boulder of food”. We will replicate Joe’s idea with non-perishable food. Instead of planting our boulder in a courtyard, we will give it to St. Luke’s House (www.StLukesHouse.org). This non-sectarian organization serves over 2400 adults and nearly 400 youth who are residents in Montgomery County. You are asked (and this is optional) to bring in non-perishable food equivalent to the amount of weight you have lost. For example, if you have lost 30 pounds, on May 1 please bring 30 pounds of non-perishable food—rice, beans, canned goods, potatoes, sugar, peanut butter, pasta, cereal, powdered milk,----anything! Start building your “boulder” in your kitchen now. It is empowering and motivating to see it grow. Take a picture of your boulder and send it to me. You need to remember what it looks like. If your boulder is too heavy to carry in from the guest-parking garage—just pull in the front circle of the building and the doorman will help you. The party room is very close to the front door in the lobby.
Spring Cleaning—Get the big clothes out of your closet! Bring the clothes to this event. Our closets are full of clothes that are too big for us, but are greatly needed by:
Interfaith Clothes Center (www.iworksmc.org). This organization serves 16,000 individuals in Montgomery County yearly. To read more about the Interfaith Clothes Center click here. You are asked (and this is optional) to bring any clothes you wish to donate. I was told the center really could use large clothes. We certainly can help with this!
Dress For Success (www.dressforsuccess.org). This organization provides suits, confidence boosts, and career development to low-income women in over 75 cities worldwide. Do you have any suits that are too big? Bring them on May 1. To read about the suit program click here.
Cooking contest (optional): Rules—your creation must be phase 1 appropriate. Any ingredient must be from the phase 1 approved sheet or 0 fat, 0 calories, 0 carb. You must provide the recipe so we can share it and replicate your creation. There will be three prizes. Judging will be done without your name on the dish. Your dish should be plated and ready to go when you arrive—we do not have kitchen facilities available for the cooking contest.
Walden Farms Tasting: Are you confused as to which Walden Farms dressing to purchase? We will have a tasting to help you when you make your next purchase. Products that you might not have considered—Ketchup, Pancake Syrup, Marinara, Scampi, and Alfredo Sauce will be introduced and ideas will be shared as to how these products can be incorporated in your program.
New Ideal Protein Products: Lots of new products are being released. We will have samples of the new products for you to try.
Further information will be emailed. Please save the date:
Sunday, May 1st 10:15 a.m.
