We believe there is a difference in the marketplace between your self-esteem and your self-worth. Sure there are formulas to help you figure out what your time is worth. But what about the value of you, yourself? How you value yourself is your self-worth. It's that deep down knowing that you are a worthy human being who deserves to be happy, successful, fulfilled and loved.


Often people confuse self-worth with self-esteem. Unlike the value you understand yourself to have, self-esteem generally refers to the extent to which you like, accept or approve of yourself. Self-esteem usually involves evaluating oneself, often in comparison to others. For many, outward appearances have become a yardstick for self-valuation. We concern ourselves with whether we live in the right neighborhood, shop at the right stores or have the right car. 


So ask yourself, how much of your own decision-making (not to mention your daily thoughts and activities) has been triggered by your self-esteem or founded upon your self-worth?

I am not a fan of green coffee bean extracts due to a lack of clear evidence of long-term effects and other considerations noted below. However, to be fair, green coffee bean extract contains caffeine, a stimulant linked to weight loss. It also boasts high levels of chlorogenic acid, a polyphenol antioxidant that researchers speculate may promote weight loss by reducing the absorption of fat and glucose in the gut, and lowering insulin levels to improve metabolic function. 

A 2011 review in Gastroenterology Research and Practice found green coffee bean extract to lower body weight more significantly than a placebo in three studies. Although average weight loss (about 5.5 pounds) was moderate (perhaps because the doses were a modest 180 to 200 mg/day), researchers noted the poor quality of the studies and suggested more research before recommending the extract for weight loss. While the extract appears safe, ingesting too much chlorogenic acid may raise the risk of heart disease since it elevates levels of the amino acid, homocysteine. In general, it’s recommended that adult coffee drinkers stick to a moderate amount a day, about 3 or 4 cups, or 300 to 400 mgs of caffeine.

If you desire a chemical intervention such as green coffee bean extract to boost your metabolism, be sure to ask yourself these questions:

• How much should you take? 
• What happens once you stop taking the extract? Will metabolism revert back to its natural “set-point”? (This is the point where your body naturally will fall.) 
• How much are you willing to increase your activity level?

Be willing to commit to lifestyle and dietary changes that will support your use of coffee bean extract. And ultimately, check in with yourself to determine if it's really worth it, if the average loss is a mere five pounds.

August newspapers are filled with coupons, specials and ads for back-to-school supplies and clothing, an investment of approximately $600 per student, according to the National Retail Federation. Billions get spent on kids' clothing in August alone.

Why am I bring this up you ask? Well I believe this is where children develop a sense of dressing appropriately for the future--and appropriate dress happens to be one of the top three issues employers deal with. 

Since the fitness craze of the 80s, there is a growing emphasis to show off more of the body. More slim-fitting sweaters and tops, workout clothes as fashion statements, low-cut everything. Talk to most people and they will agree, they like to look at bodies if they are young, toned, tanned and fit. But overweight with “muffin top”? Well that’s a different story. 

Meanwhile, mothers are looking for modest, well-made clothes that will get through the school year and kids want outfits that make them look older and sexier. A recent study of the top 15 websites for online shopping found that over a third of clothing marketed to young girls sizes 6 to 14 “revealed or emphasized a sexualized part of the body, has characteristics associated with sexiness and/or sexually suggestive writing."

I pose these questions as food for thought:

• Why do we need to sexualize our children's clothing, especially the girls? How young is too young?
• And do we need a 10-year-old girl on the cover of Vogue Magazine looking like a grown-up?
• What about the Skechers “naughty and nice” ad that featured Christina Aguilera dressed as a schoolgirl in pigtails, with her shirt unbuttoned, licking a lollipop?
• Does a 4-year-old really need a padded, push-up bikini?
• Are mothers just playing “dress-up-dolly”  with their daughters?
• Are the bodies of our daughters what we want to promote to society?
• How does the sexualization of children in the media impact sexual assault on children?
  

Some might say I’m old school and need to be more open-minded, but I see this as an issue that needs some attention. Girls being exposed to a world they are not mentally equipped or mature enough to deal with is done solely to serve the needs of the adults around her.

Concerns with aging are certainly not new. Ponce De Leon’s search for the Fountain of Youth dates back to the 1500s. That search goes on still today as the signs of aging are met with increasing resistance. There is a growing distaste for wrinkles, facial lines, spots, and loss of elasticity. Judgments based on personal appearance are powerful forces in society and the workplace. Multiple studies link personal appearance to positive reactions from others, including friendship preference, romantic attraction, promotion and success in business.

Not only do “boomers” not think of themselves as old, they are facing the fact they are working longer and living longer. That means more competition for a limited number of jobs and issues related to quality of life. 

Hence the strength of the booming anti-aging skincare industry. By some estimates, the U.S. market for cosmeceutical products — cosmetics with medicine-based ingredients — is approaching $20 billion a year. Today there is a growing list of wrinkle-reducing cosmetic products on the market and we have seen dramatic increases in plastic surgery as well as non-surgical treatments (such as Botox). (According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, there were 13.1 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures performed in the U.S. in 2010, a 77 percent increase over a decade.)

One notable trend is the increased preference for less invasive procedures--such as wrinkle-smoothing Botox or Dysport--that enable patients to get back to work and social settings without a long leave of absence. They account for 5.4 million procedures, averaging about $400 per treatment. Other popular non-invasive procedures include soft-tissue facial fillers, chemical peels and microdermabrasion.

More invasive procedures come at a higher price. Face-lifts can run from $6,000 to $15,000, along with the serious disadvantages of the procedure such as pain, swelling, scarring, dissatisfaction, not to mention down time from work and the public while you heal. Of course there can also be more serious complications.

If you aren’t sure you want to deal with those, but would like to take a safer route to looking younger, read on.

It’s a common held belief that it takes 21 days to change a habit. Personal experience tells us it may take years to change some habits, if they ever change at all. 

In the world of coaching around dietary behavioral changes, I take a “no will power” approach. With the understanding that habits are hard to change, but not impossible, and it's important to first realize your natural behavior style. This can help you understand what will work for you around dieting and exercise, such as keeping records of your eating and other solutions we've been given around traditional dieting. 

The verbiage may be different, like points instead of calories, or “my plate” rather than weights and measures, but there are no simple answers. The basic principle for weight loss is fewer calories in and more calories spent out. And while some people will actually get the results they are looking for with a variety of  “diets," keeping those results is another issue. Some may start a diet that seems to make sense, buy the food with great enthusiasm and then find themselves eating foods not on the “plan"--ending with a sense of failure because "there wasn’t any choice,” or maybe the program was a "gift" and the person didn’t want to hurt the giver's feelings. 

Whatever the excuse or reason, eventually people stop following the plan and usually that’s followed by another disappointment, set off by another round of searching for the next “miracle diet."

At Dale Resource Group we've found that most people need to adapt their way of eating to their natural style of behavior which has a direct relationship to an ability to “follow a diet” and begin to see the value of changing for a maintenance lifestyle.