“Healthy is not a Size, it is a Lifestyle” Author Wendy Cottiers reminds her clients and readers regularly that a healthy lifestyle doesn’t look like the size zero model on that cover of your favorite fashion magazine, nor does it require a lot of money. It doesn’t dictate the size of your skinny jeans, fancy expensive blenders, or BUYING into any kind of multi-level marketing or any other scheme that sounds like a gimmick. In my opinion, it’s true what they say about what seems too good to be true often is. Eating well means listening to that little voice inside that knows what healthy foods generally look like – fresh and recognizable in nature – and what they don’t: prepackaged and processed with ingredients that you can’t pronounce. Most multi-level marketing vitamin and shake lines, most ALL vitamins sold in pharmacy and grocery stores, and packaged foods contain fillers and binders. Cellulose=wood pulp. I continue to see social media posts claiming that the products they’re selling can treat or prevent coronavirus, or qucik fix weight loss solutions.

As a Holistic Nutritionist and Natural Foods Chef the number one question I am asked is “Should I try this diet?” Atkins, Paleo, Keto, Vegan, Mediterranean….”The false promise of quick-fix diets, yes-no lists is what I have always referred to as D-I-E-T- Dogma” – Wendy Cottiers

KEY FACTS 2020 GIMMICKS:

• *FTC Warns 16 Multi-Level Marketing Companies About Coronavirus Fraud

*June 2020 the FTC sent what they called a “second round” of letters to six MLMs that sell dietary supplements, shakes, and other personal care products: Isagenix, Melaleuca, Plexus, The Juice Plus+ Company, Vivri USA and Youngevity. Others, like Rodan & Fields and Melaleuca, got warnings for income claims, like this social media post from an unnamed distributor: “please consider EVERY DIRECTOR at Melaleuca has been getting a paycheck through this entire pandemic/crisis!… If everybody is spending $100/month… @ 20% = $20/customer x 20 customers = $400/month income – FOREVER”

Look at the beautiful Morgan Fairchild 70 years old and doesn’t appear to be a day over 50. It has been reported that she recently lost 30 pounds on the KETO. We all strive for a perfect bill of health, but remember high-energy powerful women at any age have accepted to love their body at any size. A size 4 may look very different on another. Flipping through magazines we see catchy headlines “Slim” ‘7-Day Diet” “Skinny”…which ultimately leads to self-obsession and comparison to others. Save money for food and trash those magazines if that is how they make you feel. Most of those photo images are edited, and photoshopped to appear perfect. And again perfect, is not one shape or size. Healthy lean body YES, skinny thin untoned body NOOOO… I can not stress that more in my holistic counseling sessions that we are advocates for promoting proper nutrition to not only improve health, but to fight disease. Free radicals, environment (i.e. mold in your house), COVID, EMF, household toxins, we are in constant battle with the “unknown” as these are things that we can not see, touch, or taste therefore we believe that they do not exist!

Parents beware what you do, as children look up to you often mimicking what mom-dad are doing, and that includes picking up bad eating habits, such as skipping meals, meal replacement bars, etc. While staying lean is a big part of good health, weight lost doesn’t always equal health gained. That new diet that took inches off your waistline could be harming your health if it locks out or severely restricts entire food groups, relies on supplements with little scientific backing or clamps down on calories to an extreme. You can not sustain a healthy lifestyle on whey protein shakes, or a meal replacement pill that claims to take off inches-with a disclaimer about side-effects. What you eat today you become tomorrow. Listen to your body, if you have fatigue, aches, can’t sleep …these are all red flags.

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Holistically yours,

Wendy Cottiers

RANK	DIET NAME
#1	Mediterranean Wendy’s Positive Nut plan is closest to the Mediterranean Lifestyle
#2(tie)	DASH Diet
#2(tie)	The Flexitarian Diet
#4	WW (Weight Watchers) Diet
#5(tie)	Mayo Clinic Diet
#5(tie)	MIND Diet
#5(tie)	TLC Diet
#5(tie)	Volumetrics Diet
#9 (tie)	Nordic Diet
#9 (tie)	Ornish Diet
#9 (tie)	Vegetarian Die