Everywhere we look we see commercials. Many of them are trying to convince us to buy junk food, whether it’s soda, a fast food restaurant, or a product from the entire panoply of readily available convenience foods in markets across the country. Food manufacturers spend billions of dollars each year in an attempt to keep their products in the forefront of consumers’ minds. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to see why. They do it because it works.

Companies that manufacture, distribute, and sell junk food have got their marketing campaigns down to a science. Every facet of a new marketing campaign is managed in its minutest detail. The choice of color scheme in an advertisement or on a product’s packaging is put through rigorous consumer research testing. Catchy slogans and jingles are devised and then repeated ad nausea until the consumer is conditioned to immediately think of a particular brand of junk food every time they hear that phrase or song.

Junk food advertising is impossible to escape. They permeate every media outlet. Some commercials are ingenious or clever; others tickle the funny bone. Some are just plain annoying. In fact, some junk food commercials are produced specifically to annoy. Studies have shown that such advertisements are actually effective because they force the consumer to remember a particular brand or product. This kind of negative stimuli is difficult, if not impossible, to ignore. This is also why commercials are frequently repeated. Consumers may not pay close attention to a commercial on television, but if the commercial is repeated frequently enough the information will register in their subconscious.

Companies that make and sell junk food have become masters at manipulation. One of the best weapons in their arsenal is the use of slogans. Fast food restaurants are perhaps among the most prolific of purveyors of catch phrases. Burger King encourages consumers to "Have it your way." Kentucky Fried Chicken boasts that "We do chicken right." Arby’s encourages people to eat with them, "Now that your tastes have grown up." Perhaps the best known fast food slogans come from McDonald’s. From "We love to see you smile" to "I’m loving it," McDonald’s is the recognized industry leader of slogan creation.

Why is it that slogans work, reeling in consumers to eat junk food that they consciously know isn’t healthy for them to eat? Perhaps they work because the slogans appeal to consumer needs. For example, the aforementioned Arby’s slogan might appeal to an adult seeking to differentiate themselves from what they perceive as the more juvenile appeal of other fast food places. The Burger King slogan might induce a person to visit one of their outlets based on their need to feel more in control of their choices. Each McDonald’s slogan seems designed to entice consumers with a feel good, stress-free experience, which might appear to be a welcome change from their hectic everyday lives.

It is the convenience of junk food that marketing campaigns also tout. Many commercials point out that consumers are rushed. There simply isn’t time to prepare a wholesome meal from scratch. Junk food advertisements promise ease and efficiency. Couple this with the fact that junk foods generally taste appealing, and food companies have come up with a formula for tremendous success. In fact, some studies suggest that our bodies are actually hard-wired to crave foods that are higher in saturated fat. This is certainly something upon which food companies capitalize. They’ve done their own research and they know that if they can get the customer to purchase their product one time, the consumer is much more likely to purchase that product again, particularly if the experience is a pleasurable one.

Junk food producers even use color to entice customers. Red and yellow are considered particularly attractive and the use of such colors as a part of advertising, or as a part of a fast food chain’s logo, can work to attract additional consumers and may even be able to trigger feelings of hunger.

Without a doubt food companies have their fingers on the pulse of the American consumer. Their commercials are innumerable and repeated constantly so as to make an impression in the minds of potential customers. Awareness of the techniques utilized with slogans, colors, and products better enables the consumer to make a well-informed decision about the dietary habits that are right for them.

Clear skin doesn’t just happen. Sometimes it seems that some people are born with it. But, most likely it has more to do with their life style, dietary habits and daily skin care than with their genes.

You might conceive of the things that cause blemishes as toxins. There are poisons in anti wrinkle skin care products, refined foods, beverages and frequently in the air.

Not only do these toxins contribute to pimples and other imperfections, they also contribute to fine lines and a prematurely aged appearance. Of course, it’s not imaginable to avoid all toxins in the surroundings. But, you can avoid cigarette smoke, cut back on refined foods or soft drinks and choose organic skincare products.

The major cosmetic companies sell billions of dollars worth of toners, creams, makeup and cleansers every year. They keep their prices low by using low cost, poor quality ingredients and relying on volume sales to turn a profit.

You cannot buy skin firming cream directly. You have to buy them from a retail merchant or distributor. Obviously, the retail markup adds to the price.

If you think about all of the advertising and selling that the large companies do, you realize where a large portion of their budget goes. Yet with all of these costs , they continue to make billions in profits year after year. The cost of the ingredients must be very, very low.

If you’re like most people, you don’t mind spending a little more to be sure that you have clear skin, but you also want real added value for your money. In order to get the best value, you may have to choose different sources for your skin care products.

Some of the best skincare products actually come from manufacturers of dietary supplements. After all, a moisturizing cream is something like a dietary supplement for your skin.

It should contain vitamins, extracts from plants like cynergy tk and natural oils, not irritants, toxins or allergens. Read the labels of the skin creams you are currently using. If you see ingredients like mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, fragrances and dyes , stop using them or you may never achieve the clear skin that you desire.

One of the common nightmares  business moms face is the conflict between business and family, particularly when it comes to answering the age-old question – “Mom, what’s for dinner?”

Too often the answer is a last second trip through the fast food take out line! The outcome is a bad case of “guilty mommy” because you are unable to provide healthy family meals on a regular basis. There’s the purchasing, preparing,clean up and before you know it, it’s time to start all over on the next meal.

Odds are as a “biz mom” you could be losing around $54k a year of income generating time agonizing over how and what to feed your hungry hoard without losing touch with your business. The thing most working moms fail to see is the fact that working from home is too demanding without easy  meal plans.

You will be amazed at how much more time you’ll have for your business once you coordinate dinner ideas. You can also throw away the family vs business guilt! Here’s a meal planning SMARTcut^® :

1. sketch out your favorite easy family menus
2. use a flexible system to change your menu planning for variety
3. develop a master grocery list to trim down shopping time (maybe to as little as one hour a month!)

There are a number of benefits to menu planning. The first is that you will never suffer through”I don’t know” for dinner again. Having your own list of healthy family meals will allow you to put simple meals on the table in 15 minutes or less. Your family will be in awe and pleased with your ability to prepare simply delicious meals.

(Don’t tell anyone how easy it has become!)

Adjustable meal planning also means you can change out one meal for another if you have unexpected company or decide to go out for dinner as a family. Don’t kid yourself, life is always in flux for the busy mom!

You could even prepare a cookbook compiling favorite family meals. This is a great technique for teaching your young ones simple meals recipes and getting them started on planning and preparing them.

Creating your reusable dinner menu system will involve a few hours up front. But wouldn’t it be worth a few hours one day to streamline this repetitive task and save you hours every week for your own use?

As you get quick simple meals set up and in progress, you’ll find you love the concept of a system that makes family meals easy to plan ahead or, rather, plan once, then keep repeating. What a great time saver!

Once you have discovered what factors tend to sabotage. Your weight-loss efforts, you will be well on your way to Successful weight control. To be successful, however, you must plan for success. By setting goals that are too far in the future or unrealistic for your current lifestyle, you will doom yourself to failure. Do not try to lose 40 pounds in four month. Try, instead, to lose a healthy 1 to 2 pounds during the firs week, and stay with this slow and easy regimen. Reward yourself when you lose pounds, and if you binge and go off your nutrition plan, get right back on it the next day. Remember that you did not gain 40 pounds in eight weeks, so it is unrealistic to punish your body by trying to lose that amount of weight in such a short time.

Seek assistance from reputable sources in selecting a dietary plan that is easy to follow and includes adequate amounts of the basic nutrients. Registered dieticians, some physicians (not all physicians have strong backgrounds in nutrition), health educators and exercise physiologists with nutritional backgrounds, and other health professionals can provide reliable information. Look out for people who call themselves “nutritionists.” There is no such official designation, leaving the door open for just about anyone to call himself or herself a nutritional expert. Avoid quick weight-loss programs that promise miracle results. The majority are expensive, and most people regain the weight soon after completing the program. Ask questions about the credentials of the adviser in any weight-loss program, assess the nutrient value of the prescribed diet, verify that dietary guidelines are consistent with information from reliable dietary research, and analyze the suitability of the diet to your tastes, budget, and lifestyle to avoid putting yourself in a risky, expensive, or unhealthy dietary situation. Any diet that requires radical behavior changes is doomed to failure. Nutritional plans that do not ask you to sacrifice everything you enjoy and that allow you to make choices are generally the most successful. See Table 15.3 on page 378 for a comparison of some of the most popular diet and weight-loss programs. Many of these programs have been shown to be harmful.

"Miracle" Diets

Fasting, starvation diets, and other forms of very low calorie diets (VLCDs) have been shown to cause significant health risks. Typically, when you deprive your body of food for prolonged periods, your body makes adjustments to save you from inevitable organ shutdown. It begins to deplete its energy reserves to obtain necessary fuels. One of the first reserves the body turns to maintain its supply of glucose is lean, protein tissue. As this occurs, you lose weight rapidly, because protein contains only half as many calories per pound as fat. At the same time, significant water stores are lost. Over time, the body begins to run out of liver tissue, heart muscle, blood, and so on, as these readily available substances are burned to supply energy: Only after the readily available proteins from these sources are depleted will your body begin to burn fat reserves. In this process, known as ketosis, the body adapts to prolonged fasting or carbohydrate deprivation by converting body fat to ketones, which can be used as fuel for some brain cells. Within about 10 days after the typical adult begins a complete fast, the body has used many of its energy stores and death may occur.

In very low calorie diets, powdered formulas are usually given to patients under medical supervision. These formulas have daily values of from 400 to 700 calories plus vitamin and mineral supplements. Although these diets may be beneficial for people who have failed at all conventional weight loss methods and who face severe threats to their health that are complicated by their obesity, they should never be undertaken without strict medical supervision. Problems associated with fasting, VLCDs, and other forms of severe calorie deprivation include blood sugar imbalances, cold intolerance, constipation, decreased BMR, dehydration, diarrhea, emotional problems, fatigue, headaches, heart irregularity, ketosis, kidney infections and failure, loss of lean body tissue, weakness, and weight gain due to the yo-yo effect and other variables.

Read nutrition information with weight loss diet plans and fat burning diets.

Although it is impossible to measure every little bite you put into your mouth, it is a good idea if you are trying to learn the value of portion size.

When starting out it is a surprise to most people to find that what they thought was a single serving is actually two or three.

There are fancy electronic food scales that are pre-programmed with nutritional
information and daily nutrient intake for you, although the only tools you will ever need, are a simple inexpensive gram scale, dry and liquid measuring cups, and the understanding of reading food labels.

Understanding the knowledge written on a food label is the key to helping you make the most sensible decisions on your food choices. The "Nutrition Facts" section provides you with identifying the amount of servings sizes provided within that product.

With food labels, you can clearly understand the amount and kinds of nutrients that are provided in the item. Usually, it contains the information on saturated fat, sodium, total fat, fiber, and cholesterol amount "per serving."

Learning how to read and interpret these valuable pieces of information may be a little complex at first. Learning how the numbers will affect your diet intake to properly add the proper nutrional intake for your body takes some education.

The following is a list of things you will need to know to gain a better grasp on deciding if a product is the right choice for you.

1. Serving Size

This is the primary item you will see on the food label.
The amount of servings stated on the food label refers to the size amount specified by a normal quantity the average food consumer intakes.

If you strictly follow the amount of servings recommended, you will obtain the same amount of nutrients specified according to the serving size on the label.

For instance, if the serving size says one serving is equal to 24 grams, you would have to measure that same amount for eating one serving size.

However, if you eat everything in the package, and the food label stated that each pack is equvalent to 4 servings, you need to calculate the amount of nutrients that have entered your body. If the food label specifies that there is 250 calories per serving, you need to multiply by four to get the total amount of calories you have ingested.

2. Nutrients

This refers to the list of available nutrients in a particular item. Nutritional amounts are based on both a 2,500 calorie diet and the recommended 2,000 dietary allowances.

In order to understand the numeric value of each item, you should know that the "% daily value" that the food label indicates is actually based on how a particular food corresponds to the recommended daily dietary allowance for a 2,000 calorie.

3. Ingredients

This refers to the list of ingredients that were used in the manufacturing of the product. Usually the ingredients are listed with the largest volume of content in the first place. If you read something that has sugar for the first or second ingredient, you may know that that product is probably not a preferred food choice for a healthy diet.

4. Label Claim

This refers to the kinds of nutritional claims of a particular food item. For instance, if an item says it is sodium-free, it has less than 5 milligrams per serving or a low fat item actually contains 3 grams of fat or less.

Learning to properly understand a food label is the first key to getting you set on your path to a healthier body. Being able to accurately keep track of your portion intake and knowing the value of the nutrients in the food you absorb, is a self rewarding practice that will benefit you for years to come.

About the Author:
Melanie Bremner is presently running and maintaining an online Family eBook Sales shop, and produces a weekly newsletter full of stories, facts and fun for the whole family. Sign up for her newsletter and receive a monthly bonus: http://ebooks4families.biz