The Health Gazette

Many consumers find that they are wasting their hard-earned money and that many of the supplements have no effect on their waistline, and the only thing that is slimming down is the wallet. Physicians warn that many unscrupulous marketers will make impossible claims in order to get buyers to walk through the virtual doors of their marketplace.

Do you know which the best dietary supplements are?
Chances are, you do not know. What some consumers may consider the best weight loss supplements will have little or no effect for other consumers who try them. After all, there are so many weight loss pills on the market right now, that it is hard to understand how each of them works, and what their claims to fame are. Similarly, it is hard to know what the risks of the individual supplements are, especially since many of them are formulated quite differently from one another.

If you are trying to lose some weight, the odds are pretty good that suddenly you are paying much more attention to the television ads that tout the benefits of a host of dietary supplements. It may appear as though the floodgates have opened, because when you open your newspaper, you cannot help but see the ads for dietary supplements are there as well. Of course, the same can also be said of your email inbox.

As a matter of fact, between ephedra diet pills, ephedra free pills, and the latecomer to the bunch – Hoodia – it is not surprising for many dieters to simply purchase the newest addition to the market, and hope for the best. According to doctors, the best weight loss supplements are the ones that not only work, but that also will not have any counterproductive effect on medications you may already be taking, and that will also not add stress to your heart. So before taking any dietary supplements, please be safe and visit your doctor!

Everyone knows, diet is crucial to losing weight. What everyone doesn't know is that diet includes what you drink. This, of course, can be taken to mean avoid sugary sodas, but there's something more, and most people miss it...

Just drink more water. Most people, period, don't drink nearly enough water. Drinking 8 eight-ounce glasses of water a day, or around two quarts, can be the missing key to success in your fat loss diet. Here's why:

1.) Water Quenches Appetite

Can't stay away from the fridge? Our runaway appetites are often the biggest obstacles to a sustained fat loss diet. After all, if we're going to cut the pounds, we've got to cut some calories. But did you know that when the brain tells us we're hungry, it may be instead signaling thirst? Physiologically, our brains do not truly differentiate between hunger and thirst. So if we find ourselves picking up a snack right after a meal, fill up a glass of water instead. Just wait a few minutes and see what it does to your appetite... More often than not, you'll walk away without eating a bite.

2.) Boil Away the Fat

Our kidneys are designed to process all the water we consume. However, if we don't drink enough, they can't handle the small amounts - there's a sort of minimum requirement. The job is then delegated to the liver that, while able to deal with small amounts of water, also hosts a number of other duties - like converting fat into energy. Yet, if it's too occupied with processing water, that fat doesn't turn into energy. It turns into body fat. The kidneys can take one for the liver here, and you can help by just drinking enough water. Try giving your fat loss diet another leg up.

3.) Evaporate the Water Pudge

You gain weight if you don't drink enough water. Sound contradictory? This is how it works. Our body adapts to our daily water intake, and in ideal circumstances, does not retain water. This happens only if we provide it with enough hydration. If we don't drink enough, water gets stored in something very much like fat.

This is a safety mechanism, guarding against the impending "drought". But if we're at home or at work, there's no reason to enter into survival mode. Once we begin hydrating our bodies again, this water fat disappears, as our bodies no longer deem it necessary to survive. Several pounds can be lost by this alone. Not bad.

There is a legitimate concern here - if I drink so much water, won't I constantly be in transit to and from the bathroom? Well, at first, there will be more trips to the bathroom, but only at first. When you reach ideal hydration levels, your body dumps all the water fat it has been retaining - and when you go the bathroom, you're effectually losing weight. But once the water fat is gone, the bathroom visits return to normal. With all the benefits to be had, it's worth a few days of getting up and down a little more.

Adding water to your weight loss diet can be key in dropping pounds. After all, if it's free, easy, and convenient, why not soak up the skinny?

I had an inquiry last week from Taradel, a print services firm that does some specialty print work in the CAM/holistic industry, particularly with chiropractors. If you're in the US and considering any print work, particularly newspaper inserts, you may want to check them out. Here's a snippet from what I received from them:
Business owners who visit Taradel.com are able to plan, design, target, print, and deliver full-color newspaper inserts and flyers directly into the homes of potential clients.

Dr. Glenn Muller, an innovative chiropractor who runs a family-owned practice in Richmond, VA, has used print advertising to become one of the area’s premier spinal correction centers. “We order at least 50,000 newspaper inserts at a time and we distribute them on a weekly schedule. As soon as our inserts go into circulation we receive phone calls and schedule new appointments for the following ten days.” Muller’s practice, the Spinal Correction Center of Richmond, has successfully combined patient testimonials, high quality graphics, and valuable information pertaining to their new spinal decompression practice into their practice growth campaigns.

Taradel offers a growing library of chiropractic marketing resources, free of charge, for practice owners to review and incorporate into their own advertising. The site features free podcasts, in-depth articles, instructional webcasts, and even samples of previously successful chiropractic inserts. For only $375, chiropractors can print 10,000 full-color, glossy newspaper inserts. That’s less than $0.04 each!

Taradel offers a bunch of free practice growth resources on their site, as well as a number of other print services like postcards, booklets, etc. I know there are a zillion printers out there, but sometimes it's helpful to deal with someone who has some experience with your market, and testimonials to boot. If you give them a try, let us know how it goes.

http://www.taradel.com/practicegrowth

You'll find this throughout the CAM/holistic professional community, particularly early in practice: the massage therapist trades a session for an adjustment from the chiropractor. The acupuncturist swaps time with the naturopath, who in turn trades a visit with a web designer. The homeopath exchanges treatments with the landscaping guy who cuts the grass in front of her office.

At first blush there's nothing inherently wrong with this beyond the obvious tax-dodging implications. And for the practitioners just starting out who are time-rich and cash-poor, it allows them to get their hands on things they need.

The reality is that it's not as sweet as it looks, particularly if you continue the swapping when your practice reaches a decent size. Let's take a closer look at some of the drawbacks to exchanging services:

It's Not Fair
We already have an exchange system in place. It's called cash. It allows everyone to value their products or services using the same standard. It provides enormous flexibility to describe the value of what you offer down to the cent, with no ceiling. Exchanging services, however, tends to become one-offs: one treatment for one treatment. One haircut for one adjustment. One brochure layout for one massage. As a result, one of services in question is usually being undervalued, and over time, that person gets the short end of the stick. Unless you're trading an adjustment for an adjustment, someone's likely getting screwed.

The problem is that you're a health care professional, and it may just be you getting shorted. You've likely got a lot invested in your education and practice, and your time may just be worth more, on average, than many other people. If you're swapping your health care services for haircuts, you may be selling yourself short. There's nothing wrong with haircuts, it's just that you're trading apples for oranges and it's hard to strike a balance.

It Makes You "Buy" What You Don't Need
If you're starting out and have an abundance of time on your hands, this seems like a great way to get what you need. The truth is, you also ending up buying either a)things you don't really need; b)more quantity of something than you need; or c)things you need, but from vendors you wouldn't choose if you were using cash from your pocket.

It Sets a Precedent
It can be difficult to get off the trade train. As you grow, you may find yourself wishing you were billing for that service, and spending the cash on what you need, as opposed to trading.

It Affects Referrals and Outcomes
I can't back this one up with data - although if anyone can, please let us know - but my suspicion is that the people you exchange with don't refer as well as people who pay out of pocket. And, as I've mentioned before, it's possible people who don't pay don't have the same success from a health perspective.

The bottom line? Trade if you want, trade if you must. But as your practice grows, be conscious of what your time is worth, and whether the trade is a sensible choice.

Related Posts
Pro-Bono Work and Discounts: What's CAM Practitioner To Do?

Since we're going through the process of finding better, bigger office space, I'd thought I'd post along the way on some of the key challenges and decision points.

Buying or leasing can be a challenging one for many practitioners. Interestingly enough, I think it's more challenging later in your career, when you have the cash to consider buying, and the experience of pouring money into someone else's real estate, but it's a question that everyone likely faces several times during their professional lives.

It's easy to get caught up in complicated financials - depreciation, tax rates, etc. - but there are some easier questions that can help make the decision.

How's your cash flow?
Have you got (or can you get) the cash for down payments, renovations, taxes and the multitude of other costs associated with buying? When you lease, you often spread the cost of getting your office "patient-ready" over the course of the lease. When you buy, you'll likely need more cash up front.

Do you want the responsibility?
It's more work to own your own joint. You've got to deal with your own repairs, lawn care, snow removal, parking lot upgrades and plumbing emergencies. Are you up for it, or would you rather have the owner/superintendent of the building you lease in take care of it all? Most of us would rather not deal with this stuff, but having someone else manage it comes at a cost. Remember that most real estate owners aren't in business to lose money; everything that takes away responsibility from you is likely being paid for by...you.

How's your growth?
How do you see your practice growing over the next few years? Do you see yourself adding associates, colleagues, partners or other professionals, or will you be more of a one-person show? If you've got a lot of growth planned, you'll either need to plan to move again, or get more space than you currently need.

Moving is more complicated and expensive when you own your own space, so if you're buying, you may want to envision your practice over a longer time frame than the typical five-year lease.

How important is predictability of expenses?
It's easy to be surprised with leasing or buying. You can get an awful shock in five years when you renegotiate a lease under different market conditions. But you can get an equivalent shock when you need to replace the roof on your office building the first year. I find leasing tends to be more predictable in the short-term. Buying tends to have a lot more surprises up front, but you can monitor your long-term costs by keeping an eye on mortgage rates and the condition of your property.

Does real estate turn you on?
For me, this is critical. Do you want to own your space? Do you get a thrill from knowing that you're building equity in something, rather than paying for someone else's building? Do you feel a sense of pride in owning and caring for your own place?

What business do you want to be in?
I think this is the big one. When you buy an office for your holistic or alternative health practice, your essentially entering the real estate business, even if it's just with one building. Over a career, that decision can make a huge difference - paying rent to someone else for 20-30 years is not making you wealthier. But if you just don't want to be in the real estate business, then maybe you're better off leasing and focusing on your practice.

In the end, I think it's ultimately an emotional decision for many. The only caveat is this: be smart, not scared. If the money's similar, it's really not a big deal owning your own place. Even buying your first home can seem scary, too, but after it's done you realize it wasn't so bad after all.