Promoting My Book

It may sound strange but I think promoting my book may be more involved than writing it. The promotion that I have going right now is the "Signed Copy Giveway." I have a contest posted on my website for people to submit entries in order to win a signed copy of Soul Survivor. I am planning to have it go through mid June but that depends on whether I get anyone to enter the contest. Other steps that I have taken to promote my book are:

• Asked friends and friends of friends to promote the book on their blog by promoting the contest
• Created a MySpace page and am trying to get friends
• Created different graphics that can be used to post on various websites
• Sent my book to a few news outlets and sent emails to a number of radio stations and TV stations in hopes of getting a story

I anticipate that my book will show up on Amazon.com at some point in June and perhaps that will help but I'm not going to rely on osmosis to get the word out. Some of the books have sold already but I need to increase awareness in a more significant way.

Soul Survivor

At long last my book is ready. Soul Survivor has been a labor of love for me for a number of years and the process of making it ready for print has been both painful and cathartic. My book is now available and I have chosen to make it available through the publisher Lulu. There is both a print version and an electronic version available for download. The summary of the book can be viewed from the Lulu site by following this link Soul Survivor on Lulu.

The front cover of the book is pictured below:

Latest News and Coming Events

I was recently asked to provide a series of presentations to various audiences in Florida during the Vitamin Shoppe seminar in June. I am thrilled about this opportunity because it looks like we will be focusing on vitamins for the presentation. In the nutrition world vitamins are about the least "sexy" subject to present but I am hopeful that I add some zazz to the presentation that will make it interesting. Nutraceutical is one of the sponsors for the event and will have a large booth and a private room for my presentation. I have worked with many of the a large retailers such as Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods, Henry's and Boney's but I have never worked with Vitamin Cottage on this level before and I am grateful for the chance.

Last week I conducted a training seminar for two days with new sales people for Nutraceutical. I was using a brand new training format that I just designed for the event and I felt that it worked out very well. It is a nice looking presentation and takes advantage of the way adults learn and provides a number of take aways for the participants. The new sales people were all very sharp and I learned quite a bit from them even while conducting the training.

Herb Seminars at Vitamin Cottage

It was a productive week last week because I had the opportunity to conduct herb presentations for the great people that work at Vitamin Cottage. They were very kind to me and made me feel welcome. We discussed a variety of different herbal subjects and core concepts. We also had the chance to discuss some very effective herbs and how they are frequently used.

Some of the most fun I had was conducting the organoleptic tests to show how difficult it is to tell herbs from one another when they are in their ground form. This was fun and useful because it gave us the chance to taste herbs and talk about what tests are used to identify herbs. One of the most important tests that we discussed was Thin Layer Chromatography and how it is applied.

I had a great time and the people that work at Vitamin Cottage are some of the most well informed and knowledgable people I have done presentations for. I look forward to having another chance to present subjects to them in the future. For an outline of the materials covered please drop me an email.

Going to the Doctor Can Be a Pain in the BACK

Some of you may know that I have a herniated disk and have tried a number of different therapies to reduce the pain associated with it. On the recommendation of my doctor I went to a back specialist to discuss another option. I was appalled at my interaction with him.

During the meeting with the doctor I was my usual cordial self. I was friendly and outgoing and did my best to put him at ease. I know a little bit of James goes a long way so I was trying to ease him into the situation.

While he was busying himself with my records and familiarizing himself with my history he asked several questions. He had the personality of a dead house plant but no matter. I wasn't there for his personality but for his expertise. It was when he actually started to speak to me that I learned how lacking in genuine interpersonal skills that he was.

I have been spoken down to many times in my life as have most of us. Generally speaking the people that speak down to me aren't discussing such an important issue as my back. Nor am I paying these people to do something important that will affect the quality of my life. His condescending tone and apathetic approach to my existence prevented me from allowing him to treat me.

After he made his recommendations, which actually seemed like a good strategy, I told him that I didn't think we were connecting. I went on to say that I thought his approach was good but that the relationship wasn't working between us. His expression during my statement did not change. It was as if I had asked him what time it was. His reaction surprised me. He said "Oh. OK." He then stood up and walked out of the room.

One of the fundamental precepts that I live by is the importance of treating people with dignity and respect. All people. I struggle to understand how any care giver could be so disrespectful as that man was and think he would be able to help his patients heal. I am sad that he seemed so completely unmoved by my comments but then again, perhaps he didn't want me for a patient after all.

I am not posting his name because I don't want to do the man any harm. However, if you are planning to see a back doctor in Ogden, UT you will need to be careful.

Good health to you all.

Stress Presentation Overview

What is Stress?
Stress is the reaction to any stimulus that upsets the normal function of the body and/or mind. The key point is to acknowledge that stress is the reaction that a person has to an event rather than the event itself.

Segerstrom and Miller 2004
Conducted an important analysis of stress research over the last 30 years.
Meta-Analysis of 293 studies and 18,941 subjects

Stress Categories
Internal Conditions
External Circumstances
Internal Imbalances

The Stress Reaction
Physiological reactions to stressors
Important chemical functions
Supplements used to help manage stress

What Triggers Your Stress Response?
Exercise/Intense physical labor
Environmental pollution
Illness
Emotional stress
Self-criticism
Anxiety
Psychosocial Stress
Crisis of values, meaning and purpose
Misaligned core beliefs

How Do You React to the Stressor?
Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal Cortex (HPA) axis

Cardiovascular/Respiratory Reaction
Strategy
Address cell, brain, immune, digestive issues
Reduce stressors – stress hormones

Cellular Reaction/Glucose-Lipids
Fuel reserves are tapped
Serum glucose
Serum fatty acids
Inhibition of cell sensitivityto insulin:
Increased serum glucose
Increase serum lipids

Brain Reaction
Increased mental alertness
Improved reaction time
Insomnia
Fatigue
Nerve tissue degradation
Increase in free radicals
Anxiety
Exhaustion of important nutrients

Immune Reaction
Natural resistance enhanced
Counters allergies and inflammation
Thymus impact
Cellular and Humoral responses
Production of antibodies and T-lymphocytes
Specific attacks that arerequired to kill off pathogens are slowed
Susceptibility to allergies & infections

Digestive Reaction
Inhibits digestion
Inhibits gut motility and secretion
Increases the metabolic rate – nutrient depletion
Relaxed urinary bladder
Stomach/Pancreas tug of war
Improper breakdownof bulk food materials
Poor digestion and assimilationof nutrients

Free Radicals/Oxidative Stress
Unstable molecules

The Anti Stress Supplements
Picking a formula
Closely review the formula
Reviewing the serving sizes
Assessing the quality of company

Summary
Identify the key sources of your stress
Take action to reduce the impact of the stressors
Meditation
Surrounding yourself with supportive people
Determine the serving size you need in a stress formula
Identify the best company you can buy from
Create a plan to deal with the stress and stick to it

Feedback on "The Anatomy of Stress"

I received such a kind and wonderful note from Lainy Dietrick after completing a series of training presentations at the Good Earth chain in Utah that I wanted to include it on my blog.

"To whom it may concern:

Regarding training and seminars that James did for our five Good Earth stores.

He did and excellent job of explaining the subject not only giving information but doing it in a very entertaining way, that both staff and customers enjoyed very much. He was extremely well prepared and picked a good subject. He did a good job of educating and not coming across like a salesmen. He really went the extra mile. The weather was very bad and made it almost impossible to get to the American Fork store. But he persevered and did a wonderful presentation for the one customer that made it. I almost didn't make it home that day so I know how bad it was. No matter if we had a few customers or many he was gracious and made every attendee feel special in all of our stores. ... Thanks for your continuing support.

Lainy Dietrick
Good Earth"