Table of Contents Foreword Chapter 1: Health Is Wealth Chapter 2: Nutrition Is Important Chapter 3: Watch Your Calories Chapter 4: Live A Healthy Lifestyle Chapter 5: Your Food Choices Chapter 6: Exercise Your Way To Better Well-being Chapter 7: Detox Your Waste Away Chapter 8: Essential Vitamins Wrapping Up Sample Content Preview Chapter 2: Nutrition Is Important There are a lot of reasons why there are various diets available to the general public, and most of these safer diets are designed around the importance of nutrient content. Nutrients Nutrition is the key factor to a healthy body system which is able to function at its optimum capabilities and also help to maintain an ideal positive overall health condition. One way of ensuring the right nutrition intake is practiced, that the measured amount considered being enough for the individual is to ensure the diet plan includes elements such as carbohydrates, fats, fibers, minerals, proteins, vitamins and water. Good nutrition intake is even more beneficial to specific parts of the body and not just the overall body system. The following are just some ways of how specific the benefits can be: The heart of course is the essential core of the entire body system; therefore being of such important is needs the special attention so that is cab function at its optimum, thus the need for good nutritional support. The bones are basically the elements that keep everything together. Here to there is a need for good nutritional support as without optimum bone density and quality the body will experience a lot of connective problems. Energy for the body is derived from the daily food intake, and there is a need to ensure this food is nutritionally based so that the relevant minerals and vitamins can be dispersed within the system to churn out the necessary energy source for the body’s energy needs. With good nutrition the human body can function at its optimum and basically be able to “last” and with stand any adverse effects the surroundings may throw at it. Often people disregard the importance of good nutrition and this is especially prevalent among the youngsters who seem to think their health in infallible. Chapter 3: Watch Your Calories Everyone has a different take on the good and bad attributes of having a diet plan low in calorie count. However it would be better for the individual to explore the best calorie plan that is suited for his or her own lifestyle rather that to adopt just any calorie plan in the hope of staying at an optimally healthy level. Have A Look Calories are not bad for the body, in fact they are a necessity as they function as the provider of the energy source for the daily body’s needs. The problem lies in the actual intake of calories, where the intake is more than the usage of energy, thus contributing to a high percentage of the unused calorie being stored in the body system and this then contributes to the negative side effects which cause weight gain. All foods contain calories the only difference is some of these food contain higher amounts of calories than others. The usual measurement of the calorie content would be 1 gram of calorie is broken down into these following contributing measurements – carbohydrate is 4 calories, protein is 4 calories and fat is 9 calories. Most food product sold will carry the above breakdown for the shopper to have an idea of the calorie content of the item being bought for consumption purposes. Therefore in the quest to watch the calories it would be product to start taking note of the information divulged on the packaging. A fairly good guideline to go by would be that most green have comparably lower calories content to other foods. Often the sweetened or processed foods have very high calorie content and this is also only slightly less when it comes to the calorie content in meats. The fattier the meats the higher the calorie content therefore it would be better to opt for as much lean meat intake as possible. Most children and youngsters don’t really need to watch their calorie intake if they practice very active daily routines but for the working adult without any or much physical workouts in the routine watching calories would be something to seriously consider. Chapter 4: Live A Healthy Lifestyle There are a lot of opinions on how to live a healthy lifestyle, for some it would mean eating only certain foods and following a strict diet plan, for others it would mean a lot of physical exercise and yet for others it would mean living a stress free lifestyle. All these have its good attributes and are really quite advantages to follow but none can create a healthy lifestyle scenario by itself, ideally it should be a combination of all different positive elements complimenting each other to create the healthy lifestyle. Getting Started Taking small steps is often a better way to start the healthy lifestyle journey as it does entail some very significant changes. For most people who have go at it all at once, the feeling of being overwhelmed and defeated often causes them to eventually abandon any attempt to pursue a healthy lifestyle regiment. Making simple adjustments without any drastic eliminating exercises will help to encourage the individual to make further more significant changes as time goes on. These simple steps may include adding more greens and fruits to the current dietary habits. Cutting down on unhealthy processed snacks is a good step to initiate but is often very difficult as these foods are usually delicious and hard to resist as they are so fittingly named “comfort foods”, however one way to doing so successfully is not having such food readily available and within easy reach. The next time the grocery shopping is done, making an effort not to add these items to the cart would be a good first step in the right direction. Another small change that can contribute towards a better lifestyle would be to incorporate some sort of exercise regiment into the daily or weekly schedule. Although a lot of people give excuses about not having the time for such activities, small changes can be made, such as learning to take the stairs whenever possible as compared to the alternative of using the elevators or escalators.

Table of Contents Chapter 1: How Smoothies Can Transform Your health ....... 4 Why We Need Nutrients ... 5 The Problem With Modern Diets .............. 6 How Empty Calories Are Destroying Your Health ......... 7 Why Smoothies Are the Solution .............. 7 What You Can Expect When You Start Drinking Smoothies ..................... 8 Chapter 2: Before We Begin – The Downsides and Dangers of Smoothies 10 How to Avoid Harming Yourself With the Sugar in Smoothies ............... 12 Chapter 3: How to Make the Perfect Smoothie ................. 13 The Basics 13 Liquid ... 14 Base ..... 15 The Ratios .................... 15 And Blend!................... 16 Tips for Getting More From Your Smoothies .................. 16 Chapter 4: Fitting Smoothies Into Your Routine ................. 17 The Equipment ................ 18 Prep and Pick-Up ............. 18 Easy Smoothies ............... 19 Bought Smoothie ............ 19 Chapter 5: Energy and Defence Smoothies 20 Morning Wakeup Smoothie ................ 21 Stress Buster Smoothie ....................... 23 Brain Fuel Smoothie .... 24 Breakfast Smoothie ..... 25 Chapter 6: Sleep Aid, Digestive and Hangover Smoothies . 27 The Bed Time Smoothie ...................... 27 Hangover Smoothie .... 29 How to Create a Smoothie to Improve Digestion ........... 30 Chapter 7: Weight Loss, Muscle Building and Performance Smoothies ..... 32 The Long Distance Smoothie............... 32 Muscle Building Smoothie .................. 33 Fat Burning Smoothie . 34 Conclusions . 35 Sample Content Preview Chapter 2: Before We Begin – The Downsides and Dangers of Smoothies Before we dive right in though, you need to be aware that there are some downsides and risks involved with smoothies too. Smoothies can do a world of good and throughout the rest of this book you’ll be learning the ingredients, the techniques and tricks to enjoying some seriously healthy and tasty juices. But unfortunately, as with any health trend, there are also those on the web who are pushing false information and generally causing harm to the good name of smoothies! The first thing to be aware of is the idea of ‘juice fasting’. Here, people will use smoothies as meal replacements and will only survive on juice for a period of days or weeks. The claim is that this is a great way to ‘detox’ the body and to remove ‘toxins’ and other things, as well as being a good way to jump-start your fat loss. This is not a good idea. As far as detoxing goes, what’s important to keep in mind is that this is another arbitrary term that doesn’t really have any meaning. There is no scientific proof that we need to detox in any way or that we have a ‘build up’ of toxins. The truth is that our body has its own system of detoxification and this works just fine without our help. Your body will have no difficulty in removing toxins over time and they are not likely to build up or increase in number in any way. In one study, researchers asked the makers of ‘detoxing hair products’ to name some of the toxins that their shampoos and conditions could combat – they found that the manufacturers could give no good explanation. We like the notion of detoxing because it seems to make intuitive sense but the reality is that this is actually just a waste of time. And what you also need to be aware of, is the high sugar content found in smoothies. Now, sugar is not always a bad thing and over the course of this book, you will learn to mitigate the sugar found in your smoothies. However, when you remove the food from your diet, you remove the buffer to protect you from the sugar and the acidity of your smoothies. This can then result in some serious damage to health and a diet consisting purely of smoothies is likely to damage the stomach lining and more importantly: the teeth. I actually know someone who tried a ‘smoothie fast’ (despite my protestations) and they ended up eroding all of the enamel from their teeth. They had to go to the doctor and lost two teeth after just one week. So think long and hard before you jump on board any juice fasts or other trends. The last thing to think about is whether or not a diet is sustainable. If you are going to ‘kick start’ a diet by using an extreme fast, then you’ll be putting your body through hell only to return to a normal type of eating. That means your weight will simply return to what it was before the fast and you won’t have benefited. Moreover, when you fast for this long, you actually increase your likelihood of storing fat. Numerous processes in the body ensure this but one key example is that your body will produce a lot of cortisol as a response to low blood sugar. This cortisol then encourages lipogenesis – the creation of new fat stores. Oh and it also destroys muscle (via the release of myostatin) which makes you less metabolically active. It depletes testosterone significantly too, which further slows down your metabolism. But you’re getting sugar right? From all that fruit? Yes - but only simple sugar. Fruits absorb very quickly into the blood stream and that means that you’re going to be getting three massive spikes of energy throughout the day and nothing more. This is not good for your insulin sensitivity and it means you are highly likely to store all that sugar as fat. So in short: avoid juice fasts and smoothie ‘cleanses’. Instead, focus on adding smoothies to your diet! How to Avoid Harming Yourself With the Sugar in Smoothies Smoothies do a ton of good but as we’ve learned, they can also carry a few risks with them. If you’re now concerned at the potential damage that the sugar in smoothies can do, it might have put you off of the idea of adding smoothies to your diet. But don’t worry – when you add just one smoothie of a reasonable size to your morning routine, you have nothing to worry about. This is especially true if you also make sure that you reduce sugar from other sources in your diet. If you have particularly sensitive teeth though, or if you don’t react well to sugar, another option is to focus more on vegetable smoothies or to look for fruits that are lower in sugar. There are plenty of good options to choose from and adding more water to your smoothie can also help to dilute it. When we go through the recipes and tips, you’ll see that there are a number of different options that are lower in sugar than average. Chapter 3: How to Make the Perfect Smoothie We don’t have any smoothie recipes to start making yet but to start with, that isn’t going to matter. Instead, we’re going to look at the basics that apply to any smoothie. Because really, you don’t necessarily need a recipe. There’s nothing wrong with just experimenting with different combinations of fruits and vegetables and tweaking the ratios to find things you like. Elsewhere in this book, you’ll find a guide to the different health benefits of various fruits and vegetables, as well as the benefits of different nutrients – that can serve as a good starting point. But to get creative, you need to know the basic rules that will apply regardless of your ingredients. How do you make sure that your smoothie is ‘basically tasty’ and doesn’t leave you cold? The Basics The first thing to do is to choose the fruits and vegetables that you’re going to add to your smoothie. As mentioned, you should choose the fruits and vegetables based on the goals you want to achieve and the nutrients that you’re interested in. Of course, you should aim for a balance but ask what your primary goal is too. Is this a fat burning smoothie? An energy smoothie? Or a fiber-packed smoothie? Think too about the sugar content and the acidity. Something like a banana or an avocado will be much less sugary than something like an orange or a mango. If you have one or two ingredients that pack a lot of sugar, then consider adding a few less sweet ingredients to try and even the score. What’s also very important, is to make sure that you get your ratios correct and we’ll come to this in a moment. Liquid The first thing to add to your contain before you start making your smoothie is some form of liquid. This of course is going to be what keeps your drink a drink and not a mush! What’s also important though, is that you think about how much liquid you want and want type of liquid you’re going to use. The most common choice of liquid will be water. However, it’s also fairly common to use milk (which comes packed with its own nutrients) or to use fruit juices. It’s also normal to use 1 to 2 cups for one person’s worth of smoothie. Note though that your smoothie’s consistency is very much dependent on what you do now. If you want the drink to be very runny, then adding a lot of water and juice is fine. If you prefer a thicker consistency though, then you’ll want to add a little less and/or choose something that is thicker to begin with such as milk or even yogurt. Whether you prefer your drink to be runny or thick is entirely a matter of preference and might also vary depending on the recipie and the goal! Common liquids you can use for delicious smoothies include: - Water - Almond milk - Milk - Coconut milk - Coconut water - Organic fruit juice - Freshly squeezed juice - Kefir - Tea - Yogurt Have fun and experiment! Base The next thing to think about is your base texture (often just referred to as the bsae). This is what is going to provide the body of your smoothie and give it that thick consistency so that it is a smoothie and not a juice. The aim here is to pick something that has a thicker consistency itself then and that means something along the lines of bananas, mangos, pears, peaches or avocados. Yogurt also works well, as do nut butters (like peanut butter), coconut meat, chia seeds, ice, frozen fruit or even ice cream (though this last option is not so healthy!). Good bases include: - Bananas - Mangos - Pears - Peanut butter - Avocado - Yogurt - Frozen fruit - Peaches - Apples - Plums - Melon The Ratios The next thing to do is to insert the additional fruits and/or vegetables in the necessary ratios. You’ve already set them aside, now you need to choose the specific quantities and add them in. For instance, if you’re going to make a green smoothie, then you’ll probably be adding spinach, kale, beet greens, dandelions, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower etc. For juicy ones, you’ll likely have things like berries, oranges, apples etc. You already have your base and this is going to give the most flavour to begin with. Choosing fruits from here then is a matter of choosing what goes well with that base and you can work this out by thinking about what works well on a plate together! For example, a great dessert is to have berries with yoghurt and for that reason, you can get the same delicious effect by adding berries to a yogurt base. This will give you a ton of antioxidants, while the yogurt in particular will help you to get digestive benefits (we’ll talk more about this in a subsequent chapter). Conversely, strawberries are known to go very well with banana. Likewise, mango and orange is a great mix! And Blend!

Table of Contents Chapter 1 ....... 7 “FOCUS” Defined .. 7 Why do people suffer from a lack of focus? . 9 How can you counter a lack of focus? . 11 Types of focus ...... 14 Chapter 2 ...... 17 Escaping the Busy Trap 17 Unraveling burnout ..... 19 Focus to undo the effects of the burnout ... 20 The impact of being overwhelmed ..... 22 Chapter 3 ..... 27 Reclaiming Your Time . 27 Poor diet and nutrition ....... 28 Hormones at play 31 Lack of sleep ....... 32 Stress .. 33 Lack of physical activity ..... 34 Surrounding environment . 34 Quality of information 35 Chapter 4 ..... 37 Benefits of Being Focused .... 37 Helps take control ...... 37 Yields positive energy . 38 Enhances problem solving skills 39 Instills decision making skills .... 40 Removes distractions .. 41 Gets things done . 42 Generates satisfaction 42 Builds momentum ...... 43 Reduces stress .... 44 Increases engagement 44 Chapter 5 ..... 47 Vision .. 48 Prioritize ..... 48 Say no to distractions . 49 Handle one task at a time ... 50 Divide up goals ... 50 Rewards and breaks .... 51 Learn from mistakes .. 53 Rise above feelings ..... 53 Love what you do 54 Manipulate energy ...... 55 Chapter 6 ..... 57 Strategies To Building Unbreakable Focus... 57 Train your brain .. 57 Plan it all out ...... 58 Rest for a while ... 59 Work with music 60 Practice mindfulness ... 61 Limit phone usage ...... 62 Give constant reminders .... 63 Plan your day ...... 63 Chapter 7 ..... 67 Why Should You Focus On One Thing At A Time .. 67 It gets things done ...... 67 It leaves less room for error ....... 68 Higher success rate..... 70 It does not deplete energy .. 70 It keeps distractions away .. 72 It lets you enjoy work . 72 Chapter 8..... 75 Online Tools for Laser Focus ....... 75 Sample Content Preview Hormones at play Maintaining hormonal equilibrium is key to optimal brain functioning. It may surprise you to know that a deficiency of specific hormones can bring about significant changes in mental focus and processing. With hormones out of whack you may find yourself having difficulty remembering people’s names, snapping unintentionally, suffering from mood swings or even start to feel depressed. All these and other factors play a part in affecting the way your brain functions. For women, the one thing to watch out for is estrogen levels. This female hormone can dictate everything from sugar cravings and bouts of fatigue to mood swings. Any imbalance is then seen as impacting mental agility where low estrogen levels can impair mental functions like memory, reasoning and even mood from running smoothly. As a result women may often observe that fluctuations in estrogen levels during perimenopause and menopause may make their memory and attention wax and wane. Another consideration that falls under hormonal imbalances and one that can impact the ability to focus is hypothyroidism. Low thyroid issues have been directly linked with causing mental fog, concentration issues, depression and even short term memory loss. It is important that an optimal balance of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone is maintained since all three hormones act directly on nerve cells in the brain. Collectively, these hormones can help facilitate neurotransmission, protect cells from neurotoxins and improve blood flow in the brain. Any imbalance and the result could be a significant drop in cognition, mental focus and the ability to sustain concentration. Lack of sleep This common issue does not get the true attention it deserves. Even with a single night of insufficient sleep, the mind suffers greatly and focus becomes compromised. When you don’t sleep well, your thought processes slow down and you become less alert. This affects your ability to concentrate and can make the mind confused enough to prevent you from performing tasks that require complex thought. Also, feeling sleepy can cut into your working memory which is an important component of focusing. The sensation makes you less vigilant and reduces the speed and accuracy of mental tasks. Stress While memory and cognitive functioning gradually diminish with age, people with persistent or higher levels of stress are especially vulnerable. The negative effects of stress on memory can cause the brain to freeze and completely lose track of focus. This can happen in any scenario from students studying for an exam to introducing a friend and forgetting their name mid-way through introductions. Focus caves in to stress in these situations as thinking gets so preoccupied with stress-inducing stimuli that other thoughts fail to emerge. In this way it hampers working memory which is associated with short term memory. Lack of physical activity Regular exercise releases brain chemicals which are key for memory and a lack of the same can impact focus and concentration. Exercise stimulates areas of the brain which are involved in memory functions. Physical activity releases a chemical called BDNF or brain derived neuro trophic factor which rewires memory circuits so they work better. As such 30 minutes of exercise can help make more BNDF. But doing so once a week won’t help. Exercise needs to be made a regular part of daily routine to reap cognitive benefits. Surrounding environment The environment where you are sitting down can quickly become a distracting factor when you are trying to concentrate. There could be multiple diversions such as loud noises, bright lighting, visual disruptions and even temperature inconsistencies. Even though they may seem trivial, these environmental variables can play an important role in making or breaking focus. Quality of information Another common distraction is the quality of information you need to process. If the information is relevant to the task at hand, then it will likely keep your focus engaged but you can easily become distracted if you don’t have the right information to work with. Issues like an incomplete email, a skipped step or a misleading phone message can mess up your focus as you try to make sense of the situation. Chapter 4 Benefits of Being Focused So far it is safe to say that being focused can help yield great benefits not only for the mind and body but the overall life quality of a person. Here is how being focused can help you achieve greater success and control of your life: Helps take control When you are focused, you can take control of the things that you are doing. But if you are not focused, that task or thing will end up controlling you. Once you become focused on something and you have channelled all your energy into that particular task, you can handle the task in a better way. Control will also come easy when you apply all the three types of focus simultaneously into all your tasks. Inner focus will keep you on track and away from distractions while paying attention to others makes you more aware. But it is perhaps outer focus that will be most beneficial in gaining control since it gives you the flexibility to give you a contingency plan if needed.

Sample Content Preview I happen to be writing in Christmas week, and I have read for the tenth time “A Christmas Carol,” by Dickens, that amazing allegory in which the hard, bitter facts of life are involved in a beautiful myth, that wizard's caldron in which humor bubbles and from which rise phantom figures of religion and poetry. Can anyone doubt that if this story were read by every man, woman, and child in the world, Christmas would be a happier time and the feelings of the race elevated and strengthened? The story has power enough to defeat armies, to make revolutions in the faith of men, and turn the cold markets of the world into festival scenes of charity. If you know any mean person you may be sure that he has not read “A Christmas Carol,” or that he read it long ago and has forgotten it. I know there are persons who pretend that the sentimentality of Dickens destroys their interest in him. I once took a course with an over-refined, imperfectly educated professor of literature, who advised me that in time I should outgrow my liking for Dickens. It was only his way of recommending to me a kind of fiction that I had not learned to like. In time I did learn to like it, but I did not outgrow Dickens. A person who can read “A Christmas Carol" aloud to the end and keep his voice steady is, I suspect, not a safe person to trust with one's purse or one's honor. It is not necessary to argue about the value of literature or even to define it. One way of bringing ourselves to realize vividly what literature can do for us is to enter the libraries of great men and see what books have done for the acknowledged leaders of our race. You will recall John Stuart Mill's experience in reading Wordsworth. Mill was a man of letters as well as a scientific economist and philosopher, and we expect to find that men of letters have been nourished on literature; reading must necessarily have been a large part of their professional preparation. The examples of men of action who have been molded and inspired by books will perhaps be more helpful to remember; for most of us are not to be writers or to engage in purely intellectual work; our ambitions point to a thousand different careers in the world of action. Lincoln was not primarily a man of letters, although he wrote noble prose on occasion, and the art of expression was important, perhaps indispensable, in his political success. He read deeply in the law and in books on public questions. For general literature he had little time, either during his early struggles or after his public life began, and his autobiographical memorandum contains the significant words: “Education defective.” But these more significant words are found in a letter which he wrote to Hackett, the player: “Some of Shakespeare's plays I have never read, while others I have gone over perhaps as frequently as any unprofessional reader. Among the latter are 'Lear,' 'Richard III,' 'Henry VIII,' 'Hamlet,' and, especially, 'Macbeth.'“ If he had not read these masterpieces, no doubt he would have become President just the same and guided the country through its terrible difficulties; but we may be fairly sure that the high philosophy by which he lifted the political differences of his day above partisan quarrels, the command of words which gives his letters and speeches literary permanence apart from their biographical interest, the poetic exaltation of the Gettysburg Address, these higher qualities of genius, beyond the endowment of any native wit, came to Lincoln in some part from the reading of books. It is important to note that he followed Franklin's advice to read much but not too many books; the list of books mentioned in the biographical records of Lincoln is not long. But he went over those half dozen plays “frequently.” We should remember, too, that he based his ideals upon the Bible and his style upon the King James Version. His writings abound in Biblical phrases. We are accustomed to regard Lincoln as a thinker. His right arm in the saddest duty of his life, General Grant, was a man of deeds; as Lincoln said of him, he was a “copious worker and fighter, but a very meager writer and telegrapher.” In his “Memoirs,” Grant makes a modest confession about his reading: “There is a fine library connected with the Academy [West Point] from which cadets can get books to read in their quarters. I devoted more time to these than to books relating to the course of studies. Much of the time, I am sorry to say, was devoted to novels, but not those of a trashy sort. I read all of Bulwer's then published, Cooper's, Marryat's, Scott's, Washington Irving's works, Lever's, and many others that I do not now remember.” Grant was not a shining light in his school days, nor indeed in his life until the Civil War, and at first sight he is not a striking example of a great man influenced by books. Yet who can deny that the fruit of that early reading is to be found in his “Memoirs,” in which a man of action, unused to writing, and called upon to narrate great events, discovers an easy adequate style? There is a dangerous kind of conjecture in which many biographers indulge when they try to relate logically the scattered events of a man's life. A conjectured relation is set down as a proved or unquestioned relation. I have said something about this in [Footnote: See John Macy's Guide to Reading, Chapter VIII.] writing on biography, and I do not wish to violate my own teachings. But we may, without harm, hazard the suggestion, which is only a suggestion, that some of the chivalry of Scott's heroes wove itself into Grant's instincts and inspired this businesslike, modern general, in the days when politeness has lost some of its flourish, to be the great gentleman he was at Appomattox when he quietly wrote into the terms of the surrender that the Confederate officers should keep their side arms. Stevenson's account of the episode in his essay on “Gentlemen” is heightened, though not above the dignity of the facts, certainly not to a degree that is untrue to the facts, as they are to be read in Grant's simple narrative. Since I have agreed not to say “ought to read,” I will only express the hope that the quotation from Stevenson will lead you to the essay and to the volume that contains it. “On the day of the capitulation, Lee wore his presentation sword; it was the first thing that Grant observed, and from that moment he had but one thought: how to avoid taking it. A man, who should perhaps have had the nature of an angel, but assuredly not the special virtues of a gentleman, might have received the sword, and no more words about it; he would have done well in a plain way. One who wished to be a gentleman, and knew not how, might have received and returned it: he would have done infamously ill, he would have proved himself a cad; taking the stage for himself, leaving to his adversary confusion of countenance and the ungraceful posture of a man condemned to offer thanks. Grant without a word said, added to the terms this article: 'All officers to retain their side arms'; and the problem was solved and Lee kept his sword, and Grant went down to posterity, not perhaps a fine gentleman, but a great one.” Napoleon, who of all men of mighty deeds after Julius Caesar had the greatest intellect, was a tireless reader, and since he needed only four or five hours' sleep in twenty-four he found time to read in the midst of his prodigious activities. Nowadays those of us who are preparing to conquer the world are taught to strengthen ourselves for the task by getting plenty of sleep. Napoleon's devouring eyes read far into the night; when he was in the field his secretaries forwarded a stream of books to his headquarters; and if he was left without a new volume to begin, some underling had to bear his imperial displeasure.

Table of Contents Foreword Chapter 1: TRX Basics Chapter 2: Suspension Training Chapter 3: Importance Of Core Strength Chapter 4: Using TRX Correctly Chapter 5: Staying Hydrated Chapter 6: Body Weight vs Weight Training Wrapping Up Sample Content Preview Chapter 2: Suspension Training The field of suspension training is a sort of resistance training/strength training that includes bodyweight workouts in which an assortment of multi-planar, compound exercise motions may be performed. These are done with the ambition of developing strength, balance, flexibleness, and joint stability at the same time. A Bit More In Depth Strength training is the utilization of resistance to bring on muscular contraction which builds up the strength, anaerobic endurance, and size of striated muscles. If decently performed, strength training will supply significant functional advantages and improvement in total health and well-being, including increased bone, muscle, tendon and ligament durability and toughness, bettered joint function, decreased potential for injury, expanded bone density, expanded metabolism, bettered cardiac function, and elevated HDL (good) cholesterol. Training generally utilizes the technique of progressively increasing the force output of the muscle by incremental weight increases and utilizes an assortment of exercises and types of equipment to target particular muscle groups. Strength training is chiefly an anaerobic activity, although a few proponents have adapted it to supply the benefits of aerobic exercise through circuit training. Sports where strength training is central are bodybuilding, weight lifting, powerlifting, and strongman, Highland games, shot put, discus throw, and javelin throw. A lot of other sports utilize strength training as part of their training regimen, notably football, wrestling, rugby football, track and field, rowing, lacrosse, basketball, hockey. Strength training for additional sports and physical activities is becoming progressively popular. Bodyweight exercises are strength training exercises that don't call for free weights; the practitioner's own weight supplies the resistance for the movement. Movements like the push-up, the pull-up, and the sit-up are a few of the most common bodyweight exercises. As a whole, increasing the amount of repetitions will focus on bettering endurance, while strength gains are made with increasing the intensity of the exercise with decreasing leverage and working at the ends of range of motion. Chapter 3: Importance Of Core Strength TRX builds your core. "Core strength" has been something of a viral term lately. But isn’t core training simply a fancy way of saying toning up your abs? Previously this was simply called "doing sit-ups." The Core But there’s way more to core training than the abdominals (and getting a flat stomach). I have looked for information and studies about why core strength is so crucial -- and easy ways you are able to add more of it to your workout routine. What precisely is "core strength" or "core training?" Core training accomplishes 2 really crucial things -- it helps you look leaner, and it supports your backbone and helps with things like balance. I noticed when I started doing a lot of core engagement that it got simpler to perform sports or do complicated yoga poses, as well. Those core muscles are linked up to your legs, to the way you stand, squat, and sit. It’s not simply about the ab muscles, but as well training your back, your gluts, and the whole area that connects to your spinal cord and helps your body support your backbone, so that the burden of holding up your body weight isn’t simply placed on your bones. The core is actually comprised of three sheaths of muscles: The upper abdominal muscle, the side muscles, which are named the obliques, and then this very deep layer of muscle. Those deep muscles are the ones that do all the great stuff, like support your backbone and act as a natural girdle—so when you work them not only do you get a flatter tummy but a tighter stomach. The difference between core and ab training is that you’re not simply targeting the front side of the body but the backside too. A core workout will likewise include the erector spinae, which are the muscles that make up your back, and likewise your gluts. A motion that shapes your core is going to work more than one muscle group, and you’re going to discover results a lot quicker.

Table of Contents Introduction ........... 3 Step 1: Know Where You Are Going by Visualizing Your Goal .......... 6 Step 2: Getting to Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses 9 Step 3: Taking the Time to Take Action ............ 13 Step 4: Holding Yourself Accountable for Your Success .. 15 Step 5: Setting Realistic Goals ............ 19 Step 6: Carving Out the Time to Process and Regroup .... 22 Step 7: Taking Action and Evaluating Your Progress ....... 26 Step 8: Learning from Failure and Letting Go of the Past 30 Step 9: If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again! ...... 34 Step 10: Acknowledging When Something isn’t Working and Moving On .... 37 Step 11: Staying Motivated . 40 Conclusion ............ 42 Sample Content Preview A lot of people prefer not to think about where they want to end up, because maybe sometimes during childhood we have been discouraged from thinking big. We are often times discouraged and told that we are daydreaming and that we should not get ahead of ourselves. Our motivation is squashed at an early age when people tell us that we are not being realistic enough and that we should make sure that we are doing something that is both reasonable and stable. That means, that we are often discouraged from taking the risks that we need to take before we will ever succeed at anything in this life. That can be very dangerous, especially to a driven and motivated person. We all have something that we want to accomplish in this life, and if we are not allowed to think in depth about that then we may never actually take the steps that we need to take in order to get there. It can be so toxic to listen to the people around us who are telling us that we should not be thinking about things that we want to think about. When we are unable to develop our vision, then we soon forget that we have a vision at all and we get stuck in the humdrum routine of everyday life. Nobody wants to be stuck there and this is how you get out of that rut and start succeeding. To begin with, thinking depth about exactly what you want to do and why you want to do it. Using visualization techniques can be extremely helpful when it comes to achieving your goals. First of all, you should visualize where he wants to end up presuming that your goal is successful. What is your ultimate outcome? Without knowing that, there is a lot of white noise in the way that prevents you from going after your dreams and believing that your goals are actually realistic enough that you could accomplish them provided that you are able to devote enough time and energy and resources to that project. Once you have a very clear idea of what you want to do, you should also start to visualize the steps that you might need to take in order to get there. This doesn’t mean a detailed outline quite yet, as this will come in later steps, but you should have a mental idea of what you are going to have to encounter when it comes to making your dreams a reality. Planning for success of course does involve real plans, and this visualization process is going to help you understand what you are going to be dealing with when it comes to getting those plans off the ground. Step one should be fun and exciting. You should begin to feel energized after you have begun to explore your ultimate goal. This is going to be the inspiration that continues to drive you forward along your path of planning for success. Without that motivation, it can be very easy to become discouraged by other people and by the challenges that we naturally face when we are attempting to achieve a goal. The matter how big or how small, goals and achieving them, often, challenges. Those challenges should not be discouraging so much as they should be proof that we are working towards something wonderful and we are enriching our lives by doing so. Once you have held onto that motivation and you have been able to visualize your goal in depth, then it is time to move on to step two, and work on learning more about you! Step 2: Getting to Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses When we think of a successful person, we often picture somebody who is very confident and capable. However, we often don’t stop to think about how they got that way. Sure, it seems, at least in mainstream portrayals of successful men and women, that many successful people are full of themselves, so it seems hard to believe that they would be able to do the type of introspection that this step is going to require. If somebody already believes that they are perfect, then they ae unlikely to believe that there is any room for improvement. However, there is always room for improvement, and the person who is willing to see that and acknowledge it and work on those steps that need to be taken in order to improve are the most likely to get somewhere. If you don’t believe that you have any weaknesses that might get in the way of achieving your goals, that in itself is a weakness. That type of hubris can cause a lot of backfire when it comes to your plans. Nobody is infallible. And the more willing we are to accept that, the more likely we are to succeed. That doesn’t mean that you have to go around telling everybody about how you are bad at this or that and giving off the impression that you lack confidence. As a matter of fact, a lot of this process is going to be personal to you, and it doesn’t mean that you have to necessarily share every step of the way with your friends and family and coworkers. Actually, it’s fine if you don’t, just as long as you are finding some way to be held accountable to your actions and face your weaknesses head on. By being able to look inward and realize that maybe perseverance isn’t your strong suit, or maybe you need to work more on self-discipline, you are actually giving yourself a new goal that will help you to achieve the bigger goal. We can call these little goals support goals. A support goal can help you to become the person that you need to be in order to actually achieve the success that you are envisioning for yourself and your plan. Without these little support goals along the way, then your likelihood of success dwindles. But if you are willing to take the time for introspection, you will discover these support goals instead of looking over them and finding yourself lost. Introspection is relatively simple. Sometimes all it takes is listening to feedback about your behaviors objectively. This can be difficult for all of us. We don’t like hearing from other people that there are ways that we are lacking, so maybe try looking inward first. Think about the ways you know that you could do better and yet, you still have not found the time to improve in those ways. Maybe you don’t know how. Only you are going to be able to determine what your true weaknesses and your true strengths are. Once you have identified those, there are thousands upon thousands of resources, from websites to self-help books, that can help you to learn how to cope with your weaknesses and become a more well-rounded person that is truly capable of achieving your goals. Many of us even have childhood trauma that can get in the way of our success. If we are raised to believe that we are not capable of succeeding, or that may be we are not smart enough to succeed, then we are probably going to take it on the authority of the figures that have discouraged or traumatized us. Many traumatized people are self sabotaging, and it can be extremely useful to get yourself into some sort of therapy or support program if you suspect that maybe you have childhood trauma or trauma even in adulthood, that may be preventing you from living the life that you want to live. Step two doesn’t have to just be discouraging and thinking about the ways that we are lacking however. There are also essential reasons that we need to focus on the ways that we are strong. Those strengths are going to be inherent aspects of our personalities and constitutions that provide us with the support and motivation that we need in order to succeed. Sometimes it can be just as difficult to discover what our strengths are of that is to think about our weaknesses. A lot of us are often down in ourselves and only find self-worth through the validation of others. However, that is terrible way to live and the self-made person is one who can validate him or herself without having to rely on the opinions or perceptions of others. It is good to be confident. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, most people believe that if you are too aware of your strengths, it can lead to a swollen ego and a big head that makes it hard for you to relate to other people and to see your own faults. However, actually knowing your faults and taking the steps that you need in order to turn them into strengths is a great way to help you build your confidence and start to feel okay with those icky parts of yourself that may make you feel uncomfortable and insecure. Think about what you are good at. What do people compliment you for the most? How many ways can you think of that you have developed skills that can be utilized in your process of planning for success? There are bound to be many ways and many talents that you have, whether they are discovered yet or not. If you aren’t sure, you could ask a trusted friend or family member to try and help you to discover what it is that you have that other people may not. Make sure that they know that you are not just fishing for compliments, because this can drive people away. Instead, ensure that they realize that you are simply trying to figure out a way to put your best foot forward. You will both be glad that you had the conversation, and you are going to be that much closer to planning for your success! Step 3: Taking the Time to Take Action This may seem obvious, but sometimes we need a schedule before we can succeed. If we are not aware of how we are spending our time, then it can become extremely challenging for us to carve out the time that we need to take in order to work on achieving our goals. If your goal is especially lofty, that didn’t often take a lot of time. You need to be willing to take a step back and examine your life in terms of increments of time. For example, think about the time obligations that you have that are not disputable. What are the things that you have to do and set the time aside for every day? Whether you are the type who thrives with a strict routine or you simply like to live your life as it happens, there are undoubtedly going to be times that you have to set aside for certain tasks. Grocery shopping, going to work, cooking, sleeping, and things like that are all indisputable ways that you are obligated to spend your time. Take these into consideration and give it your best guess as to how much time you spend per day on those things. Come up with more if you have to. Consider all of your obligations and think about how much time that leaves you free throughout the day. It’s actually surprisingly easy to find the time to work on a plan that you are especially passionate about. If your mind is focused enough on working on that plan, it is going to seek out the time that you need in order to work on it. It can be useful to give yourself a minimum amount of time that you are willing to work per day on your plan. However, you should also have the maximum amount of time. It can be dangerous and time-consuming to consume your life with one goal. Becoming single-minded can often lead to success, but not if you are sacrificing too much along the way. There is a delicate balance to these things and this will be discussed more in depth later on in the book. Once you know how much free time you have during your days, think about what you can do to work on your goal in that amount of time. If it’s not a lot of free time, think about the things on your list that might be flexible enough to allow you to work on your plans. If even that seems too difficult, maybe you should set time aside on days that you have more freedom so that you can work on your goals at least once a week as opposed to in increments every day. The trick here is to finding something that actually works for you and you alone, that will help you to remain motivated to succeed. If you are able to take steps, measurable steps, toward achieving your goals, success is inevitable. The key here is consistency. Even if you are not working on your plans daily, as long as you are constantly making progress as opposed to getting discouraged or distracted and not working on your goal at all, you will succeed. The fastest way to failure is to not even try. Step 4: Holding Yourself Accountable for Your Success Something that a lot of people don’t realize when it comes to planning for success is that when we are making the effort to achieve something, it can be hard for us to stay motivated. Once we start skipping one day, it can quickly snowball into skipping an entire week. Before we know it, we have lost track of our goals and our motivation, and there is no way for us to be roped back in. If we are not willing to hold ourselves accountable for our success, it can become extremely difficult to achieve our goals. So how do we begin to hold ourselves accountable for our success? This is truly a predicament. Most of the time, we are too embarrassed to even talk about our plans with other people, let alone finding a way that they can help us to hold ourselves accountable to achieving our goals. Many of us are probably familiar with the creeping shame of being excited about a plan or a goal only to have a friend ask us about it later, long after we have already given up hope of success. However, this is where a support network really comes in handy. Not only should we hold ourselves accountable for success, but we should ask others that we trust to help us to hold ourselves accountable as well. Sometimes, sharing our goals with others is a great way for us to stay motivated. If we are checking in with other people about the progress that we are making, not only does it make that progress more real to us, but it also provides us with a way to measure that success and stay motivated so that the people who are counting on us to continue down the path of planning for success are not let down by our lack of motivation and discipline.

Sample Content Preview Why YouTube? There are two key questions to ask before you choose an affiliate network or market place. What’s your niche? Are you targeting would-be internet marketers? Survival enthusiasts? Golfers? People trying to lose weight? The next question is whether you’re trying to sell physical products or information products also called digital products. For some niches, like survival enthusiasts, you could do both. For example, an info product might be a video course or eBook on small game hunting while a physical product might be a fire starter kit or survival rations. On the other hand, some niches will primarily be one or the other. For example, the internet marketing niche will primarily just be info products while the pet reptile niche will mostly just be physical supplies. If you’re in a niche where you can do both, pick the one you want to start with first and just focus on that. If you’re selling physical products, you’ll be looking for online physical product stores with affiliate programs. You’ll want to pick the ones with the best combination of high commission rate and popularity. For example, you might come across an online store offering a whopping 30% commission rate, but they might be lesser known and therefore you’re less likely to make sales. On the other hand, a big store like Amazon, for example, might offer a low commission rate like 5-10%, but due to its popularity, you’re more likely to make sales. For info products you’ll want to join one of the major digital marketplaces like ClickBank. Really all you’re looking at here is ease of use and selection. Ease of use has to do with how easy it is to set up an account and start promoting products. Typically, they’re all pretty easy as far as account setup, but some market places like JVZoo require you to request approval for each product and wait to be approved by the vendor while others like ClickBank allow you to pick one and start promoting immediately. Regarding selection, your number one concern is whether they have a lot of products in your niche. If you’re looking for internet marketing products, JVZoo is pretty good, but ClickBank has a larger selection of both internet marketing and other niche products like weight loss, finance, carpentry, music training, and so on. There are a ton of affiliate programs and market places out there including JVZoo, Commission Junction, LinkShare, Share-a-Sale, and the list goes on. Not to mention you can also take any eStore or product online, google their name along with the word “affiliate program” and you’ll be surprised to see how many of them have their own in-house affiliate program! However, for the reasons mentioned above, this course will focus on Amazon for physical goods and ClickBank for digital ones. And that’s what we’ll be covering in the next lesson. Chapter 2: Choosing a Product So, we’re going to be looking at both ClickBank and Amazon in this lesson. We’ll start by going to ClickBank.com and clicking on “Create account”. Now we’re not going to go through the entire account creation process as it’s all pretty self-explanatory, but just note that you’ll want to put an address here where you want them to send your affiliate commission checks. Now once you’ve created that account you’ll want to click on Affiliate Marketplace. From here, you’ll be able to drill down and select the product that you want to promote. Since this is an info product marketplace we’ll say we’re looking for Internet Marketing products to promote. So go down to the “categories” sidebar menu and click the arrow next to “e-business” and then select “SEM & SEO” from the drop down. In the results, you’ll see hundreds of products to choose from. We’ll want to pick the one that we think will be most profitable with the one caveat being this: make sure you investigate it a little afterwards to make sure it’s not garbage. You want to be able to sleep with a sound conscience at night and to do that you’ll want to make sure you’re not promoting a rip-off. For the sake of this example, we’ll assume all of these products are legit. Now there are several ways to filter these products. For our purposes, we want to focus on three main things: Popularity, Gravity, and Earnings. Gravity Gravity is ClickBank’s in-house measure of how well a product sells. It’s based on a lot of things including number of sales and how recent those sales are. Generally anything above 30 is likely to have a solid probability of success while anything that’s way up there in the hundreds might have such a high rate of sales as to indicate a ton of competition – but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Money The amount of money you can expect to make per sale can be presented in terms of the initial sale commission and in the average rebill amount in the case of subscription products or products that offered something like a one-dollar trial period and then a full payment which is considered a single rebill. You’ll want to look for a balance of both of these things. But the third, popularity can be somewhat important too… Popularity Although gravity is usually a good measure of how well something sells, what about products that just started selling recently? Often times a hot product might launch but hasn’t been around quite long enough to earn a gravity higher than 30 for example. This is where popularity might be a good thing to look at because a popular, trending product that just hit the market might not be visible if you sort just by gravity. Let’s go ahead and filter by popularity first. As you can see we’ve got Social Monkey at the top in popularity but it has really low gravity. This could be an indicator that it’s either new or on a recent upward trend in sales but hasn’t quite garnered enough sales yet to increase its gravity. Long Tail Pro, on the other hand, is in second place but has high gravity.

Sample Content Preview Chapter 2: Creating Your Campaign Upon clicking the “create ad” link or “create campaign” button, you’ll be prompted to select an objective. For our purposes we’ll say you’re aiming for clicks to your website. At the time of this writing, this objective is named “send people to a destination on or off Facebook” but Facebook changes their wording all the time so don’t worry if it looks a little different. After choosing your objective you’ll need to enter a campaign name and select which of your business/”fan” pages your ad will be attached to. Audience Targeting Once you’re into the ad set creation page, you’ll need to define your audience. This is where the magic starts. Facebook has so much information on their users, it’s scary. First, start with the basics. Choose the appropriate target countries, locations, age groups, and genders. Then you can narrow even further by searching for certain job titles, interests, relationship statuses, whether they have children, their spending habits, and so on. For example, if you’re targeting business owners to sell email marketing training to, then you could select all ages, both genders, all English-speaking countries, job titles like “small business owner” and “CEO”, and interests like “email marketing” and “list building”. In fact, with interests you might even try specific autoresponder brand names like GetResponse and Aweber since people who like/follow those companies’ pages are likely to be interested in the subject. Pay close attention to the combination logic you are using. By this I mean “and” vs “or” logic. For example, do you want to choose any people who are interested in either Email Marketing “OR” Aweber or do you want to choose only the people who are interested in both email marketing AND Aweber? The latter approach is represented by the “narrow audience” button below the targeting box. There may be benefits in some cases to a broad “or logic” approach, but generally you want to get pretty narrow for the most effective targeting. Be sure to think outside the box too. For example, if you’ve put together a dog training video course and you want some buyers, most people would just search for “dog training” as an interest. Sure, you could do that and you’d probably have some success. But the real successful marketers think outside the box and target things that only true devotees would be interested in. For example, literally anyone who may have liked a dog training page some time in the past but could care less about the topic might be targeted if you just choose “dog training”, but what about a name like “Kyra Sundance”? One of the most popular dog training celebrities in the world? Do you think she might have a Facebook following? Yup. And guess what, if you target people who are interested in her (literally just type her name in the field) you know you’re getting hard core dog training enthusiasts, because your average joe who isn’t very excited about the topic probably wouldn’t be following Kyra Sundance on Facebook! Take note that as you type words into the interests and other category fields, several related suggestions will pop up below them. Use these suggestions for targeting ideas, but don’t worry too much about cramming every possible interest into your targeting. You’ll want to write those down on a notepad and save some for later. The reason for this is that in a later chapter we’ll be talking about analyzing and optimizing and what you’ll be doing is running multiple variations of the same ad with small differences. If you just lump every possible interest into one ad instance, you won’t know which interest is most or least effective. We’ll save that for chapter 4 but for now just know that there might be a lot of value in having one ad campaign that targets Kyra Sundance as an interest and then another that is exactly the same but it targets Ian Dunbar instead. Then you can shift your dollars towards whichever famous dog trainer performs best as an interest target. Placements and Pricing Once you’ve finalized your targeting, the next step is to decide on placements. Chapter 4 will cover testing different placement types. For now, suffice it to say that you only want one placement per ad so you can later compare and determine which placement works best for you. For our purposes let’s choose desktop newsfeeds for this one. After that, it’s time to think about your budget. Since we’re just starting out and we don’t know what’s effective, it’s best to start small. Let’s try a $5 daily budget and let it run for 5 days. Although it’s fine to experiment with various optimization options later on, for now you just want to pay for your actual results, so under “optimize for”, choose “clicks to website/pay per click” not “impressions”. When it comes to bidding, you want to choose manual and ensure you’re inside the recommended bid range, but there’s no need to be high within that range. Unless you have some sort of deadline there’s no need to pay more to get faster results. So aim for something in the lower half of the recommended range (e.g. $1.12 if the recommended range is $0.92 to $2.14). You can always adjust these later. When you’re satisfied, click “continue” and let’s start developing your ad creative!

Sample Content Preview Now many of you might immediately become a little anxious or worried about this option if you haven’t done this before so let’s put the worry to rest. Go online, go to YouTube and type in violin lessons. What you’ll see is a bunch of people staring at their web cams or maybe their smart phone cameras with a fiddle in their hands talking about the basics of violin playing and maybe scratching out a tune or two. Now does that look expensive? Nope. Does it look complicated? Definitely not (well unless of course you don’t know how to play a fiddle). But the point is you can create any sort of “talking head” lesson that you have experience in with nothing more than yourself and your web cam or smart phone. But what about those of you who have stage fright and wouldn’t be caught dead getting in front of a camera? Well for you guys let’s move on to the next option: Slide presentations. For the Slide presentation approach, you’d basically draft up an outline of your lesson and prepare it in bullet format via any slide presentation software like PowerPoint. Then you’d audio record your presentation either with your computer or your smartphone or any other device you prefer. Finally, you’d take that audio file and sync it with your slide presentation. Now the most common slideshow software, PowerPoint, actually has a function for exporting your presentation to a video file and if you search YouTube you’ll see there are plenty of easy video tutorials on how to do it. And oh by the way, you’ll notice those tutorials are actually recordings of a person’s computer screen while he or she walks you through the process which, incidentally, brings us to the last option: the screen cast. The screen cast is our preferred method because it requires little preparation and can be done in an off the cuff manner. Now although we said creating your video was free, the screencast method will usually require you to invest anywhere from $15 to $50 for screen capture software. That said, it’s always worth seeing if you can find any free offers. But let there be no question, a small investment in screencast software will pay off quickly. Basically, all you’ll do here is record your screen and your voice while you go through and teach how to do something on the computer. For examples of this you could go to YouTube and search for something like “WordPress tutorial”… Okay now let’s have a look at the second video content choice: acquisition, or paid video content. There are basically two ways to do this: buying pre-made PLR videos or paying an actor. PLR stands for Private Label Rights and basically means you can resell these courses usually along with the right to modify, rebrand, or relabel them, and even put yourself down as the author. For buying PLR videos, literally just google “PLR videos” and you’ll find plenty of online stores selling cheap PLR video lessons on various topics ranging from web design to cardio workouts. You can usually find these for as little as 4 or 5 bucks ranging all the way up to $20, $50, or even hundreds of dollars. Since we’re looking at something to give away for free as a lead magnet, it’s alright to stay on the inexpensive side, just make sure the quality itself isn’t low. Your leads will judge you by the quality of the gift you offered them. When you’re browsing, don’t worry too much about the “look” of the eCover for these PLR videos because once you’ve bought one, you’ll want to rebrand it anyway which will be covered in the next lesson. Now the other way is to pay an actor to do the video for you. An “actor” can either mean an onscreen “talking head” actor or even just someone who will do a screen cast recording or slide show presentation video for you. Don’t worry, the word actor sounds expensive, but there are ways to do this pretty inexpensively such as hiring someone on Fiverr or Upwork or even offering the opportunity to a local college kid or struggling acting student looking to beef up their portfolio. Whichever method you choose; you’ll want to make sure the end product “looks” great. To do this you’ll need to design an attractive eCover image which is what we’ll cover in the next chapter. Chapter 2: eCover Graphics Welcome to Chapter 2 in which we’re going to create eCover graphics for your video lead magnet. Right now let’s head inside Myecovermaker.com which is our recommended eCover tool. As you’ll see, there are plenty of eCover templates to choose from. Since we’re doing a video course, we’ll choose a DVD case. Once we’re in the creator, we’ll want to choose an image. The first option is to choose an image from myecovermaker.com’s library using the “add image” button on the left. The other option is to click the “upload” button and choose your own image. As you can see we’ve already got our own image uploaded here. This is something we purchased for a dollar on a stock photo site. So for this example we’ll be pretending we’re making a Wordpress training course and that we’re going for a pirate theme. Remember, as we mentioned in lesson 1, a special theme or mascot has a greater likelihood of breaking through banner blindness than, say, a generic title like “wordpress for beginners” and a generic image like a photo of a guy at his computer. People see that type of thing all the time and it’s not likely to get their attention or look very original. Sure, it’s a little cheesy, but the uniqueness pays off in the end.

Table of Contents Foreword Chapter 1: Getting Started with a Diet Chapter 2: Low Carb (No Carb) Diets Chapter 3: Women’s Health Look Good Naked Diet Chapter 4: Prevention System’s Flat Belly Diet Chapter 5: Weight Watchers International’s Pro Points Diet Chapter 6: Mike Geary’s Truth about Abs Diet Chapter 7: HCG Diet Chapter 8: Diet Supplements for Weight Loss Chapter 9: Diets that Provide Food Supplements Wrapping Up Sample Content Preview Chapter 2: Low Carb (No Carb) Diets Carbohydrates have often been singled out as the single largest cause of various physiological problems. These nutrients, though they are the primary sources of energy for the body, are also responsible for adding to the sugar content in the blood. Most carbohydrates get readily converted into sugars and stay in the body till they are used. If the person does not exercise well, then these sugars can remain in the blood and cause other problems, weight gain being the least significant of them. That is the reason there has been a theory that by reducing carbohydrates in the daily diet, a person can live healthier. The very popular—and also very controversial—Atkins Diet is based on that. We start our discussions on diets with this diet. We see why it is controversial and what kind of people can benefit with the diet. Low Carb (No Carb) Diets Low carbohydrate diets (or no carbohydrate diets) are weight loss options that restrict the amount of carbohydrates ingested by a dieter, while increasing the amounts of proteins and fats eaten. Different diet options allow the consumption of different amounts of carbohydrates on a daily basis. The most common of these diet types is the “Atkins Diet”. However, there are other famous weight loss programs such as the “South Beach Diet”. Here, we will focus on the Atkins Diet due to its popularity. The Atkins Diet advertises a weight loss potential of 6 kilograms (13 pounds) over two weeks. What Is the Basic Philosophy behind the Diet? The principle behind the low carbohydrate diet is that carbohydrates result in an increase in blood sugar level as they are metabolized by the body. This results in a reciprocal rise in insulin levels. Insulin controls the blood sugar levels but also causes fat deposition. Low carbohydrate ingestion results in less insulin production by the pancreas and therefore less fat deposits in the fat storing cells. By restricting the “bad” carbohydrates in the diet such as white refined rice, bread, pastas and potatoes as well as sweet desserts, those who support this diet suggest weight loss will occur. Many supporters also encourage eating of “good” carbohydrates by eating foods such as fruit and vegetables as the major supplier of daily carbohydrate requirements. What Support Is Offered by the Parent Company? The book “Atkins Diet for You” is the key text for the program. It is purchased online and provides directions to a personalized approach to the program taking into consideration gender and age and other factors. The Atkins Diet provides online support through its website. On this site, dieters on the weight loss program have access to peer support, a library of information, recipes and books and store information to purchase other dieting aids. The program is free, with optional diet supplements in the form of protein bars and shakes to supplement the weight loss programs. How does the Diet Work? The program focuses on a four-phase approach to weight loss and maintenance. An individual enters the program at the point they feel is most suited to their needs. The four phases commence with almost no carbohydrates in the diet to produce a very quick weight loss. The dieter then progresses to the next phase for continued weight loss but at a slower pace. They are allowed increased carbohydrates as well as a broader range of food choices. The third phase is close to goal weight phase and permits more carbohydrates and the final phase is maintenance phase, which allows a reduced carbohydrate but otherwise normal diet based on eating proteins, healthy fats, and enough carbohydrate to provide energy needs. The Atkins diet is a controversial diet because of its severe restrictions on carbohydrates, which contradicts much of the available research on the role of carbohydrates in a healthy diet. The major use of carbohydrates by the body is to produce energy and the restrictions on carbohydrate ingestion can lead to lower energy levels. It has proven successful and particularly when supervised by a medical advisor. Many weight loss programs focus their programs on modified forms of the low carbohydrate diet. Chapter 3: Women’s Health Look Good Naked Diet This diet is one that has been especially designed for women; after all, it is designed by Women’s Health. This diet takes into account the dietary requirements of women, and straightaway comes to the point by mentioning what foods the typical female diet lacks in today. The diet lists our 20 foods that women must consume if they want their health to stay in top condition. The Look Good Naked diet has also received a lot of flak, mainly because of its name, which reeks of female vanity about their appearance. Though the diet itself has been well-received, the intention of the people behind developing the diet has always been a point of apprehension. Read about this diet and see what it can give you. If you fit the bill, this could be a very easy way of getting back into shape. Women’s Health Look Good Naked Diet The Women’s Health Look Good Naked Diet is a 6-week weight loss program that is detailed in a book of the same name. As is suggested by the producers of the diet, this is a women’s diet program. Over a period of 6 weeks the diet is said to help you lose weight and tone your body so you feel and look good. During the diet, the program promises you will reshape your body. An interesting twist to the diet it is focus on improving your self-confidence and a crash course in “sexiness” so you not only look good but feel good at the end of the 6 weeks. What Is the Basic Philosophy behind the Diet? The program focuses on 20 foods that are described as foods that will you lose weight and burn fat for a flat belly and will form the basis of your diet for the duration of the program. The program goal is to help the dieter improve their self-confidence not just lose weight. It is easy to dress to look good on the outside, but it is equally important to feel good on the inside. The program itself combines a focus on exercise and diet to achieve weight loss. What Support Is Offered by the Parent Organization? Women’s Health provides online support through a website dedicated to the program. Besides many online resources, there is also an opt in email that people can choose to receive. Similar to other book focused diets, there is no meetings to attend. The program is free other than buying the book, however there is optional plan providing access to online tools to track progress that costs extra. The book is sold with a DVD and other free gifts to assist the dieter achieve their goal. How Does the Diet Work? The Look Good Naked Diet book once purchased contains all the necessary information for the dieter to participate in the diet in their own home. The diet is started with a two-day detoxification program followed by a diet intake that focuses on a daily intake of 1400 calories. The menu provided involves focus on 20 foods Meals are prepared around these foods and the dieter also incorporates two sessions of cardio workouts and two of strength training every week. There is also the chance to select a preferred work out once a week. The program promises a weight loss of approximately 8 pounds in the first month. The strength of the program is the psychological focus that is offered by the program. Many people are emotional eaters; others who lose weight find it difficult to see themselves differently to before their weight loss. The focus on improving self-confidence, together with the balance between diet and exercise for weight loss has produced a diet that is having success around the world. While the limitation of only 20 foods might prove restrictive to some people, the foods and the menus provided allow for lots of variety and good eating for the duration of the diet.