It’s fun to alter photos, and here’s one for helping your face (or your friends’ faces?). Look younger, see how you’d look after that face lift you’ve been wanting. lose some fat cheeks? Sure, just in a photo, but hey, it’s a start. Check out Real Allusion. Note: The model they use is hardly 20-years-old so it’s not a huge change.

Here’s a tutorial on using Photoshop to alter photos (Hint: this is what they do to magazine photos which is why everyone looks so perfect).

Someone sent me a link to a web site that can alter pics to make you look thinner. Now I can’t find that link, so if you know of anyone doing this, please send me a note or comment below and let me know! Here is one I found on my own (maybe it’s the same, I’m not sure) Fit Pics.com, for just $19.95 they’ll alter the photo you send to make you look as you would if you lost some weight. This can a be a great way to visualize yourself thinner and also to get emotionally over that hump (the “who will I be without my weight issue hump). The price is much less than trying to learn to do this yourself, but if you already have Photoshop there are lots of tutorials out there, just search Google or your fav search engine for “photographs instant weight loss” or something similar.

Extra Discount to First 2500 Who Register

Kathryn Martyn Smith, Founding Member of Green PolkaDot Box can give you an Associate Membership with greater discounts but you must act soon.

The only online organic and natural foods store with wholesale prices is opening its doors soon (projected late 2009). During the pre-launch period, GPDB is rewarding the first 2500 who pre-register with a guaranteed 5% personal purchase discount and an automatic 10% PolkaDot Reward (a small percentage of recurring membership fees) for the lifetime of their membership. “In exchange, we are asking our Pre-Registered Members to be patient with us for the first 90 days after launch as we perfect our business operations,” say Rod Smith, Founder.

This is huge! This would be like Costco giving you a dollar for every person you’d referred to shop at Costco, and think about this, Costco currently has in excess of 60 million members! Imagine if you were one of the first 2500 of that 60 million? That’s a big deal. You don’t personally refer them all, just 20, and from then on, it trickles down into a nice little bit of extra change, and who doesn’t want that?

Think it’s unfair to make a buck off your friend? Think again. You are not taking anything from a friend, you are taking from the company who is already charging you and your friend the membership fee. Do you belong to Costco? How much do you pay every year to shop there? Does your friend pay the same, or less? Hummm, but do they share even one dime with you for referring your friend? No, they do not. Don’t get me wrong, Costco is a great company and has a reputation as treating their employees very well. I just wish they’d give me a buck for referrals.

Membership clubs primarily earn their money through the membership fees (although many, such as Costco, still sell above wholesale so profit there too). The GPDB is simply offering to share the wealth with those who help launch the business.

* Limited Pre-Registration Management plans to limit membership enrollment to only the first 2,500 pre-registered members for its Founder’s launch scheduled for [date changed, but soon is the word] the date on which The Green PolkaDot Box will begin processing purchase transactions for a limited number of members.

“The March 31, 2009 date is a significant milestone,” Smith continues. “It marks the first time that currently pre-registered members will have all the tools they need in our live site to refer others. With nearly 300 members already pre-registered it’s going to be a race to see whom among them will capture the biggest share of the limited membership.”

Smith anticipates explosive growth; recognizing that if each current member only referred 10 new members the 2,500 pre-registered member limit would be exceeded. “We have many pre-registered members who have direct influence over thousands of our targeted membership of health conscious consumers. And many motivated entrepreneurs who have caught the vision of our potential.

The Green PolkaDot Box has, according to some e-commerce experts, the potential to rival the growth of Amazon. But Smith is cautiously optimistic. “I have no doubt that we fill a big niche, providing essential healthy foods for millions of consumers who don’t like to pay retail; but we plan to proceed carefully. We place a premium not only on low prices, but on ‘legendary’ member services. By limiting our membership numbers to just 2,500 to start we are better able to work through the fulfillment challenges we are bound to face as we commence operations.”

Smith believes that because of the overwhelming demand by healthy food consumer to save money on natural and organic foods the company will need to place limits on growth in the early months of operation. “So we are planning to restrict the number of members to the first 2,500 for the first day of operations on June 1st. The rest will be wait listed on a first come, first served basis. It’s possible that we will be able to allow up to 5,000 additional members in the first 30 days after launch; but we’ll need to wait and see how things go.”

The Founder’s Launch set for June 1st is the commencement of a 90-day “honeymoon” period during which the Company will iron out any wrinkles in operations before the Grand Opening set for September 1, 2009. Smith explains: “We have offered to our first 2,500 pre-registered members special advantages that will not be available after we launch because we know we are headed into a hyper-growth environment. There will be a learning curve to perfect our operations and product selections.”

You can pre-register now with One More Bite’s private invitation link, and help in Launching Green PolkaDot Box

OMG, David! You’ve Let Yourself Go

Saw this on Facebook and trying to find a reference I discovered Eternally Cool. “EternallyCool.net is Rome’s hip hub – here you can keep up with all that’s happening in the world’s oldest and coolest city. From art to food, from fashion to furniture, from advertising to literature, and from street life to art exhibits, we’ll keep you up on everything that makes Rome eternally cool.”

Apparently this statute, and another of Lincoln grown portulant just sitting all these years in his chair at the Lincoln Monument for too long, was part of an advertising campaign by Advertising Agency: Scholz & Friends, Hamburg, Germany

High School Students Make a Difference

I only knew about this because a friend’s daughter was involved in NothingButNets.net so when I saw Ashton Kutcher, @aplusk on Twitter.com getting involved I thought that was pretty awesome. He started with a contest between himself and CNN for the title of first Twitter User with over 1,000,000 followers. He succeeded and narrowly beat CNN for the honor of being first to have one million followers. Why does this matter?

It matters to me because even before his challenge to CNN, Kutcher had posted on Twitter he would buy 1,000 nets in the fight to end Malaria, mentioning MalariaNoMore.org. That’s making a difference and I applaud him for both bringing more awareness to the plight of Malaria and also for getting more people involved with Twitter.

Someone said Twitter was silly and nothing more than a way to talk about what you’re having for breakfast, but yet, there’s this social army giving millions to charity, and of course, breaking news from CNN, very worthwhile and very cool.

If you haven’t joined the fun, get an account. Go to Twitter.com, choose a user name and you’re good to go. You choose who to join, effectively killing off the spammers (just unfriend if you get one by mistake), and tools like TweetDeck make it even more fun.

Find me at @onemorebite and send a Tweet saying hello! I’m tweeting on EFT for Weight Loss (naturally) and also ways I increase my weight loss coaching business via marketing on the Internet.

100,000 Die from Prescriptions Every Year

Yet, apparently that’s a-okay with the US Govt since nothing at all is done about it. Drug ads continue to state the side effects include death, yet no big outrage there either. Yet an herbal product is “claimed” to have contributed to less than 20 deaths and the FDA yanks that right off the market! This is ridiculous. I’m sick of being run by big pharmacy.

Between the drug companies and the banks we are being held hostage. Banks run this country, and drug companies are making sure everyone in the country is on some prescription including tiny children. Stop the madness.

How to Get Healthier and Stay Out of Doctor’s Offices?

Start with what you eat. Yes, you’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again and again. The food supply in the United States of American is simply horrible. There is no way to test the safety of our food supply, and recalls are announced months after products have sold. I heard one recently for pistachio nuts that had been sold three months prior. When’s the last time you bought a bag of nuts and didn’t eat them pretty much right away?

Why Buy Organic and/or So Called “Natural” Foods?

Because the quality of our food supply and distribution is horrifying. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) each year 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur and more than 300,000 persons are hospitalized and 5,000 die from foodborne illness. And the media went crazy went less than 20 people died from the recent swine flu outbreak!?!

Yet Far More Die from Properly Prescribed Prescription Drugs

The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1994 estimated that 76,000 to 137,000 people died from properly prescribed prescription drugs. That would make so-called adverse drug reactions between the sixth and fourth leading cause of death in the United States.

Why does the FDA go up in arms over herbals remedies yet allow this insane number of deaths to occur?

You can fight back at the grocery store. Eat well and reduce your prescriptions too (it’s possible, I’m not suggesting to toss prescriptions, but the connection is clear). The first complaint is organic food is too expensive. Partly because supply and demand creates the higher prices: once more people buy healthier foods prices will drop but you can save 10 to 50% now by joining the first organic and natural foods buying club, The Green Polkadot Box.

You can be sure there will be lots more online organic and natural food buying clubs, but Green PolkaDot Box is the first and best. As of this writing the site is not complete, that’s why they are offering incentives to register early. It costs nothing to pre-register (they will not charge membership fee until opening day), and you have an instant extra 5% discount on everything you buy for the lifetime of your membership. No risk, they are allowing up to 90 days after they launch to change your mind! If you could receive a 5% lifetime discount where you shop now would you refuse?

References:

JAMA April 15, 1998;279(15):1200-5
US hospitals too many serious and fatal drug reactions

Costs are staggering too, so why does this continue? Big pharmacy. Notice there’s a new drug for everything? Notice too they say “you have to continue taking this medication…” Ridiculous, and how about the disclosure they list at the end, including “death” as a side effect?

If you’re sick and tired of this it’s time to take back your health and eating healthier is the best place to start. It’s not impossible to eat fairly well at a traditional grocery but processed foods are not your friend. I’m not suggesting you have to give everything up, just consider what you are fueling your body with and start making some better choices.

Once the majority are buying healthier foods costs will lower — the crappy food prices would be dirt cheap if not for the billions spent on advertising them to us. We are paying for those advertisements. Sheesh, it’s easy to get into rant mode. I only want to perhaps open someone’s eyes to the fact that we are being killed by what we’re eating. It’s not impossible to change that equation if you get ready for the revolution.

Think Organic Foods are Too Expensive! Maybe until now

What if you could buy the same organic foods you do now but save 10 to 50%?

Announcing the first, online organic and natural foods buying club: Green PolkaDot Box. You’ll save money and enjoy the convenience of shopping at home (helping to save fuel costs too). During pre-launch you will receive bonuses and rewards just for registering early (later you’d need to refer up to 20 new members to receive the same bonuses).

This is not a box store, and you don’t have to buy in huge quantities like Costco. You pay an annual membership fee (like Costco) then shop online and food is delivered to your door. Order $150 or more and shipping is free, otherwise pay the low set shipping fee (not crazy like some online merchants either).

Get in on the launch. I can offer Associate Memberships with even more rewards but you must pre-register at GreenPolkaDot Box soon.

See 11 Ways to Save Money on Organic Food. They don’t know about Green PolkaDot Box, but if they did you’d see 12 ways.

Just that Time of Year

It’s that time of year. From a nip in the air to a massive snow and ice storm, there is a difference now. It’s colder and the tendency is to put on a few pounds. We’ve generally accepted that it is nature’s way of helping us provide a little extra winter fat — just in case. But how long since you last had a food shortage or had to wait out the winter for your next meal? This year can be different.

Today consider making one small change

When you make a small change, it is easier to handle, you are more likely to incorporate it into your daily life, and you are more likely to succeed, than if you try to make a global change to your whole way of being.

Start by adding more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet. Just for today, throw out your rules — if you follow any diet that forbids fruit or your favorite vegetables — because fresh foods are too important to miss. Fresh foods are sweet, satisfying and full of vitamins, minerals, bioflavonoids, and other things that your body requires for optimum health.

Choose a few you particularly enjoy. This time of year apples are good, bananas year around, citrus fruits are plentiful … Get some and start carrying a food sack everywhere you go. You can little packages of baby carrots, etc. A fellow I know always has a bagful of chopped cauliflower, carrots, and others that he munches on.

You Must be Crazy! I can’t Eat Vegetables and Fruits

What? Have you lost your mind? Hear me out. The idea is when hunger strikes (or what you think is hunger), no matter where you are, you’ll now have a healthy snack handy. It’s not that you couldn’t wait out your hunger, but the tendency is to think about all the yummy foods you are trying so hard not to eat and this type of “I can’t have any” thinking sets you up for a massive binge once you do get ready to eat.

Instead, when you decide you are hungry, turn to your fruit/vegi sack for a quick, healthy snack.  Give it a go and let me know what happens.

I love food, so it makes sense I’d also love little miniature models of food, though I’m not sure why. Brings out the “oh it’s so cute” in me, I guess.

This remarkable demonstration of how to craft Itty Bitty Food takes the cake, especially since it’s edible! I only wish I were so talented.

There are a lot of rules flying around about what you should or shouldn’t eat and what “they” say is right or wrong. But just who exactly the ones known as “they?” When you say you know you should eat X calories, who says? Where did you get the idea you should do anything, let alone eat exactly this number of calories or that many grams of protein? Who is the expert, you, or some guru you saw on TV?

I know what works for me by trial and error and that will work for you as well. Take the rules and bend them to work for your lifestyle. If you don’t feel satisfied at all with the calories you’re getting, then add a little, no matter what “they” said you should eat. If you feel energized after working out but “they” say you should be getting an hour a day, well, tough on them. I say do what feels right for you.

This is especially true with the standard diet list of calories you should have. There is no way a 6′ tall man should have the same calories as a 5′2″ woman, yet restaurants continue to serve the same plates to everyone, and diets tell us men should have so many calories, and woman should have so many; yet, no account for height at all. Ridiculous.

Stop Wasting Leftovers and Help the Planet

Just when we thought it was safe to toss our moldy leftovers, out comes a study saying food waste (and excessive shopping) contributes to environmental decline. Found at Newsdaily.com British Environment Minister Joan Ruddock suggests Brits do their part and stop wasting food! Leftovers are yummy, says Roddock. (Okay, I made that up–OneMoreBite).

You know some people do not like leftovers! They insist on perfectly new food at every sitting. Who are these people? Personally I love nothing better than finding ready-to-eat food waiting when the hungries strike. I enjoyed the rest of the steak I didn’t eat last night today for lunch and was that a treat!

Love Food Hate Waste

The “Love Food Hate Waste” program aims to help reduce the tossing out of perfectly good food with ideas for

• Do you cook too much
• Meal making and food facts
• Top chefs take on leftovers
• Keep it fresh and eat at its best
• Why cutting food waste matters

Use the Add Your Voice link and tell everyone what you think.

Reduce Your Waistline While You Reduce Food Waste

It makes sense that if you plan ahead, stop all those quickie trips for fast food and get back to some real home cooking (not take-out eaten at home, but food actually prepared at home) you’ll lose weight in the process. It’s time we all stopped wasting so much food, not to mention money, and ate more responsibly.