Dietician touts nutritious foods from Peru

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 7, 2014

Peruvian Power Foods

Photos: Health Communications, Inc.

Manuel Villacorta, MS, RD, CSSD dedicated two years to researching particularly nutritious foods, traveling to his native Peru to connect with chefs, farmers, food bloggers, fishermen, and people in general about that country’s indigenous foods. As part from his journey of discovery the dietician with 16 years of experience created 100 recipes and took 2,000 photos many of which are featured in Peruvian Power Foods: 18 Superfoods, 101 Recipes, and Anti-aging Secrets from the Amazon to the Andes (Health Communications, Inc. $18.95), a 310-page paperback book he wrote with the help of coauthor Jamie Shaw, a writer, branding specialist and recipe creator. The recipe examples include breakfast granola with lucuma, white bean hummus with sacha inchi, pichuberry muffins, maca shake, and truffles with cacao and camu camu.

“The reception has been great. Peruvian cuisine is a hot topic at the moment,” Villacorta said by email in response to a question about the public acceptance to his new book published October 2013. “Chefs are heralding the cuisine with the enthusiasm they once reserved for France. Peruvian restaurants are popping up in major cities everywhere. On his Parts Unknown program, Anthony Bourdain dubbed Peru’s cuisine one of the most underrated in the world. Clearly, something was happening in my home country. And while it’s partially due to the innovative preparations and exciting cross-cultural dishes being developed, Peru is also home to thousands of foods found nowhere else on the planet, many of which are staggering in their content of potent nutrients. As a native Peruvian, I felt there was no better time than the present to share my knowledge about the foods that originate from the region. And as a registered dietitian, I was interested in the health properties of these foods. This book helped me marry the two, health and cooking.”

Manuel Villacorta, MS, author, Peruvian Power Foods

The book highlights 18 foods believed to be particularly high in nutrient value. They are pichuberry, maca, cacao, kiwicha, avocado, aji, camu camu, purple corn, artichokes, sacha inchi, lucuma, beans,  purple potatoes, cilantro, papaya, yacon, quinoa, and sweet potatoes. Each food section features nutritional aspects, culinary uses, and recipes.

“Yes. Moreover, I’m especially finding the Latino population to be very receptive, and have been asked on many occasions, if the book will be translated into Spanish,” the nutritionist said when asked about the popularity of the book among immigrant families.

While some like artichokes, cilantro, sweet potatoes, beans and avocado are easy to find many others are not prevalent in supermarkets. Fresh pichuberries, for example, seem particularly challenging to find. In Appendix B and by email in response to a question about how to purchase the ingredients for the recipes he said: “Latino markets and/or regular supermarkets like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, and Vons. Brands used in the book were Sacha Vida, Navitas, Barry Farm, and Bobs Red Mill.”

Villacorta is also author of Eating Free: The Carb-Friendly Way to Lose Inches, Embrace Your Hunger, and Keep the Weight off for Good. He served as a national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. He is a health blog contributor to The Huffington Post, an on-air contributor to Univision, and a health and lifestyle contributor for Fox News Latino. He owns a San Francisco-based private practice.

Click to buy Peruvian Power Foods

Author addresses ways to be influential

Posted by Elena del Valle on January 8, 2014

Adversaries into Allies

Photos: Bob Burg

Bob Burg believes that being successful in life and in business is the result of having technical and people skills. Ninety percent of the success comes from people skills and only ten percent from technical skills, according to him. He says that there are many highly talented people in the world who only achieve average results because they lack good people skills.

In Adversaries into Allies: Win People Over Without Manipulation or Coercion (Portfolio, $26.95), published in 2013, Burg explores the path to influence by converting adversaries into partners. It’s his opinion that persuasion need not be about winners and losers. He proposes an approach that results in mutual benefit rather than one that leaves the other person feeling taken advantage of which in turn might produce resistance and a negative attitude.

The 250-page hardcover book is divided into 76 chapters and six main sections: The Five Principles of Ultimate Influence, Control Your Own Emotions, Understand the Clash of Belief Systems, Acknowledge Their Ego, Set the Proper Frame, Communicate with Tact and Empathy, and The Character of Ultimate Influencers. 

Bob Burg, author, Adversaries into Allies

He defines Ultimate Influence as the ability to get the results you want from others while making them feel genuinely good about themselves, the process, and about you. One of the ways to do that, he says, is for people to control their own emotions. Such control allows them to help their adversaries be open to the ideas they propose. He stresses that to avoid confusion it’s important to understand that we all follow an unconscious set of beliefs based on experiences and ideas which vary from one person to another.  

Helping people feel good about themselves helps the influencer make an ally, according to Burg. Approaching a conflict from a position of benevolence, resolution, and helpfulness increases the likelihood that an adversary will follow the influercer’s lead; and communicating with tact and empathy at the right time can go a long way to win someone over, he says. 

Burg is coauthor of The Go-Giver, Go Givers Sell More, and It’s Not About You, and the author of Endless Referrals. According to promotional materials, The Go-Giver was a BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal bestseller and has been translated into twenty languages. Together, his books have sold more than a million copies. A speaker, Burg presents to corporations and associations internationally, including Fortune 500 companies, franchises and direct sales organizations.

Click to buy Adversaries into Allies

Wealth management consultant outlines her approach to financial security

Posted by Elena del Valle on December 20, 2013

Wealthy by Design

Photo: Kimberly Foss

Kimberly Foss, CFP, CPWA, rose from a home with “financially challenged parents” to become the president and founder of Empyrion Wealth Management, which according to promotional materials, was named one of the nation’s top wealth managers by Bloomberg’s Wealth Manager Magazine. In Wealthy by Design (Greenleaf Book Group Press ebook), published June 2013, she shares some of her life story and wealth management ideas. She assumes readers will rely on a financial planner who will work with them based on their goals, risk taking preferences, equity and age.

She explains that there are two primary types of financial advising services, consultative and transactional. The former focus on client goals and needs and charge based on the number of assets they manage for a given client while the latter recommend products for which they earn commissions. In Appendix A, she provides readers questions to ask a prospective adviser. In Appendix B, she offers six allocation strategies for portfolios. In the ebook edition, it was challenging to read the graphics as displayed on the tablet reader.

In her book, she outlines the importance of understanding personal financial drivers before making long term investment decisions. She strives to demonstrate to readers how following five foundational principles of investing can lead to wealth management based on individual goals and circumstances. The principals are: Goal Setting, Planning, Commitment, Assessment, and Flexibility. The book is divided into an Introduction, a chapter each for the principles, and a Conclusion as well as two appendices. She relies on case studies and anecdotes to illustrate her points. For example, she describes a risk averse client for whom she organized, thanks to her banking relationships, a 15-year CD.

She touts the importance of focusing on the best interests of clients, the relationship between asset allocation strategy and the success of a portfolio, and portfolio diversification. An investor’s approach to building wealth, she says in the Conclusion, should be considered with care, planned, reviewed and never random.

Foss has 26 years of financial services experience. She is a member of the Investment Management Consultants Association.

Click to buy Wealthy by Design

Social media influencer discusses what can go wrong with QR codes

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 15, 2013

QR Codes Kill Kittens

Photos: Wiley

A quick response code or QR code for short is a type of bar code that requires a smart phone and an app to read it. According to Wikipedia, it is a kind of two-dimensional barcode that can be read optically by a machine. It is used to read information. If the app is able to read the QR code it was made correctly. Once the app reads the code it should lead the user to a mobile device friendly link or website.

QR codes have become common marketing tools, appearing on products, billboards, bus stops and so forth. The problem, according to Scott Stratten, president of UnMarketing, is that most QR codes don’t work. He believes it is because many people are too focused on using codes without paying enough attention to functionality. He proposes that if it mattered people would make sure they worked when they launch them.

Scott Stratten, author, QR Codes Kill Kittens

“If you knew that your terrible business decisions could cost a kitten its life, would you still do it? Of course not. No one wants to hurt a kitten, and no one wants to damage their own business through easily avoidable mistakes. The trick is, knowing which things are the wrong things to do,” Stratten said.

To make his point he wrote QR Codes Kill Kittens: How to Alienate Customers, Dishearten Employees, and Drive Your Business into the Ground (Wiley, $18), a 196-page hardcover small book focused on what goes wrong when QR codes don’t work.

The four color book is easy to read and often humorous. It includes photos on almost every page. It is divided into four sections designed to showcase why QR codes represent what’s wrong with business today including; They Don’t Work, Nobody Likes Them, They are Selfish and They Take Up Valuable Time Better Spent Elsewhere. Stratten, ranked among the top online influencers by Forbes.com, is also author of Unmarketing.

Click to buy QR Codes Kill Kittens

First novel of Catalan author released in US

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 8, 2013

Lost Luggage

Photos: Atria Books / Marble Arch Press

Jordi Punti, a writer and translator, and a contributor to the Spanish and Catalan press, was rewarded with recognition when he released his first novel. Lost Luggage (Atria Books / Marble Arch Press, $16), published in English in paperback and e-book editions in October 2013, was translated into 15 languages, and won the Spanish National Critics’ and the Catalan Booksellers prizes. Prior to this title Punti published three books of shorts stories.

In the 440-page book, Cristofol, a young Barcelona resident, is informed by the police that his father’s flat has been abandoned and its owner is missing. The man who vanished, a truck driver, left Cristofol and his mother 20 years earlier. At the apartment he had never heard about Cristofol finds a list of names belonging to his half brothers Christof, Christophe, and Christopher. He contacts them. None of them was aware that he had half siblings from a common father. None of them had seen his father in many years.

Jordi Punti, author, Lost Luggage

Although they live in different European cities they decide to meet for the first time. They wonder why he abandoned them and why they have similar names. In their journey to find the answers they discover a man who during 30 years of driving was able to escape the darkness of Spain under its former president Francisco Franco and to explore Europe.

Since he received a degree in Romance Philology in 1991, Punti has worked in Barcelona publishing houses, and co-directed La Flor Inversa (The Inverse Flower), a collection of medieval poetry along with Jordi Cerdà and Eduard Vilella, according to lletra.net.

Click to buy Lost Luggage

Corporate manager shares insights of year at WordPress

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 1, 2013

The Year Without Pants

Photos: Jossey-Bas

Scott Berkun, a Microsoft veteran with a corporate background who had authored four books, wondered whether he would follow his own advice if he were back in the workforce trenches. An opportunity to test his theory arrived when he was invited to lead a team of programmers at WordPress.com from 2010 to 2012. He agreed on condition that as a participatory journalism exercise he would write about his experience and the lessons he learned.

In The Year Without Pants and the Future of Work (Jossey-Bass, $26.95), he outlines the highlights of the experience as he saw them. He includes a behind the scenes look at Automattic, the firm he thinks drives WordPress.com’s success. The 258-page hardcover book published in 2013 is divided into 24 chapters.

His biggest challenge the author said by email was that “As an expert I had to put my expertise to the test, and find out: what of my own advice do I practice? And how will I adjust to a workplace with no email and no offices?”

Scott Berkun, author, The Year Without Pants

Every month 396 million people view more than 14 billion pages in 120 languages at WordPress.com. As of this writing, there are 72 million blogs around the world; users produce 36 million new posts and 62 million comments per month, according to the company website. He believes other businesses can take advantage of the insights he gleaned first hand from working there.

“I learned the future of work can be wonderful if managers are willing to reevaluate what’s possible, based on the examples WordPress.com has provided,” he said when asked what was the biggest reward he received from the project.

In the book, he explores workplace issues at WordPress.com such as how he thinks the company’s decentralized workplace, relying on 170 employees in 70 different cities, is creative and productive. He draws attention to the company’s “culture of self-sufficiency and experimentation.”

And he considers how the use of blogs, chat and Skype in lieu of email to communicate make it efficient. It’s possible, he says in the final chapter, that technology companies like Automattic are returning work to its roots and away from the absurdity of work that exists in many white collar environments; and that they might return some of the meaning of work the business world has lost.

 

Management consultants share views, findings on creativity patterns, problem solving

Posted by Elena del Valle on October 25, 2013

Photos: Drew Boyd, Jacob Goldenberg

Innovation is likely when working in a familiar world with tools that foster our creativity, say Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg. They’re convinced inventive methods follow common patterns or Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) in use, according to them, by hundreds of companies. They also believe creativity is a skill anyone can learn and perfect.

In Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results (Simon & Schuster, $28.50), a 257-page hardcover book published this year, they outline their approach and the characteristics of SIT.

“Research has shown that just telling people to ‘think outside the box’ does not improve their creative output. It does not give people the cognitive instructions how to generate an idea,” said Goldenberg by email in response to the question of thinking outside versus inside the box. “Instead, it prompts people to stray far away from the problem in unconstrained ways. This is both inefficient and highly unlikely to generate a creative solution. On the other hand, research shows conclusively that constraining one’s thinking, inside the box, with fewer options and tight boundaries prompts far more creative output than unconstrained thinking. Limiting the brain’s options makes it work harder to find a creative solution.”

The book project took two years to complete while development of the SIT lasted four years, and the work in the field took more than 12 years, he explained. In the book, the authors discuss five problem solving techniques: Division, Subtraction, Multiplication, Task Unification and Attribute Dependency. By removing something that had previously been thought essential a product or service may be adapted for a new use, according to the Subtraction technique. By dividing a component out of an existing product or service that initially seemed not to function it may be possible to transform it into something productive, according to the Division tecnique.

In Multiplication, a part of a product is copied after being modified. Bringing tasks together into one component of a service or product is Task Unification. Usually the component had been previously thought to be unrelated to the task. When two or more attributes initially thought unrelated are brought together successfully there is Attribute Dependency, the authors say.

Rather than start with a problem and seek solutions they suggest the opposite. “Let me tell you a secret: consumers don’t care if the problem was defined first and then a solution was found, or the opposite way. All they care about is if they have a new solution to a meaningful problem,” said Goldenberg.

Drew Boyd and Jacob Goldenberg

“However, the latter direction is much more effective for creative (only creative) ideation. Psychology researcher Ronald Finke and his colleagues discovered that people hold inside their head an ambiguous, pre-inventive form the instant before generating an idea. People essentially start with a configuration in their head and then seek ways to make that configuration useful. They called it Function Follows Form. They also concluded that people are better at this direction of thinking. They are better at searching for benefits for a given configuration (starting with a solution) than they are finding the best configuration for a given benefit (starting with the problem). The method, SIT, structures your creative thought processes to first create these configurations in your head, and then it leads you to find a benefit for that configuration. Done properly, you end up with a creative idea.”

Boyd is executive director, Master of Science in Marketing Program, and assistant professor,  marketing and innovation, University of Cincinnati. Prior to that he worked for Johnson & Johnson, United Airlines and was an officer in the United States Air Force. He dedicates his time to the fields of innovation, persuasion, and social media.

Goldenberg is professor, marketing, School of Business Administration, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and visiting professor, Columbia Business School and the Interdisciplinary Center-Herzliya (IDC). His research focuses on creativity, new product development, diffusion of innovation, complexity in market dynamics, and social network effects. The company he established with his partners, which created the SIT system, works with more than one hundred companies worldwide, from the United States to Argentina to Kazakhstan.

Los Angeles consultant proposes seven elements of brand building

Posted by Elena del Valle on October 11, 2013

Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow

Some people are brand loyal because they believe that those brands provide them with extraordinary value that cannot be acquired any other way. That is how Libby Gill, a Los Angeles management consultant, sees the relationship between consumers and brands. She says that the most successful brands are carefully built by people who are meticulous about getting certain things right.

In Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow: The Art and Science of Building Brands (Palgrave MacMillan, $26), a 240-page hardcover book published this year, she explains her thinking. When she writes about mindshare she’s referring to the heads, trust, loyalty and hearts of a company’s customers.

In the book, she promises readers a blueprint for deep and lasting connections for executives, entrepreneurs, leaders and those who seek to influence, sell, persuade or attract customers. She defines branding as the ability to maintain an on going connection through awareness of value that drives others to act and create loyalty born of hope, trust and respect.

She describes seven elements she sees as necessary for the creation of the powerful company client relationships that generates customer loyalty and promotes economic success among successful brands. The elements are: Clarify Customer Benefits, Commit to Your Customer, Collaborate with Your Customer, Connect with Your Customer, Compete with Your Competition, Communicate with Confidence and Certainty, and Contribute to the Community.

An executive coach and branding expert with over 20 years of industry experience, Gill is the former head of communications and public relations for Sony, Universal, and Turner Broadcasting. Her clients include ABC-Disney, Nike, PayPal, Warner Brothers, and Wells Fargo. Her previous books are Traveling Hopefully: How to Lose Your Family Baggage and Jumpstart Your Life, and You Unstuck: Mastering the New Rules of Risk-taking in Work and Life.

Click to buy Capture the Mindshare and the Market Share Will Follow

Former osteopenia sufferer, doctor share natural path to healthy bones

Posted by Elena del Valle on October 4, 2013

Your Bones book cover

Photos: Praktikos Books

Fifty-six million Americans suffer from bone disease or have low bone mass, according to National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) data released April 2013. The Foundation numbers point to 9 million adults in the United States estimated to have osteoporosis. Another 48 million have low bone mass (indicated by T-scores between -1.0 and -2.5), and are at increased risk for osteoporosis and broken bones, according to the Foundation’s study titled The 2010 Burden of Osteoporosis and Low Bone Mass among Residents of the U.S. Age 50 and Older.

Osteoporosis is held responsible for 1.5 million fractures a year costing sufferers of the silent condition pain, quality of life loss and in some cases eventually death. When there are catastrophic fractures as many as 20 percent of patients die, and 50 percent of survivors require long term nursing home care.

For years, doctors have prescribed potent medicines that they promised would alleviate or eliminate the problem. Lara Pizzorno, MA, LMT, managing editor, Longevity Medicine Review, and Jonathan V. Wright, MD, who holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Michigan, believe a natural path can lead to healthy bones. In Your Bones How You Can Prevent Osteopororosis & Have Strong Bones for Life-Naturally (Praktikos Books, $12), a 496-page soft cover updated and expanded edition published March 2013, they explain how readers can turn brittle bones strong.

Pizzorno, the lead author, and Wright start out by outlining why biophosphonate patent medicines should be the last alternative for osteoporosis patients; and how conventional medicine aggravates the problems it promises to solve with prescription medicines that are not naturally occurring. Next, they address the risk factors that may lead to osteoporosis and low bone mass, also known as osteopenia. The authors dedicate the remainder of the book to what they believe is the best way to achieve healthy, strong bones with nutrition and lifestyle adjustments.

In Chapter 7, for example, they outline the role of vitamins and minerals such as B, D, C, K and calcium, magnesium, zinc, strontium as well as studies to support their arguments. They address issues relevant to supplements and safety and provide examples of foods high in each of the vitamins and minerals. They also discuss the role of hormones, weights and exercises in bone building. The extensive book includes tables with listings of foods and their nutrient values, and appendices with information about bone lab tests and vitamins and minerals.

Lara Pizzorno, lead author, Your Bones

Pizzorno is co-author of Natural Medicine Instructions for Patients, and editor of The World’s Healthiest Foods: Essential Guide for the Healthiest Way of Eating. Wright, according to his bio, has been at the forefront of natural biomedical research and treatment since 1973. The authors live in the Seattle, Washington, area.

Click to buy Your Bones

Entrepreneur touts power of positive thinking to overcome business obstacles

Posted by Elena del Valle on September 27, 2013

Contagious Optimism book cover

Photos: Cleis Press

Optimist David Mezzapelle believes his ability to anticipate good results before they take place is part of the secret to his success in life. He anticipates rewards or Life Carrots in challenging situations to help him overcome them and move forward.

In Contagious Optimism Uplifting Stories and Motivational Advice for Positive Forward Thinking (Viva Editions, $16.95) Mezzapelle and 65 others share stories, outcomes and advice meant to be uplifting.

The 405-page softcover book published this year is divided into eight sections: Talent; Goal Analysis; Turning Envy and Jealousy into Something Positive; Relationships; Business and Careers; Maturing and Staying Young-Health, Fitness and Relaxation; Need Help Getting Somewhere?; and You Have Arrived! At the end of each story there is a short summary of the take away concept within an easy to find box.

David Mezzapelle, editor, Contagious Optimism

Mezzapelle was the founder and director of marketing of Goliath Technology before it was sold in 2007. He launched JobsOver50.com. Today, he dedicates his time to consulting projects and serving on boards.

Click to buy Contagious Optimism