Today is Marilu’s 57th birthday – and she looks grrrrrrrrreat!!!

Marilu has given us the gift of knowledge about health through her books and this website.

The best gift you can give her in return is to live healthy. To take care of yourself and your loved ones. To be the best you can be each day.

Click here to stop in and wish Marilu happy birthday – then tell her the difference she’s made in your life.

…be supplied!

That is, think ahead about your day, and about the roadblocks, pitfalls, or challenges you may face with meeting your health goals. Then set yourself up for success by being prepared to meet those roadblocks, pitfalls, and challenges head-on.

For example, if you’re out running errands all day, you’re going to get hungry. How can you make sure that what you eat doesn’t sabotage your success? Carry an apple, or a bag of dried fruit and nuts in your bag or car. Or plan a stop at a favorite health food deli or cafe – there’s no reason lunch can’t be part of your errands! (This is especially true if you’ll have kids along – always plan a healthy food break when you have the kids for 2 hours or more.) Don’t deny yourself a nutritious meal or snack – supply yourself with it!

Maybe your day’s responsibilities will keep you in front of your computer for 8 hours. You know your body needs to move in order for your brain to work well, and that your booty isn’t going to look good in your pants if this becomes the norm. So check out your environment – you’ll need to get up for bathroom breaks and for lunch. Can you “take a lap” around the building on your way to and from the bathroom? Can you walk to lunch? Can you run up (or down) the stairs and use the bathroom on another floor? Can you use the stairs to go to lunch? Take a few stretch breaks in your office, too. Don’t deny yourself movement – supply yourself with a few quick exercise breaks!

All day, every day – set yourself up to win. Don’t be denied… be supplied!

It’s been a busy week. Take a few minutes to relax and reflect on all you have given to the world.

Photo by Yamamoto Ortiz

Have you spent your Saturday trying to catch up on life?
Getting through the laundry, or the grocery shopping, or the gardening, or the vacuuming?
Or – all of the above and more?

Look for “Dear Diary – Get It Together!” starting Monday, April 13 right here at Marilu.com. Get organized – get focused – get it together! Total health includes setting up your environment so you can achieve all your goals for diet, exercise, and healthy living.

Join now to get organized this spring!

Here’s a clip from the third episode with Marilu, which aired last night … you can see Party Down on Starz. Check it out!

Yesterday, Marilu and Ellen Degeneres talked about the benefits of dancing on Ellen.

Dancing …

… helps you stay young!
… is great for breaking a sweat!
… stimulates your whole body!
… and puts you in a good mood!

Stand up … do you wanna dance?

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Agriculture held a hearing on Food Safety Oversight. Daniel Levinson, Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, testified that “recent outbreaks of foodborne illness involving peanut butter, peppers, and spinach have raised serious questions about the Food & Drug Administration’s ability to protect the Nation’s Food Supply.” He emphasized traceability of all products at all stages of the food supply chain as an imperative goal.

This happened in the wake of several food safety bills introduced in Congress — and led to a great deal of chatter on blogs and listservs reacting to potential impacts on small producers. There is concern that additional costs to track food from source to plate could be too great a burden on small producers. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has formed an emergency task force to analyze food safety bills. The intent is to get beyond the hype and develop policy from the vantage point of small farms and organic operations.

You may be interested in the following publications. Please note that not everything discussed is in line with Marilu’s Total Health Makeover®, especially regarding red meat and dairy. However, any improvement to the meat and dairy industries is good for all of us, even if we choose not to eat meat and dairy.

• The March 20 edition of “The Hill” (a Capitol Hill news source read by staffers and legislators) contains a five-page special section on Agriculture and Food Safety
• The Organic Consumers Union contains articles and updates on many programs, including those supporting chemical-free food, sustainable agriculture, small family farms, and eating for health.
• The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (mentioned above) is a lobbying coalition. You can sign up for NSAC’s Action Alerts and Weekly Update so you can take actions that are strategic and timely – such as submitting comments during a notice of proposed rule or contacting your Senators and Representative when legislation is moving through Congress.

Party Down is a new show on Starz. The show is about a group of caterers, most of whom would rather be doing something else. Each week, the guest stars are hosting the party that the regular cast caters. All the reviews have said that tonight’s episode is the best of the season!

Marilu is an author/motivational speaker named Pepper McMasters. She has a series of books called Senior-licious, and she’s ready with some tricks up her sleeve for the seniors. To spice things up, Pepper has paid for a stripper to show up at the party. Ed Begley Jr. is another guest star for this episode.

Marilu’s comments from TV Guide:

I am an author/motivational speaker named Pepper McMasters and I have a series of books called Senior-licious. Ed Begley Jr.’s in it and he’s a riot. I have some tricks up my sleeve with the seniors. To spice things up, there’s a stripper involved. And I paid for them to be there. That cast is great. Jane Lynch is perfection! It reminds me so much of Taxi because they all adore each other.

See the full interview here.

Tune in at 10:30 PM eastern/10:30 PM pacific to see Marilu in Party Down on the Starz network!

And don’t forget to watch Marilu on Ellen today!

Set your DVR – Marilu is appearing on Ellen tomorrow, Friday, April 3, to promote the paperback version of Wear Your Life Well, which comes out next Tuesday.

What Ellen says:

MARILU HENNER (Wear Your Life Well): She’s always so full of energy and very competitive! I hear her family has Game Night every Friday, and somebody once ended up in the emergency room — from playing Charades! (I have got to learn that version for my show!) She also gives helpful advice when she’s here. In her book, she tells people how to “use what you have to get what you want.” I’ve spent years trying to figure out how to do that!

Find out when and where to see Ellen here.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Okay, this is the part of the brown bag that we didn’t want to address – but we live in the real world, and many of us are transitioning to better health, and/or getting our kids and partners transitioned to better health.

So today’s topic – dessert.

Our moms probably packed cookies in our lunches, and that’s what everyone is the house is used to eating at the end (or maybe the beginning) of their meal. The best option? For all of us? Leave the cookies out. You don’t need them. You, your kids, your partner – nobody needs them. Cookies (and dessert) are definitely a WANT and not a NEED. If you are in a personal budget crisis, you know this for sure, just like our grandparents and great-grandparents knew it in the 1930′s.

So what do you do?

If you’re desperate for something sweet, try a cup of peppermint tea after your meal. It’s good hot or iced. You can keep tea bags in your desk at work, and make the tea when you want it.

You can brush your teeth after you eat, and that minty fresh toothpaste will also satisfy your sweet tooth (and make your dentist really, really happy). Don’t believe us? Try it.

If your child (or partner) is desperate for dessert with lunch, the best thing you can do is spend a little time on the weekend baking a batch of cookies (a healthy recipe!), and packaging and freezing them as soon as they’re cool, so they last through the week. You’ll have complete control over what’s in them. There are prepared cookies available at the health food store, but even the “healthy” ones aren’t very healthy. If you go that route, read the labels. Know how much sugar and fat and chemicals you’re putting into your loved ones (that includes you) and make a conscious decision to feed them like that. (You can hear the guilt in that sentence, can’t you?)

At least work your way down to fewer cookies, less often – remember, they’re a WANT, not a NEED. That alone is a valuable lesson for all of us. Replace the cookies with something really unique that they’ll remember – starfruit or kumquats or a love note or a sticker or a colorful napkin with a smiley face are all good for this. Make the rest of the lunch amazing, and nobody will miss the cookies.

For real.