2 Eggs or a Pop Tart?

By James B. LaValle, RPh, MS, ND, CCN 

An egg has approximately 200 mg of cholesterol, and frying or scrambling it can up the cholesterol to approximately 245 mg. According to Kellogg's, a Blueberry Pop Tart contains no cholesterol, but it does have 39.8 g of carbohydrates - almost half of them from pure sugar. So which is a healthier breakfast - an egg or a Pop Tart?

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute says you should eat less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol each day. That's because "cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease." Not to mention "the higher your blood cholesterol level, the greater your risk for developing heart disease or having a heart attack." So if the egg breakfast has more cholesterol, you might think it's the wrong choice. But you'd be wrong. The egg breakfast wins out over the Pop Tart.

You see, it's not the amount of cholesterol you have in your blood that puts you at risk, but the form in which it's found. Processed foods that are high in sugar can contribute to inflammation and increase the volume of free radical byproducts from metabolism. This can end up increasing the amount of blood cholesterol found in its "oxidized" form, the form your body can't use to build cells and create sex hormones. It's "oxidized" cholesterol that's deposited on the walls of your blood vessels and increases your risk of a heart attack.

It may be counterintuitive. But eating a food that's a little higher in dietary cholesterol but doesn't spike your blood sugar levels and create inflammation is sometimes actually healthier, even if you have "high cholesterol."

[Ed. Note: James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN, is founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute, a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies, and the author of 13 books on healthy lifestyles and integrative care, including Cracking the Metabolic Code. By modifying your diet, medications, lifestyle, and exercise habits, and with nutritional supplementation, your health is largely in your control.]

"Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience."

- Paulo Coehlo

7 Sizzling Business "Power Principles" (and How They Can Help Any Entrepreneur Make a Million Bucks)

By Charlie Byrne

Through Michael Masterson's new blockbuster book, Ready, Fire, Aim, I found at least seven "power principles."

Principle #1: Introducing Products in a "Mature" Market

Consumers aren't looking for brand-new products. They are looking for clever new adaptations of products they already know and love. When it comes to new, the human brain can take only a little bit of it. Eighty percent of the old and 20 percent of the new is a good ratio. Your goal is not to develop brand-new ideas, but to notice trends that are beginning and develop products that anticipate that trend by a little - just enough to catch your customers' attention.

Principle #2: The Power of Simplicity

You can sell your product very well by talking about its many benefits, but the most successful advertisements are those that highlight a single benefit above all the rest. When this benefit can be presented as uniquely characteristic of your product, you have an advertising proposition that can last and last and last. Consider any great marketing campaign - Burger King, Charmin, Marlboro. Examine any best-selling, non-fiction book - The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, What Color Is Your Parachute?,  Chicken Soup for the Soul, etc. What do they all have in common? Simple themes. Ideas so simple they can be expressed - and understood - in a few short words….

Too many and too clever features must be avoided.

Principle #3: Ready Fire Aim

Prudent entrepreneurs do not want to risk all their time and money on a single product. For the best chance of having a successful business, they need to be flexible about what they are going to sell. If their first product idea doesn't sell well, they have to be able to generate a second one. Innovation matters. And so does speed. Combined, they give your business extraordinary growing power….

Many fast and imperfect trials beat deep thinking. Flexibility beats quality. Getting too attached to one idea can be fatal.

Principle #4: Teamwork Accelerates Success

Don't even try to be a solo creator. You will get much better results much faster by working with a creative team. Sometimes you might get ideas while showering or exercising or sitting on an airplane. But don't act on those ideas. Write them down and bring them up when you're brainstorming with a group….

Principle #5: Check Your Ego at the Door

How do you know your product idea is good? Because you think it is? Business is not and must never be about what the business owner thinks is good or right. Business is about providing value to the customer. And that value can be determined only by the customer. Don't let your ego convince you that you can teach the marketplace what it should and should not buy, or you and your ego will soon find yourselves in the poorhouse….

Don't be swayed by one person's opinion.

Principle #6: Don't Be a Pioneer in a Market

When it comes to answering most of the fundamental questions about selling your product, the best answer will always be this: Imitate the industry norm. If you are always trying to come up with product ideas that are completely new and different, you will likely have a very poor success record. Let others live (and die) on the "bleeding edge."...

Novelty isn't the best approach. If you're desperate for a win, just copy something that's working….

Principle #7: Accelerated Failure

Success isn't usually about genius. It is more often about trial and error. Money loves speed, so spend your time trying new permutations of existing successes rather than endlessly hoping to find the "next big thing." Don't be satisfied when things are "running smoothly." An entrepreneurial business should never be running smoothly. Accelerate failure. Cut your losers and run with your winners….

Successful innovation is a process.

So there you have it...

You've got the knowledge to find out quickly, without spending a fortune, if a business idea is going to work.

It's Good to Know: The Most Popular Books in the United States

A Harris Interactive poll of American adults has found that the Bible is the most popular book in the country among both men and women. Rounding out the top 10 are favorites that have topped best-seller lists for years:

• Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

• Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien

• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

• The Stand by Stephen King

• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

• Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

* Highly Recommended *

The Only Three Ways to Grow a Business

Did you know that there are only three ways to grow a business?

1. Increase the number of customers.
2. Increase the average transaction value.
3. Increase the frequency of repurchase.

Find a way to maximize each one, and your business will experience an astonishing rate of growth.

In his "9 Pillars of Business Growth" program, acclaimed consultant Jay Abraham outlines hundreds of proven, frequently unrecognized, and almost totally underutilized ways to grow these three key areas of your business. If you own a business (or would like to), be sure to take a look at Jay's program.

- Charlie Byrne

Word to the Wise: Equivocation

"Equivocation" (ih-kwiv-uh-KAY-shun) - from the Latin for "of identical sound" - is intentionally vague or ambiguous language.

Example (as used by Ben Macintyre in a New York Times review of Peace by Richard Bausch): "The best [writing about war], like this, is in shades of gray, evoking the personal equivocations, the doubts, the discomfort, and the sheer, crushing boredom and fatigue that constitute the real nature of war."

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2363, 05-23-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.