[adapted from iMusic WeightLoss]

Studies have shown that it's not the quality of our diets, but our brains ability to resist cravings and follow a plan that is behind losing weight and living the slim life.

Michael Dansigner, MD, at Tufts-New England Medical Center (Journal of the American Medical
Association, January 2005)  concluded in a study that investigated four
commercial diets, that the key to achieving weight loss is not the
differences between the diets, but how well you follow them.

The year long study had 160 overweight adults split into four groups:

The findings were just what the docs' suspected --  each of the different
diets were effective at achieving weight loss when they were properly
followed-- but only 25% of participants were able to follow their
assigned diet for a year.

It was also found that "no single diet produced satisfactory adherence rates"-- every diet was a challenge to follow.

What does this study tell us?  That we need to stop our search for
the best diet -- stop putting the onus on the diet, stop blaming the
quality of the diet, discard our high hopes that one diet will all of a
sudden make weight loss easy, and start focusing on how to STICK to the
diet.

You have to train your mind to feel good without food, you have to give your brain the energy and self control to stick to your plan. Whatever healthy plan you choose, it is likely that you are going to have to:

* Eat less high-fat and high-sugar foods

* Drink more water, as opposed to sodas and drinks that are high in sugar

* Reduce your overall caloric intake

* Exercise each week

* Track your results over time using a method from a professional

* Follow meal plan each day

* Think positively about your self-worth, and celebrate your progress along the way

To do all of these things, you can't just decide to follow the plan and commit with motivation.  You've done this before, and you still failed, because you didn't fully manage your mind and the sway it has over your life.

The brain really is the key, but the reason isn't so obvious.

So why is your brain the limiting factor-- why does your mind cause you to veer of course when it comes to dieting?

It has to do with 3 primary factors.    The first one is your thoughts-- what you think.  Do you doubt yourself? Do you believe you can lose the weight? Chances are, you don't.  This doubt and negative outlook causes your brain to want to eat those fatty, sugary foods that are't part of your diet.

Why? Because you hate being wrong, just like everyone else. If you believe something is true then you behave as if it were.  If you think you are going to be over weight forever, if you believe that avoiding delicious and fatty foods is terribly stress creating and will make you feel miserable, than your brain will want to make decisions that support that, and the negative cycle of obesity will continue.

The bad news is, changing your outlook by thinking positively, practicing constructive self-talk or hypnotizing yourself into a change of thought isn't easy, nor is it entirely effective when done by itself, and this is simply because their are two other brain factors that are more core to the problem.

Your thoughts are more a symptom of a deeper problem-- and we've learned that it's always more effective to improve the core problem than to simply remedy the symptoms with band-aid approaches.

The core problem that you are facing, in your quest for that "Soap Opera Swimsuit Figure", is tied into the other two factors at work in your brain: your brain fitness and brain state.

What is Brain Fitness?

Your brains physical health and performance levels.  Is your brain secreting optimized and balanced levels of neurotransmitters and biochemicals like serotonin, endorphins and dopamine? Does your brain have a healthy level of dendrites and glial cells?  If your brain fitness is less than optimal, which is true for most people, than you will feel off center, slightly depressed, anxious, emotionally unhappy, moody and at the mercy to compulsions and addictive habits.  Not only will you be more prone to binge eating and snacking to compensate for your lack of complete emotional satisfaction, but you will be just as careless when it comes to exercise.

What is Brain State?

Your brain state determines how you feel during the course of your day.  Do you feel tired, scattered, erratic and disconnected for hours at a time, or do you feel energized, focused, sharp and clear?  If you feel tired and fatigued during large (or even small) portions of your day, than you are going to be less likely to a) think positively charged thoughts and feel confident about your diet plans and b) have the energy and restrain to resist "foody" temptations, and have the discipline and drive to get yourself in gear for exercise.

It sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

That's because it is.  If you are always tired and often feel a little depressed, rigging yourself to think positively, follow an exercise plan and eat healthy will be the fight of your life. But if you take care of your energy levels, balance your brain and get yourself out of that negative funk by improving your brains core-- then you are on the right track, giving yourself a tremendous edge in the war against calorie . This article has been adapted from the iMusic WeightLoss product.

Learn more about iMusic WeightLoss, a tool we've developed to improve your brain fitness and brain state in a way that makes losing pounds easier than ever.

Dear Joy Pursuer,

Volition has been in business for quite sometime now-- almost 8 years -- and ever since we opened our doors, our passionate focus has been to generate more joy for our clients. Sure, we often call it performance or success, but it all adds up to J-O-Y.

Starting with this first post, we’ll be passing along a little of what we’ve learned over the years. After all, what good is wisdom if you don’t share it!

We have much more to offer than just the tools we provide, so we hope you enjoy this outlet and find it useful.

Recently, one of our team members was indulging their desire for supreme chef status at a school for the culinary arts, when they were told that “life is like a kitchen, it only creates delicious entrees if you choose your ingredients wisely.”

With that being said, you can expect us to send you anything and everything we come across that can make you smarter, stronger, swifter, richer, healthier... and in the end happier!

From around the Interweb

• Sciam tells us how forcing a smile on your face will trigger a physical sensation that makes you happier. Psychologists at the University of Cardiff in Wales found that people who get botox and other cosmetic surgeries that make it difficult for them to frown, are happier. Read on yourself
• Caffeine is friend and foe. A morning cup of coffee doesn’t just wake you up. According to a study from the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research, it may also lower your risk of Alzheimer’s disease by keeping your cholesterol levels in check – which is associated with the disease. That doesn’t mean you should chug coffee all day long. One cup a day helps prevent Alzheimer’s - but more than three cups can result in anxiety, headaches, nausea and sleeplessness. Read more
• Lose weight in your sleep. Dr. David Katz is the medical contributor to Good Morning America. And in an interview, he said there’s convincing evidence that getting plenty of sleep can help control weight. How? Well, new studies show that getting less than the recommended 8 hours boosts our levels of ghrelin, a hormone that makes you hungry. And at the same time, it suppresses another hormone – leptin – that’s the one that makes you feel full. Read more
• Are you an optimist? Positivity attracts winners and leaders into your life. Take this survey to see where you stand
• Mismanaging your spending might mean Alzheimer's is around the corner. Read on
• Do you have sitting disease? You can shop, pay bills, make a living, and with Twitter and Facebook, even catch up with friends without so much as standing up. And the consequences of all that easy living are profound. Read more

He believes that planning and organization functions are responsible for ones ability to manage "the current and the present" among other things, and the organization of materials to be "the ability to impose order on work, play and storage spaces." 

The fact sheet also goes on to state that " People with executive function problems have difficulty with planning, organizing and managing time and space. They also show weakness with "working memory" (or "seeing in your mind's eye"), which is an important tool in guiding one's actions. "  

So, the next time that you find yourself with a messy desk at work, you can rationalize it... at least a little, but you have a defense... BrainAmp.  

For more information on this topic and the rest of Dr. Gioia's 8 Executive Functions visit: http://www.ldonline.org/article/29122

Wired magazine crossed their hot and white wires in May's issue.  Here's what they so confidently stated without contacting us, and evidently not spending more than 30 seconds interacting with our web presence. 

MYTH: Listening to Music Makes You Smarter

Music can certainly expand your mind; if you don't believe us, play Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz. But can it amp up your brain power? That's the claim of companies like iMusic and the Monroe Institute, which market CDs and MP3s that promise to increase focus and improve memory. This ain't Baby Bach: The recordings pump a different frequency into each ear, and these "binaural" tones mix in the brain to produce a pulse that supposedly shifts the firing pattern of neurons, altering brain waves and, the thinking goes, reverse-engineering the mental state that accompanies them.

A compelling idea, but it's less likely to produce serious thought than a Fergie concert. In a recent study at Oregon Health and Science University, subjects exposed to a binaural pulse in the 3- to 8-Hz theta band (which is linked to working memory) showed no change in brain wave activity as measured by EEG. What's more, they actually became depressed and forgetful. If you wanted that, you'd just listen to Celine Dion. — G.L. 

That G.L. stands for Greta Lorge.  In case you are wondering where we stand on this 1) iMusic and our patented technology doesn't contain binaural beats, a hobbyist level pursuit that yields somewhere between zero to a microscopic  blip in results.  2) The Monroe Institute, which hasn't furthered brain science one millimeter since their inception, does indeed use binaural beats.  3) Our knowledge base actually contains a quite comprehensive article about how empty the binaural beat value proposition is, which can be found here:  http://www.vth.biz/kb/index.php?article=47

After letting Wired know of the technical difficulty they unknowingly foisted on its readers, they've righted their wrong in this months issue.  On page 20 in 7 point font they write "iMusic's acoustic brainwave technology is not binaural ("Listening to Music Makes Your Smarter", issue 16.05).

After challenging them to put iMusic to the test, and offering them a free and guided means of doing so,  they had no better sense but to publish this nano sized retraction.  I guess Wired isn't as interested in staying on top of the latest and greatest as we previously thought, which is too bad.  We hope any major media source that catches wind of our life boosting technology will take the time to investigate. Hopefully this isn't the final chapter in the Wired slash iMusic romance.

Zoom on over to the Scientific American site for some interesting and potentially bankable discussion on stoking your creative embers. For all of you iMusic Creative Suite users, you know how powerful a tweak here and there can be-- we know that the same actions tend to create the same results, so maybe you will find something new to draw out a fresh idea. Like old vegetables, same-old ideas are good for composting and not much else :)
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-unleash-your-creativity

While blogs were once optional and niche, they've quickly become a de facto standard for any intelligent and elegant company. We've been so busy analyzing the rain drops, we missed this tidal change. Please accept our apologies, for it's not that we lack in anything interesting to say. We've just been busy with other things. This is us, making time :)

There will be a very focused purpose (although it may sometimes not seem that way) to this blog. And here it is: To discuss, mull over, elucidate and spit toss ideas, propositions, news, solutions and initiatives revolving around leveraging the power of volition (an incredible instrument of our humanity) for higher performance, better results and making sure the days of revelry grossly out number any other kind.

We basically want to discuss all that surrounds what it takes to live an authentically successful life style. Because that is really what it all comes down to.

Expect it (the discussion) to be unfiltered and unvarnished straight talk, framed in the subjects of success psychology and performance enhancement, that will shoot to the core rather than wax on at the edge.

We want to be ginzu sharp, not canoe paddle dull. It will be interesting to see how long it takes us to become blogging ninjas, and evolve from the blogging pandas that we currently seem to be.