Archive for the Recommendations

My colleague Eileen Williams is the creator of a blog and radio show called, The Feisty Side of Fifty. Love that name. And it suits her. She’s high spirited, sassy, and definitely living her second half with a vengeneance. (Check out her psychedelic T-shirts)

Eileen’s has finally packaged her twenty years’ combined experience as a job search specialist, career/life transition counselor, university instructor, and writer into career counseling session in work book form. It could not have come at a better time. I asked her to talk a bit about her new book and wondered if there are any bright spots on the horizon for midlife job seekers in this current–and eternal I think– youth obsessed  age.

What follows are Eileen’s thoughts.

Midlife With a Vengeance is all about wellbeing and thriving as we age. Gregory Anne consistently provides us with a wealth of information to keep our bodies and minds active and energetic. In truth, radiant health should be at the top of each of our lists. However, even if our bodies are healthy and strong, it’s hard to feel our best if we’re unemployed and feeling discouraged about future job prospects.

Day after day, we’re bombarded with depressing news: the job market is described with words such as “bleak,” “slow to recover,” and “with limited prospects.” This, we’re told, is especially true for the older applicant.

Despite what we hear, this is NOT the case. Older workers have plenty to offer: great experience, highly developed skills, a mature work ethic, and a substantial network of coworkers, clients, and customers. Nevertheless, older jobseekers do have certain challenges in knowing how to market themselves in today’s competitive job market. The job search has changed tremendously over the past several years and, if you’re not up on the latest, you’ll be left in the dust.

As a job search specialist with twenty years’ experience assisting thousands of midlife applicants find work, I wanted to help. So I wrote a book sharing key insider techniques that will make a huge difference in getting a job. Following the suggestions in Land The Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50, now available on Amazon, is guaranteed to save you time, money, and loads of frustration.

Remember the good news—the workforce is aging. Workers over fifty represent one of the fastest growing labor groups in the country and you’ll fit right in. But to stand out as the candidate of choice, you’ll need to know the Surefire Strategies:

•              The proven formula to best articulate your skill sets and back them up with winning examples of you performing your work at its best.

•              The most effective method to use personal contacts to network your way into targeted organizations where you’ll build key alliances in your search.

•              The very best resume format for older applicants and how to highlight critical skills and accomplishments so that they literally leap off the page.

•              How to prepare for and ace the interview: the all important first impression, knowing how to answer questions to peak the interviewer’s interest, handling behavioral style questions, and getting the job offer.

•              The strategies to negotiate a win/win deal.

Armed with the right information, job search strategies that really work, and a winning attitude, you’ll be amazed at how quickly your search will progress. So don’t get discouraged by the news—take action! Before you know it, you’ll be telling your friends just how you landed the job you love!

Mary Eileen Williams, M.A., NCC has twenty years’ combined experience as a job search specialist, career/life transition counselor, university instructor, and writer. She also has a popular blog and radio show called, Feisty Side of Fifty. Get your copy of Land the Job You Love on Amazon.

One aspect of weight loss and healthy weight maintenance is finding out what our triggers are so we can take control over them vs allowing them to have their wicked ways with us.

How to do that? Well, I’m not an expert in emotional eating but I’m having a call with someone who is.

My colleague Melissa McCreery PhD has agreed to spend an hour with us discussing emotional eating. (we will also have open Q & A)

Melissa has been working with busy, overwhelmed women since 1989 to get at the root of their frustrations surrounding emotional eating.

We start each day with the best of intentions to eat well and eat just enough to feel satisfied. The pressures of the work day, our money situations, clients—you name it, the every day stresses of life have the power to knock us off course. Add to this the hormonal fluctuations of midlife and and without some awareness of what’s going on we are bound to wake up in the middle of a pig out wondering how we got there at some point.

But why does it happen? If you think it would be powerful to know what drives us to power through a bag of chips or nuts or cookies, giving away our power to do what’s more supportive of our intentions, then sign up for the call. In combination Melissa and I are going to inform and answer questions on the things both emotional and physical that cause us to lose control around food to soothe ourselves.

There is no charge for this call and if you can’t be on the call live but want the information, sign up for the recording. Either way you can ask a question at the sign up page.

I look forward to sharing another hour with you and hope you’ll be with us on the call.

In the midlife muffin top crushing category you wouldn’t expect to find chocolate cake. In the “excess in moderation” category it would feature prominently for some. I’m happy to say that I’ve been introduced to a product that is so darn delicious, easy to bake–it’s a mix–and versatile as a base for other desserts that I had to write about it.

Kelley Herring is a woman I’ve connected with online and whose digital product, Your Plate, Your Fate, I admire and even offer for sale in the products section on Easy Midlife Weight Loss. She’s got a beautiful, healthy food information packed blog, called Healing Gourmet, as well as a product line of no sugar, low glycemic, gluten free cakes.

I’ll admit I’m not a big dessert person–which doesn’t mean I don’t love to make them and taste them, it’s just not a meal component I’m driven to. My overeating runs towards cheese, main courses, and chicken wings. (No, I’m not making that up.)

That said I love to make special desserts. This past weekend we had friends over for dinner and I never think of making something low sugar, low fat, gluten free. So I made white chocolate raspberry tiramisu–full fat, full booze, full sugar. It was worth every bite. Even I had to have a real portion and that’s not bragging as it’s a very easy dessert to make, it’s just a really delicious combination of ingredients.

As long as I was in the kitchen, along with the above creation, I decided to bake the sample Kelley sent of her Chocolate Bliss cake. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it but I had to try this mix. She said it was great, I trusted her. It was easy to mix–water, eggs, and coconut or other oil. Bake for 18 minutes, voila. Looked and smelled like real chocolate cake. The taste test went like this:

“Hmmm, good texture, nice crumb, moist, smells rich. WOW, this tastes just like a real, sugar laden chocolate cake. How do they do that?” How they do it is by using almond flour, organic cocoa, organic zylitol, and other whole food ingredients. I’m not kidding when I say it is delicious and right away I knew what I’d be doing with it.

I created a low sugar chocolate raspberry tiramisu. The picture below shows a cross section of the cake layered with the cream, berries macerated in port and Grand Marnier. The whole is drizzled with a dark chocolate sauce, cream and dark chocolate, no sugar added. My skeptical, full sugar loving husband was skeptical when I told him about the cake itself being a healthy alternative. Last night he got the piece you see below and had a hard time not wolfing it down. Then asked when we could have that again.

I wholeheartedly endorse this product that Kelley has created. For now you have to order it online at her other site, Wellness Bakeries. You will no doubt find gluten free and sugar free cake mixes in health food stores but I’ve yet to see a mix that combines the two and uses whole foods to create the mixes. This is truly a nutritious dessert option that isn’t just fruit. When you order the cake mix you will receive a recipe for icing that’s healthy and delicious as well. By the way, this is not an affiliate situation where I’m getting a “little something” for recommending this product. It’s just that good and I want you all to know about it.

Chocolate Bliss Cake Raspberry Tiramisu

As a professional chef I have no problem using this mix as a basis for a simple or more involved dessert.

Most of us love the idea of creating desserts. With Chocolate Bliss cake mix we’ve been given an easy way to make a healthy sweet and I’ll bet most guests would never know it wasn’t the full on unhealthy, sugar laden cakes we are used to.

When something this wonderful comes along I have to spread the word.

So many of us know women going through some form of treatment for cancer–it might even be you, the reader. A friend passed along this group called Cleaning For A Reason. It’s a not for profit that offers house cleaning (one per month for up to 4 months) for someone with cancer undergoing treatment.

How they do this is by partnering with regional cleaning services who want to give back to their community. Currently they have 661 partners in 50 states and Canada with more coming into the fold all the time.

The application process is all lined out on their website. They do say that as a non-profit the need for cleaning far outweighs the number of appointments available but they are doing what they can.

If you have a cleaning company you might want to contact them to see how to get involved. If you are a patient, why not take a look at their requirements for application. They don’t require much paperwork but the window closes quickly each day at this point to get an application in.

Perhaps someone reading this who knows someone who fits the bill can do the application for them.

After doing some research on a local company here in the Hamptons I learned that Theresa’s Family Cleaning was one of the founding members of Cleaning For A Reason. Her website explains, “Teresa’s Family Cleaning staff cleans for a reason: to improve people’s lives. After Teresa lost her own sister, Virginia, to cancer, she committed her heart and her business to blessing women who are overwhelmed with the pain and stress of cancer treatment.”

Who says the world is a cold, uncaring place? Theresa’s also has a great reputation as a cleaning company for well people too. If you are local to the Hamptons take a look at her website.

And why not spread the word about this? It only takes a second to point someone in their directions. The more success their partners have, the more help cancer patients can have.

I honor all of the women out there making a difference in other women’s lives.