Can We Eat Cheaply, Yet Wisely?

I was chatting with a former waist training student recently, and commiserating about the state of the poor economy, and resulting cut-backs in the type of foods and restaurant outings we were able to afford. Yesterday I saw Rachael Ray, the cooking guru, on television, talking about how to cook nutritiously without spending a lot of money. My friend told me how boring it was to do the above, and it led to to wonder:

Do you have any techniques or ways to cut portions and expense, yet choose food products that allow you to prepare nutritious and non-boring meals?

Falling back on hot dogs and MSG-filled ramen noodles are a lethal recipe for maintaining one’s figure and health, and those foodstuffs certainly work against corset waist-training goals.

Through April 15 ROMANTASY is sponsoring a call for unique recipes that are also cost-cutting and corset-friendly. If we haven’t already included them in our book, Corset Magic, and we test and accept your proposal, we’ll gift you with a copy of our book! (Be careful about violating copyright laws; please send accurate information about your sources)

Remember we are offering a $50 corset discount if you register for our waist-training coaching program before April 15. It might be a wise investment, and healthy treat and wise way to invest any expected tax refund:   http://www.romantasyweb.com/cyboutique/Workshops/WaistTraining.shtml

–Ann Grogan, President  (inquiry@romantasy.com)

Welcome to our New Waist-Training Student, Katrina!

Welcome to Katrina — ROMANTASY’s newest waist-training student! The next three months will provide a fantastic, fashionable, and fun opportunity to our new coaching student to reach her health-first, figure-trimming goals during corset waist-training. We’re so certain that this enthusiastic and upbeat lady will reach her reasonable goals, that we now invite you to her San Francisco graduation party! We’ve tentatively scheduled it at the famed Fairmont Hotel (Nob Hill) on Saturday, June 6. Mark your calendars and plan to join our merrie corseted group on that festive evening!

Are We Victims, or Perps?

I was called upon this morning when hearing a report on the controversy over the soda Mountain Dew (discussed on Good Morning America), to revisit the question of personal responsibility. You might remember that that controversy arose out of the dismal condition of Appalachan childrens’ teeth, arguably dismal as a result of over-consumption of the ‘dread’  Dew.

But I wonder, whose fault is that? Certainly, children cannot be held responsible for their food and drink choices or for knowing proper hygiene or nutrition practices. But can adults and parents? It’s a complex question to be sure, involving at the very least influences of nature and nuture, marketing and choice, greed and habit. It made me reflect on how this nation and individuals have become so unhealthily obese.

Shall we sue MacDonald’s for mac-sizing us? Does Taco Bell torture us into submission and super-sized sodas? And come to think of it, how is it that tobacco companies are held liable in some jurisdictions for ‘forcing’ us to shell out $5 per pack and upwards, making us suck, inhale, cough, sputter, cloud up our environment, poison others, and personally taste (try kissing an ashtray) and smell atrocious?

Perhaps over the years I’ve grown more unforgiving about traumas and outrageous trends as they periodically come to public attention, especially when we seem to always be looking for someone to blame. What does my mom say? When you point one finger forward, three others are pointing back at you.

The news today just seemed more of the same finger-pointing that in major part caused me to become fed up with my former profession, law. It was never a case of accident, or lack of ability to do some job, but was always “your fault” or “racism” or “sexism.” But that’s the subject of another blog.

What excites me about working with students who come to me for corset waist-trainng coaching is that they have taken a step in exercising personal responsibility. They’ve decided to do something about a poor body image, how they feel in their clothes, or their weight or shape. They invest time, energy, and money to pursue a time-limited, fashionable, fun, and unique way to become more healthy and stay that way:  exactly what should be one of out top ultimate quests throughout our lives.

I’m inspired by my student’s commitment when they follow through to the very end and even beyond, maintaining healthy new habits for many years thereafter. They survive the stress of job loss, litigation, divorce and other grave challenges,  facing ultimate boredom and discomfort to the max on some days – yet they keep that corset on and keep drinking their water and eating their healthy soup — steadfastly pursuing their goals, blaming neither themselves, me, or MacDonalds if they don’t quite succeed. But they still win!

These are the clients whom I respect and want to count among my friends because they’re not victims and they don’t think of themselves as such. They are the masters and mistresses of their fate, yet able to roll with the punches which they cannot possibly or completely control. They are to be admired.

Now’s the Time to Buy Up, Not Down

Who isn’t challenged economically these days of grim reports on our shrinking economy? But do the retail pundits have it right? I think not.

My favorite online lingerie newsletter for the wholesale trade, McPete Sez, reports in their recent February e-newsletter that the US National Retail Federation says that consumers are shifting their purchasing priorities. But they didn’t get it right when they opine that “Shoppers will be trading down to discount and off-price retailers in order to stretch their purchasing power.” And God/Goddess forbid that they are actually recommending that insane solution to our present personal and business challenges!

Trading up is what is called for today, and exactly what makes sense for both individual corset purchasers, and corset businesses who care about doing the right thing for their clients.  Judging by a surprising increase in January ‘09 gross retail sales of our high-end couture corsetry and corset ensembles at ROMANTASY Exquisite Corsetry, that’s exactly what the smartest among our clients are doing. We’re more than happy to report a over-30% increase in gross sales compared to January one year ago when our small custom corset business precipitously hit the skids (I could have told our erstwhile former President that we were in a recession then; wonder why it took him nine more months to tell the evident truth?). So I’m not depressed. I hope my colleagues in the high-end of the lingerie business are not either, and I certainly hope our potential clients are not either!

It’s time to stress quality, even if one needs to re-price some styles to reflect a more-realistic marketplace. And it’s time to think creatively. We introduced a cute single-layer, fully-custom, steel-boned cotton “Sleep Corset” mid-2008 but in fall lowered it’s price by $20:   http://romantasyweb.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=Sleep+Corset&Category_Code=cs

while at the same time we introduced a brand-new two-layer version we call the “Sweet Things” beginner’s corset for only $25 more than the reduced price of the first style: http://romantasyweb.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=%22Sweet+Things%22+Beginner+Corset&Category_Code=cs

Those two custom corsets remain our best sellers and for obvious reasons. But our high-end $600-plus custom corsets are also still selling, when we educate customers prior to purchase to fully realize what they are getting for their investment. We help them make the hard choice to bear the pain now to get what they truly need and want, but feel that pain only once for the 10 to 20 years their quality corset will endure.

For sure, present challenges encourage any business to re-examine old marketing ideas, old ways of doing business, and the product quality and mix we purvey.  However, it can bring us back to our senses to find what is lasting in the tried-and-true, and what values we want to encourage in our customers, and in the way we do business, and it can help our clients make better choices.  We’ve lived long in a ‘buy it now- throw it away tomorrow’ society.  I don’t want to encourage more of the same, and do want to stick to a marketing approach and business model that focuses on “think first, and especially in a down market buy top quality carefully, then keep it for many years to come.”  It just makes more sense!

Beware the ides–and labels–of Coke

Following up on my post about being cautious regarding what you read on random websites about waist training and corsetry, the same issue came to mind today when reading my Cosco Connection magazine (who among us is NOT these days seeking wise ways to eat well yet save?).  “Be cautious” — and more — seems to apply.

“New food labels: the Smart Choice?,” an article on page 15, mentions an initially laudatory program starting this year, initiated by the American Dietetic Association’s Food and Nutrition Conference. It’s designed to “take the guesswork out of food choices, enabling people to make smarter food decisions and thus improve public health.”

Well and good. But on second thought, could this be just more pandering to the ‘want-it-now-too-lazy-to-do-my-homework’ Digital Generation? I was the more convinced when I read that labels will be on products from copanies such as Kraft, GM, Coke and Pepsi.

And at what price will these giant food companies permit the ADA to post its labels? And how could full-leaded Coke possibly “meet certain nutritional requirements” when that precise product is known to be among the  top contributors to poor nutrition encouraging excess sugar consumption in an obesity-prone world?

Giving credit where credit is due, the article concluded by urging us to make meals from fresh ingredients at home. Those don’t need labels writting by others having dubious commitment to our health versus their profit. All ingredients might need is just a good recipe to follow from any cookbook published by Prevention magazine, my personal favorite source of healthy recipes.

I’d love to add more healthy recipes to my Corset Magic book this year, even perhaps prepare a supplement of recipes and cooking techniques that save calories in preparing healthy kinds of foods suitable for those in waist training. Care to submit recipes? If you do that by or before April 15, 2009 I’ll happily send you an updated copy of my book, and a special refrigerator reminder of the particular benefits of a well-toned, healthy body when you apply Corset Magic to it! Plus, enroll in our formal coaching program and receive a $50 discount on any waist-training quality corset ordered by April 15.

Approach public information with caution as it relates to waist training!

Yes, even approach what you read on Romantasy’s blog with caution–although you will definitely NOT find the kind of non-factual, over-generalized and harmful comment about alleged physiological and skeletal responses to corseting and waist training that you well might encounter on other websites, even by corsetieres and corset wearers who speak of what they apparently do not know.

Our client, blogger, and friend Kellie was kind enough to send greetings from Alaska, and refer me to this 2008 comment about waist training: “I don’t do it, but I know some who do,” Coath says. “It needs to be done very carefully, or it can damage ribs and internal organs.”

Coath is quoted in a rather extensive article on corsetry in Australia appearing in a January 18, 2008 article in the Sydney Morning Herald. She is 22 years old and a fashion student. You may read the article on the web here: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/rg_corset2_narrowweb__300×454,2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.smh.com.au/news/fashion/corsets-the-cultural-counterpoints/2008/01/17/1200620189262.html&usg=__fNb5pCTHWpk2jAyATzOQk9hIARY=&h=454&w=300&sz=33&hl=en&start=15&um=1&tbnid=qiBTzBg-KbzJbM:&tbnh=128&tbnw=85&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfront%2Btie%2Bcorset%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

Unfortunately, this kind of comment is not supported by the facts, and is irresponsible in our view because it encourages exaggerated fear of and prejudice against corsets, fear and prejudice that reached their heyday in Victorian days.

In writing my book on the topic of waist training and to answer concerned questions I receive from clients from time to time, I took pains to consult 10 physicians, two nurses, and a Masters Level physical therapist, most of whom are my clients and themselves wear corsets. One physician is presently a distinguished forensic doctor, and was a former coroner and pathologist for some 30 years. Thus, he is initimately familiar with the body and its physiology and anatomy, as well as with corseting.

All these medical resources tell me that breaking ribs is very nearly impossible from corseting, although some soreness may result from lacing down too tightly or too precipitously for the style or one’s experience level. A percussive and/or abrupt powerful force such as happens in a car accident or fall off a high ladder, would be necessary to break ribs. In my 19 years in business I have met not one person who claims a corset or waist training broke a rib, and only met two or three who ever corseted to excess and felt some rib soreness the next day or two.

In addition, I know of no one who has personally experienced organ damage, and no one who has otherwise proved that corseting or waist training has “damaged internal organs.” Thus, I am at a loss to know to what Coath refers. I would be interested to ask the source of her statement. I doubt seriously that she could substantiate either claim she makes with personal experience, hearsay anecdotes of her friends, or any reputable factual report.

I am left to conclude that Coath is not a true corset enthusiast, because of her careless, inccurate and baseless statements. Perhaps youth has led her to certain excess of opinion, and we shall take it at just that.

We hope our readers will too, and will always take pains to search out responsible, knowledgable sources for information on the topic.

Is a trim waistline a sign of sexual inequality?

A colleague just sent me this fascinating article from the Dec. 4 Fox News website comparing the hourglass figure with the cylindrical one:  http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,461105,00.html

Apparently scientists have found that increased hormones add fat to the waistline, but also strength, stamina, and competitiveness. The researcher posits the theory that admiring a small waistline leads to, or reflects, sexual inequality! Shades of “The Corset Question” raised so often in Victorian times!

At ROMANTASY we have not noticed that our clients and corset enthusiast friends evidence the shrinking violet syndrome. A well-corseted lady or gentleman is the last person to over-indulge in unhealthy eating habits or poor posture, and the first to stress good health and moderate personal habits. Plus, fashionable corseting is just plain fun!

Could this type of research be just another apologia for the epidemic of obesity sweeping the world? What do you think?

How to Maintain Your Gain Over Time: Making Weight and Waistline Inch Loss “Permanent”

I’m happy to report that my latest waist training student, Cat, more than exceeded her goals and will be showing off her success at our November 22 Corset Soiree at the Fairmont Hotel. I would only hope that anyone interested in how this works, with proof in the pudding called “Cat”, might have the opportunity to see and celebrate her success! She’s willing to chat up others who are serious and might appreciate her advice and support, so let me know and I’ll put you in email touch with her.

It was during our recent concluding interview that the crucial factor to avoid weight gain and maintain your newfound waistline, became clear to both Cat and to me. 

Maintenance is not a simple matter of will power, goal-setting, or even corset wear and targeted exercise. It has to do with your relative success during formal training, in reshaping your thinking, not your body! Maintenance comes relatively easily after training if and when you have adopted the viewpoint that certain options you have and may choose, are unhealthy for you and in fact constitute punishments, not rewards. Think about that “yummie” donut, or ice cool glass of whiskey you reach for after a particularly grueling, hot work day, or when a demanding project has been successfully completed. Are you truly rewarding yourself? Or are you merely reverting to an old-style immediate gratification habit from your past, one that does not serve your present-day purposes?

Maintenance comes relatively easily when you decide to bring your habitual behavior in line with belief in your own value, and your own best health. It comes relatively easily when you make the overall decision to become a nurturing parent to your adolescent, an adolescent who always has and always will seek pleasure and immediate gratification first and foremost. It is the nuturing parent who will need to set limits for this adolescent, reminding her or him of the importance of taking a longer-range viewpoint to live as much for a positive, healthy future as you do for the present.

So, how do you enhance your skills as nurturing parent and what specific steps can you take? That’s the subject of another blog, and Chapter 12 on Maintenance Corseting in my book,  which chapter I just expanded, concurrent with my expanding understanding of just how crucial this step is to your long-term success. I now consider Maintenance Corseting part of any student’s training plan and program, and so should you!

Food Labels – a Resource

Just ran across a great governmental resource for clarifying and understanding food labels:

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/foodlab.html

ANOTHER QUICK FIX

Yet another quick fix, or re-popularized old quick fix reported today on Good Morning America. Apparently we are now going crazy using herbal cleanse diets to drop a pound a day or more…but of course it’s only water loss, not fat loss, and the weight is quickly gained right back. Plus these kinds of diets are typically defeated sooner rather than later by hunger. Corset waist training defeats hunger, and in a few short days or a week or so. That’s what my students consistently report, and hunger is one of two main reasons (the other is stress) that doctors tell us that diets don’t work. To me, this is one of the miraculous results of corset waist training, compared to all other diets, and something that Oprah has yet to fully grok. Hunger seems to be her problem (and for some, even attendant crankiness).

The corset somehow diverts attention away from hunger, and perhaps toward the entire bodily feelings while corseted, perhaps feeding one’s ego with admiring comments and glances that one receives when corseted and training, perhaps to more pressing physical challenges than that of mere hunger! Do you have an experience regarding hunger, or a theory about why corset waist training works to defeat hunger?