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Charlie Traffas
Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com.
What's New
2008-12-31 10:43:00
Patches
Answer: Well this is the time of the year when taxes, cold weather and doing something to lose weight are on the top of most all of our minds. I’m not going to tackle the taxes and cold weather, but maybe I can help in the area of weight loss. In the early 80’s, I weighed a lot. I would tell you how much but I’m sure it would come back to bite me somehow. Let’s just say that although my height didn’t measure up, I could have matched up with the weights of most of the offensive linemen in the NFL. I was a pretty big boy. In mid-1983, after going through some personal things, I lost 70 pounds in a little over 45 days. This is not the subject of this article and I promise, you don’t want to lose weight this way. But after it was all over, I did feel pretty good about myself. I began running 20 miles per week, something I continued to do until the early 90’s. I kept my weight down to about 200 to 205 (okay, so now you know), but through every kind of diet you can imagine and the running. I grew to hate the running. The most successful diet for me was the high protein low carbohydrate diet. The problem with this diet is, because I would eat so much protein that my nitrate level was high, I couldn’t get rid of the pounds without medication. I had all kinds of problems, including gout (the “rich man’s disease”, which certainly didn’t fit the situation). In 1986 I had a heart attack which my cardiologist said was probably a direct cause of the nitrates in my system. He elected to treat me with prescription drugs and a healthy diet. Well, I took the prescription drugs. I kept trying to convince myself he said, “either or” (smile). In 1993, following a week-long episode of severe chest pains during a golfing vacation in Phoenix, I had five bypasses in a rather hurried surgery. Following this surgery, over time, my weight ballooned again...not as much as I once weighed...but way too much. I yo-yoed up and down, again trying every kind of diet you can imagine. Each day my primary thought was controlling my weight. I think worrying about one’s weight adds so much stress it affects lots of other things. It sure did for me. This went on until mid-November of 2005, when a good friend called me. I had not talked to him in quite some time. He told me he had something he wanted me to look at. Of course, like you, my first question was, “Is this a multi-level thing?” He said, “Yes, but you need to see it anyway.” I said, “Forget it. I’m not doing it.” (This sounds like Larry the Cable Guy). When the products arrived, I read all about them (smile). I have written about these before in this column. They were round, half dollar-sized, self-adhesive patches. There is one for the left and one for the right side of the body. Reading more, I found that these patches are based on 3,000 year old technology from Chinese acupuncture. You have 8 points on your body (4 on each side) that are points that you can wear them. If I remember correctly, they are your temples, your chest, inside your wrists (I think) and inside your ankles. Anyway, inside the center of each patch is a mixture of natural things, that when warmed by the body temperature, they provide a little stimulating action (you can’t feel it, so maybe it’s a placebo with a good story) to these points. The right and left is to make a “circuit.” Supposedly they tell the brain to do certain things. Some points on the body will tell the brain to sleep, or rid the body of pain, or burn fat, or have more energy. Those of you who know anything about Chinese acupuncture will know much more than I about this stuff. But the most important thing to most folks is that nothing goes into the body. It’s only a stimulating action of the natural things when they are warmed by body temperature that makes things happen. Now these patches were not and are not being marketed as a weight loss product. They were and are being marketed as an energy enhancer. The marketing message said several NBA, PGA and AAU athletes were wearing them and getting increased performance, without any drugs of any kind. I like to watch sports so I figured I would see some of them. Sure enough, I saw a handful of golfers and some NBA players wearing some patches. Now, maybe they were for something else, but they were wearing patches. Well, in the past I’ve bought and tried about everything on the market, from the “slicer-dicers” to “razor blade sharpeners.” This deal sounded okay to me. So I got my patches. I couldn’t see me wearing them on my temples, so I decided I would wear them on my chest. It says you wear one on the left point and one on the corresponding right point, one day on then one day off. A box therefore would last a month (there are 15 sets of patches in a box). Well, more is better I thought, so I called the company and asked them if it hurt anything to wear them three days on and one day off. They said it wouldn’t hurt anything and they had customers that were doing just that. So, instead of a box a month, I would go through 1½ boxes a month (22 pair). That was November 20th, 2005. I put them on and have never looked back since. I have never thought about anything to do with controlling food or drink intake since, or if I have, I haven’t spent near the time thinking about it as I used to. By January 1st, 2006 (less than 45 days later), I had lost 17 pounds. I couldn’t believe it. I never watched anything but the scales. For a few days nothing happened, then my weight began to fall a little bit each day. When it got to 17 pounds less than what I had weighed when I began, it stopped. It has stayed right there, plus or minus a couple of pounds, for more than three years. But the story here is that it is not just the weight loss. That’s great, but the biggest benefit to me is not ever thinking about what I eat or drink because I am afraid of gaining weight. I never think about it! Maybe that’s the secret. The “over availability” of something negates the desire to consume. I proved this to myself in the early 90’s. I bought a condo on the west side of Rolling Hills Country Club. I thought this would be great. When I would get home from work in the evening, I would call the Pro Shop to be sure it was okay. If so, I would play half of hole #5, #6, #3, #4 and back to the drive off #5. The members called it “playing around the lake.” I even bought my own golf cart. I was all ready. You know what? In five years I did it once. I don’t really know if I have lessened the amount I eat or drink. I just don’t think about it. But the weight has stayed off for more than three years and I have to believe my body is in better shape because I haven’t had the stress that goes along with any weight loss regimen of diet or exercise I have ever heard of. So, why am I writing this article at this time. Not only is the first of the year timely for most everyone, but my wife told me after the first of the year she wanted to lose a few pounds. I said although I had not been watching anything I ate or drank, I would work with her and begin watching so she wouldn’t be tempted to eat all the stuff I would eat. That was Friday, January 2nd. I’ve lost four more pounds than the weight I normally carry since then. I always felt like I could lose all the weight I wanted to with these patches, if I would watch, but life is so enjoyable and stress-free without having to worry about anything, I never did try after the original weight I lost. I still tremendously dislike the nagging thought of watching, so I may continue until she loses the weight she wants and then go back to what I was doing. Much of the time she thinks I’m “half nuts” for some of the things I do, but the other night I said, “You know honey, you ought to get on these patches too.” I think she might even start using them.
 
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