Spring 2008

By Terry Dunkle, Diet Power Founder and CEO

Sometime, perhaps when you least expect it, a friend, relative, co-worker, or perhaps a stranger, may go into cardiac arrest. This happens 350,000 times a year in the United States. Sadly, only 6 percent of the victims survive.

The survival rate would double, however, if everyone knew how to perform Hands-Only CPR, the new procedure recommended two weeks ago by the American Heart Association.

Unlike old-fashioned CPR, the new version doesn't ask you to blow your breath into the victim's mouth. Instead, you concentrate solely on pumping the victim's chest with your hands.

According to five major studies published since 1997, Hands-Only CPR is just as effective as the old method. The reason is simple: When the heart stops, the blood still contains four to six minutes' supply of oxygen. Hence, during the critical period when emergency help is rushing to the scene, it's more important to keep the blood circulating than to replenish the lungs with air. In fact, pausing every 30 strokes to deliver two puffs of air (the old procedure) may actually hurt the victim's chances.

Obviously, if the victim stopped breathing more than six minutes ago or succumbed to drowning or asphyxiation, the oxygen will have diminished and the new method may be more likely to fail. The same may be true in children, where cardiac arrest usually stems from choking or asthma.

Nevertheless, authorities say, Hands-Only CPR is always better than doing nothing.

To Perform Hands-Only CPR:

1. Call 911—or better yet, ask someone else to call.
2. Immediately place the heel of one hand in the middle of the victim's chest, just above the tip of the breastbone (as shown in the photo above).
3. Place your other hand on top of the first.
4. Push sharply down—enough to depress the chest 1-1/2 to 2 inches. Don't be timid. You may need to apply half your weight if you're of average build. (Yes, this may crack a rib, but that's better than pumping too weakly to move the blood.)
5. Repeat the pumping action 100 times a minute. (How fast is that? If you count seconds by saying "One thousand one, one thousand two," it's about two thrusts per second—one on every thou- and one on every number. Or imagine that you are beating time to the famous Bee Gee lyrics: "Ah! ha! ha! ha! Stayin' alive!")
6. Continue until emergency workers or a defibrillator arrives.
   

Now, read those steps again while picturing yourself doing them—or watch this video. Then you'll be ready when it's your turn to save a life.

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You Said It: Customer Mail (Diet Power doesn't pay for testimonials. We're Not That Kind of Company™)

This section features emails from Diet Power users and excerpts from the Diet Power Forums, where you can meet other dieters, trade recipes and advice, and get technical or emotional support.

You won’t believe it: Someone else is claiming that their shoes will help you lose weight. [See "Can These Slippers Make You Thin?"] Bath and Body Works says that Fit Flops help muscle tone and burn calories, thanks to their unique “micro-wobbleboard workout-enhancing effect.” Puh-leeeze!

Oh, and they want $45 a pair, and are sold out and taking pre-orders.

—Amie Gantt, Fort Worth, Texas

Editor's note: Like Get Slim Slippers, Fit Flops flunk the "too good to be true" test—one of eight described in "How to Spot a Quack." Why do so many people still buy such junk? Partly because they believe that any product claiming to be founded on science really is.

Donate Your Calories

I just read about your new site at www.DonateYourCalories.com. What a cool idea!

—Lisa Tollefson, Paoli, Pa.

Editor's note: "Donate Your Calories" has received a lot of press attention. As shown at right, it even appeared on the famous Reuters sign in Times Square.

Breath of Fresh Air

Thank you for helping me correct the double payment that I accidentally made while purchasing Diet Power. In this day and age, we've come to expect a major hassle in getting our money back. The gentlemen I dealt with was a breath of fresh air.

—W. John Stevens, Kendall Park, N.J.

Editor's note: One of our proudest slogans is "We're Not That Kind of Company™." We're fed up with the way most companies treat customers these days, and determined to set a contrary example. We're also the only nutrition software that offers a one-year, 100-percent, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee.

Cookies Are Better Than Beans?

I'm perplexed by the "NQ±" numbers in your program's Food Log. Right now, for example, my Food Log is showing me negative NQs for fish, rice, and beans (you can't get more healthy than that!), but a positive number for a monster cookie. What gives?

—Vicki Beltran, Oshkosh, Wisc.

Editor's note: As explained on this page in Help, your Nutrition Quotient reflects how well your nutrient intake matches your Personal Daily Allowances. At any one moment, it is entirely possible that a "bad" food will happen to provide the right nutrients in the right proportions to correct an imbalance that a "good" food cannot. If you're low in an important nutrient such as folate, for example, and haven't eaten too much fat today, a fatty food that just happens to contain a lot of folate may get a positive score. Bottom line: a single food is never really "bad." The quality of your diet always depends on food combinations.

Reassured

My wife and I really appreciated your article, "The Explosive Nutrient We All Need." She's fighting off osteoporosis, while I struggle with blood pressure. We had no idea how important potassium is for both of us, or how little of it (2 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance) we receive in our daily multivitamin. It was reassuring, however, to click on Diet Power's Nutrient History button and discover that we have been getting lots of potassium naturally in the foods we eat.

—Fred Mast, Denver, Colo.

Editor's note: The Nutrient History button is shown at right. Although reputable scientific studies on the question are surprisingly sparse, most experts advise balancing your nutrients with foods, rather than supplements. One reason is that foods may provide as-yet unknown substances that are missing from supplements, but important to your health. (Vitamins, as a matter of fact, were not even discovered until 1905.)

Awesome Tutorials

The tutorials for Diet Power 4.4 are AWESOME! I discovered a lot of options that I wasn't aware the program offered. It really pays to click the tutorials button instead of trying to figure everything out on your own. Thanks, Diet Power! You did it again!!

—Ann Milkes, Gaithersburg, Md.

Editor's note: If you've watched only the Quick Start or the Lightning Start tutorial, we urge you to look at the Deep Start and Food Log tutorials. They cover many more features. To reach our tutorials index, click the button shown at right.

Congratulations, Cinde Wirth!

You have won $100 for entering our quarterly quiz sweepstakes. (Click here to tell us where to send your prize.) Below is the quiz question that we posted in our Piping Hot newsletter for the first quarter of 2008: Why do people eat cabbage on New Year's Day?

1. To bring prosperity
2. To ward off cancer
3. To get their vitamin C

The correct answer is A—to bring prosperity. But if you guessed B or C, you're partially right: cabbage contains a lot of vitamin C and is a cruciform vegetable that can lower your risk of cancer.

Thanks, Cinde—and thanks to everyone else who participated. Good luck with this quarter's quiz!

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Copyright ©1992-2008 by Diet Power, Inc., 7 Kilian Drive, Danbury, CT 06811, USA. All rights reserved. The names Diet Power and Piping Hot are trademarks of Diet Power, Inc. The information in this newsletter is meant to increase your awareness of the importance of nutrition to health. It is not meant to substitute for the advice of a health professional.

Last Modified: 4/14/08