Finally! Someone (actually a few individuals) announced today that they are no longer going to continue pretending that Energy Drink companies are not marketing to our children.  I am beyond thrilled.  Today, Senators Markey, Blumenthal, Rockefeller, and Durbin sent letters out to 16 companies that manufacture energy drinks and energy shots asking them to voluntarily commit to not only the dozen steps they agreed to at a meeting in July but also asked them to go even further and commit to five more steps in the right direction, which is protecting our children from the harm that these products can and have done.

What they were asked to do is the following:
1.     Stop marketing to kids
2.     Stop promoting guzzling and/or drinking too many energy drinks
3.     Do not promote mixing energy drink products with alcohol or other drugs
4.     Especially do not market, sell or provide samples at schools (Grade K-12)
5.     Tell us how much caffeine is in there
6.     Report if something bad happens when someone drinks your product

Additionally they were asked to:
1.     Restrict access to social media sites for kids under 18 years of age
2.     Do not advertise anywhere where 35% or more of the audience is under 18 years of age
3.     Do not sponsor a child less than 18 years of age. You see this in extreme sports like skateboarding where young kids wear energy drink logos.
4.     Do not market energy drinks as sports drinks
5.     If the caffeine content in energy drinks is more than that allowed in soda (70 mg per 12 oz) than they would have to display a warning label.

Read the letters here: (http://www.markey.senate.gov/energy_drinks.cfm)

You may be wondering why make it a request instead of passing a law about it. The reason for this is that something has to be done NOW to protect our kids; asking for a voluntary commitment worked with the cigarette industry; and it takes a very long time to pass a law such as this especially with such a powerful (rich) industry trying to prevent it. 

What can you do?  Let our senators know we agree with them by signing the petition here:  http://www.change.org/petitions/manufacturers-of-energy-drinks-stop-advertising-energy-drinks-to-children

Are you the type of person that needs to keep busy; running from one thing to the next; saying yes to everyone and anything?  For myself, unless I am juggling several tasks at once, I feel inadequate, kind of like I am not pulling my weight.  Knowing where this workhorse ethic comes from is the easy part, stopping it is another story. 

Growing up with a dad who was a marine, who expected us to work hard every day, set a bar for me to achieve that was difficult enough when I was a child and now that I am older, is just about taking me down.  How am I to stop this untenable schedule when my sense of self-worth is tied up in “how much I get done”?

I got a clue when a good friend of mine came for a visit over the weekend. I hope you have one of these friends; someone that you have known for years who can just cut through all the “stuff” and get to the meat of the matter.  He told me to just focus on one goal at a time, which was a light bulb moment for me.  Just like I built the Build Healthy Kids program where I ask families to focus on one topic at a time, it was my turn to do the same with the projects I am currently working on.

What I know for sure is this:
1. What I focus on and believe in with all my heart will come to a successful end point
2. The end result may not be what I initially thought up but it is always the best outcome for me
3. When I take on too many projects I end up not succeeding at any of them because I do not have the time or energy to devote to making them happen

So I will take one serving and savor the flavor until I finish the dish (Project) before I move on to another one.  Here is to wishing that you savor, slow down and succeed in all that you do too!