Review of Prevention.com

Reviews are given 1-4 skinnies, based on the website's ability to cover the whole person regarding weight loss. This is an independent Review--I'm not being paid.

Prevention.com is a smorgasbord of health. It's a cut above the two-dimensional diet websites that only talk about food and exercise. Among their webpages, I found stories like "Learn to Navigate the Highs and Lows of your Life" and "What's Good for Your Heart Benefits Your Brain" under Emotional Health and Brain Fitness.

The website also has some spiffy tools like a Symptoms Checker where you can look up abdominal cramps and find out "it's a pain that you feel anywhere between your chest and groin," and then move on to common causes, and finish with colorful images of abdominal organs.

Other interesting gadgets are Drug, Herb, and Vitamin Encyclopedias with overviews, usages, side effects, and drug interactions. Did you know that Subutramine aka Meridia, a drug used for management of obesity, should not be taken with the herb Ephedra because both cause an increase in blood pressure?

Lastly, the website has a dropdown item called Blogs and Discussions where you can connect with walking and talking blogs.

While Prevention.com has a wide range of topics, the negative is it's a bit fluffy — mostly covering pie-in-the-sky topics like "Take Off the Years with Makeup," similar to it's counterpart newsstand magazine Prevention. The online magazine avoids gut level issues that people with weight problems suffer, like addiction and abuse.

Lunch Catastrophes

I work at a law firm in this ultra modern building that’s green, shiny and rounded on one end like a cruise ship. A couple days ago, a friend and I decided to pick up two tuna salads for lunch, so we walked to a nearby restaurant. But when we returned to the office, paleness came over our faces as we discovered the restaurant personnel had forgotten the tuna — what we held in our hands were simply two "plain salads."

After the shock cleared, I decided to hop into my car and drive back to the place to get our scoops of tuna. I did, and they did give me the chicken-of-the-sea treat.

I came away from this event frustrated and thinking it’s a bit unusual. "This type of mishap doesn't happen to me — I'm the epitome of efficiency, always making sure the I's are dotted and the T's crossed," I told myself. Then I mused in one of those learn my lesson types of promises, "Next time, I'll check the food order before leaving the café."

The following day, I scurried off to lunch late around 2:00 pm. This time, I drove to a Safeway store and selected a hot Chinese food plate, and some odds and ends, and proceeded to the checkout counter.

I laid my purchases on the black conveyor-belt and watched as they sped toward the cashier. Automatically reaching into my purse, clearing away unwanted items like a Day-Timer and checkbook, I discovered my wallet was missing.

"Please, wait a minute while I run to the car," I begged the cashier, "to see if my wallet is there?" She nodded and I quickly trotted in a panicked state. But as I neared the silver Pontiac, images of me, before I left the office, calling an insurance company with medical card in hand, rose to the front of my brain. The car seat was empty … and powwwww, I realized the wallet was probably on my desk.

Yes, you guessed it — I hopped in my car and drove back to the office and found my wallet lying next to the telephone. Back, again, I drove to the grocery store to pick up my now cold food.

After two days in a row of “lunch catastrophes,” I was dumbfounded. What's wrong with me I thought out loud? But then a friend remarked, "Perhaps it's a message about food?" I thought for a few seconds, and replied, "Yeah, it's like the universe is making it hard for me to get food!"

Sometimes you have to be hit over the head a few times ... or have a few catastrophes happen ... before you start making a positive change in your life. This was a wake up call for me.

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