Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau

Life Without Sugar? Sweet (VIDEO)

2010-10-31T10:34:15-04:00

The numbers and the mirrors don't lie. We're fat.

According to the CDC, 34 percent of adults age 20 and over are obese, and
34 percent of adults age 20 and over are overweight.

Are you doing the math? Sixty-eight percent of the adult population is at minimum, overweight. And it's costing us. The Los Angeles Times reports that obesity accounts for 17 percent of all U.S. medical costs each year to the tune of $170 billion per year. No matter who's paying for health care--the government, employers or individuals--these costs cannot be sustained.

Weight is a complicated beast, but what if we did one thing? What if we made it simple and got crazy intense about reducing daily sugar intake? The average person consumes 21. 4 teaspoons of 'added' sugar per day (sugar, corn syrup, honey, etc). That is more than double the daily USDA recommendations and according to the Journal of the American Medical Association is a major player in obesity, type 2 diabetes and even cholesterol.

Given the insidious way sugar works its way into our day (some naturally, but most unnaturally), walking away from it can seem impossible. But by targeting 'added' sugar, giving up the white stuff isn't as hard as you'd think. Take a peek:

WATCH:

The Cycle of Abuse: Like Clockwork

2010-10-06T07:00:00-04:00

"But he'll change..."

These are the words that haunt women in abusive relationships.

How do they get to this point of justifying and rationalizing physical and vocal outbursts that shatter their peaceful homes? What is the mindset that prevents them from leaving, even when it happens again and again?

Joanna V. Hunter was one of those women. After two decades of spirit-crushing verbal and emotional abuse (including a brief period of physical abuse) she finally got the courage to leave. But that night was filled with fear ...

"I knew it was a little over two hours home, a few minutes to get the gun he had and two hours back. I figured I was going to be dead before morning."

As time began to heal her soul, Joanna found her voice. And she began to pen the cycle that originally swept her up and kept her with an abusive man.

The result is a powerful and unflinching book, "But He'll Change: End the Thinking That Keeps You in an Abusive Relationship." Defining domestic abuse as "the systematic suffocation of another person's spirit," Joanna's writing leaves abusers nowhere to hide as she reveals every method they use to keep their victim down and off center (constant demeaning, jealous tirades, threatening suicide, threatening to take or hurt the kids, hurting pets, financial insecurity).

Written with raw honesty and advice that cuts straight through the BS, readers can't help but recognize themselves or people they love. Joanna's work empowers women to face their situation for what it is, and act. And the next time they're tempted to think, "But he'll change," they'll realize the answer is "doubtful."

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Below is my audio interview with Joanna V. Hunter. The emotion and the strength in her voice took my breath away and made me want to get her book into the hands of every woman I know.

Listen to a 1-minute snippet from my interview with Joanna:

Listen to the whole interview:

Navigating the Teen Years: It's Their Job to Drive Us Crazy

2010-09-22T07:00:00-04:00

I'm suddenly finding myself in foreign and uncomfortable territory.

Overnight my daughter went from a happy-go-lucky, affectionate rule follower, to cynical, eye-rolling preteen. And my only line of defense is looking at her and thinking loudly in my head, "Who are you?"

Thus has been my warm and hardy welcome to the teen years.

Oh no you don't.

My first instinct was to push harder, get stricter, take away every coveted piece of clothing in her closet--to show her who's boss. Don't-mess-with-mama. Dammit.

But who does that best serve? Her... or me?

And what is my real job as a parent? To control my kids and try to make them turn out to be exactly who I want them to be--or wish I had been. (Now there's an ugly thought.) Or is it to help them grow into everything they can be, want to be, need to be? To become their best and most authentic self. To help them learn to survive and thrive in the real world.

Isn't it better to have her explore and try on new hats under my watchful and caring eye? We want kids who can ultimately think for themselves and negotiate situations ... kids who can give and take and understand that freedom comes with responsibility and compromise (which is ironic in a Jonathan Franzen sort of way). Yet when they test these budding skills under our roof, our knee jerk response is to snuff out this crucial aspect of development with more rules and loud words or even worse, emotional, weepy guilt trips. At best this leads to a war-filled home. At worst, it leads to a great divide with our kids at a time when they need us most.

So I caught myself. And realized that the super-strict but loving ways that worked up until this point were out the freegin' door. Which launched me further into foreign territory: Negotiating with my child. Negotiating? Grr...

A 7.3 on the balance beam

In the event some of you may be thinking this means that I've turned into a pushover--someone she can run all over in the interest of her free spirit and at great cost to the rest of the family--don't worry, because mom is smarter than that.

It's my job not only to set her free, but also to keep her safe. And thoughtful. And someone who contributes and doesn't just take. So there will definitely be some uncompromising limits, some high expectations and some ticked off moments on her part. Because we all know that meaningful freedom is earned. A lesson I'm still chewing on at 41.

A world of thanks to Dr. Michael Bradley, author of the must-read "Yes, Your Teen is Crazy." His book and his interview on my show was the glass of cold water in the face I needed as a parent. Shocking and funny.

Listen to a 2-minute snippet from my interview with Dr. Bradley:

Listen to the whole interview:

You Are What You Invest: Achieving Joyful Sustainability (AUDIO)

2010-08-12T07:00:00-04:00

"Mr. Gandhi," a reporter asked during Gandhi's 1930 visit to England, "What do you think of Western civilization?"

"I think it would be a very good idea," he replied.

Ouch. That is the opening line of the prologue of Woody Tasch's book, Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered. He laments starting the book with a reference to Gandhi, but there's no doubt that the above exchange sets the stage for every argument Tasch goes on to make. Following are just a few excerpts to give you a taste:

"A very good idea would be a civilization that did not strip its topsoil, turn it into cheap food and highly processed food products of questionable nutritional value, and put its faith in markets at the expense of places."

"In our devotion to money, market, and machine, we are destroying not only the fertility of the soil, but the fertility of our imaginations."

But this isn't just romantic. Kneeling at the altar of growth has not served us. A holistic approach may be all that's left... and exactly what's been missing. Tasch also calls into question big box, cheap crap that we support at the cash register and in our portfolios:

"Products produced cheaply create ugly work lives and ugly households and ugly communities. Profits produced quickly cannot purchase patience and care. Patience is beautiful. Restraint and care are beautiful."

Tasch's work isn't just about ranting about what's wrong or not recognizing the many benefits we enjoy by living in this country. It's about identifying what we know deep in our guts to be true so that we get giddy and obsessed about change. So that we can't help ourselves. So that we begin acting as if we understand that we are living and spending in a way that can no longer be supported by the earth. We've exhausted her. It hurts the beauty in our lives and the beauty of the planet.

"Every investment we make is a statement of intention, a statement of purpose, a speculation about the future of man and his role in the scheme of things, not merely a financial speculation."

Is this the case for you? Do you know where your money is invested? Have you looked closely at your mutual funds and retirement accounts? Are your investments in line with your values? Because as Tasch argues, the existing system is us. But so is a new paradigm:

"The solution lies not in the hands of economists and bankers, but in the hearts and minds and portfolios of every man and woman who puts money into the market."

Are you nodding?

Listen to a 2-minute snippet from my interview with Tasch last fall:

Listen to the whole interview:

Does Your Job Ignite You? (LISTEN)

2010-07-14T07:40:00-04:00

What if you loved your job?

What if you were fired up 24 hours a day, 7 days a week about your work? What would that be worth to you?

What we do for a living plays a huge part in our happiness. It consumes the majority of our week and it can charge our lives and feed our souls or it can drag us down and suck us dry.

Then throw in the immense changes happening right now. This economy combined with rapid fire escalation in technology have left a lot of us reeling. We've seen entire industries (and thus jobs) melt before our eyes.

Advances in the internet and information sharing have turned the music industry, news industry and maybe now even the book publishing and film industries upside down--leading to the loss of once coveted careers of record producers, musicians, journalists, studio execs and editors. And issues with the economy have upended the auto, real estate, and consumer products industries, leading to mass layoffs and the end of job security as we know it.

Playing it safe by taking a traditional job at an established company with good benefits (aka handing your life and talents over to a corporation to manage) may now turn out to be one of the riskiest things you can do.

Ditching old school

But with those losses have also come tremendous opportunities. The internet and social media and the crash and burn of the old school economy has been the great democratiser. There is now opportunity for each of us to make things happen without the permission of the established gatekeepers and without the need for lots of start up money. In fact, the gatekeepers are becoming increasingly irrelevant and that scares the heck out of many industries which have, until now, controlled the flow of all aspects of information and products to the public.

But not anymore.

We can now do things and go places never before possible. We can start that business, publish that book, write that article, record that song, direct that movie, launch that radio show, put out that press release...and take it all directly to the people.

So you can see this as the worst of times, or the best of times. Things are going to change with or without you. You can either call yourself a victim and wait around for the government or your family or your God to bail you out...any of which may or may not happen. Or you can choose to see and act on the incredible options that have never been available before. Options that will make you jump out of bed and rise to meet the day and your work. Your life's work.

A couple of months back I interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk, uber successful internet entrepreneur and the best-selling author of "Crush It! Why Now Is the Time To Cash In on Your Passion." Regardless of whether Gary's personal style or approach matches your own, there is no denying the success (and therefore freedom) he has created for himself and much of his message is irrefutable. You can break out...but to do it you have to do what you love, be authentic, and hustle. Are you willing? (Gary also has some advice for people who do not consider themselves entrepreneurs at heart.) Listen below.

Listen to a two minute interview snippet:

Listen to the whole interview.

Our Environment, Our Health and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (AUDIO)

2010-06-22T08:00:00-04:00

California is getting set to be the first state to ban the use of plastic bags in grocery stores, pharmacies and convenience stores. (Still scratching my head as to why the ban doesn't apply across the board to all retail stores.) But regardless, this is at least a small step in the right direction of dealing with the host of problems caused by our "plastic age."

What I am shocked by is the push back that is coming from individuals who don't want to be inconvenienced and those who feel this is a sign of too much government involvement. I want to shout, "Are you kidding?!"

But then empathy washes over me as I realize those who are making such statements don't comprehend the full impact that plastic is having on our environment--specifically our oceans and our marine life. And for certain they don't realize the impact on our own bodies as we consume that marine and wildlife (like the disruption of our sex hormones leading to a feminization of the planet--lower sperm counts, increased breast tissue, and early puberty in girls). Because if they knew, they would be demanding a ban. And plastic bags would be just the start. Right?

What about you honey?

If there is one thing that stops me in my tracks and brings me crashing down, it's garbage day. The day I'm forced to face my personal contribution to trashing the earth. When the ugly little question of, "but where is it all going to go?" starts messing with me.

It's also the day I'm forced to face my mindless purchases. The moments I sold out to convenience and filling a void and plain old stupid spending.

But my lack of thinking and acting appropriately doesn't just cost me -- it takes a devastating toll on the planet and our personal health and safety. Everyone else has to pay for my bad decision-making. And that's where my shame burns my cheeks and chokes off the air in my lungs.

So after I haul the barrels to the road, I do what I assume most people do. I push through the moment, peel out of the driveway and forget about it. It hurts too much to think about it. I deal with many things in my life head-on. But with this issue...I avoid, drag my feet, and look the other way.

But there's no "other way" to look anymore.

That became very clear when I spoke with Captain Charles Moore, the man who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch--a floating landfill of garbage that is twice the size of Texas. It's filled with the same stuff that fills up my house and yours. Shampoo bottles, plastic caps, water bottles, six pack holders, milk rings, plastic bags, and every other item that we touch hundreds of times a day. And then toss.

Know where much of that ends up? Downstream, in our oceans.

Yes, the BP situation is horrific. But is it much different than each of us killing the ocean, the animals, and our own bodies a little bit every day? BP is in our face--brought into our homes courtesy of the media. Whereas our own trash just gets hauled away. Or so we think.

Do you drink water out of plastic bottles? Listen to this first. A 2-minute snippet of my interview with Captain Moore:

Listen to the whole interview:

When 'Practical' Kills Us: Sir Ken Robinson at His Finest (AUDIO)

2010-06-03T14:27:15-04:00

What does it mean to live radically and boldly, so that you don't wake up one day -- decades too late -- wondering what the hell just happened? Where did my life go and why didn't I do the things I wanted to do?

We could point fingers at our well-intentioned, but conservative parents who steer us away from our dreams and into a 9 to 5. We could point fingers at our education system and society, which would rather keep us all in a nice shade of beige. And we'd probably be right.

But there's an elephant in the room most of us miss in the blame game ... that mug that stares back at us while we scrub our pearly whites each morning.

We're scared. So we play it safe and "practical". We don't push ourselves into the fear of the unknown and in the process we don't win big or live big or feel big.

Why Sir Ken Robinson Matters

Sir Ken Robinson's uber-popular TED talk on schools killing creativity struck a nerve with viewers around the globe. Since that time, his work and book The Element have continued to wake and shake people up from the slumber of their business-as-usual lives. But as Sir Ken told me, what he's saying is nothing new. He's telling us what we already know in our hearts and our bellies. And maybe that's why it stirs us.

What do you love to do more than anything in the world? What is that one thing where you feel no sense of time or lack of energy -- where you feel that yes, this is what I am passionate about, this is what I am good at, this is who I really am -- regardless of the money?

Are you doing it? Are you getting enough of it?

Are you paying attention to what rocks your kid's world by encouraging them to follow their heart?

Or have you been or are you now too practical to go after what you love or to encourage your kids to do the same? I realize that this might sound like a strange conversation to be having with the economy in the tank and at a time when we're supposed to just be grateful for jobs period. But to not check in is to miss the grander view.

The big picture: Your life and our economy

Let's stay with this theme of the "practical" for a moment.

Is it practical to work your entire life, 40 to 60 hours a week at a job that where at best you just get by and at worst sucks the life out of you? A job where you go through the motions, watch the clock, and pray for Friday?

And is this practical or at all productive for our economy? Think about all that lack of productivity for companies to have millions of people on the payroll who are only half engaged. Or maybe they produce a bit, but not nearly to the extent they could or would if their employees were where they were meant to be.

Think about how much better the economy would be if each of us were in our groove, doing the things we love -- the things we're good at. Think about how much more joy we would have.

Ok, so maybe this doesn't mean that we all run out and quit our day jobs. But at the very least it encourages us to flirt with the thought of bringing some blood racing, heart thumping passion back into at least a small part of our lives.

How do we find our groove? Here's a 2-minute snippet from my interview with Sir Ken Robinson:

Listen to the whole interview:

Is This Laptop Frying My ... (Ahem) Lap? (AUDIO)

2010-05-17T08:52:05-04:00

Like most people, a lot of the work I do is done on a laptop. Whether it's show research, prep, blog writing, video editing, Skyping with my team or messing on Facebook...99 percent of the time I am doing it from my laptop. And a good percentage of that time, I have my computer directly on my lap. And as I sit there for hours and that sucker heats up, I can't help but think, "Am I frying my ovaries?"

What about cell phones, Wi-Fi, power lines, radio alarm clocks, heating pads, x-rays, microwaves and every other electronic device that has become part of doing life in 2010? Does having this kind of constant contact with electromagnetic fields (EMF) put us at higher risk for things like cancer? What does this exposure mean for kids and their growing brains and rapidly dividing cells?

Flashback to 1991

I was fresh out of college and landed my first real job at a cellular phone company. That was back in the day when hand-held cell phones were huge. We're talking five inches deep with a giant stiff antenna coming out the end. It was like holding a phone book with the spine against your ear. Smug brat that I was, I thought I was all-that-and-then-some because I was the only person I knew who had one. But that also means that every day since 1991, my brain has been exposed to a cell phone smashed against my head. I'm not thinking I was so cool anymore...

Frightening research

I decided to talk to Dr. Martin Blank, a professor of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University--one of the few scientists sounding the alarm. It turns out when you look at the data that is not industry funded, we get a much more uncomfortable picture of the health risks of EMF. Thank you, thank you Dr. Blank for having the guts to speak up:

Hear Dr. Blank's warning in this 2-minute snippet from my radio show:

Listen to the whole interview:

I Am 40, Hear Me Roar

2010-05-06T11:00:00-04:00

I turned 40 and it started to happen. Those "damn am I getting old" aches and pains and the "well I am 40 now" sports injuries that began my slide into better-start-taking-it-easy mode. I milked that pass for all it was worth.

So as I approached a half-marathon that I had committed to several months before, I decided I would go slow. Turtle slow. And I began to map out places along the course I could phone home for a rescue pick-up.

But then it hit me, What the hell am I thinking?

When did I stop believing in and trusting my body and mind in ways that extend far beyond this race? Or better yet, why?

The road to insecurity starts with damn good marketing

I'm not alone. Middle age has become hijacked by industries capitalizing on and creating our deepest fears -- selling us fast fixes of pills, procedures, Botox and gear. Hour by hour the TV reminds us of our fragility...telling us how we feel and what we need.

And we believe them -- buying both the product and mindset.

That's where feet and Christopher McDougall enter the scene

It all started with the simple question "Why does my foot hurt?"

Christopher McDougall's doctors discouraged him from running. "People like you aren't meant to run," they told him. "Running is too hard on the body," they added. And like most of us, Christopher assumed the doctors were right and was ready to throw in the towel.

Almost ready...

Instead, that question resulted in an epic, harrowing and funny adventure, Born to Run. It's the best-seller that developed a rapidly growing cult following and has the shoe manufacturers shaking in their sneakers -- catapulting the barefoot running movement and mid-lifers up and off the couch (including me). But most lovely, it got us thinking, questioning and pushing back against the machine.

Hear Christopher's take on the shoe industry in this 2-minute snippet from my radio show:

Listen to the whole interview:

Note: I finished that half-marathon with a big cheesy smile, running faster than I had in the last decade. And for the record, I'm now 41.

God Gets a Makeover: An Interview With The Shack Author William Paul Young

2010-04-28T11:36:00-04:00

I tend to be lost when it comes to faith and God. Ok, maybe not lost, but definitely groping.

A few years back, after suddenly realizing that I had never cracked open the best-selling, most-discussed book of all time, I decided to read the Bible from cover to cover. To find out, "what's in that thing?" I slammed through the juicy, sexy and scary Old Testament. I did a show on The Bible For Dummies. I started the New Testament, got stuck on Luke, got preached to by friends, and developed what I thought was a pretty clear picture of God in the process.

But a man came along who challenged that image. Against all odds, William Paul Young wrote and published a book called The Shack that went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller in 2008, remaining on the best-seller list for 100 weeks where it still resides at number 11. (This, despite being turned down by 26 publishers and coming as close to 'self-published' as a book can get.)

The Shack is about loss, healing and love and forgiveness. It is unique, imaginative and beautiful. And I'm damn glad I read it. It does not offer specific answers about God or life or religion, but it definitely offers a perspective shift. And sometimes that's all I'm really looking for.

Two years after reading The Shack, I got the chance and the courage to interview the author. Listen here to this candid conversation with William Paul Young:

Listen Now

I Am a Business Owner, and I Fully Support a Public Health Option

2009-08-17T18:23:20-04:00

With GM spending more on health care than steel and Starbucks spending more on health care than beans, you'd think that every business in the country would see how they could be more competitive on a global basis if they did not have to be in the health insurance business.

I am a small business owner. As a scrappy start up in film and radio, I have not yet been able to afford to offer health care benefits through our company. And this has left my employees and myself with sleepless nights, scrambling to find affordable individual coverage. And when I say scramble, I mean scramble, as "pre-existing conditions" have determined the rates and sometimes fates of finding coverage at all.

But it also makes me think about every individual who has had to take or stay in a dead-end job solely because they needed group health insurance. Does such a system promote greatness in companies and maximize the true talents and passions of our most valuable resource...our citizens?

I am not an expert on health care reform. But I am an individual who is sick and tired of having one industry have so much control over my personal and business life. There is great irony in that those against a public option argue that they don't want government to have more control than it currently does. Well I would much rather have a government option than continue in the hands of an industry driven solely by profits. One that has repeatedly screwed the public and laughed all the way to the bank.

As discussed in my recent interview with Howard Dean, private industry (and its well paid supporters) has had more than enough time to fix the system and is now scrambling to protect its profits. Watch and listen carefully as they continue to spend boatloads of money to convince you that a public option is not necessary and something to fear. Count the number of times you hear phrases like "rationed care", "socialized medicine" and issue dodging like blaming current costs on malpractice suits (less than 2 percent of the total health care costs).

If you doubt this, check out and share Bill Moyers' shocking interview with former Cigna CEO Wendell Potter. You will see the very calculated PR campaign that industry is using to scare the daylights out you and Congress. Given recent events, it appears to be working.

(Shortly after watching the Moyers/Potter interview, I saw former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Congressman Paul Ryan mouthing many of the "catch" phrases identified by Wendell Potter. And it made my face burn with shame that they were from my lovely state of Wisconsin.)

The opposition continues to shout their well-rehearsed lines and fails to acknowledge the most beautiful part of this entire proposal. That the public option is just that...an option. If you happen to be one of the fortunate ones who likes your current coverage, you get to keep it. This isn't scary -- it's liberating.

I am a business owner and I support a public health option. I wish the administration did too.

Footnote: Given my former career pushing pills, I can definitely relate to Wendell Potter's angst. For a disturbing behind-the-scenes look at Big Pharma (and to get a sense of why they like things just as they are) I've put my film "Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety" online for FREE. Please use it to educate in any way possible.

Vitamins: Eyeballing our Sacred Cows

2009-04-22T13:27:54-04:00

Some things are not meant to be said in 140 characters or less...

So Friday, I shared a New York Times report via Twitter regarding some of the recent research on vitamins.

Specifically, I tweeted:
Crappy news for vitamins. New York Times http://twurl.nl/0rse7r

My very next tweet was:
Re: last tweet w/bad news about vitamins--serves as a good reminder that we should be using food not pills to get what we need.

Two basic tweets -- a very fired up response. Although many were positive, others vehemently disagreed and/or accused me of spreading misinformation.

The entire affair made me realize that some topics/viewpoints are too big for 140 characters or less.

To clarify:

I shared the New York Times article not because I think the information is Gospel or that the research is definitive but because it raised interesting questions about a few of our very closely held assumptions. And if there is one thing that's been M.I.A. in healthcare, it's been push back on the status quo.

I sent the second tweet because I consistently run into people (both personally and in my work as a consumer health advocate) who proudly rattle off the long list of vitamins and other supplements they take throughout the day all the while shoveling in a horrendous diet. They have been lulled into a false sense of security that the pills can make up for a lack of fruit, vegetables and other good choices.

Not only is this dangerous psychology, but the more we learn about nutrients, the more we realize how very little we know -- and how impossible it is to capture the complex miracles of nature in a bottle. The more we know, the more we realize that as much as possible, we should be turning to food -- real food (and preferably local and organic)--to best protect our health. We need to remember that vitamins, at their very best, should remain supplements, not replacements.

And we need to shout this information from the rooftops and not make another dangerous assumption...that the general public knows and understands this.

Bottom line, I am not against vitamins or supplementation. But I am for keeping them in perspective. I am for continuing to evaluate new data. I am for advocating better lifestyle choices versus more pills.

And if you are a maker or seller of vitamins or supplements, I encourage you to remember and advocate their proper place in health and wellness (which many of you admirably do). I encourage you not to get defensive when honest questions are raised. I encourage you not to become a "mini me" of the pharmaceutical industry...using marketing and hype and defense tactics to push more pills and profits over the true wellbeing of the people you are serving.

I appreciate the broad spectrum of comments that were sent -- the good and the bad. They pushed me to flesh out an important point. They pushed me to recognize the power of the tweet to communicate and mis-communicate. They pushed me to remember that we're all on the same team -- although we may haggle over approach, there's not one of us who doesn't want good health.

And I suddenly recalled Maya Angelou whispering in my ear during our recent interview, "We are more alike than we are unalike..." And that's why sometimes, it's more than worth the effort to reach out and explain.

Is Katherine Heigl Really Such a %$#@!

2009-04-01T14:26:58-04:00

I get asked that question. A lot. You see, five years ago I wrote and directed an independent, low budget film starring Katherine Heigl called Side Effects. The film was loosely based on my ten years selling pills for big pharma and was just now (finally) released on DVD by Warner Bros.

For 16 days Katherine, I and the rest of the crew worked 12 to 14 hours a day. She napped on my couch (we couldn't afford a 'trailer'), she played with my kids (we couldn't afford a babysitter), she knitted on my porch. She even wore my underwear.

Given the current rumor mill about Katherine's on and off set antics as well as the time/money/stress involved with an indie production, most people assume that I must have had a nightmare on my hands during the shoot. The opposite was true. Katherine showed up ready to work. She was in 95 percent of the scenes and had to undergo multiple location, hair, makeup, and outfit changes each day with little to no privacy. She was tireless. Flawless. And gracious to everyone from key producers down to the lowest level extras and production assistants.

But I most appreciated her humor. As a first-time director taking on a controversial issue and a powerful industry, I can tell you I needed all the joking I could get. Katherine had the cast and crew laughing their asses off from sun-up to late at night and I think most people who worked on the film agree that they had the time of their life.

Breaking up is hard to do

But like any production, once the curtain closed we were body slammed back to reality. For Katherine, that meant flying from our set to her first week on Grey's Anatomy. For the rest of the cast and crew, it meant moving on to the next gig. And for me, it meant that the real (and much less fun) work of post-production, endless promotion and media appearances was just beginning. We all moved on.

I'd be lying through my teeth if I said this has been a complete love fest with the now fifth highest paid actress in Hollywood. There were moments on set that were challenging, but they were often more situational than personal. There have also been a few concerns, question marks and body blocks since the shoot in terms of bringing the film to market. This has led to some head-scratching. Is it overt? Or has the fatigue and white knuckles of independent filmmaking seriously messed with my imagination?

And in the end, does it really matter?

Because when all the beans are counted...

Katherine delivered. I got a warm, funny, and authentic performance out of her. And for that I am grateful. Every one of us with a need to know message understands how difficult it can be to reach beyond the choir. Because of Katherine and her rising star, a much larger audience will inadvertently see what happens behind-the-scenes of the pharmaceutical industry and hopefully think twice before popping that next prescription pill. These are our families, friends and lovers who would never seek out such an inconvenient truth, but they'd definitely watch Katherine Heigl light up the screen.

Gotta love that.

Pharma: Still Chasing Skirts

2009-03-13T13:45:00-04:00

As someone who spent ten years inside the pharmaceutical industry, I can tell you one thing for sure: Big Pharma goes where the money is. And the money is with the ladies.

Chicks matter

Although women are certainly not the only targets of drug ads, winning the female audience is critical to the success of any given drug. Women are more proactive about their health, more likely to "talk to their doctor", more likely to encourage their husbands to seek medical treatment (than their husband is to seek it himself), and more likely to manage the healthcare for the entire family. It is just darned good business for pharma to set their sights on the ladies. But what is good for business -- explosive prescription sales of new drugs -- is not necessarily good for public health.

Newer is not better, Dorothy

The vast majority of the drug ads we see are for the newest and most expensive drugs available. These drugs are exceptionally profitable for the industry, but newer is definitely not better when it comes to patient safety. Few people realize that "new" means that the drug has been tried in a smaller number of patients and for a shorter period of time than drugs that have been around for years. Despite these limited studies, new meds quickly reach millions of consumers through very effective direct-to-consumer advertising.

It is often not until these drugs are consumed by the masses that potential problems (or public awareness of problems) in the form of dangerous and deadly side effects begin to arise. Patients who take "new" drugs become unknowing guinea pigs.

Dorothy Hamill spinning around the rink and driving millions to their docs for Vioxx served as a testament to this scenario. But even the Vioxx fallout has not stopped Merck's machine as they now push marketing and mandates for Gardasil, their HPV vaccine.

Reeling 'em in

Women need to know that they are being studied, targeted, and manipulated by very effective advertising that has little to do with good science. The ads and the target markets are heavily researched by internal marketing departments, branding experts and advertising companies.

In order to effectively drive sales with the important female demographic, companies first identify which issues in life women are most concerned and/or insecure about. They then develop their entire marketing campaign around those issues rather than the specific science of the drug. Big bucks go into finding the emotional hot button for any given pill or medical problem. The majority of ads feature sexy, smiling, happy people -- walking by the lake, rolling around with their children, or on a fun/hot date. We all want a little piece of that, don't we? Pharma knows how to play off of women's deepest insecurities and our biggest dreams...and it works.

The marketing of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was a perfect example. The industry capitalized on the vanity and emotional fears of women -- resulting in billions of dollars in prescription revenue for the pharmaceutical industry and questionable efficacy and damaging side effects to women worldwide.

And yet...the beat goes on

We as women are marching into our doctors' offices in record numbers demanding the latest and greatest pills we see on television. These ads paint a beautiful Norman Rockwell life on the screen. They do a wonderful job of convincing us that we too can be this happy, this sexy, this beautiful if only we would take this pill. The pharmaceutical companies are not selling us a drug; they are selling us a lifestyle.

The most severe drawbacks occur when the commercials result in us medicalizing our problems. Pharma has done a masterful job of creating illness and reasons for us to take more pills. Shyness, road rage, and even menstruation can now be treated with a drug. Thus we have begun demanding drugs we often don't need and that could have serious potential for harm and sometimes even death.

The other drawback is that these ads create a false sense of security. We subconsciously feel we can be a little more reckless with our nutrition, or activity level, or even sleep because there is now a pill to take care of all of the issues that result from not taking good care of ourselves.

I am a reasonable person. I am a mom and wife who understands that in the right context, we need prescription medication to be available. That said, I am in the minority of consumers who knows both sides of the issue. And that knowledge can be our most powerful tool when it comes to effectively managing our own health or the health of our families.

Get enough of us gals knowing and we can potentially force the hand of pharma to concentrate on producing truly superior, safer, and more cost-effective drugs rather than producing effective marketing campaigns. Because they can't sell what we won't buy.