The 2010 TV Detox officially ended on Sunday and now that we’ve had time to catch up on some of our shows, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve learned from during our 31 days of detoxing.

Anything come up for you? Take some time right now to think of at least one revelation from your TV detox.

If you’d like to hear what I jotted down on my list, I vlogged it on YouTube:

If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQToWL1TtCk.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his video production (lighting was poor – my apologies!) and original music score for this video! Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

For all of you readers out there:

Hello! It’s Steph Miller, again, Head Health Nutter here on Live Lighter, a blog for people looking to lose weight naturally and permanently.

January was a phenomenal month for me and I have the 2010 TV Detox to thank.

In this bonus video, let’s review what we’ve learned from this month-long challenge.

For me, I learned:

Ist: I can easily live without TV. We even decided to cancel our satellite subscription & we’re now saving $150 a month!

2nd: This was a freeing experience! Not once did I make plans around catching the latest episodes of my favourite programs.

3rd: When I’m feeling down, TV and movies pick me up.

4th: I had a copious amount of time for other activities, for example, my relationships have never been stronger, I enjoyed 2 books in January AND got my finances under control.

5th: Keeping up with world events was a little challenging at first but easy enough to manage with radio, newspapers and by simply asking people.

What did you learn through your 2010 TV Detox? Please share your insights with us in a comment.

I hope you enjoyed this Live Lighter special group event and until next time, this is Steph Miller, Head Health Nutter, wishing you a healthy, balanced day.

This is it, TV Detoxers! We’re coming to the end and this is the last check-in of The 2010 TV Detox. Let’s review our challenges and successes and gear up for the weekend as we wrap up this new year’s resolution alternative.

Let’s hear how you did this week, TV Detoxers!

For me, if you’ll remember from last video I said my intention was to detox ALL of my TV time. It was… interesting. If you have 1:05 minutes, I vlogged it on YouTube:

If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uZB_zH-abw.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his creative content consultation, video production and original music score for this video! Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

For all of you readers out there:

Hello! It’s Steph Miller, again, Head Health Nutter here on Live Lighter and we’re wrapping up a month-long TV Detox. This is our final Friday check-in where we’ve been sharing our challenges and successes.

Last week, I shared that my greatest challenge was that I wasn’t feeling challenged enough. My intention this week was to detox ALL of my TV time.

The beginning of the week was rough. By Tuesday I consciously made the decision to treat myself to a movie. Although I broke my detox, I discovered hidden messages in the movie which helped me move through what I was feeling and I even recognized clues to how I can improve my situation.

It was TV time well spent. It satisfied my craving and I’ve been TV-free since!

What were your challenges and successes this past week?

Stay tuned for a bonus video next Friday. We’ll wrap things up with a monthly review.

Enjoy your TV free (or reduced) weekend and we’ll see you next week!

We’re finishing up week 3 of our New Year’s resolution alternative, The 2010 TV Detox. It’s time to look back over the week and assess our results, celebrate our successes and rev up for the final week!

How did you do this week, TV Detoxers? Please leave a comment and share your challenges and successes with the community. Perhaps we can help you out or your challenges may help someone else.

This past week for me was much like my last week’s report. If you have 1:09 minutes, I vlogged it on YouTube:

If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B275XgxZeek.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his video production and creating an original music score for this video! Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

For all of you readers out there:

Hello! It’s Steph Miller, again, Head Health Nutter here on Live Lighter, a blog for people looking to lose weight naturally and permanently.

To update all the new viewers, we’re just finishing up week 3 of our new year’s resolution alternative, The 2010 TV Detox. Those of us taking this month-long challenge are replacing some or all of our TV time with other personally meaningful activities.

This is our 3rd Friday check-in where we share our challenges and successes.

For me, my success is I’m well within my detox limits and still able to watch 2 TV shows and one movie this weekend – if I’d like.

As for my challenge: I was challenge-less!

But this makes me uncomfortable – we don’t grow without challenge!

So… I’m changing things up and for the last week of the 2010 TV Detox and I’ll be detoxing ALL of my TV time! I’m going to finish this challenge off strong! Who’s with me?

Let’s hear about your challenges and successes this past week. Leave a comment so we can support one another!

Thanks for tuning in. Bye for now.

Did yesterday’s post, Is TV Killing You?, renew your intention of detoxing your TV time for the month? We’re just finishing up week 2 of The 2010 TV Detox and it’s time to look back and see how we did!

How was this week for you in your TV detox? Did you adhere to your prescribed limits? How are you feeling about it? Please share your experience in the comments!

As for my challenges and successes this week…

To be absolutely honest, I have mixed feelings when I report to you that I was challenge-free this week! I’m happy that my TV detox has been easy so far and yet I know that we grow from our challenges.

Perhaps I set my limits too low? Or I miscalculated just how much I watched the old boob tube when I was creating my TV detox plan?

As for weekly successes, I’ve had a wonderfully stress-free but highly productive week! Not only in business but in my personal time, too. I was so engaged in my other personally fulfilling activities, I didn’t even miss TV. And if I want, I’m still able to watch 3 TV shows and 2 movies over the weekend!

Whoo Hoo!

Since challenges are so important, if you had any this week, would you kindly share them with us? And your solutions, too! Others can learn from them and if you didn’t find a solution, we might be able to help you. At the very least, let’s celebrate your successes!

There’s a rumour going around: electrical gadgets emit harmful radiation which affect our health. Since we’ve been doing The 2010 TV Detox here on Live Lighter, Emmanuel (movie & TV lover), asked that we finally settle this dispute in a post. Here it is!

Like chemicals, electromagnetic radiation occurs naturally as well as from man-made products. We receive radiation from the sun, earth, our own bodies and of course, all our electrical devices.  It’s all around us!

What is radiation exactly? Click here to find out.

From the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA):

Man cannot escape exposure to some radiation. We are surrounded by natural radioactivity in the earth and by cosmic rays from outer space. This is called background radiation and cannot be controlled. We are also exposed to manmade radiation, which can and must be controlled.

There are different types of radiation along the radiation spectrum, some more harmful than others. According to RADTown U.S.A. the radiation that comes from x-ray machines are “a form of ionizing radiation, which is capable of removing electrons from atoms and damaging living cells and the DNA of those cells.”

Man-made non-ionizing radiation includes: lasers, televisions, computer monitors and wireless technology. However, televisions and computer monitors that use a cathode ray tube (CRT) can potentially emit low-level x-ray radiation.

So easy enough, to reduce your exposure to harmful radiation from your TV or computer, buy flat screens!

But wait, that’s not all…

Dr. Natasha Turner in The Hormone Diet says in her chapter, “Superb Sleep for Hormonal Balance”:

• Be aware of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in your bedroom. These can disrupt the pineal gland and the production of melatonin and serotonin. They may have additional negative effects, including increased risk of cancer. EMFs are emitted from digital alarm clocks and other electrical devices. If you must use these items, try to keep them as far away from the bed as possible – at least three feet.

Although the FDA and RADTown U.S.A. both declare that scientists have yet to identify specific health effects resulting from exposure to extremely low doses of low-level radiation over prolonged periods of time, they also say in practically the same breath:

“Scientists work from the premise that no amount of radiation is safe.” They advise “that x-radiation from TV sets, as well as other commonly used electronic products, be kept as low as reasonably achievable.”

On TheTruthSeeker.co.uk, Rixon Stewart cites a study reported in the Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity which revealed rays from a TV flicker erratically, causing uneven and irregular stimulation of the retina. The rats in this study were exposed to colour TV for six hours a day. They became hyperactive and extremely aggressive for about a week, then became lethargic and finally, stopped breeding altogether.

Apparently, the rat’s endocrine systems burnt out from all the stress! By the way, in this experiment the TV screens were covered in thick black paper so that only the invisible radiation, rather than the visible rays, came through.

Equally interesting, Stewart cites that in 1970,

“Dr. Robert Elder, director of the BRH [U.S. Bureau of Radiological Health], testified before Congress that even very minute doses of radiation, which fall below the legal limit cause damage and that the damage is cumulative.”

There are quite a few people out there convinced that EMFs, even at low doses, are harmful over time. Emwatch.com has posted a laundry list of negative health effects caused by EMFs, and they say it’s only a sample from a growing mountain of research.

Dr. Neil Cherry from New Zealand has been studying electromagnetic radiation for over 10 years. You can read about Dr. Cherry and some of his findings in his 3-part article, “Strong international concern about the dangers of electromagnetic radiation.”

What’s the verdict?

There seems to be acceptable limits for both chemicals and radiation, natural or man-made. And, these limits are most likely personal since we are, after all, unique beings with different compositions in our body chemistry.

For example, some people can drink coffee all day long without it affecting them while others will have less than a cup in the afternoon and experience insomnia that night.

Accumulation of radiation, again like chemicals, may also have a role in the negative health effects. If our bodies can’t keep up with detoxificati0n, our personally acceptable limits reduce over time.

Can we detox radiation? That will have to be another post. Until then, what do you think, dear Readers, is TV killing you? Let us know in the comments below!

We’re a week into the 2010 TV Detox now. How are you doing? Is it a cake walk or are you experiencing withdrawal? It’s Friday; time to evaluate our efforts and get ready for week 2!

Evaluating Your TV Detox

1. Look at the walls or potholes you encountered this past week. Did you struggle or falter? How did you react to the situation? Was it emotional or thoughtful? Will you react the same way if it happens again or will you try a different response? Did you discover a trigger?
2. Acknowledge your successes! What did you do this week that you can feel good about? Own that. If you’re having trouble recalling any successes throughout the week, answer these questions:

• How much TV did you detox?
• Did you have fun doing one of your alternate activities?
• If you went over your detox limits, did you relish that TV time or learn something new?

We’d love to hear about your challenges and successes this week. Did you overcome your challenges? If so, please share your tips with us. It may help others experiencing the same thing!

If you’re wondering how I did this week, I shared my roadblock, several ways in how I handled it and my successes in this 1:23 min video:

If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN6VVXQrgCwc.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his video production and musical skills for this video! Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

For all of you readers out there:

Hello! It’s Steph Miller, again, Head Health Nutter here on Live Lighter, a blog for people looking to lose weight naturally and permanently.

To update all the new viewers, January 1st marked the beginning of our new year’s resolution alternative, The 2010 TV Detox. Those of us taking this month-long challenge are replacing some or all of our TV time with other personally meaningful activities.

This is our first Friday check-in where we share our challenges and successes.

I’ll kick it off:

If you live with someone, you might relate to my greatest challenge this week: wanting to watch TV with loved ones. If TV has become habitual “quality” time for you and your spouse, kids or friends, then this may hinder your efforts this month.

There are several ways you can combat this lure:

1.    See if your loved ones would be open to doing something else, like putting together a puzzle or going for a walk.
2.    Go ahead and sit with them but while they watch TV, do one of your other activities.

As for my successes, I’ve watched 2 and a half hours of TV this week so far and according to my detox limits, I’m still able to watch another hour of TV and 2 movies (if I want) this weekend!

So, TV Detoxers, what were your challenges and successes this week? Leave a comment so we can support one another!

Thanks for tuning in and we’ll catch you on the flip side!

Happy New Year, Live Lighter Readers! This brand new year resonates with the promise of change and improvement. For those of us who balk at new year’s resolutions, we chose an alternative this year: The 2010 TV Detox. This is our first check-in!

We’re now 5 days into 2010 – have you begun your TV detox yet? If you haven’t, it’s not too late!

Check out this post to find out how it works and while some of you may not need a plan, others may so here are step-by-step instructions in creating your 20 minute TV Detox plan.

If you’ve started your TV detox already, watch this 1:16 minute video:

*If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvThgVGo-5c.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his video production and musical skills for this video! Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

For all of you readers out there:

Happy New Year! It’s Steph Miller, again, Head Health Nutter here on Live Lighter, a blog for people looking to lose weight naturally and permanently.

To update all the new viewers, January 1st marked the beginning of our new year’s resolution alternative, The 2010 TV Detox. Those of us taking this month-long challenge are replacing some or all of our TV time with other personally meaningful activities.

So… to all the TV detoxers, how’s it going so far?

If you’re having trouble turning off your TV or just can’t seem to get motivated in your other activities, please email me directly at stephanie [at] livelighter [dot] org for complimentary TV detox training.

Here’s a tip that may help some of you: track your TV time with a log. A simple notepad will do. Keep it by your remote control and every time you watch a program or movie, jot it down next to the date and how long it was.

This way you can be aware of how much TV time you’re watching and you don’t go over your prescribed detox limits!

Thanks for tuning in and I’d love to hear how your TV detox is going so please, let us know in the comments.

 

 

If you’ve decided to detox TV with us for the month of January, here’s an easy, 20 minute process to help you use that off button!

It’s the holiday season and hopefully you will find some personal downtime in between celebrations. If you’re time-crunched but still want to feel prepared for your TV detox (8 days and counting), this post is for you.

The following process will be easier if you’re relaxed. Take 5 minutes and do some deep breathing or, if you have more time to spare, take a bath/shower or a walk to get the creative juices flowing.

Also, it may help if you make your plan somewhat flexible. You lay the ground rules but the idea here is not to get caught up in the planning process!

Your 20 Minute TV Detox Plan

TIP: Apparently January is a slow month for TV so if you’re looking for more of a challenge, try including the web, music and/or movies!

Step #1: Determining TV time to detox (10 minutes)

Ask yourself:

1. How many hours do I typically spend watching TV in a week?
2. What shows are my absolute favs? The ones that make me feel good? Choose these shows (if any) to enjoy for the month.
3. How much TV time will I detox a week? Subtract the TV time in answer 2 from TV time in answer 1.

NOTE: If you want to really test yourself or you don’t usually watch a lot of TV, feel free to detox 100% of your TV time!

Step #2: My personally meaningful activities (5-8 minutes)

Brainstorm 3 -15 constructive activities you want to do instead of watching TV.

TIP: Try thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2010. Do you want to increase your yearly income by 10%? Then one of your activities may be an hour a week researching ways to do this.

Here is a list of ideas:

For Health Goals

1. An extra hour of weight-training.
2. 30 min jog.
3. An hour of power: 30 min meditation & 30 min walk.
4. Find & try one new healthy recipe. (1 hour)
5. Take a class you’ve always wanted to try, like kick-boxing or yoga.

For Wealth Goals

1. An hour of creating a new wealth mindset, like reading The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker.
2. 1 hour working on your business or other revenue stream.
3. 1 hour brainstorming business ideas.

For Relationship Goals

1. An hour of fun with your kids and/or life partner.
2. Extra time with your friends and/or extended family.
3. Reconnect with 3 people who spring to mind. (1 hour on the phone)

For Spiritual Goals

1. Volunteer 1 hour to your community.
2. Read 15 minutes of inspirational material 4 times in the week for a total of 1 hour.
3. One hour of research into different meditation techniques.

Step #3: Share your 2010 TV Detox plan (2 minutes)

To boost motivation, let’s add accountability to our TV detox commitment. Bookmark this post and once you’ve completed Step 1 and 2, come back and share your plan with us!

I’ll start things off. Here is my personal 2010 TV Detox plan:

For the month of January, 2010, I, Stephanie Miller, will detox 4 hours of TV and 1 movie every week. I will continue to enjoy 1-2 movies a week, plus, my favourite 5 programs (minus the commercials):

• Bones
• Ghost Whisperer
• Medium
• Lie To Me
• House

If these series fail to produce a new episode on any given week, I may choose to watch a past episode (through online streaming) or pick an activity from my list.

TIP: To create my constructive activities list, I looked at my 2010 goals and asked myself what next actions would allow me to achieve them.

Here’s what I’ll be doing for The 2010 TV Detox:

1. Improve Live Lighter. (1 hour)
2. Weight-training (45 min)  & core (15 min) workout combo.
3. Connect more online. (1 hour)
4. Research new business opportunity. (1 hour)
5. Research property investment. (1 hour)
6. Listen to personal development audio book. (1 hour)
7. Walk (30 minutes) & new meditation (30 min) wellness combo.
8. Get to know 1 new person & their needs/wants. Offer a valuable solution. (1 hour coffee meet)

Would you like to share some activity suggestions with us? If you do, leave them in the comment section. And if you want to stay up-to-date, sign up to have new posts delivered right to your email or feed reader.

Remember to bookmark this post so you can return to share your 2010 TV Detox plans with us. This is an important step to making the commitment! For those of you returning, let’s hear your plan!

TV addicts and those looking for an interesting New Year’s resolution alternative are doing the 2010 TV Detox! If you’re sitting on the fence, find out how it works in this short video blog post!

A few weeks ago I invited everyone to participate in a personal development group challenge,  The 2010 TV Detox. In that video, I explained the idea was to replace a certain amount of TV time with other personally meaningful activities for the entire month of January.

But a lot of details were left out so if you want to know what you’re committing to, check out this 1:20 minute video:

*If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_9o6jwmag.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his video production and musical skills for this video! Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

For the readers:

This is YOUR TV Detox so you’re free to do what you want! You decide how many and which TV hours you’ll detox; AND what activities you’ll replace your TV time with.

That said, this is what I envision:

1. A 20 minute personal planning session
2. We share our plans with each other before December 31st and start January 1st
3. Then we check-in every Friday in January to share our challenges and accomplishments

Sound good?

If you need some ideas or an easy process to follow in creating your TV Detox plan, read “Your 20 Minute TV Detox Plan” which will be published on Wednesday, December 23rd. I’ll be sharing my personal TV Detox plan in that post and will be encouraging you to share yours there, too!

Stay up-to-date by signing up to have new posts delivered right to your email or feed reader. Thanks for tuning in and I can’t wait to see your 2010 TV Detox plans!

Are you tired of making (and breaking) New Year’s resolutions? Here’s an alternative that’s fun, totally personalized, has a low commitment level and runs for ONLY for the month of January!

Who loves TV? Raise your hands.

Like many of our favourite past-times, TV can become habit or an addiction. Sometimes we don’t even realize the power an activity has over our minds and behaviour until we stop doing it.

One way to kick a habit is to detox it from our lives and replace it with something more constructive and even more fun!

So, inspired by Darius Bashar‘s TV challenge on DailyChallenge.org and for all those who are looking for a New Year’s resolution alternative, check out what Live Lighter is planning for January, 2010:

*If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may see a white box rather than the video. I’m looking into how to fix this but for now, please access the video directly from YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIITnnyL24M.

Special thanks goes to Emmanuel Lopez – Motivatorman for contributing his video production and musical skills for this, Live Lighter’s 2nd video! Emmanuel greatly improved the quality of this video for you in a very short amount of time. (I have much to learn about video production!)

Please visit http://motivatorman.com/ to learn more about Emmanuel’s varied talents as an award-winning illustrator, motivational specialist and social media consultant.

Will you be participating in the 2010 TV Detox, Readers? Or do you need more information before you’re as psyched as I am?