Walking the talk with 'The A List'
- The Renfrew Mercury, by Steve Newman

Roslyn Franken is a walking advertisement for her own new book, The A List: 9 Guding Principles for Healthy Eating and Positive Living.

Looking vibrant and enthusiastic, the guest speaker for the Alternative Medicine and Holistic Health Expo (Nov. 10 in Renfrew) said, "I'm healthy.  I've never felt better."

Like her parents, she is a survivor.

Her father survived the Prisoner of War camp in Nagasaki because he was transferred to the coal mines weeks before the Americans dropped an atomic bomb.  And her mother was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps in the same Second World War.

And in 1994, at age 29, Franken learned she had Hodgkin's Disease, which she went on to beat in short order.

Her last treatment was 11 years ago - Oct. 17.

"When you get cancer, you can say you're going to fight it or say 'poor me, poor me'," said Franken.

So, she started asking if there was a better way to live and how she could reduce the likelihood of having cancer again.

As a result, she returned to school for her masters degree in human systems intervention from Concordia University in her hometown of Montreal.

Now living in Ottawa, Franken does public speaking and one-on-one coaching through her business, Health and Weight Loss Central.

"In a nutshell, what I try to get people to do is reprogram their relationship with food ad their inner self," she explains.

"So it's not a diet.  It's not a restricted menu plan,"says Franken, who has lost 40 pounds in the last few years.

"It's not something you go on and off of only to lose weight and to gain it back.  It's not a quick fix."

Having experienced chemotherapy treatments that left her with no hair, Franken says she'll never again complain about a bad hair day.

Her 'A' list, as a way of reprogramming one's living habits, consists of ambition, attitude, attainability, awareness, activity, assessment, accountability, appreciation and acceptance.

Ironically, some attitudes can stand in the way of progress, says Franken.

Perfectionism, for example, can make a person feel like a failure, even though they're making progress.

"If someone is trying to follow a diet perfectly," she explains, "what happens if they 'cheat'.  They feel like a failure."

Therefore, she says eating three cookies that day, rather than the customary 10, should be seen as progress, not failure.

The next 'A' - attainability - refers to the need to set realistic goals and deadlines, and not getting stuck with specific dates and the potential to again feel like a failure, especially when one isn't.

Activity is also a key to leading a healthy life.   Positive activity includes proper rest and relaxation, she says, arguing one needs "some time to quiet your mind and not have to 'be' anything or any way for anybody."

Appreciation, she explained, is about rechannelling some of the appreciation of others at one's self.

"Appreciate your successes, no matter how small," she says.

For more on her book, check out www.roslynfranken.com.

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