Focus Magazine of SWFL Fun & Fresh | Page 71

Success Begins at Home By Michelle Tomao Business Guru Offers Entrepreneurs Guide to Success While Staying Fit and Healthy Success Begins at Home author Lynn D. Ahbonbon leading grassroots movement to promote abundant, healthy living Some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs devote themselves so fully to business success that they develop unhealthy eating habits. Tech titan Steve Jobs obsessively ate single foods for weeks at a time, believing he would become healthier as a result. While most entrepreneurs are not eating only apples and carrots, as Jobs did, author Lynn Ahbonbon suggests that they too may unwittingly be eating diets that are undermining their health. "The life of a business owner is fast-paced and stressful," said Ahbonbon, a University of Southern California MBA and business coach. As a result, Ahbonbon claims entrepreneurs end up eating the foods that are fastest and most convenient. When three of her relatives in their 30s came down with cancer in quick succession, Ahbonbon decided to devote herself to studying the keys to abundant, healthy living. The result is her newest book, Success Begins at Home, a guide that combines her twin passions: healthy living and helping entrepreneurs create abundance. The book includes concise advice, checklists, and do's and don'ts drawn from the author's many years teaching entrepreneurship to business owners. First-time entrepreneurs, as well as old hands will benefit from this book, a well-researched guide which leaves very little room for failure. "I wrote the book because I want to help business owners to achieve their financial goals and to be healthy enough to enjoy the success they've earned," said Ahbonbon. The book includes guidance about good and bad fats, reading food labels, which foods to buy organic, and which types of fish to avoid because of mercury content. As well as 22 delicious and healthy international recipes with nutritional and cultural notes. For those who prefer the book without the entrepreneurship section, Ahbonbon offers two alternatives: Food Made at Home and Worldly Home Cooking. "We eat highly processed foods loaded with trans fats, salt and sugar, microwaved in plastic dishes that leach toxins when heated, and then we wonder why we feel tired and our immune systems are so weak," said Ahbonbon. Ahbonbon's wake-up call came when she was a strategic planning administrator at an automaker. "I was stressed, fatigued, and eating microwavable dinners four nights a week," said Ahbonbon. "Even though I was physically fit and worked out regularly, I kept getting bloated, having allergies and feeling exhausted." Success Begins at Home by Lynn . Ahbonbon ISBN 9780989356305 Available: Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble Booksellers, Walmart and Sears - Coming Soon to: iTunes and kobo www.ahbonbon.com FOCUS of SWFL 2014 71