MernaLyn brings her ’10 Second Diet’ to NOLA

By ALAN SMASON

For those who thought “The Ten Second Diet” was just about the proper foods to eat and ways to slim down, author MernaLyn has news for you. Yes, her book will help people lose weight, but readers can also use the manifesto to improve and enrich their lives. And that takes about 10 seconds too, she says.

Author MernaLyn will speak Sunday morning at 10:00 at Congregation Beth Israel. (Photo courtesy MernaLyn)

A stunningly attractive model, former Playboy public relations bunny, Shakespearean and TV actress with long auburn hair and deep-set green eyes, MernaLyn, chooses nowadays to go by a one-word moniker not unlike Madonna or Cher. But her new career path as an author and motivational speaker has the former research assistant at the psychology department at Wayne State University using many words to describe how readers can turn their lives around by following the steps she recommends in her book.

Hadassah members and the general public are invited to listen to MernaLyn explain her book in detail this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. at Congregation Beth Israel, 4004 West Esplanade in Metairie.

Born in Michigan and a resident of metro Detroit again, the self-described workaholic has formerly called mid-town Manhattan and Beverly Hills home. She professes to having been a writer since her younger years, having first published a piece in the New York Times when she was nine- or ten-years-old.

“I’ve written all of my life. I was an early reader,” she states. “My father completely believed in reading books. He was highly educated and loved history. He was an avid reader. We were brought up that way.”

MernaLyn confesses to having written quite a lot of poetry as a youngster and to putting her insights into life onto paper. “I was also questioning and was always interested in delving deeper,” she admits. “I used to keep diaries, which I still do.”

It may be those insights and the wordly experience she has gained through the years are what make “The Ten Second Diet” so complete for her and so compelling to her readers.

“The word ‘diet’ doesn’t refer to the food you eat. It refers to the life you live,” she continues. “The actual techniques can be applied to life. It’s important, not just for what you put into your body, but what you put out into the world.”

This ties in with Jewish ethics and values, she points out. “When you think about it, it’s about putting ethics and values into your daily living,”

Her book is self-empowering and will address issues, such as First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative against childhood obesity, she continues. “It can not only reverse the obesity in our adults and children, but it also is helping to restore civility and dignity in our society and to improve humanity,” she affirms.

Hired from a group of over 450 young ladies, MernaLyn’s cherished her former work as a Playboy public relations bunny. As a B-list bunny, she was always welcome at the Playboy Mansion and did her work for them at the same time as working as a personal shopper at Tiffany’s. Her schedule was hectic with only four hours of sleep most nights. Yet she thrived at it.

“I had an excellent reputation,” she boasts. “I did the last international televised (broadcast) event which was remoted from Australia on the night the club closed. They knew I could speak well,” MernaLyn recalls about the Playboy gig. She refers to herself as “the bunny with the brains.”

For MernaLyn, most of what she gleaned from her work at Playboy with A-list celebrities and sports figures can be distilled into a fairly simplistic, yet compelling statement: “Life is not a reality show; life is showing you can live real.” She believes American society needs to embrace values like tikun olam (“healing the world”) rather than mollycoddling false idols who embrace material things.

“Our society has to stop genuflecting to superficiality and learn to value intelligence, education and empathy and emulate these qualities instead of living vicariously through so-called celebrities and sports figures,” she demurs.

MernaLyn has also become an ambassador for the Alzheimer’s Association in the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease. She is donating a percentage of her book’s sales receipts to research to improve the lives of present and future Alzheimer’s patients.

Copies of “The Ten Second Diet” will be available for purchase and signing at Congregation Beth Israel, 4004 West Esplanade Avenue in Metairie. The public is invited to attend the talk at 10:00 a.m.