…are another reason I dislike women’s mags.

I was drawn over to Glamour.com this morning, after reading a blog post mocking a ditzy article of theirs. I lost interest in the targeted article (about finding the right cocktail dress for your shape) pretty quickly, though, since a) I can count the number of times I’ve worn a cocktail dress over the last decade on the fingers of one hand; and b) some of those so-called “inspirational” dresses looked like they should be accessorized with “Trick or Treat” bags…even if I had the $$$, I’d pass.

In other words, it was the typical “wimmin’s mag” bushwa… But while I was there, I decided to check out the fitness/nutrition info. In particular, since I’m “in” to fitness toys (like push up bars, door gym, weighted hula hoop, weighted vest, TRX suspension trainer), I zeroed in on an article link: “The 5 Fitness Products Every Woman Should Own” – to see what I might be missing.

Continue Reading »

I thought this video from MedPage Today was rather interesting…It’s about the experiences of a subject in a placebo-controlled clinical trial for a new obesity drug.

The subject also happens to be the staff member who wrote the accompanying article: contributing writer Joe Sussman.

Continue Reading »

I was reading an online industry article this morning: “The Invincibles – Recession Proof  Food and Healthy Eating“, and winced when I read this part:

Other food categories that are expected to be virtually immune to the economic storm include French fries, candy and beer, while those expected to suffer include organics and carbonated beverages.

But in an interview the Financial Post, published last week, Wallace McCain who founded the Canadian global giant McCain Foods, famous for its French fries, said that the basics would be the last to suffer.

When asked if French fries are recession proof he gave a resounding yes and said: “The last thing you give up is food. Going to the rink you’ll give up buying an extra cup of coffee, but you gotta eat.”

“I just think if this country goes to hell, we’d be the last one down.”

Deceptively inexpensive convenience foods like Spam, I can understand (even if I don’t condone), but since when did french fries become one of the “basics”???  And candy and beer???

I sincerely hope this is false confidence on the part of Mr. McCain…I’d like to think that – in  a tight economy – people’s food purchasing priorities would be a little better than this.

Another FTC action against unsubstantiated claims…

“QVC aired ads that weren’t true and violated an FTC order,” said Eileen Harrington, Acting Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Simply put, we aren’t going to let QVC get away with this. The company is responsible for the product claims made on its programs, and we expect that going forward, QVC will do a better job for its audience and make sure that its programs are truthful and not deceptive.”

The advertisements allegedly included unsubstantiated claims that the weight-loss supplements could cause people to lose significant amounts of weight, maintain their weight loss for a long time, and prevent carbohydrates from being stored as fat; false claims that the weight-loss supplements could prevent dietary fat from being absorbed in peoples’ bodies; unsubstantiated claims that the energy-enhancing supplements could reduce fatigue and increase energy in people with severe fatigue and other physical ailments; and unsubstantiated claims that Lipofactor lotion could reduce cellulite, including measurable decreases in the sizes of individuals’ arms, legs, and abdomens.

The full complaint is available from the FTC here: http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/9823152/040324cmp9823152.pdf

WebMD has a nice little online feature: the Fit-O-Meter, which calculates the calories burned for 600 different activities. You pick the activity, plug in your weight and the duration, and voila: you get an estimate of the number of calories you’ve burned.

There are a few caveats, of course…for one thing, this sort of calculator can’t account for the metabolic benefits of exercise (such as improvements in insulin sensitivity, or post-workout elevations in RMR) that also influence weight/fat loss. And – of course – there’s no way to factor individual variation into the equation (body composition, gender, hormones, etc.). Nonetheless, the Fit-O-Meter provides a good reality check on how exercise can either a) benefit your fat loss efforts; or b) inadvertently sabotage them.

What say??? Sabotage???

Continue Reading »

As noted in an earlier post, my girlfriend and I were up in Montreal a few weeks ago, visiting friends, seeing the sites, and generally having an all round good time. Since Montreal is only a few hundred kilometers from where I live in Ontario, and the weather was great, we decided to drive. Anyhow, on the return journey, I was stricken by hunger and forced to pull into one of those service / restaurant  centers that dots the highway every 100 kms or so.

And it just so happened this one featured a McDonald’s.

Hmm… time for a little experiment.

Continue Reading »

…is captured in a slide show – “10 Reasons You’re Not Losing That Weight” –  from “Women’s Health.” 

For starters, it was trite and poorly thought out… For example:

Roadblock number 1: Always a go-getter, you work out at 6 a.m.

Continue Reading »

Acai, if you haven’t heard, is another one of those trendy, exotic “super fruits” that are all the rage these days. And while acai is a great source of anthocyanins (antioxidants) and does have a high ORAC (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) “score”— it’s being marketed by some unscrupulous folks as being a cure all for just about everything.

The greatest offenders are on the Internet, who hawk acai as THE solution for weight loss, detoxing and colon cleansing (there is, of course, no evidence it helps with weight loss, and “detoxing” is a meaningless marketing term that has already been thoroughly discredited by scientists – see here and here).

Continue Reading »

The FDA list of fat loss supps adulterated with pharmaceuticals keeps growing.  Initially, it was 28.  Then it grew to 69…now it’s 72 – enough to trigger a new alert message.

Continue Reading »

This is a question I get asked periodically…and people are often surprised by my answer.  As I put it to one such person on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” forum:

“As a “nutritional expert” (your term, not mine), I am vastly more concerned about whether people eat the damn fruits and veggies at all. Organic food is often considerably more expensive than conventionally grown/produced items, and I am not about to advise people to break their budgets by pushing the idea that they’re wasting their time nutritionally or endangering their health if they can’t buy organic.”

Continue Reading »

I have a Master’s degree in Food Science…that’s food technology, to be specific.  And in my humble opinion, it was the bestest major EVAH!  In addition to getting a fantastic, in-depth, multidisciplinary education; it gave me a perspective on foods that profoundly influenced my own eating habits, as well as the those of the people I advise.

Nonetheless, there are times when the industry (which I trained to be part of) makes me want to tear my hair out in frustration.  Marketing drives the priorities of the profession, as this New York Times article firmly demonstrates…

Continue Reading »

Ok, not really…the presentation is actually titled “Top 10: Subtle Ways To Tell Her She’s Getting Fat.” 

All I can say is: EPIC FAIL.  It’s not funny, nor is the “advice” likely to be effective.

Problem is, these “tips” are anything BUT subtle…they range from insulting (buying her “clothes that are obviously too small”), to annoying (continually pinching her “love handles”) to sadistic (sabotage her chair so it breaks when she sits down on it).

Continue Reading »

Fast food doesn’t have to be 100% off limits if you’re trying to lose weight or get healthier…but it will help to have an idea of what you’re going to order before you walk in the door (or pull up at the drive-thru menu).  To that end, Men’s Health has a good feature on the mag site, on the “Best Fast Food Meals Under 500 Calories.”  Check it out.

You can put together other suitable meals in advance using the nutritional info on databases like CalorieKing.com (which has the nutritional content of a variety of fast foods) or else individual company web sites.

According to new research being presented at the Society for Endocrinology meeting…

Eating a meal with a low GI (glycaemic index) increases gut hormone production which leads to suppression of appetite and the feeling of fullness.

Continue Reading »

Will Brink – the gent I work with/for over on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” and “Fat Loss Revealed” forums – put together a YouTube vid on his home workout program using the TRX Suspension Trainer.

I have one of these, and think it’s a great tool.  I don’t normally do home workouts, but there are times when I have; and have also taken workouts on the road (the TRX is lightweight, has a door hanger, and is easily packed in a suitcase).  I’m at the point where basic bodyweight exercises (like the ones described by Lisa here, here and here) just aren’t enough…but all it takes are a few simple, durable and relatively inexpensive “toys” to make them more challenging.

Apparently, Australian personal trainer Paul James has hit a major benchmark on the way to fulfilling his New Year’s Resolution…

He’s officially obese.

Continue Reading »

Paul forwarded a note to me from a reader today, asking me to look into a couple of supplements from a company I’d never heard of before: EP2.  The supps are marketed through GNC, so, I ambled on over to there to check out the product labels - as they weren’t available on the company site.

One of the supps, “Andritest,” really blew my mind.  Here’s the label…

I had to do a double take - because I could NOT get over what I was seeing…

Continue Reading »

According to the “What Does 100 Calories Look Like?” quiz.

I got 23 out of 24 right (I missed on the popcorn).

It’s not hard to find various gurus and “experts” that discourage people from counting calories, and I don’t disagree with their reasons.  But – in my opinion – being able to size up foods/portions at a glance is a damn useful skill for lifelong weight maintenance…and there’s really only one way to develop it.

I picked up a sack of iSatori’s meal replacement powder, Eat Smart, the other day – in part, for my husband, who needs a quick, filling, on-the-go snack he can take to the office; and in part, for me to review…it’s part of the job I do here.

As you can glean from the review, I think pretty highly of Eat Smart…it’s low in calories, carbs and sugar; and provides a decent whack of fiber and high-quality protein.  And it tastes sensational.  A product like this has it ALL OVER your typical, retail meal replacements, like Slim Fast, et al; yet the general public barely even knows it exists, let alone other quality nutritional products (such as the Labrada ”Lean Body” line) marketed primarily to us bodybuilding/fitness types.  Quite frankly, when I look at all the junk that passes for “meal replacements” in the nutrition/diet sections in the local grocery/drug stores, it blows me away – there’s simply no comparison.

What’s the deal?

Continue Reading »

This is my third in a new “exercise at home” series, which documents a few of my favorite “low tech”, no-cost, effective exercises. You can find the first in the series here, and the second, here!

Let’s get started…

Continue Reading »