I bet I read this phrase once every other day whilst moderating visitor feedback over at Real-Customer-Comments.com. And every single time I do, I shake my head. Here’s the context…

An intrepid visitor arrives at the site to read some existing comments on one product or another. Then, s/he shares his/her own. And, after outlining the details of his/her experience with the product, s/he ends with… “good luck to all.”

Now you might be right to suggest that I need to get out more. And that “good luck to all” is a simple, good-natured “salute” to others who are reading or posting their own feedback.

Maybe.

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That sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it?  And maybe it is… but I have some real mixed feelings about it, nonetheless.  According to Nation’s Restaurant News…

It’s an idea that I’ve always liked. As I’ve noted before, carrots tend to work better than sticks, so I’m glad to see these sorts of programs spreading.

So why not pay people to live healthier lives? In fact, a fledgling “pay for prevention” industry is beginning to emerge, offering employers ways to reward workers with cash or reduced insurance premiums for exercising more and eating wisely. Among the industry’s early entries are RedBrick Health, Tangerine Wellness and Virgin HealthMiles.

And some big companies, like Safeway and General Electric, are experimenting on their own with financial incentives to prod employees to adopt healthy habits or to drop bad ones. (At G.E., smokers pay an extra $625 a year.)

While just under way, the drive to align financial incentives with healthy behavior seems promising, experts say. “If this were the Olympics, it would be a demonstration sport — not there yet, but clearly coming,” said Dr. David J. Brailer, chairman of Health Evolution Partners, a private equity fund, which has not invested in a health-incentive management company to date.

Is it a solution that can be applied to everyone?  Doubtful… but every little bit helps.  Participation seems to be high, it’s apparently cost-effective and some people are being helped, so it’s win-win.

This time it’s from Princeton, rather than Duke…

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

Posted March 22, 2010; 10:00 a.m. by Hilary Parker

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same. 

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

“Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn’t true, at least under the conditions of our tests,” said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. “When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they’re becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don’t see this; they don’t all gain extra weight.”

I wouldn’t have thought HFCS was any worse than table sugar, given the similarity in their glucose:fructose ratios, but this research says otherwise.  It will be interesting to see if this result is replicated.

NJ Woman Attempting to Become World’s Fattest Lady

Dream big!

A New Jersey woman, who now tips the scales at 604 pounds, said it’d be a “fantasy” to gobble her way to fame and someday weigh 1,000 pounds.

“When you have a 3-year-old daughter and you’re trying to run a household, things like this tend to be a fantasy,” Simpson told The Post today.

The 42-year-old Old Bridge resident insists she has no realistic hopes of ever making 1,000 pounds, but will try her best to consume, wolf, munch and devour her way to hog heaven.

In her “fantasy,” Simpson would zoom up to 1,000 in two years with a steady diet of 12,000 calories per day. An average woman should consume no more than 2,000.

“My favorite food is sushi, but unlike others I can sit and eat 70 big pieces of sushi in one go,” she told London’s Daily Mail. “I do love cakes and sweet things, doughnuts are my favorite.”

To help pick up the tab on her $750-a-week eating habit, Simpson puts herself on the Internet where people can pay to watch her eat.

“I love eating and people love watching me eat,” she told the British newspaper. “It makes people happy, and I’m not harming anyone.”

Apparently she can’t walk more than 20 feet before needing to sit down, and uses a motorized scooter to get around, but insists she’s “healthy.”

The real tragedy has nothing to do with aesthetics: she’s a prisoner in her own body, and evidently prefers it that way.  The people encouraging her in this are just as much to blame: feederism is pathological at best, and abusive at worst.

From NPR.org:

Rev up the treadmill: Sobering new research spells out just how much exercise women need to keep the flab off as they age — and it’s a lot.

At least an hour of moderate activity a day is needed for older women at a healthy weight who aren’t dieting. For those who are already overweight — and that’s most American women — even more exercise is called for to avoid gaining weight without eating less, the study results suggest.

…Their findings are based on 34,079 middle-aged women followed for about 13 years. Most were not on calorie-cutting diets. The women gained an average of almost 6 pounds during the study.

Those who started out at a healthy weight, with a body mass index less than 25, and who gained little or no weight during the study consistently got the equivalent of about an hour of moderate activity daily. Few women — only 13 percent — were in this category.

I guess the thing that got me about this story, is that the overall tone is rather somber. It’s as if  One Whole Hour of Moderate Exercise A Day = Grim News.  But it’s clear from the article that the researchers aren’t talking about running 440’s or doing “Boot Camp” workouts… they’re referring to activities like taking a brisk walk, a bike ride, or playing a game of golf.

This is hardly torture.  Most women wouldn’t even break a sweat. It’s not necessary to do it all in one go – nor is it necessary to join a gym to get this in, either, like the woman featured in the story. Heck, it could even be fun.  Are we so far gone that an hour of moving your body around, potentially doing enjoyable things, should be seen as a daunting task?

According to new research, alginate – a viscous fiber extracted from seaweed – reduces fat absorption.
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According to a recent company press release, Nestle is launching  ”…a major investigation on the synergistic effect of nutrition and exercise to positively impact the quality and quantity of muscle mass, in both young and ageing adults.” The Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland will be collaborating with RMIT, McMaster University and the Australian Institute of Sport on the project.

It all sounds quite impressive, so you know there has to be a catch.  Here it is:

The results of these studies will be highly relevant for Nestlé to provide functional approaches for consumers that help maintain muscle mass and strength during periods of risk such as weight loss and ageing.

Uh-huh.  I can hardly wait to see the products that the parent company of Haagen-Dazs, Dreyers, Laffy Taffy, Stouffers, Hot Pockets, MILO, Toll House and Juicy Juice will come up with to help me hold on to my muscle mass in my declining years.  I doubt they’ll be any better than the Power Bars Nestle already hustles.

Maybe… according to a new study published in the journal Hepatology.  As reported in the Los Angeles Times…

The study, published in the journal Hepatology, tracked 427 patients with fatty liver disease to see whether consumption of fructose made a difference in the progression of fatty liver to the organ’s failure. The Duke University researchers asked subjects only about how many fructose-sweetened beverages a week they drank, including fruit juices and soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup — yielding a conservative accounting, since the stuff is also used in baking and other processed foods.

…Compared to subjects who drank the least fructose beverages, those who drank the most were significantly more likely to have the hepatic scarring that will more often progress to cirrhosis or liver cancer. And older subjects who regularly consumed fructose beverages showed more signs of liver inflammation. After they stripped out the effects of age, gender and body-mass index, the researchers also found that the heavy fructose drinkers also have lower levels of HDL (or “good”) cholesterol.

The study abstract is here.  Excess dietary fructose is implicated in an array of negative health effects, so the idea that it could exacerbate liver injury/disease doesn’t seem too far fetched.

Yesterday, I noted PepsiCo’s pledge to eliminate sales of sugary soft drinks in primary and secondary schools across the world by 2012. Today, yet another mega-food conglomerate stepped up to the plate… sorta.

Kraft Foods Plans to Reduce Sodium in North American Products an Average of 10 Percent by 2012 

More Than 10 Million Pounds of Salt to be Eliminated

NORTHFIELD, Ill., March 17, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) announced today plans to reduce sodium by an average of 10 percent across its North American portfolio over the next two years. This amounts to the elimination of more than 10 million pounds — or more than 750 million teaspoons — of salt from some of North America’s most popular foods.

“We are reducing sodium because it’s good for consumers, and, if done properly, it’s good for business,” said Rhonda Jordan, President, Health & Wellness, Kraft Foods. “A growing number of consumers are concerned about their sodium intake and we want to help them translate their intentions into actions.”

Ummm… yay… I guess… although 10% isn’t exactly a huge drop, from a health perspective. For example, an Oscar Mayer turkey frank (one of the “healthy,” lower fat alternatives), contains a hefty 510mg of sodium – 1/5th of the recommended maximum daily intake. A 10% reduction brings this down to 459mg – which is still pretty high.

But still… as noted yesterday, every little bit helps, I guess.  Baby steps in the right direction are better than none.

PepsiCo. is pledging to eliminate all sales of “full sugar soft drinks” to primary and secondary schools worldwide by 2012.

PURCHASE, N.Y., March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) announced today it is voluntarily adopting a new global policy to stop sales of full-sugar soft drinks to primary and secondary schools by 2012.  The industry-leading policy establishes for the first time a consistent global approach to the sale of beverages to schools by a major beverage company.    

The policy applies in all countries outside the United States, and is generally consistent with the company’s existing U.S. policy, which remains unchanged.    

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi said:  ”We have long advocated for school settings to be made as conducive as possible to promoting the health of students, and we have programs under way with school authorities in several countries to do that.  This includes restoring or expanding physical education and promoting nutrition education.  This global policy will serve as an important part of that mission, by expanding our offerings of low-calorie and nutritious beverages.”

…The global school beverage policy continues to advance PepsiCo’s commitment to reducing calories in schools by offering students a wider range of low-calorie and nutritious beverages in appropriate portions.

PepsiCo worked with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation — a joint initiative of the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation and other beverage industry leaders — to change the mix of beverages in U.S. schools through voluntary guidelines.  The guidelines precluded the sale of full-sugar soft drinks to students in elementary and secondary schools, permitting only low-calorie drinks and portion-controlled juices, sports drinks and waters.  In early March, three years after guidelines were announced, it was reported that 98.8% of measured schools were in compliance.

While I can’t help but be a tad suspicious about PepsiCo.’s motives (i.e., this could be more of a PR move than anything else), overall, it still looks like a (small) step in the right direction.

I have to admit, I was tempted to call this post “B***h Right 4 Your Type,” in honor of the review (”Eat Right 4 Your Type“) – and subsequent comment by “Elizabeth Victoria” – that inspired it. But since I already have a post titled “Small, Angry People,” I figured I’d turn this one into a sequel. It’s not as clevah, perhaps, but the shoe (definitely) fits.

So what’s the deal?

Here’s the background:  Like most sensible people, Paul found D’Adamo’s blood type/diet “theory” to be based on pseudoscientific BS…. so he said so in his review. And, like most sensible people who write sensible things, he drew the ire of several “true believers” confused about “cause and effect.”

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Hot off the presses: another study confirming the benefits of high-intensity cardio vs. traditional, low-moderate intensity aerobics…

The usual excuse of “lack of time” for not doing enough exercise is blown away by new research published in The Journal of Physiology.

The study, from scientists at Canada’s McMaster University, adds to the growing evidence for the benefits of short term high-intensity interval training (HIT) as a time-efficient but safe alternative to traditional types of moderate long term exercise. Astonishingly, it is possible to get more by doing less!

“We have shown that interval training does not have to be ‘all out’ in order to be effective,” says Professor Martin Gibala. “Doing 10 one-minute sprints on a standard stationary bike with about one minute of rest in between, three times a week, works as well in improving muscle as many hours of conventional long-term biking less strenuously.”

…To achieve the study’s equivalent results by endurance training you’d need to complete over 10 hours of continuous moderate bicycling exercise over a two-week period.

I’ve been a fan of interval training for a long time.  I won’t lie: it can be grueling.  But it’s also mercifully short, and – more importantly – the alternating pace makes the time seem to fly by.  Whatever else it may be, it ISN”T boring.

Less time, same benefits: works for me!

Well, I’ve finally done it!

Hubby is just recently back to work, so we are back to the 3:30am mornings and this has caused me to commit myself to getting some exercise during the wee hours before I actually HAVE to be up for work.  Some mornings are rougher than others, and although the bed doesn’t succeed at luring me back to its deliciously downy depths…. the couch turns out to be a lot more comfortable at 5am than any other time of the day it seems.

However, I’ve got my little workout setup going on upstairs, exercise ball, weights (my 5lbs are MIA) yoga mat etc etc.  And now that the weather is unseasonably warm and its light enough to be seen at 6am I can get out walking… or maybe even biking once I dig it out of my parent’s basement.

Sounds great eh? Good for me!

Not so fast….

So this morning, I was out for my morning ‘powerwalk’ and I just get to the top of the hill and a car pulls over next to me.  I live in a pretty laid back neighbourhood in the middle of nowhere country and as neighbourly as we are, cars pulling over at 6am are cause for concern.  No worries though, turns out he just needed directions because of a detour at the end of the road……

seems the POLICE had it all blocked off for some unknown reason.

So I get home from my walk and my mother calls….’Lock your doors, someone just killed 3 women the next road over from ours and the police are trying to find the guy’….. Stuff like this NEVER has happened in this sleepy little country town….  There goes my morning walks.   Great, just when I was getting motivated.

I get health and fitness e-mail updates from the Washington Post, so I can’t help but be aware of columnist Jennifer LaRue Huget’s “Me Minus 10″ quest to lose 10 pounds.  She’s using her column for motivation, which is cool, in a way. Nothing like having a nation-wide audience to help you stay accountable. 

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I’m currently working on a review of Hemo-Rage – Nutrex’s contribution to the pre-workout supplement market.  To be honest, I couldn’t help comparing this:

Nutrex takes pre-workout supplementation to another level. Beyond extreme, beyond hardcore.

From the UNDERGROUND we bring you HEMO-RAGE Black one of the meanest, strongest and cruelest pre-workout detonator this planet has ever seen. We went down to the laboratory and cooked up one of the most vicious blends of raging energy inducing, strength signaling, blood volume expanding, pump activating, extreme focus enhancing, fat detonating and muscle building compounds imaginable. This wicked formula operates in a territory no other pre-workout supplement has ever dared to go. In fact we needed extra insurance to be able to bring this explosive concoction to you. HEMO-RAGE Black gets you ready for battle when you hit the dungeon for an all-out war with the weights. Welcome to the UNDERGROUND!

Make no mistake about it HEMO-RAGE Black is not for wimps. It is a dead serious pre-workout product. If you have reached a plateau and are looking for something to take your progress & workout intensity to a whole new level we dare you to uncage your inner rage with HEMO-RAGE Black. Just try one full UNDERGROUND dose and you will never want to go back to whatever pre-workout formula you are on right now!

• Wicked Pumps
• Insane Strength
• Raging Energy
• Unparalleled Size

To this:
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…which will be an “an innovative line of vitamins and nutritional products” – natch.

Peter Cunningham, Gamma’s Chief Executive Officer, commented on the initiative, “We believe the potential of the Holyfield’s Choice brand is global and virtually limitless. Evander’s truly remarkable fitness and stamina, especially at his age, is regarded with both wonder and admiration, and we believe consumers want to participate in his coveted ‘fountain of youth.’ Working closely with Evander, Gamma has specially formulated and dosed a complete line of supplements, vitamins and energy boosters that can form an important part of a health and fitness regimen designed to try to achieve the exceptional results that Evander ‘The Real Deal’ Holyfield has enjoyed for years.

Because the world definitely needs more supps, doncha know.

I’m in throes of wrapping up a major project, so – while I was aware of the Dietary Supplement Safety Act (natch!) – I missed blogging about it (I wanted to read the text first, but couldn’t spare the time).

But it looks like Senator McCain just made this a moot point.

A Senate staffer confirmed that Sen. John McCain no longer supports a bill he introduced to significantly tighten regulatory requirements for dietary supplements.

McCain offered the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, S. 3002, in February. The Arizona Republican will now collaborate with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, on revised legislation that allegedly provides for transparency and safety within the supplement industry but without the intensive regulatory intervention proposed in S. 3002. No timeline is set for introduction of a new bill.

Hatch thanks McCain for withdrawing his support of the original legislation in a March 4 letter.

“I’m counting on you to work with me to make sure this important industry does not fall prey to over-regulatory regimes and mounds of costly government bureaucracy,” Hatch writes.

Works for me. Personally, I don’t see anything majorly wrong with the existing regulatory framework.  As I see it, the primary problem is lax/uneven enforcement – a problem that would not be solved by giving the FDA even more power over the industry.

This NYT summary of a recent study doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of kids’ snacking habits:

A sweeping study of 31,337 children and adolescents released on Tuesday tracked snacking and meal trends from 1977 through 2006 using data from four national surveys. On average, children reach for cookies, chips and other treats about three times a day, consuming nearly 600 daily calories from snacks. That’s an increase of 168 snack calories compared with what children ate in the late 1970s.

…Overall, snacking now accounts for about 27 percent of an average child’s total daily calories.

Desserts like cookies and cakes remain the main source of snacking. Salty snacks like chips and pretzels have posted the biggest gains and are the second largest snack category. Candy and fruit drinks are also popular. One notable trend is that in the past few decades, fruit drinks have replaced whole fruit as a snack.

The fact that kids are getting fatter isn’t news, of course.  Nonetheless, it’s interesting to see some numbers and comparisons over time. While the increase in daily calorie intake (+113) doesn’t seem all that large, it’s more serious when you combine it with less physical activity. More cals coming in + fewer being burned = fatter kids.

Study abstract here.

As I’m sure y’all know, there are a number of bogus supplement “review” sites on the internet.  Of course, they’re really supp ads in disguise. Brands that the site owners get commissions for are “reviewed” positively, natch, while competing products are slammed. In fact, this “bait-and-switch” is so common, I’m not surprised to see various characters assume UltimateFatBurner.com rolls this way.

In other words, we’re presumed ”guilty until proven innocent.”

This was certainly the ‘tude that Darren Beale (Business Development Manager for Soula, Ltd) had on display last week:

“You also clearly try to portray a negative view of Proactol for your own gain (by selling your own set of products to the customer). Despite any pretences of making the review appear ‘fair’, your review is quite obviously designed to sell your own products, or direct them to an EBOOK which then sells them different products.”

This is a calumny, of course, for which Paul has yet to receive an apology.  I’m not holding my breath, however (neither is he…).

This ”presumption of guilt” works against us in other ways, too.  For example, Paul’s inbox gets littered with various ”promotional opportunities” on a regular basis. Not surprisingly, these are for products that don’t… *ahem*… quite measure up to UFB.com standards. 

Like the one he forwarded to me today…
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