January 21st, 2009
Weight loss Market Worth Over 60 Billion This Year???
I’m going to save all of you some time, and some of you some money.
- 99.99% of weight loss products out there are B.S. and the .01% that have any value, are of very little value.
- Most of them are dangerous to your health.
- Just because a doctor wrote it doesn’t make it so. Doctors are people just like you and I and they are equally motivated by greed.
The fact that there is a 60 billion dollar market for weight loss and somewhere near 20 billion of that is spent on herbal supplements of some kind goes to show that Americans are looking for the quick fix. The magic pill. The easy way out.
STOP!!!!
Do you want to help fix the economy? Spend your 60 billion this year on fruits and vegetables. I’ve met some farmers and they are generally nice people who would thank you greatly. How about purchasing a gym membership or maybe some walking / running shoes.
Are you looking for answers? The answer is simple, its fear that stops you from seeing it.
If you want to lose weight, then;
Eat less calories then you burn during the day.
If you want to stay alive longer;
Make sure those calories come from nutrient rich foods and not junk.
If you eat a balance of the right foods, you don’t have to count calories. There is no way to get too many. 1 lb of leafy greens such as spinach contains aprox. 100 calories. Aprox. 80 calories in an apple, 118 in a banana, 131 in an orange. If we focused our food intake so that it consisted of 90% of fruits and vegetables, most of us would lose substantial weight.
Now I know I’ve said this before but I always get the same questions. Which diet are you on? How many calories do you take in per day? and What supplements should I take?
I’ve lost 46 lbs between Sept 1 2008, and Jan 20th 2009 and I’m still losing weight quickly. I don’t currently take supplements, I don’t count calories, I just exercise, eat healthy (mostly fruits and vegetables) and the weight is coming off. You can do this also.
If you’re still hell bent on spending your part of the 60 billion, there is a donate button on the upper right hand corner of the blog. Send some $$$ to me, I’ll pay my gym membership off and buy some veggies.
Good health and Good night.
While I believe all the statistics in this article to be fairly accurate they are rough estimates and are meant to make a point. I didn’t spend hours verifying their sources because even if the actually number was a fraction of what I’ve stated, my points would remain the same.
Categories: rants and gripes |
Tags: fad diets, magic pill, weight loss | 5 Comments
January 16th, 2009
Just Because You’re Not Obese, Doesn’t Mean You’re healthy.
I’ve seen my share of seemingly healthy people recovering from heart attacks, on blood pressure medications, and other medical issues that people relate to being out of shape. Why do you think this happens? I like to break the issue up into two parts; internal health and external appearance.
Most people are concerned with external appearance. Our gut, our big butts etc.. For external appearance, the simple fact is, is that if you want to be skinny all you need to do is consume fewer calories then you burn through out the day. This is nothing new I’ve said it time and time again here.
I was at a meeting with a local doctor, Dr. Doug Pray, who focuses on nutrition and overall health and he had an interesting point to this. He spoke about being able to create a diet from any of your favorite foods and have you lose weight. You like chocolate… a chocolate diet it is… All you ever eat is chocolate. Now if you consume less calories on your chocolate diet then you burn in a day you will lose weight. It’s that simple. There is one major flaw in this picture and Dr. Doug Pray pointed this out. You can’t stick to it. (This is the classic example of why I don’t use the word diet, its temporary.) At some point you will need to move on to other foods and will most likely gain all the weight back plus some.
The flipside to external appearance is internal health. Using the example above, “The chocolate diet”, do you believe in anyway your body would be getting the nutrients it needs to thrive? Now you may “survive” but you’d be amazed at what a person can live through.
The body needs vitamins, protein, fiber, water and minerals to thrive. There are very few foods on this planet that contain all these in one source (hint the ones that do are green and grow from the ground.) This is why single food diets are rarely good for you. Even strict vegetarians run the risk of severe vitamin B12 deficiencies.
What is most important is the balance between internal health and external appearance. Internal health provides energy and self healing. The external appearance is the mental / physiological and social.
I agree the two are usually related. It’s hard to be internally healthy and not be thin. Most people who are, should be quickly on their way to becoming thin…(losing weight).
Take me for example at 296 lbs (down from 337) considered by most doctors to be morbidly obese, I would bet that I’m in better shape internally then most of fellow Americans. Here are my stats as of 1 week ago.
Height: 5’10
Weight: 298
Blood pressure: 138/77 (less then on our after my 1000 cal elliptical routine)
Total Non-Fasting Cholesterol CHOL: 190
Alanine Aminotransferase ALT: 29
How is this so, It’s all about food consumption and exercise. I gave up soda in 1997. I very rarely eat anything that is processed, fast food, or refined. And I’m in the gym 6 days a week.
Now some of these changes have only happened recently and my “external appearance” will eventually catch up with my internal health.
There is the key.. If you take care of your internal health, you’re external heath will eventually catch up.
How do you do this? The best way I know, includes a permanent healthy meal plan, and lots of good old fashion work exercising.
Books to read people to see:
- “Eat to Live” by Joel Furman, M.D.
- Dr. Doug Pray in Tulsa, OK is a Chiropractor and nutritional expert. With some very sound advice. 918-712-2220
Categories: rants and gripes |
8 Comments
January 2nd, 2009
Why not a fat tax?
Now I don’t disagree with taxes on cigarettes, because we know the health risks and quite frankly I can’t stand the smell.
There are various people primarily in New York that are trying to pass tax laws into effect that would tax sugary drinks such as soda or any non-dietary drinks that is less than 70% fruit juice. Now I don’t even drink soda. I haven’t since Jan of 1995 (rarely I’ll have a caffeine free root beer, I treat as if it were candy.) Why would I care?
What’s next a tax on people who are over a certain body mass index (BMI)?
Top 5 reasons why this is a bad bad idea:
1) Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Let’s start here.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –Declaration of Independence
Let’s see liberty is commonly defined as: The freedom to act or believe without being stopped by unnecessary force.
Pursuit of Happiness– although I’m not happy with my body and I’m working to improve it… That’s my pursuit. I know plenty of people who wouldn’t fit the description of fit (by BMI standards) who are very happy with their life.
2) Since when has the government’s involvement with anything ever made things better? (This really scares me when it comes to fixing the economy).
3) Where does it stop? The government is known for ever expanding… this just opens the door for a whole lot of badness.
4) No change in the world is permanent by force. It has to be a choice. People must make the choice to live how they desire or at some point they will stand up and revolt.
5) Introducing new taxes during a recession that’s going depression, is a dumb idea.
What could and should be done:
- Educated people on the addictiveness of sugar. The impact of sugary drinks on your body and processed sugar in general. (This will require new unbiased studies by medical personnel not influenced by Corps and big pharmaceutical. Harder than trying to find a jury member for an OJ trial.)
January is International Sugar Free Month. Read: http://olsonnd.com/think-you-can-go-30-days-without-any-sugar/
- Remove soda machines from school systems (already done in some states). Not just soda all sugary drinks. If parents want their kids to have it they can send it in their lunch pail.
- If people are educated and make the choice to consume these products. Then so be it. It’s a choice, back off.
Hey politicians! You’ve tried to regulate things in the past… How’d that work out for you? I can just see it now… Having to go to the wrong side of town to get some sugar, candy, and fast food from the local crack dealer.
Good life, Good Health and Good luck …
Categories: rants and gripes |
Tags: fat, stupid idea, tax | 8 Comments
December 21st, 2008
Ok.. This is one of the rare occasions where you get to here me complain.
There should be unwritten rules for going to a public gym.
- Cover thy body… (if you’re not hot cover it up…if you think your hot ask someone you’ve never slept with to be sure.) Hell if you are hot cover it up… it’s distracting…
- I’m a heavy guy.. I don’t go to the gym in short shorts and low cut tank tops .. no one wants to see that… So why do others come to the gym with their stuff all hanging out… ick…
- No perfume… come on, some of us have to breath the air at the gym… when you come up beside us on the exercise machines smelling like someone pulled a prank on you and soaked your cloths in cheap perfume… it makes us sick.. One of these days I’m just going to turn an vomit in one of their faces .. straight up..
- If the guy on the machine appears to be watching something on the TV. Its not ok to change it without asking.
- If the person next to you looks like they are trying to work out.. (have a sweat broken.. maybe even soaked …) DON’T CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT LIKE TURNING ON A HUGE FAN FACING HIM WITHOUT ASKING. Again some day I’m just going to be at that point where I think I could hurl and the right person is going to be there..
- If a person has headphones on and is working their ass off … don’t try to strike up a conversation … If they wanted to talk to you they’d turn off their music and approach you. Take a hint.
- Check your ego a the door… I see way to many people about to get hurt at the gym or getting hurt and wondering why.. YOUR NOT NEARLY AS STRONG AS THE NEXT GUY AND THAT’S OK.. work out with a little common sense and you’ll be amazed at how strong you become over time.
- Don’t ask other members questions about machines… they really don’t know and will just lie to you so they don’t feel like complete idiots … if there isn’t information on the machine ask an employee of the gym.. They may not know either but at least you didn’t waste someones working out time trying to fill the void in your intelligence.
- Take care of your screaming kids… The daycare facility at the gym is for your convenience.. just make sure its not to the inconvenience of everybody else at the gym.
- Wash / wipe down the machines when you done … no one wants to sit in your puddle of sweat. Besides … this is how staph infections and other nasty stuff gets started in gyms.
- Work out or go home. If the place is busy try to keep the chatter down or at least move away from the equipment when you decide to exercise the lip and jaw muscles … This way the rest of us can get our workout in.
Rant complete….
Categories: rants and gripes |
Tags: etiquette, gym, rant, rules | No Comments
