Food-Labeling Voodoo: Serving Size Manipulation

My friend Dr. Jonny Bowden's got this all figured out.  Find out below in this guest post, just how manipulated us consumers are by big (food) business.  You won't believe this!

How to REALLY read a label

Suppose for the moment that you are a manufacturer of little yellow snack cakes with a creamy filling inside.  

The "recipe" calls for tons of hydrogenated oil or partially hydrogenated oil, both of which are trans-fats. In the past, this manufacturer could easily get away with using all the trans-fats he wanted. After all, there’s no listing for trans-fats on the label, and for a long time most people didn’t know that partially hydrogenated oil was the definition of trans-fats.

But now people are paying attention. 

Turkey Apple Walnut Goodness

This recipe was given to me by my friend Evelyne Lambrecht of Health Coach San Diego (www.healthcoachsd.com.) Evelyne is a talented, educated, high-energy health coach based in the San Diego, CA area.  This is really a tasty and balanced breakfast creation that she passed along to us; thanks Evelyne! We love it.

Now for a REAL breakfast of champions

The Charlie Francis Training System

Old school training for TODAY'S sprinter

I first discovered The Charlie Francis Training System through Bret Contreras, someone whose work I admire and respect. Only available in Kindle edition, I wasn’t sure what to expect from an interview with a 1980’s track and field coach conducted by the coach’s wife; but it was excellent. Becoming acquainted with this coach and his athletes was more of an education than I anticipated.

Does anyone remember sprinter Ben Johnson for his incredible athletic talent and superiority as an athlete? Some do. but sadly, most people remember Ben Johnson for being the first athlete in the modern games to be stripped of his gold medals after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. What a shame. Johnson was a dedicated athlete who gave his all to be one of the greatest athletes of his day.

Valslide Hamstring Curls

Valslide Hamstring Curls - before and after

Valslides are the invention of celebrity personal trainer Valerie Waters.  Val had the clever idea of taking two pieces of plastic and gluing a square of foam rubber to each of them, packaging them, selling them, and is now getting rich. Actually, I don’t know how rich she is or isn't but the Valslide is a clever idea and lots of trainers in the fitness industry now use her tool.
 
The idea is, on a carpeted surface, these little pieces of plastic allow you to slide around and perform both upper and lower body exercises that challenge your core while also challenging other muscle groups at the same time for a total body exercise.