It’s resolution season, as I call it! Come this January, everyone will be making the move to shed the weight gained from all that Christmas fruit cake. Ok maybe not from fruit cake, but from the turkey, potatoes, grandma’s apple pie, cookies, wine, etc. You can add me to this list. Like last year, I decided to do a fat loss workout program and I really enjoyed it. I will do the same for 2010, but this time I’d like you to join me!

So my workout plan will be 16 weeks long and will be a variation of the one I did last year. Of course, it will stay true to my Three Pillars to Sexy Six Pack Abs principles. Ok, so here are the components:

Diet: Google various sites to find out what your maintenance caloric intake is. Subtract that by 500 calories. Divide this by 5. This is the number of calories you’ll be eating per meal. Eating 5 meals a day will start to increase your body’s metabolism. Soon it will hunger at regular intervals throughout the day and you won’t eat one or two heavy meals.

Ensure that the foods you eat are high in fibre, protein, and contain some natural fats (eg. Olive oil, nuts.) Another way to look at it: ensure that the foods you eat have a low glycemic index rating. (Click here for glycemic index food chart)

For example, you can eat bread and pastas, but make sure the portion is controlled to coincide with your caloric intake/meal and that the pasta or bread is whole wheat/grain as the glycemic index is lower compared to white bread or pasta.

Resistance Training: Incorporate various exercises using your own body weight, resistance bands or weights into your workout routine. That means we’re doing pushups, squats, bicep curls, etc.

The trick here, however, is that we’ll be doing what they call supersets. Here, we’ll be doing one exercise and move into the next exercise with no break.

For example, you do 10 reps of bicep curls, and then move into 15 body squats without a break in between exercises. After you’re done, you rest for 30 seconds. Changing your workout routine to this format further increases your body’s metabolism as the workout is almost cardiovascular, unlike the typical muscle-building workout. At the same time, because it is resistance training, you’ll gain muscle and the muscle cells will require energy from your diet and, more importantly, from your fat stores.

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT): Toss away the typical 45 minute treadmill routine. Instead, you will be breaking up your cardio session into rounds. Each round will consist of all-out sprints, followed by steady paced cardio to recover from the sprinting.

HIIT can be as short as 20 minutes! The beautiful part of HIIT, is not what it does during the workout, but what it does AFTER. You see, because you’ve sprinted so hard during HIIT, your resting metabolic rate is increased so that your body will actually burn calories throughout the day!

In fact, the 20 minutes of HIIT will burn more calories at the end of the day compared to that of just doing steady state cardio on the stationery bike for 45 minutes.

I realize that I’ve thrown a lot of information at you today. To help, I will focus on the individual component (diet, resistance training, and HIIT) in future posts. In addition, I will lay out the exact routine, equipment used, exercises, what days, how many reps, etc for your reference.

Bottom line: Do this program with me, and you’ll have sexy abs as proof that you’ve followed through in your new years resolution.

For my article on the 3 Pillars To Sexy Six Pack Abs, click here.

It is a drowsy December Monday morning, as I make my way up to my office. “Perfect time for a dose of coffee.” I think to myself. Instead of heading down to the lunch room where a fresh cup of Joe awaits me every morning, I reach into my right pocket for the tiny red bottle of 5-hour Energy. Will this give me the kick I’m looking for?

Label Design:
The tiny red bottle contains a single shot of the energy drink at just under 60 ml. The label itself, designed in a red, yellow and black colour scheme looks anything like a beverage container but instead reminds me of a bottle of engine-cleaning fluid you would find at the local automotive store to give your car that extra boost in performance. The label design has a silhouette of man sprinting up a mountain – this label was either designed by a man or for a man.

Health Claim:
On the label, it states that 5-Hour Energy is for “Hours of Energy Now” and “No Crash Later.” Directions of use is fairly straight forward – take the entire bottle now for maximum energy and for moderate energy, take half the bottle now and half later.

Regulatory Compliance:
The physical size of the bottle limits how the information is presented, but it does a fairly good job. Caution statements are there, as well as how to take the product. Medicinal ingredients and their amounts are listed. One thing to note: a proprietary blend “Energy Blend” is listed as its own ingredient with an amount of 1870 mg. Unfortunately, in the Canadian Regulations for Health Products, proprietary blends are NOT allowed and the label must disclose the amounts within the proprietary blend. Also to note, non-medicinal ingredients are listed as “other ingredients” while the Regulations state that it must be listed under the heading of “non-medicinal ingredients.” I also confirmed with the distributor that 5 hour Energy does have an NPN submission in queue. Good to see. Practically speaking, I don't think the average consumer would really concern themselves too much with these points - I'm simply speaking from a compliance perspective.

Taste:
To open, you’ll have to remove the safety seal and give the cap a good twist. The smell: a citrusy-orange smell – similar to that of sugar free orange soda. A quick taste and the drink is carbonated/fizzy and tastes much like warm orange pop with the signature sugar-free after taste from the Sucralose. Overall, not bad. Not great, but I’d say better than Red Bull and considering, it’s only a shot’s worth of liquid, it’s over fairly quick.

Does it work?
So the product is supposed to give me a good boost, perhaps about the same as that of a cup of coffee as hinted on the label. After about an hour, I was feeling its effects. My heart was racing and I’m a lot more alert than I was an hour ago. I’m a little bit more on the jittery side than that of my normal coffee buzz, but it’s nothing too drastic. My mouth is a little dry as well – similar effects as coffee in my experience. What I find interesting is that given the tiny dose, it sure packs a kick.

Side Effects:

5 hours after taking the shot…

As claimed, I didn’t experience any crash. Mind you, however, I didn’t crash from Red Bull either. One of the side effects reported with the use of 5 Hour Energy drink is niacin-related skin flushing. I didn’t experience this either.

12 hours after taking the shot…

Still no crash. I’ve been able to keep to my daily routines fairly well and if anything, feel more energetic than usual. I’m not as hopped as I was earlier today, but I was able to squeeze in my gym routine with more desire to do so than usual and managed to get some Christmas shopping done. No problem on my end.

Bottom Line: I would recommend this product if you need the occasional boost in energy. Note: As with all energy drinks, I wouldn’t advocate its long-term use. This is just my opinion. That said, this product works and I wouldn’t hesitate to keep another bottle of 5 Hour Energy in my office or back pocket to battle a case of the Mondays.

If you're interested in buying this product or similar ones, please browse Well.ca (link provided to the right). They offer free shipping and very competitive pricing! Enjoy! Post your comments and feedback or your own mini-review!

For my review of Red Bull Energy Drink, click here.

I came across Marrion Nestle’s most recent post regarding FDA’s warning letter to Nestlé (no relation to Marrion) regarding the misbranding of Juicy Juice. I won’t get into the specifics here but she said something that caught my attention right away:

“Health claims, as I keep pointing out, are about marketing, not health.”

Oh so true.

Nestlé is a multi-billion dollar food company, raking in $102 billion in sales last year and still, it gets caught with not one, but two FDA warning letters!

How could Nestlé let that happen? A company that big must have its own legal resources, regulatory department and years of industry experience to boot, right? But this is obviously not the case and let me tell you why.

I’ve seen this time and time again. When it comes to making business decisions, in particular to adding a specific marketing health claim, it comes down to this:

How much will it improve sales? vs. What is the impact if we get caught?

If the impact is small (of which it generally is), you just know the business decision is to go with whatever the marketing department wants. And this is exactly what happened.

This is why you also see Cheerios claiming that their cereal can lower cholesterol levels by 10%...and why the FDA scolded them for that.

Or why Dannon had to pull their ‘immunity’ claim off their probiotic yogurt drinks.

As the line between dietary supplement and food product blurs, you’ll see more and more of these companies gambling with their marketing health claims to increase their bottom line.

But when you’re as big as Nestlé, it is your duty to set a good example of how to properly comply with government regulations, and to provide responsible and truthful marketing claims.

Take the high road and, yes, that may mean you’ll have to opt for the less exciting health claim, but your advantage is product quality, dependability and brand awareness – focus on that. Don’t cheap out and slap on misleading label claims like your competitors.

Bottom line: When you’re as big as Nestlé, you will get caught.

For Marion Nestle's post, click here.

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In my previous post, I talked about how Health Canada’s attempt at regulating health products may have done more harm then good. But Health Canada isn’t the only culprit here. Industry has also encouraged the backlog with sly tactics, misinterpretation of the guidance documents and sloppy product license applications.

Whether it was a lack of instruction on Health Canada’s part, or the Industry just playing dumb, there is no question that the backlog of submissions has been a complete nightmare for Health Canada since the beginning. But beyond questionable decision making and inconsistent submission processing on Health Canada’s part, let’s take a look at what Industry has done to contribute to the problem:

Applied for the sake of a submission number. It’s known that some companies and consultants opted to submit blank PLA’s, with the exception of only completing the applicant information section. At that time, NHPD would actually assign a submission number to a practically blank PLA and then follow up for additional information in a Processing Deficiency Notice.

Last Minute IRN Response. For reasons of whether they’ve got more pressing issues to handle to utter procrastination, many applicants would use the entire 30, 60 days or longer to respond to the PDN or IRN (information request notice). All Health Canada can do is to wait before proceeding any further with the application.

Misinterpretation of the guidance documents. Applicants complete the application form incorrectly (eg. dose, dosage form, recommended purpose, source material. In some cases, applicants do not include or are aware of the requirement for a combination rationale or additive effect calculation form for multiple-ingredient products.

Submit too much. Applicants provide too much information for the application – submitting 10+ journal articles, abstracts and the safety and efficacy report. This leaves much for the assessment officer to digest, taking up more time for review.

Submit too little or not the right evidence. Applicants would submit one or two abstracts from PubMed and not the entire article. Or, in many cases, would submit an article that investigates a different species of plant (eg. Siberian ginseng vs. Panax ginseng).

Argue with NHPD. On many occasions, applicants would dispute the ruling of the assessment officer. This would result in the officer having to talk to his/her superior for further direction on the ruling, taking up more time for processing. Although, I must admit, due to the lack of experience of the assessment officer(s) or inconsistencies in decision-making, disputing the assessor’s ruling has been justified.

Consultant Greed. Unfortunately, some companies would submit on the advice of their consultant not knowing they have little to no chance of ever receiving an NPN for their product. This only adds to the backlog, while the consultants bill the companies for the costs to apply.

Bottom Line: Industry has been part of the problem all along. It’s easy to shake our head at Health Canada in disappointment, but we’re just as guilty as they are. The question is: “knowing what we know now, what can WE do about it?” For my post on how Health Canada has hurt the industry, click here.

Product Preview: Probiotic Gum

Thanks to SocialNature for bringing this one to my attention. CulturedCare Probiotics is providing a brand new way to experience the health benefits of probiotics – in gum form: Probiotic Gum with BLIS K12. You can find its website here. You'll find that they're actually giving gum away!

Instead of the generic “intestinal health” claim that plague the probiotic market, CulturedCare claims their product provides defense against harmful bacteria and viruses that enter through the nose and mouth.

I really look forward to trying this product out. With 500 billion active CFU and a raspberry-pomegranate flavour, CulturedCare probiotic gum promises to be something great. Hope it is!

I'll have the review for you as soon as I get my hands on some.

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I’m going to tell you that your favourite restaurant is secretly sucking cash out of your wallet.

I’m not referring to product downsizing (where quantity or volume of a product is decreased, yet the price stays the same). No, it’s something more sinister for we can’t see it happening nor really control it, since we’re not even aware of it. It’s not as explicit as a new picture on the menu. Instead, the restaurants are capitalizing on our eating psychology, as we unknowingly pay more for their food and keep coming back.

Eating psychology? What’s that? Think of eating psychology as a science that answers “Why do people eat one food over the other?” There are psychologists who observe how shoppers roam a fashion boutique and to tailor the store according to their behavior to maximize sales. Similarly, the eating psychologist figures out what makes one person eat something or eat more of something over something else.

Dr. Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating, is an expert in this field. Now this guy has a PhD on this topic and has created a scientifically controlled setting to test his theories. Similar to the CSI tech situated in his lab, Dr. Wansink uses a laboratory that looks exactly like any other typical restaurant. It is in this lab-restaurant that many restaurant corporations try out new recipes, new wines, new flavors, etc to see how well it will do in the market.

Interestingly, Dr. Wansink investigated the effect of customer perception of food taste and quality, simply based on how foods are labeled. For example,

• Red beans with rice vs. traditional Cajun red beans with rice
• Chicken parmesan vs. home-style chicken parmesan
• Chocolate pudding vs. satin chocolate pudding

Guess what? Foods labeled with descriptive names sold 27% more, and the descriptively labeled foods were rated as more appealing and tastier than the identical non-descriptively named foods. Even more interestingly, the subjects who ate the descriptively labeled foods also rated the venue as more appealing. To add folks, the experiment was controlled for venue, food, preparation – everything. The only difference was in how the food was described.

This is why a mediocre burger at McDonalds can be called the Angus burger or Cactus Club calling it the Jack Daniels Bacon Cheddar burger. Brand names are cool, right? So just imagine how much better the food will be when you attach the brand name on the menu!

The same happens with wine. In Dr. Wansink’s lab-restaurant, subjects were divided into two sections of the restaurant. One side was given “North Dakota Wine” and the other given “California Wine”. The wine actually given to all subjects was a cheap $2 wine. As expected, the ones drinking California wine were more satisfied and rated the quality of wine as high, while those drinking North Dakota wine was not as well-liked.

So what can we learn from this? Well, for one, restaurants justify the higher price point with more descriptive menu naming. For two, with the more descriptive naming, we’ll eat more of the food because we’re pre-programmed to like it. For three, perhaps the burger you’re eating at that restaurant really isn’t any more different than a Costco burger you fried on the grill at home, and for much cheaper.

Bottom Line: When it comes to dining out, know that you’re not getting your money’s worth.

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Picked this up today while shopping: Exact(TM) CoQ10 Gummy Supplements. The gummy dosage form caught my attention right away. I'm always curious to see how the Natural Health Product Industry will innovate given the tighter regulations and here is a great example - CoQ10 gummies.

And when it comes to making the product more palatable, I'm all for that.

The product is peach flavoured and it also has an NPN: 80005733. I look forward to doing a more in depth review - see how it tastes and if I notice any health benefits.

People, my eyes are always open to the next new thing. If anything catches your eyes, please forward it my way!

I apologize for the photo quality - this was taken on my cell.

Review to come...

Ever wanted to know what is the proper way to wash your hands? Let’s assume you don’t have those automatic hand dryers and the sensor-automated faucets. How do you wash your hands in a way so that you don’t get germs on it right after washing from shutting off the water, dispensing paper towel or touching the door handle? READ ON, my friends.

• Dispense paper towel so that it’s free to tear off the dispenser.
• Turn on the faucet, dispense soap and work up a good lather.
• Be sure to rub BETWEEN your fingers!
• Continue scrubbing for a total of 20 seconds (tip: sing the Alphabet song)
• With the faucet on, proceed to drying your hands with the paper towel
• With the paper towel in hand, turn off the faucet.
• With the paper towel in hand, use that to grab the door handle as you exit the washroom
• Toss the paper towel into the nearest garbage.

There you have it - the proper way to wash your hands! And it’s also the GMP way to wash your hands. And I’m sure you’ll find this very handy the next time you catch yourself in the mall food-court washroom this holiday season.

Bottom Line: wash your hands or die. ok, maybe not. But why wouldn't you want to wash your hands?

With all the news about H1N1, the H1N1 flu vaccine and given that the cold and flu season is underway, I thought it’d be most appropriate to review EchiniMax 50ml Tincture by WN Pharmaceuticals, a natural health product to help get over thee common cold and flu.

The grape flavored EchinaMax tincture comes in a dark 50 ml bottle. The dropper, which also functions as the bottle top, is attached to a safety seal for your protection and the bottle itself is fairly tinted to minimize degradation from ambient lighting. In terms of label design, I would say it’s a standard issue label with fairly bland art and colour scheme, common within the industry. Nothing really eye popping in my opinion. The information on the label is mandatory (eg. dosage, indication, caution statements), unfortunately, the font is small so I do find myself squinting as I attempt to decipher the letters from the words. That said, my eyes aren’t great to being with. I’m sure it’s quite alright to you healthy vision people.

In terms of regulatory compliance, there is no NPN stamped onto this product, which would tell us that safety, efficacy and quality has not been reviewed/approved by Health Canada at this time (for more information regarding unlicensed products sold on the market, click here). Upon further contact with WN Pharmaceuticals, they informed me of their submission undergoing assessment. The written information on the label (eg. health claim, caution statements, medicinal ingredients), are, for the most part, formatted as per the Regulations. I did notice that the mandatory “Non-Medicinal Ingredients” heading on the label was missing. Nothing too critical in my opinion.

So cracking this bottle open…the dropper has two markers: one indicating a 0.5mL dose and another at a 1.0 mL dose. The odor is pleasant – sugary grape with the familiar herbal undertones of echinacea. Certainly pleasant overall. How does it taste? Not bad! The grape flavor really does it for me – it’s really sweet, but for the purposes of masking the medicinal taste of echinacea, it really does the trick. I’ve also tried the cherry flavor and the regular flavor. Regular is pretty gross and cherry just seemed a bit too artificial for me (not that grape is anymore natural). I should also mention that the product is alcohol free, which I prefer. I don’t really like that burning feeling of alcohol. The glycerin/water mixture goes down smoother, coating your sore throat.

So does this product work? Before I answer that, let’s look at the theoretical. The label says this product is a “Traditional herbal medicine for the relief of sore throats due to colds.” But before I answer whether the product works, what does the research say? Well, Health Canada has published a monograph, where they’ve reviewed the available scientific evidence and present all the claims one could make, assuming the product reflects all conditions stated in the monograph (eg. dosage, dosage form, etc). Sure, the wording isn’t exactly the same, but for me, I’d say the intentions are on par (eg. treatment of colds, coughs) Theoretically, EchinaMax has potential.

So does it REALLY work? Surprisingly, yes! I have a history of bronchitis and asthma. Any time I get a cold that turns into a horrible cough, the asthma and bronchitis kicks in and, like clockwork, I’ve always found myself having to go to the doctor for antibiotics. And just so you know, this would be after 2-3 weeks of me battling sleepless, un-breathable nights hoping that my body can handle the bug and not having to resort to antibiotics. It was actually a co-worker that introduced me to the product. I was reluctant but he gave me one to try for free, so I gave it a shot. At the onset of the cough, I would administer the tincture and my cough went away by itself. Sure, I still got a cough, but it never materialized into bronchitis!

Since then, I’ve used this product religiously. I always keep an unopened bottle stocked at home. Why? Well, I’ve tweaked my own dose over the years: instead of 1 mL 3 times daily as indicated on the label, I would administer 3 ml/dose and do that every 4 hours at the onset of a scratchy throat. I usually feel better by the next day, but I’ve found that the secret is to keep that high dosage for the next few days even though you may not need it, just to make sure that all the bugs are “killed off” in a sense. Oh, and of course, to always get a good nights rest throughout the treatment.

It’s been at least 2 years now since I’ve added EchinaMax to my arsenal and I’ve only had to go to the doc once for a round of antibiotics for my bronchitis. Not bad, considering I was going maybe twice a year or so before then.

Bottom line: EchinaMax tastes good and it works. The trick is to take it at the onset of the cold and to continue treatment even after you feel better for a few days.

Downside: I went through it like that and, as it retails for around $15-20/bottle retail (cheaper if you buy online), it may cost more than a bottle of antibiotics covered under your employers medical plan.

DISCLAIMER: you should always follow the directions on the packaging. If you don’t, take it at your risk.

If you're interested in buying this product or similar ones, please browse Well.ca (link provided to the right). They offer free shipping and very competitive pricing! Enjoy! Post your comments and feedback or your own mini-review!

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Health Canada has managed to make every possible mistake in its well-intentioned attempt at regulating the natural health products industry. Looking at what has been done - not what has been said, or meant to do - The Natural Health Products Directorate’s (NHPD) achievements can be summed up in two words: “backlog” and “deficit.”

(Look, before I get into details - let me make it clear that I believe Health Canada's intention to regulate natural health products is a good thing. My gripe is, simply, how they've attempted to do so. The industry needs quality control at the government level - no doubt about that. But, there's also no doubt that Health Canada has shot themselves in the foot while having backed themselves up against a wall...and a hard place. Enough cliches and back to it...)

The backlog of submissions requiring assessment has plagued the Directorate since day 1. And although they’ve claimed they have processed about 75% of the applications, what they really mean to say is that they’ve managed to change the rules to refuse as many applications as possible. Let me give you some examples:

1) Safety and efficacy evidence requirements changed in 2005/2006. What this resulted in was 2 years worth of applications that didn’t satisfy the newly imposed evidence requirements, allowing NHPD to refuse the submission altogether. In many cases, NHPD allowed the applicants (60 days or longer) to submit additional evidence to meet the new requirements. Guess what? That just meant more submissions would hold up the line, increasing the backlog. Add to that, submissions that were refused would be re-submitted and added to the lengthy queue in line.

2) Assessment of a product was rarely consistent. I recall handling some lycopene NPN submissions – one received an NPN with a prostate health claim and another that could not be approved with a prostate health claim. Both had the same dose, dosage form and evidence. Apparently an internal decision was made (of course, never announced) that a prostate health claim could not be granted for future lycopene products, so I was told. Those that have been granted an NPN were allowed to keep it, however. (Way to keep a level playing field, NHPD!) Companies now have to suffer a sales loss as a result of NHPD’s inability to consistently review a product. Six months later a lycopene monograph with a prostate health claim was released. What a waste of my time and the applicant’s dollars.

3) Reputable references aren’t good enough. The text books, health references, and similar documents used to teach naturopathic doctors are not considered to be strong enough evidence to support a health claim. Instead, Health Canada requires human clinical trial evidence. Sure, I understand the need for this. But doesn’t this undermine any expertise of legitimate alternative medicine and naturopathic doctors?

4) Inconsistent quality assessment. Some assessment officers thought you required testing at the finished product level. Others thought it was ok to test at the raw material level. I don’t know how many countless back and forth correspondence was made to sort this out. Even after I was informed by the Management Head of Quality that testing could be performed at the raw material level, assessment officers still weren’t informed and continued to accept ONLY testing performed at the finished product level.

These are just some of the example - barely tip of the iceberg. What does this mean to consumers, to tax payers, to industry? It means, more applications get held up, the backlog increases, more tax payer dollars are required to process these submissions, and more costs (eg. assessment fees, cost recovery) will be required from industry.

The primary challenge facing NHPD is this backlog. There is monumental pressure by government to clear this up. They’ve done all they could to refuse as many applications as possible and to approve all the simple applications. The problem, however, is if NHPD keeps on refusing applications, products can’t be sold, industry can’t make money, and therefore, NHPD can’t recover the cost to run its directorate.

Industry, on the other hand, can’t market innovative products for fear of submission refusal. Instead, they stick to simple products (fish oil, vitamin C, etc) as only those will be approved by Health Canada. So now you have a stagnant market flooded with vitamin C, fish oil, and garlic capsules. Specialized formulations, new ingredients, etc have a slim to none chance at getting approved. The end result: the market suffers for lack of innovation and consumers suffer as they lack variety in health solutions. Without innovation, without variety and competition, without consumer choice – the industry suffers. Revenue drops, companies close down, and NHPD is axed because they’ve essentially become a money pit.

It’s a grim picture…

Bottom Line: Health Canada needs to implement radical industry-developed solutions, not pharmaceutical legislation. In addition, the department needs to be run like a business with quality control measures at every step of the assessment process. Stop wasting our money NHPD and get your act together already!

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Have you noticed: everyone's on a diet, but no one's losing weight!

When it comes to staying fit, the formula is always the same: cardio + resistance training + good diet = hot body. I call these factors the “three pillars.” The Three Pillar concept does not discriminate between the sexes. Contrary to general perception (that’s right, ladies), in order to get that fit and toned look you’ll need to resistance train, add cardio to your routine and ensure a healthy diet.

There is one underlying principle found common in each pillar – increase your metabolism.

1) Resistance training – (Ladies: You WON’T get butch.) Keep the weights light and the reps up; just make sure you work an intensity high enough that you’re breathing hard and sweating. For example, do 10-20 pushups and quickly follow it up with 20-30 body squats without a break in between. Rest for 30 seconds and do it again. You’ll be dripping in sweat in no time.

2) Cardio training – Do NOT go on the bike or treadmill for 30-40+ minutes. Instead, sprint (or exert yourself in a particular activity – bike, shadow boxing, etc – as fast as you can, as hard as you can) in divided rounds.
For example:

a. Jog 5 minutes to warm-up
b. Sprint for 1 minute
c. Steady pace for 2 minutes
*Step b and c is considered one round
d. Repeat b and c 2 more times, for a total of 3 rounds
e. Jog 5 minutes to cool down

3) Diet – Eat 6 small meals throughout the day, instead of the conventional 3 meals. First Google your maintenance caloric intake. For example, let’s say it takes 2000 calories a day to stay the same weight based on your height, weight, age and regular physical activity. To lose weight, you’ll want to subtract ~500 calories from that number and divide that by the number of meals you are going to have. So that works out to be around 250 calories per meal. You’ll have to tweak this as each person is different and the numbers are approximate. You’re never full, but you don’t want to be hungry. Also, keep in mind that as you increase your resistance and cardio training, you’re going to have to increase your dietary intake a bit to make up for that (so you don’t pass out during a workout!).

Although there’s a plethora of training programs out there, the good ones always follow or incorporate the principles of the three pillars. Each pillar is designed to increase your metabolism. It will take time for your body to adjust – I know for myself, I used to eat one meal a day and switching to six was rather difficult. I felt as if I was gaining more weight, but within a month, my body got used to it and now I get hungry regularly but can’t take in those massive meals like it used to.

For some reason, the men avoid cardio and the women avoid the resistance training. If you don’t believe in the three pillars, let me ask you this – is what you’re currently doing, doing it for you?

Bottom Line: if you want to lose weight and expose those abs, then find a program that satisfies the three pillars – cardio, diet and resistance training. If not, turn the other way.

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Thanks for dropping by everyone!
It’s with great pleasure to finally bring you this new site.

My mission: to take a critical look at the nutritional supplements industry — sorting the good from the bad — keeping you up to date on industry news, and of course, providing product reviews to satisfy your curiosity.

So why am I doing this? I truly believe, as good as everyone’s intentions are, that the dietary supplement industry is deeply driven by the “suit’s” marketing jargon, exaggerated conclusions from the existing scientific data, and solely relies on anecdotal testimonials, not to mention, it takes advantage of the “anti-pharma” position common within this market.

Ultimately, I want to empower you, the consumer, to answer the question, “What makes one product better than the other?” Have you ever tried buying fish oils? What a confusing experience that is! Some products say “heart health”, others say “antioxidant”, others say “skin health” and another even says it’ll help “depression” or “improve moods”. Of course, the nutritional information doesn’t help. Products with different claims may have the same potencies and yet the price points are all over the place!

I wonder if the industry is banking on confusing us entirely and hoping that we just pick the one with the prettiest label…which, of course, has the highest price point.

You will find that my posts are loaded with information you can use: References I use for my posts will be hyperlinked into the content; product reviews will be performed by myself, rather than using reviews found on the net; and my posts will reflect current events and future market trends.

In return, please forward this site to your friends, family and coworkers that may find this information useful. If you REALLY like what you see, please help us make this site even better by making a donation (via PayPal to brian@mightygrasshopper.com) to cover costs for site maintenance and product reviews. If you have any comments or feedback, please feel free to contact us! We want to hear from you.

Sincerely,

The Mighty Fit Grasshopper Team

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Slim-Fast? Think fast! Better put that meal replacement shake down and read this.

Turns out Unilever is recalling several lots of their Slim Fast meal replacements as they may be contaminated with Bacillus cereus bacteria.

I know some of you are thinking, “Good thing I don’t drink SlimFast!” How do you know that your favorite protein/meal replacement/energy drink isn’t contaminated with something? Beyond the ‘hasn’t killed me yet” argument, what safe measures are being taken by company A vs. company B to ensure that your product doesn’t have Bacillus cereus or Salmonella or melamine?

Like the rest of us, you probably rely on the company’s website – if the site looks professionally done, then chances are their facilities are ok too. Or, better yet, maybe read their “About Us” section and look for things like “ensure our products are made of the highest quality” or “we perform stringent testing on our products”, but what’s to stop them from not doing that? I mean, we all know that anyone can start a site and write anything they want on it!

The best weapon we have to ensure that a product is of good quality is by looking for products that are GMP compliant. GMP stands for Good Manufacturing Practices and is a guideline set by the government as to how a manufacturing company should document data, clean their equipment, test their products, run their lab, etc. When a company is GMP compliant, it means they have set up official systems and procedures and even built their building to satisfy GMP guidelines.

That said, how does GMP work for you? For one, because official procedures are in place, it controls how a product is manufactured and each and every product is consistently made to spec. For two, when a problem does occur, like a recall for example, a GMP compliant company can retrace its steps by reviewing all their documents (testing results, which batch, manufacturing process checks, ingredient suppliers, etc) and can pin point what was the exact cause for the problem and how to fix it.

When a company is not GMP compliant, anything is up for grabs. A shift of workers may clean the equipment really well, but another shift of workers can be lazy and clean it differently. When a problem occurs, there are no documents to review and if there are documents, results are written down inconsistently (for example the date: 11/10/09 – is that November 10, 2009 or October 11, 2009?).

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying that Unilever is not a GMP-compliant facility. I just want to give you an idea of what “quality” really means and how it’s built into the product.

Bottom line: Stick to a product that is following GMP requirements. If you’re not sure, contact your favorite company and ask them.

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A simple Google search for acai (ah-sah-ee) berry yields over a million hits. First page results tout weight loss, sexual health, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant benefits, where to buy acai, and of course “reviews” that are driven to sell a particular brand of acai. It’s incredibly annoying.

For the last two years, the buzz of acai lives on. Adverts claim the fruit to be a powerful antioxidant (more so than any other berry, of course), an intestinal cleanser, a weight-loss miracle and acts as an anti-inflammatory – just to name a few. Let’s take an in depth review of the benefits of this “super-fruit” and see if the there’s really any truth to the hype.

Acai berry is the fruit of the acai palm, indigenous to the Amazon region of Brazil. Nutritional content has been characterized (cited in Wikipedia as well) for an acai freeze dried extract powder (typical state you’d find in supplements) per 100g: negligible vitamin C, 260 mg calcium, 4.4 mg iron, and 1002 U vitamin A, as well as aspartic acid and glutamic acid; the amino acid content was 7.59% of total dry weight.

Let’s examine these numbers. At the onset, 260 mg calcium and 1000 IU of vitamin A seem pretty good. In fact, these are typical numbers you’d see in a multivitamin on your store shelf. But, look at these numbers closely. It’s 260 mg per 100 g of powdered extract. So really, that works out to be 2.6 milligrams (mg) calcium per 1 g of extract. As for vitamin A, that works out to be 10 IU per 1 gram of acai extract. Now, tell me, when’s the last time you’ve seen an acai product with 1 gram of extract in it? Usually it’s less – much less! Here’s a typical label – only a measly 250 mg of acai extract is found in two capsules. That means that the acai product would barely squeeze out 2.5 IU vitamin A and 0.65 mg of calcium per dose or serving. These numbers are EXTREMELY low – your body wouldn’t even know it’s there! (Of course, your wallet would.) Sure maybe acai fruit is loaded with nutrients and other goodness, but the problem is the amount found in the typical supplement is extremely low to the point where it’s not even noticeable.

Let’s take a more academic look at acai’s benefits and investigate what the scientific community has done so far in terms of research. The search engine of choice would be PubMed. For those that aren’t familiar with PubMed – think of them as the “Google” of scientific journal articles. Here’s where you’ll find all the clinical trials, animal studies, safety studies, antioxidant studies, etc done to date in laboratories all over the world – it is the primary source of information for doctors, PhD’s, graduate students, and regulatory agencies (FDA, Health Canada).

I will input two criteria into my search: “clinical trial” (so that we know it’s done on humans, not on animals or test tube study) and “acai”. My result: a mere 3 hits. None of which examine, by the way, whether acai will help with weight loss, sexual health, energy boost, internal cleansing. Only one article examined the effects in humans of a fruit juice that contained acai in it (it wasn’t even pure acai! Nor does it reflect the typical acai product you see online or at the local pharmacy).

The only thing this study shows is that the fruit juice (not acai specifically) has some measure of antioxidant activity. It doesn’t tell us if the antioxidant activity is enough to reduce inflammation, if it can help fight cancer, if it can help with allergies – all it says is that there exists anti-oxidant properties and that’s it. Additional studies have to be performed to extend the conclusion that it will help with cardiovascular disease for example, or that it can reduce inflammation (swelling, pain). But until those studies are done, no one can draw the conclusion that this stuff really works.

Bottom line: look to acai berry if you like the taste. It’s not the miracle fruit that marketing has led you to believe. Is it a scam? Only if they say it’ll help you lose weight or fight cancer or whatever claim they want to throw on it. But if you want to enjoy it like apple juice, like grape juice, then for sure, reach for the acai berry. Otherwise, keep you money in your wallet and stick to a good diet and exercise regime.

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Let's get to it. Red Bull packaging is pretty slick.The design is eye catching and the name, Red Bull, congers up the emotion of taking things “head-on” – exactly the feeling you want when you need an energy boost. The logo screams that it’s mean and it’s lean. The can itself is slim. Brilliant I thought. It fits nicely in your hand and the sleak canister provides the 250 ml of fuel in one quick shot. And because the can is slim, it is also tall, to help us justify the $2.50 cdn/can price tag. This product is definitely not cheap.

In terms of regulatory compliance, this product is approved by Health Canada. NPN 80000012 is stamped on the bottom front of the can. This number tells us a few things:

1) This product is not a food. It is a natural health product. In essence, Red Bull should be treated like a multivitamin, where one could theoretically over-dose. It should not be treated like Coca Cola where you can drink to your hearts content.

2) The product does what it says it intends to do. In this case, helps temporarily restore mental awareness and wakefulness when experiencing fatigue and drowsiness. This is supported with data from a clinical trial setting, the findings were published and submitted to Health Canada for review and approval.

3) The product is safe AS LONG AS you follow the directions. That means, taking it 2 times a day max. This also means that children and pregnant or breastfeeding women should stay away from this product. It is also indicated that you are not to take this product with alcohol (ahem, Crown and Red Bull anyone?)

4) This product was manufactured in a GMP compliant facility. The product was tested to ensure that medicinal ingredients meet the levels indicated on the labels. Also shows that the facility is clean and follows manufacturing standards set by the government of Canada.

Let’s get to the drink itself. This stuff doesn’t smell appealing nor look any better (carbonated urine comes to mind). It wreaks and tastes of Vicks cold medicine. It is not my favorite beverage in terms of taste nor smell. I choke this stuff down. I’m glad to report that there’s only 250 ml of this stuff and I can shoot it down fairly quick.

So does it work? You bet. My heart is racing and I’m able to write this review to you with 100% attention. It took about 20 minutes to get going, but I can certainly feel its effects. I have that “gotta do something with all this energy” feeling and it feels good. In terms of jitteriness, let me say that I normally have a coffee in the morning. For this review, I switched to Red Bull and, assuming coffee jitteriness to be a 5 (on a scale of 1 to 7), I would say Red Bull would register a 3.5….

…It’s been about 5 hours since and I’m aware of the reports that these energy drinks leave you crashing. Perhaps this is just me, but I’ve not felt this today at any point. I’m very pleased with the after effects overall. Any side effects that occurred were gerally minor – no different from the diuretic effects of caffeine. I noticed my mouth to be a little dryer than normal and I had more of an urge to pee than normal. All in all, not too bad.

Bottom line: Red Bull didn’t physically attach wings to my back, but it sure gave me an energy boost like it promised. After effects were minor that included dry mouth and the urge to urinate. Per dose, this product is not cheap. If, for some reason, you don’t mind the taste and don’t have time for the Starbucks line, give Red Bull a shot.

If you're interested in buying this product or similar ones, please browse Well.ca (link provided to the right). They offer free shipping and very competitive pricing! Enjoy! Post your comments and feedback or your own mini-review!

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The Vancouver Sun reports that Health Canada will delay enforcement of unlicensed natural health products, in particular those products that pose minimal safety risks and have applied for a natural product number (NPN). For those that aren’t familiar, an NPN is a number granted to a product by Health Canada when it’s approved for safety, efficacy and quality.

A deadline of March 2010 was set internally by the Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) to eliminate their backlog of un-reviewed NPN submissions. An amazing 42,000 applications have been submitted since 2004 and about ¾ of that have been “completed”. That means approximately 11,000 applications haven’t even been looked at and a steady stream of applications come pouring onto their doorsteps daily.

These applications are nothing like your standard driver’s license or passport renewal – it isn’t just an application form you fill out and attach a photocopy of your product label. These applications are a collection of reports containing company quality specifications, scientific journals articles, product rationales, previous marketing experience and product labels.

And, on top of this, there will most likely be information that is missing from the application, that requires clarification and follow-up, that will trigger a department meeting of the Health Directorate – all hurdles that just slow down the approval or rejection process.

There is no way – absolutely no way – they will be able to clean this backlog assuming they abide to their standard formal review process. And they know this.

…Which is really why they can’t enforce compliance. There is no way Health Canada will pull 11,000+ products off store shelves. Especially in this economy, something of that nature will kill the industry. And if they kill the industry, how else would Health Canada get their money back? Cost recovery is 100% dependent on a healthy natural health product industry.

Who really has the power here? Industry or Government. Rewind back to 2004, I would say government. Fast forward to present day and I would say Industry has more power than they realize.

The Directorate is stretched thin, over budget, exhausted and backed up. The only thing on their minds right now is the submission backlog. The very last thing on their mind, however, is enforcement.

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