Vitamin D: Are We Getting Enough?

Greetings!

After a long holiday I have returned to the blog to finish a post I started shortly after Thanksgiving (tis the season for procrastination lol).  With winter arriving one of the biggest marketed supplements we see in stores and on T.V. is vitamin D.  We know that it is an essential (although technically not an essential vitamin by definition) part of our daily diet and we know the risks from the lack of it's consumption.  My biggest concern is that most people do not truly understand what this particular vitamin is and what it's role has in the body and also what can occur if we are not getting enough of it.  The other concern is that I see so many people putting things into their body, without any knowledge of what exactly they are consuming and what types of side effects it could have on them.  You wouldn't drink from a puddle that was glowing purple without asking what it was would you?  Then why pop a bunch of tablets of something just because it is readily available and talked about so much?

Vitamin D is easily the biggest supplement pushed during the winter months, but do you need it?

Vitamin D is a fat soluble steroid like molecule that is both ingested and produced naturally in the body.  It's function is mainly to absorb calcium and phosphate, although there are many other debated benefits and perks from vitamin D. More information on vitamin D.  Vitamin D was used to solve the continuous problem of rickets in the early twentieth century, although rickets was recorded as far back as the 1600s and I'm sure since the dawn of man, just not under a specific name, it wasn't until roughly 100 years ago we've discovered the power of vitamin D.  Rickets, which generally affects children, is the softening of bones, which leads to deformities and structural damage to the skeletal system and growth development.  Once scientists discovered vitamins and put them to use for the cures to many aliments, many countries began the process of Food Fortification in order to add certain amount of nutrients to common foods as to try and prevent deficiency based ailments such as rickets.

Although some foods offer vitamin D naturally, most of us get our vitamin D from fortified food sources.  Naturally occurring sources are found in; cod liver, swordfish, salmon, tuna and eggs. Foods that are commonly fortified are; dairy products (milk/cheese) orange juice, yogurts, butter and cereals.  I'd be willing to bet that the majority of this country eats more foods from the fortified list than the naturally occurring list, hence why they are advertised as fortified. We also get a supply of vitamin D from the sun as well (a synthesis  of cholesterol to D), which is always a hot topic that usually begins the discussion of vitamin D supplements.

A few Vitamin D Sources

As winter falls upon us, everyone tends to lose a little sun exposure, but some more than others.  Many northern states in the U.S. obviously see the sun much less due to the amount of snow and cloudy days (although the way things are going last year and this year who knows) and reportedly see a decrease in natural vitamin D production in our bodies. Although multiple factors play into the amount of sunlight needed for adequate vitamin D synthesis, the less sun available to us in winter means we need to try and get more of it than say in the summer. Here is some great information about sun light and Vitamin D.  As we work more and more and the sun is less and less available we run back into the initial topic; vitamin D supplements.

Many, see supplements as a way around eating the vitamin and minerals we need.

Although getting nutrients from food sources is always the best method for obtaining vitamins and nutrients, it is possible to supplement, (understand that a supplement is not meant to replace something altogether, but rather aid in the consumption of said vitamin.) to help us reach our RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance).  This is where things can get a bit fishy.  The RDA currently  is 600 IU* (International Units).  Many of us, assuming we are eating at least some of the foods listed above, will be able to get around 300-400 IUs from food alone, and if we were able to get plenty of sunshine, perhaps near the 600 IU amount we are supposed to achieve.  This is not always the case in winter, so we may be able to use a vitamin D supplement to help us gain those few hundred IUs we miss out on from old man winter.

Many cereals, especially children's are now fortified with vitamin D.

Choosing the right type of supplement can be very challenging, because of so much advertising and non-stop yammering of the best of the best D supplement.  I will try to break down a few things to help. (Let it be known that I am in no way recommending you take any type of supplement.  I recommend you research the product and consult your physician before beginning any type of supplementation)  First, there are two main types of D supplements; oil and powder.  According to the vitamin D council, either source seems to be adequate.  There is also two main types of D supplements (D2 and D3) both of which are widely available, but can be a little confusing about what they do.  In simple terms, D2 is found inplants and fungus and D3 is the sunshine variety. D3 is also found in animal sources. Although both forms are still vitamin D, D3 is used most often to fortify foods and is also the variety that is recommended by the vitamin D council.  How much to take is an open debate as well.  If we use it as a supplement as we only should, then a typical dosage (around 400 IU) should be enough to get us to the 600 IU range that is if we are eating foods that contain it.  I will not make any recommendations about more supplementation, since any more would be used as a replacement and as I said you should only use it to aid your consumption of Vitamin D.

There is also the concern about vitamin D toxicity   Too much vitamin D can lead to hypercalcuria (excess calcium in the urine) and then can lead to hypercalcemia (high concentration of blood calcium) Too much supplementation of D can lead to these problems, which is why it is not advised to go overboard with the tabs.Learn More About D Toxicity

Winter is here, we can't change that, but with proper diet and a little help from educating yourself on the use of supplementation, may help you avoid any type of vitamin D deficiencies and keep yourself as healthy as possible as were brace ourselves for this winter.

*standard for ages 9-70
Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D Council
Mayo Clinic Vitamin D

"Most folks are about as happy as they make their minds up to be"-  Abraham Lincoln

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only.

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Thanksgiving is Here!

Greetings!

As we approach Thanksgiving I thought it would be appropriate to post something related to this holiday of feasting.  Of course, the biggest topic for Thanksgiving is usually the "tryptophan in turkey will make you sleepy" conversation.  We've all talked about it and seemingly have succumbed to it's sleeping properties, but there may be more behind this concept than you once thought.  Although it is true that tryptophan, an amino acid, is used for mood relaxation and sleep remedies, the amount you get from your turkey alone generally will not provide enough to put you down by itself.  So why do you still get sleepy from Thanksgiving dinner?

Amino Acid Info
Tryptophan Info

First, being an essential amino acid our body cannot make tryptophan on it's own so we must digest it from outside sources.  Not all amino acids are created the same and tryptophan is an aromatic amino acid as opposed to the the much heard about BCAA (branch chain amino acid).  We also know tryptophan is used in sleep medicines because it is a precursor to serotonin, which can then be converted into melatonin.  These two compounds help with sleep regulation and help maintain overall sleep.  Where am I going with this?

When we eat our Thanksgiving dinner and heap on piles of turkey we do ingest tryptophan.  However, according to this list Tryptophan Rich Foods, turkey isn't very high on the foods that would provided enough tryptophan to make you fall to sleep.  But, as most of us will have a combonation of mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and wine, we should take a look at some of turkey's accomplices on the plate.  These side dishes will contain carbohydrates and when consumed, will release insulin.

When you skip your breakfast for that nice doughnut or the bagel with cream cheese, it isn't too long after that you start to feel very tired and on the hunt for more sugary snacks to feed your crave.  The "sugar crash" as we all have heard occurs when we ingest high amounts of carbohydrates, especially simple sugars, and the body must release high amounts of insulin to try and take all those sugars to their final destination generally for energy.  Once the blood glucose drops we notice the tired, lazy feelings that soon follow.  This process also has an effect on amino acid uptake in the body and thus, may be what we should really being paying attention to.

As insulin is released it also increases the BCAA uptake, but seems to leave the aromatic (tryptophan) alone for the most part (read more here if you are interested).  So what this means is that when you eat your big dinner, tryptophan will be present in the body, but as you eat other starchy, sugary food the insulin that is released to deal with the carbohydrates, it will also take some of those amino acids with it, but tends to leave the tryptophan alone, so that the total number of tryptophan is much higher than the other amino acids in the blood.  With tryptophan now being higher in number than the rest of those amino acids, it can now begin it's process of converting into those relaxing chemicals that make our eyes very heavy.

Also on a personal note, I as well as many others, can all relate to eating a meal that is much larger than normal and feeling very worn down and sluggish afterwards. When a larger than normal meals comes along, like Thanksgiving, our body has to work overtime to digest the food. The more overtime your body requires to digest all that food will, the less energy you will have until the job is done.  I'm sure you can all remember a meal other than thanksgiving where your stomach felt like it was going to explode and you just had to sit down as if you were incapacitated.  This also plays a large role in your post dinner nap.

This year when someone asks that glaring question, or when someone states the reason why another is sleepy, you can impress them with some science with the information you've learned today.  It's not splitting atoms, but hey, many people will be shocked to learn about amino acids and insulin uptake so have fun with the info.

I hope everyone has a very happy Thanksgiving!  Please have a safe and enjoyable time with your friends and family and be sure to realize what you have to be thankful for.  I know that along with my family and my friends, I am very thankful for being able to work with such wonderful people everyday, which has had an indescribable effect on my life.  I also wish to thank all who have taken the time to read these posts and continue to allow me to help them learn something new each week.

"Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action"- W.J. Cameron

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only.

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Lipo what?

Hello!

I have finally returned from my vacation in Texas, which thanks the the hurricane, was extended by four days, but I can't complain. However, I would like to apologize to my readers for the delay this week.  A simple login error has kept me from being able to post this last blog, but better late than never so again, I apologize.

Today I would like to address something that almost every person above the age of 18 is aware of; cholesterol.  It seems that, although many people suffer from high cholesterol (LDL family) the big push today is to eliminate cholesterol altogether to alleviate the situation.  The problem with this is aside from the fact that it is produced naturally in the body, cholesterol (HDLs) actually have many important functions and benefits for the body.

First let us understand what cholesterol is.  Cholesterol is a fatty steroid.  It is produced in the body of all mammals and of course is obtained through animal consumption for multiple essential functions including:  Hormone and vitamin D synthesis, bile formation and membrane support.  Cholesterol is transported through the circulatory system via lipoproteins.  These ipoproteins act as a taxi cab in the body, since cholesterol is insoluble or unable to dissolve in the blood, they need to hitch a ride.  There are two major types of the lipoproteins: HDL's and LDL's.

LDL: Low density lipoprotein.  These are the bad guys.  When we have too many LDLs in our body, they prevent the uptake of themselves (actually the prevent the formation of the receptors of LDLs) and begin to float around in the bloodstream.  When they are left unchecked they attach themselves to the walls of the blood vessels forming plaque or clogging the arteries leading to an increased risk of heart attack or stroke.

The effects of plaque formation on blood flow

HDL: High density lipoprotein.  These are the good guys.  These HDLs essentially kick out the LDLs to try and prevent the formation of plaque and thus, reduce heart attacks and strokes.

We know that we are supposed to keep out cholesterol in check.   Having a higher concentration of HDLs is ideal while of course keeping your LDLs lower. 200mg/dL is what many physicians shoot for total cholesterol having around 100mg/dL of LDLs and 60mg/dL of HDLs.  Basically it is what the doctor says "you need to get your LDLs down and keep you HDLS up"

If we eliminated the consumption of animal products LDLs would still be formed in the body, however most Americans get the majority of their LDLs from saturated fats and animal cholesterol, which is why your doctor will recommend reducing eating fatty foods.  The downside to the "down with cholesterol" campaign is that having too few of those HDLs can actually lead to adverse affects such as increased risk to a heart attack. So where dose that leave us?

For general purposes we should all pay attention to how much saturated fat we consume as well as outside sources of cholesterol.  To do this I have always followed a simple rule of thumb; if it had a face, it has cholesterol. Cows are obvious, but when you drink milk or eat butter and cheese, think about the fact that those are by products of the cow (or whatever animal it came from), which had a face at some point and thus, has cholesterol.  Chicken, of course, but remember eggs come from them and the chicken that it came form had a face.  This could become a very long paragraph, but I think you get the point. Even fish and insects have cholesterol.

The key is to moderate the amount of face products we consume.  Reducing the amount of actual meat we eat is generally the number one rule of thumb. When you are getting ready to eat your baked potato, try not to drown it in butter.  Melting cheese on foods, especially meats that already have high amounts of fat and cholesterol is a no brainer.  Use the "rule of face" instead of the rule of thumb principle and you should be able to make a decision as to whether or not something has cholesterol in it.  Preventing you from consuming those foods is another topic, but now you have a little knowledge and a simple system to help guide you on your choices.  Every little bit helps to ask the face question the next time you sit down to eat and you may realize that you consume a little too much outside cholesterol than you thought.

"If you can dream it you can do it"- Walt Disney

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only.


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Spooky Tales and Gross Ingredients Part 2

Welcome back horror hounds!

Last week you no doubt experienced a jaw dropping, mind altering experience when you discovered what the FDA allows in your food.  Unfortunately it only gets worse.  I apologize if any of you lost your lunch during the process, but once you've open Pandora's box you can never be prepared for what's to come.  In today's post we will discover the vile ingredients that companies actually use to make their product.  This jaw dropping information may cause you to collapse so it is advised that you read this with someone near by, however the last person to read this went insane and took an ax ..well, perhaps we'll leave that story for another time.  Now, let us open the vault of terror once again and see what you may have just eaten.

Ah, the beaver.  Natures lumberjack as they call him.  What is a cute creature such as this doing here?  Surely you don't eat many beavers, or do you?  The next time you eat or drink a raspberry or strawberry flavored product look on the ingredients list and see if castoreum is there.  Chances are you won't find it because the FDA allows companies to label it as "natural flavoring".  The gross thing is castoreum is derived from the beaver's castor sacs.  That's right, internal body parts of this cute beaver are squeezed and used for flavoring.  Not grossed out yet? Well, the castor sacs are used in conjunction with the beaver's urine, to heighten it's scent when marking territories. Yummy!

You might think this little guy fits into the previous post.  This is the Carmine beetle and it just so happens to share the name of a color by the same name, which is a ruby reddish pigment.  Here comes the fun part. You take a whole bunch of these little guys, mash them up and then add them to products such as yogurts and dark red drinks.  Look on the back of ingredients and you'll see carmine listed, because it is deemed a natural coloring, but notice they didn't label the coloring as cochineal, or the entomological name for this bug.  I suppose people may turn a product down if bugs were listed as an ingredient, but in the land of the FDA tomato, tomahto I guess.

This has to be a typo, right?  Yoga mats? Absurd.  Azodicarbonamide is an agent used in foam plastics to form the final product.  It also happens to be used as a flour bleaching agent in breads, bagels and doughnuts.  Generally the lower on the totem pole breads, generally fast food buns, are subject to the use of the product, but it's popping up more and more in breads on the shelves of the grocery store. The next time you go to your yoga class, perhaps you could unroll a mat that has hamburger designs all over it, it would then serve as a multi-tasker.

You are not seeing a mirage.  You are indeed seeing a desert, sand more specifically.  Have you ever been to the beach and gotten sand on your clothes only to never be rid of it?  It always seems to pop up somewhere a week later in your shoes or in the car, but you probably didn't see it in your food.  Silicon Dioxide, sand or quartz as it is known in it's common name, is found naturally in foods in trace amounts and is used in the body but, food companies, specifically fast food chains, are using excess amounts as an anti-caking agent.  Although not as gross as the few above and since we already ingest it in small amount, this one may not seem quite as bad, but the next time you grab a chili from that red haired woman's food joint, just imagine an extra handful of sand tossed into your bowl.

 A duck and human hair.  Interesting combination   We all hate finding a hair in our food and I'm sure finding a feather in your dinner may be an unpleasant experience.  The best way to not to find these in your food is to hide them in plain sight.  L-Cysteine is a non-essential amino acid that is produced in the body naturally and aids is healthy hair formation.  The thing is since hair and feathers contain high amounts of this amino acid and is easily obtained, many companies can grind them up and add them into breads as conditioners to add shelf life.  Since the hair and feathers are water soluble, they break down in the body in their natural form of the L-cysteine.  You hate finding hair in your food?  Well, chances are you've willing eaten your fair share of them and the kicker is, it was an ingredient.

Timber! You may yell that when you chop a tree down, but who would have thought it fell right into you next meal?  Cellulose, or wood pulp as it is often derived from in the food industry.  Cellulose is the most common organic compound on earth and when getting it from plants most of us don't think much of it, but when I look into a lumber yard and get the visions of shredded cheese, chocolate milk and salad dressing just to name a few, I feel a little odd.  Cellulose is often used to prevent clumping in products, which may be from plants, but wood pulp is so much easier to get and prepare and thus is the most common these days.  If you see imitation vanilla or vanilla flavoring  there's also a good chance it came from wood pulp as well (not cellulose, but many wood products offer vanilla flavorings, which is used to imitate the real thing)

Strangely enough, I love the smell of fresh black top when the construction guys are laying it down on the road.  I do not like eating it though.  Coal Tar can be turned into the coloring Allura Red AC and is used in red candies, sodas and other sweets.  It is listed as number 1999 on the "United Nation Dangerous Goods" list, but it's still in our food products. (coal tar UN list).  No need for a joke here, this is pretty creepy in itself.



The next time your are going to make a meal, perhaps you should pass the grocery store and head to Petsmart and Lowes for the final ingredients.  As you see our foods are becoming more and more the stuff of horror and sci-fi movies.  If, in the future you begin to turn into a mutated version of yourself, you may have to lay off the coal tar.  It has been my pleasure to bring you these past posts in hope of jolting you out of your skin.  I trust you haven't gone off the deep end like a certain ax wielding mad man, although they have never found his whereabouts. Be sure to have a safe and happy Halloween! As for myself, because of these posts, the authorities have decided to ship me to Texas for a week so I may visit the insane asylum known as my two brothers' house.  Fear not, I will return with a new blog in November. Be seeing you my ghoulish fiends!

"A Hobby Should Pass the Time, Not Fill It" - Norman Bates "Psycho" (1960)

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only.

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Spooky Tales and Gross Ingredients Part 1

Hello!

As Halloween approaches I thought I would have the next two posts fit into the Halloween spirit.  These next two posts will indeed offer creepy information about foods that you may eat quite regularly and may even shock you beyond your wits.  I, of course speak about FDA food defects regulations.


The FDA has created the "Food Defect Action Levels" with goal of "establishing maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in human foods for human use that present no health hazard".  Makes sense right?  Well what falls into the natural or unavoidable defects may terrorize you the next time you sit down for dinner.  The thought of what may lurk in your food may be so frightful, so ghoulish it could send you spiraling into pure hysteria!  Without further ado let us peer into the vault of horrors that the FDA has dared us to dwell. (note that meats are not included here because although they have their own regulations, we already know the dangers of under cooking meats and/or consuming raw meat. It's the other common foods that we overlook I wish to expose)

First let's meet the cast of our ghastly tale:

MITES

APHIDS

LARVAE

FLY EGGS

MOLD

RODENTS

                       

MAGGOTS

FDA Sanitation Link


The FDA allows the following amount of our cast in these common foods. The data is taken right from the link I have provided, which has more information about each food shown below.  The data reflects the maximum amount of each gross material that can be in the food per the serving size they chose, either pre or post harvest/ production.

Pre/post harvest would mean essentially before or after they bring them from their natural growing state.  We know that bugs are on food the grows in the wild, the FDA regulates how many bugs can be on them either while they grow or while they are being prepare to be shipped or packaged.

BERRIES(Includes Blue, Black, Rasp etc.)

	Mold:	Average mold count is 60% or more
	Insects& larvae	Average of 4 or more larvae per 500 grams OR Average of 10 or more whole insects or equivalent per 500 grams (excluding thrips, aphids and mites)

Mold:

Average mold count is 60% or more

Insects& larvae

Average of 4 or more larvae per 500 grams
OR
Average of 10 or more whole insects or equivalent per 500 grams (excluding thrips, aphids and mites)

BROCCOLI

Insects & mites:

Average of 60 or more aphids and/or thrips and/or mites per 100 grams (pre-harvest)

          Insects & mites:

Average of 60 or more aphids and/or thrips and/or mites per 100 grams (pre-harvest)

POTATO CHIPS
                  Rot:      Average of 6% or more pieces by weight contain rot (Pre and Post Harvest)                                                                                                                                                                       

CHOCOLATE
Insect Filth:  Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined or Any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent Filth:  Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined or Any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

(All of these are post-harvest or during processing)

PEANUT BUTTER
Insect Filth:  Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams

Rodent Filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams

                                                                   (All of these are Post-harvest or during processing)                                                                                                                         

POPCORN

Rodent Filth:   1 or more rodent excreta pellets are found in 1 or more subsamples, and 1 or more rodent hairs are found in 2 or more other subsamples

 2 or more rodent hairs per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples

 20 or more gnawed grains per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more  of the subsamples

(All of these are post-harvest or processing)

TOMATOES(Canned)
Drosophila fly:  Average of 10 or more fly eggs per 500 grams or 5 or more fly eggs and 1 or more maggots per 500 grams or 2 or more maggots per 500 grams.

(Pre and post harvest and processing)

As we can see there may be a few more ingredients in some of your favorite food than you initially thought.  It's impossible to keep these types of bugs, filth and molds off our foods whether it's in the fields or in the giant factory as they are processed.  The FDA has set some standards to try and limit the amount of these products, but it's not perfect.  At one time or another you probably have eaten something with a trace amount of mold on it or with some type of filth within it's contents. As gross as it sounds it really is unavoidable even if you grow your own food, at some point a bug or rodent will have at least waltzed through the crops leaving droppings or hairs.  Cleaning the food will get the filth off, but the fact is it was once there.

If part one of this blog hasn't peeled your eyes open to the hideousness of what may lurk in your food then next week's will surely test your sanity. Perhaps you should not read it alone or at least in the dark, because you never know what's waiting in the shadows HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!!

"Revelations come when you're in the thick of it, pitting yourself up against something larger than yourself"  -Dracula (1979 film)

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only.


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Nutrition Journey Part 3

Hello!

Well, the time has come.  After two previous posts, not to mention the bonus post this week, we are finally ready to put all the information together we've learned and look at an example of one product that I find is causing more problems for individuals then they may think.  I of course am talking about no calorie butter sprays.  I would like to talk about this for a particular reason.  A while back I had a client who was talking about their weight and how it seemed to stop decreasing, even thought they were sticking to a cleaner, calorie reduced diet.  I asked them what types of flavor enhancers they were using and this type of spray came up, but at the time I was not sure what these products consisted of.  After a little research and discovering that this person was literally pouring the spray out of the bottle like you would with ranch, I was able to help them understand that they were using many more calories then they imagined. They thought that zero calories meant zero calories, so innocently they poured away and thought nothing of the spray. They are the inspiration for these series of posts, because it dawned on me that many others may be falling into the same trap, so over the last few posts and at last here, hopefully we will be able to open your eyes to those loopholes I expressed in the first post.

Let us call this product "I can't believe it's not a real product".  First, Let's look at the ingredients.  Water is first, which mean it weighs the most out of the other ingredients, but may not make up the majority of the products volume, it is calorie free.  Liquid soybean oil and sweet cream buttermilk are next on the list.  We know that oils and buttermilk contain calories, many of which come from fats.  Just with a simple glance we already know there must be calories in the bottle somehow, we just need to determine an estimate of how many there could be.

Now, let's look at the serving sizes.  To make things easy we will use the "topping" size since it is at least a measurement we can grasp, 1 gram. That is about the equivalent of a paperclip, which is pretty light if you ask me.  From knowing this, we can estimate that 5 sprays produces a minuscule amount of this product, which is probably not enough to satisfy an individual for their topping desires, so many of us will probably add more and more sprays not realizing how many we are actually adding.  Also notice that in this 8 oz bottle the are 340 servings for the toppings or 340 grams.  If they are suggesting that there are 340 servings per bottle than you should be able keep this bottle for months before you had to buy a new one, that is unless those sizes are so small that you had to use multiple servings to equal a true portion.

By looking at the ingredients and serving sizes you should have already determined that, by using this product, you will be adding calories to your meal.  If you use just one serving it will be a very small amount of calories for sure, but it would be unlikely that most of us would only use 1 out of a possible 340 servings when you do use this product to enhance flavors.

Next, to get a better understanding of what's going on in this bottle, I did a little math to save time here.   There are 8 ounces in this bottle. According to this website, Butter Spray, there are 25 sprays in 1 teaspoon.
There are 1700 one serving sprays total so, 1700/25 gives us 68 teaspoons in this bottle.

In the same website they claim that 1 teaspoon contains 20 calories and 2g of fat.  68 teaspoons x 20 kcals would equal 1360 calories per bottle and 136 grams of fat.  These numbers are based purely off the information given on this bottle and website, I have heard others on a show with some big losers claim different numbers such as; 900 calories or 1100 calories, but again I'm using what was given to me, but we all can agree there are many calories in the bottle.  It seems there are calories in this no calorie spray after all.

Per serving size on this bottle, we see there are zero calories per serving, but we are now educated on this subject.  We know that companies can round numbers down when they are considered "insignificant".  We know that ingredients such as oils, milks and sugars all have calories, so when they are included into what makes a product, there must be calories somewhere in said product.  Even without the information from the site you we able to come up with that conclusion, but the evidence provided goes to show how big the loopholes are that companies can exploit to sell their products.  This is only one example, there are many brands of butter sprays out there and some may be more calories friendly then the next, but in the end there are calories in plain site.

I would like to end this series with a note that, I in no way am trying to demonize these, or any other products that use the "insignificant" rounding down rule.  I use butter sprays every now and then to add some flavor to my rice, but I understand that I am adding calories to my meal.  I also am not pouring it all over my food, I may use more than one serving, but I still use this in moderation.  There is nothing wrong with using a product such as this spray, if you use it sparingly and understand that the product dose in fact contain calories.  I only wished to use this particular product for the example because of my past experience with it and it's growing popularity.

I hope this series has helped you understand, not only that there may be calories in your calorie free product, but also taught you a few tips on what a serving size/ serving size per container is really trying to tell you.  Ingredients list can be a great way to help us understand what is actually in a product, but can also be a bit misleading as well, but with these posts, you now have the ability to recognize an ingredient and rationalize with the corresponding numbers on the label to determine if rounding down has occurred.  In the near future we will discuss other ingredient secrets and also the ideals behind serving sizes and portions and the use of moderation.

Thank you for being a part of this blog thus far. One person may have been the inspiration for these past posts, but it's people like you that wish to educate themselves and learn new topics that has inspired me to do this blog as a whole.  For that, I want to thank all of you!

"He began, like so many others, with disgust and rebuffs; but he has triumphed, for he has the genius of will"   -Captain Nemo, '20,000 leagues Under the Sea' (one of my favorite quotes of all time from a fantastic book)

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only and the product is fictitious in nature.
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What is an Ingredient List?

Hello!

As I said in my previous post I planned on adding an additional blog this week, which I feel will not only offer some real insight to understanding some basic concepts of ingredient lists, but will further help us understand the concepts in the final post of this series   For today's post I would like to discuss a few pieces of information about the list of ingredients that appear on the container of food you are about to purchase.

I have created a mock ingredients list for a visual aid as we take a look at how to dissect the list.  This is a completely fake product, most of the ingredients I put here are for education purposes only because I don't think this collection of ingredients could be made into something tasty enough to sell as far as I can tell.

First, the government states that the ingredients list must be labeled in descending order, by weight.  Basically, whichever ingredient weighs the most in a product is going to be the first one listed and everything thing after, weighs less as the list trickles down.  Water is listed first on this list, which means it weighs the most out of all the other ingredients, however that dose not always mean it makes up the most volume of this product.  The next two ingredients may only weigh 1 gram less then the ingredient ahead of them, but could ultimately have more volume then the ingredient that has more weight.  Remember, weight and volume are not the same measurements as we discover in science class during the density lesson so it stands within reason that just because the first ingredient listed may weigh the most, dose not mean it makes up the most volume of the product.  I will say that for the most part, the first two or three ingredients listed generally make up the majority of a product, but I just wanted to point out that it may not always be the case.

Let's move down the list a little, knowing that if we are following a descending order concept, each ingredient following will weigh less and less. Third on the list is sugar, so we know it weighs less then it's two lead ingredients, but look further down the list. High fructose corn syrup or in other words, sugar.  Maltodextrin and dextrose also known as sugar. And guess what? Cane extract and corn syrup, yup you guessed it, sugar.  So what's the deal here?  Since the government makes companies list the ingredients by weight, many companies will fabricate the amount of a product, like sugar, by using very similar products to increase the total amount, but since they are separate ingredients, they each have their own measurements and now sugar can be spread across the list into smaller chunks, but if you add them together there may be more sugar than you think.  If I were a betting man I would say that with six of the ingredients being sugar based, that this product contains more sugar than any other ingredient, even though water is listed first because it is only used once and weighs the most, but we can see that it may not make up the majority of the product.

Whats with the "contains 2% or less" section?  This is a common question I see and it really has a lot of similarities as the last post on rounding down numbers. Basically, anything that makes up 2% or less of that product gets tossed into this category, which by the way is the only section of the list not regulated by the descending order principle, because it's very similar to the "insignificant amount" concept with those macro nutrients we discussed before.  Generally speaking, most of the products listed here are usually very small amounts as their title suggests, but by law they could be as high as 2% each, so with nine items in this group legally 18% of this product could be made up with these insignificant ingredients.  Again, I tend to find many of these products that get labeled here to be very small amounts, but I have seen products with as many as 25 ingredients in this category, which in my professional opinion is nothing more than filler for a company to pad their product's size or weight. Then again, should five different artificial sweeteners find their way onto the "2%" list, then you might be ingesting more sugar than you thought. This section generally contains;  preservatives, flavoring, conditioners and minimal seasonings, but again many companies can pad their product by adding in 1% of an ingredient  20 times over, thus making a 3 ounce product turn into a 4 ounce product with no real addition nutritional gain.

In conclusion, we now understand that the order of the ingredients list is based on weight, not volume of a product.  So the next time you read an ingredient list, know that the first product may generally be the majority of what makes up said product, but it may not always be the case.  We also know that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to how much of an ingredient is actually in something, like sugar, based on the loophole of multiple ingredient listings. I will be posting another bonus blog shortly after the finale of this series that will discuss other ingredients such as; preservatives  aliases for a product (like we saw with sugars) names and descriptions of ingredients that are actually something totally different than you may think  and other interesting information such as contaminants or when a product is not actually what is claims to be (ever had fruit snacks that contain no actual fruit?).

I generally tell people to pay attention to the first 3 maybe 4 ingredients on a list, which is a good starting point when analyzing an ingredients list, because it will most likely be what that product is mostly comprised of. Eventually you will know some of the other names for ingredients and begin to thoroughly inspect the amount of "additional" ingredients and formulate a conclusion that one product may be a better choice than the next, but for starters the first three is a great starting point added with the other information we've picked up in the previous and forth coming blogs.  Below are two links describing in detail the rules and regulations of ingredient listing.  If you scroll through them you will see there are many many rules and generally, the more regulations, the more potential loopholes can exist.

FDA Ingredient Listing
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations

Stay tuned for more!

"Excellence dose not require perfection"- Henry James
*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only and the product is fictitious in nature.
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Nutrition Journey Part 2

Welcome Back!

Last week we discovered how one product's nutrition facts can still contain the same numbers, but can be presented in totally different methods in order to make those numbers on the back of the box look a little more friendly.  This week we will take a look into how those same companies are able to actually leave some of those numbers off their products making those numbers even more skewed in their favors.

As I said in my previous post, the FDA allows companies to alter the numbers you read on the nutrition facts, if said numbers meet certain requirements.  If the serving size totals 5 calories or less the company may round the total calories down to zero.  If the total fat/protein/carbohydrate content totals .5 grams or less they may also round those down to zero.  So what dose this mean when you are reading the labels to determine which product you are planing to purchase?

FDA Rules of Rounding Down

First we must understand at a very basic level, what a fat/protein/carbohydrate break down to calorie wise. 1 gram of fat, no matter the type, yields 9 calories.  1 gram of either a protein or carbohydrate yields 4 calories.  Obviously, when you take a look at the labels and do a little math you can see how the total calorie content is reached, but there may be more calories in that box you hold in you hand then you may think.

If a company can shrink their serving size down enough to have their total fat/protein/carbohydrate content per serving size reach at least .5g or the "insignificant amount" as the FDA refers to it as, then they can make those numbers disappear.  Big deal it's only .5g of either one of those macro nutrients, what's that going to hurt?  The big deal is, when you take a look at the serving sizes and then add the "insignificant amounts" there will be a few more calories that are hiding in plain sight.

Keeping in mind the .5g of fat equals 4.5 calories and the same number for protein and carbohydrates is 2 calories we can see that this product (non-stick spray) seems to have zeros down the board.  Non-stick sprays are comprised mostly of oils which are pure fat and we know 1g of fat contains 9 calories so how can these products have zero calories?  The serving size is 0.4 seconds. Unless you are a sprinter, 0.4 seconds is a very tiny amount of time to measure and of course offers a very small amount of spray that comes out of the can, but since the serving size is 0.4 seconds all of the numbers that can fall into the "insignificant amount" range have with the company's selected serving size.  Ultimately, that means the total amount of fats/proteins/carbohydrates must have been no greater than .5g per serving, thus allowing the company to round those numbers down, which also means the calories have disappeared.

I chose non-stick spray because it is an easy example that we all have used at one point in time.  I will say that non-stick sprays are pretty number friendly when it comes to this rounding down business.  I would estimate that one solid second of spray time for most non-stick sprays would equal to about 6 calories or so, which in a single use is not that drastic of a number since most of us are not going to town with the stuff (I hope), but it still is a number that exists and if you used it 4 times a day that could wind up being 24 or so more calories than you thought you were taking in. 

Rounding down often occurs in, but not limited to; toppings, dressings, "diet" products and many other flavor enhancers.  Some companies are more open an honest than others about their use of rounding down, but again it's the sales game, so many follow suit and fight fire with fire.  I will be adding a bonus post midway through the week, which will discuss the ingredient lists and what you can take away from them when it comes to the make up of the product and also discovering if a company has rounded down their numbers.  Next weeks post will combine all the information from the past posts as we take a look at an example of one product I am discovering is a wolf in sheep's clothing; zero calorie butter sprays.

Stay tuned for more!


"Learn what you are,and be such" -Pindar, Greek poet

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian. The information presented is for education purposes only and the product is fictitious in nature.

Nutrition Journey Part 1

Hello!

For my latest post I will be breaking it into three parts.  The first part will contain information about food labels and how to understand the fine print companies use to sell their product.  The second will consist of ingredients and the amount of each in a product. Finally we will look at products through educated eyes and see that what they tell us may not be what is actually in their product.

In recent years people have become much more aware of what the numbers on the nutrition facts mean in terms of fat, carbohydrate and protein content, as well as understanding the total calories that are in said product.  It is my theory that many companies are now exploiting serving sizes in order to buffer the numbers on those nutrition facts.  What do I mean by buffering?  Well, first we must understand that companies need to sell their product by advertising to the approptie group that they want to buy their product.  If they wish to sell calorie friendly foods to those watching their calories, then their main goal is to advertise their product as having less or better yet, no calories compared to their competitors. The government has a strict set of rules that companies must abide by when they label their product, however there are many loopholes that allow a company to "hide" numbers so they may better advertise the product as the most appealing one on the shelf.

Servings are where one of these the loopholes can occur.  When you read the numbers on the nutrition facts, those are the numbers that exist in the serving size the company based its results on.  This number however, dose not necessarily make up the entire content of the containter of food.  Let's look at an example:

As we see the serving size is one ounce.  That means in 1 ounce of this food the numbers that are presented are what you put into your body.  But, look closely, the servings in the bag are 4.  That would mean multiplying every number by four if you were to eat the entire bag of whatever this product is.  That may seem like a lot to eat, but think about this; if this was a label to a popular rainbow colored candy(which it is not) I doubt many of us would be eating only one ounce of the bag and thus, eating all four ounces doesn't seem to be so much.

Let's look at this label. Notice anything? It is in fact the same product as above, but the difference is the serving sizes.  Rather than showing one ounce per serving and having four ounces per container, this time there is only one serving, but the same product is in the box.  I have multiplied the above numbers by four, which would give you the numbers you see here.  Same product as above, just not divided into multiple portions, which now seems like a lot more at a first glance.

Now, when I pick up label A and compare it to label B, even though they may be similar products and in essence contain the same exact numbers, product A looks a little less calorie dense to the untrained eye.  Companies know this and this is how they begin to sell their product off as the better of the two.  Pay attention and notice some serving sizes that seem to be very odd, like 8 chips or 2.25 ounces or the phrase "about".  That makes up one serving and we know that there may be many servings per container.

Legally the company has followed the FDA guidelines when labeling their product, however, they have used a little deduction to help their product stand out.  Now that you know a serving size is really only one part of the equation you also know those numbers may need to be multiplied to truly show the exact values.  In the next post we will also talk about the other two loopholes companies use to get around and make their food more appealing, but the scary things is it may not be the exact numbers you put into your body.  Stay tuned for more.

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" -Wayne Gretzky 

*I am not a registered nutritionist or dietitian.  The information presented is for education purposes only and the product is fictitious in nature.

Poll Results: Fiber

The answer to the poll question is to be determined as of this date.  Previously I was under the impression that current recommended intake was 25g-30g per day, but the USDA and Mayo Clinic have again changed the daily recommended intake from 30g-38g for men and 21g-26 for women (age adjusted of course).  Once again proving that this field is ever changing and what you may think is the norm one day may be changed the next.

Fiber Table

Fiber is broken into two catagories; soluble and insoluble.

Soluble fiber becomes a gel like substance once disolved in water and it can help lower cholesterol and even glucose levels. Insoluble fiber can help move materials through your digestive tract preventing constipation. In any case fiber is an important part of our diet because of it's vast health benefits not to mention it's effect on those cutting their calories.

Here is a link from the Mayo clinic and another to an article about the health benefits of fiber and a little more detail about it's make up and food sources.

Food Sources

Fiber Info

Health benefits of dietary fiber (article)


Thank you for taking the poll.  Another will be available soon enough!

The "Right" Style of Training Pt. 2

Greetings!

Last week I talked about the "right" style of training and came to the conclusion that only through proper modifications, assessment, research and trial and error could you really ever find the right method.  I also chimed in the conversation with the fact that I myself use a lot of functional training not only for my own workouts, but also with many of my clients.  I wanted to talk a little about why I use this style of training keeping in mind that, I at no time proclaim that functional training is the best and most useful method of training because as we already discovered that would be a lie.

Looking at functional training purely from a everyday usage view, it seems that the results from this style of training offers a more direct application of the strength, balance, stability and cardiovascular endurance to everyday life as opposed to the traditional method. The days of bench pressing a house are no longer as important as being able to get out of bed ache free and be able to not worry about hurting yourself bending over to get the paper. Although great strength and endurance can be achieved through traditional training, it seems the best way to apply the gains from working out are to train the body as it it would be used in everyday situations, as a whole unit.

When getting out of a chair we generate a lot of muscular activity from the calves to the thighs (quads/hams) up through the hips/glutes, then the core activates to keep use stable as our hands, arms and upperbody begin the assist the legs (assuming your using the arms) all while the neck and certain shoulder muscles keep our head upright.  That's just an overview of muscle activity that occurs in a basic movement such as that.  I could detail the actual muscles that are being activated during that process, but it would have to be it's own blog.  The point is just getting out of a chair, our body works as a team incorporating multiple muscles to accomplish this movement.  If I want to make this harder for myself, then yes I would try not using as many muscle to assist, but our bodies like to naturally operate at it's most efficient and it works best when using the old '"strength through numbers" idea, because why would I only use half of the available resources to help me with my goal when I can utilize them all?

Through traditional training I could help train a person get out of a chair by strengthen their muscles and movement patterns through squats, dips, bench pressing, sit ups and many other exercises, which in theory can be very effective and to some may be the best method for them, but my professional opinion is that training individual movements (they are complex movements so they are still incorporating multiple muscles groups, but in a single movement) dose just that, train individual movements.  I have no doubts that through the movements above a person could very well get in and out of a chair with ease overtime, but perhaps not at their greatest potential. As illustrated getting up from the chair incorporates, not only multiple muscles, but multiple joints and planer movements as well.  As much as training one movement in one plane can be effective toward reaching the end goal, why not train multiple movements in multiple planes?

Through functional training we can take the same individual (assuming proper assessments have been conducted and proper muscle imbalances and anomalies  have been corrected to be sure they are able to perform these exercises) and begin strengthening all the muscles that they are used to get out of a chair in multiple exercises all while training multi-planer balance, core stability and cardiovascular activity as well.  Now, this individual can perform and tri-lunge (side to side to front) while throwing a medicine ball and maintaining an upright position for one set working multiple muscles as opposed to doing one set of squats, one set of bench press and one set of sit ups and achieve similar results.  I say similar because obviously, the results will not be the same as another method of training, but if the end goal is being achieved more efficiently and appears to be getting the most bang for the buck, then it is all relative. With just this one exercise I have been able to incorporate not only the same muscle groups as the traditional style would, I am also working them all at once, which is how the body works everyday for almost every big movement we perform, thus training our body as we use it in the real world.

By training multiple muscle in multiple planes and incorporating stability, balance and other movement patterns into each exercise, functional training has become a very effective and adaptive method of training, which I for one view very highly of.  It seems to not only get the most out of each exercise, but it's movements are more practical and adaptable into real world application in theory (again not saying it the right way).  I still find and use many traditional methods of strength training quite regularly, when I feel it is needed, but functional training has emerged as my method of choice.  Another reason I prefer functional training is it's non- reliance of  big equipment and space friendly.  The movements are easily modified and can be made more challenging by adding a simple variable.  Finally, functional training is a whole lot of fun not to mention when working with a partner or group!

Thanks for reading!

"Action is the foundational key to all success"- Pablo Picasso