It’s funny how I’m staring down all these recent heavy duty marketing campaigns for useless nutritional products that I can only reason that greed is the marketing driver. Case in point, Sunday morning TV commercial for the new Centrum (you know, the horse pill company)vitamin that improves your metabolism as a direct result of ingesting it.

You know that the operators of port-a-johns have to dump out the contents, and when they do and after washing it down to nothing there stands a small pile of hard matter, yes you guessed it, ‘horse pill’ vitamins. They do not get assimilated by the body due to the manufacturing process. If you are taking a multi vitamin(I would suggest it) that is one big pill, find a better source. Think soft gels and capsules and bioavailability!

Centrum multi vitamin boosting your metabolism? Absolutely NOT! Here’s the skinny on your metabolism. If you want to boost or rev up your metabolism, eat smaller but more frequent meals per day and build some lean body mass. Use your cardio workouts for calorie burning and oxidizing body fat , 2 good things, but they do not boost your metabolism directly. You need to weight(resistance) train 2-3 times a week consistently to increase lean body mass, which in turn burns more calories at rest. More muscle burns more calories at rest, add some muscle and now you burn even more calories. Now change up some of your cardio workouts to true, Interval Training as icing on the cake!

Quick cellular explanation; at the cellular level is your mitochondria(powerhouse of every cell), your goal is to increase the number of mitochondria. You do that by strength training(only activity that increases the # of mitochondria) which increases your lean body mass. If you have more mitochondria, you have improved resting metabolism. Mitochondria use oxygen and burns it at the cellular level, now how can I make my mitochondria burn it better….Interval Training, not slow steady state cardio. Run for 1 minute(work) at a 8-9 on the 10 scale(Ratings of Perceived Exertion), then jog(rest) at a 5-6 on the 10 scale for 2-3 minutes, repeat for a total duration of 30 minutes minimum. Now your mitochondria and extra mitochondria are burning oxygen at a higher level, thus boosting your metabolism.

For the avid exerciser who wants to get tested for their resting / exercise metabolic rate, VO2 Max, contact Chris Eschbach at Human Performance Lab, Meredith College – www.humanperformancetesting.com

Have you seen the most recent TV commercial about HFCS where the ear of corn is in the police line-up and the witness is asked who was the culprit and the witness can’t pick out the bad guy? Well, I can pick em out! This is like the third ad campaign I have seen on TV to sell the American people on HFCS being harmless to us. Yeah right!

The average US citizen consumes 12 teaspoons daily of high fructose corn syrup. This is found in soft drinks, canned fruit, packaged foods, jams, and a zillion other foods. Many foods sweetened with HFCS contain mercury. Mercury is a known brain toxin!

A few manufacturers of HFCS, citric acid, and sodium benzoate use an old fashioned system that involves mercury to make caustic soda. The mercury is left as a residue in the production of caustic Soda. There are about 50 plants worldwide still using this technology.

One study published in Environmental Health found that nearly half the samples of HFCS tested contained mercury residue. In 2000, 58 tons of mercury was reported missing from the chlor-alkali plants(makers of chlorine and caustic soda) in operation in the US.

Before now, our greatest threat for mercury exposure was through fish, followed by mercury amalgam in dentistry and through vaccines, as it is sometimes used as a preservative. But the prior study’s Environmental Health Officer estimates that exposure via HFCS could be up to 50 times that of mercury amalgam exposure in children age 3-19, as this age group is the largest consumer of HFCS.

We too have had a potential day to day exposure to the heavy metal, just by choosing our food from the boxes and bottles in the center aisles of the grocery store. Aside from the case against us for improper nutrition, we could be slowly poisoning ourselves. Typically multiple studies show one in three products test positive for mercury residue.

Please read labels when you grocery shop, you will be amazed at the number of products you buy each week with this poison on the label.

While I was walking down my driveway for the Sunday paper today, I noticed it was wrapped in a yellow plastic Splenda sales bag. My first reaction was, will they ever stop! It’s hard to believe that Splenda is spending millions on ad campaigns for their poison sugar and the uninformed are eating dose after dose.

Sucralose is patented as a manmade “chlorinated sucrose sweetener” and it is registered as “chlorinated sucrose.” Chlorinated sucrose is not found anywhere in nature, like real sugar (sucrose) that is extracted from sugar cane and sugar beets. Chlorinated sucrose exists because of man.

The FDA states in their Final Report on Splenda that sucralose is “produced at an approximate purity of 98%.” The other two percent does not have to be reported to the FDA, nor listed as added ingredients. So what’s in the other two percent?

The chemicals used to synthesize sucralose in the five-step process:

1. Acetone 2. Acetic acid 3. Acetyl Alcohol 4. Acetic anhydride 5. Ammonium chloride 6. Benzene 7. Chlorinated sulfates 8. Ethyl alcohol 9. Isobutyl ketones 10. Formaldehyde 11. Hydrogen Chloride 12. Lithium chloride 13. Methanol 14. Sodium Methoxide 15. Sulfuryl chloride 16. Trityl chloride 17. Toluene 18. Thionyl chloride

The FDA does not presently require an Environmental Impact Statement for sucralose, so it’s open season for the rules, at present. The “technology of foods” (artificial sweeteners and manmade foods) has gone too far, and will not secure eternal health, beauty, slimness, or youth. Laboratory chemicals are not the answer.

Adapted from: The Hidden Chemicals in Splenda by Dr. Janet Starr Hull

http://www.splendaexposed.com/articles/2005/11/the_hidden_chem.html

All athletes strive to be a little stronger, a little faster, knowing that this edge in ability leads them ever closer to realizing their ultimate potential.

The realization of highly held goals is a product of the development of natural ability and the learned skills or technique of a sport. The typical athlete must train for many years to refine technique and to develop the strength and speed required to reach his or her individual potential.

Plyometrics is exercise designed to enhance the athlete’s ability to blend speed and strength training. It is, in effect, ‘icing on the cake’. When sound training principles are used, plyometrics offers the mechanism by which an athlete can start quicker, change direction more rapidly, accelerate faster, and improve overall speed. Plyometrics is never intended to be ‘the only answer’ in athletic training. Rather, plyometric training should be a progressive continuum.

In the hands of the knowledgeable  Trainer and athlete, plyometrics can produce movements that are quick, explosive, and fast-reacting. It can truly be a piece of the elite performance puzzle.

Flex-Fit Training offers sports performance programs for the young athlete(10-18 yrs. old) In season and off season programs available for all sports.

What is FREE of charge, readily available, can be grown yourself, and breaks down into humus? Of course…Leaf mold / compost!

I use leaf mold as organic matter in my food gardens and also as a mulch covering to further feed the soil over time, which then feeds the plants. If you want to eat highly nutritious organic foods grown on your own property, then STOP throwing away your leaves. I’m a freak, walking the neighborhood to get all kinds of FREE leaves to compost(separately). When done properly, your earthworm count is ideal and you end up with a monster load of “Super PowerCharged” compost ready to feed your soil and plants.

In the fall, save every leaf you can lay your hands on. Either shred or place them in a pen separate from the regular compost bin. You can process large amounts of leaves into valuable leaf mold by use of a wire pen. Use welded wire or a similar wire to make a bin like the one you may have made for the regular compost pile. Add a 12-inch layer of leaves, wet them down with a hose, trample them down, then repeat until the pen is filled to within 6 inches from the top. Now do nothing, let sit. Harvest months later!

If you want to know how to grow your own PowerCharged foods, keep in touch!

FAIL in the sense that they don’t get their new client, or possibly existing clients, measurable RESULTS! I’ve seen it for years. You’ve heard the old adage, ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’. Well these amateur trainers, mainly in the gym setting or fresh off getting their certification and no client training experience, are basically ‘glorified’ instructors, a.k.a., followers.

What they or the training organization over them miss, is they do not spend enough time up front with a new client! Their direct path is to a contract and first workout. This is how most trainers FAIL with their new client. They skip over the most important step with their new client!

The solution is simple, do the right and ethical thing with your new client, conduct an extensive initial consultation and perform thorough fitness testing up front. Then go to the first workout. How can you know where you are going with a client if you don’t know where they have been? Extensive fitness testing shows you, the trainer, where they have been.

My goal with fitness testing is to uncover weaknesses and imbalances so I can create the most optimal strategy for potential success. The client’s commitment is better when you take the time to look beneath fitness and investigate function. By adopting testing methods, I accelerate the relationship with my new client and find and fix weaknesses while the rest simply focus on strengths.

Most client’s main goal is weight loss. I call it scale weight loss. My goal then is to have the new client understand the difference between scale weight loss and body fat % loss. To further this and help establish a baseline, the client’s body fat needs to be checked with a reputable instrument. This will be the topic of my next blog. Until then….Stay Strong!

No, not because football is ready to start! No, not because the temps are about to change(well possibly on that one). But, because it’s time to rip out all the summer garden plants(leave the good ones that are still producing), amend the soil, add organic fertilizer and organic matter, and implement your fall food garden plan!

This is where most people stop the gardening, letting the summer ‘flashy’ plants linger on into October and wait til next year. Not me! Fall is the best time to grow the most nutritious food plants…period! I did extensive research a couple of years ago comparing many agricultural tables for different food plants and it was interesting to find out what were the most ‘nutritious’ food plants. Let’s just say #1 is Bok Choy! The reason I’m jacked about fall crops is that the leafy green ones are spring(not summer) and fall selections. I grow bok choy, spinach, loose leaf lettuces, broccoli, brussells sprouts, collards, and some more. BUT…you have to plant them now and not wait for October if you want to EAT. Refer to ‘Planting Times For N.C. Piedmont’ to get your extensive list and criteria.

Now that you realize that I am also ‘Farmer Duane’, I want you to understand 2 principles so that you can maximize your food growing. 1) Feed the soil and let the soil feed the plant 2) Operate by The Law of Return. Feel free to contact me for a full explanation of both principles, but following is what I do to grow my own food year round.

The vegetable Planting Guide for the N.C. Piedmont says now is the time to plant your seeds or transplants and typical planting times range from Aug 1- Sept 1, July 15 – Aug 15, and Aug 15- Sept 15. So, what do you do?

I will be ripping out all plants from my garden this weekend except for producing cucumber vines, tomato plants, and pepper plants. I’ll hard rake the bare areas moving around the existing soil. I’ll then add seaweed meal(for minerals), cottonseed meal as organic fertilizer(A by-product of the cotton industry, Cottonseed Meal is an excellent source of slow-release nitrogen, phosphorus, potash, and numerous trace elements), then add in on site compost(6 months of yard/household waste) and rake in all components. Let sit for a week or so and make sure it gets some water to activate everything. I will then transplant vegetables and add a mulch layer of leaf mold(leaves composted on my property). Job done! Nutrition awaits!

So what I have done in the past and will continue to do, is 1) feed my soil so my soil can feed my plants and 2) Respect The Law of Return by returning to the soil what I take out of it through; composting, organic fertilizers, organic matter, and organic mineral sources.

For the analytical ones, read ‘An Agricultural Testament’ by Sir Albert Howard 1943

* Duane Seybold, IFTA-CPT is available to show you how to grow Powercharged Nutritious foods on your property. I provide full services from planting area size and location to construction and completion of, with plants in place with organic mulch, all based on your specifications. FREE on-site consultation! 919.995.4679

I’ll be covering topics such as; Boot Camp info, general fitness, nutrition, disease prevention, antioxidant supplementation, personal training, sports training, upcoming events, seminars, wellness partner alliances, and fun cool active things to do.

Flex-Fit Training’s goal is to help our community become more aware of the benefits of taking action in improving one’s health and fitness, thus leading to more fulfilling lives!

I’ll keep you posted through this blog, Facebook and Twitter of our events, seminars, contests and video documentation. Our clients get results, but we have a lot of fun in the process!

I’ll be blogging about health, fitness and nutrition topics in the upcoming days. Stay tuned!