Super Sized BS

Do you remember the movie Super Size Me (SSM)?  Well, it turns out that Morgan Spurlock may not have been entirely forthright or accurate about a LOT of things in that movie.

For example, his nutritionist told him that he was eating in excess of 5,000 calories per day of McDonald’s food.  It turns out that if you do a little math that’s NOT ACTUALLY POSSIBLE based on Spurlock’s rules that he set for himself.

Check out this video to see what I mean:

What’s more is that SSM is wrong about a lot of other things such as:

*Fast food is why we have become obese  (in Fat Head the movie the “star” actually drops 12lbs in a month on a fast-food only diet)

*Saturated fat is bad for you (there really isn’t any evidence to support this idea)

*Weight loss or gain is calories in – calories out

A Fat Head Worth Getting

The single best documentary on health/nutrition/obesity that I have ever seen (and I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on them) is the movie Fat Head.  Its definitely worth putting on your Netflix list or picking up at amazon.com.

He summarizes a lot of very complicated 500 page science books into an easily digestible, entertaining 100min DVD.

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s top personal trainer for busy people. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Why Calories Do Not Count – Part I

You all know who Yao Ming is.  Yao is HUGE – 7’6” and 310lbs.  To get that big Yao definitely had to overeat, overeat and overeat some more.

Here is the important question:  Did he grow that much because he overate, or did he overeat because he was growing that much? (this is NOT semantics)

Ask any obesity researcher, “could you become Yao’s size if you just ate as much as he did?”

They will answer, “No, it was the growth hormone in his body that made him grow that big.”

Ask that same obesity researcher what happened to this 300 pound man:

And you will get a very different response, “he eats too much and exercises too little and he kept it up for a very long time.”

Yao is 310 pounds and he DEFINITELY overate.

The chubby umpire is 300+ pounds and he definitely overate.

But we blame Yao’s overeating on his growth hormone, and the chubby umpire’s overeating on his willpower – in other words he has a character defect that made him grow.

Let’ sum this up:

•    Vertical growth is under the control of hormones (growth hormone)
•    Horizontal growth (fat cells) grow as a result of a character defect (you have no will power, and you eat too much and move too little)

Does that make any sense?

Does that sound like I am contradicting my previous post “Do Fat People Really Eat More?”.  Stay tuned and I will explain.

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s #1 fat-loss expert for busy people.  He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have.  To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here.

The Truth About Splenda – Part I

Some people say Splenda is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and other people say that it’s the spawn of Satan.  Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?  What is the truth about Splenda?

It’s hard to know who to believe because there is a LOT of money to be made on both sides.  Case in point:

*Visit www.thetruthaboutsplenda.com and you will come away thinking that Splenda is the most deadly chemical known to man, and that if you eat it while pregnant your baby will have 18 toes and resemble a lizard.

BUT, if you take a look at the bottom of the site, you will see these words:

“This website is part of an effort to educate consumers about the chemical artificial sweetener Splenda and is provided by The Sugar Association, which represents sugar beet and sugar cane farmers across America…”

It is very difficult to believe anything that the Sugar Industry has to say about one of their biggest competitors.

*Visit www.splenda.com and you will come away thinking that this is THE cure for diabetes and obesity.  It’s obvious who paid for that.

Claims About Splenda

On both sides of the fence there are 6 basic claims made about Splenda:

1.  There have never been any long term studies on humans.

2.  Some of Splenda (sucralose) is metabolized into chemicals that have never been studied and are dangerous.

3.  Sucralose is stored in our fat and builds up over time.

4.  Sucralose is chemically similar to DDT.

5.  Splenda has chlorine in it, and since chlorine is poisonous, Splenda must be poisonous.

6.  Splenda is a no calorie sweetener and will not raise blood sugar or insulin levels.  (You’ll be surprised about the REAL answer to this one.)

The Verdicts

#1.  Is actually an outright lie.  There were 20 years of research on the safety of sucralose (Splenda) before it was released in the US.  The FDA reviewed 110 human and animal studies – there were long term studies done on both.  So, there really is no grey area on #1.  Either it was or it wasn’t.

If you’d like to bore yourself with the details (and it is really boring) check out the federal register on it.

#2.  Is also an outright lie.  98.5% is excreted within 6 hours of ingestion.  Some of the remaining 1.5% is broken down into two metabolites, BUT these metabolites have been studied for:

• Carcinogenic toxicity (do they cause cancer?)
• Genoticity
• Neurotoxicity (do they pose a threat to your nervous system?)
• Reproductive toxicity

No problems in either the short or the long term studies with ridiculously high doses.

Splenda also seems to be really stable, so very, very little ends up being metabolized.

“After ONE YEAR at 25ºC, there would be LESS than 1% hydrolysis at pH 3, and… no detectable loss of sucralose at pH 4 and 6.”
(emphasis added; Grice, “Sucralose – An Overview of the Toxicity Data,” Food and Chemical Toxicity)

Translation: At room temp (25ºC), and at a very acidic pH (3 is low and low is more acid) less than 1% of sucralose broke down over the course of an entire year.  We could not detect any breakdown of sucralose at a higher (more alkaline pH) if left in water for an entire year.  The human body is slightly alkaline (7.4 pH).

This will not be completely one sided.  Splenda is not perfect.

Tune in next week for parts 2 & 3 next week.

Josef Brandenburg is also the author of The Body You Want, and an award winning personal trainer in Washington DC.  Visit www.thebodyyouwant.com to find out about our 7-Day Free Trial.  Space is limited so act quickly.