8 More Sources Not to Listen to For Fitness Advice

8 MORE SOURCES NOT TO LISTEN TO FOR FITNESS ADVICE

Packaged weight loss programs

You know their names. Some have been around for decades. Many of you may have used their products or systems. They promise you that you can lose 5 pounds or 10 pounds in the first week. That’s probably true. And if you need to lose 5 pounds for a special occasion they will probably work for you. What if you want to lose 25 pounds and keep it off?  Their system or their meals will probably work. What then? Can you eat out of those plastic microwavable bowls for the rest of your life?

These are big for profit companies with shareholders looking for profits. How many new customers do you think they can attract? Their continued profits depend on repeat business!.  You lose the weight, (or your family can’t stand that awful smell any longer), you come off the plan, you gain the weight back and you become that repeat customer. Statistics indicate the up to 97% of people fail on the plans in the long term. 

Ever wonder why even their paid spokes persons can’t keep the weight off?

Anything seen on the “Biggest Loser”

The “Biggest Loser” implies to viewers that exercise must be dangerous and agonizing to work. Otherwise there’s no point in trying. They have morbidly obese contestants running sand hills and slip-and –slides. But what’s a torn ACL or two as long as the ratings are good? Former contestants have said producers and editors conveniently leave out most of the medevac rescues, stress fractures and bone and joint trauma.

They teach people that scale weight is all that matters. If you gain five pounds of muscle and lose five pounds of fat what does the scale say? On the show, if the scale doesn’t go down all that work was a waste.

The show overemphasizes cardio making the contestants injury prone and metabolically weak. How much impact can a foot or knee or hip handle with 300 to 500 pounds coming down on it repeatedly?

Any fitness advice from Opra

If you have followed Opra Winfrey for very long on TV do you really want to follow her fitness advice?

Talk about a weight loss/gain yoyo!

Popular women’s or men’s fitness/health magazines

If you want to try the latest receipt for Christmas cookies or pecan pie or learn “74 ways to improve your sex life” go for it. But don’t expect to learn how to get fit.

You’ll find lots of headlines about “Walking your way to fitness in 10 minutes a day” or “Eat whatever you want and lose 20 pounds the first week”….. Immediately followed by a caramel cake recipe.  Come on people! They are in the business to sell magazines and they do so by telling you what you want to hear. Which do you think sells magazines “Losing weight is easy and painless” or “You’ve got to work at losing weight and getting fit”?

Frankly, a lot of my future posts will be about debunking the cover stories on these magazines. They make my job easy!

Any “fitness guru to the stars”.

Yep. Just like the ones Opra uses…..

Most people who actually train celebrities don’t talk about it or use it in their marketing. The one’s who do probably trained one time with some star’s doctor’s secretary’s brother.

Any TV ad trying to sell you equipment or weight loss programs

An overweight and obese, unfit population is the biggest health issue of our time. Our existing population and the one that follows (your kids and grandkids) may be the first generation in recorded history to have a shorter lifespan than the one before.

Do you think the scammers and con-artists somehow overlooked this fact?

Get 6-pack abs by wearing the equivalent of saran wrap? Or by “shocking” you muscles with a 1.5 volt battery? A recently discovered secret plant from the Amazon?

Food labels

Do you think the FDA has your back? Think again.

“Whole wheat” or “whole grain” bread can contain as much seventy percent refined flour. “Heart Healthy” cereals like Raisin Bran or Cheerios can contain as much sugar as Fruity Pebbles.  Fruit juice has as much sugar as a soft drink. “Free range “chicken can mean there is a small hole the chickens are free to go out onto a concrete pad.

Much of the problem lies in the fact that we, as consumers, look at the fancy packaging and end up eating more of what we believe to be healthy. We see “fat free” or “low carb” and think we can eat all we want. Or we think “I had a low fat meal for lunch so I can eat more of this ice cream after dinner”.

Bottom line; read the nutrition label. Not just the flashy packaging.

Lots more about this in future posts….

Dr. OZ

Dr. Oz has been accused by many other doctors (over 1000 of them, as a matter of fact.) of promoting numerous products whose benefits have no scientific evidence regarding those benefits. He defends himself by saying the show is, in fact, not a medical show. Here’s just one of the news stories: http://www.livescience.com/50621-dr-oz-should-resign-poll.html

SEND YOU QUESTIONS TO alphaedgefitness@gmail.com  If I don’t have an answer I’ll try to find someone who does.