Monthly Archives: September 2009

Taking On The P90x

Posted on by

My wife and I have decided to use celebrity trainer Tony Horton’s infamous P90x program in an attempt to get into much better shape. I will be documenting my progress as I continue with the program.

This program is rapidly gaining notoriety as an extremely challenging, push yourself to your limits exercise program. The P90x is a 90 day exercise program coupled with a good quality meal plan designed around eating 5 small meals per day. The program is based on a principle called muscle confusion, which basically states that just as your muscles are adapting to a certain set of movements, the program changes. Thus, keeping your muscles guessing is the key to continued gains (or losses). Traditional strength training, plyometrics, martial arts, and yoga are all part of this program. If you have never heard of this program, you will soon.

I plan on documenting the next 90 days as I take on this program. Instead of  taking up too much space on this blog, I’ve created an alternate one. Click here to view my P90x blog.

Another Healthy Product

Posted on by

Why is the U.S. population getting fatter with each passing year? Maybe it’s because we keep coming up with new foods that have less and less nutritional value..

A perfect example comes from an article on msnbc.com today. Abel Gonzales, an obvious culinary genius from Dallas, Texas has created a mouth watering, gelatinous chunk of deep fried butter rolled in dough. Yum! He is entering this heart healthy treat in the Texas State Fair this year and he might just win again! Abel’s other concoctions consist of deep fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches, deep fried cookie dough, and deep fried Coke. Soda, as well all know, is absolutely terrible for you. If it’s not the mound of sugar in a can of Coke, it’s the artificial sweeteners that cause cancer in rats. Well, let’s think about this… how can one make this health hazard significantly less healthy?? Hmmmm..I got it, deep fry it and then put more sugar on top of it!!

I’m sure these deep fried goodies are made just for fun and in hopes of winning first prize at the State Fair, but how long will it be before we start seeing this stuff on shelves or in freezers? Where does it end? It’s hard enough for people to make healthy food choices without the seemingly endless onslaught of garbage foods being advertised and marketed to them.

In this article, a registered dietitian from Arlington, Texas said that all foods contain some nutrition and is quoted as saying “fried butter has fats and you need some fats and the dough would have carbohydrates”. While it’s true that the human body does need fat, it has no use for saturated fat. Butter is saturated fat, pure and simple. Our bodies need fat in the form of mono and poly unsaturated fats. There is a big difference. Also, the carbohydrate in the dough is nothing more than refined, processed white flour with virtually no nutritional value. I’m not a nutritionist but I do know that the quoted statement above makes no sense.

Where are we supposed to get good, professional health advice if qualified registered dietitians cannot give us correct information? Now, I’m not an expert, but be careful who you listen to.