Diet Supplements: “You’ve Got To Ask Yourself One Question…

… Are You Feeling Lucky, Punk?”

Some of you might recognize those words spoken by Dirty Harry as he pointed his famous long barrel magnum revolver at the apprehended criminal.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that you might consider yourself the one who’s looking at the wrong end of the barrel when it comes to sports performance supplements.

Read these words carefully from the article below, and ponder their implications:

“While the agency can recall products determined to be dangerous, it has to wait until after they’re on the market.”

The agency referred to is the FDA, and the problem is that new chemical variations of ingredients used in diet supplements make the users the unwitting test cases for any harmful side effects, EVEN FATAL SIDE EFFECTS. No, I’m not kidding, and actually, this is a fact you should have been aware of at the beginning of your supplement-consuming days.

Yes, it is amazing that anyone can put anything on the shelves for human consumption without being sure that it, indeed, is not deadly; but that’s advertising, sales, and consumption here as the laws exist. There is no one to protect you from this insanity but yourself.

Get Educated and Protect Yourself At All Times,

Steven

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Creatine: The Effect Is Noticeable

Here’s the sum of my experience with incorporating creatine in my training routine for the first time: I shouldn’t have waited so long.

Let’s take a look at what’s happened the last five weeks.

The first big change was teaming up with a training partner who is a serious and accomplished lifter. Immediately, I moved into handling heavier weights because I now have a competent spotter. Secondly, my diet changed radically; from lean and minimal to multiple meals always including the protein I needed. These facts are important because I made these changes three weeks before I started the creatine, and my body was already starting to respond.
Incorporating multiple changes at the same time makes it difficult to determine the effects individually. The one thing that definitely stands out, however, is the difference I experienced with soreness post-workout. Always, I have been slow to recover from major workouts–even in younger years, which was long ago. After taking creatine as directed for a week, the recovery difference became obvious. Hector and I had done a chest routine (and tris and abs afterwards): 6 exercises and 3 sets per group. We pushed each other to the max every last set. Normally, the next day I would be extremely sore and feeling tired because of the soreness. With the creatine, the soreness was noticeable, but significantly less than what has been normal for me all my training life! The next day, even after a poor night of sleep, I did legs and back with heavier weights than the week before.

This brings me to the next point… gains. Because three major components of my routine changed dramatically at the same time, these next few observations come from my years of training and understanding how I’ve responded in the past to a similar lifting regimen. With the creatine, size and strength gains exceeded what I have accomplished in the past. It’s that simple.

Observations:

It was a week of taking creatine before I noticed anything different.

Others have stated that some don’t respond and some do. For sure, I have.

There are no negative effects that I can detect.

To Your Health and Fitness

Steven

Become a part of ‘Senior Fitness Issues And Ideas’–a Google+ Community, (even if you’re not a senior) and I will gladly answer your exercise and fitness questions personally!

The Senior Health and Fitness Blog by Steven Siemons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Don’t Expect A Pill To Do What You Should Be Doing

(Drawing by Estefania Gomez)

Keith was a funny kind of guy… not ‘make me laugh’ funny, but odd funny.

The fad, at the time, was lecithin. It was being marketed as a supplement that could, essentially, flush the fats from your body as you ate them. It instantly became his chaser of choice, in pill form, after his daily unhealthy lunch fix. Lecithin really did put a smile on his face, as he paraded through the office pouring the pills in his hand on the way to the water cooler. It didn’t matter what was going on in the real world of his metabolism, in his mind, he was being flushed.

Sometimes we want things to be true, and choose to believe that they are.

Sometimes it’s a claim in an advertisement that causes us to take action, usually accompanied by the words, quick, fast, rapid, or easy. You might find all of those in just one ad, and…It’s guaranteed, or your money back! It must be true, then. You should know by now that what you need just doesn’t come quick and easy.

Daily, even hourly, we see and hear very important people promote things, and we respond based on their authority. And it’s very possible that the beautiful body they’re showing isn’t really a result of what they’re suggesting that you purchase.

During my supplement-filled days, (yes, past tense), there was a very famous scientist by the name of Dr. Linus Pauling. He was a brilliant chemist, among many other things, and the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes. When he claimed that mega-dosing vitamin C could prevent colds and cure cancer, I stocked up on C the size of horse pills.

Lesson learned: Celebrity status doesn’t guarantee the validity of a claim; even if they’re one of the most brilliant people on the planet. You know that already, but sometimes you don’t want to believe it.

It’s not easy separating fact from fiction. And the instant flow of information in the palms of our hands is a powerful tool. But the money to be made from health supplements and the newest diet is in the Billions. It’s harder than ever to discern fact from fiction, but in the end, you are responsible for you, and you best do your (best) homework.

This reflection humbles me.

I had insisted that Keith take Vitamin C to prevent colds and throw away the lecithin.

When boxers enter the ring to do battle, they are advised, “protect yourselves at all times.”

I suggest you do the same. And I’ll be more careful about my recommendations.

Train Hard, Smart, and Safe!

Steven

Update: Weight Loss Products #1 in Fraud

http://www.berkeleywellness.com/self-care/over-counter-products/article/weight-loss-products-top-fraud

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