Splenda Cost Going Down

by | Apr 23, 2005 | Diet Products

Good news! The price of Splenda may soon be going down! The primary patent held for Splenda by Tate & Lyle has already expired. They hold numerous other patents but this still opens the door to competition. Other companies can now create Splenda as well, and will soon bring it to market under different brand names (but it will be virtually the same thing just like a generic drug). This competition will encourage price to drop which is good news for everyone (except maybe Tate & Lyle).

Despite the questionable announcement of a “shortage of Splenda” which was probably bogus (I don’t have facts, but really, a shortage? Gimme a break), now the news that the patents are expired. Coincidence? I think not.

Splenda is considered far safer than aspartame and many companies are moving to use it. Seven-up has just announced they will be brining a diet 7-Up to market sweetened with Splenda.

Hopefully the day will come with the FDA will recognize that Stevia is even better being a plant (not a chemical process), and will let it be grown and sold as a sweetener. Why they do not now is beyond me. It’s as if they declared sugar cane a drug. Sugar cane is a plant, so is Stevia. Why is one okay, and one not? Ask big business.

Human Mad Cow in Holland

by | Apr 23, 2005 | Food Safety

Is Beef Safe to Eat?

A human has been report with Mad Cow Disease yet Holland cries, “Our beef is safe! Our beef is safe!” Is it? Did they figure the person traveled to say the UK and got the bad beef there? Do they really know? No, they do not.

Stop fooling yourself. Our meat supply is horribly tainted. If you like beef. Fine. Eat beef. But starting today buy from meat (beef, chicken, even fish) from your local butcher shop and local fish shop, and you will avoid all this nonsense and be able to enjoy meat in peace once again. Support your local farmers too. We should start going back to being neighborhood consumers and stop thinking by saving a few cents at Walmart that we are doing ourselves or our children any favors.

I know, it can be more expensive but I’m not willing to risk dying for a piece of steak or lousy hamburger at McD’s. Are you?

Your local butcher buys his meat from small local farmers who do not sell to the huge meat processing plants. This is good for you. Look in your phone book or do a search online and find a local butcher in your town. Their beef, chicken, etc. are cleaner, less likely to be full of hormones, and are not coming from sick cows. Local butchers can teach you which cuts to use for what. Go in, ask questions, get to know a local merchant, and maybe make a friend in the process. Plus, supporting your community is good for you and the community.

Mad Cow is not something to fool around with nor is it wise for this country (the US) to randomly test a mere teensy percentage of beef. In Japan they test all cattle. Here we still allow downer cows (cows too ill to stand) into the food supply, and if an animal is obviously ill, it should not be butchered and sold to school lunch programs. Meat processing plants claim they do not, but just visit any meat packing plant and see for yourself.

Report about Human with Mad Cow Disease in Holland

PowerPops – Weight Loss Aid or Scam? You Decide

by | Apr 9, 2005 | Diet Products

The PowerPops site states, “Power-Pops formula (patent pending) uses five natural ingredients to suppress appetite and provide energy. Power-Pops have approximately 32 calories. Now you can eat candy and LOSE WEIGHT too.” Uh, huh.

Farther down they state, ” Power Pops contain 7-9 carbohydrates and 7 grams of sugar each.” I’m not sure how they are doing the math. A gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories and a gram of sugar contains 4 calories, thus having 7 grams of carbs X 4 would equal 28, plus 7 grams of sugar X 4 for another 28 calories or 56 total, but perhaps some of the sugar also counts as carbs? Who knows? I do know that eating these Power-pops four or five times a day is going to add a lot of extra calories for no nutritional value and nothing but sugar and carbs. Neat plan. Not to mention how nifty it is to continuously put something sweet in your mouth. That’ll go a long way toward breaking one of their sugar habit.

The advert continues “keep in mind that Citrimax “eats” this sugar so your body only actually consumes 1/2 of these carbs/sugars.” Whaaa? Since when does anything “eat” sugar calories? Since Neverland, that’s when.

Now Power Pops have added Hoodia, but Hoodia is not effective except in sufficient quantity. A teensy speck added to a candy lollypop isn’t going to be enough to do anything. I’d think there are far better ways than adding 100 calories (or more) to your diet in the false hope it will reduce your appetite.

A better approach? Have a cup of clear broth soup or miso soup before each meal.

Google Gulp is Here, But Where’s the Diet Version?

by | Apr 5, 2005 | Diet Products

Those wacky kids at Google are at it again. If you don’t know right away what I mean, check out this new offering:


Visit Google Gulp

What’s this? “Think fruity. Think refreshing,” says Google.

“Think a DNA scanner embedded in the lip of your bottle reading all 3 gigabytes of your base pair genetic data in a fraction of a second, fine-tuning your individual hormonal cocktail in real time using our patented Auto-Drink™ technology, and slamming a truckload of electrolytic neurotransmitter smart-drug stimulants past the blood-brain barrier to achieve maximum optimization of your soon-to-be-grateful cerebral cortex. Plus, it’s low in carbs!”

Who ever has this job has gotta be having a great time, and that’s all I know, so hats off to you Google Guys for making it real, er, in a fake product kind of way.

BTW, notice how their page makes you want this, even though they say it will analyze your brain, and even though it’s basically hopeless you’ll find someone with a cap so you can get one too? That’s my point. Advertising. Watch what you see and read and pay attention. Ads are designed to make you want what they offer so they make big promises and you may just not even notice what the ad really says at all. “Results not typical,” and whatnot. This is an excellent example of pure marketing in action. Even I want some. 😉

Putting Hunger in Perspective

by | Apr 4, 2005 | Book Reviews

I recently read a book by the only man to have survived alone on a raft at sea for more than a month, Editor of Cruising World magazine, Steven Callahan. In Adrift, Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea, Callahan recounted how while slowly starving he dreamt of food

“My body knows what it needs. For hours on end fantasies of sweet ice cream, starchy baked bread, and vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables water the mouth in my mind.”

Reading an account of one man’s survival in the face of sure death was inspiring to say the least.

My husband is currently building a boat designed by Callahan; actually it’s the redesign of Solo, the very boat that capsized when he was set adrift! My husband plans to take off on a singlehanded sailing adventure across the seas. He believes he could survive as Callahan did, while I’m telling myself I’ll die of starvation if I don’t eat in the next half an hour. Just sort of puts things in better perspective, I’d say.