419 in broad daylight!!!!

CAVEAT EMPTOR!!! (errrrm that means 'let the buyer beware' ;D)

When it comes to food labels, manufacturers are very good at finding the loopholes in labeling laws and requirements, and subsequently very good at pulling the wool over OUR eyes. One of such loophole is the manufacturer's ability to claim "zero" grams of fat, or zero grams of trans fat, or zero calories on the label, when in fact the product does indeed contain plenty of fat, trans fat, and/or calories.

Here's the law:

Zero grams of fat or zero grams of trans fat:  As long as the food item has less than .5g of fat or trans fat, respectively, the label does not need to claim their existence on the label.  In fact, the product can even legally market "Zero grams of fat!" or "0g of trans fat per serving!"

Zero calories per serving:  As long as the food item has less than 5 calories per serving, it can be rounded down and labeled 0 calories.
  
......and how food manufacturers get around it:
By Deepening the Loophole with Unrealistic Serving Sizes!!!!!While .5g of fat or 5 calories may not seem like a big deal, remember that these values are "per serving", and while an entire package, box, can, or bottle of a product may contain hundreds of calories and loads of fat, as long as they can divide that package into small enough servings to meet the calorie and gram requirements to claim zero, it's legal.

Legal AND deceptive as hell!!!
I don't know about you, but I VEX when I see food manufacturers out rightly LYING to consumers on their labels and in the nutrition facts.  Some of these products should change the Nutrition Facts header to "Nutrition Lies" and it'd actually be a lot more accurate.



For those of us who don't have a clue as to what Ebun is talking about.....it looks just like this. Usually at the side or at the back of the product.

You see, at F.i.t.T.r.i.x we're here to provide you with honest nutrition advice and products, and as such, here are our "Top 4 Violators" of this deceptive food labeling practice. (I will leave out the 4th as that is a topic on its own!)

1. Cooking Sprays and Butter Sprays - Cooking sprays are labeled as fat-free but their first ingredient is oil, which is 100% fat.  How in the world can this be biko? Well, the serving size is 1/5th of a second.  What? Last time I used a cooking spray (some of the organic ones are useful) it took about 3 seconds to lightly coat the surface of the pan.  Well, according to the manufacturer, I just used 15 servings!!!!!!!! yepa!

Bottom line, no one uses the ridiculous and absurd microscopic 1/5th of second spray suggested serving, which isn't nearly enough product to be of practical use.
Same goes for butter sprays, which are 90%+ fat in most cases.  For example, one popular brand of butter spray contains over 800 calories and 90g of fat per bottle, yet it's labeled as a fat-free, calorie-free product!  Yeah, right! I think they believe we are Mongolic!!  ptchhhheeeeeeuuuuuuuuwwwww!
The serving size? One spray.  Let's get real here na...no one is using one spray, or five sprays, or 10 sprays.  In fact, twenty-five sprays equals just one teaspoon, when the servings size for regular butter is 1 tablespoon.  When you balance out the serving size to be the same as a serving of butter, you're looking at 75 sprays to get the same amount!!!

2.  Artificial sweeteners - Not only are artificial sweeteners bad news for you health, but they're also a top violator of "calorie free" deceptive labeling practices.  Many brands of artificial sweeteners use maltodextrin and/or dextrose (which is pure sugar) as fillers in each packet, and each packet can legally contain up to a full gram of sugar and 5 calories and still be labeled as calorie free.

I've seen people put 3 - 5 packets of this stuff in their coffee or on their cereal...hardly calorie free and even worse, maltodextrin and dextrose are two of the biggest insulin-spiking carbs around -- the entire reason people choose artificial sweeteners over sugar in the first place! The only one that is still the safest but should still be used with some caution is Stevia. Stevia is a plant that contains natural sweeteners that are used in foods. Truvia and pureVia are the latest products derived from it.

3.  Any food that contains "partially hydrogenated" oils in the ingredient list, period.  Bottom line, you should have a zero-tolerance attitude toward trans fats.  They are the most health-derailing nutrient known to man, and you should be truly consuming ZERO grams per day.
If a product claims "Zero grams of trans fat per serving", especially if they specify "per serving", they are almost always playing the serving size game and you're very likely to see partially hydrogenated oils on the list of ingredients when you flip the package over.  If so, avoid it like the plague.

 

I hope with these few points of mine I have been able to convince and not confuse you :D. Please ALWAYS READ THE LABELS!! What is contained in what you are buying to be consumed should be more important than the cost. Let's be wellness conscious.....weight loss is only amongst the benefits of wellness!

 

S.P.A...................Support Plan Accountability

 

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Hmmm......can't get no satisfaction

As much as an iPod bud in the ear, fat has become a regular part of our land scape. We see it everywhere. We see it in deep fried battered chicken. We see it masqueraded as dundun and akara on the road side. We see it crammed into Lycra evening gowns and cascading over belt buckles! We have seen paparazzi-haunted celebs gain it and lose it, lose it and gain it. And if we can bear a confidence-crushing six seconds of nudity in front of the mirror, most of us have seen our own share of flesh that droops, sags or jiggles! So, reason should tell you that you should know as much about fat as we know about Omoh sexy's private life or whether Yvonne Nelson actually dumped Iyanya as Tonto don vex am....But we don't right!....*smh*

 I am too sure we know what it looks like, what it feels like, and that it can be as bad for our health as a steak knife lodged in our hands. But few of us really know how fat works biologically - how the cold stone ice cream morphs from a creamy delight to the flab that conjoins our inner thighs, or how that sharwarma becomes our Christian mother arms soon after or how our skinny paddies can wolf down a whole debonair's pizza while we feel bloated if we as much as sniff 4 carrots!!!!

 The best place to really start all this investigation is #drumroll#......your appetite! For realest, the science of Appetite! In your brain, you'll find the hypothalamus, a key command center for your body. Among the biological functions, it controls your temperature, metabolism and............errrrrrm *coughing* sex drive :D!  Hidden in your hypothalamus, you have a satiety center that regulates your appetite. It is controlled by 2 counterbalancing chemicals that are located side by side ;

             - the satiety chemicals  led by CART: the C stands for cocaine and the A for amphetamine, since these drugs put this chemical into overdrive( why cocaine addicts can't be fat). CART stimulates the surrounding hypothalamus to increase metabolism, reduce appetite, and increase insulin to deliver energy to muscle cells rather than be stored as fat.
             - the eating chemicals driven by NPY (a protein called neuropeptide Y). NPY has the opposite effect on the hypothalamus; it decreases metabolism and increases appetite!

Located in the center of your brain, this hypothalamus also controls your behaviors that involve appetite- not just for food but also thirst and even for sex!

Yep! You heard me very very well and I said it again! As it may appear that that call-to-duty signals come from your stomach growlings or your loins tingling like a static shock, it's actually your brain sending those signals that you crave either a quiche or a quickie :P. At least one person I know helped curb an eating problem by having regular monogamous (note plix....Ebun ain't advising donating around o...so one person biko ) healthy sex. As when the appetite function for sex was satisfied , the appetite function for food was diverted.

So hunnies.....don't confuse thirst with hunger as the reason some people seem to eat continuously is because their satiety centers in the brain are begging for attention. And in reality what those appetite centers need many times is to quench thirst and not fill the stomach.

And in trying to manage those waists, you can stay satisfied, not in the form of dripping double cheese burgers, but in the form of safe, healthy, monogamous sex. Sex and hunger are regulated through the brains chemical NPY .....so the signals can get pretty mixed up from time to time.

I saw hotter ones ooo but my liver no reash!! :D

 So next time you are feeling that "pang", especially when you ate not too long before........go in, wear that lingerie he can never resist even if he has been in traffic for 6 hours and seduce your bobo and get satisfied!(you even burn some calories in the process) I would have said grab your bobo, but I rather smart work...over... hard work! Toodles :*

 

 

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Is there a miracle for me?

I have missed you my booboos soo much! Only a weekend off, and my mail box and blackberry flooded with enquiries as to why there was no write up last weekend. To be honest, I feel humbled with the 'harassment'. Stress and asthma attack your FADA!(excuse my french ;D) Imagine! I haven't had an attack in years! So in summary the doctor said it was stress induced ( I am sure more from traffic, as I'm on the road a lot, and the annoying road marshals), and banned my Ipad and laptop! To be honest though, with the support of my beautiful and caring clients, I could rest and reflect and even start planning the next big thing - F.i.t.T.r.i.x deli.......(watch this space :D)

The other day I noticed on my blackberry a friend put up as her PM..(paraphrased) Dear Pastor Chris, I want to still be able to eat bread and mayonnaise and hot dog everyday and still remain a size 12, is there a miracle for me? I responded on a light note....."none o". And immediately this my usually cheery and easy going friend became pretty defensive;

Friend: It's a lie! God can do all things. Stop limiting Him. Why are all of u contradicting urselves. U believe God for some n not for some. Hian!

Me: (laughing my wits end) He is a God of what you sow and reap........honey it's cause and effect. Instead I am realistic and practical and ask for grace and wisdom to eat right.

Friend: Nope! God made us to enjoy ALL. Not to eat dry food in the name of weight loss. But nnem you will never agree with me on this one.

Omoh laugh nearly wound me ooooo.....I can go on but I am sure you get the picture abi?

But in her defense I feel her frustrations wella! Imagine having been the toast of the town, fit and very hoooot and because you have now decided to love a man, marry him and have his children, then your whole life feels like its been toppled over!

The truth and nothing but the truth is the Bible or Quran can be quoted to suit us as we please but we need to understand that this same God has given us the power of choices! If we should choose to go down the religious route, I can say that if you eat anyhow and a lot then you are a equal to a drunkard! Please check out proverbs 23v21.....and see what can happen. (No be me talk am oooo....hian!). So I would rather hold on to being in the dispensation of GRACE, where I can ask the Supreme being for wisdom and grace in All things including weight loss matters. During my weight loss journey, and even my everyday life, it's a constant part of my existence to continually ask for grace etc.

So to save us all the heart ache, let's have a more practical approach to this weight management palaver, God made us ALL things to enjoy, but not at a sitting and also in appropriate proportions. Due to the fact that we might have been careless over the years and we have accumulated a lot of weight, we definitely need to change whatever routine that has put us in that "mess".....and very FAST too! So if its the constant bread, mayonnaise and hotdogs...then we definitely need to go back to the drawing board.

I feel like a pastor/a lecturer today (I guess all the reflecting has brought out my more serious sides :P).....but we need these jolting reminders from time to time!

In the words of Phillip Pullman
"You cannot change what you are, only what you do" In the words of Steve Maraboli
"It is up to you today to start making healthier choices. Not choices that are just healthy for your body, but healthy for your mind"

"You can't just wish change, you have to live the change in order for it to become a reality"

Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it"

In the words of Albert Einstein
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - I am just feeling this one dieee!

In the words of Ebunoluwa Akinwale
"Change only comes to those that desire it.......and also act on that desire......consistently"

We ended that bb conversation on a light note....became "friends" again....agreeing to disagree. And to her claim at how making that change is tough and how she used to be the "workout fanatic" but now the "curvy mama"..."Its soooo annoying"....I responded..."Na mind over matter with God's Grace"!

And yes in my opinion there are miracles......the miracle of freewill....the miracle of choices....the miracle of Grace!

 

 

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