Look Ripped

Hollywood beer goggles

What is it with Hollywood paparazzi and trashy celebrity magazines? They seem to be wearing their beer goggles when it comes to buffed bodies and celebrities. Bruce Willis in the latest installment to the Die-hard trilogy, Die Hard Four, looks OK but to assert that he has a super buffed action hero body really is stretching it.

Super action hero payout

Willis’s personal trainer Gunther Peterson has been quoted as saying “You don’t see many in his age bracket knocking it out in the gym with his dedication” and that dedication didn’t come cheap, Willis reprising his alter ego John McClane netted him $30,000,000 plus 20% of the gross, sounds like a good incentive to lift a bit of iron that most of us do for free.

Toffee Apple on a stick

There’s more to having a great physique than just losing weight (and hair) OK he’s slimmed down for the role, but buffed? Pleeeease! Bruce seems to believe his own press, he said of his training “I really needed to build muscle to cushion the impact when I hit the concrete so I won’t shatter any bones”. Well I have seen the movie and I didn’t see any muscle and the fact he was never sans shirt would indicate he didn’t either.

52 and pushing the envelope

Bruce’s training regime consisted of an arduous session of resistance training followed by something that elevated his heart (other than a heart attack). Gunther said that for legs they got on the treadmill, rower or elliptical machine, last time I checked that was called cardio, whatever happened to leg press and squats? For his upper body pull downs, rows and crunches. So it’s not to hard to see why Hollywood is so easily pleased when it comes to a buffed bod, the only criteria would seem to be, don’t be a lard ass.

“Eventually Bruce may let himself go a little, its not natural to stay ripped all year round” OOOHHH please!!!! Get a grip and lose the goggles!

Health drinks can kill

Your feeling a bit fatigued after a heavy workout and need an energy boost to get through the rest of the day, you reach for a Red bull, pop the lid and throw it back you feel the rush and figure if one is good more is better. By days end five empty cans of energy drinks are laying in the waste bin, suddenly disoriented and feeling unwell the last thing you see is the floor coming up fast. You don’t know it but you’ve had a myocardial infarction, your heart has stopped!

The energy concoction

Energy drinks   are designed to give a burst of energy using a combination of methylxanthines as well as caffeine, some B vitamins and other herbal extracts. The more frequently used ingredients are caffeine, ginseng, guarana (a plant extract that can be twice as strong as caffeine), carnitine, creatine, maltodextrine, inositol, glucuronolactone and ginko biloba and high amounts of sugar. Some new players on the energy drink market have increased the amount of caffeine by as much as 300mg per can, (a cup of coffee contains around 80mg.)

Why you could have a chest grabber

Some of the ingredients that are added to energy drinks i.e. garana, and ginseng can magnify the effects of caffeine, smoking, medication and hormone use also have an effect on the efficacy of caffeine.

Some studies have shown that as little as 100mg of caffeine a day can cause tolerance, and when withdrawn cause headaches, drowsiness, poor concentration.

How much may be too much

Amounts of 500mg to 700mg (equal to 7 cups of coffee) may cause abnormal physiological effects. Symptoms of overdose are

• Flushed face
• Frequent urination (Duiress)
• Rapid heart rhythm (tachycardia) 
• Vomiting
• Insomnia
• Nausea
• Death (rare cases)

So the next time you feel like a pick me up, try stopping at one can and enjoy the boost, because if you’re unlucky the next thing you could see rushing up at you, could be the floor.

The Heart tick

So many of us don’t have the time to read the labels on the side of the pack and for those that do, understanding the ins and outs of our nutritional needs flummoxes the most astute shoppers. So the Heart foundation has instigated a tick program that indicates to consumers what the better food choices may be. So what ends up in your shopping basket if you follow the tick?

Following the tick

The Australian Heart Foundation has had in place for some time a tick on selected foods that indicate to shoppers that they are choosing a food that is lower in salt, saturated fat and trans fat. It’s a quick guide for the time poor shopper that wants to eat a reasonably healthy diet but either lacks the knowledge or the time to make healthy choices.

Maccas gets a tick

So the question on the majority of skeptics is how did MacDonald’s manage to get the heart foundation tick on some of their fast food? Well like every other supplier they also had to meet the criteria of low salt, saturated fat and trans fat. When you purchase the tick meal from Macca's your not allowed to digress from what’s on the menu, if you add a coke or large fries the tick is automatically voided, and so are the chances of losing your fat ass.

Ticking time bomb

63% of Americans are walking time bombs, closely followed by 60% of Australian’s that are either overweight or obese, Coronary Vascular Disease (CVD) kills more women than breast cancer and one kills one Australian every ten minutes. So its not hard to see that if someone doesn’t start spoon feeding the population a better diet, a large proportion of us will be heading for an early grave. So if in doubt follow the tick.

Add functional food to the shopping list

As if putting a decent, wholesome low fat, nutritious meal on the table wasn’t hard enough along comes a new food to consider. Functional food could be a godsend for improving our health or it could be just another marketing ploy to move products on shelves.  So with scientists divided on functional foods safety and efficacy what are the implications and what the hell are they?

Defining Functional food

Functional food is defined as “Foods that contain physiologically active compounds that provide health benefits beyond their nutrient contributions; sometimes called designer foods or nutraceuticals “ (Understanding nutrition 11th edit) Now we have the definition, what does it mean for the consumer?

The Japanese consumer may be the canary in the coalmine

The Japanese consumer would seem to have embraced the use of functional food, Professor Shimzu from the University of Tokyo says “Looking to the future researchers in Japan are looking to regulate the system to decrease the risk of lifestyle disease and to modulate immune systems and reinforce the body’s defense” 30% of the Japanese population suffer from allergies, and 59% report to suffer from fatigue with another 37% suffering from chronic fatigue. The Japanese consumer annually spends US$168 per person on energy drinks that have little or no evidence of efficacy.

Spending big on a questionable benefit

It would seem the Japanese have embraced the idea of medicinal food, with 650 food products approved for specific health use and the worlds first food policy that legally permits the claims of functional food and purported health benefits. In Australia such claims contravene the legislation and invite punitive measures for those that do.

The Yanks would appear to move more cautiously

Experts have said “It could be decades before science can accurately measure the body’s systems to determine which foods, in what quantities and combinations, will best combat against disease and illness”.

Unfortunately, like most things that seem to good to be true they usually are, Professor Peter Clifton from Adelaide University in Australia called functional food “A Myth” in his opinion and based on research carried out with the national science agency.

Variety and good food choices

The best thing anyone can do to improve there health outcomes and improve performance whether as an athlete or just for daily activities is to eat a balanced diet within the parameters of grains, vegetables, fruits and milk.

Eat beans, fats and oils in moderation. Functional food is what you do with it once its in your body, sit on your arse it turns to fat, exercise it turns to muscle and energy.