Oprah Versus The Supplement Scammers

I knew this would come at some point.

We’ve talked about all the fake celebrity supplement endorsements that are being splashed across the Internet and in popular magazines and newspapers.  And because a recommendation from Oprah is second to only a blessing from the Pope, it’s no surprise that her face is attached to all kinds of miracle supplements including acai and resveratrol pills and juices.  I believe it all stemmed from an episode of her show where she and her resident “health expert” Dr. Oz touted the benefits of acai.

Supplement makers saw that, put their scheming heads together, and came to the conclusion that:

“Hey, if she likes acai, then she must love resveratrol!  And if she likes them in their natural form, she must love the convenience of having them processed and crammed into pills,  powders, and potions.  And hey, didn’t she lose alot of weight recently - again?  It must have been the acai!”

Guess Oprah has tired of seeing these supplement makers bless their products with her smiling face and newly toned body.  She and Dr. Oz have teamed up and dropped lawsuits on 40 different supplement companies.  Well, 40 different company names, anyway.  Truth is, many of these “free sample” supplement scams are run by multiple shell companies that roll up into one large holding company.  One that is usually located in the corporate meccas of Vietnam, Granada, or some other hard to reach business haven.

On her website, Oprah Winfrey has laid out her law:  “Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products…Neither Oprah nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any specific resveratrol product, company or online solicitation of such products. Any companies that misrepresent their affiliation are making false claims.”

“We know that thousands of people have been misled by these marketing practices,” said Marc Rachman, the attorney for Oz and Winfrey and companies that manage their images and trademarks, on Friday. “Oprah.com has received e-mail in the thousands from people who believe Oprah and Dr. Oz are affiliated with these products and have endorsed them when they haven’t.”

It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.  But as most of us know, whether it’s a photo, an advertisement, or an email, once it’s out there on the Internet, it’s pretty much there forever.  So, I would expect to see some of these companies just disappear, leaving a trail of acai, resveratrol, and colon cleansing ads with Oprah’s smiling face scattered across the World Wide Web.

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Say Goodbye To The Summer of 2009

School starts this week.  My stepdaughter is off to her first day as a highschool sophmore, and my three year old has his ‘meet the teacher’ day at his new preschool later this week.

It’s been an interesting Summer.  Junior is growing up and has turned into a fearless little daredevil when it comes to jumping in swimming pools, trying to boogie board on the beach with his cousins, or leaping from precarious heights never doubting my ability to catch him.

Can be nerve-wracking at times.  It’s great that he doesn’tseem to share many of the fears that many toddlers his age go through (well, he’s not crazy about thunderstorms), but a little healthy caution would help lower my blood pressure when he’s dashing out into 3 foot waves at the beach.  We’ve been working on his swimming skills, so next year should be easier.

Junior also starts tee ball this month.  Can’t wait to see that.  We’ve been practicing his hitting and catching, and he does have an arm.  Accuracy?  There’s some work needed there.  I’m trying to free up some time so I can help coach the team.  These are wonderful times to be a Dad, and I want to stay as close to the action as I can.

Trying to find somewhere to take the family for an end of Summer long weekend vacation.  This is really when I miss living on the east coast.  Living in Atlanta, we were five hours from the beach or three hours from the mountains.  Perfect for quick pick up and go trips.

Here in Dallas we’re hours from nowhere.  Best we can find are lakeside cabins down in Austin or up in Oklahoma.  But as beach people from way back, it’s just not the same.

Football season is kicking off.  Bulldawgs open up against Okie State in two weeks.  Can’t wait.  Doing a guys weekend and driving to Arkansas to watch them play the Razorbacks in September.  Really can’t wait for that.

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Homemade Nutrition - Make Your Own Supplements

I’m in complete agreement with the argument that maintains that, as we get older, our bodies need more nutrition than we can absorb from the typical daily diet. This is partially because today’s fruits and veggies just aren’t as healthy as they were 25 years ago, but it’s also due to advances in body science that have led to newly discovered chemical interactions that serve to ward off the effects of aging using various sources of antioxidants and other nutritional goodies.

But unless you’re actually eating 6-8 servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day (primarily vegetables), chances are you’re not getting enough of these rejuvenating substances, especially as our bodies age and begin to lose the ability to efficiently utilize the vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff (antioxidants, phytochemicals, etc.) in the foods we eat.  Hence the need for supplements.  The right supplements.

And just to review.  We’ve talked about supplements that we think work.  We’ve talked about supplements that we just don’t think are worth the money.  And we’ve talked about supplements that are just out and out scams.

Supplements can be expensive.  Just head over to your local GNC, and before you know it, the clerk has talked you into buying a hundred dollars worth of stuff to treat what ails ya.

Worried about cholesterol?  They have multiple pills, potions, and powders to choose from.  Want to burn fat?  Just grab a bottle of one of those energy kickers they sell for $30-$45 bucks.  Want to stay young?  Step right up, pull out that credit card, and purchase a bottle of acai pills.  Yea, they’re a little expensive, but they’re hot right now.  And Oprah swears by them!

Maybe at this point you might want to review the three questions I ask myself before I’ll even think about laying out dollars for a supplement.

Picking the right supplements is important.  Picking the right supplements and not going broke is even more important.

Well, last week I picked up an interesting e-book called Homemade Supplement Secrets.  Did you know that you pay a huge premium for many supplements when, if you were to purchase the ingredients individually, you could cut the substantially cut the cost?

This book actually teaches you how to make your own supplements.  It takes you through all the steps, including analyzing a popular supplement that might cost you $50 per bottle in the store, buying the ingredients from online supplement suppliers, and, using inexpensive kitchen-type equipment, mixing your own version of that supplement for a fraction of the cost.

Really interesting stuff.  And for $27, just getting a list of his preferred online suppliers is worth the cost to me.  These suppliers have been checked out for quality and offer supplements at really really cheap prices, especially when you buy in bulk.

Just to give you an idea, here’s the table of contents of the 193 page downloadable e-book:

Chapter 1: Supplement “Suckers” 101…………………..9
Chapter 2: Supplements – Are They Worth It?……..12
Chapter 3: “Back Room” Supplements……………………23
Chapter 4: Marketing Secrets Exposed ………………..31
Chapter 5: The Good, The Bad, And The UGLY ………48
Chapter 6: The Home-Based Supplement Lab ………59
Chapter 7: “Knocking Off” The Top Supplements ….68
“Energy/Pre-Workout Aids”…………………………76
“Mass Gainers” …………………………………………..90
“Muscle Builders” ……………………………………..106
“Fat Burners” ……………………………………………117
“Sports Performance” ……………………………….132
“Post-Workout Recover”……………………………146
“Nitric Oxide” …………………………………………..159
“Hormone-Boosters” …………………………………176

Really good stuff.  The analysis of the popular supplements in the categories listed above is valuable and provides alot of insight as to what works and what doesn’t.

Their web site is a little hype crazy, but the book is definitely worth it.

Click here to learn more about Homemade Supplement Secrets.

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Bananas, Broccoli, And Gummy Bears

Whole Foods

Sprouts

Fresh Market

These are the names of some our local Dallas “health food” stores.  These are the places to go when you’re looking for the best in fresh fruits and vegetables, premium meats, reputable vitamins and supplements, and other healthy foods and accessories.

Fine wines, a wide variety of trail mixes, and bins of raw legumes and grains are also lined up and down the aisles of these emporiums of healthy living.

But over the last several years, I’ve noticed that there are fewer choices when it comes to picking out trail mixes, fresh nuts, and dried fruits.  Where there used to be bin after bin of healthy snacks and ingredients, there is now bin after bin of…

Gummy Bears, sugar frosted corn flakes, malted milk balls, and other blood sugar spiking, teeth rotting, nutrition corrupting tasty treats.

Yes, junk food and candy are slowly pushing out the health foods from our health food stores.

Not a good trend.

But at least it’s one that is being recognized.

John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and said:

“We sell all kinds of candy.  We sell a bunch of junk.”

Well, in defense of Mackey and other health food store management teams, they are just giving the American public what it wants.

Junk food sells.

As recently as a few years ago, sales of healthy, bulk foods such as grains, seeds, nuts, and beans accounted for 15%-20% of a typical Whole Foods store’s revenues.  That percentage has dropped to less than 1%.

Customers used to walk out with bags of beans, oats, and nuts.  Now they’re waddling out with bags of gumdrops, lemon chews, and candy corn.

Fortunately, Whole Foods is taking a proactive approach in trying to get back to their original mission of providing quality, healthy consumables.  They are implementing plans to  include specialty kiosks in stores, where staff will educate consumers about healthy eating.  In addition, the company is developing programs to encourage store personnel to learn more about nutrition and to adopt healthier lifestyles.

But in the end it comes down to us.  Remember that, or one day your local Fresh Market may change it’s name to Candy Land.

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Government 101 - How To Ram A Bill Down The Throats Of The American Public

Encouraging news out of Philadelphia.

In an attempt to win public support, the Democrats are taking their government run health care pep rally to the streets.

Now first, never forget that the only time the politicians care what we street people think is when they don’t already have enough votes in Congress Castle to get their way. Chasing public support is a last ditch effort to pressure other politicians to jump on the bandwagon.

Well, it appears that this bandwagon is turning into a hearse.

Senator Arlen Specter and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius participated in a town hall meeting in Philadelphia this past Sunday. There, in front of over 400 people, they spoke about the need for health care reform and how the ruling minds in Washington will put out the best plan for the American people.

Of course, there are like fifty proposed plans currently in some stage of review in Congress. And the Senate proposal hasn’t even been written yet. So, it looks like they’ll have plenty of options to choose from.

The key message Specter and Sebelius were delivering is that the system is broken and that any viable solution will require a government run public health care plan to fix things. Needless to say, that message did not receive a warm reception. There were boos. There was yelling. There was rotten fruit being thrown. Okay, I can’t confirm the fruit, but the crowd definitely turned ugly.

Most of the crowd comments ranged from ridiculing the government’s ability to manage a lemonade stand much less health care, to questions as to whether Senator Arlen had even read any of the proposed bills. To which the esteemed Congressman replied that he had aides to do that. That comment really endeared him to the crowd, and almost every comment he made from that point forward was met with boos.

My favorite response from a woman in the crowd:

“I look at this health care plan and I see nothing that is about health or about care. What I see is a bureaucratic nightmare, senator. Medicaid is broke, Medicare is broke, Social Security is broke and you want us to believe that a government that can’t even run a cash for clunkers program is going to run one-seventh of our U.S. economy? No sir, no,” she said.

The American people have spoken.

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