Category: Health

My writing, in all genres, has been much like my fitness activities. All have been done in secret from the Covid hordes. So much secrecy you’d never know it was happening. (hint: it wasn’t)

I’m getting quite good at blaming Covid for a lot of things (like forgetting I’ve already been writing other posts about the damned virus.)

But I Have Questions

Why did I gain weight?

• I was following the Ice cream covid prevention diet. Don’t laugh, I didn’t get Covid did I?

Why did I start to grow a beard and then shave it off?

• Covid made me do it (plus there’s a lot more grey in it now)

Why did that crazed driver cut me off almost causing an accident at 70mph?

• He is a charter member of the Covid hordes car club and needs to drive so fast to get to a bathroom. (I had written something more graphic here but my raised finger will have to suffice for emphasis.)

Why I haven’t I published all the posts I’ve handwritten?

• I read Covid hides in the spaces between the keys on my keyboard.

And now..,

Double-vaxxed and boosted, I’m struggling to reboot a normal life. And given seniors were in the bulls-eye for this thing (and I’m a senior) I’m a little gun-shy of all y’all.

I pushed my office chair back to the office from its former position blocking the front door from the hordes of Covid zombies I expected to invade at any moment. I’ve plugged the extension cords back in (they were used to power up the defensive alerts) and fired up the laptop (unplugged to prevent it from getting the Covid virus too.)

I’m on the last carton of ice cream and I sense a diet in my near future.

But I’m back, ever so tentatively, and the keyboard still works. We’ll have to see if I do.

What’s clear is I’ve written enough about Covid.

Time to move on. And my diet… sigh.

Stay safe folks. Get those shots and boosters.

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Are you as confused about effective supplements? And your health? And do you really know how good your supplements are?

The honest truth is that I don’t know enough myself. It’s a confusing subject and my primary research hasn’t reassured me at all.

You see, there’s so much marketing and self-serving bovine excretia flowing over our media, the average person hasn’t a prayer of understanding or keeping up with the data flow. I know when I decided to lose weight and improve my diet, I immediately felt lost and completely out of touch. There were so many “helping voices” out there, I surely didn’t know where to turn. Or, frankly, in which direction to turn.

This information will be a work in progress. Much like ourselves I note.

Consider it a snapshot of the current state of the art and as I learn more, I’ll update right here. Simply understand, as I said above, it’s a work in progress.

I wanted to get a snapshot of the industry before I began so started searching around on random topics.

It wasn’t pretty.

For starters, the industry is a well-protected one with significant Congressional support in the U.S.

A Time Magazine article said:

“1994 law, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which prevents the products from the scrutiny and approval given to other drugs. “I could pretty much create something this afternoon in my kitchen and sell it and not have to do any kind of testing ahead of time,” author Catherine Price” 
You can read the Time article here.

Price wrote a book outlining the industry and its “issues” here on Amazon

OK, but what about the size of this business?

Well now, we run into a few problems getting numbers. There are a multitude of small companies promoting products that fly totally under anybody’s radar. And the industry itself got into a “PR war” between two competing groups arguing whether the industry was a 12 Billion or 37 Billion.

But those numbers dwarf in comparison to the 278 Billion projected for 2024 by Globe NewsWire.

What we can agree on is this is big business.

But It’s All Safe. Right?

Well, here we go again. If you note the U.S.A. regulations above (the largest consumer market for supplements) there are no testing requirements as there are for other foods. As long as you make no outright medical claims on the label, you can sell it as a “dietary supplement”.

And the FDA said

But There Must Be Controls On Production

Well not that I was able to discover. In fact, one of the things I discovered was that you could start your own supplement company quite easily. And if you don’t know how to do this (yet) you can take a course here on Udemy

Celebrities

One of the most famous author/podcasters Tim Ferriss (The Four Hour Workweek etc) got his start this way. He formed a company, sold it and funded his empire.

And celebrity endorsements are legion. Here’s an interesting report on which celebrity is endorsing which product and data about the product.

Speaking of sports celebrities and products

Consumer Reports magazine reported in March 2012, “We’ve had more than 400 recalls of spiked products since 2008,” says Daniel Fabricant, Ph.D., director of the FDA’s division of dietary-supplement programs. Most were marketed for bodybuilding, sexual enhancement, and weight loss.” That, by the way, was in 4 years.

Are you confused yet? Or a bit hesitant to take a look at your own supplements?

I am.

I’m starting to investigate and research every supplement I’ve read about or take and will report back to you on some of the more interesting information.

Interested in what I write? Click here for updates when I post something new.