CRAZY GO HEALTH-NUTS UNIVERSITY

there are several things that irritate me. pet peeves, i guess. one of my biggest pet peeves is health crazes. everyone and their dog has a special diet that works wonders for them. it usually includes some magical ingredient either to be taken hourly or to be avoided completely. they have found their holy grail of health.

sadly, when this happens there is usually some scientific basis for their theory. they just take it to the extreme.

take for example, the atkins diet. you want to know the magical ingredient in the atkins diet? it is a "carb." it is a sugar. it is glucose. you see, glucose requires a lot of water to be stored in the body. in fact, for every gram of glucose stored, 4 grams of water are required. sure you cant store that much glucose in the body. but if you restrict how much glucose you take in, then naturally you are going to require less water. less water means less weight. less weight means more healthy...

this is ridiculous. if you follow this diet for more that a month you will see the adverse effects of too little glucose and too little water in your system. it is a great "quick fix" for those red-carpet premieres. but after you lose the initial 5 pounds, go back to a healthy diet of fruits, vegetables and grains just like your first grade teacher taught you.

another pet peeve of mine is the organic craze. show me literature from any credible source (something that doesnt end in 'dot-com') that organic foods are more nutritious than regular foods. you cant. but you can say that organic foods dont have any preservatives. well, so what? unless your immune system is somehow sub-par and cant handle mild irritants that the rest of the population has no problem with, there is no functional difference.

wow, im on a roll, what else do i have? how about lactose intolerance. most cases of lactose intolerance are actually nothing more than a food allergy. you dont just all-of-a-sudden get it. you are born without the necessary enzyme (lactate) required to breakdown lactose. if you are an adult and you find that you can no longer consume milk without getting stomach cramps and pooping your pants, then you most likely have a food allergy.

yes, type 2 diabetes is reversible. eat right and lose some weight.

there is no magical cure for a common cold. even high doses of vitamin C does not cure or prevent a cold. it can only lessen the severity and possibly the duration.

yes, carb loading works. but only for long duration activities, and you have to follow the format to a "T."

yes, sodium bi-carbonate (baking soda) loading works. but only for short high-energy activities. and it will give you explosive diarrhea.

no, blood doping doesnt use drugs. yes, it works. and yes, it is illegal in professional competitions. and dont share blood or needles with others.

every energy drink has caffeine. this will dehydrate you, give you cramps, make you even more tired afterward, and so on.

for the average casual athlete there is no difference in sports drinks. if you are a professional athlete, use gatorade.

carbonation is not bad for you.

creatine works. but not like steroids. it will give you cramps because it draws water into the muscles. it doesnt make you stronger necessarily. it delays fatigue which allows you to work harder, and longer, thereby reaping benefits from doing extra work. steroids will actually help build muscle mass.

ok ok, time for wine. it is true that drinking moderate amounts of wine will lower your risk of heart disease and cardiovascular complications. and it is true that red wine will help with this effect more than other wines. there are two elements of wine that do this: antioxidants and resveratrol. antioxidants can be found in any citrus fruit. and resveratrol can be found in grapes, berries, peanuts and other fruits and legumes with a peel.

so there is nothing magical about wine, or the fermentation process. every good thing that wine offers can be found else where.

this is what the american heart association has to say about wine: "There is no justification for nondrinkers to start consuming wine as a preventive measure, considering that several other well-proven therapies exist for cardiovascular risk reduction, such as exercise, smoking cessation, blood pressure control, and cholesterol lowering, that do not have wine's undesirable effects."

so dont be stupid about health choices. eat smart, not extreme, and get out and exercise. do this and we can avoid another "half ton man" incident.