Jamba Juice, #218…Ammon Idaho, Ryan Arfmann is the best.  He was getting ready to release the Steel Cut Oats with the company a few weeks ago, and let me preview a little bit of it…Wow!  It was great and with different toppers, what a cool idea.

This morning, I went to work and got on the floor at 5:00am.  I had to leave work early in order to go to an appointment, and had time after to get some breakfast at Jamba Juice.  I had a double Matcha Shot with Soy, I had a 16oz Protein Berry Workout with Whey Protein, and then I had an Oatmeal, with no sugar topping  but just fresh banana toppings.  It has lasted the whole day…I have to make dinner tonight, and we had planned on having a treat tonight by making homemade, whole wheat scones with SugarBlend and SweetR toppings and ButterBlend, but the breakfast that I had this morning has kept me filled all day!

The taste and texture of the oatmeal was wonderful, and the atmosphere at the #218 Store in Ammon has always been friendly and when the weather has been so cold…so warm.

Special thanks to Jamba Juice #218 Ammon, Ryan Arfmann…Breakfast was great and the company was even better!

Thanks for letting me rant!

d

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You know those people that don’t have any thing better to do with their lives other than criticize everyone else’s lives?  Well, this is one of those…

It was reported on NBC News this morning that there is a group that wants to put a ban on all cell phones…hands free or no in cars because it’s like driving drunk.

Let’s look at the logic of this.  What they are saying is that if you talk while you drive then it’s like your drunk…so, if you have a passenger that you talk to in your car…your drunk, because your attention isn’t on your driving, it’s on your conversation.  If you have kids in the back seat…your drunk because your attention isn’t on your driving it’s on your kids tearing each other apart behind you…all you bus drivers, pull over!  You’re all drunk!

Hey, lets face it, when you place anyone behind the wheel of a 3,000 pound steel object going 30 mph, your talking about a lethal weapon, it’s always been that way.  Use to be, in the old west…that a runaway horse was a lethal object…stampeding cattle were lethal objects!

Now, I have to say that we have a rule in our house…you have to wear a bluetooth when you drive, you are not allowed to answer the phone without one.  No texting in the car and no loud music in the car.  Now, my husband, when he drives, has to have absolute quiet.  He can’t drive unless there is no music, no talking to him and no talking to each other…he doesn’t focus well unless its completely quiet.  Therefore, Mom has always been the one to drive the kids and their friends to and from activities…because dad is no fun and is kinda scary behind the wheel.

Mom on the other hand use to drag race when she was younger.  I’ve driven in all kinds of terrain and in the 35 years that I’ve been driving I’ve never had a ticket, not even a parking ticket.

Some people can not focus unless they have total and compete quiet.  My husband complains about the road noise the tires make on the pavement!

Most people, however, can multi-task, especially if they are women and have children.

Talking or communicating is a natural thing between humans…now having a cell phone up to your ear while you’ve got hold of a steering wheel is a cumbersome thing, but using a bluetooth keeps both hands on the wheel.

As far as a ban on all cell phone use in the car…I’m telling you, that is an overzealous activist with nothing on their minds…including logical thought.  And what’s next?  Banning all passengers and especially children from the car?  Get real!

Thanks for letting me rant!

d

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You know, I’m really tired of the Big Guys putting the screws to all the little guys and getting away with it.  Isn’t that why we are in this financial crises?  Splenda was under a lawsuit for lying to the public about their product…now they have to say, “It’s made from sugar, but it’s not sugar!”because they made people believe that Splenda was natural and there were no repercussions using it.  The rest of us are given rules.  If we buy something like a house and we can’t pay for it, the bank repossess it.  But the big guys, if they buy a building or a company and can’t pay for it, the tax payers, most of us poor, have to hand the money over and we have no choice but to do it.

Now I read the following report about Cargill. If they are not willing to be forth coming, if they break the rules like releasing products before the FDA approves it, then what does that say about this company machine. Are they trustworthy? Do we know if they are telling us the truth about their products and their statements? Is it safe? Does it have side effects? Can we trust what they say to us based on their openness with federal agencies?

I don’t think so. Truvia, for example is not Stevia…it’s eyrthritol, a sugar alcohol that they have been trying to push for years! We’ve been doing tests on this sweetener and it’s not the best thing on the market. It doesn’t have any calories, but neither does dirt…are you going to eat that? No, we want flavor, we want function, we want no impact on our blood sugar and we want best price.

Read the following article and decide whether we really need another “McNeil Nutraceuticals or Dow Chemical” making our food…Being Transparent to the public is important, because it means your not hiding anything from us!!!

Accountability report puts Cargill under the spotlight

By Sarah Hills, 15-Dec-2008

Cargill’s accountability record has come under scrutiny in a new report which assesses the performance of some of the world’s most powerful corporate, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

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This is a misleading statement by Cargill.  If you read the ingredient list on the product itself, you will see that Stevia isn’t even listed in the main ingredients…the main ingredient is erythritol, which has been on the market for a long long time as a sugar alcohol and one of Cargills main sweeteners.  This is just a new marketing ploy.  In the adds you’ll see these wonderful crystals falling from a spoon into a liquid that looks like coffee…in reality, the product doesn’t look like sugar, it isn’t crystalline like sugar…so what should that tell you?  Your being taken and they are laughing all the way to the bank.  Get ready folks, cause Coke is going to release their products with this sugar alcohol soon as well.  They have a partnership with Cargill…remember what a disaster “New Coke” was…Here we go again.

Thanks for letting me rant…

d

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I love the show “The Biggest Loser” and am all behind that sort of lifestyle change and exercise!  Not only is this the healthiest way to control your weight, but it also has emotional and chemical benefits as well.  If you are one of those that think that just taking a pill is going to help…it’s not, it’s a band aid on a very serious cut that needs better attention.  I’m not a huge fan of natural supplements for weight loss either, just because it’s not as effective as self-control and often times more expensive then just saying “no”.

Some supplements are okay if your deficiant, but all in all, reducing calories, cutting back or cutting out sweets and exercising is the best choice.

I know there are some supplements out there that can cut your appetite like Hoodia, but do you know how rare “hoodia” is?  Chances are that if someone is selling Hoodia, there isn’t enough in the product to make it work, or it’s not really “hoodia”.  There are other Balance issues as well.  Hoodia is a very hard to find plant and if we harvest all of it, it becomes extinct.  If we pull it into domestication, then the plant doesn’t have the same constituents that it did when it was wild.

It’s like Krill Oil.  There are a lot of people pushing Krill oil for it’s Omega 3, but did you know that the body doesn’t have an internet connection to tell it that Krill oil is expensive and the body should love it more?  The body can’t distinguish between the Omega 3’s in the Krill oil or the Omega 3’s in fish oil or the Omega 3’s in Avocados…the difference is that the whales in the ocean that are becoming extinct are becoming extinct because their source of food is becoming depleted and they are starving to death…one Whale consumes a bunch of Krill (baby shrimp) a day.  Now the Whales are competing with commercial agencies that are trying to convince us that their 120.00/month krill pill is better then the omega oils from commercial fisheries or from vegetables.  The body can’t tell the difference, but the oceans and the whales can.

Pills for weight loss are not effective, change is…I pulled this article exerpt from a journal that I read on food trends…

Uphill for alli

Market figures compiled by IMS Health Incorporated, a pharmaceutical market research firm, have placed GSK’s alli product in third place out of all weight loss drug sales, accounting for 7 percent of all anti-obesity treatments in 2007 around the world.

Following its US launch in June 2007, GSK said alli had recorded sales of around $290m in the year ended December 31 2007.

However, this included a large stock-up in order to get the new product on the shelves. IMS figures, which track actual consumer sales for the year to December 31 2007, placed alli sales at $121m. GSK reported Q1 2008 sales for alli of $17.5m.

The active ingredient in the product is orlistat, which is said to work by attaching to some of the natural enzymes in the digestive system and preventing them from breaking down fat. Diarrhea is a side-effect.

The drug must be taken in combination with a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet, and GSK claims it can help people lose 50 percent more weight than dieting alone.

GSK says that orlistat has been studied in more than 100 clinical trials.

Other weight loss drugs

GSK’s alli is actually a low-dose version of the most popular global weight loss drug, branded Xenical and sold by Roche.

Xenical contains 120mg of orlistat, whereas alli contains 60mg.

When Xenical was launched in 1999 it was an immediate market success, recording sales of about $948m in its first full year on the market. However, since then sales slowly slipped and have never matched the first year of revenue. This has been put down to its side effects, which include flatulence and diarrhea.

However, Xenical remains the top-selling global weight loss drug accounting for 31 percent of the market in 2007, according to IMS. Sales that year were $538m, falling around 8 percent from 2006.

The second biggest seller last year was Reductil, made by Knoll Pharmaceutical, a member of BASF Pharma. This product recorded sales of $375m at retail in 2007, and held a 22 percent market share.

The overall global market for antiobesity treatments, excluding dietetics, was valued at $1.7bn in 2007 by IMS. The market grew 19 percent at a fixed rate from 2006.

Other products on the market include Acomplia, Dinintel, Clo Sibutramina, Duromine and Ectiva.

More drugs on the way

There are currently numerous anti-obesity agents in studies, with development being undertaken by a range of companies including big pharma, specialty pharma and biotech, states the new Edison report.

“The success or failure of one or more projects currently in late-stage development will shape the level of interest shown by big pharma in the obesity sector,” it writes.

Anti-obesity drugs in development at Phase III include products from Merck (taranabant), Pfizer (otenabant), Arena (Iorcaserin), Orexigen (Contrave) and Vivus (Qnexa).

According to FDA guidance issued last year, Phase III trials for weight management drugs should involve 12 months of placebo-controlled exposure in 1,500 patients, followed by a second year of open-label exposure in 500 patients. Edison estimates that this would cost firms $100m.

In terms of efficacy, the guidance suggests drugs need to achieve over 5 percent weight loss from baseline.

Although the market for obesity drugs could hold potential, the side effects and limited efficacy of currently available products has led to only 2 percent of the obese population in the US being treated by drugs in 2005, according to figures from Frost & Sullivan.

And it is not just the market research firms highlighting concern with current obesity drug treatments.

A spokesperson from Phytopharm, a pharmaceutical firm also active in the functional food arena, told NutraIngredients-USA.com that “whilst it is an important area, I am not bowled over by the pharmaceutical products out there (for weight loss). My concern is that the current products are not particularly impressive or have significant side effects”.

Phytopharm holds the patent for a weight loss extract from the South African plant hoodia, which it has licensed to Unilver for use in weight loss fo

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