(VIDEO) Banned by Food Babe: The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

There’s so many bullshit con artists out there now that you have to be really careful ad question everything nowadays. Since learning of the “Food Babe” and her tactics, I appreciate anyone who can call her out oh her hypocrisy.

Check out this blog post doing just that.

Bad Science Debunked

“Thanks for calling out the troll. I’ll make sure to get him”
–Vani Hari, when asked why she’s selling products containing the dyes Yellow 5 and Blue 1

I, Mark Alsip, am the troll referred to in Vani Hari’s quote (above). We had an interesting encounter yesterday on Periscope.  After being encouraged to ask questions, I very politely and respectfully queried Hari on three products she’s selling. I wanted to know why certain of her wares contain nearly a dozen different chemicals she’s specifically called out as “toxic”.

If you’re already aware of Vani’s tactics, you probably won’t be surprised I was banned instantly.  However, for those in the Food Babe Army (or the media) who don’t believe that Hari censors all dissenting comment and immediately bans those who point out her gaffes, presented below are video, screen captures, links to Food Babe’s product labels (with ingredient lists), and more…

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Rethinking everything!

Since my last post, a LOT has happened, and a lot of nothing too.

Let me elaborate on the “LOT” part anyway:

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or off the internet, easily confused between the two) the last few months, you might have read the viral Gawker article from the “Science Babe” Yvette d’Entremont (aka SciBabe) going after “Food Babe” Vani Harti, titled “The Food Babe blogger is full of shit“. Basically, it puts much of Vani’s contradictions under a microscope and exposes her for being a fraud who knows nothing of what she’s talking about, despite her claims of being some sort of food guru. Granted before this I had never heard of the Food Babe, but the warning was appreciated.

SciBabe’s article also created an overnight backlash against what many would call “woo”, or any unsubstantiated claims without scientific backing. Practically overnight came the rise of the skeptic. I have to admit that the article had an impact on me, causing me to re-evaluate and re-think many things I took as cannon. Many things I looked at and took at face value, assuming the one’s providing me with accurate information had done their research. I wanted to believe. I wanted to think that everything had a natural cure for it and we didn’t have to rely on “Big Pharma”. Now, I realise the info they were giving me was not only inaccurate (lemon water changing blood ph is still one of my favourites), but they couldn’t provide proof of their claims besides “studies show”. Many of those said studies either did not exist, or came from dubious sources. I’ve always called myself an open-minded skeptic, but this taught me to take my questioning to a new level and look at the evidence at hand and face some of the new truths: GMO’s are not evil. Bees are not dying in record numbers. Organic is not better, and uses just as many “toxic” sprays as conventional farming, even though they come from natural sources. Lemons will not cure everything. Correlation is not causation. And it’s the dose that makes the poison. Hell, even water is toxic if taken in large enough quantities. I’ve started to go through my FB page and remove some of the articles and pictures that can’t scientifically be verified, or are misrepresented by trumped-up claims. I can’t in good conscience promote ideals like that anymore.

What I also got from the article, was an introduction to a fitness writer by the name of James Fell at Body For Wife. James has become my own guru in a way. He has exactly what I’ve been looking for; someone who’s going to give it to me straight with no BS. He’s not trying to sell me on products, supplements or a system. He’s honest, to the point, tells it as it is, and can scientifically back his claims and methods. He’s done his research on research. I’m not going to go on about him or I’d be here for a while. I highly recommend anyone to check out his website and follow him on FB.

As for the lot of nothing, well that’s been everything that’s happened (or hasn’t) up until about a month ago.

That will be the next blog post.

Where the hell have you been???

Hiding. Quite literally.

Its been one hell of a year. A roller coaster would look like a casual cruise compared to things that have happened this last year.

The death of a friend. Later followed by my father’s death, news of an unplanned pregnancy, and long-term hospitalization of another family member; all within one week! My own trip to an ER in Alberta thinking I was having a heart attack (fortunately not). Finally followed by a house purchase, moving and doing renovations while my wife was due in less than three weeks at that time.

Clearly I don’t like doing things the simple way! Thank God for family support in all this otherwise we’d be truly sunk.

A recent Doctor’s physical that I surprisingly came out of with flying colours (and intimate knowledge of what a stuffed turkey feels like), and surprising encouragement from my doctor to continue blogging, which is the reason for this post. I forget that just because things aren’t happening as planned, doesn’t mean things stopped happening. The ups and downs, all of it goes on and doesn’t stop.

So, some of the events will get details while I play catch up, but this is more to get back into the writing habit.

I’m also hoping to have details soon of something that will help get me back on to the fitness track: something that will give me a new level of accountability.

Fingers crossed, and hopefully I’ll have more to contribute!

DDP Yoga: Round two.

I had the best of intentions and the worst of implementations when I first started doing DDP Yoga.

Through bad timing and excuses on my part, a routine schedule that should have taken me three weeks ended up taking a month or more. While I was still active outdoors during the late summer and fall, this routine fell by the wayside under the “I’ll get to it later” category. After a sedimentary winter and warning signs of weight starting to creep up, it was time to get going on something again.

So here I am, relatively back at square one. It’s been a week since I started and I’m doing my best at keeping up a schedule for it. Heck, my last workout was at 11 pm just so I could say I did one that day! If I can stick to a three times a week schedule (like I should have done in the first place), I should be on track.

Another difference this time is I signed up for their support page at TeamDDPYoga.com, which has the claim of “The best damn support group in the world!”. When I first signed up for the page I got several welcome messages, one of them even from DDP himself, and later on the infamous Arthur Boorman! While the response has been impressive, it’s also been incredibly overwhelming, almost to the point of information overload. It’s like having the knowledge of the planet at your fingertips, but not knowing what questions to ask. Eventually I’ll get there, as my eating habits could still use a lot of work, or at least focusing in the right direction.

But for now, establishing the workout routine is more important.

One last time…

Been there…

If there’s one phrase I need to eliminate from my vocabulary, this is it.

It’s the bane, and the source of many failures for every overweight person out there.  It’s the thought process of needing to go and have a gorge of favourite meals as if you’ll never be having them again after adopting a new eating plan.

The problem with this is that you’re now eating a bunch of foods that you should really be avoiding in the first place, and it’s never really ever “one last time”. Somewhere in there you’ll always find an excuse to have it again, which in a way isn’t such a bad idea. When I first started, I knew that denying myself my favourites were going to be recipe for disaster and a setup for failure. As with anything (and as I often repeat) moderation is the key. Eat a small amount and slowly to satisfy the craving. You don’t need half a Pizza when a slice will do. Rewarding yourself with your favourites is also a good motivator, just don’t be too generous with yourself! After a while you may find yourself not wanting some of your “rewards” as badly as you did, knowing the extras calories it’s putting into you body that you really don’t want and now have to work off!

Granted, there are some foods or types of foods (like processed and fast food) that should be dropped entirely. However the real “last time” for them should be the time before you had the thought that this was going to be the last time! Eating any of that now is just a crap-load of bad calories that you don’t need.

Reset. Refocus. Restart.

Well, the last few months have been somewhat of a write-off for a scheduled exercise regime. The good news is that although I remained active, it was nothing on a routine basis. The summer had me out hiking and Geocaching as well as out camping with the family. As the season progressed into fall, I was still out hiking and Geocaching. Now with winter settled in, my outings have dropped to negligible. The weather hasn’t been bad, but in my part of the country it’s snowed, melted, and then froze; then snowed melted and froze again. Walking anywhere became treacherous let alone trying to go for a run or hike. I thought about getting a membership at a local gym, but we were house hunting over a wide area at the time so “local” was relative, depending on what part of the city (or cities in our case) we may end up.

At the start of November my wife was laid off so my free space was taken up with a 4 year old at home who’s up at the crack of dawn taking over the TV… or at least that’s been my excuse, and I fully admit that I’ve used it as an excuse. I have those DDP Yoga DVD’s still staring me in the face as a blatant reminder that I need to be the parent and take the time I need. Half an hour away from the TV isn’t going to kill him. His toy minefield is another story and does make it a little more difficult to navigate though.

I’m surprised I survived the holiday season without a new onset diabetes. The problem with working as a nurse is often the nursing station is a sugar buffet due to the generosity of patient’s families (fruit and veggie platters everyone, PLEASE!). Healthy eating goes right out the door with enough temptation that would make the good Lord buckle.

The bad part about all of this time is that I really haven’t lost any weigh (according to the scale). The good news is that I also haven’t gained any weight! I actually find myself able to get back into clothes that I haven’t worn in years! I now wear a size 40 jeans properly; which means that it actually fits across my navel, instead of me squeezing into the jeans by fastening it up underneath my roll and letting it flop over the top of the jeans!

I’ve also been able to fit back into my Paintball pants, which I  haven’t worn in at least 7 years or more. Consequently, it gave me inspiration to perhaps get back into the game, which has turned into a full-blown explosion of my passion for the sport. Paintball was my physical and mental release, as well as my main social outlet for many years. It’s a connection I lost when I quit. I’m back in with my wife’s full encouragement.

So while things have been okay, they still could be a lot better. It’s now been over a year since I stopped eating from fast food outlets and I’ve managed to maintain that, however I still struggle to maintain an adequate eating program in other areas. I’ve been giving into temptations and treats more than I should be and it’s simply me not exercising my own will power. I should be somewhere in the advanced level of the DDP yoga by now instead of looking at starting from scratch again. The program is supposed to have a support structure built into that that I think I need to look at optimizing. I know what I need to do. I just need to get off my backside and start dong it!

This pause in the plans does NOT mean that I’ve failed! I don’t believe you’ve truly failed until you quit, and I’m nowhere near that point! This is a hiccup and I understand that they happen. While progress has been negligible, I haven’t slipped back. As I say, take the little victories. I recognize the need for me to get back on my game and step it up. I need to set some new goals and find something to shoot for. I’m still 20 to 25 pounds from my goal weight, and I’ll probably still adjust that goal when I get to it. But first, let’s achieve that one.

Also, I need my damn TV back…

New Texas A&M Study: Geocaching Improves Physical and Mental Health

Now, this is old news to me, as someone who’s lived what the study was studying. But, it’s great to have an actual “study” backing up what those of us who participate, already know.

http://blog.geocaching.com/2013/11/new-texas-am-study-geocaching-improves-physical-and-mental-health/

1,000 Geocachers volunteered to be part of the first ever major study of geocaching and its effect on health. The 14-month Texas A&M study called Geocaching for Exercise and Activity Research(GEAR) launched in January of 2013. The first set of results from the study were presented on November 5 at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in Boston.

Each of the participants were given devices to track their movement and a logbook to record their level of geocaching intensity. The first results showed the effects of regular geocaching. Researcher Whitney says, “The GEAR study has identified an association between geocaching and improved health.”

Another researcher, Garney, goes on to say, “GEAR participants who report geocaching once a week or more are more likely to meet national guidelines for physical activity and are more likely to report good or very good health status compared to those who geocache less frequently.” In addition, research showed that geocachers reported fewer days of poor physical and mental health compared to state level data.

Follow Geocaching on Instagram for more epic and inspirational geocaching pics http://instagram.com/gogeocaching

These findings are still preliminary, but nevertheless we’re excited about them. The study concludes in early 2014 and final data will be analyzed and presented later that year.

Any other Geocachers have the same experience? Please share yours!

Youth Community Food Forest Illegally Destroyed by Business Owner

Makes you wonder what the hell is wrong with some people.

radicle beets

The Purple Thistle Food Forest, a 2-year-old youth collective permaculture garden in East Vancouver, has been illegally destroyed by neighbouring building owner David Hollands. The food forest is predominantly located on city land, with a small section on Hollands property. In the fall, Hollands demanded that the young gardeners evict his property by November 1st. The gardeners complied, removing approximately a dozen trees from along the wall of his building, and followed up by sending him a confirmation email and also asking that he respect the rest of the food forest, located on city property, and allow it to grow in peace.

Last week Purple Thistle gardeners visited the site and found the entire food forest destroyed, with irrigation chopped up, all the plants removed, and trees uprooted and left in buckets. All this without notification. They know this to be the actions of Hollands, as several weeks prior they intercepted a…

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WALC Raptor Loop

A blog about our outdoor and Geocaching adventures that the wife writes.

cache hownds adventures

With the new section of highway 97 done, a few new WALC (walking around Lake Country) trails have emerged. And what does any good geocacher do…..going hiking to place new caches of course 🙂

The trail was a pretty easy 3km hike. Liams favorite part……going through the tunnel under the highway. We walked on a variety of nice man made trails, dirt bike/quad trails, and some deer trails. Looking at the map I thought this hike was going to be pretty long, but we managed, and Liam did awesome! However with placing 11 caches along the trail it did take use just over two and a half hours. The end of the hike was getting a little hurried as it was getting dusk very quickly. We made it back to the car close to 4:30….just in time, any longer and we would have had to break out the flashlights.

A…

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Fall Geocaching.

Fall is my favourite time of year.

If I had a choice of one season to spend the rest of my life in, this would be it. I love the changing colours and cooler weather.

I’ve been cooped up most of my days off at home with a sick kid. Damn bug has taken it’s toll on the family; each of us, one by one. Although having an extensive project list still to work on, I needed to get outside for a bit and back to nature.

A quick hike and short drives to series of caches put me back where I love to be. There’s been a fog hanging over the valley for the last few days, and I was in the thick of it. At times I would stop, and enjoy the sound of practically no sound. Silence, broken only by the falling of collected mist on to the forest floor. Lost in the purity of nature at it’s most beautiful. My concentration only momentarily broken, noticing the dull hum from the direction of the city.

Foggy!

Here I could not see the forest for the trees… No seriously, the fog was that thick. Maybe 50 feet in front of me, that’s it. The road I was on was frequented by several trucks carrying quads. It is hunting season after all. I tried to do my searches without looking too much like a deer, or moose. At one cache I thought “funny that I’ve heard no gunshots”, and then right on cue <BOOM!!!>! Fairly close by too. Okay maybe time to call it quits, and next time, bring a hi-vis vest!

While I enjoy nature, it’s purity spoiled reminds me of how disgusting of creatures we humans can be. Garbage and prunings dumped in pull-off areas. I know hunting goes on in the are and that doesn’t bother me, but surely you can dump off your deer carcasses, skin, heads and other miscellaneous bits somewhere else besides right next to the main road!

Almost embarrasses me to be human.

Purposely placed stones in small circle. Animal Grave?