Hot Product

What happens when you squeeze a peanut as hard as you can between your thumb and index finger? Not much. What about if you get that sucker in between the palms of your hands and squeezed like your life depended on it? Still nothing. The bad news is, those little guys are about as hard as chinese algebra and not even those over sized biceps of yours are going to change anything. The good news, is that one revolutionary company has done all the squeezing for you, and in the process created a peanut butter product with all the peanut butter flavor, with none of the fat and calories.

Eating More Can Help You Lose Weight

I love food. Period. When it comes to eating I get just about as excited as Britney Spears at the front of the line at Starbucks. I am either constantly eating food, or thinking of where I am going to get it. If i don't eat every few hours, i get grumpy as well as irritable and consequently not very pleasant to be around. I go from Britney at Starbucks to Britney at a gas station with an umbrella and shaved head within minutes. So imagine my surprise when on embarking on my new healthy living journey I found that eating every few hours is not only good for you, but it is recommended and your body actually needs it.

There's a catch though. It has to be healthy nutritious food. What? You didn't think you could actually eat a donut every few hours and it be good for you did you? Well whether your goal is shed a few pounds, or put on a bit of muscle and see more results at the gym, supplying your body with a steady flow of nutrients every 2 - 3 hours is in your best interest.

HEALTHY BOY SHOCK TACTICS - Hot dogs

WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HAIR AND SNOUT WITH THAT?

Do you love to bite your choppers into a big juicy hotdog, soaked with mustard, ketchup and wedged between a juicy white bread bun? Maybe you are slightly health conscious, or avoiding carbs, so just opt for the meaty wiener instead? Well as it turns out, neither option is a particularly healthy one and once you have a read this post, you may just want to want to by-pass the hot dog stand at the ballpark or on the corner of 42nd street altogether.

Personally, I never really craved or sort out hot dogs as a snack or comfort food. Sure, growing up in Australia I would have the occasional one at a barbeque or at a children’s birthday party, but I personally always tripped over any unsuspecting kid for the sugar-laden cupcakes or bowl full of m and ms.

But for those of you who enjoy the occasional hot dog, it’s probably wise that you know exactly what goes into your favorite tail wagger. Whilst this post is by no means saying you should never have a hot dog again, it will provide you with accurate information so you at least make wiser decisions in searching out healthier options and / or alternatives.

So what is a hot dog exactly? According to wikipedia “A hot dog (also known as a frankfurter, frank, wiener, or weenie) is a moist sausage of soft, even texture and flavor, often made from advanced meat recovery or meat slurry”…Yep, you read it right, meat slurry. Sounds tasty right? Two words that just make you feel all warm and cozy inside. Lets talk about what that is exactly.

In an ideal world, when you order or buy a pork hot dog or sausage, you think you are getting pork meat and nothing else. Same goes with beef hot dogs, chicken etc. But the reality is, manufactures throw a whole variety of other things into their products to fill up their hot dogs, fill up your stomach, and consequently fill up their wallets.

The good news is there are laws in the United States that regulate hot dogs.  Manufactures have to distinguish on their package what is (or isn’t) in their product. All Beef or Beef hot dogs must contain beef with no fillers or by-products, wieners normally are a combination of beef, pork and chicken, and lastly frankfurts? They can consist of meat, meat by-products, and fillers. Lovely ingredients that can not only derail any diet or healthy eating plan, but can make you begin to resemble the four legged creatures these items are derived from.

So what are these elusive meat by-products? You may see statements on the packaging such as “made with variety meats”, “includes meat-by products” or “contains MSM” (MSM stands for mechanically separated meats). This basically means you are eating parts of the animal, but not the parts you would like to be consuming, or like to know you are consuming. Parts often include heart, kidneys, and liver, not to mention blood clots, snout, connective tissue, lips…and hair. The FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) classifies MSM as "a paste-like and batter-like meat product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible meat, under high pressure through a sieve or similar device to separate the bone from the edible meat tissue”. Mmmmmmmm yummy.

Now you might be saying “Sure, they contain animal products, I knew that. But are they healthy?" Well let’s take a look at this from a different health perspective. A hot dog is considered processed meat, which as mentioned above isn't from a single part of an animal (as say chicken breast is from chicken or fillet mignon from cows for example) and they typically contain high amounts of saturated fat, nitrates as preservatives, and high levels of sodium.

Nitrates found in hot dogs are suspected carcinogens and several studies show a direct link to cancer. Consumption by children have also been directly linked to childhood cancer rates. A study in Los Angeles by Peters et al. found that children eating 12 or more hot dogs per month had over nine times the normal rate of developing childhood leukemia. Other studies show that people who eat processed meats including hot dogs have a 67% increased risk of pancreatic cancer.

Nitrates aside, these popular stadium treats are not one of the most nutritionally balanced meals. They can contain anywhere of up to 30% fat with he majority of that being saturated, which is solid at room temperatures. Saturated fat is like that ex boyfriend or girlfriend that we all have - you know they bad for you but cant keep going back for more. Sure you wont be drunk dialing that hot dog at 3am on a Saturday morning (or maybe you do?), but it needs to be avoided at all costs due to its ability to clog up your arteries and increase your blood pressure.

Hot dogs and sausages can also contain anywhere from 80 - 130 calories a link, which would require over 30 minutes in an aerobics class or close to an hour of brisk walking to burn off.

But are all hot dogs the same? Absolutely not. Being a consumer you have an incredible power to choose the products that you buy, and all you need to do is look for a few simple things to make more informed decisions and avoid any snout and nitrates in your dinner;

1.    Avoid any hot dogs that contain Sodium Nitrate on the ingredient list,

2.    Look for labels such as “Kosher”, “fat free” or “All Beef”. These contain the best quality cuts of meat (no pork in the kosher) and are the lowest fat. I recommend Hebrew National Kosher 97% Fat Free Beef Franks

3.    Read the nutritional panel on the back and avoid any hot dogs that contain large amounts of saturated fat. It is recommended that saturated fat should not exceed 7% of your total calories per day.

4.    Read the ingredients list! It only takes a second to flip over the package and read what’s actually contained in the product.  Pay attention to the first 3 ingredients; this is what makes up the majority of your product. If it contains any of the above mentioned meat by-products or terms, or any chemicals that you cannot pronounce, then don’t buy it.

5.    Also continue to be mindful of vague and misleading statements on packaging. Did you know that “All natural casing” really means “Made from pig intestines”? Really makes you want to lick your lips.

Hopefully you have found this information helpful and it had given you some more insight on how to make more informed decisions when you are choosing your hot dogs.  Remember you can still enjoy the occasional wiener, just remember to consider the points above and you can be rest assured that you are doing your body a favor...and do try to avoid those 3 am drunken dials, or it wont just be all those condiments slathered on top of your frankfurt that are considered messy.

Healthy Boy x

The Healthy Boy Lifestyle Plan

So spring is here, summer is around the corner and you are beginning to have visions of yourself squeezing into skinny jeans or running along the beach in your short shorts to the soundtrack of Baywatch playing in your head. But winter was good to you. Yes those chocolate brownies, extra-tall frappucinos and bowls of warm comforting pasta have left you feeling a little pudgy. Even the thought of you squeezing into those Speedos is enough to make you let out a gasp of horror.

No worries. We can have you slim and slender and frolicking on the edge of the water with your summer lover in no time. Let me introduce you to The Healthy Boy Lifestyle Plan and some of my upcoming articles. They are part changes that I have already adopted and am benefiting from, part research as I go into more depth about things I am considering adopting, and part trial and error.

The Background and Concept

Enjoy eating junk food? Yep, we all do.

Do you search out your favorite fried food like a one-legged seagull searches out a hot french fry?

Does your mouth begin to water like Carrie Bradshaw in a Manolo Blahnik store, in anticipation of the weekend after you have been eating healthy all week? We have all been there..

Including me.

Growing up as a young kid in Australia, I was never too far away from something sugary or loaded with chocolate. My sweet tooth developed early and it developed big. You see I, like so may children, was a picky eater. I  refused to eat or even look at vegetables or anything healthy and immediately squished up my face at the thought of consuming anything green.

I developed a hatred for eating dinner, the kind of hatred that only develops amongst members of a girl band pop group after too many years of singing together. I often would not finish my meals and my mother would not let me leave the table until I did. So most nights read like an over-hyped Vegas boxing match  - my mother in one corner, me in the other, sitting there in complete insubordination and using any mind game tactics I could to get the hell away from that dinner table; including, but not limited to, convulsively crying or sitting in complete silence for hours upon end.

Whilst I hated dinner, I found enjoyment an hour or so later (and throughout all of the day for that matter) by inhaling a handful of chocolate coated cookies or candy bars and washing it all down with coca cola. Thus at an early age began my relationship with chocolate and junk food, or as I like to call it "naughty food".

Growing up through my teenage years, my mother started to chip away at my picky eating habits by introducing different types of food, cooking the food differently, or disguising vegetables in my favorite foods. Suddenly my mashed potatoes started changing color, and my mother insisted they were just "Orange potatoes". Little did I know I was consuming pumpkin. Nice one mom.

Then I hit my 20's. I moved out from home, moved away from my childhood place of birth to the big city, and got my first job in a corporate environment. All of a sudden I was thrust into a world of food and social settings I was by no means prepared for. I was invited to staff and client lunches as well as  dinners to restaurants that served types of food I didn't even know how to pronounce. I would go  through the supermarket isles looking for anything I can microwave for dinner, and spend my lunch breaks at McDonalds eating chicken nuggets and fries.

But changes started to happen.....

I would try something that one of my colleagues would be eating, and started experimenting with foods I would not normally order. And like most boys in their 20's, I started to become more conscious of my body. I would head to the beach and see other 20 something males with their shirts off and muscular bodies and wonder why mine didn't look like that. So, i joined a gym and started working out like a biggest loser contestant on a last chance workout.

I started The Atkins Diet and like anything I seem to do in my life, I did it to the extreme - completely cutting out carbs during the week. Whilst I saw initial results with dropping some childhood puppy fat, I had no energy and felt as beat as a red headed step child. I found it difficult to develop any substantial muscle in the gym, and it caused me to binge eat anything carb-laden I could get my hands on the weekends.

I would arrive at Monday, eat healthy again and feel copious amounts of guilt for all the naughty food I ate on the weekend and therefore increased the amount of time spent on the treadmill.

Now don't get me wrong, I have never really been overweight. But I was always conscious of that extra 5 - 10 pounds that I may be carrying around though (aren't we all), or that little bit of extra muffin top that may just be peering over my gym shorts.

After years of yo yo dieting like this, spending loads of money on muscle supplements and not really getting anywhere, I did some research online and came across a book that changed the way I eat and look at food. Burn the Fat feed the Muscle is a book designed to educate people on how to literally do what the title says - burn fat, and increase muscle. Its a comprehensive look on what to eat, when to eat it, and how to work out, all in a natural way for your benefit.

It taught me the difference between carbohydrates, proteins and fats, why they are all good and necessary for you, but most importantly which ones to eat and which ones to avoid. I learnt the difference between complex and simple carbohydrates, their impact on weight loss and muscle building, why your body needs a constant supply of protein and nutrients and why you need to eat small meals every 2 - 3 hours.

I stopped bingeing on weekends and found that I felt incredible. I didn't have to over compensate with cardio at the gym and my body thanked me for not overloading it with a weekend of sugar and fat. I began thinking clearer, sleeping better and waking up more refreshed in the morning, and saw huge gains in strength at the gym.

So with this revelation of stopping eating naughty foods and seeing and feeling the incredible results, I thought to myself; what if I started adopting other healthy habits? What if I not only stopped eating naughty food but sort out healthy and nutritious food, their benefits and recipes? What if I tried to eliminate all chemicals and artificial ingredients from my food? What would happen if took this approach of healthy living into other areas of my life by researching healthy practices and products?...

Thus begins my journey, and consequently my blog journal, into this world of healthy living. Follow me as I detail my trials and tribulations, the new practices I adopt, whether they work for me or not, and whether they may potentially work for you.

I don't know where this road takes me or whether it is a short term "project" or a longer term way of living, but either way im going to find out... and now so are you.

Healthy Boy x