Warning Wednesday: Not all organics are made the same

Read on and figure out to decipher the organic label code.

When can you use the “USDA Organic” seal?
You must meet the USDA’s minimum requirements. All USDA Organic formulas must consist of at least 95% organically certified ingredients (excluding water and salt). Any remaining ingredients must be approved as organic compliant as defined by the USDA. Terms used on labels include “Organic” or “100 percent organic” if 100% of ingredients are organically certified. The USDA Organic seal may appear on product packages and in advertisements.

Any product labeled as organic must identify each organic ingredient in the ingredient list on the label. In addition, the name of the certifying agent must be displayed.

Are there other organic ingredient options?
Yes, products may be labeled “made with organic ingredients”. To qualify, products must contain at least 70% organic ingredients. The percentage of organic content and the certifying agent seal may be used on the “face panel” of the label only. In this situation, the USDA seal cannot be used anywhere on the package.

If a product contains less than 70 % organic ingredients, the specific organic ingredients can be listed as such in the ingredients statement on the information panel only.

Are the requirements for organic certification uniform around the globe?
Requirements for certification vary from country to country, and generally include production standards that encompass growing, storage, processing, packaging and shipping. Any business in the food production chain can be certified. These businesses include seed suppliers, farmers, food processors, retailers, and restaurants. In the United States the governing organization is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Until next time Team, just because it says it is 'organic', doesn't necessarily mean that it entirely is.
Health Respect & Happiness,
Beki

Training Tuesday - Increase your G-flux

I just read a great article on something called "G-flux". I am re-posting most of the content for you to read. Following these simple concepts will really help with your training and the prize for all your efforts? Increase in metabolic rate which means more calories burnt, win win!

Read on Team!

If you've never heard of G-flux, here's a simple formula for increasing it: Eat more; exercise more. Sounds pretty simple, but let's take a deeper look.

Exercise increases metabolism. Eating increases metabolism. The trick is learning to balance the two so that you still create a negative calorie balance.

Let's back up real quick.

Sendentary people (folks who just sit around and don't exercise) have painfully slow metabolisms. This is due to many hormonal factors resulting from a lack of exercise along with the fact that these individuals never really "teach" their body to burn additional calories.

Likewise, chronic dieters share the same plight. When you chronically under-eat, metabolism shuts down as a starvation protection mechanism and the oh-so-slow metabolism blues start a-playin'.

On the contrary, exercise and eating are metabolism boosters. That being said, it's not very likely that eating more by itself will ever do wonders for your fat loss goals.

But when you combine eating more with a high caloric burn via exercise you get the best of both worlds.

For example, let's say your basal metabolic rate allows you to burn 2000 calories a day. Knowing this, you go on a diet and begin eating 1500 calories a day, putting you 500 calories in the hole. Now, on the surface a 500 calorie deficit would appear to be a good thing, but unfortunately you've done your metaoblism NO favors here. In fact, under-eating only decreases metabolism with each passing day.

So, "dieting" is not the method of choice for creating a calorie deficit.

Now let's take a similar scenario. You burn 2000 calories a day, but instead of "dieting" you start eating 300 calories MORE each day and you also burn 800 extra calories through exercise. The result? The SAME 500 calorie deficit (2800 calories burned, 2300 calories consumed) but you do so while increasing your metabolism through eating and exercising more.

That's the power of G-flux. Apply the concept and watch your metabolism skyrocket.

Until next time Team, keep revving up that metabolism!
Health respect & happiness,
Beki