Hello companion,

Welcome back to another week of informative learning, hard hitting motivational quote and a cool fact to bring up around others to make you appear wise and informed.

 

 

The wisdom of King Solomon:

King Solomon from the bible, labelled the wisest man to ever live. He sent his servant out one day to get him a ring and his request was: “A ring that when I am in despair and stressed I can look at the ring and I will have peace and happiness, yet when I am happy I will look at the ring and become sad.”

The servant eventually returned and presented the ring to King Solomon, Solomon who was happy to finally get his ring and curious to see it, he then looked at it and frowned. The servant stood nervously awaiting a response, afraid that he had gifted his master something that offended him. King Solomon raised his head from the ring and said to the servant ‘this is perfect.’

The ring said: “This too will pass”

So remember no matter what you are going through, good or bad it will pass. Weather it be a bad patch at work, an injury that has you unable to work out or you feel alone. Don’t worry this time and situation will pass!

 

 

Look beyond the marketing strategy of big labels:

Clean label project is a non-profit organization with a mission to bring truth and transparency to food and consumer product labelling. They conducted a study on 134 of the top selling protein powder products; the list was derived from amazon.com best seller list. And the results are off putting to say the least.

Did you know?

People assume that supplements are regulated like drugs, when in fact they are not.

Dietary supplements, including protein powders, can be produced and sold without FDA approval for their marketing claims. Often these marketing claims include phrases like ‘natural’ and ‘plant-based’ which sound healthy when in fact behind the label they are not.

 

 

 

The results of the testing:

Protein powders tested had an array of positive results for detectable levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, BPA, mycotoxins, pesticides and residual solvents.

Nearly 75% of plant based protein powders tested had measurable levels of lead. In a study conducted by Lanphear and colleagues in 2018 they found that as many as 400,000 deaths each year in the United States are attributable to lead exposure.

 

BPA, a contaminant where scientific research has established a strong negative impact on the human body as an endocrine disruptor, was found in 55% of the protein powders tested. Organic samples had 40% less BPA than non-organic samples.

However, although organic products performed well with BPA levels, interestingly they had twice the level of heavy metals as non-organic products. This was in part, due to plant-based protein powders containing the highest levels of contaminants.

Plant based protein powders, on average, where the most contaminated, while egg-white protein powders were the cleanest.

 

Where are these contaminants coming from?

There are two main primary sources, contaminated soil in which the ingredients are grown and from the packaging in which the protein powder is sold. The legislation in the USA is different than the legislation in Ireland in regards to what farmers can use on their soil to help grow, however most of the plant based protein powders we consume are not of Irish origin.

 

Something I learned this week:

The average American woman now weighs as much as a 1960’s man.

In 1960, the average U.S. woman was 5ft 3in, 140lbs while the average man was 5ft 8in, 166lbs.

Today, the average U.S. woman is 5ft 4in, 171lbs while the average man is 5ft 9in, 198lbs. ---- Rob Henderson.

Feel free to use this cool fact to appear that you are full of knowledge around others and don’t forget to come back next week to get another cool fact to bring up in front of people.

 

 

If you’re interested in team leading and building a team that moves in the same direction I suggest you listen to “the high performance podcast” E78 with Paul McGinley. Paul has a great way of telling stories to get his point across and the line I’m going to leave you with today,

“It’s not about being the best player in the team; it’s about being the best team player.”