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4 episodes with NutraSweet
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2 episodes with NutraSweet
2 episodes with NutraSweet
2 episodes with NutraSweet
The Connection Between MS And Aspartame (rense.com) Sweeteners of War: How Monsanto and Donald Rumsfeld Brought Us Saccharin and Aspartame | CHOQ® Nutrasweet – A Look at the History of Deception Behind Its Marketing (Part 2) – NaturalNews.com THE ASPARTAME CONTROVERSY OF 1981 The Hidden Truth Behind the Not-So-Sweet Artificial Sweetene – Virginia […] The post 1/3 Donald Rumsfeld * How he was involved giving IRAQ soldiers Hot Sodas and future brain cancer. How Aspartame rots the brain. The Sugar KILL BOX appeared first on Psychopath In Your Life.
The Connection Between MS And Aspartame (rense.com) Sweeteners of War: How Monsanto and Donald Rumsfeld Brought Us Saccharin and Aspartame | CHOQ® Nutrasweet – A Look at the History of Deception Behind Its Marketing (Part 2) – NaturalNews.com THE ASPARTAME CONTROVERSY OF 1981 The Hidden Truth Behind the Not-So-Sweet Artificial Sweetene – Virginia […] The post 3/3 Donald Rumsfeld * How he was involved giving IRAQ soldiers Hot Sodas and future brain cancer. How Aspartame rots the brain. The Sugar KILL BOX appeared first on Psychopath In Your Life.
The Connection Between MS And Aspartame (rense.com) Sweeteners of War: How Monsanto and Donald Rumsfeld Brought Us Saccharin and Aspartame | CHOQ® Nutrasweet – A Look at the History of Deception Behind Its Marketing (Part 2) – NaturalNews.com THE ASPARTAME CONTROVERSY OF 1981 The Hidden Truth Behind the Not-So-Sweet Artificial Sweetene – Virginia […] The post 2/3 Donald Rumsfeld * How he was involved giving IRAQ soldiers Hot Sodas and future brain cancer. How Aspartame rots the brain. The Sugar KILL BOX appeared first on Psychopath In Your Life.
Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1036, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Soda Pop Quiz 1: Quite simply, Bubble Up is "a kiss of lemon, kiss of" this. lime. 2: Fenton and Fowler's calls this elite Detroit ginger ale the best soft drink in the world. Vernor's. 3: It was originally called bib-label lithiated lemon-lime soda. 7 Up. 4: Pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle developed the soda sweetener Aspartame, marketed as this. NutraSweet. 5: In addition to root beer, AandW also sells this flavor of soda. cream soda. Round 2. Category: On The First Lady'S Imdb Page 1: "Hellcats of the Navy" (1957) as "Nurse Lt. Helen Blair". Nancy Reagan. 2: "Miss Universe Pageant" (1999) as "herself - judge". Melania Trump. 3: "Masterchef Junior" (2017) as herself. Michelle Obama. 4: "The War Room" (1993) as herself. Hillary Clinton. 5: "Women in Defense" (documentary short) commentary written by (1941). Eleanor Roosevelt. Round 3. Category: Good Thinking 1: With little wind resistance, these domes housed the radar equipment along the DEW line. Geodesic Domes. 2: Sales were slow for cellophane Scotch Tape until John Borden invented one of these for the roll. a dispenser. 3: After his 3-year-old was impatient to see the photo he'd taken, he set out to invent an "instant" camera. Edwin Land. 4: In 1892 Henry Perky invented a machine to shred this grain and form it into little pillow-shaped biscuits. wheat. 5: In 1949 he created a machine to shave an ice rink, scoop up debris and spread fresh water. Frank Zamboni. Round 4. Category: Internal Rhymes 1: This term for an important person sounds like a giant toupee. a bigwig. 2: A flightless bird that's a national symbol. a kiwi. 3: The largest Bantu-speaking group of South Africa. the Zulu. 4: It can be a meeting among business colleagues, or a Native American ceremonial feast. a powwow. 5: This adjective meaning unkempt and varied is often applied to disorganized armies or militias. ragtag. Round 5. Category: B__D 1: When followed by "Light", it comes from Anheuser-Busch. Bud. 2: Hef's home in Chicago was famous for its round one. Bed. 3: It was the way Jessica Rabbit was "drawn". "Bad". 4: To win on eBay, you gotta do this. Bid. 5: This Fruit of the Loom company goes under everyday. BVD. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used
You may have seen some scary headlines lately about aspartame and cancer risk – but what is the real story? Should you discard your sugar-free syrup or jello? Dump out your diet sodas? Stop chewing sugar-free gum? In this episode we'll look at the science behind this headline, discovering the facts and dispelling the myths so that you can make informed choices about your diet.Shownotes: yournutritionprofs.com Do you have a nutrition question you'd like us to answer? Let us know! Contact Us on our website or any of the following ways:yournutritionprofs@gmail.comYouTubeInstagram Facebook
Have you wanted to give Fly Fishing a try? We talk about what to expect for first-time fly fishing! Do you love cooking meat but have trouble getting the seasoning right? We've got an insight into why and how the chefs season beef to venison to chicken to fish and more. This is Rebecca Wanner aka BEC and Jeff ‘Tigger' Erhardt with the radio show The Bend Show, your news outlet for the latest in the Outdoors & Western Lifestyle! Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on The Bend Show YouTube channel. EPISODE 142 DETAILS BEC & Tigger intro the show, sharing that Tigger has had his gallbladder removed. He is now recovering slowly and will be watching his diet and will need to slowly reintroduce foods. Health is upon us to monitor. It is our responsibility to take care of ourselves as there are no other more valuable assets in your operation, in your business, or to your family. Please use this as a reminder to do wellness checks yearly! Welcome to your Outdoors & Western Lifestyle news outlet, The Bend Radio Show & Podcast available on SiriusXM Rural Radio Channel 147, AM / FM Radio, and on all Podcast Players. SPOTLIGHT It's Hot, Kids are getting antsy, and parents or the sitter's nerves may seem frayed and wondering what to do with them. Turns out that instead of tossing a new video game or downloading another app for kids to play… Pull out the Board Games! Scientists studied several groups of 9-year-olds only to discover that hands down, children that played board games had higher math scores than those who did not. Board Games enhanced not just mathematical abilities for young children, but also improved strategy effects on basic and complex math skills, plus added to positive cognitive and developmental skills. So there ya have it! Pull out the Monopoly, The Game of Life Game or one of our favorites, especially if you grew up on a farm or ranch, the Farming Game and let the kids go wild! https://farmgame.com/ NEWS Iceland - If venturing to Iceland anytime soon and want an experience as unique as can be… For $400 per night, you can spend the night in the middle of an Iceland Forest inside a bubble. Yes, that's correct BUBBLE. The Buubble by Airmango offers guests the opportunity to sleep in bubbles that are heated, have electricity, a king size bed with bedding, a lamp, and a small bench with a nearby cabin offering bathrooms and other amenities. This has BEC wondering, what can she charge for sleeping on her picnic table with an air mattress… Food for thought. Aspartame, Healthy or Not? The World Health Organization is reviewing if they may soon label the artificial sweetener Aspartame as a possible carcinogen. Aspartame is used to sweeten Diet Coke, Coke Zero, chewing gum, breakfast cereals, ice cream, and Diet Snapple for example. It's also known as NutraSweet, Equal, and Sugar Twin. Regardless of the decision, it is always a good idea to keep an eye on those “ingredient labels” when grocery shopping! Beer For A Better Tan? Have you heard of this latest Tik Tok trend, pouring beer on oneself in order to achieve a better tan? If you have or have not, this is a HECK NO from BEC. Experts have weighed in on this trend and it has been debunked. The Beer has of course NO SPF protection and actually ATTRACTS bugs and bees. Be Safe - Smear on the Sunscreen and Drink the Beer! Bunny Take Over The New York Post has reported that Wilton Manors, Florida is being overrun by Lionhead Rabbits. A bunny breeder in Fort Lauderdale illegally let loose the rabbits before they started multiplying on the street. Hundreds of rabbits are now living in the backyards of homes in Wilton Manors. The bunnies have a shaggy mane and resemble lions. Some families are feeding the rabbits while others consider them a nuisance as the bunnies are digging holes in the nice lawns. The estimated cost to catch and rehome the rabbits would be $40,000. If you've not heard of the Lionhead rabbits before, here's a little more insight. Lionhead Rabbits may be small in stature as they only reach 2.5-3.5 lbs, however, are active! They grow to about 8-10 inches at adult size and life expectancy is 8 to 10 years. Fly Fishing? Can Anyone Fly Fish? Angler or Not; there is always something about fishing that is a tried and true, lifetime sport. Have you ever tried to Fly Fish? Sometimes the thought of such a simple rod yet the long lengths of line flying back and forth can seem a bit overwhelming. We remember movies such as "A River Runs Through It" where Brad Pitt, and Anthony Hopkins share the tale of two brothers in rural Montana spending quite a bit of time Fly Fishing. Brad Pit, a Missouri native himself, never learned how to fly fish growing up. A little-known fact is that actually the music legend Melissa Etheridge taught actor Brad Pitt to fly fish in her swimming pool! Etheridge herself also grew up in the Midwest and loves not just fishing but is a huge Fly Fishing Fan. (A little "Did you know??" for the entertainment fans!) EMBED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsIolBViUmc Tigger visits with Justin Hampton who is an active outdoorsman, and rancher and helps out on The Bend Show offering field reports from the Ozarks and Missouri area. Justin Hampton recently went on his first Fly Fishing excursion and shares what was surprising and what was or was not fun. Yes, Fly Fishing is often referred to as an "Artform of Fishing". This is a great first beginner's take and another example that we are ALL capable of trying new hobbies at any time in life! The Bend Field Staffer: Justin Hampton Contributor to: Ozark Traditions TV Facebook: @OzarkTraditionsTV https://www.facebook.com/OzarkTraditionsTV COOK MEAT LIKE PROFESSIONAL CHEFS HOW TO SEASON MEAT Have you ever watched cooking shows like Rachael Ray or Gordon Ramsey and his Hell's Kitchen, for example… Watching closely, have you noticed how when seasoning meats such as beef, pork, venison, chicken, fish… really any meats; these chefs hold their arms high in the air, generously sprinkling the seasoning over the meat? Did you think it was just for theatrics? Done for more “Showmanship” to draw more attention to “Wow - we're seasoning!”? Turns out there is actually a REASON for that high-arm technique. Meat is seasoned with the arm high in the air in order to evenly distribute the seasoning over the meat. Even seasoning a dish or meat can be very tricky. This technique of holding the seasoning higher allows for gravity to work with the swirl motion and results in more uniformly seasoned meat. Give it a try, you will be surprised! The only downfall is yes, you will need a slightly bigger prep area as it can get a bit messy but give this tip a try! FIELD REPORTS & COMMENTS Call or Text your questions, or comments to 305-900-BEND or 305-900-2363 Or email BendRadioShow@gmail.com FOLLOW Facebook/Instagram: @thebendshow SUBSCRIBE to The Bend YouTube Channel. Website: TheBendShow.com https://thebendshow.com/ #catchBECifyoucan #tiggerandbec #outdoors #travel #cowboys The Outdoors, Rural America, And Wildlife Conservation are Center-Stage. AND how is that? Because Tigger & BEC… Live This Lifestyle. Learn more about Jeff ‘Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca Wanner aka BEC here: TiggerandBEC.com https://tiggerandbec.com/ WESTERN LIFESTYLE & THE OUTDOORS Tigger & BEC are News Broadcasters that represent the Working Ranch world, Rodeo, and the Western Way of Life as well as advocate for the Outdoors and Wildlife Conservation. Outdoorsmen themselves, this duo strives to provide the hunter, adventurer, cowboy, cowgirl, rancher and/or successful farmer with the knowledge, education, and tools needed to bring high-quality beef and the wild game harvested to your table for dinner. They understand the importance in sharing meals with family, cooking the fruits of our labor and fish from our adventures, and learning to understand the importance of making memories in the outdoors. Appreciate God's Country. United together, this duo offers a glimpse into and speaks about what life truly is like at the end of dirt roads and off the beaten path. Tigger & BEC look forward to hearing from you, answering your questions and sharing in the journey of making your life a success story. Adventure Awaits Around The Bend. RESOURCES: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230707111629.htm#:~:text=last%2023%20years.-,Board%20games%20based%20on%20numbers%2C%20like%20Monopoly%2C%20Othello%20and%20Chutes,development%20including%20reading%20and%20literacy. https://www.buubble.com/ https://www.who.int/news/item/14-07-2023-aspartame-hazard-and-risk-assessment-results-released https://nypost.com/2023/07/01/urgent-warning-over-poisonous-new-tanning-trend-very-serious-consequences/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC88CEX4AK2r5z4uNyA94knw?app=desktop https://www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com/en/us/hells-kitchen https://www.rachaelrayshow.com/ https://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/field-notes/2011/09/river-runs-through-it-who-taught-brad-how-fly-cast/
After decades of concerns over serious health effects from aspartame, the WHO has advised against the use of the artificial sweetener, also known as NutraSweet. Dr. Russell Blaylock, retired neurosurgeon and expert in the topic of excitotoxins, joins Del to discuss his decades long investigation into the dangers of these sweeteners. #Aspartame #RussellBlaylock #MSG
Today we speak with an expert on sugar and things meant to replace it. The stakes are high. Very high. Sugar consumption in the population is astronomical and so is the use of sugar replacements. Knowing the impacts of both could help experts provide dietary guidance and help consumers make decisions. Dr. Robert Lustig is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. He specializes on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system; body weight regulation, appetite, metabolism, and is very well known for his work on sugar and their substitutes and on policies aimed at improving the diet of the population. A YouTube video on the effects of consuming sugar called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” has now been viewed 24 million times. Interview Summary URL for “The Bitter Truth video (https://youtu.be/dBnniua6-oM) Let's start out with this - so the big hope is that sugar replacements, artificial sweeteners, non-nutritive sweeteners, all known as different things, replace sugar and that people can enjoy sweet taste without the calories. But, of course, the picture is way more complicated. Being an endocrinologist, you are in a good position to explain what happens when the sweeteners enter the body. I'd like to get to that in just a moment, but let's lead off with another question. Why is it so important for people to consume less sugar? First, let's talk about what sugar is. The food industry tells you that sugar is just empty calories. I wish that were true. If that were true, then you could basically spend your discretionary calories on sugar with no problem. But it's not true. There are two molecules in dietary sugar: the sucrose or the high fructose corn syrup or honey maple syrup agave. They are all basically the same. One molecule of something called glucose, one molecule of something called fructose. Glucose is the energy of life. Glucose is metabolizable by every cell on the planet. Glucose is so important that if you don't consume it, your body makes it. The liver will take fats and turn it into glucose. It will take amino acids and turn it into glucose process called gluconeogenesis. Glucose actually makes your cells work better. It makes your mitochondria function better, the mitochondria being the little energy burning factories inside each of your cells. Glucose, for lack of a better word, we can call good. Fructose, on the other hand, it is completely different, is metabolized completely differently inside the body and inside the liver. What fructose does is it inhibits mitochondrial function. It actually inhibits three separate enzymes necessary for mitochondria to do their job. So, fructose inhibits energy generation. Now, the food industry will tell you fructose is four calories per gram. Fructose is ready energy. That is why they put high fructose corn syrup in the sports drinks, for example. Well, turns out, that fructose may be ready energy for a bomb calorimeter, but it is not ready energy for your mitochondria. You don't burn in a bomb calorimeter (a laboratory instrument), you burn via your mitochondria. It turns out, mitochondria are actually poisoned by fructose. So in fact, fructose is a chronic, dose-dependent mitochondrial toxin and this is why we have to eat less of it. But the problem is the food industry keeps putting it in anyway despite the fact that it is killing us. How much more of it are people consuming than what you might suggest? The American Heart Association years ago came up with a upper limit per day of about 25 grams, which would be about six teaspoons per day. I was actually part of that group that came up with that and I stick to it because that's what the data show. We are currently consuming 94 grams. We are consuming almost quadruple the amount that is the upper limit. Now, the notion that something could have empty calories but still be bad for you is not a crazy one. We have two things in our diet that we know are calories but are clearly toxic to us. One is alcohol. Alcohol, seven calories per gram, but alcohol is a poison. And then also trans fats. Trans fats are nine calories per gram, but trans fats are a poison. So just because something has calories doesn't have anything to do with its metabolic impact. Where are people getting all the sugar from? I'm assuming it's not from their sugar bowl. Exactly. It is not the sugar they add. It is the sugar the food industry adds. Now, where is it? Well, the obvious source is soft drinks. That's number one by far and away. I mean soft drinks are basically, you know, the devil incarnate. Several municipalities have actually figured that out, and it's one of the reasons we have soda taxes because it's actually directed at the problem. A lot of it is in other things that we identify as sweet: candy, cakes, ice cream. A lot of it is in other things like breakfast, cereal, yogurt, even cured meats. It is in a whole host of other things. When you add it all up, 65% of the sugar you consume is in ultra-processed foods. It is not in regular food. It is not in sugar you added to your own food. It is in ultra-processed foods. An ultra-processed food is the vehicle by which the payload, that is that fructose, is doing its damage. Thanks for that background. We're really here to talk about the artificial sweeteners but it is irresistible talking to you about sugar in general because you described the whole picture in such a compelling way. So thank you for that. So, onto the artificial sweeteners. What are the main ones in the food supply? Well, there are a whole bunch. The most common ones that the food industry uses the most, obviously aspartame, which is Equal. And also sucralose, which is Splenda. But there are others now out on the market: Neotame, there's Acesulfame-K, there's monk fruit, there's Stevia, and all the Steviol glycoside derivatives. There's now Allulose, and there's Tagatose. There's a whole host of different sweeteners that are considered "non-nutritive” meaning they don't have calories. These things show up in ways that people don't necessarily recognize. I mean Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, those sort of things, it's obvious they're artificially sweetened. But these things are showing up in a lot of places, aren't they? Indeed. The food industry now understands that sugar is a problem and people have been calling for less sugar but what they're not calling for is less sweet. And so the industry has a job. It has to deal with that dichotomy. I know understanding their impacts is complicated by the fact that there are a lot of these things and they're all chemically different from one another. I'm imagining they have different metabolic effects. What happens when these things get into the body? Right, and that is the issue. It has nothing to do with calories. People think calories are the issue. This has nothing to do with calories. That's one of the reasons, Kelly, that I'm committed to one concept: kill the calorie. Kill the calorie as a unit of measure. It was never appropriate. It was actually subterfuge, and it was actually promoted and promulgated by the food industry because if it is about calories, they can assuage their culpability for what they've done to our food supply. This has nothing to do with calories. This has to do with metabolic health. Now, the World Economic Forum just published a white paper called the, "True Purpose of Nutrition," and it comes down to two words: metabolic health. That is what is going on inside the cell and that's where the artificial sweeteners do their damage, inside the cell. That's what we have to talk about. There are several places in the body where artificial sweeteners can do damage that have absolutely nothing to do with calories. The first, you put something sweet on your tongue. Message goes tongue to brain, "Sugar's coming." Brain sends a message to the pancreas, "Sugar's coming, release the insulin." Then the sugar never comes because it was a diet sweetener. What does the pancreas do? It turns out it releases the insulin anyway even though it had no calories, even though it wasn't sugar, just because of the sweet taste. So this is known as the cephalic phase of insulin secretion. That insulin is driving energy storage into fat, number one, and it's also driving cell proliferation in your coronary arteries, cell proliferation in your breast tissue, in other words, cardiovascular disease and cancer and ultimately leading to burnout of your pancreas, and now you've got diabetes too. Even though these artificial sweeteners have no calories, they still generate an insulin response, which is still problematic from a metabolic standpoint. So because of the sweet taste and the body's response to that, I'm assuming what you're saying would be true to all of sweeteners? Exactly. All of them do that. The next step is the artificial sweetener goes down your gullet, goes into your intestine, and the intestine has these bacteria in it called the microbiome. Most people have now heard of that. Different bacteria lead to different effects in the intestine. But think of your intestine - I mean it's a sewer. It has a whole lot of S-H-you-know-what in there. The goal of the intestine is to keep the S-H-you-know-what IN the lumen of the intestine and not allow it into the bloodstream. It uses three barriers. It has a physical barrier called the mucin layer. It has a biochemical barrier known as tight junctions or zonulins. It also has an immunological barrier called Th17 cells. Those three barriers have to work right to keep the junk out of your bloodstream because if the junk gets into your bloodstream, you now have systemic inflammation, which drives insulin resistance and drives chronic metabolic disease as well. So keeping your intestine in tiptop shape is really important. Well, it turns out those diet sweeteners alter the microbiome. Some of those bacteria like those sweeteners and utilize them to make toxic byproducts, which damage the mucin layer, damage that biochemical tight junction barrier and allow for things to seep through. This is a process called leaky gut. For reasons that are still unclear, sugar tends to deplete those Th17 cells, rendering the immunologic barrier devoid of function. The sum total of which means all the you-know-what in your intestine ends up in your bloodstream, goes to your liver, generates insulin resistance, and you are off to the chronic metabolic disease races as well, from diet sweeteners having nothing to do with calories. What an amazing picture your painting of these things. We've got one more mechanism. At the fat cell, now this I really don't understand and it's early data but seems to be consistent. Turns out adipocytes, fat cells, have receptors for diet sweeteners. Don't ask me why. I don't know why. But it turns out, diet sweeteners can act like insulin right at the fat cell to increase energy deposition into the fat cell. Growing those fat cells all by themselves, due to the diet sweetener rather than due to insulin. Now how dumb is that? As a result, there are a lot of different ways diet sweeteners might end up causing problems as well, having nothing to do with calories, having nothing to do with fructose. There was a paper that came out in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It was a meta-analysis of sugar and also of diet sweeteners in terms of diabetes and heart disease. What I can say in one sentence to sum up what this paper showed is that the toxicity of one Coca-Cola equals the toxicity of two diet Coca-Colas. Half as bad. That doesn't mean good. It means half as bad. Boy, I mean, any one of the three major pathways to harm would be of concern. If you add them all together, it is a pretty striking picture, isn't it? I imagine, even if somebody knew about this, they might say, well, you know, I'm willing to accept those risks. I mean, even though you are making them sound substantial, but I'm willing to accept those risks if these products help me control my weight. Do they? Well, they don't. That's part of the problem. There is not one study, not one study in the entire world's literature, that shows that switching from sugared beverages to diet beverages actually controls weight. The reason is because even though the diet sweeteners don't release as much insulin now, when you drink the diet sweetener, the pancreas releases it later. That's actually been shown in several studies now. You get a delayed insulin response, so that the 24-hour insulin burden is the same whether you consume the sugar or the diet sweetener. Let's talk about safety for a minute. What about sort of the typical toxicology concerns that people have had for years about these substances, irrespective of what they're doing to the pancreas and to the other, the microbiome, et cetera? What about the just kind of pure safety of them? Right, so the one that has generated the most heat, not too much light, unfortunately, is aspartame, NutraSweet. It turns out that aspartame has a very long and checkered history. Did you know that aspartame was made by Searle, G.D. Searle? And, do you know who the CEO of G.D. Searle was at the time that aspartame was approved by the FDA? I do not. His name was Donald Rumsfeld. An interesting character in history. Indeed, wouldn't you think? It turns out that G.D. Searle actually buried most of the toxicology of aspartame in order to get it approved. It is a long complicated and involved story, which we don't have time for. I'm not even privy to most of the details on that. The bottom line was it ultimately did get approved despite the fact that there was a significant amount of concern about toxicology of this compound. Those questions still remain today. That is one. Another one that is a big issue is sucralose. Sucralose is also called Splenda. Sucralose is a chlorinated poly-fructose and it's extremely sweet, no question about that. It seems to have some GI side effects that a lot of people don't like. It also has now been associated with cancer. And most recently, the one that's gotten the most attention and almost assuredly, Kelly, the reason you called me is the paper that came out about three weeks ago in science about erythritol. So erythritol is a sugar alcohol, and now the meta-analysis of erythritol consumption suggests that it may in fact contribute to heart disease. Now, is that true? Meta-analysis are complicated. People think meta-analysis are the piece de resistance, the highest bar of medical information and analysis. I have four words for meta-analysis: garbage in, garbage out. Meta-analyses are only as good as the studies that they base the data on. If those studies were done by the food industry, which almost all of these are, because that's who stands to benefit from them. These are almost never NIH studies. These are almost always food industry studies, as you know, the odds are 7.61 times more likely to find in favor of the compound of interest. So all of these are, shall we say, biased. All of these are tainted, and meta-analyses are basically a conglomeration of tainted studies. So what do you expect the result to be? Thanks for that background. I'm imagining also regarding toxicology and safety, that some of the newer sweeteners like Splenda for example, sucralose, there hasn't been enough years of use to pick up long-term chronic effects. Well certainly, if you're using cardiovascular or cancer events, you're absolutely right. A lot of these events, you know, take a long time to manifest themselves. Sometimes, a generation or even two generations for that matter, especially for heart disease and cancer. The 15-year-old is drinking 10 diet sodas. When do you expect the heart attack to show up? You know, it's complicated. So we use biomarkers to try to answer these questions, but then the biomarker has to actually be a good proxy for those events and often they're not. Let me give you an example, LDL. Everybody thought LDL was the bad guy. Turns out triglycerides are the way worse guy. LDL has a hazard risk ratio for heart disease of 1.3. Triglycerides have a hazard risk ratio of 1.8. Triglycerides are 50% more important in determining heart disease than LDL is, but we use LDL as the biomarker because it's more stable. So you have to use the right biomarker and you have to interpret it properly and it actually has to mean something and it has to change relatively acutely. All of which are problematic for all of these biomarkers. It's hard. It's hard to do these kinds of analyses. Having said that, my group, a scientific advisory team that I convened to help an offshore ultra-processed food company improve the health of their products. We've published this just last month in Frontiers in Nutrition. The company is called Kuwaiti Danish Dairy Company, or KDD. The title of the paper is, "The Metabolic Matrix: Re-Engineering Ultra-processed Foods to Protect the Liver, Feed the Gut, and Support the Brain." We did a deep dive on diet sweeteners. We looked at all of these diet sweeteners and their proxies, all the biomarkers. The one that actually popped out that looked to be the most beneficial, at least acutely, is a new one that we're actually kind of interested in and is picking up speed and it's called allulose. Allulose currently is 12 times the cost of sugar, but that's coming down. It turns out allulose lowers LDL and raises HDL. So it may have a better cardiovascular profile, but again, all the caveats that we mentioned before. That's very interesting. So given your interest in pediatrics, what about children using these sweeteners? I am totally against children using sugar because they get fatty liver disease and Type 2 diabetes, and I am totally against them using diet sweeteners because, number one, we don't know what they're going to do. Number two, they don't actually lead to weight loss. That data we do have. So as far as I'm concerned, we really only have one option and that is de-sweeten our lives. We have to de-sweeten the food. Perfect lead in to the next question I was going to ask. So do you think it is possible for people to become accustomed to less sweetness? I mean, let's say the food industry is required to gradually reduce sugar and sweetness from the sweeteners. What do you think would happen? Absolutely. It is not only possible, it is eminently doable. And I know why and we have the data for why that is. So there is a very smart lady, neuroscientist at the University of Michigan by the name of Monica Dus, who has done all this work in fruit flies of all places. She has shown the desensitization of the tongue to sugar has to do with changes in receptors and changes in specific substrates in the taste buds of the tongue. When you stop the sugar availability, it takes three weeks for those receptors to increase and repopulate, and for those problematic substrates to go away. You can actually retrain your tongue in three weeks to be much more sensitive to the sugar that is in the food naturally. After a three-week abstinence period or a reduction or a weaning period, a blueberry will taste like a sugar bomb in your mouth. So we know this can happen and we actually have proven this for salt previously. The UK, as you know Kelly, back in 2003, the Blair government convened all the food industry concerns in Great Britain. So Marks & Spencer, and Weight Rose, and Tesco, et cetera, all around the big table, didn't let media in, and basically said to every single food industry concerned in Great Britain, "Look, we have a hypertension and stroke problem and it's because of the salt content of the food and we are going to play referee here in the government. And each of you is going to reduce the salt content of your food by 10% per year over a three-year period so that you'll reduce your salt by 30% at the end of this and everyone's going to play together, so that there's no competitive disadvantage and most importantly, we're not going to tell anybody." That's what they did. Sure enough, in 2011, a paper appeared in Burge Medical Journal, demonstrating a 40% reduction in hypertension and stroke because of the public health effort that the Blair government made in terms of reducing the amount of salt in processed food. We can do the same with sugar today. The salt example is a good one because I think many people have sort of experienced this in their day-to-day lives, even in the United States, where industry hasn't done exactly what's happening in Britain. People have tried to reduce salt in their diet, add less salt, and buy products with less salt. And then sometimes they'll go back and consume something that they had before and find it extremely salty, even unpleasantly salty. It's interesting to hear on the sugar front that that same experience might be possible and that there's a biological reason for it. It is not just that you psychologically get accustomed to different levels of sugar, in this case, but there's a biological change occurring that might help keep that going. Absolutely. You can change people's behavior by changing their biochemistry. This is how I got into this field by using a drug that suppressed insulin and getting kids who were 400 pounds due to their brain tumor to actually lose weight and start exercising because we got their insulin down. You can fix the biochemistry and the behavior will follow suit. The food industry could do that and we wouldn't even notice. So I'm guessing I know the answer to this question before I even ask it, but let's go ahead. Would you suggest the food industry be mandated to make gradual reductions in sugar, just like you mentioned with salt in the UK? Absolutely, I'm working toward that. The only thing that I say is we should not tell anybody. So it would be sort of a stealth move then. You would not necessarily have to make a big deal of it to the public, because they might assume there's going to be a change in the desirability and the pleasure of the products when that's not necessarily the case. As soon as you do something to their food, someone's going to scream, "Nanny state!" This is not nanny state. Ultimately, this is a public health problem. We have to deal with it with a public health solution. You know, that means changing things. If the amount of sugar in our food supply went down, say by 3% every six months down, so that we were able to cut our sugar consumption by 25%, which would be the same basically as what a tax would do. We would save so many billions of dollars in healthcare costs, and we would increase productivity so much. We actually published a paper, a microsimulation analysis in BMJ years ago where we quantified the savings to government, to insurers, to the public. If we actually got sugar down and, you know, actually listened to what the USDA told us, it would be amazing. There is data, there's a pathway forward, there's precedent for doing it. I absolutely think that is where we need to go. Rob, you're making me feel very smart at the moment, because I figured this was going to be a podcast filled with information and helpful bits of knowledge and it sure was. I'm really grateful that you were able to join us and the topic couldn't be more important. Thank you again for being with us. Bio Robert H. Lustig, M.D., M.S.L. is Emeritus Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, and Member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF. Dr. Lustig is a neuroendocrinologist, with expertise in metabolism, obesity, and nutrition. He is one of the leaders of the current “anti-sugar” movement that is changing the food industry. He has dedicated his retirement from clinical medicine to help to fix the food supply any way he can, to reduce human suffering and to salvage the environment. Dr. Lustig graduated from MIT in 1976, and received his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He also received his Masters of Studies in Law (MSL) degree at University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 2013. He is the author of the popular books Fat Chance (2012), The Hacking of the American Mind (2017), and Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine (2021). He is the Chief Science Officer of the non-profit Eat REAL, he is on the Advisory Boards of the UC Davis Innovation Institute for Food and Health, the Center for Humane Technology, Simplex Health, Levels Health, and ReadOut Health, and he is the Chief Medical Officer of BioLumen Technologies, Foogal, Perfact, and Kalin Health.
Born in Portland, Oregon to Don and Wilda Plympton, he grew up in a large family of three girls and three boys. For the six children it was often far too wet to play outside. Plympton credits Oregon's rainy climate for nurturing his drawing skills and imagination. He also was a cub scout and played little league when the weather permitted. In 1964 he graduated from Oregon City High School where he participated in the art club. He went on to Portland State University, where he edited the yearbook and was a member of the film society, creating posters for them. It was here where he picked up his obsession for film – it was for this film society that he first attempted animation, making a yearbook promo that was accidentally shot upside-down, rendering it totally useless. To avoid the Vietnam War, Plympton served in the National Guard from 1967 to 1972. In 1968, he moved to New York City and began a year of study at the School of Visual Arts. Making the Big Apple his home, Plympton served 15 years as an illustrator and cartoonist. Between toting his portfolio and catching cheap matinees, he designed the magazines: Cineaste, Filmmakers Newsletter, and Film Society Review. His illustrations have graced the pages of The New York Times, Vogue, House Beautiful, The Village Voice, Screw, and Vanity Fair. His cartoons appeared in such magazines as Viva, Penthouse, Rolling Stone, National Lampoon, and Glamour. In 1975, in The Soho Weekly News, he began “Plympton,” a political cartoon strip. By 1981, it was syndicated in over twenty papers by Universal Press Syndicate. All his life, Bill Plympton has been fascinated by animation. When he was fourteen, he sent Disney some of his cartoons and offered up his services as animator. They wrote back and told him that while his drawings showed promise, he was too young. It wasn't until 1983 that he was approached to animate a film. The Android Sister Valeria Wasilewski asked Plympton to direct and animate a film she was producing of Jules Feiffer's song, “Boomtown.” Connie D'Antuono, another of the film's producers, “sort of held my hand through the whole process,” Plympton says. “It was a great way to learn to make a film.” Immediately following the completion of “Boomtown,” he began his own animated film, “Drawing Lesson # 2.” Production of the live action scenes was slow due to inclement weather, so Plympton decided to start on another film. For this one, he contacted Maureen McElheron, an old friend with whom he had performed in a Country Western Band (he played pedal steel guitar), and she agreed to score “Your Face.” Due to budgetary considerations, she also sang. Her voice, eerily decelerated to sound more masculine, combined with a fantastically contorting visage helped garner the film a 1988 Oscar nomination for best animated short. “Suddenly people began returning my phone calls,” remembers Plympton. He became very hot in the commercial business doing spots for such clients as Trivial Pursuit, Nutrasweet, Taco Bell, AT&T, Nike, Geico, United Airlines and Mercedes-Benz. His work also started appearing with more and more frequency on MTV and in the increasingly popular touring animation festivals. After a string of highly successful short films (“One of Those Days,” “How to Kiss,” “25 Ways to Quit Smoking,” and “Plymptoons”), he began thinking about making a feature film. His shorts were winning prizes like crazy and he wanted a new challenge – and, as he puts it, “I'd wanted to make a full-length movie ever since I was a kid.” What came to be called THE TUNE was financed entirely by the animator himself. Sections of the feature were released as short films to help generate funds for production. These include “The Wiseman” and “Push Comes to Shove,” the latter of which won the 1991 Prix du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival. With money from his short film prizes and commercial work, he was able to complete THE TUNE and realize a childhood dream. The completed TUNE also made the rounds of the film festivals, garnering the prestigious Houston WorldFest Gold Jury Special Award as well as a Spirit Award nomination for Best Film Score and was distributed nationally by October Films. After personally drawing and coloring 30,000 cels for THE TUNE, Plympton moved to live-action. J. LYLE, his first live-action feature, is a wacky, surreal comedy about a sleazy lawyer who meets a magical talking dog that changes his life. “Making THE TUNE, I had a lot of ideas I realized wouldn't work with animation, but would be lots of fun with real people! I took those ideas and made J. LYLE. Besides, my hand needed a rest after drawing THE TUNE.” After a successful festival circuit, J. LYLE was released in theaters around the country. Like THE TUNE, J. LYLE was financed entirely by the animator himself. Plympton's second live-action feature, GUNS ON THE CLACKAMAS, a behind-the-scenes look at an imaginary disastrous Western, was shot in Oregon and New York. Plympton says the idea came from the 1937 movie “Saratoga”, in which star Jean Harlow died during the filming and a stand-in was used to finish. “It was supposed to be a drama,” says Plympton, “but it ended up being funny. Every time Harlow was in a scene, a box or something blocked the view.” As with J. LYLE,GUNS ON THE CLACKAMAS got a limited theatrical release. In 1996, Bill Plympton followed “Mala Noche” writer Walt Curtis around his Portland hometown to record him reading his poetry. This outrageous performance film hit the festival circuit in 1997 to stunned audiences. It is entitled WALT CURTIS, PECKERNECK POET. In 1998, Bill returned to animation with I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON. It's a heartwarming story of a newlywed couple on their wedding night. Grant, the husband, starts experiencing strange, supernatural powers and Kerry, his wife, can't cope. Whenever Grant thinks of something, it becomes reality, yet he doesn't know where these magical powers come from. Once again Bill Plympton single-handedly drew and financed an animated feature extravaganza – only this time for adults and the politically incorrect. It was released by Lions Gate Films to good box office numbers and still plays today on cable TV. Bill's next animated feature, MUTANT ALIENS, the story of a stranded astronaut returning to Earth after 20 years in space, was completed in January 2001 and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It won the Grand Prix in Annecy 2001 and was released in theatres in 2002. It has played all over the world to huge audiences. Bill's feature film, HAIR HIGH, is a gothic '50s high-school comedy about a love-triangle that goes terribly bad, with two young, murdered teens returning to their prom to get revenge. It stars the voice talents of Sarah Silverman, David & Keith Carradine, and Dermot Mulroney, and was co-produced by Martha Plimpton. Plympton charted new territory in animation, this time by broadcasting all of his drawing for the film live on the web at www.hairhigh.com. The film was completed in January 2004, released in over 50 cinemas around the country – and was released on DVD. Bill's short film GUARD DOG has been a hit at film festivals and it brought Bill his second Oscar nomination in January 2005. Two equally successful sequels soon followed, “Guide Dog” in 2006 and “Hot Dog” in 2008. Throughout his career, Bill has always made 2 to 3 short films a year that keep bringing in a solid income from sales around the world. His feature film, IDIOTS AND ANGELS, was completed in 2008 and after a successful run on the film festival circuit, was released in U.S. theaters in 2010. The film features the music of Tom Waits, Pink Martini, Nicole Renaud and Maureen McElheron, and no dialogue. It's a much more mysterious film than his previous ones, a dark comedy about a man's battle for his soul. “Because this film has no dialogue,” Plympton says, “I wanted music to play throughout – almost like a long opera – or an extended string of music videos. The look of the film is very Eastern European – something like what Jan Svankmayer might make, or David Lynch if he made animation – very dark and surreal.” Bill waited a little while before starting his next feature, and used the time to release several successful short films, such as THE COW WHO WANTED TO BE A HAMBURGER, SUMMER BUMMER andDRUNKER THAN A SKUNK. But eventually his plans returned to feature-length animation, and he started work on CHEATIN', the story of two lovers, Jake and Ella, who encounter jealousy and insecurity after their perfect courtship. Partially inspired by the works of James M. Cain, and partially inspired by a past relationship, CHEATIN' is a tale of exaggerated passion and star-crossed lovers, exploring the dual nature of how two people immensely attracted to each other can also want to kill each other at the same time. CHEATIN‘ may also be the first animated feature partially funded on Kickstarter, with loyal Plympton fans kicking in over $100,000 needed to finish it. Plympton's movies have won him such a loyal following that the cable channel Shorts HD bought the rights to his entire library and set up a Bill Plympton channel on iTunes, something he hopes will engage a whole new generation of fans. Bill is currently working on finishing HITLER'S FOLLY, a mock-umentary about Adolf Hitler's love of animation. He's directing and drawing another film called REVENGEANCE, written by animator Jim Lujan, which is also being partially funded through a Kickstarter campaign.
Since everyone has a sweet-tooth to some extent, knowing what each sweetener actually is, its effectiveness, side effects, and which are known toxins is important to know. This is a first in a series on artificial sweeteners and ‘natural' sweeteners commonly used. We'll cover why some are considered toxic,what problems with some of the others are, and which are considered safe and possibly useful. The list we'll cover list in the order of usability. BestDon't use any sweetener at all. While on keto your desire for sweet food will diminish and the fewer you have the faster you will reach that point. Some sweeteners are know to spike your insulin...without increasing your glucose...so thinking it through on why you want to use a particular sweetener a head of time my change your desire of needing a sweetener at all. If you have to Stevia Xylitol (be careful around your pets, especially dogs) Haven't tried but have read good things about this.AlluloseSafe but questionsMonk fruitGot issues with…Sugar alcoholsErythritolMaltitolSorbitol Over my dead bodyAspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, Natra Taste Blue)NeotameadvantameSucralose (Splenda)Saccharine (Sweet'N Low, Sweet Twin)Acesulfame K (ACE K, Sunette, Equal Spoonful, Sweet One, Sweet'n Safe) Links:AspartameHISTORY OF ASPARTAMEhttp://www.wnho.net/history_of_aspartame.htmhttp://www.whale.to/b/as.htmlAspartame (Nutrasweet) Toxicity Info Center:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/donald-rumsfeld-and-the-s_b_805581.htmlDonald Rumsfeld and the Strange History of Aspartamehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/donald-rumsfeld-and-the-s_b_805581.htmlHere's the timeline of how things went down: http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htmOn Rumsfeld and Aspartame: http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive15.htmDr. John Olney's letter to the Senate in 1987: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6669992/Dr-John-Olney-Statement-Aspartame-l987SucraloseEffect of Sucralose (Splenda) on the Microbiomehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=nuMt7wFarrwA histological assessment of effects of sucralose on liver of albino rats.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30078469The Artificial Sweetener Splenda Promotes Gut Proteobacteria, Dysbiosis, and Myeloperoxidase Reactivity in Crohn's Disease-Like Ileitis.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29554272Intestinal Metabolism and Bioaccumulation of Sucralose In Adipose Tissue In The Rat.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30130461Sucralose administered in feed, beginning prenatally through lifespan, induces hematopoietic neoplasias in male swiss micehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10773525.2015.1106075?journalCode=yjoh20Effects of Sucralose Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuMt7wFarrw&authuser=1
Time to go back to school (in 1989) with the Teen Life topics of the September issue! Catherine goes to Northern Ireland to report on The Troubles and gets real poetic about it. Christina relays tales of raging jealousy with the tiniest nod to more productive ways their subjects could have handled themselves. Your co-hosts are divided on "Grace," this month's fiction story. It Happened To Me's contributor shares her wisdom from an unsuccessful Remote Control tryout. All that plus interracial dating, nipple hair, NutraSweet (remember her) and so much more await you in our latest podcast!Join The LTS Club And Get The Goodies
Time to go back to school (in 1989) with the Teen Life topics of the September issue! Catherine goes to Northern Ireland to report on The Troubles and gets real poetic about it. Christina relays tales of raging jealousy with the tiniest nod to more productive ways their subjects could have handled themselves. Your co-hosts are divided on "Grace," this month's fiction story. It Happened To Me's contributor shares her wisdom from an unsuccessful Remote Control tryout. All that plus interracial dating, nipple hair, NutraSweet (remember her) and so much more await you in our latest podcast!QUICK LINKS
Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 580, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 580, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Wow! My Own Label! 1: In the 1970s this "Rocket Man" founded Rocket Records. Elton John. 2: The 3 double CDs of the Beatle "Anthology" series are on this label founded by the Beatles. Apple. 3: He do be the founder of Reprise, yes he do be do be do. Frank Sinatra. 4: Alanis Morissette's "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" is on Maverick, this Material Girl's label. Madonna. 5: He's the best seller of all the artists in his own Paisley Park stable. Prince. Round 2. Category: Historical Text Messaging 1: 323 B.C.:chrgd w/impiety. nt ltng thm sin 2x vs. phlsphy. off 2 chalcis. lyceum ltr. Aristotle. 2: 1989:stk @ embassy.u.s. blsting vh @ me.:(ttyl. (Manuel) Noriega. 3: 1670s:dsgnd st. bride's chrch.englnd 4evr!. Christopher Wren. 4: 1981:am canada's pm. dont no zonker r b.d. u kp txtng me abt. pls stp. Pierre Trudeau. 5: 1890:wilhelm ii mkng me quit chnclr gig. off 2 est8s @ friedrichsruh, wch is impsbl 2 abbrv and b undrstd. (Otto von) Bismarck. Round 3. Category: Alloys 1: An alloy called babbitt metal is used to line bearings and bushings to reduce this. friction. 2: Simple carbon steels are just a little carbon and manganese and a lot of this. iron. 3: For this alloy, mix your zinc and copper in a crucible and work with your ingots after they cool. brass. 4: Adding platinum to gold turns it from yellow gold to this. white gold. 5: Osmiridium is, you guessed it, an alloy of this and iridium. osmium. Round 4. Category: Ladies Home Journal 1: It's the detachable part of an advertisement that entitles you to a discount at the supermarket. Coupon. 2: Examples of these include Dr. Atkins, the Macrobiotic and the Scarsdale. Diets. 3: This mild antiseptic with the formula H2O2 can also be used to bleach hair and fabrics. Hydrogen peroxide. 4: From the Latin for "entering", they're the listed things you need to prepare food from a recipe. Ingredients. 5: A housewife is also known as a homemaker or one of these "engineers". Domestic engineer. Round 5. Category: Corporate America 1: Selling "Little Dot" perfume door-to-door in 1886, Mrs. Albee is considered the 1st of these saleswomen. Avon lady. 2: This bookstore chain founded by Larry Hoyt in 1933 was named for an inspirational pond. Waldenbooks. 3: The "Al" in Alcoa stands for this. aluminum. 4: Automaker whose ad campaign centers around "The heartbeat of America". Chevrolet. 5: This company holds the patent on marking the sweetener Aspartame until 1992. NutraSweet. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/
In today's episode, I'm talking about how to become more efficient at metabolizing sugar. I'm not talking about your apple or blueberries, I'm talking about artificial sugar or sweeteners that promote glucose intolerance, insulin sensitivity and eventually a diabetic state. So what can we do about helping our body handle sugar more efficiently outside of simply not eating added sugar and flour-based items? I have six relatively simple steps we can take to make our lives more sugar efficient. 1. Saunas Steam saunas, infrared saunas, dry saunas are a bastion of hope for supporting glucose tolerance. 2. Cinnamon Let's start adding cinnamon to our breakfast routine, our coffee, our tea, our soups. 3. Lemon or lime infused water Making carbonated water and putting a splash of real lemon or lime juice in it is so refreshing and satisfying and it helps the body balance glucose. 4. Hydration When water intake is insufficient to meet your body's demands, blood glucose levels rise and you instantly have a body aging significantly faster than is necessary. 5. Eat an apple Apples contain a polyphenol called phloridzin which is a strong suppressor of the cellular aging process called glycation. 6. Cut synthetic sweeteners from your life I am talking Splenda, sucralose, aspartame, Nutrasweet, Acesulfame potassium. Grab some local honey or maple syrup or stevia and be done with artificial sweetness. In this podcast episode, I share specific tips on how to implement each one of these for maximum benefit.
The Movie: Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) To celebrate Thanksgiving, we go on a wild road trip and discover whom we truly care about. We also discuss the likelihood of surviving such disaster.
‘Tis the season for holiday treats! While it can be fun to indulge, it's always a good idea to be mindful of our daily sugar intake. Can artificial sweeteners help us with our nutritional goals throughout the holiday season? Susie Swithers, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs in the College of Health and Human Sciences and Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University, gives an overview of different types of artificial sweeteners and discusses potential long term effects from using these sweeteners over regular sugar.
How should we parse the conflicting human data on intake of aspartame (Nutrasweet) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, and pancreatic cancer?
Weird how things work! I use liquid stevia in my lemonade, limeade and it tasted GREAT…I bought a soda that; it's BIG BOAST is that it uses stevia and NO SUGAR PRODUCTS! I figure, “Cool!” I'm trying to get away from the NutraSweet laden diet soda's, so why not try it! Oh, also NO ARTIFICIAL COLORS! Ginger ale was tolerable in taste. Grape, reminded me of Magnesium Citrate in liquid form that one takes before procedures…but that's just me! Never been a Root Beer fan, but so far, this is the leader in taste. Cola flavor gets tried today at lunch! If that fails, then off to Bed, Bath & Beyond for a Soda Stream to start making my own carbonated drinks! Wish me luck! The Music Authority LIVE STREAM Show & Podcast...listen, like, comment, download, share, repeat daily on Listen Notes, Google Podcast Manager, Mixcloud, Player FM, Stitcher, Tune In, Podcast Addict, Cast Box, Radio Public, and Pocket Cast, and APPLE iTunes! AND NOW ON MORNINGS IN CANADA! https://s1.citrus3.com:2000/public/HCRRadio Hamilton Co-Op Radio! Follow the show on TWITTER JimPrell@TMusicAuthority! Are you listening? How does and can one listen in? Let me list the ways...Listen LIVE here - https://fastcast4u.com/player/jamprell/ Podcast - https://themusicauthority.transistor.fm/ The Music Authority LIVE STREAM Show & Podcast! Radio Candy Radio Monday Wednesday, & Friday 7PM ET, 4PM PT, Rockin' The KOR Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7PM UK time, 2PM ET, 11AM PT www.koradio.rocks Also, Pop Radio UK Friday, Saturday, & Sunday 6PM UK, 1PM ET, 10AM PT! April 30, 2021 Friday, verse two…@Telegents - GET OUTLights That Change - VoicesThe Difficult Stranger - 27 - When I Think Of You [Ice Creams & Daydreams] (@Ice Cream Man Power Pop And More)Flying Burrito Brothers, The - Hot Burrito #2 [Farther Along - The Best Of Flying Burrito Brothers]Battered Suitcases - 05 - Alone [Wild Dogs] (Rock Hand Records)@The Roaring Juniors - 03 Love Love Love [Bomb Pop!]The Bablers- 03 Queen Of Yesterday [Psychadilly Circus] (Big Stir Records)Bittersweet Machines - 10 Not Alone [No Bad Horizon]ZeroStars - The Good Can't Escape [IPO Vol 10]@The Real Impossibles – ForeverDavid Myhr - Lucky Day [Lucky Day] (www.lojinx.com)@Late Note - 04 Surf Where [Good Morning This Afternoon -EP]@The Aaron English Band - Part-Time SuperstarThe Pengwins – NaïveA Permanent Shadow - 05 Now [Radical Change, Songs Of Loss]Blake Jones - 05 The First Song Of Summer [The Homebound Tapes] (Big Stir Records)@Chill - 05 - Burning [Family Spree Hits Coronavirus Couldn't Beat] (@Family Spree Records)The Forty Nineteens - 07 Let Love In [Good Fortune]The Kite Collectors - 12 I Couldn't Help Myself [Clockface]
There can be only one, but Highlander's had a surprising number of media adaptations and spin-offs over the years. We take a look at all of them and even get some behind-the-scenes gossip about the infamous comic book tie-in: Highlander 3030. ----more---- Episode Transcript Episode 05 [00:00:00] Mike: It's fine. It's fine. I'm not bitter. Mike: Welcome to Tencent Takes, the podcast where we make comics trivia rain like dollar bills on Magic Mike night. My name is Mike Thompson and I am joined by my cohost, the mistress of mayhem herself, Jessika Frazer. Jessika: Muahahaha! It is I hello, Mike. Mike: Hello. If you're new to the podcast, we like to look at comic books in ways that are both fun and informative. We want to check out their coolest, weirdest and silliest moments, as well as examine how they've been woven into the larger fabric of pop culture and history. Today, we are traveling through time and talking about the 35 year legacy of one of the strongest cult franchises around, Highlander. But [00:01:00] before we do that, Jessika, what is one cool thing that you've watched or read lately? Jessika: My brother has some copies of classic Peanuts Comics, and it's so much fun. It's good, wholesome, fun. And Snoopy- related media always makes me nostalgic. And Mike you've mentioned before that we're in California in the San Francisco Bay area, but fun fact, I live right near Santa Rosa, which is the home of the Peanuts creator Charles Schultz when he was alive. So there's a museum there and an ice skating rink. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Which is super awesome And Snoopy on ice was huge when I was a kid. And that is definitely the place I also learned to ice skate. By the way, they throw a mean birthday party, just saying, not right this second. Not this second. [00:02:00] We should do it is what I'm saying. Mike: We should do it for ourselves. Jessika: No, that's what I'm saying. Oh, I don't have children. Mike: But we do. Jessika: Yes, they can come with us, like they're invited. Mike: I mean, are they? Jessika: Look at you hesitating. Mike: We took the kids to the Peanuts museum right before the lockdowns happened. that really Jessika: That's really lovely that's nice got to do that. Mike: There’s a lot of cool stuff to do. It's really interactive. It's also just a really fascinating experience because there's so much about the Peanuts during their, what 50 year run give or take. It may not have been that long. It may have been 30 or 40, but it was a long time, and I really dug it, like there was a lot of cool stuff, so yeah . And also the cool thing about Santa Rosa is they've also got all those Snoopy statues all over town too. Jessika: They do. Yeah. All the [00:03:00] Peanuts characters actually. Cause they, the Charlie Browns and the Lucy's now and the Woodstocks. Yeah they're all over the place. But that used to be something fun we could do as a scavenger hunt, and actually that's something you guys could still do even with the lockdown. Cause most of them are outside is just find that list of where all the Snoopy's or whatever character is and go find them all. Cause we did that at one point, like as an adult, obviously. Well, what about you, Mike? Mike: The complete opposite of something wholesome. Jessika: Perfect. Mike: We didn't actually have the kids for a few days. They were with their dad and we couldn't find anything new to watch. So, we wound up bingeing the entire series of Harley Quinn on HBO Max. Jessika: Oh, you’re ahead of me then. Damn you. Mike: This is my third time going through the series. We've just gotten to the point where we turned it on when we want to watch something that's kind of soothing in a way, even though it is not a soothing TV show. But I still am [00:04:00] having these full on belly laughs where I'm breathless at the end and it's just, it's so smart and funny and absolutely filthy with the violence. And then there are these moments of sweetness or genuine reflection, and it's just so damn refreshing. I was never much of a Harley fan, but this show and then the Birds of Prey movie really made me fall in love with that character. Also side note, Michael Ironside who played General Katana and Highlander II. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: He shows up in Harley Quinn doing the voice of Darkseid, which is a character he's been voicing since the nineties when he first started doing it for the Superman animated series. Jessika: Oh, damn. Mike: So, just a little bit of symmetry there. Mike: All right. So before we begin, I have to say that this episode wound up being a rabbit hole full of other rabbit holes that I kept going down. So, I want to give a little credit where it's due for a ton of my research. I really wound up leaning on two books: John Mosby's Fearful Symmetry [00:05:00]; and A Kind of Magic: The Making of Highlander by Jonathan Melville. Likewise, there's a YouTube series called Highlander heart hosted by Grant Kempster and Joe Dilworthand, and an associated Facebook community with the same name that were just invaluable for my crash course. And finally, I want to give special, thanks to Clinton Rawls, who runs Comics Royale, and Matt Kelly for taking the time to chat with me because they didn't have to, and they provided me with some really useful information for this episode. Jessika: Yeah, I'm super excited about what lies in store. What's really funny is I've actually, I feel like a kid before it test. Mike: Right? Jessika: like I'm a little nervous because I've been cramming so hard for this Mike: We both have. Jessika: No, you, especially you, especially like you should be much more nervous than me, Mike. No, I’m just kidding, please don't take that on. Oh, but yeah, no I'm super excited and really ready to talk about all of this stuff and learn more because I've just been consuming the media and the [00:06:00] comic books. But, you’re going to give me some back knowledge that's gonna blow my brain and I'm excited. Mike: Oh, well, I'll try to live up to that high expectation. Let's assume that you didn't know what the topic of this episode was. And if someone asked you what cult property from the 1980s. Spawned five movies, two TV series, a Saturday morning cartoon, an anime film, several video games, multiple tabletop games, audio plays, roughly a dozen novels, and four okay, technically six different comic books. What would your first answer be? Jessika: Oh, goodness. What's funny is probably not Highlander. I'd probably I would say like Batman, honestly, Mike: Yeah I would've gone with something along the lines of G.I. Joe. Jessika: Oh, yeah. Mike: Or some weird Saturday morning cartoon, something like that. I never would have guessed Highlander. I never would have assumed that. but it's just, it's really surprising to see how [00:07:00] much has been generated out of this initial movie. Were you fan of the movies or the show before we started bingeing everything for this episode? Jessika: So I was actually a fan of the show via my dad who had it on hadn't watched the films before, because I was born in 1986 fun fact. Mike: Right. Jessika: I was born when this thing was sent into the world. We both were at the same time, apparently. I didn't have that exact experience of growing up watching it, but he definitely had the TV show on in the nineties Mike: Okay. Jessika: So that was what I was familiar with and I loved it and I would run around chopping things; I'd be at work, I was actually like when I got older I'd be like, there can only be one, and I’d like have to like swipe at someone. Mike: It’s such an iconic line. Jessika: iIt is! it transcends. Absolutely. Mike: Yeah. I was pretty young when the movie came out and the show was how I became aware of it. And then when the show was airing, I was in high school. And then I became [00:08:00] aware that there was a movie that had inspired it. And so I was able to rent that when I was old enough to be trusted, to go rent movies on my own by my parents. Back when we couldn’t stream everything. Jessika: Oh my gosh. Mike: And there were rewind fees, Jessika: Oh, my gosh. Be kind rewind. Mike: Speaking of things from the eighties: it’s funny we'll talk about it later on, but the show really brought in, I think a lot of people that otherwise wouldn't have been fans. Before we start talking about the comic books, I really want to take a few minutes to talk about all the media and content that spun out of Highlander because it's a lot. And it was honestly in a couple of cases, really surprising. I didn't know about half of this stuff before I began researching for the episode, and then. Like I said, it was just constant rabbit holes that kept on leading me down more and more research paths. And it was really fun. But I want to talk about all this now. Jessika: Perfect. This is exactly what we're here for, and I think that people want to hear it too. [00:09:00] Mike: I hope so. Okay. So why don't you summarize Highlander? If you had to give an elevator pitch, Jessika: The film follows the past and present of Connor MacLeod, an immortal who is just one of many vying to be the sole victor in an age old battle, where in the end, there can only be one. Like very simply a lot more to it, but like how much of an elevator pitch. Mike: I think that's pretty simple. It's about an immortal who basically keeps on fighting his way through history and there's these really wonderful catch phrases that get us hooked. The movies got actually a really interesting origin story of its own. It was written by this guy named Gregory Widen when he was in his early twenties. That was when he wrote the initial screenplay. But he had already had a really interesting life up until then. He was one of the youngest paramedics in Laguna Beach at that point in [00:10:00] time. And then he went on to become a firefighter while he was still a teenager. By 1981, he'd also worked as a DJ and a broadcast engineer. And then he signed up for a screenwriting course at UCLA and he wrote this feature length script called Shadow Clan. And it would go through a number of changes before it became Highlander. But the core theme of an immortal warrior named Connor MacLeod wandering across the centuries is there. He wound up getting introduced to producers Bill Panzer, and Peter Davis who decided to option the film. And then they hired the screenwriters, Larry Ferguson and Peter Bellwood to rework the script into what we eventually had wind up in theaters. And once the movie was green-lit, they brought in Russell Mulcahey to direct it. And I vaguely knew that Mulcahey had been doing music videos before this, for the most part, he had one other cult movie ahead of time. It was a horror movie, I think, called Razorback. But I didn't realize which music videos he'd been making until I started doing all [00:11:00] this research. So I'm going to give you a small sampling and you're going to tell me if you've heard of these. Jessika: Okay. Sure sure sure. Mike: Okay. The Vapors “Turning Japanese”. Jessika: Uh, yeah. Mike: Yeah, okay. The Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star”. Jessika: Wow. Yes. Mike: Duran Duran Duran’s “Rio”. Jessika: Wow. Mike: And Elton John's “I'm Still Standing”. Jessika: Yeahwow. That's actually a variety of characters. Mike: Right? But also those all really iconic music videos. Like not only songs, but music, videos cause those were all in the very early days. And the dude's entire portfolio is just iconic. If you think about the music videos that really defined the genre Jessika: Yeah, sometimes you just got it, I guess. Huh? Mike: He has a lot of those music video elements. A lot of times in the movie, it feels like a music video, like when Brenda's being chased down the hall by the Kurgan and it's got all that dramatic lighting, or that opening shot where they're in the [00:12:00] wrestling match and you see the camera flying through everything. Jessika: Yes! Mike: That was wild. That was really unusual to see camera work like that back then. The movie was distributed by 20th century Fox. And I think at this point, We'd be more surprised of 20th century Fox did a good job of marketing weird and cool, because they really botched it. They wound up forcing cuts to the movie that created really weird plot holes because they didn't feel that audiences needed it or what would understand it, and they wanted to make it simpler, but it really made things more confusing. European audiences on the other hand, really embraced the film because they got a much better version. So case in point, I'm going to show you the two main posters for it. This is the American poster for the movie. Jessika: Mmhmm. Oh, wow, he’s scary. Wow wow wow, okay. Before I even say any of the words, what you first see is Connor [00:13:00] MacLeod, but it's this awful grainy picture of him. He looks like there's something wrong with his face, which he shouldn't necessarily. And he looks like he's about to murder someone. He's like glaring off into the distance. And at the top it says, Oh, it's in black and white, by the way. at the top it says, He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536, he will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York city in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal Highlander! Credits at the bottom, rated R, absolutely rated R. Mike: Also, I feel like featuring original songs by Queen does not get the billing that it should. Jessika: I agree. I jammed my way through that film and this just the whole series, [00:14:00] actually the whole franchise I jammed my way through. Mike: Yeah. And if you listen to the kind of Magic album that is basically the unofficial soundtrack to the movie, and it's so good I don't know how they got those perpetual rights to Princes of the Universe, did. Every time I hear that song, I get a little thrill up my spine. All right. So here's the poster though for the European release. Jessika: All right. So, Ooh, this is totally different. This is Whoa. This is way more exciting. Okay. First of all, it's full Color, my friends, right in the middle in red it says Highlander right under it “There can only be one” in yellow. Oh it's amazing. There's a little sticker at the bottom that says featuring original songs by queen. Look it, trying to sell it, I love it. And then there's Connor MacLeod in the center of the screen [00:15:00] dramatically head back eyes closed screaming his sword thrusts forward and behind him is the Kurgan, oh my gosh so good. It's so - Oh, and a backdrop of New York city. All in lights. It's beautiful. Mike: Yeah. It’s one of those things where basically, that documentary that we watched seduced by Argentina, they talk about that where they're just like 20th century Fox fucked us. Jessika: And I didn't realize how much until, because I did watch that as well. And I'm like how bad could it be? But I that's pretty bad. It's a pretty big difference. It's like watching, that'd be like going, expecting to see like psycho or something. Mike: Honestly, I keep on thinking of Firefly and Fox and how they just totally botched the marketing for that show and then the release, and issues with Joss Wheden aside. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: It’s one of those [00:16:00] things where again, it's a really beloved cult property with a really devoted fan base, even, 5 years after it was released, shit, almost 20. Jessika: And I do love Firefly, again, Whedon aside. Mike: I do too. Jessika: And it makes me a little sad think about it because it had so much potential. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Oh, it's so rough. It's rough to see. Mike: Yeah. What were your overall thoughts on the movie now that you've seen it because you hadn't seen it before this, correct? Jessika: No. I had only seen the TV show and probably rightfully so, because that was much less violent. I mean, much less graphically violent. They were still beheading motherfucker every episode, but, versus the film, which is like blood and like half a head and wow, there, it goes the head. But I actually really liked the movie. It was adventurous, it was thrilling and told a fairly cohesive and interesting storyline which unfortunately had an ending. But it still took us on an emotional journey. [00:17:00] Mike: Yeah, and I feel the same way. Jessika:: And how all the camp that I love from the 1980s and the special effects are just chefs, kiss love it. Mike: There is something so wonderful about the special effects from the 1980s, because they're so earnest all the time. And at the same time they look so cheesy by comparison now. Jessika: But you can tell they were trying so hard. It's almost like a little kid who's just learning to finger paint and they walk up and they're like, I did this thing. It's so good. You're like, it is really good. It's really good for where you're at. Mike: Yeah, exactly. Highlander is very much a quintessential eighties film to me, and there's both that nostalgia factor, but also it's a pretty tight little film. It doesn't really try to do anything too grandiose or too world-building because I don't think they expected to really make the sequels that they wound up doing. Which speaking of which we should discuss the sequels. [00:18:00] Mike: Like, I feel like you can’t discussion without talking about the sequels. And honestly the first time I ever heard of Highlander as a brand really was when I was visiting family in Texas And we were watching a Siskel & Ebert episode where they were thrashing Highlander II. Jessika: Dude, Siskel and Ebert I'm sure hated this. This does not surprise me in the least. Mike: I don't remember much about it, I just remember being like, oh Sean Connery's in a movie, well that's cool. Because my parents had raised me on all of the Sean Connery James Bond movies. Jessika: Yeah casting, come on. Why? Why? They had a French dude playing a Scottish guy and a Scottish guy playing a Spanish Egyptian guy. It's. Mike: I believe label was a Hispaniola Egyptian. They kinda darkened up Sean Connery a little bit too. I'm not sure. Jessika: It felt that way. I was just hoping he had just been under the tanning beds, but no, I think you're right. [00:19:00] Mike: Highlander II was definitely the most infamous of the sequels. And I mean a huge part of that is because it had such a batshit production and there’d been so many different versions of it. It was so bad that Russell Mulcahey reportedly walked out of the film premiere after only 15 minutes. There's this great documentary that you and I both watched on YouTube, it's split up into a bunch parts, but it was a documentary they made for the special edition of Highlander II. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: It was the third release of the movie that they put out because the first one was basically the bonding company for the films. Investors took over the production and assembly of the movie due to the fact that Argentina, where they were filming. And they had gone to Argentina because a, it was gorgeous, but B because it was supposedly going to be a third of the cost Jessika: Yeah. Mike: To make a movie there than it would elsewhere. Argentina’s economy collapsed and went through hyperinflation. And as a result, everything just went haywire. But they went back years later and they not only recut the [00:20:00] movie, but they refilled or added in certain scenes I think four or five years later. And then on top of that, they did the special edition a few years after that, where they redid the special effects. And I don't know it's kind of funny because it's not a bad movie now. It's not terrible. I feel it's an enjoyable film in its own way. But it's also funny where you watch that documentary and they're talking about the stuff that they're so proud of. Russell Mulcahey was talking about how proud he was of that love scene. I'm using this in quotes, love scene between Virginia Madsen and and Christopher Lambert where they just decided to do it up against the wall of an alley? Jessika: That’s always an interesting choice to me. Like you really cannot wait. Mike: Yeah. And then he was like, I thought that was a really hot scene. And I got to sit there and I'm like, I don't, I can't view this through the lens of, a 20 something guy in the 1990s. I don't know what my interpretation of it would have been then, [00:21:00] but watching it now watching it for the first time when I was in my twenties and the, in the early aughts, I just was like, this is weird and sorta dumb. And also they don't really have a lot of chemistry, but okay. Jessika: Yeah, it just kind of happens. They're just like, Oh, here you are. Mike: Yeah Right I don't know. At the same time it was cool to see they did all those really practical, special effects where they actually had them whipping around on the wires on like the weird flying skateboards and stuff. I thought that was cool. Jessika: I thought that was neat too. And how he was like, yeah, I actually got on top of the elevator and he was excited. Now he got on top of the elevator. Mike: And then they basically just dropped it down, like that's wild. So how about Highlander three? Jessika: Ahhh… Mike: Yeah, that’s kinda where I am Jessika: It’s very forgettable in my book. Mike: I feel like you could wipe it from the timeline and no one would care. Really, it felt like a retread of the first movie, but with the shittier villain in a way less interesting love story. honestly, it was a bummer because Mario [00:22:00] Van Peebles, the guy who plays that the illusionist I can't even remember his name. It was that forgettable. Jessika: Yeah, no, I can't either. Mike: Mario van Peebles is a really good actor and he's done a lot of really cool stuff. And it just, it felt like he was the NutraSweet version of the Kurgan Jessika: I like that. Yes. Yes. Mike: All of the mustache twirling, none of the substance. Jessika: It leaves a little bit of a weird taste in your mouth. Mike: Right. Splenda Kurgan! Moving on Highlander, Endgame. Jessika: What I do like about this film is that in both the TV series, as well as the film, there is the actual crossover. Connor shows up in Duncan's world and Duncan shows up in Connor's world and there is that continuity, which is good. And I do appreciate that because, before I got into this, I assumed that the character was interchangeable and we were just seeing different actors James [00:23:00] Bond situation. And when I went back and realized like, Oh no, he's his own character, they're blah, you know. Mike: I dunno I saw this in theaters I love the show and I appreciated that it felt like an attempt to merge the movies in the series and of the movies, I feel like this actually has the strongest action scenes. There's that bit where Adrian Paul faces off against Donnie Yen. And I was like, that's gotta be really cool to be able to sit there and show your kids much later in life: hey, I got to do a martial arts scene with Donnie Yen and he didn't kill me in the movie. that's pretty dope. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: Again, it felt underwhelming. It just wasn't all that interesting. And also I spent years being mad at that movie because the trailer brought me into the theater expecting something way different than what we were going to get Jessika: Okay. And I don't know that I saw the trailer. Mike: It has, it has a bunch of scenes with Magic where Connor and Duncan jumped through a portal [00:24:00]. Jessika: What? Mike: And a sword gets thrown at Jacob Kell and he catches it midair. And then he does something else where he's holding a sphere where you see Connor's face screaming and then it shatters. Jessika: What’s with all this weird, extra scene stuff in these trailers. I don't understand. Mike: Yeah, it turns out that this hasn't, this has never really been officially confirmed, but reading between the lines yeah, it’s been confirmed. They basically filmed extra scenes just to make it more appealing for people. So they would show up to the theaters. Like they filmed scenes, effectively they filmed scenes just for the trailer the director when he was asked about it in Fearful Symmetry. He basically said, yeah, I know there was some stuff that they filmed for marketing afterwards, and I wasn't involved with that. And then I think it was Peter Davis that was asked about this for the book. And he basically said, Oh, this is a really standard practice. People, or accompanies [00:25:00] film stuff for for marketing purposes all the time. And that's where he left it. Jessika: Oh, okay. to know. Mike: I was really grumpy about that, but that said I've softened a little since then. Do we even want to talk about the Source? Cause I feel like that's something that we shouldn't talk about in polite company. Jessika: No pass. Mike: Okay. Jessika: It happened? Mike: It happened, it was a thing that happened that was going to be a trilogy. They were planning to make that into a trilogy of movies. Jessika: Ohh rough times. Mike: Oh it's real bad. I don't think you were able to watch this, but Highlander, the search for vengeance. It's the anime. Jessika: No, I couldn't find it. Mike: Yeah. It's not available for streaming and it really it's really a bummer because it's actually pretty good. I'm not quite sure how to qualify it because it's not a live action movie and it doesn't star Duncan or Connor, but it's a full length anime. It's a full length movie in its own right. It focuses on Colin MacLeod who he’s [00:26:00] an immortal, who's technically part of the MacLeod clan. He's born as a Roman Britain and then he's adopted into the MacLeod clan after he fights alongside them later on. They keep on doing this. They keep on going back to dystopian SciFutures, which I kinda like, Jessika: I love, bless their little hearts. Mike: Yeah. A lot of the story actually takes place in this post-apocalyptic 22nd century, New York. And I haven't seen this in about a decade because it's not available on streaming. I don't have the DVD anymore. I really should pick it up before it goes out of print. But the movie fucking slaps. It was directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, he was really big in the nineties. He did Ninja Scroll and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. He's known for really cool looking movies that are also really violent at the same time. Like you look at his characters and you're like, Oh yeah, no, they all look interchangeable because they're also similar one movie to another, Jessika: Oh, I see. Mike: But they're really cool. And the movie was written by David Abramowitz, who was the head writer [00:27:00] for the TV show. So it felt like a pretty legit Highlander story. Honestly, if we had to talk about this and ask which of these movies or the sequels were our favorites, I would probably say the Search for Vengeance. Because I loved it so much, but since that wasn't a theatrical release, we'll exclude that and you didn't get to watch it. Of the sequels, which did you enjoy most? Jessika: Mike, why don’t you go first. Mike: Okay. I'm a little torn, I guess I enjoyed Endgame mainly because it feels like part of he in quotes, real Highlander story, I guess it's the least terrible of the sequels. And it brought in my favorite characters. The final version of Highlander II, is I don't know. I don't hate it. It honestly feels like a cool dystopian cyberpunk story with some bizarre Highlander lore shoehorned in, but at the same time, it's not the worst thing I've ever watched. How about you? Jessika: Funny [00:28:00] enough, I was going to say Highlander II, but maybe just a bit more so if it were its own standalone movie and not try to be a part of the Highlander franchise. The idea of the shield is super interesting and I think they could have elaborated more on the lead-up and the resolution of that issue rather than having to also make it about the Immortals in their forever game. Mike: Yeah, I agree. How do you feel about moving onto the TV series? Jessika: Oh, I am pro. Mike: Okay. I personally feel like this is the property that sucks all the air out of the room when you're talking about Highlander. Jessika: Oh no. Mike: Yeah, I mentioned that this is how I really got introduced to the brand. I started watching it in high school, around season three, which was when it was really starting to get good. The first two seasons I feel were kind of when they were ironing out all the rough spots. But I wound up watching it through the end. So if you're listening to this podcast and you have never seen the [00:29:00] show Highlander, the series ran for six seasons, which is a good length of time for any TV show. And it followed the adventures of Duncan, who was another member of the MacLeod clan. He was a distant cousin of Connor. And the show bounced between Seacouver, which is a fictionalized version of Vancouver in Paris. And it basically retcon things so that the original movie didn't end with The Quickening, but that the battle between the Kurgan and Connor was it's implied, it was the start of The Gathering. That's my interpretation of it. Jessika: That was what I got too. Mike: Yeah. And Christopher Lambert, he shows up in the pilot to help set things up and get them moving. But I think that's the only time we ever really seen him on the show. Jessika: Correct. He's really just an intro. He's in that first episode only. Mike: You have rewatched it as a have I . We haven't watched the entire series all the way through, but we've watched a lot of episodes. Jessika: Correct. Mike: How do you feel [00:30:00] it measures up today? compared to that nostalgic view that we had before, Jessika: I had a lot of fun watching it, actually. definitely super cheesy. I don't love all of the characters I watched a lot of the first season, then I bounced around I think I did the top, like 25 on a list that you sent me. But Duncan’s just so codependent sometimes with his characters and it's like the one time the Tessa goes on a hike by herself, she gets kidnapped by an, a mortal and it’s like, oh my God, she can't even go on a fucking hike, are you joking me? And the one time he goes to the store by himself, he gets kidnapped and it's like, oh, come the fuck on you guys. Mike: Yeah, I feel like it generally holds up pretty well. It's a little uneven, but when it hits , it really hits. And it's a lot of fun. And considering that it was a relatively low budget show on basic cable in the early to mid-nineties, there's a lot of stuff that has aged way worse. [00:31:00] Jessika:: Absolutely. It exceeded my expectations on the rewatch, for sure. Mike: Yeah, and I have to say that one really cool thing about Highlander is it's got a really large female fan base. And I suspect that the show is really responsible for that. Jessika: I would agree. There's a few reasons. Mike: Are six of those reasons. Duncan's abs? Jessika: Like 10 of those reasons are all the times he gets surprised in a bathtub. I know I messaged you while I was watching them, because I was like Duncan got surprised in a bathtub again. Mike: I don't remember which episode it was, but there's one where he is surprised while he's in a bathrobe and he's got, it's not even tighty whities, it’s like a bikini brief, and watching that, I was just sitting there going, thank you for this gift. Thank you. Thank you for this visual treat that you have given us in the middle of my very boring work day. Jessika: It’s [00:32:00] also that there are such a wide variety of female characters. I would say, Iit’s not just the other female person he seeing or whatever, the love interest, there are other female Immortals and they a lot more frequently than they do in the films. I can't recall if they have any female immortals in the films. Mike: They do in Endgame. Jessika: Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I thought there was, there were some in there, but that’s tailing into, I mean yeah. Mike: Yeah. And the Source had them too, but meh. Jessika: Oh yeah. Mike: I will say that the show was pretty good about writing pretty strong female characters, I felt. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: And we'll talk about Amanda in a little bit, but I have to say that I really liked how she was written and how Elizabeth Grayson played her through the original series and then her own afterwards. I dunno. I, what do you think is the sexiest thing about Duncan MacLeod? I'm curious. Jessika: He seems [00:33:00] really like trustworthy, but like and sexy trustworthy. It's like, he'd be the dude. I called if some guys were fucking with me. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: I kept on thinking about how there's this Tumblr post that's been going around the internet, regularly, and it's this discussion about which Disney men women find the sexiest guys always thinks it's Gaston. Jessika: Oh lord, why? Mike: It’s that male power fantasy thing where they're just like, oh no, like he's like really charming. And he's really muscly. And the counterargument from women is usually A no Gaston sucks and B we all like Roger from 101 Dalmatians. Jessika: Oh yeah. Roger. Mike: Which, Roger is very much my personal role model. The dude's a talented musician, he loves animals and he's got that great, a snark where he literally is trolling the villain when she comes to his house with a motherfucking trombone from upstairs [00:34:00]. And I think Duncan's a little like that. Like he's cultured and he's worldly and he's got this wicked sense of humor. And he's also the type of dude who has no problem reciting poetry in public or making his partner breakfast in bed. Jessika: Yeah, absolutely. Mike: So it just it was something that came to mind while I was rewatching all this stuff. Jessika: Yeah. just as like a wholesome guy. Mike: Right? Jessika: He always has good intentions. So that's actually what it feels like. He's always coming at things with good intentions. Mike: Yeah, and he's not perfect, but he's always trying to do the right thing, which I really appreciate. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: What was your favorite episode? Jessika: I went back and forth. I really like the Homeland episode, and like I said, I've really only watched a good chunk of most of season what I would say, and then so kind of bounced around, but season four, episode one. It was really sweet to see [00:35:00] Duncan take the obligatory trip back to his Homeland to pay respects. And it also had a good lesson in not judging a book by its cover as the main character assumes that Duncan is just an ancestry tourist, which was super interesting. She was super hating on it but I was like this is interesting instead of visiting what once was literally his home during formative years. So it was just such a wild thing to see her be like, what are you doing near those graves? And he can't really be like, they were my parents because you cannot even read them. They are so old. Mike: The funny thing is I didn't rewatch that episode during our refresher, but I remember watching that episode when I was about 15 or so. Because it's stuck out to me. Jessika: It’s really good. And of course, Duncan, he always has a good intention. The whole reason he went back was because he figured out that somebody had been [00:36:00] pilfering graves Mike: Yeah. Jessika: And he had to return what was in this grave. Mike: I know he's making the rest of us look bad. So mine is, it's unusual suspects. It's from season six, which I feel is actually pretty weak season overall. And it's this really silly one-off episode, starring Roger Daltry of the Who fame. He plays Hugh Fitzcairn, which is a character that he shows up in plays a couple of times throughout the series. And at this point in time in the story, he was dead, but it's a flashback to the 19 teens or 1920s. 1920s, because it ends with the stock market crash, but it's a take on the British country, house murder, mystery genre, and it's really fun. And it was just this really refreshing moment of levity after what I felt our run of really heavy, and in my opinion, not very good episodes. The end of season five and the beginning of season [00:37:00] six are all about Duncan confronting this demon named Aramon and it's weird and it's not very good. And I really don't enjoy it. This is all my opinion. I'm sure that I'm insulting some Highlander fan who absolutely loves this, but it's a fun episode in its own. And then it's a good moment after one that I didn't really enjoy. And so it's got that extra refreshing bonus. I just, I want to note, it's really funny to me how intertwined Highlander has always been with rock and roll and music in general, because they had Mulcahey who do it, doing all these music videos and stuff. And then they kept on having musicians show up as guest stars. I think it was there's a character named Xavier St. Cloud, I think who was played by one of the guys from, again, I think, Fine Young Cannibals? Jessika: Yeah, I think I actually watched that episode. Mike: I think he was using nerve gas to kill people. Jessika: Yes I did watch that episode. That was a wild one. Yeah. Mike: Yeah, and I think he shows up later on too. [00:38:00] I can't remember but anyway, I really appreciate that they gave Roger Daltry of all people, this character, and he just really had fun with it and they kept bringing him back. Jessika: Yeah. He was a good character every episode he was in my other favorites was the one where they had Mary Shelley and he was in that one too. I believe. Mike: I think so. Yeah. No, it was, the series was really fun, and I liked that we can sit there and pull all these episodes just from memory that we really liked. Jessika: Absolutely. Mike: So season six , they were trying to find a new actress who could carry her own Highlander show. And so they tested out a bunch of different actresses in season six and gave them either really strong guest appearances, or they were basically the main character for episodes. But they wound up not going with any of them. They went with Elizabeth Grayson and gave her the Raven where she reprised her roles Amanda. Did you watch any of that? Did you get a chance to? Jessika: I watched the [00:39:00] first and the last episode of season one, I can only find the first season. Is there only one? Mike: There’s only one season, it didn’t get picked up again. Jessika: Oh then there you go. Then I could have only, I know I was scratching my head. Worried about where else do I find this? Mike: Well, and it ends on a cliff-hanger. Jessika: Yeah, exactly. That's where I was like, let's go. Mike: It ends with Nick becoming immortal. Jessika: Oh, see, I didn't quite finish it. Cause I was hurriedly setting it up in the background. Mike: Yeah it was fine. I thought Elizabeth Grayson is really charming in that role, but at the same time, there wasn't a lot of chemistry initially between Amanda and Nick, I felt at the very beginning. Jessika: I agree, not in the first episode. Mike: By the end of the season, it was there, and I think they were also, as is the case with most shows first seasons, they were trying really hard to figure out what they wanted to do. And so originally it was a cop show with an immortal, which there are certainly worse pitches that I've heard. Jessika: Yeah. No, I agree. Mike: But yeah. sad that it didn't get to go further [00:40:00] Jessika: I'm tempted to go back and watch all of these things. I may have to do a pallet cleanse of something different. I may have to go back to my Marvel watching. Mike: On top of this, there was a Saturday morning cartoon called Highlander, the series or Highlander, the animated series, and it was set in the future. It's in a weird alternate timeline. It stars another MacLeod. It's fine It's a Saturday morning cartoon. I didn't even care enough to really go back and watch it because being that great. They did some interesting stuff. Like they brought Ramirez back if I remember, right. And then they also had a thing where instead of beheading other Immortals, the main character had an ability where he could be voluntarily given their power. Jessika: Oh. Mike: So he had all of their knowledge and power. And again, it’s again in a dystopian future where another immortal has taken over the world. Jessika: Wow. They just love their dystopian future. Mike: They really do. But yeah, it's fine. I think it's streaming on Amazon prime. I was just so focused on everything else that I didn't get a chance to go and [00:41:00] rewatch it. Jessika: Huh, good to know. Mike: We're going to go over all the other various pieces of media real quick. and then we've got one side tangent and then we're going to go through comic books, but. Jessika: I'm so excited. Mike: Books, Highlander wound up having a pretty substantial literary footprint. The original movie had the official novelization. There wasn't really anything after that until the show came out and then the show had 10 novels and an anthology and an official behind the scenes kind of book called the Watchers Guide and it's full of essays and interviews and photos. And since then, there've been a couple of non-fiction books, like Fearful Symmetry, which is about everything Highlander related. And it's almost like a textbook, but it's pretty good. And then there's also A Kind of Magic, which is more focused on making of the original movie. And those are both actually really good. I liked them a lot. They were really easy to read. [00:42:00] There were audio plays, which I keep on forgetting audio plays are a thing at this point, but it's by this company called Big Finish in the UK. They do tie-in audio dramas for television properties. Most famously they do Dr Who. They wound up doing two seasons of audio plays. The first had Adrian Paul reprise his role as Duncan and they take place after the series ended. And then also after the events of Endgame, you can't really find them anymore. Because they just, the license expired so they aren't selling them as far as I'm aware. Jessika: That's super interesting though. Dang. Mike: Yeah. And then the second season focuses on the four horsemen Immortals, remember Jessika: Okay. Mike: Do you remember them? Jessika: I sure do. Mike: Because we were talking about this a little bit, but it was all about Methos and the other guys that he hung out with when he was effectively, a comic book villain who would've if he’d had a mustache to twirl, he would have done it. Jessika: So quickly. Yes. Mike: I thought that was really interesting. There were a couple of people in the Highlander Heart [00:43:00] group who talked about it and they seem to really like them. I can't comment, but it was really neat. Games, this is the one that's really interesting. Highlander actually has been turned into a number of games over the years. There's a couple of tabletop games we're going to breeze through. So there was two different card games in a board game. One of the card games was released back in the nineties, it was a collectible card game. And this was right when Magic: The Gathering was really hot and everybody was trying to get in on that action. And then recently there's a new one called Highlander: The Duel. And it's a deck-building game where you play as Connor or the Kurgan going up against each other. And just a couple of years ago, there was a board game that got kick-started, it was in 2018 and it's this fast paced game for two to six players. The reviews across the web were pretty positive. And again, it's one of those things where it's Immortals battling for that mysterious prize. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: But it's cool. Jessika: Nice. Mike: I’m actually pretty surprised [00:44:00] we never got like a tabletop RPG because they are not precious about applying the license for Highlander to stuff. I'm amazed that nobody went to them and said, Hey, we can make this cool historical RPG where we sorta start having players wake up and then they have flashbacks or whatever. And Jessika: Yeah Oh that would have been cool Yeah Mike: Right? But yeah we never got anything like that which I was really I actually that was the one thing I expected and was surprised to see that we never got. Okay. So we're going to go into mini tangent with video games even though they aren't technically related to comics. The first game for Highlander was a 1986 tie-in release for home computers. It was a really simple fighting title. It wasn't well received. It was apparently pretty bad. So after that the animated series had a tie in called Highlander: Last of the MacLeods. It was released on the Atari Jaguar CD console. If you remember that. Do you remember the Atari Jaguar? Jessika: Oh my god, no. I don't. [00:45:00] Mike: It kinda got lost in the shuffle in the early to mid nineties of all the different consoles that were coming out. But you can find footage of this on YouTube and it's one of those early 3d games. And so it got a lot of praise for his exploration elements and animated video sequences, but it also got a lot of criticism for its controls in combat. After that there was actually going to be an MMO called Highlander, The Gathering. And it was in development by a French studio called Kalisto entertainment, which was honestly weird because Kalisto's catalog up until now were mostly middling single-player games. They'd gotten famous for a series called Nightmare Creatures, but they also did a Fifth Element racing game on PS2 that I had and was actually pretty fun. Anyway, Kalisto went bankrupt before the MMO could come out. Jessika: Oh! Mike: And none of the folks who, yeah, that's video games. Jessika: Fair enough. Mike: So they went bankrupt. The MMO hadn't come out yet. And the folks who wound up with the rights afterwards just decided to kill the project. There's [00:46:00] one other game. That's become the source of a lot of speculation. And it's only known as Highlander: The Game it basically came about because Davis Panzer productions that's, the guys who own the rights to Highlander, and SCI, which was this holding company that owned a bunch of video game groups. They decided to ink a deal, to make a Highlander game. They announced that they basically had done a partnership back in like 2004, 2005. And at the time SCI owned Eidos who was the publisher that gave us Tomb Raider. So they were a pretty big name. The game itself was formally announced by Eidos in 2008 and the development was being handled by another French developer called Widescreen Games. It was going to be an action role-playing game. It would star a new Immortal named Owen MacLeod. The story was going to be written again by David Abramowitz and that added some [00:47:00] serious legitimacy to the project for fans. Actually, why don’t you read the summary. Jessika: Would love to my pleasure. Summary: Owen is captured and enslaved by Romans who force him to compete as a gladiator. During this time, Owen dies only to come back to life. Methos, the oldest living immortal approaches Owen to be his mentor. He teaches Owen about the game and how he and other Immortals can only be slain by beheading. As with other immortal MacLeods Owen is pursued throughout his life by a nemesis. This enemy proves to be extremely powerful. One that Owen is unable to defeat Owen learns of a magical stone, fragments of which are scattered all over the world. Throughout the game, Owen embarks upon a quest to recover these fragments and restore the stone in an attempt to gain the power to overcome his foe. [00:48:00] So dramatic. I love it. Mike: What's Highlander without any drama? But that sounds rad right? Jessika: Oh, it sounds amazing. Mike: The game was announced with a trailer in 2008 that really only showed some of the environments from different eras and then it ended with an image of Owen, but it looked promising. And then there wasn't much else after a couple of years of pretty much nothing but radio silence, Eidos wound up canceling the game and that's where a lot of the speculation has started. There's not a lot of information on Highlander: The Game. I keep waiting for one of those gaming history YouTubers to get ahold of an old dev kit and then do a video with a build, but that hasn't happened yet. So really it's all kind of speculation and wishful thinking about what could have been. And it also seems like some of the details are getting muddied as time goes on. Like Fearful Symmetry talks about the game of it but they [00:49:00] have the segment. And again I want you to read this. Jessika: Sure sure. The gam was so far along in its development stages that segments including backdrops and some of the gameplay options were presented at a Highlander Worldwide event in Los Angeles 2006 and got a very positive reaction. The beautifully rendered backdrops were almost movie quality and included the likes of Pompei, a dark forest in the Highlands, New York, and Japan as gameplay locations and introduced us to another MacLeod, Owen, the same surname but a much earlier vintage. Mike: Yeah, so, I think Mosby is a little overly enthusiastic about all of this, and this is because I think Mosby doesn't have much familiarity with how game development works. It sounds like they had concept art on display and were discussing gameplay [00:50:00] rather than showcasing a build of the game. Concept art and design discussions are things that happen very early in game development. But if you're an outsider, looking in this stuff could easily be interpreted as things being much further along than they were. Jessika: Ah. Mike: Yeah. Now that said, I did work in video games for almost a decade, and a few of my coworkers were actually involved with Highlander the game. Jessika: What? Mike: Every one of them over the years has told me the cancellation was a mercy killing. And again, this is from multiple sources, so I'm not going to name or identify because, I don't want to make things awkward for them. But basically the game was garbage . It's not really surprising to hear cause widescreen never really made a good game, the best reception that any of their titles got was just kinda mixed. But earlier this week, I actually called one of my friends. Who'd been [00:51:00] attached to the project because I wanted to get more information about this game before we recorded. Jessika: We need to get you a new shovel, you dug so deep for this. Mike: With both hands. But, they confirmed what I've been hearing from other people the gameplay itself wasn't just bad. It was boring. The biggest problem was it didn't know what kind of a game it wanted to be. Basically, it was trying to do everything all at once. There were a bunch of traversal elements, which didn't really make a lot of sense. Like why would you climb a Manhattan skyscraper when you're a roided out dude with a sword? Couldn't you just take the elevator? Or I don't know the stairs? There was going to be a bunch of Magic elements in the gameplay, which, isn't really, that's not really a thing in Highlander. There's that fantasy element because we're talking about Immortals who can't die unless you cut off their heads, but generally Magic isn't a part of the accepted Canon. And then the combat, what they were aiming to do something like [00:52:00] God of war, which was really big at the time. But, it wasn't great. My friend also pointed out that Owen looked like a bodybuilder, but his fashion sense was from that industrial metal scene of the late nineties, which neither of those things really fits with the Highlander aesthetic because Adrian Paul was arguably the most in shape of the Highlander actors. But even that was, he was a dude who was like, yeah, I could achieve that if I was really good about my diet and then just worked out aggressively but not like Hugh Jackman does for his Wolverine roles. Jessika: Yeah, yeah. Mike: So I'm going to send you a screenshot of what Owen looked like in the key art the initial title it does. Jessika: What? It looks like Criss Angel. Mike: Right. And they're trying to recreate that iconic pose of The Quickening from the first movie that Connor does at the very end where he's getting raised up and, by the rails of Lightning, or the wires [00:53:00] of lightning. Jessika: Yeah, I get what they were trying to do. Mike: Yeah,I wanna know, what the fuck is up with those weird straps with rings that are going down his legs. Jessika: I don't really know, I was trying to figure that out myself. So just so that everyone can really get the picture that we're getting here and you'll, you might understand why it's taken me so long to describe it. I had to take it all in first. Mike: Yeah, it’s a ride. Jessika: It’s all very monochromatic. And the background is of course, a cut of the statue of Liberty, the backdrop of parts of New York that I'm sure aren't even next to each other, which is always funny. And then what is this? Is this the new guy, or is this supposed to be Duncan? Mike: Yeah, this is the new guy, Jessika: It’s Owen. Mike: Yeah. It's Owen. And then Connor and Duncan were supposed to appear, supposedly. I know Peter Wingfield was recording his lines for Methos. Jessika: Well, if they haven't killed off Methos that makes sense. And I don't know in the series if they have, and maybe Duncan makes [00:54:00] sense if he hasn't died yet, but. Mike: Yeah they can't kill off Methos, Methos was my first gay crush. Jessika: Yeah. He's. Slightly problematic in a couple episodes, but he's a great character overall. But he's very Chriss Angel, he's wearing like a trench coat and that has to be some sort of a lace undershirt or something. Mike: lAnd he’s got like a weird really, like baggy leather pants. Jessika: Yes. Which cannot be comfortable. It's doing this weird pooching thing in the front. Mike: Yeah, and then I think I saw another screenshot where it looks like he's wearing skater shoes tennis shoes as well. Jessika: Oh, Vans Off the Wall, man. Mike: Just once I want to see a MacLeod in the movies with a good fashion sense. Jessika: Yeah, I mentioned that I wanted to cosplay as Duncan, which overall would be a great idea. But then I was looking through his outfits and I'm like, what do I wear? Do I wear this weird white tank top with these like acid wash jeans [00:55:00] and a belt? Or is this the one where I'm wearing like five shirts and a long jacket? Is it that day? Mike: You know who he looks like that guy, Canus. Jessika: Yes! Yes, does. He has the lace shirt and everything. Mike: And the dog collar. Jessika: Oh my god, it was so funny. I told you, I think it was trying to be edgy. Mike: Yeah, and instead it comes off as really queer-coded. Jessika: It really does though. I know, my little queer brain was like bling. Mike: Yeah, It feels like they weren't really getting the essence of what Highlander actually was and who these guys were, because usually the Highlander characters are a little bit more believable and ordinary because that's the whole idea is that they're walking among us and we have no idea unless they tell us. Okay. On top of all this. So remember how I mentioned that trailer was just showcasing environments for the [00:56:00] game. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: There was a reason for that. The reason was that they couldn’t get the character models to work. Jessika: Oh! Mike: So the shot of Owen at the end it's actually just animated key art it's the same it's the same art that you just saw. It's that image. It was just slightly animated. And then they released a couple of screenshots for the game, but apparently they were really heavily photo-shopped well, beyond industry standards. So, it was one of those things where, this was a turd and it needed to be flushed. And it finally did. But Widescreen went under about a year after the game was formally announced. They were working on another big project and apparently that got taken away, and as a result, it just caused the studio to implode. By this point in time Square Enix the guys do all the final fantasy games had bought Eidos and they formally canceled it. We're not sure why exactly, my guess is that it was probably, they just looked at cost it would take to finish this game and then the [00:57:00] amount that it would need to sell in order to be profitable or to meet their sales expectations for it and they just thought it wasn't worth it. But yeah, my friend actually said they were embarrassed to work on it and they would have been fine even if it had been an average game, but it was just bad. Even one of those kind of middling average games, I think that would have been fine, that would have lived up to the Highlander bar. Finally, there's that Highlander game that spark unlimited was working on. I never even heard a whisper about this until. We watched that episode of Highlander Heart focusing on video games, and they brought Craig Allen on to talk about the project. Based on what we know now, I think this might be why Square Enix was holding onto the rights for another year after they shut down Highlander, the game, just because they had this other title, theoretically in development or very early development. Based on the footage that they have, it looks like they had at least done enough development work to put together a vertical slice that they could show for pitch [00:58:00] purposes and at conventions. But I thought it was really promising looking overall. What did you think? Jessika: I thought it did look really interesting the game play itself I did like the idea of having a female Highlander. That being said, they had this whole concept about what Craig Allen was calling beautiful damage. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: And it was this whole thing about, oh it was the first female Highlander and her looks go when she gets damaged, and that's her whole motivation is to stay pretty. And I just, that gave me a huge headache, and it of course was super male-gazey I mean, the game itself seemed that way. Mike: It was weird because I would love to see women and Highlander being built a little bit more like warriors, like a little bit more muscly, which would be in keeping with people who battle across the centuries. [00:59:00] They don't need to be super jacked like the Amazons in Wonder Woman, but making them look like stick thin suicide girl, punk rock chick from the late aughts. Didn't quite gel with me. I understood what he was talking about though, because that was the thing where they were starting to do permanent cosmetic damage in video games. That was something that was really big in the Batman Arkham games. Every time that you got knocked out, you'd come back and you'd have a little bit more of your outfit chipped apart. So, after a while Batman's looking pretty ragged and you realize maybe I'm not as good at this game as I think I am. Jessika: Yeah And the concept itself is really interesting It just I guess was the way it was phrased by this person. And it very much was he was so proud of the fact that it was the first Highlander female in a video game. And then everything was just like so incredibly sexist. I was excited that I wasn't Mike: We're also viewing it, with the lens of 2021 at this point. At that time, [01:00:00] that was before they had relaunched Tomb Raider, in 2013, 2014, where they made her much more realistic. She was still very fit, but she wasn't the Lara Croft that had generated a lot of criticism. I think possibly, I don't know, but I hope that it would have been marketed a bit differently if it had been done today. That said we also don't know exactly what it would look like as a final product. Jessika: Oh absolutely, yeah. Mike: It’s, I agree. It's a little bit problematic viewed through the current lens. At the same time, like a lot of the Highlander properties when it was being done, I think it was kind of just par for the course. Jessika: Yeah, fair enough. But, I did like the idea of having a female Highlander and having her have a whole story regardless of whether it's the first one to be completely [01:01:00] tragedy laden which was the other comment like her experience a ton of loss because she's female and experiences empathy unlike the male characters. Mike: I really didn't like that. Actually. I thought that was. I mean the, the whole thing where they were saying we wanted to focus on lifetimes of tragedy as opposed to enjoying multiple lives. And I'm like, that's the whole purpose of Highlander. That's what I really like is when you sit there and you watch them having fun and doing all this interesting stuff. Jessika: Women aren't allowed to have fun, Mike. Mike: Apparently. Jessika: We just have to have lives full of tragedy and pining for people that we've lost in our lives. Mike: Well, yeah. And we all know that the dudes don't have feelings, so we just, you know, go on and enjoy things. Jessika: That does suck that Hugh they don't give men the ability to have that capacity or give them the the credit to have that capacity. Mike: I will say, I am sorry that this one didn't get further along the development [01:02:00] stages, because it certainly seemed like it had a lot more promise than the title that was canceled right before it. Jessika: Yes, the gameplay itself looked more interesting, it looks more complex, it easier to navigate. What they were showing us was really intense. Mike: I really liked that whole idea of being able to view the environments in two different eras. It reminded me a lot of another Eidos game called legacy of Cain soul river, where there was a spiritual world and then a physical world. And you could flip back and forth between them, which was kind of cool. Jessika: Oh, that’s neat Mike: Yeah. I dug that. I liked the idea of exploring the same environment in two different areas. I thought that was really neat. Jessika: Yeah. Mike: Let's move on to Comics. Jessika: Sounds great. Mike: Okay, so, I’m curious. When do you think that Highlander got big enough to get a comic book? Jessika: I don't know maybe late nineties Mike: 2006. Jessika: Wow [01:03:00] That's later than I had expected. Mike: Yeah. There wasn't a comic adaptation of the movie when it came out, which is weird, there wasn't one here in the States. Highlander Heart, in their YouTube podcast, noted there was a series of five newspaper comic strips that were published as part marketing promotion. The hosts weren't entirely certain if they're exclusive to Europe or not. I don't know. I haven't been able to really find much reference to it. After the movie came out, though there was a two-part comic adaptation in Argentina. It was published through El Tony Todo Color and El Tony Supercolor they were sibling comic anthology magazines, and here's the weird twist. It looks like this was an unlicensed adaptation. Jessika: Mmhm, interesting. Mike: So now we're going to take another side tangent. The important thing that you need to know is that Argentina had just come out of a brutal military dictatorship that came about as part of Operation Condor, which is this horrific program the United States was involved in. And it isn't really taught about in high school history, at least it [01:04:00] wasn't when I was going through high school and I went to a pretty good one. did you ever learn about that? I'm curious. Jessika: No, I did not. Mike: Okay I'm giving you an extremely TLDR read of this, but basically this was a program in the seventies and eighties when the US backed military dictatorships across South America. So our country helped these groups, kidnap, torture, rape murder, thousands of political opponents, like Argentina was especially brutal. There were literally death squads, hunting down political distance across the country. It was a really horrific time. I want you to read this summary of what was going on during that time, actually. Jessika: Give me the really fun stuff I see. Mike: Sorry. Jessika: No you're good. It is estimated that between - 9,000 and 30,000 that's a huge span. Mike: I know, it’s such a margin of error I don't understand. Jessika: Lack of record taking will get you there quick, I think. I'm going to start over, but we’ll leave that in. It is estimated that between [01:05:00] 9,000 and 30,000 people were killed or disappeared, many of whom were impossible to formally report due to the nature of state terrorism. The primary target, like in many other South American countries participating in Operation Condor, were communist guerrillas and sympathizers, but the target of Operation Condor also included students, militants trade, unionists, writers, journalists, I don't love this, artists, and any other citizens suspected of being left-wing activists - well take me the goddamn way away. Mike: Right. Jessika: Including Peronist guerillas. I don't love that. Mike: No it's really awful. And based on that list of targets, it's not surprising that there was a lot of media suppression during this time. Democracy returned to the country in ’83, and there was this explosion of art across the mediums. Argentine Comics [01:06:00] saw this Renaissance period. A lot of them though, weren't really licensed and let's be honest. It's not like there's an internet where IP owners could monitor stuff like this and shut it down when they learned about it. There was also this drastic comics increase in the area due to create or publishing Zines because the eighties was the decade where personal computers suddenly became commonplace and all of a sudden pe
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Once Tara and Pam have described the fashions they were sporting or coveting in March of 1988, we critique the cover, and then get into the fashion stories of Sassy's premiere issue, set on a boardwalk, at an old railyard, and in a palette of creams and beiges. What Next also forecasts coming fashion trends with pinpoint accuracy -- thanks, Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson! The beauty features teach you how to use bandanas and makeup; then About Face tells you about bang trims and hot oil treatments, and Body Talk warns you about gonorrhea, weed, and NutraSweet. After Elise gets a makeover (and WILDLY negged in the process), we take a quick trip through some of the issue's most memorable ads, including Benetton, Levi's, Cherry Lane trying to make bloomers happen, and which Sassy Club products we'd be bugging our mom to buy us. Then: the Magazineyness! Jane's first Diary (her editor's letter) has a culturally insensitive lede but otherwise makes us want to keep reading. The letters to the editor in Say What are probably just as real as the ones in Help! And should Sara Walker, the subject of Inside Out (the magazine's inside back cover column for magazine production ephemera) who actually named the magazine itself, maybe have been its first cover model? Start thinking about how you can source these outfits on the cheap as you listen along!QUICK LINKS
Once Tara and Pam have described the fashions they were sporting or coveting in March of 1988, we critique the cover, and then get into the fashion stories of Sassy's premiere issue, set on a boardwalk, at an old railyard, and in a palette of creams and beiges. What Next also forecasts coming fashion trends with pinpoint accuracy -- thanks, Michael Kors and Betsey Johnson! The beauty features teach you how to use bandanas and makeup; then About Face tells you about bang trims and hot oil treatments, and Body Talk warns you about gonorrhea, weed, and NutraSweet. After Elise gets a makeover (and WILDLY negged in the process), we take a quick trip through some of the issue's most memorable ads, including Benetton, Levi's, Cherry Lane trying to make bloomers happen, and which Sassy Club products we'd be bugging our mom to buy us. Then: the Magazineyness! Jane's first Diary (her editor's letter) has a culturally insensitive lede but otherwise makes us want to keep reading. The letters to the editor in Say What are probably just as real as the ones in Help! And should Sara Walker, the subject of Inside Out (the magazine's inside back cover column for magazine production ephemera) who actually named the magazine itself, maybe have been its first cover model? Start thinking about how you can source these outfits on the cheap as you listen along! Visual Aids
Here is a crash course on what to look for so you are prepared for your next store visit!! In a perfect world, we would all buy foods without labels (i.e. fresh organic veggies, fruits, wild fish, poultry and grass fed meats) but I know this is unrealistic for most people. *So I came up with some QUICK TIPS to help you be an expert LABEL READER :)* * *Ingredients on labels are listed from highest to lowest quantity* * If the first ingredient is brown rice syrup put it back * *Look for SMALL ingredient lists (6 or less is ideal :)* * *If you can't pronounce an ingredient put it back on the shelf* * For example - say this ten times - BUTYLATED HYDROXYANISOLE or BHT used as a preservative in cereals, potato chips and chewing gum but the Health and Human Services pegged them as known carcinogens! * *Be aware of SUGAR and all it's different names!* (i.e. malt syrup, corn syrup, brown rice syrup, barley malt, cane juice, fruit juice concentrate, maple syrup and on and on....) These aliases attempt to conceal the presence of large amounts of added sugars. * 5 grams of sugar or less is a good baseline * *Stay away from FAT FREE foods because they typically have a high sugar content and often contain artificial ingredients* * Add some healthy fats into your diet such as grass fed butter, olive oil, MCT oil and coconut oil * *Organic and/or gluten-free foods does not mean it is automatically healthy for you.* * Rice flour, potato flour, cornstarch, and tapioca starch all cause spikes in blood sugar/insulin levels which encourages fat deposition. * *Watch for certain artificial sweeteners* * *Avoid* - Aspartame (in NutraSweet or Equal), Sucralose, or Acesulfam-K and Saccharin (branded as Sweet n Low) * *Use only in moderation* - Whey Low and Sugar Alcohols * *Best choice* - Raw Honey, Coconut Sugar and Stevia Leaf or Stevia drops * *Limit high sodium canned, and processed foods.* Although, it is important to have a healthy amount of salt to maintain the right balance of fluids in your body. * Adding a bit of Celtic Sea salt to your meal or water is your best alternative. * *Avoid Veggie Oils* - such as canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, peanut and safflower oil. * These veggie oils are heated at unnaturally high temps and become oxidized which can lead to inflammation and damage the cells of your body when consumed. Now take these tips and apply them to your everyday life! *But remember the best foods are the ones that don't require a label!* *Links:* *Watch Get Lean Eat Clean podcast video episodes on YouTube!* ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdFaz_7CwhxODZJXrpcFTcQ ) https://www.21dayfastingchallenge.com/ X3 Bar: Variable Resistance Technology allows for a full body workout in only 10 minutes! ( https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-100286468-13650338 ) Use discount code "Save50" for $50 off your purchase! | Listen to the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast | ►iTunes | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-lean-eat-clean/id1540391210 ►Spotify | https://open.spotify.com/show/0QmJzYZsdV6tUNbDxaPJjS | Connect with Brian | ►Website | https://www.briangryn.com ( https://briangryn.com/ ) ►Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/bdgryn ( https://www.instagram.com/bdgryn/ ) ►Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/getleanandeatclean ►Twitter | https://twitter.com/grynnerwinner
this episode, Dr Thomas Hemingway goes into both the history of artificial sweeteners as well as the science behind them to help us to understand the background and potential effects they may have upon us so we can make the most educated choices in this often biased and somewhat controversial subject area.Sugar, surculose, splenda, stevia, sweet and low, honey, agave... The list goes on, how do you know which ones to use and which ones to skip?First, we will explore the common artificial ones as well as the natural ones to help you make the most educated choices with respect to this interesting topic.Here's more you'll learn:The truth behind the sweetener studies you hear about Is cancer REALLY linked to these sweets?Are sugar free options better?How you can change your taste budsLearn more about Thomas Hemingway, MD and upcoming episodes, tips, tricks and more here: www.modernmedicinemovement.comAsk to join his FREE Private Facebook health Group entitled:Modern Medicine Movement Health and Wellness Grouphttps://www.facebook.com/groups/2543880582493990/?ref=shareAlthough Dr. Thomas Hemingway is a physician, he is not to replace your primary care physician. This podcast is not to be construed as medical advice by Dr. Thomas Hemingway or the guests comments as they are opinion only and not medical advice. Please consult your physician should you have any medical questions or before trying any new practice. Saccharin and Cocaine study mentioned in podcast:PLoS One. 2007; 2(8): e698.Published online 2007 Aug 1. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000698PMCID: PMC1931610PMID: 17668074Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine RewardMagalie Lenoir,# Fuschia Serre,# Lauriane Cantin, and Serge H. Ahmed *Bernhard Baune, Academic Editor
What effect do artificial sweeteners such as sucralose (Splenda), saccharin (Sweet & Low), aspartame (Nutrasweet), and acesulfame K (Sweet One) have on our gut bacteria?
Tryk din Bodum stempelkande i bund, når vi kigger fede 80'er brands efter i sømmene. Genopliv de fede navne fra dengang du var ung. Og bliv måske bare lidt klogere. Vidste du f.eks. at BALL var et dansk mærke ? Dette program er i øvrigt 100 kaloriefrit. Vi forsøder med Nutrasweet.
For decades, ads for treats sweetened with substances like Sweet’N Low, NutraSweet, and Splenda have promised what seems like a miracle of modern science: that you can enjoy all the dessert you want, calorie-free. No need to deprive yourself—with artificial sweeteners, you can literally have your cake and eat it, too. But are these substances safe? Don’t they give cancer to rats and mess up your metabolism? Listen in now for answers to all these questions, plus the tale of a sugar-free gumball marketing blitz, courtesy of none other than Donald Rumsfeld.
Why it’s so hard to break the sugar habit, are artificial sweeteners making things worse, how to healthfully satisfy your sweet tooth and more, with special guest Vonnie Tomlinson.
If you, a family member or friend have been diagnosed and suffer from migraine headaches, you might want to listen & share this podcast. Dr. Madrid discusses natural approaches he takes with his patients to help prevent and control their migraines. See disclaimer below! Based on my article: https://iherb.co/3pJ5kNUC Some commonly recognized triggers of migraines: -Cheeses (due to the amino acid tyramine) -Wine (due to the presence of sulfites) -Food additives such as MSG, food dyes and preservatives -History of head trauma and concussion -Sleep deprivation -Sleep apnea -Chronic stress -Menstruation/Hormone changes -Caffeine can trigger in some, while preventing in others -Dehydration -Artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (NutraSweet), found in essentially all diet or zero-calorie carbonated beverages. Recommended Supplements: -Riboflavin – Adults - 400 mg daily. Pediatrics - 100 to 400 mg daily. -Magnesium chelate (i.e malate, citrate, etc.) –125 mg to 500 mg daily -Ginger – 250 mg to 500 mg once or twice daily. -Omega 3-Fish Oil – 2,000 to 4,000 mg daily. Divide into twice a day dosing. -Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) – 100 mg to 300 mg daily -Alpha Lipoic Acid – 600 to 800 mg daily to prevent migraines, okay to take in divided doses. -Melatonin –3 mg to 10 mg each night 1-2 hours before bed. -Feverfew – 250 mg once or twice per day. -Butterbur – 75 mg once to three times daily. Other Useful Prevention Measures -Clean up your diet, avoid toxins -Optimize Gut health -Regular aerobic exercise -Yoga -Acupuncture -Meditation -Chamomile essential oil has shown benefit when applied to the upper lip or when used with a diffuser -Lavender essential has shown benefit when applied to the upper lip or when used with a diffuser Instagram: @ericmadridmd Twitter: @ericmadridmd Facebook: facebook.com/ericmadridmd DISCLAIMER: This podcast is not intended to provide a diagnosis, treatment or medical advice. Opinions by Dr. Madrid are for INFORMATIONAL purposes only. Please consult with your physician regarding your situation as each person is unique.
Since everyone has a sweet-tooth to some extent, knowing what each sweetener actually is, its effectiveness, side effects, and which are known toxins is important to know. This is a first in a series on artificial sweeteners and ‘natural’ sweeteners commonly used. We’ll cover why some are considered toxic,what problems with some of the others are, and which are considered safe and possibly useful. The list we’ll cover list in the order of usability. BestDon’t use any sweetener at all. While on keto your desire for sweet food will diminish and the fewer you have the faster you will reach that point. Some sweeteners are know to spike your insulin...without increasing your glucose...so thinking it through on why you want to use a particular sweetener a head of time my change your desire of needing a sweetener at all. If you have toSteviaXylitol (be careful around your pets, especially dogs) Haven’t tried but have read good things about this.Allulose Safe but questionsMonk fruit Got issues with…Sugar alcoholsErythritolMaltitolSorbitol Over my dead bodyAspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, Natra Taste Blue)NeotameadvantameSucralose (Splenda)Saccharine (Sweet’N Low, Sweet Twin)Acesulfame K (ACE K, Sunette, Equal Spoonful, Sweet One, Sweet’n Safe) Links:AspartameHISTORY OF ASPARTAMEhttp://www.wnho.net/history_of_aspartame.htmhttp://www.whale.to/b/as.htmlAspartame (Nutrasweet) Toxicity Info Center:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/donald-rumsfeld-and-the-s_b_805581.htmlDonald Rumsfeld and the Strange History of Aspartamehttps://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/donald-rumsfeld-and-the-s_b_805581.htmlHere's the timeline of how things went down: http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htmOn Rumsfeld and Aspartame: http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive15.htmDr. John Olney's letter to the Senate in 1987: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6669992/Dr-John-Olney-Statement-Aspartame-l987SucraloseEffect of Sucralose (Splenda) on the Microbiomehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=nuMt7wFarrwA histological assessment of effects of sucralose on liver of albino rats.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30078469The Artificial Sweetener Splenda Promotes Gut Proteobacteria, Dysbiosis, and Myeloperoxidase Reactivity in Crohn's Disease-Like Ileitis.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29554272Intestinal Metabolism and Bioaccumulation of Sucralose In Adipose Tissue In The Rat.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30130461Sucralose administered in feed, beginning prenatally through lifespan, induces hematopoietic neoplasias in male swiss micehttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10773525.2015.1106075?journalCode=yjoh20Effects of Sucralose Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuMt7wFarrw&authuser=1Buy C8Keto MCT Oil on AmazonOur Facebook Group Keto NaturopathUntil next time, Dr. Karl
We’ve all heard sugar is bad for us. But, have you ever stopped to think about the consequences of substituting sugar for ‘DIET’ alternatives – such as those brightly colored, zero-calorie, artificial sweeteners instead? Sucralose (Splenda), Saccharin (Sweet & Low), Aspartame (Equal or NutraSweet), Stevia (Sweet Leaf), & Sugar Alcohols (like Xylitol) are hiding in too many standard American food items to count. They’ve all been made in a lab by chemists discovering how to make our food sweeter with less calories – at the expense of our long term health. Plus, we can’t deny the fact that they’ve been perfectly marketed to us as one of the most recognizable condiments available to us at almost every coffee shop and restaurant in America – for FREE. If you don’t know them by name – we can confidently assume that you know them as the little “pink, yellow and blue packets” always crammed in next to the sugar. What’s not to like about FREE stuff? Or better yet … SWEET stuff? We hope to make you stop and think about this long and hard today. Are they good for us? Are they harmless? … Is zero calories really better? We dive into all of this and more during this episode while expanding on the bigger conversation from episode 10 where we discussed Added Sugar, the popular motto YOLO & It’s Hidden Effects on Your Long-Term Health We want to give you your Power back. What you do with this information is up to you. We're two critical care nurses on a mission to inspire you, motivate you, and empower you. - Briana Reesing & Laura Gluck - More information about us & this show can be found on our website at www.criticalconversationspodcast.com (including full show notes and resources from each episode.) Join Our Community on Instagram @CriticalConversations
Did you know that artificial sweeteners are common in food products that we use every day including, drinks, gum, protein powders, toothpaste, packaged foods, and the list goes on! But are they safe? Dr. Hotze is joined by author and the world’s foremost expert on artificial sweeteners, Dr. Janet Hull for an in-depth discussion on the history and health consequences of common sweeteners including: Splenda, NutraSweet, Equal, Sweet’N Low, etc. To learn more about Dr. Janet Hull or for a listing of books and resources, please visit: www.JanetHull.com http://www.sweetpoison.com/ Subscribe to our podcast at www.hotzepodcast.com! If you are tired of masking the symptoms and want to get to the root cause, naturally visit https://www.hotzehwc.com/symptom-checker/, and take the free symptom checker!
Did you know that artificial sweeteners are common in food products that we use every day including, drinks, gum, protein powders, toothpaste, packaged foods, and the list goes on! But are they safe? Dr. Hotze is joined by author and the world’s foremost expert on artificial sweeteners, Dr. Janet Hull for an in-depth discussion on the history and health consequences of common sweeteners including: Splenda, NutraSweet, Equal, Sweet’N Low, etc. To learn more about Dr. Janet Hull or for a listing of books and resources, please visit: www.JanetHull.com http://www.sweetpoison.com/ Subscribe to our podcast at www.hotzepodcast.com! If you are tired of masking the symptoms and want to get to the root cause, naturally visit https://www.hotzehwc.com/symptom-checker/, and take the free symptom checker!
Monsanto - if the devil was a corporation. Dioxin, PCB's, Saccharin, Agent Orange, Aspartame, I.G Farben partner (Nazi's Zyklon-B maker,) NutraSweet, toxic plastics...I could keep going but then you'd have no reason to listen. Check out the story that led me to this episode: http://realfarmacy.com/monsanto-history/ They patent one gene in a plant they genetically modify, then they patent that modification, then they what for the wind to blow into unsuspecting farmers' fields and then they sue the hell out of them. And that's just a sneak peek at episode 2!!! CULTIVATING CURIOSITY THROUGH COMPELLING CONVERSATIONS Visit http://www.mediamogle.com facebook: @mediamogle Soundcloud: @jessemogle Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter @jessemogle email: everythingsinteresting@gmail.com
Want to have ageless skin whether you're 35 or 80? It's easy, I promise you. First, change your way of eating from a diet of packaged convenience foods to pesticide-free, whole organic foods that are unprocessed. Next, never use canned fruits in any recipe that needs sweetening. Instead, go for fresh top quality stevias. Then use organic spices and herbs to create great flavors for all your dishes. The sugar content of any food is most deliberately hidden by food manufacturers who, if they list it at all, give it a name that shoppers will not recognize. It's essential to be very cautious when looking for alternatives to sugar itself. These fall into three main categories: Artificial sweeteners—which you must avoid like the plague if you value your skin and your health. Sugar alcohols. So-called natural sweeteners. HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER: The first group never to use are the artificial sweeteners—each very harmful in its own way. These include aspartame—the worst of the lot. You'll find it in Equal and NutraSweet, as well as hidden in all sorts of packaged foods and sugar-free gums. Then there is sucralose. It is also nasty. It's the main ingredient in Splenda. And of course, there is good old saccharine, which you'll find in Sweet and Low, as well as many other artificial sweeteners by different names. There is much evidence to back up how dangerous these are. Avoid all of them completely forever about your skin and your health. The second group of sugar alternatives are the sugar alcohols. They all have “ol” in their name—such as xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, glycerol and lactitol. These sugar alcohols can spike blood sugar, so beware. Just because some product label says “sugar-free” this is not necessarily the truth, nor can you be sure it is calorie-free. Probably safest of the lot is xylitol, but only if you use it occasionally and sparingly. (By the way, xylitol is deadly for your cats and dogs.) The third group of sugar substitutes is often referred to as “natural sweetener”. This is a misnomer if I have ever heard one. Take, Agave Syrup and Agave Nectar which are even worse than the dreadful high-fructose corn syrup. It's absurd to refer to these products as “natural”, despite all the advertising hype that tries to make you think that they are. Higher in sugar content than almost any other sweetener on the market, Agave has virtually no nutritional value. As for honey—this has become seriously distorted because of the hideous damage being done to bee colonies. You want to avoid honey as well unless you can gather it from your own hives. So what are your safest choices? Stevia is number one on the list. This is an exotic herb which grows in subtropical areas of South America. This plant has been used to sweeten herbal drinks since pre-Columbian times. It's a godsend for enhancing health and reducing your sugar intake. It's great for sweetening drinks and baking dishes. But make sure you use only the best. All sorts of so-called stevias such as Truvia and Purevia continue to be promoted by multinational corporations. They call themselves “all-natural sweeteners”. In reality, they have been manufactured only from “certain active ingredients” in the stevia plant, not from the whole plant. As a result, they are distortions of the real thing. Don't use them. Another good natural sweetener is Lo Han Guo, which comes from a Chinese fruit. It's more expensive than stevia. Sugar of any kind is a killer both in terms of your health and your good looks. Make these changes now and in as little as three weeks you'll be amazed at how much better your skin looks, and how much better you feel all round. You may be surprised after a month or so to find you no longer even want sugar once your body has quite naturally eliminated its sugar cravings. I find this happens to many, many people. It feels like breaking free from a control mechanism that once undermined your life and your sense of self.
Want to have ageless skin whether you’re 35 or 80? It’s easy, I promise you. First, change your way of eating from a diet of packaged convenience foods to pesticide-free, whole organic foods that are unprocessed. Next, never use canned fruits in any recipe that needs sweetening. Instead, go for fresh top quality stevias. Then use organic spices and herbs to create great flavors for all your dishes. The sugar content of any food is most deliberately hidden by food manufacturers who, if they list it at all, give it a name that shoppers will not recognize. It’s essential to be very cautious when looking for alternatives to sugar itself. These fall into three main categories: Artificial sweeteners—which you must avoid like the plague if you value your skin and your health. Sugar alcohols. So-called natural sweeteners. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER: The first group never to use are the artificial sweeteners—each very harmful in its own way. These include aspartame—the worst of the lot. You’ll find it in Equal and NutraSweet, as well as hidden in all sorts of packaged foods and sugar-free gums. Then there is sucralose. It is also nasty. It’s the main ingredient in Splenda. And of course, there is good old saccharine, which you’ll find in Sweet and Low, as well as many other artificial sweeteners by different names. There is much evidence to back up how dangerous these are. Avoid all of them completely forever about your skin and your health. The second group of sugar alternatives are the sugar alcohols. They all have “ol” in their name—such as xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, glycerol and lactitol. These sugar alcohols can spike blood sugar, so beware. Just because some product label says “sugar-free” this is not necessarily the truth, nor can you be sure it is calorie-free. Probably safest of the lot is xylitol, but only if you use it occasionally and sparingly. (By the way, xylitol is deadly for your cats and dogs.) The third group of sugar substitutes is often referred to as “natural sweetener”. This is a misnomer if I have ever heard one. Take, Agave Syrup and Agave Nectar which are even worse than the dreadful high-fructose corn syrup. It’s absurd to refer to these products as “natural”, despite all the advertising hype that tries to make you think that they are. Higher in sugar content than almost any other sweetener on the market, Agave has virtually no nutritional value. As for honey—this has become seriously distorted because of the hideous damage being done to bee colonies. You want to avoid honey as well unless you can gather it from your own hives. So what are your safest choices? Stevia is number one on the list. This is an exotic herb which grows in subtropical areas of South America. This plant has been used to sweeten herbal drinks since pre-Columbian times. It’s a godsend for enhancing health and reducing your sugar intake. It’s great for sweetening drinks and baking dishes. But make sure you use only the best. All sorts of so-called stevias such as Truvia and Purevia continue to be promoted by multinational corporations. They call themselves “all-natural sweeteners”. In reality, they have been manufactured only from “certain active ingredients” in the stevia plant, not from the whole plant. As a result, they are distortions of the real thing. Don’t use them. Another good natural sweetener is Lo Han Guo, which comes from a Chinese fruit. It’s more expensive than stevia. Sugar of any kind is a killer both in terms of your health and your good looks. Make these changes now and in as little as three weeks you’ll be amazed at how much better your skin looks, and how much better you feel all round. You may be surprised after a month or so to find you no longer even want sugar once your body has quite naturally eliminated its sugar cravings. I find this happens to many, many people. It feels like breaking free from a control mechanism that once undermined your life and your sense of self. Try it and find out for yourself.
Want to have ageless skin whether you’re 35 or 80? It’s easy, I promise you. First, change your way of eating from a diet of packaged convenience foods to pesticide-free, whole organic foods that are unprocessed. Next, never use canned fruits in any recipe that needs sweetening. Instead, go for fresh top quality stevias. Then use organic spices and herbs to create great flavors for all your dishes. The sugar content of any food is most deliberately hidden by food manufacturers who, if they list it at all, give it a name that shoppers will not recognize. It’s essential to be very cautious when looking for alternatives to sugar itself. These fall into three main categories: Artificial sweeteners—which you must avoid like the plague if you value your skin and your health. Sugar alcohols. So-called natural sweeteners. HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO REMEMBER: The first group never to use are the artificial sweeteners—each very harmful in its own way. These include aspartame—the worst of the lot. You’ll find it in Equal and NutraSweet, as well as hidden in all sorts of packaged foods and sugar-free gums. Then there is sucralose. It is also nasty. It’s the main ingredient in Splenda. And of course, there is good old saccharine, which you’ll find in Sweet and Low, as well as many other artificial sweeteners by different names. There is much evidence to back up how dangerous these are. Avoid all of them completely forever about your skin and your health. The second group of sugar alternatives are the sugar alcohols. They all have “ol” in their name—such as xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, mannitol, glycerol and lactitol. These sugar alcohols can spike blood sugar, so beware. Just because some product label says “sugar-free” this is not necessarily the truth, nor can you be sure it is calorie-free. Probably safest of the lot is xylitol, but only if you use it occasionally and sparingly. (By the way, xylitol is deadly for your cats and dogs.) The third group of sugar substitutes is often referred to as “natural sweetener”. This is a misnomer if I have ever heard one. Take, Agave Syrup and Agave Nectar which are even worse than the dreadful high-fructose corn syrup. It’s absurd to refer to these products as “natural”, despite all the advertising hype that tries to make you think that they are. Higher in sugar content than almost any other sweetener on the market, Agave has virtually no nutritional value. As for honey—this has become seriously distorted because of the hideous damage being done to bee colonies. You want to avoid honey as well unless you can gather it from your own hives. So what are your safest choices? Stevia is number one on the list. This is an exotic herb which grows in subtropical areas of South America. This plant has been used to sweeten herbal drinks since pre-Columbian times. It’s a godsend for enhancing health and reducing your sugar intake. It’s great for sweetening drinks and baking dishes. But make sure you use only the best. All sorts of so-called stevias such as Truvia and Purevia continue to be promoted by multinational corporations. They call themselves “all-natural sweeteners”. In reality, they have been manufactured only from “certain active ingredients” in the stevia plant, not from the whole plant. As a result, they are distortions of the real thing. Don’t use them. Another good natural sweetener is Lo Han Guo, which comes from a Chinese fruit. It’s more expensive than stevia. Sugar of any kind is a killer both in terms of your health and your good looks. Make these changes now and in as little as three weeks you’ll be amazed at how much better your skin looks, and how much better you feel all round. You may be surprised after a month or so to find you no longer even want sugar once your body has quite naturally eliminated its sugar cravings. I find this happens to many, many people. It feels like breaking free from a control mechanism that once undermined your life and your sense of self. Try it and find out for yourself.
I had the wonderful honor of talking with magician Nick Lewin! One of the main things we talked about was corporate magic. We also talked about putting a twist on magic classics and there was was even a little performing advice taken from Billy McComb! Nick Lewin is a magician, comedian, actor, host, and keynote speaker from Austin Texas, originally from London. He's certainly run the gamut, being featured on countless TV shows as both a magician and actor, he’s performed for English royalty, presidents, hollywood celebrities, and fortune 500 companies. Companies like Apple, AMD, AT&T, Bank of America, Coca Cola, General Electric, and Nutrasweet. He’s also been featured in top showrooms around the country including Vegas with his One Man Show and has also performed on every premium cruise line. In addition to this, he also finds time to create products for and teach the magic industry, contributing his thoughts to multiple outlets, on the industry, performance, and business. Entertainment Today says “Lewin blends impeccable sleight of hand with a razor sharp British wit.” Success Mantra: Work a lot! To be a successful performer, you need to perform. Failure Story: During a show, one of his props got moved and as a result, he wash't able to perform that routine. He learned to always have a backup ready for anything. Favorite Success: Meeting and performing for the man who invented the MP4 codec. Corporate Magic! • Customizing or personalizing your show for your client. • Making the company president look good. • It's possible to expand things and make the show bigger, e.g.. Hire other acts or close-up workers. • Producing larger shows. • How to pitch the client. • How Nick uses a card trick to instantly change the atmosphere of a client meeting and tip things in his favor. • Going down into the crowd after performing an after dinner show to do close-up magic and mingle with the audience. Just like Jay Alexander talked about! • Getting repeat bookings. • Be a "mentalist" at client meetings. (This advice and a little more corporate advice shows up at the end of the show.) Biggest Professional Challenge Keeping his act fresh. He talks about what Bob Dylan does to make each show different. Parting Advice Know what you do, know what your client wants, and be there to fill their need. Other Topics Covered • Talks about how he created the concept for an afternoon family magic show in Vegas. • Putting a twist on classics of magic and gves an example how how he uses a different approach to the Newspaper Tear (a variation on Elmsley's version). • Connecting with the audience. • Some advice he received from Billy McComb: Don't waste anything up front. Do enough to get your audience's attention, then wow them with the good stuff! • Don't finish your show with anyone up on stage with you. Recommended books and resources: Note: Many of the links in this section are affiliate links, meaning we earn a small portion of any sales. If you're enjoying our podcast and decide to purchase one of the recommended resources or books, please consider using our affiliate links to help support the work we're doing here at the Successful Performercast. Thanks! Resources Pinboard iOS App - a digital cork board that helps you organize your thoughts. Magic Books Tales from the Uncanny Scot by Ron Wilson McComb's Magic: 25 Years Wiser by Billy McComb Vanish Magazine: A free magic magazine put out by Paul Romhany Where can we find Nick Lewin? Nick Lewin's Official Site Lewin Enterprises Remarkable Magic - Nick's Writings on magic, performance, and business
Did you know that artificial sweeteners are used in more than 6,000 products, often marketed as “diet” or “sugar-free” products? Aspartame, also known by names such as Equal and Nutrasweet are believed to be carcinogenic and account for more reports of adverse reactions than all other foods combined! And millions of people consume this toxic chemic daily, thinking it's a healthy alternative to sugar. This week I'm interviewing filmmaker Cori Bracket about her documentaries Sweet Misery and Sweet Remedy to discover the connection between common consumer items (such as diet soda) and a wealth of health problems including serious issues such as multiple sclerosis. Join us to learn: The symptoms of aspartame poisoning and the dire health consequences of consistent aspartame consumptionWhat common popular products contain dangerous amounts of aspartameWhat you can do to insure that you and your family are protected from this toxic chemical
Ian Miller is the CEO and Founder of The Brand Practice LLC, a business and brand strategy consultancy, and is an expert brand and marketing strategist with 30 years experience in building rapidly accepted/competitively advantaged brands. A recognized expert / lecturer in Ingredient Branding, Ian has led the creation and global launch of the ingredient brand, NutraSweet, and worked closely with 50+ partner brands including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi. Ian has applied this expertise to the successful growth of the Splenda brand and similar launches in consumer electronics, pharmaceuticals, retail and grocery. For 10 years Ian has lectured and authored and founded a successful business/brand strategy/design company based primarily on his Rocket Branding strategic and insight research techniques.
Apsartame, better known as Nutrasweet, or AminoSweet, and its new cousin, Neotame, a much larger, much sweeter, and potentially even more toxic update of the Aspartame molecule, are all over the place. Virtually everything you put in your mouth labeled ‘sugarless’ or ‘diet’ contains these pernicious, toxic substances.Nutrasweet’s original manufacturer was Searle corp. They tried to get Nutrasweet declared safe for consumption, but the body of evidence against it was too strong. In the lab, it caused the following forms of cancer tumors in cellular cultures: brain, pancreatic, breast and uterine. In more recent tests, leukemia, lymphoma and kidney cancers were discovered.If one examines the structure of the Aspartame molecule itself, it’s easy to see why it could be so deadly. The molecule mates what is essentially a precursor to wood alcohol, the type of alcohol that causes blindness and seizures, to two amino acids, so that your body readily recognizes it as a nutrient. During digestion, this deadly methanol and also formaldehyde form from these precursor chemicals.I happen to know a researcher who worked in Cornell’s neurochemistry program when Searle came calling with their new product. They asked the chairman of the department what percentage of people would be adversely affected by ingesting their new sweetener. When he replied that he thought that 15% could suffer ‘irreversible neurological damage’, the Searle people actually smiled. 15% was a reasonable number to these people, given that the Cyclamate artificial sweeteners had just been pulled from the market, and there was pressure to do the same with saccharine. There was just too much money to be made to let the health of a few million people get in the way.Since those early studies were not encouraging, (and in fact the FDA was set to rule against them), Searle started paying for their own studies, and to increase their chances of getting to market even more, they hired consummate Washington insider Donald Rumsfeld as CEO. The day after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, the FDA (with the hasty addition of a 6th voting member) abruptly reversed course, and legalized Nutrasweet.Nutrasweet, Neotame and the venerable Monosodium Glutamate are all classified as Excitotoxins, toxic compounds mated to amino acids in such a way that the body sees them as nutrients and absorbs them readily. It’s like some kind of diabolical Trojan Horse, ushering in the most potent poisons masquerading as nutrients.Many people know of the MSG headache, or the fuzziness that can accompany a Nutrasweet binge, but are unaware what these warning signs really attest too. They portend potential cellular changes, neurological destruction, endocrine imbalances, and immune system chaos.There is striking evidence that Nutrasweet can also cause or help cause Macular Degeneration, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease (it’s been shown to produce pinholes in the brains of rats), Graves Disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and several other neurological and autoimmune conditions, as well as the numerous, aforementioned cancers.Both Searle, and their later parent purchaser, Monsanto, vociferously fought any attempts to get this highly-toxic substance off the market. Their only concern is shareholder equity; Profits, growth and dividends trump any moral qualms.If the FDA really cared about you and I, every cow would be tested for mad Cow disease, factory farms would be forced to deal with their huge waste lagoons, cruelty to animals, and antibiotic and steroid use. Nutrasweet, Neotame, and a host of other dangerous chemicals including trans fats, Olestra, and genetically-modified crops would be illegal. Instead, we have all become unwitting lab rats, with a stew of biochemical experiments and genetically modified substances combining and recombining in completely un-knowable ways in our guts, our bloodstreams, our nerves, and in our brains.There was a hoax on the Internet that Neotame would be allowed, unlabeled, in Organic foods. I’m very relieved to know that this is not true. But beware: Monsanto, and all of the big agribusiness companies are constantly working to weaken the USDA Organic standard to the point that it’s as utterly meaningless as the word ‘natural’ has become on food labels.Rid yourself of these toxins. Grow your own food and get involved with your local organic food growers and purveyors, and petition the federal government to maintain and enhance the integrity of the USDA organic standard, and to return the FDA to its mandate: serving and protecting the people, instead of furthering corporate interests at the people’s expense. Podcast Powered By Podbean All Content Worldwide Copyright - Samuel McKenney Claiborne
Our second episode on how to get sick. 1. Use fluoride toothpaste and mouthwash, and drink fluoridated water. Fluoride is extremely poisonous-especially the salt-based form used in toothpaste and mouthwash. (Besides, its effectiveness is questionable at best.) A top EPA scientific advisor voiced the opinion that "since recent federal government tests have shown that fluoride appears to cause cancers at levels less than ten times the present maximum contamination level, this would ordinarily require that all additions of fluoride to water supplies be suspended and treatment be instituted to remove naturally occurring fluoride." That would be enough warning for me! (By the way, I have no evidence that the EPA ever suspended fluoridation operations.) Choose nonfluoridated alternatives for oral hygiene and be safe. 2. Use artificial sweeteners and avoid sugars. As bad as sugar can be in its various forms, artificial sweeteners are worse! Some are downright deadly because of their carcinogenic properties and their use it such high-volume products as diet soft drinks and sugar-free foods. Chief among sinners is aspartame, which is marketed as NutraSweet or Equal. Renowned diabetes expert Dr. H. J. Roberts believes there is a clear scientific link between aspartame and increased incidence of brain tumors, seizure disorders, chronic headaches, and hyperactivity in children. As for saccharin, the cancer-causing labels that accompany its use still apply. The newcomer on the block is sucralose (used in Splenda), but the jury of scientific research still seems to be awaiting further testimony on this one. (If the Maker didn't produce it "as is," then it probably isn't much better than the other synthetic sugar substitutes.) 3. Shower every day, but don't bathe (take a bath). Excessive showering-even in the purest water-can actually rob your hair and body of the natural oils.8 It can also alter your body's pH (especially if you're using certain alkaline shampoos and soaps). Then you have the added problem of heavily chlorinated public water supplies (see below). If the Maker has a preference, it might be the use of ritual bathing that combined bathing (washing in a shallow bath) with sprinkling (showering for brief periods). This combination is especially beneficial for the thorough but gentle cleansing recommended for the female genital area. 4. Swim in chlorinated pools (and drink and shower with chlorinated water). Chlorine is an effective bacteria killer, although some strains of bacteria are developing a resistance to chlorine. Unfortunately, chlorine is an indiscriminate killer that kills both friendly and unfriendly bacteria. It also eats through lead pipes, corrodes most metals, and harms cells and DNA strands in virtually every living thing it touches. Chlorine also introduces to our water supplies some highly carcinogenic chemicals called trihalomethanes (THMs). Studies show a strong link between chlorinated water supplies with elevated THM levels and cancers of the bladder, kidney, liver, pancreas, gastrointestinal tract, urinary tract, colon, and brain.9 It is risky enough to drink chlorinated tap water, but the mass exposure created by swimming in chlorinated pools or taking extended hot showers in heavily chlorinated water is much more dangerous. (The heat opens skin pores and increases the already high absorption rate of chlorine through the skin.) Dogs exposed to chlorine (this is the ingredient used to bleach white bread) get the running fits, a disorder similar to many psychiatric Each week Martin Pytela and Scott Paton discuss Holistic principles for healthy living. Life Enthusiast Co-op is built on over 25 years in study, health consultations and market research in the field of holistic and alternative medicine. We deliver solid time tested expertise. We are in this business not for the money, but for the passion, we have for sharing with others what we had to learn the hard way, through experience. We focus on high quality, innovative holistic solutions. Length: 16:00 Go to iTunes and review our podcast: iTunes Life Enthusiast Reviews and 5 star ratings If You Enjoyed This, Please Go To "FANS OF THIS SHOW" On The RIGHT And Then Click On "BECOME A FAN". In Addition, PLEASE CLICK On The “SEND TO A FRIEND” At The Bottom Of This Podcast…. COPY THE DATA And SEND THIS, and “My Pod Home Page URL”, To EVERYONE In Your ADDRESS BOOK…. FRIENDS Or ENEMIES! WANT TO BE NOTIFIED OF NEW EPISODES? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go To “Join my mailing list ” On The RIGHT………. When It Comes Up You Will See On This Page “Add me to Life Enthusiast''s mailing list:” ………. And Then type in your name and email address ………. Now Just Click “Save”. Technorati Tags: weight loss, Diet, Obesity, Dieting, Healthy Living,Food, Exercise, Fitness, Nutrition, Supplements, Lose Weight, Martin Pytela, Scott Paton.
What is Aspartame? What's in it? How is it made? And how does it affect the human body? Today's show covers this and so much more: how it affects fertility and infants, aspartame addiction and it's carcinogenity. http://www.nwolibrary.com/ http://www.myspace.com/IconoclastReport http://www.twitter.com/IconoclastShow http://www.oraclebroadcasting.com/archives.php?who=Iconoclast_Report
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