Have you ever wondered how organic the organic food at Safeway and Whole Foods really is? It doesn’t seem to be the same as what we buy at the local farmer's market or the co-op.

I just visited Mercola’s web site and heard about modified atmosphere packaging which may be made of lipids such as wax,; resins such as shellac; polysaccharides such as cellulose; proteins such as soy; plasticizers such as polyethelene glycerol; as well as various antimicrobials, antioxidants and texturizers.

So are all vegetables really suitable for a vegetarian diet? Some of these foods may even contain a waxy coating made from cow, pig or chicken collagen! Yikes!! Another reason to truly cherish our local farmers.

Will taking multivitamins shorten your life????

You may have read the recent article about shortened life span in women taking multiple vitamins and are perhaps wondering what to do. It is always a good idea to apply the scientific principle to find out if supplements we are taking to improve our health really work. Good scientific studies are prospective, meaning the question is asked and then the data is collected with a treatment group and a control group.

The recent multivitamin study was retrospective, meaning information collected after the fact, about the lifestyle and the supplements women in the study had taken over the past several years. Some of the women in the study had just started taking a multi while others had been taking them for years. The control group had not taken any multi vitamins.

Overall they found lower blood pressure, less diabetes and a better BMI in the supplement taking group. However, they also found a correlation between taking a multi and dying earlier. The questions they didn’t ask are “have you started taking vitamins because you have an illness?” (Perhaps a serious illness which could cause early death), “are you taking a vitamin with high copper or iron when you don’t need it?” (These minerals can be damaging in high amounts when you don’t need them) “are you taking vitamins potentially contaminated with heavy metals and other toxic substances?” (%80 of raw materials for vitamins and minerals come from China).

What happens when studies are retrospective and poorly designed is the results they produce often support what the researchers want to find. And that is just not good science.

The Siskiyou Challenge was a huge success! Team Hidden Springs had a fantastic time competing in the multi-sport event on September 24th. Fitness Director John Hacker gave out over 50 free body compositions during the event. He also competed in both the 5 k and 10 k runs. Trainer Mike Sotos had two incredible times on the bike course and Elissa Walsh ripped it up in the Kayak. We can't wait until next year to field another team.

Hidden Springs is a major sponsor of this event because we think the farm to school program is so important and because we are dedicated to enhancing health and wellness in our community. As Coach John Hacker always says, "you must cross train so that you alter your fatigue patters". This is just a simple way of saying it is important to do many different activities.

John Hacker is offering free bocy comps in October so anyone interested can e-mail HIM AT INFO@COACHHACKER.COM OR CALL 503-975-0374. We are also extending our special in the fitness center to the end of October so give us a call if you are interested, for less than a dollar a day you can have 24/7 access to the best kept fitness secret in the Rouge Valley!