LegendaryLife Blog

Mannatech sells sugar pills (yes, they admit it) or “heavenly” Tensa water and it seems I have irked their legal department (letter below). What I find ironic is their own letter is basically stating that their own products aren’t a cure, only good for general health (which is what I have been essentially saying from the beginning). They apparently don’t like the fact that their sales, distribution and marketing people are saying how much Mannatech cured, saved and improved their health. So, they come after me who is basically stating the opposite. Ironic.

————————
TO: Jonathan

RE: Impermissible Use of Health Claims Attributed to Mannatech Products
1.36.1027

http://blog.legendarylife.com/mannatech-strikes-again-with-holy-water/comment-page-1

Dear Jonathan:

We previously contacted you requesting your assistance on a critical issue concerning your website. We have requested and made formal demand that you immediately remove any statements from your website which are or could be construed to be unauthorized health claims which go beyond stating that Mannatech nutritional products promote the maintenance of health and general well-being. The statements made on your website are contrary to Mannatech policy.

Demand is hereby made that you immediately remove from your website any statement or reference which (i) states, suggests or implies that Mannatech nutritional products prevent, treat or cure disease, (ii) states, suggests or implies that Mannatech nutritional products are a substitute for a doctor’s standard of care, and/or (iii) is in any manner in contradiction with Mannatech’s existing policies and procedures. Demand is further made that you refrain from engaging in this activity in the future.

We remain confident you understand our concerns and also appreciate that it is imperative that you promptly comply with the demand to cease and desist, and to document your compliance in writing within five (5) business days of the receipt of this letter. If you have already complied with this demand, we thank you and appreciate your cooperation.

Nothing herein shall be construed as a waiver of any rights Mannatech has at law or in equity, all of which are expressly reserved.

Your prompt attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,
Mannatech Legal, Ethics & Compliance Department
————————

My answer to them is very straight forward, learn how to read. Each of my article states that their products are no different than a sugar pill or water. What they need to do is send this letter to their sales people who are doing the exact opposite, stating that it helps cure cancer and every other disease or ailment out there… again, I didn’t write any of this, Mannatech distributors and sellers have and continue to do so.

Background Articles

I really get annoyed at companies out there that promote garbage as science, especially when they use religion as their “handle”. I do not hate Mannatech, I just wished these companies, like many others, actually performed a double-blind clinical study proving or disproving the effects of their products. If there is something in their product that actually does cure diseases, then the world should know about it but their entire approach of “corporate” saying one thing and “marketing” saying another just irks me.

• Mannatech: Overpriced Sugar Pills
• Mannatech Strikes again with Holy Water!
• Herbal Remedies’ aren’t without risks

Tensa Water?

What I find funny is that if you do a search for Tensa Water, all the result, other than my blog article, sell the “merits” of Tensa Water while I am the lonely one doing otherwise (though with heresay from their representatives stating how wonderful their product is within the comment section). (image below)

Google Tensa Water results

This is a nice break from writing my next book… the series “Steroids Saved My Life” is interesting to me as it shows people totally what NOT to do when taking them.

Episode 4 – Roidboy

• day 1: 138 pounds (6.8% fat), day 19: 152 pounds, day 26 he is 9% fat
• 1350 calories per day before taking steroids, calories on cycle, 3500+, so now we know for a fact that he wasn’t eating enough to begin with and his phenomenal gains are probably more diet related than taking the 10mg pill with orange juice every morning… so the reason for him taking steroids is what?
• it took 4 episodes before he admits to being monitored by a doctor, this info isn’t on his site when I checked it, so I am assuming he is getting regular blood work done as well, but is this “mild” dosage based on a doctor’s recommendation or a bodybuilder’s cycle? These are completely different things.
• The first smart thing Peter has said so far is that he has stayed away from alcohol during his cycle.
• 4% of women like skinny men (source?)
• more testimonials at how great steroids are and how much he has changed as a result, new habits don’t form nor change in 19 days time
• a woman at the birthday party says he looks great and it’s the confidence that he is lacking
• “Steroids are a quick fix, an easy way out” says Big Red
• Runaway Taylor now says after seeing all the amazing changes that have happened in Peter’s life, he is “considering taking steroids” himself, at least he says he would use needles
• Peter’s goal is to get to 175 to 180 pounds (in 30 days). This shows his complete lack of knowledge yet again, 30 pounds in 30 days is borderline impossible, his goal is to go up 42 pounds! The faster you gain the weight, the faster you lose it as well. He will be lucky to keep 15 pounds a few months after getting off the steroids and looking at his diet and experience, my guess is he will end-up back to 140 pounds in less than a year.
• Peter’s workout routine is 5 days on and two days off… this is INSANE! It’s nice to see how little research he has done in the foundations of a good exercise routine.
• day 22: he was SICK! I wonder if it’s got something to do with over-training, under-eating and completely shocking the hell out of his system over the past 22 days.
• day 26: 147.6 pounds, he has lost a lot of weight (read above)
• Peter tried to go to the gym and was just throwing-up
• Peter is now having doubts about continuing the steroids, what I find ironic is that I am willing to wager that steroids have nothing to do with him being sick, it’s just his body going into shock from all the stress he has put on it over the source of the last month. He could have had these gains WITHOUT steroids too.

Episode 5: The Roid Team

• Peter is now, if his video is to be believed, the be all and end all expert about steroids, nutrition and exercise along with Mr. Fantastic and Suga(r). I think “The Three Stooges” would be more apt.
• Peter says now that he had the stomach flu, steroids (correctly) and the shock he did to his body over the past month had nothing to do with it (incorrect).
• Day 29, all his tests (would be nice to know what they were) show that he is perfectly healthy and fine
• day 33: 150.4 pounds, my guess is the few days off due to being sick gave his body some time to recover (hence the weight gain)
• woman is saying she doesn’t see a difference so he needs to up the dosage (would be nice to know what he IS taking and dosage)
• picture showing Anavar, HCG (and a few others I can’t read) so it looks like he is taking both injectables and oral steroids, not sure why it took 5 episodes to finally show this, the entire format of his cycle should have been made in the first episode of this show
• measurement time, day (?) and his chest is 33.5 inches, thigh 19.5 inches, biceps 11.5 inches, calves 14.5 inches, shoulders 42.5 inches… here is another question to ponder, is the woman in the show been taking the measurements during the entire month so far? If different people are doing measurements, unless they measure the SAME SPOT, these changes are utterly useless.
• “implants are awesome” says the measuring woman, so far, only Bear seems to be the only one with any type of common sense and knowledge about what is going on.
• day 1 and day 33 pictures are shown side by side… how the heck am I suppose to see a difference if the day 33 pictures is scalled-up? Where is a measuring stick or something to show an accurate scale?
• “Is viagra cheating?” question shown. If you have male impotence (which is a possible side-effect of steroids by the way), then who cares but if you are perfectly healthy, why would you need it?
• the measuring woman says that if she was a guy, she would take steroids because they make you look better and stronger. My question is what the heck do steroids have to do with looking better and stronger?
• More Steroids = More Fantastic, using this logic of more is better, why doesn’t Mr. Fantastic or Suga(r) look like bodybuilders? They are big but if you told me they were on steroids, I wouldn’t believe it because they don’t have anything that couldn’t be achieved naturally
• great wisdom from the measurement woman who says “who doesn’t love steroids… they’re just haters if they don’t love steroids”, I am guessing she must be Peter’s personal trainer as a 5 day on, 2 day off routine would make total sense if it came from her

Episode 6 – Midway Point

• showing before / after pictures, I find it hard to see a difference to be honest
• Peter says his reason for taking steroids is because of “a lifetime of being unsatisfied physically” (from episode 1) with video showing him taking 10gm pill with orange juice
• admits his form is horrible and doesn’t have much to build from (two great reasons right there why he shouldn’t be taking steroids)
• day 40 Peter says “I am doing basic exercises being monitored by my trainer… to make sure I am using the right weight… using the right form and not over-exerting himself”. If you are on steroids you NEED to over-exert yourself to the extreme, hence the reason why you need a strong physical, mental and dietary foundation established FIRST.
• routine is 10 minutes of cardio to warm-up followed by 10 minutes of stretching, one hour hitting the weights then a light circuit rotation or light stretching
• Monday: Chest, Tuesday: Back/Abs, Wednesday: Legs, Thursday: Shoulders, Friday: Arms
• this personal trainer got their degree from a 2 day weekend course, this routine is HORRIBLE to say the least. When you are on steroids, you should be exercising the same body part 2x a week as heavy as you can (recovery is very fast on steroids) and do as little cardio as possible because your goal is to gain MASS, it looks to me like his personal trainer is trying to have him gain muscles and stay lean at the same time, which is the wrong approach in my opinion… stretching should be minimal (studies have shown they can cause more damage then they are worth) and done during your weight training routine. Start with light weight (warm-up) and build yourself up from there. If he is doing a circuit rotation after a one hour workout, he is not working out with enough weight.
• bench press was 65 pounds at the beginning, after 6 weeks, 105 pounds
• squats was 95 pounds, 180 pounds after 6 weeks… complains about the bar hitting his spine (???)
• I noticed when ever he goes to the gym, he forgets to wear his t-shirt
• shoulder press weight was 20 pounds (each dumbell), now 35 pounds
• deadlifts were 85 pounds, now 160 pounds
• measurement woman says “I like big thick boys on steroids”
• Suga(r) says steroids help him to “breaking down doors, kicking-in big screen TVs, punching through car windows”
• Peter saying again he eats fast food 2-3x a day and lists all his other phobias related to food (no wonder he is skinny)
• day 32: he is complaining about being hungry all the time. If you are serious about gaining weight, especially on steroids, you should be eating 6-8 times a day, hunger never has a chance of showing-up! This shows he still isn’t eating ENOUGH.
• Over the past 6 weeks, his chest grew by 5.5 inches, thigh by 5 inches, bicep by 1.75 inches, calves 2 inches, shoulder 1.75 inches
• day 40 he says all tests show that steroids are not affecting him in a negative way, which is great! The problem with steroids isn’t when you are on them as much as when you get OFF of them
• he now says his original goals are no longer important for him, he just wants to be healthy now
• after 6 weeks, he is now 152.2 pounds, gaining a total of 13.4 pounds in a month and a half, which is perfectly do-able… he must realize now that there is no way he will gain 42 pounds during his cycle as gains will taper off around the last third. He could have achieved this in probably a two month time period without steroids by the way following a good diet and exercise routine.
• Peter says “the most dangerous part of steroids is not knowing where they are coming from” which is true but what is even more dangerous is people who have no idea what they are doing while taking steroids in the first place! I hope he doesn’t get an abscess on his butt from the injections that so far, he has made no mention of but showed bottles for. A few seconds later, he says he is getting his steroids from a good source (ei: not all from a doctor but from where he doesn’t really know where it’s coming from)
• day 36, he is talking about upping the dosage (???) He should have had his entire cycle planned far in advance with all the drugs bought, sounds to me like he is doing this week by week.
• Peter says “this entire experience has been an eye opening experience for himself and for those viewing the show”, sadly, he is educating people who are watching the show in how NOT to do things, which sadly, most people will not realize
• “I’m feeling tired and sore… I think the problem is that I am not taking enough steroids” is what Peter is thinking now. He is exercising a body that, a little more than a month ago was use to tennis and a Wii (???). Of course his body is sore, he is over-training, under-eating and has no foundations (mental or physical) to handle what is going on. The last thing he needs is more steroids!

Thoughts so far

I thought the first three episodes were bad but the way things are going now, this is just a rush to the bottom. The amount of pure BS being told as “fact” is horrible and even worse, people who are skinny like him (I was like that too), will follow his extremely uneducated and flawed advice and get themselves in big trouble physically and mentally. For instance, he managed to almost double his squat in a 6 month period, the problem is his muscles can handle this strain but not his ligaments so he is being very careless with his joints and only has his age protecting him for serious tears. His logic that because his body is screaming at him to take a break, he needs more steroids to overcome his physical (mental) limitations is incredibly flawed thinking. I am beginning to think the personal trainer he is using may know enough about physiology to give him an exercise routine that will exhaust him so that he doesn’t go with heavier weight and snap something. I am eager to see how this proceeds!

Real information about steroids, fitness and diet

• Muscle memory is great… too bad it doesn’t last
• Why I decided not to take Anabolic Steroids
• Gaining Weight 101: Tips from a fellow Hard gainer
• LL Question: Even with bad genetics, can I become the world’s strongest man?
• Better Living Through Chemistry
• Taking Time Off and Muscle Memory

Buzvia: Steroids Saved My Life (Television Series)

Drug addicts all seem to develop specific physical and habitual characteristics as they spiral down into the hole of addition; Meth addicts seem to show these traits in an especially ugly form! I believe knowledge is power, I may dedicate my life towards my passion but I also try to educate myself about those who dedicate theirs towards self-destruction. Why? If you don’t know how bad things can become, they you cannot fully appreciate the gift of not living that type of life can be!

What is Meth?

Meth is a nervous system stimulant which gives its users an instant rush of energy, they feel like they are 10ft tall and can do anything. It is also goes by the name “ice”, “crystal” and “glass” for its smokable forms while the pill forms go by “billy whizz”, “speed”, “sulphate”, “fast”, “uppers”, “powder” and “crank”. It is made up of mix of commonly available, hazardous chemicals, as such it can be mass produced relatively easily and requires no importation such as other hard drugs.

How is Meth taken?

Meth can be taken in various forms such as powder, pill, injectables and I am sure there are other creative ways addicts have found in order to receive a high from this awful drug.

Why do people take Meth?

When the dangerous mix of peer pressure, low self-esteem and easy availability come together, the perfect storm begins. I can easily say that these are the same pressures that create many other types of addicts from nicotine to alcoholics.

What happens after a user stops use?

Well, the reason they took the drugs was to feel 10ft tall, once off, they receive the opposite effect and feel like they belong 6ft under. With prolonged use, Meth addicts become extremely paranoid and develop a host of traits that would make a schizophrenic appear normal. Like other drugs, there is also an adaptation that the body does to cope, meaning more regular and higher doses are required to achieve the same effect.

What do meth addicts look like?

These aren’t pretty pictures, it shows you what drugs can do to you in their extremes. Note that cigarettes and alcohol have the same effects but they are to a lesser extreme and more internalized.

Governments “War on Drugs” commercials: The Montana Meth Project Ads

I may be wrong, but I believe these commercials where actually produced by a concerned individual who had enough with seeing the government do little in the face of the Meth epidemic that was happening in his city. Hopefully these scare the shit out of you… if they don’t, you have deeper problems.

The ugly physical effects of Meth

Like other hard drugs, Meth has a profound effect on the physical body. As the substance is completely toxic to the body, it tries to excrete these substances through the skin’s pores, which tend to get infected. This specific trait seems to be specific to Meth users. In addition, many Meth users end up with mouths that would make even the local dentist freak-out! The internal organs are also taxed beyond recovery most of the time with prolonged use, which means that you don’t only age much faster, but you are really screwing yourself internally as well. Any type of drug use leads to malnutrition, lack of exercise and the usual culprits that don’t have any positive impact on living a long, healthy life.

The Bottom Line

Drugs, of any kind, produce nothing of any positive value to a life.

Buzvia: Documentary Review -> The Meth Epidemic, Amphetamines/Methamphetamines on myfoodcount.com drug listing

I guess having hearing problems never cost so much! For those of you wish cash to burn and a reputation to keep-up, this $50K US, 24K Solid Gold, Diamond-Encrusted Widex hearing aid should do the trick rather nicely!What do you get?

Well, this hearing aid comes with 220 diamonds which will do wonders for taking off any skin left remaining on your ears. I guess if you opted for one without the diamonds and heavy solid gold, the price would go down by 95% but if you are seriously considering this purchase, money isn’t the least of your worries.

The Bottom Line

Now you know why health insurance rates keep going up!

Buzzvia

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/now-we.ve-seen-it-all/diamond+encrusted-solid-24k-gold-hearing-aid-say-what-292663.php

I guess the skies the limit for people who really require a lot of pedicures to make them feel alive! Although the price tag of 14 thousand dollars seems a bit steep, I am sure there are officiatoes who think the Kohler Pedicure Spa is just what their feet requested.

Features

• consists of whirlpool footbath with lounge chair for client and technicians chair and accessories
• materials can be customized to fit any bathroom decore
• footbath consists of cast iron with 3 Flexjets along with a ribbed footpad to make you believe you are enjoying the best spas money can buy
• client lounge chair is made of teak and has a variety of adjustable positions
• technicians chair has wheels and is at an optimal height
• available in white only (so far)
• includes half inch ceramic high-flow valve system, 3 way hand shower wand and deck mounted transfer valve/vacuum breaker

What this product is missing

Closest thing my feet get to a pedicure is touching the floor of my shower but if I had money to burn, I guess I would want this to come with some electronic system to control both the temperature and flow of the water. Fourteen thousand dollars United States Funds is a lot of money, electronics would sure make this decision a lot easier in my opinion. I guess a massage chair instead of a wooden one would have made more sense as well but what do I know about spas!

The Bottom Line

You spend a big portion of your life standing, I guess they need a present sometimes as well!

Buzzvia

http://www.luxist.com/2007/08/23/the-kohler-pedicure-spa/

Corporate Site

http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/detail.jsp?item=11944502&prod_num=163