Protein Shake Diets

A while back I tried a diet high in soy protein called Medi-Fast. A few weeks after starting I broke out in a rash and discovered that I was allergic to Soy. I am especially allergic to soy protein isolate. Its also called soy concentrate or concentrated soy. My wife was just recently trying another diet called Body by Vi (Aka, ViSalus). After using it for a month she's breaking out in a rash and is discontinuing using it. My son is still using it, I've advised him to watch out for any signs of problems but so far he's had none. He is 18 and so can make his own decisions but it does not mean that he should not be aware of potential problems which is why I am writing this blog today. I hope that it helps someone else.

Another fun side-affect from the concentrated soy is the extra protein, and yes I am being a bit sarcastic when I say that. Excess protein is not a good thing, especially if you are prone to kidney stones like I am. I already had at least one stone a year for a lot of years. All of the excess protein caused me to have a surge in stone production. It was so much so that I needed surgery on both kidneys. Thankfully there are no knives used these days. However, I still needed to be put under each time and was pretty sore afterwords. I don't want to do it again, let alone pass another painful stone. Those of you that have had them know what I'm talking about. How may have you passed? I've passed more than 40 and more than half of those hurt like crazy!

But I know what your thinking... "But why would extra Protein cause a kidney stone, their made of Calcium?" Well, technically not all stones are calcium but mine are. This is my simplified version of how this process works. When you have excess protein that your body cannot use, your body needs to get rid of it. It does this via the kidneys, but it needs another main ingredient to help to get rid of it... yep that's calcium. Wow, from there its not such a mystery is it! Oh, and for all you older women out there that are getting extra protein, this is something to consider for osteoporosis concerns.

I guess that the saying that too much of a good things can be bad for you is true in this case. I have gone to an extreme with this too much protein thing though... and maybe that's also bad.

I've stopped eating meat. Soon after that I also started to avoid dairy. I have to say that I feel better than ever, and its been a couple years now since I've had a kidney stone. Another nice side-affect is that I have not been getting sick as easy as I used to. Its really a huge immune system boost to not put meat and dairy into your body. Some other things I noticed is that my skin looks better, and my dandruff has gone away. Previously I had always had chronic dandruff. My finger and toenails are clear, now too. They used to be a yellowish color. I watched the yellow grow out and away over a period of several weeks. I never even knew that they were yellowish.

I'm sure that its possible that the meat and dairy products may be tainted with hormones or other things that can cause these things. I can't say definitively that its not, but I can say that it does not matter. From the additional research I have done there are a lot of benefits to my new diet, and no benefits to be had with my previous one that included meat and dairy.

NOTE: One thing to keep in mind if you start this diet, get a vitamin B substitute. You will not be getting the bacteria that you used to and your body needs to stay healthy. So, to stay healthy you either need to stop cleaning your veggies and eat them like other animals do, right off the filthy ground, or do the vitamin thing.

In conclusion, the soy protein diets were extremely eye opening for me, and if it were not for them I would not be on the track I'm on today and leading a better and healthier life.

Good luck to you, and I hope that what I have said helps you.

Hulu Plus, love it or hate it?

Well, those of you that use and love Hulu Plus I am happy for you. I am not one of those people. My wife likes it for some of the content that it has that some other services like Netflix or another service does not.

Usability

We use Hulu Plus on a ROKU. I wonder what trouble Hulu went to to create the interface since everyone else seems to use the genre style boxes that most everyone else uses. That style is simple and intuitive and many other services use it. However, Hulu has chosen to go with something that is, well, more confusing and hard to navigate. The interface is also sometimes unresponsive, you may try to pause a show, but it sometimes will simply not react to your command. And if you want to pause the show while a commercial is playing, sorry, you will have to wait.

Cost

The cost is competitive with the other services that I use or have used. We continue to use Netflix and Amazon Prime. However, besides a little more content there is something that Hulu has that those other services don't, commercials. I have to wonder what the revenue is that they get from that, whatever it is its not bringing down the price compared to others that offer similar content.

Content

Hulu does offer some content that the others don't, and that's the only draw that I think they have. By way of content they get seasons and episodes of shows more quickly in some cases. But the content that they offer that no one else does... the commercials. They are repetitive, mandatory, and becoming longer and more and more frequent. What I mean by repetitive is that the same commercial will play every time a commercial segment comes up, so its drilled into you. Sometimes they are even repeated in a segment of commercial time. Its also 2-3 commercials per segment. Mandatory because there is no way to not play it, you cannot skip it, and you cannot pay more to not see them. The frequency has gained over time too.  I can remember a time when there were maybe only a couple commercials played during a show, now there are 5 or more segments per 1 hour show.

Conclusion

We have not had the Hulu service now for some time. My wife wants it back though, she wants it for the new seasons or recent episodes that are not on the other competing services yet. But I don't want it, I don't like to pay for the commercials and don't want to support that scheme. I have not had cable or satellite now for years and don't want to go back to it or anything that resembles it. Also, there is still the interface that I despise, that alone is nearly enough to keep me away. I don't care what shows it has or that it has some of the seasons earlier than the others, I will wait for them to be available on one of the others services, commercial free and easy to navigate.