SUGAR SHOCK! Blog

"Nutritionist to the Stars" Offers Help to Actress

Very cool! Just got off the phone with Oz Garcia, who's known as the "Nutritionist to the Stars."

Oz has offered -- at my suggestion -- to give maple syrup-loving actress Rachel McAdams (who stars in "Red Eye") one complimentary nutrition consultation and a copy of Look and Fabulous Forever.

These offers are fabulous!

Oz is a very hot nutritionist, whose list of star clients includes Oscar winner Hilary Swank, actress Kim Cattrall, model Veronica Webb, and singer Roberta Flack.

I do hope McAdams takes Oz up on this geat offer.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, yesterday, I lamented Rachel McAdams' misleading comments to AOL, in which she revealed that "drinking maple syrup" was one of the secrets to her slim figure, and I urged you NOT to follow her dismal, disastrous "dietary advice."

Horrified by her comments, I then consulted a number of experts -- physicians, nutritionists, etc., who also warned of the dire consequences of her maple-syrup, blood-sugar bouncing beverage breaks.

In fact, I just received two more e-mail responses from shocked physicians.

Deborah A. Metzger, PhD, MD, head of Harmony Women's Health in Los Altos, California, and co-author of Stay Fertile Longer.

Dr. Metzger cautions: "My fear is that this story will provide a reason for misdirected obese teenagers to begin drinking maple syrup to lose weight."  She continues: "It is incumbent upon the press to take responsibility for their role in disseminating this type of misinformation."

Mark Hyman, M.D., co-author of Ultra Prevention, former co-medical director at Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, who's now editor in chief of the peer-reviewed Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, notes that "Maple syrup can help you lose weight -- if you eat nothing else and don't have too much! Otherwise, I agree that the whole idea is a little ridiculous."

                  

Donate Now to Help Hurricane Katrina Survivors

Again, as I did a couple of days ago, let me urge you to step outside of your own little world, think of others and contribute to one of the following groups, which are sending supplies and relief to residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

Join me and donate now to one of the following groups:

• The American Red Cross
• Feed the Children
• Salvation Army
• United Jewish Communities
• Catholic Charities USA
• United Methodist Committee on Relief or
• Samaritan's Purse

How nightmarish this is!

I feel so trite saying that I was really looking forward to going to New Orleans for my first time from Sept. 8 to 12 for an Internet conference.

Getting back to the point of this post -- please tell all your friends and colleagues to donate, too.

Experts Offer Actress Maple-Sugar Insights

This is a follow-up to my earlier post about “Red Eye” actress Rachel McAdams dishing out dismal dietary advice to "Drink Maple Syrup.”

To prevent anyone from following this nonsensical sugar gorging, I've consulted a number of nutritionists and physicians, who, like me, were dismayed by McAdams' recommendations, and wrote the following press release, which is being published in newspapers and websites the world over:

“Red Eye” star Rachel McAdams, 29, revealed disastrous dietary advice that has nutritionists and medical doctors shaking their heads in disbelief.

The actress, who appears opposite Cillian Murphy in the suspenseful Wes Craven-directed film now playing in movie theaters, is quoted – along with a number of other celebrities – in Tuesday’s “Diet Secrets of the Stars,” as saying that her love for sugar helps keep her thin.

“I drink maple syrup,” she told AOL, to explain how she keeps her slim figure. “Then I'm hyper so I just run around like crazy and work it all off.”

Journalist Connie Bennett, author of the upcoming book, SUGAR SHOCK! (www.SugarShock.com) – for which she interviewed more than 250 physicians, experts, and researchers – cautions Americans against adopting this foolhardy habit.

“Telling people to drink maple syrup isn’t good diet advice,” Bennett says. “It’s a recipe for health woes galore.”

Walter Willett, M.D., chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health says that “a little bit of maple syrup now and then on a whole wheat pancake would be just fine. [But] drinking maple syrup regularly is a terrible idea nutritionally.  It is really no different than sugar or refined starch metabolically,” adds the author of Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy:  The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating.

Fred Pescatore, M.D., author of The Hamptons Diet, contends that taking maple syrup beverage breaks like this ultimately could “lead to blood-sugar disturbances.”

Diet doctor Stuart Fischer, M.D. (http://www.askdoctorfischer.com/) agrees. “A diet top-heavy in simple carbohydrates can easily lead to pancreatic insufficiency and/ or insulin resistance, forerunners of diabetes.

"Celebrities who offer this type of `nutritional advice’ can encourage the worst habits their fans can think up....and a country staggering under the twin disasters of obesity and overweight should be receiving proper guidance from the medical community, not Hollywood `talent.’” 

Health Experts Call for Coke Snub

Citing Coca-Cola's agressive marketing of nutritionally deficient beverages to children, more than 40 health care professionals and children's advocates signed a letter to the pension giant TIAA-CREF, asking it to remove the Coca-Cola Co. from CREF's Social Choice Account.

"A company that undermines the health of children through the aggressive marketing of nutritionally deficient products is not a social choice," stated the letter, which was written by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and signed by such experts as Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics; Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest; Susan Linn, author of Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood; and Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation.

              

The letter points to the growing body of evidence that soft drinks are contributing to health problems for children and the details the ways in which Coke regularly violates its own policy to “not aim or direct any marketing activity from any source to children under the age of 12.”

Kudos, as usual, to the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood for organizing this important effort to boost people's awareness about the dangers of empty-calorie, nutrient-lacking Coke.

To get involved with the group, check out its "7 Things You Can Do to Fight Back Against Predatory Marketers."

BIG BOOS for "Red Eye" Star, Who Lauds Sugar as Diet Secret!

Do NOT -- I repeat -- do NOT -- listen to Red Eye star Rachel McAdams, 29, who clearly is so lacking in nutrition knowledge that it simply boggles the mind!

The actress, asked by AOL how she stays slim, had the idiocy to say that her love for sugar helps keep her thin!!

This is not "diet advice" -- this is dispensing disastrous dietary NONSENSE!!

"I drink maple syrup," she admits. "Then I'm hyper so I just run around like crazy and work it all off."

This has to be the MOST dumb, preposterous comment I've ever heard a celebrity make -- and I've interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of them in my previous life as an entertainment journalist.

Therefore, I am hereby announcing, in this blog item, that I'm bestowing the actress with my newly created "SUGAR SHOCK! Biggest Boos & Jeers" honor.

The actress -- who actually does a convincing job in her starring role opposite Cillian Murphy in the riveting, suspenseful film from talented director Wes Craven ("Nightmare on Elm Street") -- desperately needs nutrition education.

Even though I heartily recommend the film Red Eye (see the movie's website, trailer and write your review here), I adamantly reject McAdams' sugar-guzzling "advice." (I formed this opinion based upon my extensive research for the last four years into the dangers of sugars and refined carbs for my upcoming book SUGAR SHOCK!)

Worse case scenario, the actress is setting herself up for a major blood sugar reaction from all that maple syrup. (Doesn't matter that it's originally from a tree.) Not only could she faint on the set of her next movie, but she is paving the way for diseases galore.

More to the point, McAdams is inviting hypoglycemia, insulin resistance or diabetes to come get her, and then that will be a vivid horror scenario that nowhere near compares to the celluloid one from Wes Craven in which she stars!

I, for one, will volunteer:

1. To give McAdams a free copy of SUGAR SHOCK!, when it is published. It will open her eyes to the dangers of downing maple syrup as if it were water.
2. To provide free personal coaching to the actress to help her lick her soon-to-be-health-destroying sugar habit.

Nutrition-savvy folks out there, will you join me?

Will any of you 250-plus experts -- physicians, researchers and scientists who I interviewed for my book -- also give the actress copies of their books, etc. so that she can get an education and do away with her maple syrup-downing ways?

In fact, I called a particular nutritionist known for working with celebs to help McAdams come up with better food choices, but, alas, this person is on vacation. (I plan to get in touch though, with McAdams through her publicist.)

Gynweth Paltrow Snubs Nose at Cup-a-Soup

First The New York Daily News, and then Slashfood, unfairly blasted Gwyneth Paltrow for reportedly showing disgust and sneering, "Who eats this stuff?" when spotting a box of Lipton's Cup-a-Soup on the set of "Dealbreakers," a short film she just finished directing.

This is entertainment news? Talk about a ridiculous, uncalled-for non-story! Simply stupid gossip.

Wait, there's more. Lloyd Grove of the Daily News dished more unnecessary dirt and jumped to an outrageous conclusion, "...it sounds like she can't resist trying to control the food intake of perfect strangers."

The columnist writes that when a production staffer admitted that his kids love the processed, additives-filled soup, Paltrow -- who follows a macrobiotic diet -- reportedly retorted, "I would rather die than let my kid eat Cup-a-Soup."

What we don't hear is the source of this information. So we're talking silly hearsay.

But let's say the account was true. Well, maybe the Academy Award-winning actress wasn't quite empathetic enough to the junk-food-reliant folks around her, but to say the acress gets "irrationally dramatic around convenience foods," as Slashfood put it, is simply overstating it. How absurd!

OK, now let's take a look at the object of Paltrow's aversion:

One envelope of the Asian Beef Noodle flavor Cup-a-Soup has 70 calories, 1 gram of fat, 680 grams of sodium, 14 grams of carbs, 0 grams of dietary fiber, 1 gram of sugars and 2 grams of protein.

The list of ingredients gets even more scary. Among others, it contains maltodextrin, modified corn starch, enriched egg noodles, sugar, monosodium glutamate and yeast extract.

Can you blame Paltroow for her "eeww, not-for-my-child" reaction?

Help Hurricane Victims Now

My heart -- like yours, I hope -- goes out to folks living in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, whose states have been pummeled by Hurricane Katrina.

Join me and donate now to one of the following groups:

• The American Red Cross
• Feed the Children
• Salvation Army
• United Jewish Communities
• Catholic Charities USA
• United Methodist Committee on Relief or
• Samaritan's Purse

For the latest news, check out The Weather Channel Blog, USA Today's Katrina blog or the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center.

My Voice Came Back. Phew!

Earlier this week, my ability to speak took a hike, but thank goodness, my voice is back back! Phew!

It was darn annoying to squeak, croak and whisper. Ugh!

I had to sequester myself to lick this cold that kept trying to nab me for more than a week. But it's gone now, thank goodness, with the help of vitamins and herbs.

I'm completely convinced that my favorites -- vitamin C and echinacea/goldenseal, as well as Yin Chiao and Wellness formula -- made this wanna-be-cold disappear.

Of course, I really brought this sickness on myself with my hectic, sleep-deprived schedule, which, of late, took me all over the country -- from Santa Fe to Atlanta to Chicago, all within a week-and-a-half-to-two-week time frame.

Well, I'm back in New York for a bit. Now it looks like my upcoming trip to New Orleans will get bumped. Pity/pray for the poor people there, bracing for the terrifying hurricane.

Kids Watch Loads of Junk-Food Ads

Nutrient-poor, sugary foods such as candy, sweets and soft drinks account for nearly 44 percent of foods advertised during TV programs that kids aged 6 to 11 watch the most.

Thus finds a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who discovered that convenience/fast foods made up another 34.2 percent of ads during popular children's TV programs.

In other words, the new research project -- published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health -- concluded that a whopping 83 percent of foods advertised on TV shows kids watch are for junk food.

For instance, the study notes that "the typical child aged 6-11 years would be exposed to approximately 11,000 food advertisements each year."

Sure enough, kids watching cable programs (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants"); Saturday network programs (such as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"); syndicated programs (such as "Everybody Loves Raymond"); and network primetime programs (such as "American Idol") are besieged by frequent ads for King Kids Meal chicken tenders, Jell-O Pudding Bites (chocolate and vanilla), McDonald's Happy Meal french fries, Post Fruity Pebbles cereal and Wendy's Kid's Meal crispy chicken nuggets.

Of course, those of us who monitor junk food advertising and marketing aren't surprised.

Upcoming Obesity Conference

Just thought I'd let you know about this upcoming obesity conference, being presented by the Public Health Advocacy Institute. You'll get news here about the event, called "Legal Approaches to the Obesity Epidemic."

This year's topic sounds interesting -- the focus will be on obesity and children. The conference will explore different legal strategies that can be implemented to combat weight issues in kids.

Just Say No Virtually!

If you grab a cookie, you'll get a "Whoa" warning from Cathy, the cateferia worker.

On the other hand, when you choose a salad, Cathy will gush, "Congratulations! That's a food with both vitamin A and vitamin C."

But, wait, this really isn't happening in our world. That's right, you can meet Cathy right here, on the Internet. (Don't be surprised, though, if you can't get it to work -- I'm still trying.)

So, here's the un-lifelike scoop.

A suburban Dallas school district (in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district)-- incidentally, near where I used to work as a journalist -- has launched a "Virtual Cafeteria" to help kids learn what foods are good for you and what foods aren't.

(The irony, though, is that this virtual Cathy -- from WinningHabits.com -- has a bit of a double chin and looks like she could stand to lose a few pounds herself! Not exactly a great example!)

Even so, as the Associated Press tells us, kids who enter this Internet-like experience can get nutritional info tallied up for their food choices, including calories, fat grams, carbs, protein, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Of course, the Virtual Cafeteria is intended to influence behavior of some of the 35% of Texas schoolchildren, who are overweight or obese. (Some 30% of U.S. school kids are overweight.)

While this interactive experience sounds absolutely intriguing and perhaps even promising, I'd like to know the following:

• How much does this virtual software cost and how did the school district pay for it? (I hope not from cash made by sodas sold in vending machines!)

The ADA and AHA Butt Heads Over Metabolic Syndrome

Two of the biggest health organizations in the United States, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) are butting heads over whether or not metabolic syndrome exists.

This is surprising news.

You see, in recent years, the revered American Heart Association and many respected cardiologists worldwide have been repeatedly warning us that more and more folks -- some 25 percent of the U.S. population or a whopping 47 million people -- suffer from a cluster of risk factors that means we're prone to heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Specifically, patients have been alerted that if they have three or more of the following symptoms -- abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol abnormalities and a pre-diabetic condition called impaired glucose tolerance -- they have metabolic syndrome, which is also called insulin resistance syndrome or syndrome X.

Up until now, it seems, many members of the medical community across the board have taken the warnings to heart.

But now, both the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, in a paper published in the September issue of Diabetes Care and Diabetologia, are shooting holes in the American Heart Association-supported theory.

The ADA and the European diabetes group argue that metabolic syndrome is poorly defined and inconsistently used and that it needs further research.

The authors of the paper even say that doctors shouldn't be diagnosing people with this"syndrome." They argue that physicians shouldn't try to treat it until the science behind it is better understood. Rather, they suggest that M.D.s should treat each symptom as a separate condition.

I'm confused.

Look, I'm no doctor -- I'm just a freelance journalist/author and blogger -- but why the heck would the ADA and the European group now, of all times, come out against a theory that's been gaining increasing momentum for decades?

Why would they choose to blast a concept that already has the support of many cardiologists and the American Heart Association?

Did SF 49ers Herrion Die of Obesity?

Ever since San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Thomas Herrion, 23, collapsed and died following a preseason game in Denver, health experts have been wondering if obesity was partly to blame, as The Washington Post observed.

"Yes, it could be totally unrelated to his weight, but the fact remains that he was 6-3 and he weighed 310 pounds and probably should have been 210 pounds," Dr. Joyce Harp, a University of North Carolina endocrinologist, told the Associated Press.

Herrion was listed at 6-3 and 315 pounds -- 15 to 25 pounds heavier than last season, according to his agent.

AP Photo

Splenda Slips into School Bake Sales, But Is It Safe?

The top-selling artificial sweetener Spenda is now being promoted to encourage kids and their parents to bake "lower-sugar treats  with SPLENDA® Sugar Blend for Baking."

This is a development that some health experts such as Dr. Joseph Mercola (who runs the popular mercola.com website) find quite alarming.

In fact, Splenda, Dr. Mercola notes, is a a sweetener that's "anything but natural," despite a proliferation of clever propoganda.

Indeed, before you dash out to add Splenda to your favorite recipes to make them lower calorie, you need to know, as Dr. Mercola and other experts point out, that this artificial sweetener has been linked to such toxic side effects as shrunken thymus glands, enlarged liver and kidneys, reduced growth rate, aborted pregnancy and diarrhea.

Indeed, most consumers just aren't privy to this information. In fact, I look on with worry every time I hear someone rave about this artificial sweetener, which contains chlorine, a carcinogen -- that means it could be cancer-causing.

In addition to chlorine, as Generation Green points out, Splenda uses phosgene, described by the Centers for Disease Control as "a major industrial chemical used to make plastics and pesticides," which at room temperature is a "poisonous gas). The little yellow packets also contain dextrose, a simple form of sugar, and maltodextrin, a digestible carbohydrate derived from chemically modified cornstarch.

So before you start liberally sprinkling Splenda into your tea, thinking that it's safe, I urge you to investigate the subject further by reading the following sites:

Outrage Over Obesity & Overcoming It

Looks like I hit on a very sensitive subject by my rather opinionated, outraged defense of the New Hampshire doctor, whose blunt remarks to his fat patient prompted her to file a complaint against him.

I blasted this woman, because I felt that blaming her doctor for being honest was absurd and a complete cop out.

Granted, we've only heard the New Hampshire Leader's side of the story (which present's the doctor's version), but if a patient can't handle being told, "You're fat; lose weight or you'll get diabetes, etc.," then she needs to get HELP! And now!

Even so, thanks to Cici, for bringing me down to size, so to speak.  She touches upon the anguish that can confront people with weight issues.

I appreciate your honesty, Cici, for saying, "I am an obese person and have been treated with contempt by doctors who know less about obesity than I do. Obese people are despised in general. People kill themselves over it. Do you really think we are just not motivated? Maybe if people keep telling us how unattractive we are, we will stop being so lazy and weak-willed."

If I came off as unsympathetic, I do apologize profusely.

You're absolutely right, Cici -- it is NOT nice how obese people are treated. I don't know that they're despised, as you suggest, but they're definitely sneered at and looked down upon. (I've been with rude people, who made the most horrific, condemning statements if a fat person walked by, and I simply stood there, aghast.)

Cici -- and anyone else who's overweight or obese -- please know that I do understand the allure of food during trying times. I've had my own food issues over the years, including a bout long ago with eating disorders, but where I recognized and sought the treatment and help that I needed.

And this is where I get downright pissed off.

I find it annoying -- perhaps even disgusting -- for an obese person to take a "woe-is-me" attitude.

Almost anyone (barring some difficult medical issues) can lose weight.

Thus, I stand by my comments that this fat woman had no business getting her blunt doctor in trouble -- again, that's if the newspaper presented an accurate assessment of the situation.

My advice to her (and to anyone who's obese) is this (for whatever it's worth):

If you're obese, I suspect that it's because you're using food in unhealthy ways. I can relate. So can millions of Americans.

It's easy to turn to doughnuts if your co-worker annoys you. It's easy to down potato chips if your loved one lets you down. And it's easy to polish off a pint (or more) of chocolate ice cream if you're having a bad day and your cravings overcome you.

But, if you're fat or getting fat, please, I urge you: Own up to your reality. Admit you have a problem. Then decide where you want to be a few years from now.

Do you want to live? Do you want a happy, healthy, fulfilling life? If so, then you have to start taking action.

Don't Discriminate Against Diabetics

As the number of diabetics continues to climb to beyond 18 million, it's vital to combat skewed and misinformed views of diabetes and to help diabetics overcome tremendous challenges at school or at work.

To that end, I urge you to think about attending the Oct. 20-21 event, Fighting for Fairness: Ending Discrimination Against Students and Workers with Diabetes," to be held in McLean, Virginia.

It's simply outrageous that people be discriminated against because they have diabetes.

You might be quite surprised, as I was, upon reading the ADA's check list of huge problems that diabetics face at school and at work:

• Too many schools won't permit trained personnel to help a child with diabetes who becomes unconscious because of a low blood glucose level. (This is simply shocking and scandalous!)
• Students with diabetes are still sometimes told that they're not welcome at their neighborhood school. (Awful! How can that be?!)
• "Workers with diabetes face `blanket bans' from some jobs," the ADA explains, "regardless of their ability to perform the job or how well their diabetes is controlled." (Another horrific situation!)
• What's more, the ADA notes, employees are "denied job opportunities explicitly because they have diabetes, but then told they can’t object because diabetes isn’t a disability." (Really?)

Sign up here for the event, which is sponsored by the American Diabetes Association, and co-sponsored by the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Disability Rights, Education and Defense Fund, and the National Disability Rights Network.

I urge you now to take action to fight discrimination against diabetics -- who have every right to be treated like the rest of us.

Naturally, bear in mind that if you do have diabetes, work hard to properly maintain your blood glucose level, exercise regularly, and eat right (i.e. limit those processed, low-quality carbs and try to get a handle on your sugar addiction).

For that matter, I also encourage you to be sympathetic to the plight of hypoglycemics, too, who, unlike diabetics, aren't supposed to eat candy and other fast-acting carbs when they're having a low-blood sugar reaction.

Need help kicking sugar? Join my free online KickSugar group.

Just How Fat Are Americans?

Some experts say that the obesity rates are possibly even worse than reported in the new Trust for America's Health Study, which I wrote about yesterday.

According to the USA Today, the Trust's methodology has been under fire for being flawed.

I'm just not sure that it's worth it to quibble over just how fat we are as a nation.

Americans are big and they're getting even bigger -- and much of the blame can be planted on our excessive quickie-carb consumption.

That's the crux of it.

Need some help quitting carbs? See a physician, check out a support group, join my free, online KickSugar group -- just do something! If you trim back those pounds, you can help prevent all kinds of diseases -- and you can boost the quality of your life.

Americans Getting Fatter

More depressing obesity news.

Americans are getting fatter in every state except Oregon, and goverment policies and actions to date offer little hope of halting the trend, according to a new study from the Trust for America's Health.

The report, F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2005, found that Mississippi is the heaviest state, while Colorado is the least heavy.

In all, about 119 million Americans -- or 64.5 percent of adults -- are either overweight or obese.

"Bulging waistlines are growing, and they are going to cost taxpayers more dollars, and it's going to cost us in years of life and quality of life, regardless of where you live," Shelley Hearne, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, told a press conference.

Of course, it goes without saying that it's vital to get information out about how eating too many low-quality, quickie carbs can lead to adipose tissue.

Struggling with your sugar issues and mounting weight? Join my free, online KickSugar group.

Kids Can Hit Fast Food Joints Fast

While dashing to and from school, it's conveniently easy for Chicago school kids to grab french fries, doughnuts, burgers and fried chicken at fast-food joints such as McDonald's, Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, Burger King, Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits and Wendy's.

In fact, all students in most public and private schools need to do is take a five- to 10-minute walk to reach at least one fast-food restaurant, says a new study, released Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health.

Chicago isn't alone. Other large metropolitan areas also have fast-food restaurants "statistically significantly clustered in areas within a short walking distance from schools," the researchers found.

"Children and teens are surrounded by unhealthy options," lead author Bryn Austin, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital in Boston, told USA Today.

Of course, we knew this already, but now we have some research to back it up.

Indeed, as schoolchildren are getting fatter and fatter, almost every day of the week, they enter an environment that just about begs -- if not tempts them -- to grab high-sugar, high-calorie, nutrition-lacking, inexpensive food.

More Fizz Than Substance to New Soda Guidelines

I'm glad to see that the Washington Post agrees with my assessment that the revised soda guidelines for the schools are only "a modest improvement" and that "they don't change the status quo."

Rather, a Post editorial aptly concludes, the new guidelines "seem to be aimed more at fending off additional restrictions. They are, you might say, more fizz than substance."

Right on.