Find the fruit...

I was curious when I noticed that a local chain of high profile gyms started carrying a line of supplements and meal-replacement products called "dotfit". I was concerned when I heard they were pushing these products on their Personal Training clients and pressuring their trainers to sell them with sales quotas. I was worried when I heard from staff at one of the fitness facilities that they don't believe in the product and think it's full of garbage. 


So I looked it up. www.dotfit.com and did some research on their products. What I found was pretty disgusting. 


http://www.dotfit.com/Iced_Oatmeal_Strawberry-pid-1425.html

This is a link their Oatmeal Strawberry Breakfast Bar. They claim it's "made with real fruit and whole grains. Have a look at it. About halfway down the ingredients "strawberry flakes (sugar, vegetable [palm, plam kernel], wheat flour, corn syrup solids, malic acid, strawberry natural and artificial flavors, soy lecithin, tricalcium phosphate, sodium citrate, strawberry juice, red 40 lake, acetic acid, blue 1 lake)" does this sound like "real fruit"? keep scrolling down and you'll find "blueberry powder". Now I don't know about you, but I like my fruit to come without a list of artificial ingredients. Finding "real fruit" in this product is like looking for waldo. As for the "Whole grains"... I don't know if you can count rolled oats as a whole grain. 


Let's look at another one.... http://www.dotfit.com/dotTREAT-Triple-Chocolate-pid-1475.html


This is the "Triple Chocolate Treat". It claims to be a good source of calcium (at only 10% RDI) and Fiber (at only 1%). Read the ingredients, They say it's nutrient rich but I think I've seen chocolate bars with more nutritional value. 


Something else you'll notice... lot's of important looking charts and graphs. If you look at the bottom of these charts, you'll see that they were general studies and not based on their products. 


For example "Figure 1: Training results from 23 experienced recreational bodybuilders resistance training for 10 weeks with all things (diet, supplements, training, etc.) equal except the addition of pre/post feedings. Significantly greater gains in body mass, LBM & strength were realized for the pre/post feeding subjects with a concurrent reduction in fat mass." this was found on the pre and post workout formula. All it tells us is that proper nutrition is important before and after a workout. It says nothing about their product. There are examples of this on each product page. 


I wouldn't use these products. I wouldn't recommend them to my clients. Yet this particular chain of gyms is pushing this stuff on their clients as if it's good for them! I doubt the trainers selling the products use them themselves. This is just another demonstration of greedy gyms looking to make a big profit without caring about the well-being of their members.