Big Fat Lies part 3: Magazine Corruption‏

Fat Loss Lie #3: "You can believe everything you read in the magazines"

In general, you tend to trust what you see printed in the magazines .

Why? Because the major news media and most magazines have major credibility. Most people automatically assume - consciously or unconsciously - that if it's in print or on the news, then it can't be a lie.

However, the fitness and bodybuilding media have some dirty little secrets...

Just as much of the news we hear is "planted" (by PR agencies) or "slanted" (by publisher ideologies), much of the fitness and nutrition information we read in our favorite magazines is also heavily biased.

Publishers realize that the vast majority of readers are impressionable, eager for knowledge and will believe almost anything if it's printed in a nationally-circulated magazine.

As a result they created...

"The magazine / supplement company business model."

Today, most fitness magazine publishers not only depend on supplement company advertising revenue to stay in business, the magazines actually OWN the supplement companies and use their publications as the primary channel for selling their products.

It didn't take long before the entire bodybuilding and fitness magazine industry realized that more money could be made selling supplements than selling advertising or subscriptions.

It's not that all the magazines are intentionally out to scam you, or that you can't find good information in some of them. There's quality information out there if you know who and what to look for. Heck, even I write for some of the major national and international fitness magazines.

The problem is that most people don't know which writers or magazines they can trust and they can't sort out where the editorial ends and the advertising begins. Sometimes, that is by design..

Editorials are more believable than ads (which is why they try to make supplement ads look like articles these days - they're called "advertorials").

Even the articles themsevles are promotional.

Did you ever notice how many magazine articles are about the latest, greatest "breakthroughs" in supplements? These aren't really articles at all; they're advertisements in disguise... with an 800 number for easy ordering at the end...(how convenient.)

Even if a magazine has no vested interest in a particular supplement line, keep this in mind: A full page ad in a high circulation national body-building magazine can cost tens of thousands of dollars, so the publishers don't want to write editorials that will upset, offend or contradict the big dollar advertisers.

It's in the magazine's best interest to promote supplements like crazy and stay in bed with the supplement companies, regardless of how efficacious the products are, because the more supplements are sold, the more the supplement companies will advertise. The more they advertise, the more the supplements sell, and on and on the cycle goes.

It may seem blatantly obvious to you that magazines are "pushing" supplements, or you may have simply suspected it.

However, you would be stunned at how many people - especially beginners - believe every word they read in the "muscle mags" and buy hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of useless "muscle-building" or "fat burning" pills, powders and drinks as a result.

Many people ask me why I became an independent online publisher and a freelance writer rather than starting my own printed magazine or taking a staff job as a fitness journalist.

The answer is, by publishing websites, newsletters and e-books online, I'm not handcuffed by the format, censorship or agendas of the mainstream publishing industry.

If you don't know how to sort out the good from the bad information in the magazines - and today, this goes for the online magazines and blogs as well - there's only way to be certain the info you get is unbiased:

The solution is to get your information from someone who does not advertise or sell supplements AT ALL!

There aren't many of us around, because there are fortunes to be made in diet pill and supplement sales. It goes beyond magazines too. Did you ever buy a fitness or weight loss book only to find a whole slew of "required" pills and potions pitched inside?

The good news for you is that because I refuse to sell, promote or endorse any supplements, I'm not at the mercy of the "magazine / supplement company" business model.

I can call it like I see it and just report the scientific facts to you. The trust I've built with my readers keeps my rankings up without having to depend on supplement company advertising dollars:

(I've been online since 2002. More than a quarter million people subscribe to my Burn the Fat newsletter [source: aweber communications], and THIS website is traffic ranked #17,819 out of 8,000,000 unique websites [source: alexa web services]).

I can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars on ineffective supplements that would have been money right down the toilet had you not known otherwise. In the upcoming lessons, and future issues of the Burn The fat newsletter, that's exactly what I'll do.

In the next installment of BIG FAT LIES you'll learn more about this subject when I reveal the truth about meal relacement supplements, protein shakes, diet drinks, and liquid diets. Do they really help you burn fat and keep it off?

Watch for part 4 to find out!