By Samantha Magnus
Briarpatch Magazine
January/February 2009
Bodybuilders swear by it. But is whey all it’s pumped up to be?
Raindrops slam against the windows of the little shop on Bay Street in Victoria. The glass is littered with white-lettered slogans boasting the lowest supplement prices in town.
Inside I wipe my feet on the face of the store’s muscle-bound mascot, Popeye, who winks up at me from the doormat. The walls are lined with rows of rainbow tubs, all sealed and packed with supplement powders. Browsing through the creatine, amino acid complexes, carbohydrates, and whey protein products means squeezing between towers of the stuff, which come in two, five, and ten-pound denominations.
Chris Kinnear could be Popeye himself, minus the pipe. He owns the Victoria franchise of Popeye’s Supplements. He sports an earring, jeans, and a store-uniform vest exposing his thick, prickly-haired arms.
Kinnear points to photos of trophy-laden athletes and decked out babes on the wall behind the counter and jerseys hanging from the ceiling, tokens from his most celebrated clients. “It’s scientifically impossible to be at your optimum health without supplementation,” Kinnear says. “Optimal health is not that easy; that’s why few people have it.”
Tags: agriculture, dairy industry, dietary fads, food politics, health & wellness
