Some of you know who I am. But I’m willing to bet that a vast majority of the people reading this right now are thinking “who is this guy, and why am I seeing this post?”
Both are fair questions, so allow me to (re)introduce myself and explain why you might be seeing this.
I’m Matt Rosenman, and you likely ended up here through one of my social media channels. Maybe it was Instagram, where you might know me as Cheat Day Design, TikTok, Youtube, or from my blog, cheatdaydesign.com.
I have always had a passion for writing, which is why I started my blog. The intention was never to monetize my blog, but that eventually became the case via ads on the site (I know ads are extremely annoying, but I have to keep the lights on).
With the monetization of my blog came a pressure to maintain traffic, writing “search engine optimized” posts, and doing everything I could to keep Google happy.
That already started sucking the fun out of writing, but then A.I. happened. The entire landscape of the internet has shifted, and the small bit of enjoyment I had left for blogging was completely ripped away.
I know you’ve seen the endless amount of A.I. slop articles out there. My blog revolves around health and nutrition, with a large focus on fast food menus, and that specific space is absolutely flooded with just the worst content imaginable. I simply don’t have a desire to try to compete with that.
I have always loved writing, so I’m going back to my roots.
As I’ve slowed my blog, my newsletter slowed with it. I simply didn’t have weekly updates to blast out in a newsletter, so I just stopped writing altogether.
And then I discovered Substack, and it felt like the perfect opportunity for me to begin writing again.
If you’ve never used Substack before, don’t worry, neither have I. I’m learning this thing with you.
This is my new newsletter and community combined into one place.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that my content has shifted over the years. At one point, protein recipes were my focus. At another point, macro breakdowns and flexible dieting were my focus.
Now my content mainly revolves around food labels, but I’m more than just “the food label guy”.
I understand how marketing manipulates perception, especially in the health and food space. The rebrand videos you see me post on social media revolve around food labels, but it goes beyond that (hence the name… get it?)
We’ll all consumers, and it’s fascinating to explore why we are drawn to certain products.
Food labels are an obvious path. I love breaking down the absurdity of protein labels, ridiculous health claims, and nonsensical buzzwords.
But there are so many other areas worth exploring:
Preworkouts, vitamins, and other supplements with insane branding
Mediocre products that become insanely popular thanks to marketing
Where do all these silly trends come from and what’s coming next?
I’ll also try new “healthy” snacks (protein snacks, mostly) and give you my reports to save your wallet.
As I browse the grocery store aisles and come across ridiculous new products or rebrands, we can take a closer look at them.
Maybe Doritos launches Doritos Fiber+. Maybe Pepsi decides to drop Protein Pepsi. Maybe Frosted Flakes will randomly decide to start touting that they use “real sugar.”
At the end of the day, I don’t think anyone is specifically following me on any platform because they’re passionate about nutrition labels, so this is not going to be a “let’s learn about food labels” newsletter.
This is about human behavior and how easily we can be manipulated. Food just happens to be my area of expertise, but we’ll explore it all around here.
If you’re still reading this, I love you. If you’re not reading this, well, then I’m talking to a wall right now. But here are some bullet points that you might read.
What this is:
My new newsletter. Let it hit your inbox, read it or don’t, and continue with your life. Nothing has to change.
My community. I moved over to Substack because when you see a post, you can leave comments and we can chat. I’ll be able to post notes with random thoughts (basically little Twitter posts), and we can chat there, too. It’s way more personal than a newsletter that just gets buried in your inbox.
A place to learn and have fun. I’m going to be posting about food labels, marketing, and the like. No matter the medium, I always hope to simultaneously educate and entertain.
An occasional brain dump. Since I can post here without worrying about SEO or traffic, you’re going to get many of my raw, unedited thoughts.
A safe space for all. Much like my social media channels, I’m not going to tolerate nonsense. Hateful comments get deleted, and that user gets the boot. All ages and races deserve to pop in here and have a good time.
What this isn’t:
A.I. Slop. Look, AI is integrated into everything these days, and it can be an incredibly useful tool. But when I’m reading something that somebody wrote, I want them to have actually written it. Call me crazy. My posts are always going to come directly from my strange, stuck-in-the-’90s brain.
A replacement for my blog. My website still exists, and the tools over there will continue to be updated (my Starbucks and Dunkin’ calculators, specifically). Occasionally, I’ll take my posts here and repurpose them for my blog as well, but this is its own unique place.
A place exclusive to fitness-minded folks. Much of my content has historically revolved around fitness in some capacity. My background is indeed in the fitness space, but that is not my only focus, and I don’t want you to feel like you don’t fit in here because you don’t care about fitness. This content applies to everyone!
I’m really excited to have a platform where I can just be myself and enjoy writing once again. If you choose to stick around, I promise to make it worth your while.
If you see this and think “I hate this guy,” well then you are free to leave. Know that my feelings are hurt and my ego is crushed, but I’ll be OK.
To everyone else: leave me a comment and introduce yourself! I love that these posts now have a home that allows me to connect with all of you rather than simply showing up in your inbox and then disappearing forever, so let’s connect:
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