Today's hypocritical article about "real women": The Independent

Today's Independent: "The ins and outs of real women and their curves."

So The Daily Mail apparently had a bone to pick with Princess Beatrice over how she wore an unflattering bathing suit or something. So here comes The Independent, rebutting with all new the same old bullshit about "real women" and their "curves," two of my most hated body image-related phrases.

"Real women" is the dumbest term ever that shows up without fail in any article about runway models or fashion for women who have a BMI over 20, i.e., most women. Newsflash: ALL sizes of women are real women. Yes, even size zeros. Runway models aren't cyborgs. Calling "curvy" women "real women" is derogatory to women who are on the skinny side, so in complaining about The Daily Mail's treatment of Princess Beatrice, The Independent has now revealed itself to be just as insulting, behind-the-times and unabashedly biased, only instead pegging thinner women as being "boyish" and, apparently, not real women. Fail.

More great things from this article that are typical of every other idiotically hypocritical article along these lines:

Article title uses phrase "real women": check
Mentions Marilyn Monroe: Check
Implies that skinny women are "boyish": check
Lampoons Posh Spice: check
Shows terribly unflattering pic of celebrity while claiming she manages to look good at a healthy weight: check
Subsequently implies that you must be anorexic to be skinny/skinny women are anorexic: check
Mentions Dita von Teese as a curvy, healthy role model: check, check and check! We have a winner!



Now I love Dita, but all other points aside, everybody that holds her as being a healthy model is a moron. First of all, her "curves" are because she has implants. Second she weighs ~105, which at 5'6" makes her BMI 16.9, which is definitely underweight. Third, she routinely restricts heavily for days before some of her performances, eating only small amounts of protein and vegetables. So according to The Independent, good-looking royals have eating disorders, skinny women are basically little boys and the perfect curvy role model replacing those godawful "pipe-cleaners" gets plastic surgery to perfect her body and starves herself for days before her burlesque performances. Nice work, Independent. No, really, good job.

Read the article HERE

Cue petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide

I've come across a few studies casting doubt on the eight-glasses-a-day advice, so I already knew that water was at least somewhat overrated. Eight glasses a day? Why the arbitrary amount that no one is able to satisfactorily explain? This scientist says that people just drink way too much water for no particular reason, and he debunks three other popular myths toting the magical powers of excessive water intake that are very relevent to the somewhat ambiguous topic of this blog:

Myth no. 1: Drinking a lot of water supresses appetite
One time, this girl told me that drinking warm water before eating made you eat less. She was obese. Rule #1: don't take weight loss advice from people who have never lost weight.

Myth no.4: Drinking a lot of water improves your skin

Myth no. 2: Drinking water flushes toxins out of the body
I still get a little mental red flag whenever the word "toxins" comes up. I think it's a legitimate term, albeit a little abused by the hippy natural homeopathic medicine squad, yet that South Park episode with the natural medicine store always pops up in my mind. "Um, have you ever actually seen a toxin?" "Stan, don't be a smartass!"

Anyway, whatever your stance on toxins is, water doesn't flush them out of your system.

However, beauty aid or not, drinking water minimizes, even eliminates your hangover after a night out. So personally I think this stuff is great, and drink up certain nights of the week!

Read the actual article here.

Special K is full of crap

I hate diet foods that are full of shit. It's the worst kind of shady marketing out there. I picked up some Special K earlier today because it was a 2-for-1 deal, and I'm a poor college student that likes cereal. I never realized how full of crap Special K is: High Fructose Corn Syrup. Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernal oil AKA trans fat. But don't worry, there are less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving! So if you eat the whole box that's only 4.8 grams, and how much trans fat is acceptable for human consumption? Oh yeah; none.

Sure, other cereals are just as junky, maybe even more so. But they don't act like they are good for you, like they'll make you lose weight. At least when you eat a fucking twinkie you know, you are GUARANTEED it's full of bad stuff. It doesn't say on the wrapper "YOU can lose up to 20 pounds in two weeks!!!!1!1 *by eating one twinkie a day in place of all three meals and exercising for two hours every morning". Guess what guys, the only Special K that'll help you lose weight is this kind.**



You know what doesn't have hidden additives and fake sugar in it? Fruits and vegetables. Dieting and healthy eating really haven't changed in the last fifty years.. people just wish they have.

Look how far we've come: Zero-calorie sugar. Treadmills. Noodles with 20 calories a serving! And people weigh more than ever.

I'm so sick of diet food.


**I don't actually endorse the use of Ketamine, or any other drugs to lose weight

Dear Abby gets it right

I never thought much of Dear Abby, but I followed a link to one of her columns today and read this:

DEAR ABBY: I am 45 years old and in great shape. I have always taken care of myself by watching what I eat and exercising on a daily basis. I take pride in my physical and mental health, and take steps every day to achieve my goals.

People often tell me I don't need to worry about my weight, etc. Actually, I look the way I do because I DO worry about my weight!

So why do these comments bother me? And why do people make these comments? -- FULLY ALIVE AT 45

DEAR FULLY ALIVE: The remarks bother you because they negate the fact that you work hard to be the person you are. And people make them because they fail to appreciate that being mentally and physically in tip-top condition takes discipline and is an ongoing process.

Yeah.. that's basically it. I can't count how many times I've grabbed a salad or asked for a Frappuchino light and gotten the arbitrary "you don't need to be eating that, you're already skinny!" I can't help but get the feeling people think that you are either naturally fat and out of shape or else you're naturally thin and healthy with great abs, and that all thin people just happen to be lucky and will stay that way forever without having to exert any effort whatsoever. Seriously, what? Does anyone for a MINUTE even consider that maybe I'm in good shape because I actually eat healthy things once in awhile? Nobody is born with ripped abs, but just because it's not easy doesn't mean it's impossible. This whole diet business is fucked up.

People are hypocrites about appearance, take two: The Vanishing Point

This article from the New York Times about male models caught my eye today. I guess they finally realized the whole "female models are too thin!!!11" schtick got old two years ago and decided to focus on male models for a change. And like every other article ever that contains the words "thin, models, fashion" somewhere, it's riddled with hypocrisy. Of course.

Then a funny thing happened. The models were also downsized. Where the masculine ideal of as recently as 2000 was a buff 6-footer with six-pack abs, the man of the moment is an urchin, a wraith or an underfed runt.

An underfed runt? Really? So this body



that is about as easy to obtain for men as model-thin is for women is going out of style.. and that's a shame? I know way more "underfed runts" then I do guys with six-packs, and they aren't trying to be thin. Once again, it's completely fine for journalists to take jabs at thin folk and assume they don't eat properly.

“I personally think that it’s the consumer that’s doing this, and fashion is just responding,” said Kelly Cutrone, the founder of People’s Revolution, a fashion branding and production company. “No one wants a beautiful women or a beautiful man anymore.”

Whathuh?? Last week the accusation was that models were too pretty and setting an unrealistic example for women to follow leading to anorexia, depression, etc. These people change their minds too much. Also, if you look at the article, a whole three paragraphs before this quote there was a bit about how Americans have gotten "taller and heavier." So these comparatively stocky consumers are pressuring the fashion industry to make slimmer clothes.. wow, it all makes sense now.

In terms of image, the current preference is for beauty that is not fully evolved. “People are afraid to look over 21 or make any statement of what it means to be adult,” Ms. Cutrone said.

Really I have no idea what they are even trying to say here. Not fully evolved? What? Can people not be pretty until they turn 21? The fashion industry should be making statements about adulthood? I'm sure there's more good stuff in this article, but I kind of feel like throwing up in my mouth right now. (hey, maybe I'll lose some weight..)

Microsoft Vs. Apple: forget business! Whose CEO eats the healthiest?

It’s no secret that the wealthy tend to eat healthier, higher quality food than the rest of us. In an absurd twist on pretty much all of history, it’s the poorest people in America that are the fattest. So what do the famous megarich nerds eat?

Hehee I love that this picture exists

Bill Gates
I couldn't find as much information on Bill Gates as I hoped. I was hoping he would be a vegetarian or something interesting (well, I found out he was for awhile). Apparently he likes Diet Orange Crush a lot as well as other diet sodas. He’s been seen drinking Diet Coke a lot. That will be a good comeback next time someone bothers me for drinking diet soda. Bill Gates does it!

There's also a 60 Minutes interview where he was interviewed at a fast food place, McDonalds I think. In a 1994 Playboy interview, he talks about eating at McDonalds and Jack-In-the-Box and being a vegetarian for three years:

I eat at McDonald's more than most people, but that's because I don't cook.

You're back to eating meat?


Yes. That was only a three-year period when I was proving to myself I could do it. But in terms of fast food and deep understanding of the culture of fast food, I'm your man.

Jack-in-the-Box? McDonald's?


Well, McDonald's is more pervasive around here. We also have Jack-in-the-Box. I'm not the kind of guy who decides that just because a few people got sick, it's necessarily going to happen to me. It wasn't very crowded for a while, but I thought that was fine.

I wonder why he stopped being vegetarian - and why it took three years to prove to himself that he could go without meat?




Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs is a lot more interesting. I got the idea for this article when I found out that Steve Jobs was a fruititarian back when Apple got started; and no, it's not a coincidence that Apple is called Apple. Apples were his favorite fruit. It’s odd that he was a fruititarian back then.. I don’t think vegetarianism was even that popular back then, much less veganism, raw foodism, etc. I wonder why he ate mostly fruit?

According to wikipedia, right now he is a pescetarian, meaning the only meat he eats is fish.

It's funny though - we could all be carrying around Mango iPods, or Kiwi iPhones right now..!

Dog food and people food are becoming disturbingly similar

Gallery of the Absurd makes an excellent point comparing the growing convergence of meaty people food and dog food. Really disturbing is second comment down:

It's quite intentional. I performed some design work for a major pet food company and reviewed marketing materials which went into great depth of the 'real food trend'. They want to make our mouths water for what we are feeding our pets. They're ditching the cartoons and using thanksgiving dinner imagery instead.

Actually if you read further down it gets worse

I ate an entire baggie of "dog cookies" once and besides being cheaper than people ones I couldn't tell the difference.

Sorry but there is something really, really wrong with the food market when people food and dog food both look alike and both resemble NOTHING FOUND IN NATURE.

If it was like a steak then yeah I could understand. But compressed pieces of horsemeat fused with sawdust and fat? not so much.

Please for the love of god.. no, for your health and longevity, please stop eating things that your great-grandma wouldn't recognize as food!

Jason color shampoos: tint your hair color by washing it!

Even with the 3628298794 brands of shampoos in existence, these Jason shampoos manage to be quite unique. They are organic shampoos made with natural ingredients that will enrich your hair color, and even possibly tint and color your hair gradually just by washing it! The line has a blend for every hair color, and I have tried most of them. If you're curious about enhancing your hair color without using harsh chemicals, read on.


The Pink Bottle
I didn't see this one on the site, so maybe it is discontinued. When I was in 6th grade I grabbed a bottle of this at a health food store because it because it smelled good, and lo and behold, after a few weeks my natural light brown hair had a pink tint to it. I didn’t get very far with that though because I was in 6th grade and my mom didn’t like the idea of an eleven year old having pink hair, so she threw it out. The pink washed out after a few weeks using regular shampoos.
The Blonde Bottle
Sometime in 8th I was determined to lighten my hair as much as possible, so I picked up the mix for blondes. I was also using sun-in at the time, but I had used sun-in before on its own so I knew what that result was. But combining the two made my hair lighter than it had ever been. It wasn’t anything near blonde, but it was light enough that I had distinct roots, and I have never bleached my hair.
The Black Bottle
This summer I tried out the black hair blend. I had my hair colored in June and even though I’ve been dying it black for years it was fading really fast, so I thought this shampoo would restore it somewhat. Well, for once I was disappointed, because there was absolutely no change except maybe shinier hair. I think it’s because I don’t really have black hair, it’s chemical dye, and maybe shampoo just doesn’t effect that, though it says on the bottle “Helps extend the life of color treatments.” I think its just this blend. If you’re a natural raven hair, though, it has ingredients to liven up your natural hair color. This one also didn’t have a lovely scent like the other ones, it wasn’t bad, but the others smell REALLY good. They all have a really yummy scent.
The Red Bottle
Recently I decided that I’m going to aim for a nice auburn color. I don’t want to use bleach, so I’m basically trying to gradually shift my hair from black to red using natural products, both lighteners and reddeners. I dyed my hair again over a month ago using Body Art Quality henna (i.e. its just ground up plants. No additives) I don’t expect a full change to all red, but at least my hair has a definite red tint to it and many red highlights. But it’s gradually lightening and this shampoo is REALLY helping! As the black dye fades out, the red tints over it. This actually might work. I suspect that this is the most dying of them all, since red anything seems to dye everything.

I also noticed that it makes my hair really shiny! When I used a different shampoo, it lost that shine, so I have rave reviews for this blend.

A word of caution though: If you’re traveling on a plane, put this shampoo in a Ziploc baggie before you put it in your suitcase. I put it in a baggie with a couple of other things and it leaked all over the inside of the bag. If I hadn’t stored it, it would have stained a bunch of my stuff! Be careful when you’re using it.

In summary

Don't expect to buy these and change from brown to blonde hair; it's just not possible. They only work so well, and they are supposed to be for enhancing hair that is already that color.

I guess the only ones I haven’t tried are the grey hair formula they used to have and the brown hair one, because I don’t have grey hair and I hate having brown hair. Also I don’t have hair color ADD, really, I just have never wanted brown hair and my mom would never let me really change the shade. So I did what every good high schooler does and dyed it black anyway :D Anyway you can find these lovely shampoos at health food store type places, or online. Did I mention they smell really, really good?

A skeptical look at Skinny Bitch

A skeptical look at Skinny Bitch

If you already know about the book and just want to know exactly how their advice helped me personally you can skip to the end of the article ^^

This has been out for awhile now, but I enjoyed reading this book and I’d like to take a stab at writing up a review for it. From what I’d heard online, I already expected it to be full of vegan propaganda, which seems to be surprising to some online reviewers. First of all, here’s something that everyone has to understand: Pretty much every vegan ever has, before becoming a vegan, said those words: “I could never get up meat, dairy and eggs!” Same thing with vegetarians and meat. Nobody understands this! If you’re open-minded enough to accept that you might possibly, in the future, change your diet in any significant way (like cutting out many processed foods), then you should get this book. If you don’t want to be vegan at all, DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU FROM LOOKING AT THIS BOOK! However if you are just like hellbent on eating enormous quantities of animal stuff, or if you’re from Texas, then you should just go look at Atkins.

I have eaten animal products my whole life, and I still do. So when I picked this book I expected unwanted vegan propaganda. I got it because I already wanted to cut as many processed foods out of my diet as possible and buy organic, so I thought at most this book would be a fun read with decent information about food additives and how horrible they are, with a little FDA dirt on the side. They kicked my ass and exceeded my expectations at the same time. It is all that and so much more!

Even if you don’t care at all about animal cruelty, you will still think twice about drinking milk and eating meat all the time when you read this. They make several VERY good points. Are you one of those people that only eats lean meat like chicken, as if that’s such a great thing? Well, your chickens are probably pumped full of hormones, stressed out and sick. Would you willingly ingest Bovine Growth Hormone? Then why the hell drink milk? They have arguments against meat/dairy/additives even if you’re an organic meat eater. They talk about protein which, contrary to popular belief, is not that hard to get if you don't eat meat. And they assure you that there’s plenty of tasty vegan “junk food” out there and you can eat all the (unrefined) carbs your fat ass wants!

And don’t worry – like I said before, if you still want to have your steak and eat it too, there are still things you can take away from this book. Eating organic, for starters. There’s also good information on artificial sweeteners. They actually tell you it’s okay to use sweeteners that have calories! Holy shit!!

My least favorite thing about this book is– they cite a bunch of sources which is awesome, but unfortunately some of them are Peta. Reading studies from Peta about dairy is about as useful as reading the dairy industries studies about dairy. I only really believe sources like Harvard that don’t have some kind of agenda. Also, I fucking hate Peta.

They advise against using honey as a sweetener, but don’t give good reasons why. I know vegan means no animal products, but who loses sleep over the exploitation of bees, seriously. They do suggest agave nectar, Stevia and a lot of other great sugar alternatives, along with compelling reasons why you shouldn’t eat Splenda, aspartame or any of that crap.

If your honey isn't top quality, you're not abusing your bees enough

I don't wholeheartedly agree with every thing they say. I think that eggs and meat are probably OK to eat – in small quantities – and if they’re raised organically. I eat pretty much a vegan diet, but I’m really lenient because, I want to be honest with you, I really don’t give a shit about the animals. If I was just walking around out in the jungle it's not like a tiger would think twice about mauling me to death. If my friend makes some chicken dish that she’s really proud of and wants me to try it, I’ll shut up and eat the fucking chicken.

Nevertheless, I can definitely recommend this book to you. Read it with an open mind, and, as they repeat throughout the book (more good advice), trust no one. Take at least some of their advice because it is really good even if you don’t agree with everything they say. You just can’t go wrong eating healthy, organic foods. I haven’t read many diet books, but I suspect it is one of the better ones that’s out there right now; there’s no pseudoscience here. The imagery and smart-mouthed comments are enough to kick anyone’s fat ass into a healthier way of life.

My Personal Testimony

I already had the goal of cutting out processed food and artificial sweeteners and eating mostly organic. After I read this book I definitely felt compelled to do these things. The thing is, you don’t even have to adhere to it strictly! Its not like Atkins or whatever where you’re screwed if you do something wrong. The point is that I don’t even do the whole Skinny Bitch plan and I still lost a bunch of weight pretty much effortlessly. I went from alternating between 130 and 135 all the time to 122 and dropping. To compare – I have never weighed less than 125 at a height above, like, 5’7” (I’m 5’8”) before in my life, even when I’ve restricted heavily. Even when I ate fewer than 1000 calories a day for weeks at a time. I feel great all the time – that’s the thing you should expect from a diet! Weight loss is just a treat. And yeah, I eat tons of yummy food and never feel deprived. Hell I probably eat more then before. I eat all the time. Vegan food is not THAT hard to find. So there’s my story about using the Skinny Bitch rules.

Eating Liquids for 4 days

On liquid diets: In case anyone is curious, after I got my wisdom teeth taken out I ate liquids for 4 days and a little of the 5th day and slept for the better part of 3 days. One thing I did not expect was to gain weight off of this liquid diet! I didn't count calories, but I didn't eat a whole lot either, or so I thought anyway. I pretty much just drank almond milk all the time and ate Soy Ice Cream and Rice Dream Ice Cream (YUM) so I guess even though it's vegan, a vegan junk food diet is not going to help you lose a whole lot of weight (obviously). I gained a little weight but now I'm back to what I was before break and I'm eating lots of fruits and vegetables.



Its probably because liquid-y foods don't fill you up a lot so its easy to eat a deceptive amount of them..

When I was younger I deemed ice cream a "magic food" that would never cause me to gain weight or be unhealthy :) I remember having this idea in like 4th grade that if you ate liquidy things like ice cream, pudding and jello all the time you would never gain weight from them... that definately had nothing to do with me eating ice cream all last week, green tea soy dream is just really good :D

ETA: I just realized the irony of the title "eating liquids." oh well..