Don't Tell Me I'm Skinny

We all know we shouldn't call someone fat, and yet there's this strange phenomenon where people think it's ok to call someone skinny or say that a person doesn't eat. Out loud. In front of a person's face. Where does this privilege come from? Why is there a need to mention it, particularly in presence of said person him/herself? And, most importantly, why is this even bothersome at all?

We live in a society and culture where image is everything. Those who preach 'never judge a book by its cover' are hypocrites. It's human nature, I get it. To be human, though, is also having the ability to be civil and think before we speak as well.

There's this saying:



A person may be thin because s/he has cancer; diabetes; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); HIV; or a gastrointestinal, renal, cardiac, or neurologic disease. A person may be thin because s/he is depressed or has an eating disorder. Or, perhaps, a person may be thin because s/he just has a small frame, is more active, or just simply eats less. Less DOESN'T equal nothing, it means not as much or more, just less.

There is a shitload of reasons people may be thinner than you'd like them to be but whatever the case, you may know nothing about it, nor should you feel the sense of entitlement to act like you're in 6th grade and be rude about it to their face.

If a person is thinner than you would like them to be, ask yourself why it's bothering you. If you aren't happy with the way you look, don't criticize others. Instead, do something about it.



Because, you know...



And...



Yes, it's that easy. Maybe not as easy as making someone else feel bad but it's doable.

If you're on the other end of the stick figure (pun intended)...



And...





And finally... don't tell me I'm skinny because, hunny, you don't know what skinny is. #piecesofm

Thoughts? Leave them in the Comments below

The Material Girl Gives Us Material Matter to Chatter About

Shocking news!! Celebrities are human, just like us! And they age, too, just like us!

That's Madonna, looking all teary-eyed upset but as lovely as can be for a Dolce & Gabanna ad.



O, the legendary Madonna. We've been watching her for decades now. Yup, that's right, decades. Who would have thought decades later, she'd be decades older?

Everybody was her first hit single in the early '80s. She was only 24, then. Or, alternatively, to reflect our modern-day perceptions, perhaps that statement should read: She was already 24, by then.

Point? We live in a twisted youth-obsessed society, where old is anything beyond 30. Forty is ancient. And 50? Psha, you might as well be dead, given the wrinkles, veins, and sagging will have eaten you alive.


Somehow, we're conned into believing that we're ugly when we can't defy gravity, time, and the human aging process. Famous people like Demi Moore, who has not aged since her mid-thirties, does this beautifully [pun intended]. She helps us believe that celebrities are superhuman or, that with enough funds, getting cut up or filled can make you beautiful just like the rest of Hollywood.


But don't worry. This is not a post on how more and more young girls [teens!] are learning and actually getting cosmetic procedures done each year. Nor is it about supplanting unrealistic, foolish, or superficial ideals into men, women, and children alike.

This is about the striking 52 year-old Madonna, endorsing high-end fashion, and.. [scroll down below but do so at your own risk.. of reality]




















Photoshop!

There's been a lot of hubbub around the differences between the two pics. Unfortunately, though, the chatter's been about her glaring veins and rough skin texture. Eww! Rather than the lying and untruthfulness that we are exposed to every single day over and over.. and over again. How could they?? No one even bothered to give the Material Girl props for having such hearty guns. The nerve..

But, everyone's entitled to creative freedom— the top really does make me want their product more than the bottom.. Just don't forget to let the kids [and other ignoramuses] in on the secret.

Happy Healthy Juicy Something to Blab About!

Urban Outfitters Should Be 'Rated R' for Violence Against Health - Girls' & Women's Especially

The 'Cigarette' Jeans. That's why.

In fact, there's a whole line dedicated to 'Cigarette' Jeans. So how do they compare to other styles/fits, say, for example, 'Skinny' Jeans [which, yes, they do in fact carry as a separate line]?

The descriptions for each are as follows:
Skinny - Regular Rise, Slim Fit, Skinny
Cigarette - Regular Rise, Super Slim Fit, Super Narrow Leg

Skinny, apparently, wasn't skinny enough.

According to their website, Urban Outfitters' brand profile reads:

'Urban Outfitters operates more than 130 stores in the United States, Canada and Europe, all offering an eclectic mix of merchandise. We stock our stores with what we love, calling on our — and our customer's — interest in contemporary art, music and fashion. From men's & women's apparel and accessories to items for the apartment, we offer a lifestyle-specific shopping experience for the educated, urban-minded individual in the 18 to 30 year-old range — both online and in our stores as well as through our catalog.'

Legal jargon, that last part [in bold] appears to be, because adults [age 18 and over] are certainly not their only consumers [of their clothes or messages]. T(w)eens make up a huge portion of their consumer base, if not the majority. Likewise, 'educated' is a far cry from true.

How educated, for example, would you assess this 'Smoking Smarties' middle schooler?

Lloyd Johnston, a researcher at the University of Michigan for Monitoring the Future, an NIH-funded study, reported the end of last year:

'While great strides have been made in reducing youth smoking in this country, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Among high school seniors in the Class of 2009, 20 percent have smoked in the most recent month and one in nine (11 percent) is a current daily smoker. Further, our follow-up studies have shown that a number of the lighter smokers in high school will convert to heavy smoking after leaving high school.

Given what we know about the consequences of smoking, this is still an unacceptable level of involvement.'

Urban Outfitters' Company Profile reads:

'Our established ability to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level is the reason for our success.. The emphasis is on creativity. Our goal is to offer a product assortment and an environment so compelling and distinctive that the customer feels an empathetic connection to the brand and is persuaded to buy.'

..And they forgot, perhaps, use.

This is not the first time, however, the retailer sparked controversy. On Wikipedia, there's an entire list, referencing at least eight separate incidences. The last reads:

'In May 2010, Urban Outfitters released a shirt that read "Eat less." The shirt was widely criticized for promoting anorexia, especially since the model that adorned the shirt on the website was considered to be extremely thin. The company soon pulled the shirt from the website altogether.'

Extremely thin.. yet over 18?..




So the shirt was 'pulled from the website altogether'. Hurrah! Right?


But check this out:
Type in the Search Box of the Urban Outfitters' retail site: 'EAT LESS'.

You'll find it does NOT return 'NO ITEMS FOUND', as typically would be the case for gibberish, but instead directs you to the 'Tops -> Basics' category, displaying nearly 48 images of ultra-skinny women [perhaps girls, too].

Shutter.

Education, including health, occurs everywhere - *Everywhere* - Not just the classroom.

Is this the kind of education you want to buy, wear, endorse, breathe, consume, become? Food for thought.

Happy Healthy Juicy Fashion Shouldn't Hurt or Harm!

Kourtney Kardashian TaKes her Kid on a Karb Krap Spree!

Kourtney Kardashian is just so excited to be a mom. She recently shared the above pic of her kid and this on her blog:

'Every first is so exciting and so much fun to take pictures of and experience!

This is Mason’s first trip to the grocery store. Yes, I know it has been 8 and a half months and I have not been to the market. It has always seemed like such a hard place to take a baby – the germs, the people, and before he was big enough to sit, pushing the stroller and cart at once… all just a big task.

We had so much fun and Mason loved it!! Things that would never seem like they would be meaningful or exciting have a whole new meaning when I experience them all over again for the first time with Mason.'

The germs, huh? What about the...

Whole Corn, Vegetable Oil (Contains One or More of the Following: Corn, Soybean, and/or Sunflower Oil), Salt, Cheddar Cheese (Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Maltodextrin, Wheat Flour, Whey, Monosodium Glutamate, Buttermilk Solids, Romano Cheese from Cow's Milk (Part-Skim Cow's Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Whey Protein Concentrate, Onion Powder, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Corn Flour, Disodium Phosphate, Lactose, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Dextrose, Tomato Powder, Spices, Lactic Acid, Artificial Color (Including Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40), Citric Acid, Sugar, Garlic Powder, Red and Green Bell Pepper Powder, Sodium Caseinate, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate, Nonfat Milk Solids, Whey Protein Isolate, and Corn Syrup Solids.

..in just the Doritos alone??

Phew. [pause]. Catching my breath..

And wondering who's the one who really had 'so much fun' and 'loved' the shopping experience? I mean, at least white bread would have been more cushiony..

It's not really surprising to see this celebrity mom binging on crap, though. Earlier this summer, the reality star blacked out, saying:

'I was just running down the beach like I always have been lately. And then I just woke up. I didn't eat anything this morning.. I'm so embarrassed that I punished my body for a photo shoot.'

She admits: 'I've been obsessing about this weight thing a little too much.'

Just a little..

In the ongoing celebrity race to lose the baby weight ASAP, Kourtney reportedly lost about 33lbs in just three months after delivery. She then flaunted her superficial 'victory' on the cover of Life&Style trash, with flowing hair, a big pearly smile, and all.



The Kardashian sisters are said to have become [gulp] role models for many girls/women. Let's just hope this 'weight thing'/'experience' is not one they will follow.


Happy Healthy Juicy Nourish You & Your Baby Better Than Krap!

Bar Bites to Keep Noshing.

Bar Refaeli, model and Leonardo DiCaprio's on-&-off-again girlfriend, tweeted yesterday:

'I get so sad when I see 15-year-old pale extremely skinny models at the agency looking all shaky and hungry… when will it end!?!?'



Looks like this Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model can add 'Role Model' to her resume..

Now, if only more models would keep feeding the public these HealthyButJuicy perspectives, maybe girls [& women.. & men!] will actually swallow these Bar-licious bites.

Happy Healthy Juicy Take the Skinny Out of Models! ..& others in the public eye who possess the power to influence! Rarr.

Beauty Isn't a Pretty Picture..

Heidi Montag doesn't annoy me per se. She does, though, make me a little sad.. for her, or her character.. so her?

Heidi nee-Montag-now-Pratt is a starlet on the MTV reality series, The Hills, which is now in its supposed final sixth season and in which Heidi is juicier than ever, literally. Healthy, though, she is a far cry from. Between this season and the last, Heidi played transformers with her self and returns with a new body.

Last November, Heidi underwent 10 (yes, TEN) cosmetic procedures, all in one (anesthetic) shot, which included:

1. Mini brow lift.
2. Botox in forehead and frown area.
3. Nose job revision. ('revision'='take two')
4. Fat (re)injections in cheeks, nasolabial folds and lips. (from #9)
5. Chin reduction. (for the 'Jay Leno chin')
6. Neck liposuction.
7. Ears pinned back. (for the 'Dumbo ears')
8. Breast augmentation revision. (3Ds, literally)
9. Lipsuction on waist, hips, inner and outer thighs.
10. Buttock augmentation. (Butt lift? Butt lift.)

It’s sad (both depressing and pathetic) to watch her become a plastic toy— her doctor, hu$band, media and rest of the world has and continues to play with and use as nothing but fodder. In the end, after all, she is a real person and not just a character of 'reality' tv.

But aside from her fictitiously voluptuous and svelte body, transformer that she is, I really do think she is more than meets the eye. More confident? Anything butt, I mean but. Fame hungry, perhaps..

True, she documented the whole experience and got front cover of People Magazine. Yes, she’s booked interviews (GMA, Ryan Seacrest) and earned herself about 1/3 (=$10,000) of her op(ted) expenses back from her first bikini debut post-op. And yes, she probably is seeking a reality show of her own with video footage of the experience and, I wouldn’t be surprised, a book deal for the diary she kept.

But, despite her (media) claims of wanting more, she also publicly admits..

• Why she did it: ‘I was flat and insecure..the biggest reason is to feel better, to feel perfect.. I had [had? or have?] insecurities.. I was an ugly duckling before.. For the past three years, I’ve thought about what to have done. I’m absolutely beyond obsessed.. I’ve become obsessed, photo by photo, with how I look. When I was shopping for my boobs, I wanted the best, so I sat down and flipped through a bunch of Playboys.’


• How she felt after: 'The pain was everywhere—my head felt like it had a jackhammer on it. I couldn't talk because of my jaw and chin... I was like, "I wanna die right now. I'm in so much pain. I don't know what to do".. I almost felt like I was gone.. I looked like I had been hit by a bus. I was a purple, swollen mush—I didn’t look human! It was so scary. I could hardly move.. It was more traumatizing just seeing it than even feeling it really.’


• And that..: She said she needed help going to the bathroom and was scared of water the when it was time to bathe—scared of water. Water.


• How some things have changed: She can’t jog anymore and said, ‘I'm very weird about hugging people now.’


• How she now feels: ‘Fragile’. [Claims popping up of prescription pill addiction, which wouldn’t be surprising, though wouldn’t help the situation.]


• And if she's satisfied and done: 'I’m already planning my next surgery—I’m determind to get bigger ones! [referring to DDD breasts, which means she’d need to go international as they are at their FDA max—800cc].. 'Nobody ages perfectly, so I plan to keep using surgery to make me as perfect as I can be.’

The girl shows tell-tale signs of abnormal psychology, including perfectionism, self-conscious, and obsession, to name a few, [plus ridiculousness, aka. irrational thoughts and behavior]. She explains: ‘Think about the industry I’m trying to go into. My ultimate dream is to be a pop star.. it was [Britney Spears’] sex appeal that sold. Obviously, looks matter; it’s a superficial industry.’ By ‘pop star’, I’m guessing she was hoping to shine with her chest? I think it worked too because I’m blinded already.

Even so, I am unsure whether she totally fits the DSM-IV criteria for BDD—Body Dysmorphic Disorder—which is what readily springs to mind.

Whatever the case, though, I will never be able to understand why women continue to mutilate themselves in pursuit of beauty and in these so-called modern times no less. Granted, this comes from one who still grapples with the face-painting industry and women’s *willing* daily rituals, but still..

I’m not a historian by any means but we [the female race] have worked so hard and have gotten this far, why are we choosing to regress and remain weak and fragile? How have we succumbed to the foot-binding mentality?

Whilst I’m an advocate of ‘to each his/her own’, one of my greatest concerns is how this will (and already does) affect future generations. It’s been reported that Christie Brinkley and daughter Alexa Ray Joel— who overdosed just last December in her battle with depression, mind you— have recently had what seems like a mother-daughter bonding moment.. in a hospital with knives. Christie lifted her face, Alexa got her nose done (and used the lame excuse of correcting a deviated septum).

Even scarier, which I didn’t know until doing research for this piece, is that the cosmetic industry has teamed up with travel. 'Medical tourism', they call it. The trend these days is all-inclusive vacation package deals, with a buffet of procedures to choose from. As if life-altering (and possibly threatening) changes weren’t enough, why not do it on foreign territory to save a few extra bucks!

Even more scary, or sick?. Industry, of course, capitalizing on the insanity and the numbers that $how it. A look of how insane it is here in the US, bloody capital of the world..

12.5 million: number of cosmetic procedures performed in 2009.
10 Billon (with a capital 'B'): amount spent on cosmetic procedures in 2009.

Top 5 surgical cosmetic procedures (in 2009):

1. Breast augmentation (289,000)
2. Nose reshaping (256,000)
3. Eyelid surgery (203,000)
4. Liposuction (198,000)
5. Tummy tuck (115,000)

Top 5 'minimally-invasive' procedures (in 2009):

1. Botulinum toxin type A (4.8 million)
2. Soft tissue fillers (1.7 million)
3. Chemical peel (1.1 million)
4. Microdermabrasion (910,000)
5. Laser hair removal (893,000)

2009 compared to 2000..

• Total cosmetic procedures is up 69%
  
• Botulinum Toxin Type A isup 509%
  
• Tummy Tuck is up 84%
  
• Breast augmentation is up 36%
  
• In sum: "More people [have] turned towards body contouring and minimally-invasive treatments for facial rejuvenation."

American Society of Plastic Surgeons


I leave you with this..

Does this look like a girl that is happy.. or sane?..


..or healthy and truly loved?..


Was it worth it?..


Would you ever wish this upon your sister, daughter, mother, girl friend, wife, or any other person you did or did not know?


To my understanding, Heidi thought of this as an investment in her career.
If only she could have found some other way to stand out and be unique. Perhaps by *like* getting an education vs. surgery. Maybe then she would have discovered the wonders of things like Photoshop and spared herself the pain and suffering. Maybe then she would have gotten a clue and could wow us with the beauty of her mind and not the Superficial her album and body have flopped to be.

But what's done is done. As for the millions exposed and contemplating, men and women alike: Embrace the ugly (completely) NON-invasively. It's only subjective anyway. Diet, exercise, love, laughter, and hugs—lots of them—are what will lead you to your HealthyButJuicy and help unleash the celestial being you dream to be (not nip/tuck!), duh.

Reality-Ideality-Toolbox.

    Jennifer Lopez Marketed.                             J Lo For Real?








             Barbie.                                                 Magician: Photoshop.

Bodies Can Support Image, Just Not Life.

It’s been reported (reliability of source, unknown) that Posh Spice, aka. Victoria Beckham, is trying to beef up, sans beef, but with starchy carbs because she’s trying to get preggers. They’re supposedly trying for a girl this time. Her and her soccer player husband, David, have three boys at the moment.

This post has been looming in the back of my mind for a while and it seems like this is as appropriate a time as ever to bring up the issue, which is… housing. ..of babies-to-be.

I started noticing a somewhat dramatic trend in Hollywood a while back— an increasing number of celebrities were giving birth to multiples. And I’m not talking about Octomom or Kate Gosselin. But consider Angelina Jolie and Marcia Cross, amongst others, both are mothers of twins.


And then there’s Giuliana Rancic—do you know her? In case you don’t, she’s the co-host of E! News with Ryan Seacrest, ‘reporter’ for celeb events, and, as of recent, star of (yet another) reality show. Because of her latest role, she’s made it public that she’s trying to get preggers. She even went on The View to talk about it:

"[The doctor] said [I should gain] 5-10 pounds, which I know isn't a big deal and if you want to have a baby you should do whatever it takes… I had to bite that bullet. You have to understand something. I work out everyday of my life, I love feeling good, waking up, working out. I finally did gain the 5 pounds. We're working on more."

So how do you think she’s doing?             [comment box is below].
(The pic on the left is from June ’09. The pic on the right is from March ’10.)






It’s been about a year [?] since she’s been trying and still no ‘luck’ (nor excess calories, it seems). Her stint on The View apparently also didn’t turn out so well. The day after...

Whoopie said: "It's not like she's an actress; she's on the red carpet, so she should gain the weight."
Giuliana’s retort? "Because I'm a reporter, I'm held to a different standard than an actress? It's almost like she puts actresses on a pedestal. I thought that was the most ridiculous statement I've heard on that show in a very long time."

In other words: 'It’s not fair! Why are they allowed to be skinny and I’m not??’


Please, tell me now what’s really ridiculous..

..in the meanwhile, I’ll tell you what’s not fair:

• 1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating.
• Eating disorders affect up to 24 million Americans.
• At least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of an eating disorder.
• The diet and diet related industry is a 50 billion dollar a year enterprise.
• One study found that over 1/2 the females between the ages of 18-25 would prefer to be run over by a truck than be fat, and 2/3 surveyed would rather be mean or stupid.
• If today's mannequins were actual human women, based on theoretical body fat percentages, they would probably cease to menstruate.
The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness, (2010 Apr 06).


…o, and one last one:

Everyday men, women, children, and adolescents are bombarded with images of women like Angelina, Posh, and 'G', (who may or may not be menstruating), and duped into believing that that is healthy and beautiful.