A new video from Hungry Girl, Lisa Lillien, takes an eye-opening and humorous look a the reality of portion sizes of cereal. She compares the amount of cereal in a poured bowl of cereal with the portion of cereal on a cereal food label.
More about Hungry Girl
Hungry Girl, a.k.a. Lisa Lillien is not a nutritionist, she’s just hungry and the founder of Hungry-girl.com. Her daily emails filled with containing guilt-free recipes, food and product reviews, dieting news and nutrition shockers are received by over half a million subscribers fans.
In looking at the topic of body images and truth in advertising, here is an example of another celebrity photoshopping incident that occurred in March 2009 and created a bit of a buzz.
In this case, unretouched photos of reality star Kim Kardashian were released by mistake, before the ‘official’ photoshopped version. According to Momlogic, “Women everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.”
You can see the before (left) and after (right) pictures below:
So what: I have a little cellulite. What curvy girl doesn’t!?
How many people do you think are photoshopped? It happens all the time!
I’m proud of my body and my curves and this picture coming out is probably helpful for everyone to see that just because I am on the cover of a magazine doesn’t mean I’m perfect.
She used the pictures as motivation to work out in the gym and get into better shape.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the unphotoshopped pic had been the one used on the cover of the magazine. Now that would have been sending a real message that being curvy and having cellulite is o.k.
Last year I blogged about Tyra Banks taking on her critics in her Retort on “Fat” Comments. I’ve used this example for several years in the Nutrition course as an example of someone in the public eye, being labeled “fat” for having a healthy BMI. This year, she is in the news again about her weight, but for making healthy lifestyle changes.
According to reports for Tyra Banks, what began as a game, a a three month “get fit, get healthy challenge” with seven of her friends has turned into a new lifestyle for her. As noted in the Video clip below, she felt conflicted and decided to say something about her weight loss after the media started to notice:
“The media started taking notice and showing pictures of before and after of me losing weight, and I felt kind of exposed because I wasn’t trying to proclaim to the world, ‘I got fit and I got healthy and I got in shape,’ because I felt kind of conflicted especially after the ‘Kiss my fat ass’ thing,” she says. “It’s still fat by the way.”
As part of the change, Tyra bought an elliptical machine and started exercising while watching Sex and the City. According to People.com Tyra says she:
“…got rid of one of my couches in my living room and I watched Sex and The City episodes on the treadmill or the elliptical. “o Sex and the City lasts 30 minutes – that’s how long I’m on the elliptical.
In addition the started writing down every single thing she ate making her more aware of the calories she consumed especially while eating out.
Key Points to her lifestyle changes:
Getting off the couch, by getting rid of it
Exercising
Tracking calories
Having fun doing it
Being accountable to friends about getting healthy
Congratulations on the weight loss and for also setting a healthy example.
In August, quite a controversy erupted over Kelly Clarkson’s changing appearance on the cover of Self Magazine. You can see the split image that ran in the People Magazine article on the controversy.
According to The Buzz Log, “Self magazine admits it did airbrush the singer, but no more than they do every other cover model.”
You can compare her cover picture with the video clip of her photo shoot with Self Magazine.
I am wondering what they did to her face. Her face is more circle-shaped in the video clip and oval in the final cover.
You do have to wonder what kind of message this is sending to our women and girls. Here is some one who reports to be comfortable with her size, but the magazine opted to make her face and her weight more visually appealing, which means showing less of her.
I asked my 9-year-old and 7-year-old what was going on with the pictures. The 7-year-old immediately picked up on the fact that the cover picture was ’skinner’ than the other pictures. After I asked my 9-year-old what she though about them changing the cover, she said it was bad because they were lying about her weight.
Matt Lauer of the Today Show interviews David Zinczenko of Eat This Not That to show parents how to help children make healthier choices when it come to meal and snack time.
Eat This Not That! for Kids is one of the books I have gotten for my daughters written to teach you how to be the leanest family on the block.
My daughters enjoy going through the book and discovering that many of the foods we are eating are in the “eat this” category and not in the “not that” category. They keep searching for more healthy options from the “eat this” list to add to what we purchase at the store, or health options for eating out. Eat This Not That! for Kids is available on Amazon.
A new study commissioned by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA) is provides scientific evidence of the direct contribution of sugar-sweetened beverages to California’s $41 billion obesity epidemic.
Researchers at UCLA, lead by Susan Babey, examined sugary drinks and their effect on state spending and consumers’ health published in the report, Bubbling Over: Soda Consumption and Its Link to Obesity in California. Babey pointed out:
Soda is cheap, sweet and irresistibly marketed to teens. Not enough teens know about the health and dietary risks of drinking huge quantities of what is essentially liquid sugar.
Hear what Dr. Harold Goldstein, another study author and executive director for CCPHA has to say about the study and their findings. To get to his interview, advance to 1:47.
Main Findings
Researchers from study reported that 41 percent of children (ages 2 – 11), 62 percent of adolescents (ages 12 – 17) and 24 percent of adults drink at least one soda or other sugar-sweetened beverage every day. In addition regardless of income or ethnicity, adults who drink one or more sodas or other sugar-sweetened beverages every day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight or obese.
Key Findings
Key findings from the soda research include:
$41 billion—Amount spent treating obesity in California each year.
41 percent—Kids ages 2-11 who drink at least one soda every day.
62 percent—Adolescents 12-17 who drink at least one soda every day.
39 pounds—Amount of sugar consumed over one year if you drink one soda a day.
17 teaspoons—Amount of sugar in a 20-ounce serving of soda.
278 calories—Increased number Americans consume each day compared with 30 years ago.
43 percent—Share of new calories attributable to soda.
Recommendations from CCPHA
The CCPHA recommends:
Cities, counties, businesses, health care providers, religious organizations, the state legislature, and Congress—and each of us as individuals—can help reduce consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages and their contribution to California’s obesity epidemic.
Some of the additional recommendations that can be taken by individuals, workplaces and others:
Individuals—Reduce consumption of soda and other sugar-sweetned beverages in the family.
Workplaces—Limit or replace soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages in vending machines. Incorporate information about soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages into workplace wellness programs.
Cities & Counties—Provide and sell only healthy beverages at city and county sponsored events, especially those attended by children and adolescents. Limit or exclude soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages in vending machines in property owned or leased by cities and counties.
California Legislature—Impose an industry fee on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Earmark funds for community-based prevention programs. Prohibit marketign of soda and other sugar-sweetened beveratges on public school campuses K-12.
Congress—Tax soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. Earmark revenues for community-based prevention programs. Require the Federat Trade Commission to develop and implement standards for soda and other sugar-sweetened beverage advertising aimed at children under age 12.
Limiting access to and imposing sales tax on sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages may just be the tip of the iceberg in finding economic ways (or disincentives) to combat the growing obesity epidemic.
The New York City Public Health Department has launched an innovative, visual campaign to help convince New Yorkers to limit the amount of calories they are consuming from sodas and other sugary beverages by asking them of they are “Pouring on the Pounds.”
You can see the images being used in the campaign below:
The Facts
According to Cathy Nonas in the related blog about the campaign:
The reality is Americans consume 200 to 300 more calories each day than we did 30 years ago. Of these extra calories, nearly half come from sugar-sweetened drinks with zero health benefits.
The number of calories and sugar in different beverages can be quite a bit.
One 20 oz. bottle of soda = 250 calories with 16 ½ teaspoons of sugar.
One 20 oz. bottle of lemon-flavored iced tea = 210 calories with 14 ½ teaspoons of sugar.
One 20 oz Sports Drink = 120 calories with 8 ½ teaspoons of sugar.
A table with the different number of calories and sugar content in different beverages is available on the New York Health Department.
As part of the campaign the Health Department is encouraging people to not drink themselves fat, to cut back on soda and other sugary beverages and go with water, seltzer or low-fat milk instead.
The Campaign
The public-awareness campaign, which includes posters in the subway system and a Health Bulletin, will run for three months.
Do you think that we should do something like this in California to discourage Californians from consuming too many empty beverage calories and fat?
Are Your Pouring on the Pounds? Posters. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Three Versions (Soda, Sports Drinks and Tea) (PDF File)
Health Bulletin. 2009. Are You Pouring on the Pounds? Vol 8, No. 6. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (PDF File)
For students who are new to online courses, knowing how to upload a document can be a bit challenging.
This video clip from Mr. Owen used for an Intro to Computers class demonstrates how to upload a document as an assignment or attachment in Blackboard.
Note that the version and colors of the Blackboard for the Nutrition course are different than the ones use in this Intro to Computers course, so the Blackboard interface may look a bit different.
Eat This Not That! for Kids
is one of the books I have gotten for my daughters written to teach you how to be the leanest family on the block.
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