Kelly Clarkson Photo Retouched to Make Her 'Look Her Best'

Self Magazine is starting to come clean.

Lucy Danziger, editor-in-chief of the women's health magazine, is speaking out in defense of "retouching" the 27-year-old singer in order to make her "look her personal best" on the September issue.

Calling Clarkson "the picture of confidence," Danzinger writes, "I think this photo is the truest we have ever put out there on the newsstand."

If Kelly Clarkson is the closest they been to real in recent issues. Then people like Denise Richards were totally being sold as a lie saying Dancing can make you look that good while eating pizza.

Food Blogging: Wednesday Lunch

Around 10:30 I had a string cheese as a snack. String cheese is only 80 calories!

Here's a close-up of my salad--its made with some red pepper from my very own garden!

So, I took a cap of Balsamic & Basil Vinaigrette and then shook-up my salad, which included baby romaine, snow peas, purple cabbage, candy onion, and red pepper.

Here's the tuna salad I mixed up this morning to go over the salad. I'm so happy I was able to make this salad this morning!

Altogether now: salad, tuna, & yes some diet coke--I'm working on it! I have salmon planned for dinner (defrosting and everything--a big reason why I have trouble doing the lean protein plus veggies in the morning is my inability to defrost said protein on a regular basis. I am making a mends on that front.) I should say, though, that having two fish dishes on the same day is a little mercury heavy--I am of child bearing age (though not getting laid). I like seafood A LOT so I need to spread it in the plan better. Regardless, this is a good eating day, especially after the earlier part of this week which was less than stellar.

10 Reasons You're Not Losing That Weight

Nancy Gottesman, at Women's Health says:

Dieting is complicated and we often unwittingly sabotage our best intentions. For instance, who would ever think that working out in the a.m. or cranking the AC might be the reason you're not slimming down? Luckily, once you've identified these flubs, fixing them is nowhere near as hard as pulling on a pair of control-top hose.

10 Reasons You're Not Losing That Weight

1. Skipping Sleep.
2. French fries are your main vegtable.
3. Artifical climate (like A/C) is making you hungry.
4. Trying to justify big meals with exercise.
5. You looking for quick results and defeat the purpose by trying an unstainable diet.
6. Setting realistic goal may make you not try as hard.
7. Eating candy for anti-oxidents.
8. You are only getting water from the fountain and not from your food.
9. Using labor saving devices to do the most basic tasks.
10. You don't get enough natural potassium.

Food Blogging: Breakfast

That's not really a Starbucks coffee, its me re-using my Starbucks cup for coffee from the day before. Still, all the same, its coffee with skim milk and raw sugar. There's Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt and some Flax Plus Granola.

Oh, Greek Yogurt, how I've missed you. You always last me through the morning. Thanks for being awesome, per usual. Seriously though, I have been eating really poorly the last few days due to some serious family stress. I won't talk about it here for the time being, but certainly I can't help take care of others unless I take care of myself. So, starting with the food, I'll have the yogurt for breakfast, a salad for lunch and some salmon with asparagus for dinner. Lots of water and some vitamins are also on the menu and if I can swing it, some sort of exercise this evening. The race is Saturday, but what I've decided is that this year's race will be my baseline and through the year I'll get on a steady training routine and get a grips on healthy eating and show my results over the year. I'm getting older, I have to stop screwing around--Money, Work, Family, whatever, its not coming from a place of vanity, but health--I need to get some weight off, follow my eating/ethical living values and stop the casual crap dining, and really get an exercise routine and stress reduction routine that I can live with. Yes, I work two jobs and I'm taking classes, but that doesn't mean that I can't carve out exercise Mondays, Thursdays, & on the weekends. I might need to move to get a more fulfilling job, but I can't do that until I have my health managed within reason.

peace

Kelly Clarkson Key to Losing Weight

The Texas native admits she still eats chicken-fried steak, but also has days when she prefers salads. "I love healthy stuff and junk an equal amount," she tells the magazine. "Whatever I'm craving, I go for it."

Her secret to losing weight, in fact, is to not go on a diet: "For me, it's the times when I'm not paying attention that I end up losing weight. But I'm never trying to lose weight – or gain it. I'm just being!"

I wish more starlets were like Kelly Clarkson. She comes from a place of balance. For here she is not diet obsessed. She is just trying to live a balance life and sometimes that means weight lost, weight maintenance, or weight gain.

Reproductive Freedom

Now that women are coming out of the woodwork claiming to be Michael Jackson's Baby Mama, will it be necessary to prove maternity at the same rate that Maury Povich prove paternity via DNA test.

I believe in order to have true equal rights. Women have to be able to become just as negligent with their eggs as men to with their sperm. If not, we have to force men to be just as responsible for their spawn as the womb who carried it in the womb for 9 months.

Skinny Jeans Workout

People we need to get some prespective. We can only spot tone and not spot reduce. Therefore, we need too get to a healthy size before we start focusing on getting into jeans. As you can see from the video, there were no size 20s in the class.

'Lucked Out' with Losing Baby Weight

After delivering her son Bronx Mowgli, now 8 months, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz was prepared for an uphill battle when it came time to shed the pregnancy pounds and regain her figure.

After I had Bronx I lucked out," the actress-singer admits. "I mean, I’m 24-years-old, [I have] the genes from my mother and I did work out for three months."

Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is yet another celebrity lying about losing baby weight is easy. I am sure her 3 months of workouts were just walking the neighborhood with the baby. They were probably personal trainer guided power sessions.

Sunday Food Blogging

For breakfast I had PB & Millet toast like the day before, so I thought I'd use the same picture, but of course its on the other computer. So, I'll start out with lunch. I had shrimp salad over mixed greens, with purple cabbage, snow peas, red pepper, and baby carrots. It was divine.

I also had a slice of millet toast with some brie on it--that looks like a ton of brie, but its only 1oz--Millet Toast is smaller than regular toast.

For dinner we went to a new Mediterranean place to celebrate my successful sermon/service at church. We started out with herbs & oil with a levened pita bread (very different from the pita I'm used to). I had a little.

That's my nieces arm testing out the bread and that's my mom in the background enjoying some wine.

We shared around, my entree was the combination platter--skewers of this sausage(ish) stuff that I didn't like very much--I gave it to my mom. The Chicken was great, so was the beef, the veggies were awesome, but best of all was the rise, seasoned in some magical way. My niece also ate quite a bit of the rice, but I have some for lunch today.

Extreme veggie close-up!

Back to Basics: Food Bloggin'

For breakfast I had English Breakfast tea, millet-toast with PB & Strawberry Preserves.

Lunch was this lovely salad & a Sunshine Veggie burger.

On the veggie burger is some slices of "candy onion" which is a super sweet variety I got at the Lexington Farmer's Market today.

I was hungry before leaving for Starbucks to write my sermon (I'm doing the service at Church tomorrow), so instead of leaving hungry and risking eating a Toffee Almond Bar (the best pastry at SB), I went with a Chobani Greek Yogurt with some Flax Granola in it. Delish--I've missed yogurt during my "induction" period to South Beach--Oh, by the way, that hasn't worked out. I'm going to use many of the SB principals (avoid high-glycemic index carbs, try to eat more lean proteins and veggies for meals, etc. But the straight up Akins-like induction wasn't feasible during this crazy week.

So, I had a lite mocha frap at SB & brought my Fiji water bottle. I wrote the sermon with Frank Sinatra--popular in today's particular SB mix.

Dinner was ridiculously good! Muscles, peaches & cream corn, some black beans & creamed spinach. The muscles were in a white-wine and garlic sauce. They were frozen and I simply heated them up in a sauce pan. Last time I made muscles, they were live and it was emotionally scarring--I didn't understand that I actually would be killing them. Yes, that is hypocritical of me, but I think its also contextual--how often do people kill their dinner in an industrialized modern society? Rarely. So forgive my horror and enjoyment of the pre-washed, brushed, & seasoned muscles.

Muscle close-up.

Peaches & Cream corn starts out mottled, white, yellow, a bit of peach kernels all on the same ear. Then when boiling it turns yellow, but remains sweet as white corn. Delish.

I made black beans and I wanted to test them--that's really only a couple tablespoons worth, though in the close-up it looks like a ton. The creamed spinach was also fab.

Sherri Shepherd Makes Big Bathing Suit Debut

Since May, she has lost 5 inches from her waist and 10 inches overall. (She didn't reveal how many pounds she shed.)

Barbara Walters said her colleagues "were very proud" of Shepherd, who celebrated by indulging in ribs and M&Ms that exec producer Bill Geddes brought her as a treat.

Celebrities need to stop the diets and go for a balanced healthy lifestyle. Seriously you can lose weight and then but on a bathing suit. Then start eating ribs and M &Ms. If you original diet didn't include the foods that you like then you are on the wrong diet and you will be doomed to Yo-yo diet.

Tips on finding motivation to Exercise

Let’s face it: You can rationalize your way out of doing anything. You can always find an excuse for why you don’t like an activity or why it’s not right for you, or why there are a zillion other things you could—or should—be doing. But when it comes right down to it,there is absolutely no acceptable excuse not to fit some daily physical activity into your life. Even if you already have illness or physical limitations, you still need to figure out what you can do and how to make yourself do it.

1. Give it 10 minutes.
This approach is surprisingly effective. If you can simply lace up your sneakers and get that patooty out the door, that’s 90 percent of the battle. Chances are you’ll get into the groove once you get started. Very few people quit once they are actually moving, but lots of folks never even make it to a genuine workout moment, despite their best intentions.

2. Repeat the reasons why you want to work out like a mantra.
Visualize what it is you want and how you will feel. Let that vision push you out the door, or onto an exercise machine.

3. Find an activity you like or a way to enjoy something you don’t.

My Sister Ate A Burger

Okay, I should explain, my sister has been a vegetarian since she was about 13 years old. She eats fish, eggs, dairy, but other than that, she NEVER eats meat. Well, lately she's been introducing meat into her diet--and she ate a burger. A fast-food burger at that! She's actually had one home-grilled burger at a cookout and then this fast-food monstrosity at BK. She liked the homemade version, the fast food was less than appealing. I have a picture, but I said I'd block out her face for privacy (though I don't quite know how to do that in photoshop), so I'll just use the stock image of a burger to illustrate my point.

My sister, who would often ask that the subway folks change gloves when they start her sandwich if the previous sandwich had contained meat (for fears of cross contamination), is now eating meat. I know that Drew Barrymore switched from Vegetarianism to include some meat eating a few years ago. Being a Vegetarian was such a bit part of my understanding of who my sister was--is that fair? Accurate? Probably not, but still, I can't quite believe that she's eating meat. Though, she does say she has more energy.

So, what about you, dear reader: any former Vegetarians out there want to share? Current? Commited Omni's?

Drinks to Avoid

Two years ago, Eat This, Not That! exposed the 20 Unhealthiest Drinks in America. The list was bad in the scary, jaw-dropping sense: Belt-busting beverages that tipped the scales at over 1,000 (and sometimes, 2,000) calories; hundreds of grams of blood-glucose-spiking sugar, and a slew of unnatural and exotic-sounding additives.

Here are list of the worst:

WORST FLOAT
Baskin-Robbins Large Ice Cream Soda with Vanilla Ice Cream Float (32 ounces)
960 calories
40 g fat (25 g saturated, 1.5 g trans)
136 g sugars

WORST ICE BLENDED COFFEE DRINK
Così Gigante Double OH! Arctic (23 ounces)
1,210 calories
19 g fat
259 g carbohydrates


WORST SMOOTHIE
Smoothie King’s The Hulk, Strawberry (40 ounces)
2,088 calories
70 g fat (32 g saturated)
240 g sugars

THE WORST DRINK IN AMERICA
Cold Stone Creamery Gotta Have It PB&C Shake
2,010 calories
131 g fat (68 g saturated)
153 g sugars

Kevin Federline's Seven-Figure Weight Loss Deal

Federline is reportedly considering an endorsement deal with a company called EP-2 (Extreme Physical Performance). The source said the former back up dancer has been offered $2.5 million to become the new face of the fat-burning tool which is set to hit over 1,400 GNC stores.


I am sick of celebrities hawking diets, but at least this will give him a chance to earn some of his own money and get of Britney's payroll.

Elliptical Rock Star

Why is it that I can go two miles on an elliptical in 31 minutes, but it takes me 38-43 minutes on the treadmill? Monday I did two miles with a resistance of 4-6 on the elliptical and burned 323 calories. Then I did toning, which included three leg machines and three arm machines--all very respectable! Great workout and if I can manage this a few times a week throughout the coming semester, I'll be golden.

I think the reason I can go so much faster on the elliptical is that is more closing mimics running without the strain on one's joints. I really love ellipticals, but I know several "real runners" who hate them. I'm lucky because I can use the gym at my work (a University), but the new semester is starting up soon and the first few weeks of school are always packed (and ellipticals are almost always taken). It calms down after people loose resolve. Today I'm doing pilates, tomorrow, I'll return to the gym. During the coming semester I'll only be able to go to the gym Monday's and Thursdays--so, I have to make those days count, and then do arm weights, treadmill, or pilates at home over the weekend. One day at a time, right?

So what about you, dear reader? What's your take on the elliptical machine?

Break Out of Your Cardio Rut

Shape Magazine list 15 ways to change up your cardio routine.

1. Inline skate. Inline skating burns up to 700 calories an hour, depending on your speed and how hilly the course is.

2. Shoot hoops. Burns 400 calories an hour.

3. Go dancing. Burns about 300 calories an hour.

4. Join a winter league. Burn up to 790 calories if squash is your game.

5. Try musical jump-rope. Burns 658 calories an hour.

6. "Sock skate." Burns 400 calories an hour.

7. Step it up. Sidestep, hop, jump, run up and down stairs, or take them two at a time. Burns about 360 calories an hour.

8. Rock 'n' walk. Download new music to accompany your walk. Burns 330 calories an hour.

9. Pick up the pace. Walk through your neighborhood, adding one minute of speed-walking or running every five minutes. Burns about 400 calories an hour if repeated 10 times during the course of an hour's walk.

10. Punch in. Buy a punching bag or speed bag and go a few rounds. Burns 394 calories an hour.

11. Jump around. Do aerobic moves, bounce or jog on a minitrampoline. Burns 230 calories an hour.

12. Track it. Wear a pedometer from the moment you wake up until the time you go to bed and see how many steps you really take in a day. Burns 150 calories for 10,000 steps.

13. Train in your neighborhood. Take a brisk walk and use your surroundings to perform strengthening exercises. Do push-offs on a mailbox, push-ups against a fence, step-ups on a curb or park bench, lunges up a hill or triceps dips on a bench. Can burn up to 700 calories an hour at a 4-mph pace.

14. Back-walk. Walk backward for variety. Burns 330 calories an hour if you're going 4 mph.

15. Build a DVD library. Burns 428 calories an hour.

Deborah Gibson Credits Boyfriend for Helping Her Lose Weight

For a year and a half, Gibson has been dating Rutledge Taylor, a medical doctor specializing in preventative medicine. To help Gibson keep in shape for her busy schedule, he developed a strict diet and exercise program.
The final tally: 17 lbs. "It really gives me a lot more energy to be fit," she says, "and it's also empowering. I'll be 39 soon, and I'm in the best shape of my life."

I am happy for Deborah Gibson if she is happy. But I would feel creeped out if my man but me on a diet an exercise routine.

Carnie Wilson Addiction Struggles

Carnie Wilson send a cautionary tale about weight loss surgery.

"After two years of sobriety, Carnie has decided to finally share her secret to help others realize surgery isn't a cure-all. "I'm here to get the message out that after you have a gastric bypass surgery, you need to focus on what's in your head," Carnie says. "Before the surgery, you focus on it. During the surgery, you focus on it. After the surgery…it is ongoing forever."

I am glad she came forth. It is true that many overweight people think that losing the weight will fix all of their life problems. Yet, the truth is that it only fixes the wait.

If you weight is a result of addiction, you will just transfer to another addiction.

Where Are the Black Bachelor(ettes)?

From The Root

Why is it that if an African American wants to humiliate him- or herself on national TV in search of a mate, the only options are I Love New York or For the Love of Ray J? Are we not suitable for major networks? Yes, you do occasionally allow one black contestant on the show at a time, only for that person to be eliminated by the second episode. But if we don’t have a shot at the ring, don’t bother inviting us. Really. It’s like starting a new NFL franchise and telling the team that it will never be eligible to play in the Super Bowl.

See I am not the only one who thinks that minorities are under represented in dating show genre.

Crazy 80s workout video works

We may laugh at this video, but let me tell you. These crazy facial exercise is what has my grandma looking young. In the picture below she is 76 years old.

Health Care Listening Tour

Check out Obama's "Organizing for America" nationwide listening tour of events. The coming weeks we will see a make or break moment for meaningful healthcare in America. As Congress goes home for the break, whether or not they dare to ACTUALLY ENACT HEALTHCARE REFORM will be determined by YOUR participation. So, please check out where local events are being held, write to your Congress person, both at their Washington and District addresses, and remember, this movement will take twice the vocal efforts of you the people over the megaphone that the health insurance industry has blarring in the ears of the elected, and sheltered, Congress men and women.

Personally, I want a single-payer system, but we ain't gettin' that in the near term but we must have, from Obama's Eight Point Checklist:

* No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.

* No Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.

* No Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.

* No Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.

* No Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.

* No Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.

* Extended Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.

* Guaranteed Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won’t be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

Blog Recommendation: The Fat Nutritionist

Oh, I've found a really cool blog, its run by "The Fat Nutritionist"--a nutritionist who isn't skinny in other words. She's really funny and honest and she also gives good nutrition information/advice.

Here's a bit from her definition about "normal eating" which really gets at the root of her philosophy:

Normal eating is going to the table hungry and eating until you are satisfied. It is being able to choose food you like and eat it and truly get enough of it—not just stop eating because you think you should.

Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food.

Normal eating is giving yourself permission to eat sometimes because you are happy, sad or bored, or just because it feels good.

Normal eating is mostly three meals a day, or four or five, or it can be choosing to munch along the way. It is leaving some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it is eating more now because they taste so wonderful.

Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more.

Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your time and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.

In short, normal eating is flexible. It varies in response to your hunger, your schedule, your proximity to food and your feelings.

The Connection Between Extreme Diets & Addiction

Jezebel has a clip HERE from the WE series "The Secret Lives of Women" which looks into the connection between extreme diet lifestyles and addiction. Essentially, the clip shows chef Gabrielle Brick who explains how discovering the raw-foods lifestyle instantly cured her alcohol and cocaine addiction. "But has she traded one addiction for another?" queries the Jezebel blogger.

The clip has been edited and she keeps talking about "the scene" and dating guys "in the scene"--that at this point she can only really relate to other raw-foodists. Now we here at Fat Feminist Fitness Blog are no strangers to the Raw Food Movement. LisaD and I went to a Raw Food Restaurant, check out our reviews HERE & HERE), we both had a mutual friend who went Raw after college who lost quite a bit of weight and seems really happy (though she's not totally Raw), and of course, I still have that Raw Food Cookbook I intend to share/review recipes from. So, I'm prefacing my criticism/concerns with a grounding in not being a knee-jerk hater of the Raw Food Movement, but as studies have shown greater connections between anorexia and OCD as well as autism/aspergers, I think that this woman does seem to display signs of the "dry drunk" who is using Raw Food has her new addiction.

Also, I found her morning tea based drink, with 1,000 ingredients--including Chinese and Amazonian herbs--to be interesting, and perhaps the source of her self proclaimed "abundant energy." My mother went to an acupunturist and Chinese herbalist (paid by her insurance) for fibromalgia and she mentioned her low energy. My mother has had to take a nap every day of her life since she was 15 and first suffered from Rheumatic Fever, but once she started taking the herbs she was bouncing off the walls. It couldn't have been simple caffeine because she can drink strong coffee and still go to sleep, so there must have been speed somewhere in the mix, though herbal. She stopped taking them. I'm guessing whatever my mother took, Chef Brick is taking in spades--so the question isn't just, has she traded cocaine for raw food, but cocaine for speed stacked Chinese/Amazonian herbs? I think so.

Once again, let me just say that I think that eating lots of raw fruits, veggies, and nuts (raw almonds are so sweet and lovely compared to roasted, I've noticed), is great. But a big message of this blog is BALANCE. This morning on Dr. Zorba he had a caller who insists on running 8 miles per day, regardless of how he's feeling. He developed an irregular heart beat after a night of heavy drinking and then going on his 8 mile run, Dr. Zorba's advice was to: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY. Good advice. Binging is bad, but so is running 8 miles with an electrolite imbalance. Cocaine is bad, but so is super-charging your life with speed, even if the source is herbal. If you have a serious addiction issue or you are a binge eater, you need to deal with the root of the problem and not just try to mask it with another obsession. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, honor your body, seek balance--the euphoria of the extemes is beguiling voice, but ultimately, whether it is in the form of the cocaine washed Hollywood party or the Raw Foodist Vegan Retreat in the Amazon where you experiment with "herbs" you will be out of balance. Speaking of that, sometime I'll have to share a story about when I was doing aid work in Ecuador and met these people at an eco-retreat who came down to Ecuador every year to have these week-long drug binges/herbal drug binges and how that type of American or European abuse of the developing world's laws and supporting such activities is really a major contributor to systematic injustice. Anyway, that's another post. So, reader, what do you think about the clip?

South Beach Diet

Okay, a bit of a confession. I haven't been food blogging this week because I started the South Beach Diet Phase I. Generally, I don't think that the South Beach or Atkins Diets--super high protein, low carbs, is especially healthy, BUT it is a good jump-start kind of diet that helps you curb hunger. I like Phase II better and that's what I'll be doing after the induction phase for August/September. I'll start to take more pictures--because salad with chicken and tilapia with sugar snap peas can be pretty. South Beach isn't all Steak! I really miss fruit, but here's the truth--I really like that this is the first time I've been on a "diet" in a long time in which my brain hasn't rebelled and cried out--I want I want I want. I think its because I'm more comfortable with acknowledging that I am PERFECTLY FREE TO EAT WHATEVER I WANT because this is something I am doing, n0t something that is being thrust on me. So, I'd like to prove to myself that I can do the induction for two weeks as prescribed in the book. I've never stayed on a plan for two weeks, never. So, regardless of the weight-loss outcomes, its kind of an experiment in just being calm in relation to food.

On another note: I must get up on the treadmill this afternoon/early evening. If I'm going to follow a not so healthy diet plan, I have to exercise. Oh, I should mention, the reason I'm doing South Beach is that my boss lost 30 lbs this Spring/Summer on it--exercise was definitely a big part of his plan, but I was really impressed (we all are in the office), so I thought, okay, lets see if I can do this CALMLY and in a mentally okay way. So, its an experiment rather than a "I hate my body, I must do something extreme" kind of thing, which is where I've approached this kind of strict dieting from before.

Phase II introduces fruits and healthy carbs, but from Wednesday July 29-August 12, I'll be on Phase I. The race I'm doing is August 15, so I'll be sure to have some healthy carbs (like quinoa pasta and fruit) the day before the race and since I'm be on Phase II starting the 13th, that should be just fine.