August 7th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I remember my grandma wearing girdles like these. I’ll never forget how she described them, “I feel like a sausage.” I imagined what a sausage would feel like and to this day, her description has warned me against wearing girdles.
It’s easy to forget what a sausage feels like when I look at advertising, though. [...]
Related StoresJune 16th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Usually when a supplement company is found guilty of violations, they are required to pay a fine. It appears that Metabolife founder, Michael J. Ellis, has been sentenced to six months in prison in addition to his fine of $20,000.
Consumer Health Digest has the story:
Consumer Health Digest, June 10, 2008
In November 2007, Ellis [...]
Related StoresJune 14th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The advertisement for Lucky Strike cigarettes says:
To keep a slender figure
No one can deny…
Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet.
Is it true? Does smoking make you thin?
Almost a year ago, there was news of a study that researched that:
FOXNews.com - Study: Smoking Does Not Aid Weight Loss [...]
Related StoresMay 31st, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This article from the New York Times got me thinking. A mother in search of a placebo to give to her child instead of medicine was stymied by the fact that you can’t actually buy a placebo pill. She has created a company called Efficacy Brands and released a “drug” called Obecalp, which is placebo [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Could Placebo Diet Pills Help You Lose Weight?
May 30th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The headline on the National Enquirer was pretty dramatic. It claimed that the Biggest Loser diet had turned deadly. What was going on here?
Paul Marks weighed 303 pounds when he started with The Biggest Loser. He was eliminated back in February and has since had some medical problems.
According to the National Enquirer:
“Paul is [...]
Related StoresMay 23rd, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This comic from Joy of Tech made me feel just as angry at those fat kids as I was at the skinny kids that made fun of me when I was little. When I was a kid, they used to call me Chug-A-Lug. I wrote about it here:
Starling Fitness » Chug-A-Lug
It’s funny to me how [...]
Related StoresMay 22nd, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I saw this advertisement on Facebook the other day and it made me crinkle my brow. It says:
Drop 20lb for summer
Try Life Support Diet and lose up to 20 pounds in 6 weeks. Recommended by Oprah.
I clicked over to the site and it was for Life Support Herbal and Hoodia diet [...]
Related StoresMay 17th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
While I was watching yesterday’s Michael Pollan video, he mentioned a new eating disorder, Orthorexia. It was a term created by Steven Bratman, author of the book Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa. Here is more information on it:
Orthorexia nervosa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Steven Bratman coined the term in 1997 from the Greek [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Orthorexia Nervosa: A New Eating Disorder
May 13th, 2008 — , Beware, Features from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Ghrelin is a hormone that makes you more hungry, more focused on food and willing to eat more. This article from CBS mentions it:
The Hunger Hormone, Controlling Ghrelin May Be Key To Curing Obesity - CBS News
We observed one illustration of ghrelin’s power. A mouse was injected with the hormone. Just 15 minutes [...]
Related StoresMay 8th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This postcard from PostSecret showed up in last Sunday’s list:
It reads:
I suspect that my chronic health problems are related to the fact that I make myself throw up multiple times a day.
To me, the first thing I think is, “Don’t do that! Just stop it.” When I am tempted to binge, however, the [...]
Related StoresMay 6th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
If you watch television late at night or if you scan the advertisements in any fashion magazine, there are plenty of pills and gadgets that promise you better health. This is not a new phenomenon. Here is an advertisement from 1883 for an electric corset:
You can click on the photo to see the full ad, [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → The Electric Corset: 1883 Is Very Similar to 2008
May 5th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
ABC News has a video on their site about LipoDissolve:
ABC News: Lipodissolve: Too Good to Be True?
Here are some of the quotes from the video:
Annette Clark didn’t blink at the steep 2400 dollar bill for a series of multiple injections. “They gave me about six injections across my abdomen and by the time [...]
Related StoresMay 4th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Watch this video from Equinox Fitness:
Download this video for your iPod
This was an advertisement posted on Equinox’s website here:
Equinox | What’s Your After?
Their whole theme is “Happily Ever After: What’s Your After?” Apparently, their “After” is:
I want women of questionable sexuality to hire me to be a coffee table at their Marie [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Equinox Fitness Brings a Healthy Dose of WTF?!
May 2nd, 2008 — , Beware, Personal from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This postcard from PostSecret showed up last week.
I am continually fascinated at how judgmental mothers are. From potty training to discipline to eating, it seems that mothers are eager to judge each other with ferocity. Since I’ve never had children, I don’t find myself judging other women in this manner, so I can watch it [...]
Related StoresApril 29th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Weight loss drugs have been shown to have link to depression and suicide.
Anti-Addiction, Obesity Drugs Tied to Depression and Suicide
The diet drug rimonabant (Acomplia) perfectly illustrates this discouraging trend. It truly seemed to be a miracle drug in early trials, effectively combating patients’ dependence on tobacco, decreasing appetites and promoting weight loss [...]
Related StoresApril 27th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
It appears that eating contests have reached such popularity that they are actually making a video game emulating them:
Major League Eating: The Game
In this video game, you use your Wii controller to pretend to overeat more than your competitor. You can pretend to be one of the “famous” overeaters like Sonya Thomas or Patrick Bertoletti.
Here [...]
Related StoresApril 25th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I love this article from McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Cookie Monster Searches Deep Within Himself and Asks: Is Me Really Monster?
Cookie Monster wants to know why he is called a monster, whereas the other monsters on Sesame Street have names like Elmo and Telly. Is he actually a monster? This paragraph is so familiar [...]
Related StoresApril 23rd, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I’m angry enough to bite nails over this advertising campaign created by Brandon Knowlden:
brandon knowlden // art director
In his own words, the description of the campaign is here:
It is no secret that the American culture is known for overindulgence. This public service campaign dramatizes the effects of poor eating in a way we [...]
Related StoresApril 23rd, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I’m angry enough to bite nails over this advertising campaign created by Brandon Knowlden:
brandon knowlden // art director
In his own words, the description of the campaign is here:
It is no secret that the American culture is known for overindulgence. This public service campaign dramatizes the effects of poor eating in a way we [...]
Related StoresApril 21st, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This postcard from PostSecret showed up a couple of weeks ago.
I love my body and think it’s perfect, but I pretend not to because that’s what normal girls do.
STOP IT!
If you say something enough times, you begin to believe it. Keep your perfect body and throw the false modesty out the window. [...]
Related StoresApril 17th, 2008 — , Beware, diet from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This ad ran in 1975 and it says a lot about the economy of that time:
How to eat well in spite of it all.
Tonight’s dinner doesn’t have to look like today’s economy. Not with Kraft Dinners and a few touches of your own. Like adding some snipped parsley to [...]
Related StoresApril 16th, 2008 — , Beware, Features from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Mixed Messages from Supermarket Tabloids by Laura Moncur from Flickr
I was at the grocery store on Monday and this is what I saw at the checkout counter. Two different tabloids screeching two different messages at me:
Life & Style:
Refusing to eat: Why these stars look so scary skinny:
Katie Holmes: Katie’s weight loss [...]
April 13th, 2008 — , Beware, diet from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Diversify. I suspect they teach it in marketing school or economics school or some school for weasel business owners. If you put your fingers into every facet of the weight loss industry, they you will make even more money. Squeeze every penny out of your loyal customers.
That is what was going through my head when [...]
Related StoresApril 12th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The FTC has filed suit against Medlab, Inc., Pinnacle Holdings, Inc., Metabolic Research Associates, Inc., U.S.A. Health, Inc., and L. Scott Holmes. They are charged with violating Sections 5 and 12 of the FTC Act by making false and unsubstantiated claims that their product causes users to lose substantial amounts of weight rapidly.
FTC Sues Sellers [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → FTC Sues More Weight Loss Pill Manufacturers
April 9th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The very wonderful Found in Mom’s Basement uncovered these advertisements for AYDS weight loss plan:
Found in Mom’s Basement: Vintage ads for the unfortunately-named Ayds weight reducing candy, 1975
The most heartbreaking thing is how pretty Shirley is in her before photo. She was beautiful before and losing weight didn’t change that.
I remember the commercials on television [...]
Related StoresApril 8th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Schools have been banning candy sales and even expelling students who buy candy from others. Treatment Online thinks that policy tactic is rather short-sighted.
Treatment Online: Educate to Avoid Candy Bans’ Unintended Consequences
As the US learned during its experiment with prohibition, outright bans on products often times have unintended, negative consequences. Making candy unwelcome [...]
Related StoresMarch 27th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The stereotype for someone with an eating disorder is a young teen female, but it appears that women aged 30-50 are also at risk.
Clinicians Observe Rise in Eating Disorders Among Middle-aged Women
The groups are not as different as you might suspect:
Dr. Pryor tracked patients at the Eating Disorder Center of Denver (EDC-D) over [...]
Related StoresMarch 23rd, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Something about Paul McKenna smacks of charlatan to me. I don’t know what it is, but he doesn’t seem like someone I want to trust. He has a new show on TLC and here are some highlights from the first episode.
The thing that bothers me is how much this show feels like an infomercial. The [...]
Related StoresMarch 22nd, 2008 — , Beware, Gadgets from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
There are a few nutrition scales on the market. Do you have any idea if they are useful and which ones are worth looking into. Every website about weight loss speaks about food diary and self monitoring, this appears to be an accurate method.
What are your thoughts
Valarie
Valarie,
My first thought was: What the heck is a [...]
Related StoresMarch 21st, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
If you took two packages of Hanes Underwear and compared them like Julia did, then you would notice a distinct difference between the pictures. The authors of Photoshop Disasters hit it right on the head:
If you’re trying to guess which one is the real leg, the smart money is on neither.
I know that [...]
Related StoresMarch 15th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
There are many times that companies brag about their own advertisements with such phrases as, “As Advertised On TV” or “Advertised In These High Quality Magazines.” Most people just shrug and move on, but what if a vitamin is listed in the PDR? Isn’t that an honor?
Envia would like you to think so, but MLM [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Multi-Vitamin Brags About Paid Advertisement
March 4th, 2008 — , Beware, Exercise from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Something about this DVD bothers me: Women’s Health: The Wedding Workout (2006). Wedding workout? Really? Is it any different than a general workout? What could be physically grueling about your wedding that would make you need a wedding workout to prepare for it? It all smacks of profiteering to me.
I’ve been disgusted with the wedding [...]
Related StoresMarch 2nd, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I’ve talked about Kimkins before. It was a very low carb, low fat and low calorie diet that imploded in controversy last year.
Starling Fitness » How Did Kimkins Fly Under My Radar?
It looks like a local Fox News affiliate did a story about it and you can see it here:
Click through to see parts two, [...]
Related StoresFebruary 29th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Something about this article doesn’t sit right for me.
UMHS Press Release: U-M poll: Kids’ obesity not weighing on their parents’ minds
I think it’s this line of reasoning.
While most parents agree childhood obesity is a major health issue, many underestimate their own children’s weight and fail to take corrective steps to manage weight gain. [...]
Related StoresFebruary 26th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I have seen a lot of advertising for Medifast lately. Their current celebrity darling is Genie Francis, the woman who played Laura in General Hospital. Oprah lost her weight with Medifast back in the late Eighties, but she immediately started gaining the minute she went off the program. A public failure of their program is [...]
Related StoresFebruary 24th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The photo on the cover of The National Enquirer was enough to cause confusion. After losing an incredible 75 pounds with Jenny Craig, the tabloid suggested that Kirstie Alley had gained it all back and lost her job because of it.
What if there was a different motive? According to People Magazine, Kirstie Alley is planning [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Kirstie Alley Creating Her Own Weight Loss Plan
February 20th, 2008 — , Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
No matter how smart I get, there is still a desperate little girl inside of me that wants to be skinny at any cost. When I saw this postcard from PostSecret, my first thought was, “God, I wish I could be like this.”
Honestly, I am happier when I am eating.
I have tried for years to [...]
Related StoresJanuary 9th, 2008 — Beware, Exercise, Gadgets from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The Bowflex is an exercise machine that uses flexible rods for resistance. It’s a small machine that folds up nicely and is relatively light weight when compared to weight machines that use weights for resistance. When I was looking for a weight training solution, I looked at Bowflex machines in the sporting goods stores. I [...]
Related StoresJanuary 5th, 2008 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I got a kick out of this commercial for Ike Berger’s Power Shaper.
My parents had an exercise device like this when I was a child. It wasn’t stretchy like this one. It connected to a door knob and used tension from the feet to workout the arms and vice versa. It didn’t work for either [...]
Related StoresJanuary 3rd, 2008 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I’m not willing to believe this postcard from PostSecret. I know it might seem like you’re alone because you’re fat, but it’s simply not true. You’re alone because you won’t let anyone love you because you’re fat. It’s a minor distinction, but one that is entirely in your control.
You can break the cycle, and honestly, [...]
Related StoresDecember 16th, 2007 — Beware, Motivation, motivation from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
In a folder called Old Stuff, there lies another folder called Physical Progress. Inside that folder is a picture named MyGoal dated July 22, 2002. I KNOW the picture is older than that, but that July five years ago was the last time I opened it. It is a photo of my face on Jennifer [...]
Related StoresDecember 7th, 2007 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This photo from I Can Has Cheezburger? made me realize how silly it is to compare myself to the models in fashion magazines.
That little kitten is PERFECT. We all are wonderful and perfect and comparing ourselves to an image, whether it’s the models in magazines, the concept of the perfect parent or even a ceramic [...]
Related StoresDecember 4th, 2007 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This postcard from PostSecret reminded me of how I felt when I was thinner. It was before I backslid as far as I have:
“When people compliment on how skinny I am, I know they are really saying that I have small boobs.”
This is a dangerous thought. Discounting the compliments of others and replacing [...]
November 30th, 2007 — Beware, diet from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Japan must think Americans are insane. The Pizza Huts there are serving this monstrocity:
Pizza Hut Japan - Double Roll
There is just too much in the crust and on the top to really list it all. FitSugar, however, have tried to breakdown the calorie count:
More Fun With Fast Food: Double Roll Pizza Breakdown | FitSugar - [...]
Related StoresNovember 16th, 2007 — Beware, Exercise from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
As Wendy Bumgardner pointed out, it’s dark at night and not so safe for night time exercise:
Time Change Deadly to Walkers
Changing from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time triples pedestrian deaths from 5 pm - 7 pm, according to two Carnegie Mellon University researchers. An average of 37 more people are killed each [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Walkers and Runners: Stay Visible After Dark
November 14th, 2007 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
Adele Hagan, a food stylist from Canada, was the guest blogger on The Diet Blog last week. Food styling is the art of making food look good for a photograph and making it look good for advertising.
Are There Ethics in Food Styling?
When talking about food advertising, she said:
What you see on the plate [...]
Related StoresContinue reading → Food Styling: Make The Food Look Better Than It Is
November 11th, 2007 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
The words Anatrim and spam are linked in my mind. Every day for the last few week, I have received a spam message in my email for a product called Anatrim. Here are some of the subject lines they have used:
Healthy living with less fat
Getting thinner can be enjoyable
Say goodbye to extra pounds
Doctors and Celebrities [...]
November 2nd, 2007 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
This website is supposed to be funny. Yeah, it’s kind of funny, but for me, it hits too close to home.
Crying, while eating
All of them seem staged and the “reasons” they’re crying range from silly to hilarious. The only problem is, I really turn to food when I’m sad. It actually lifts my mood and [...]
Related StoresNovember 1st, 2007 — Beware from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
If you are abusing your body by bingeing, purging or starving, you are teaching your child how to have an eating disorder. I learned how to binge by bingeing with my father. This postcard from PostSecret showed me how my father must have felt when he realized he had passed his eating problems on to [...]
Related StoresOctober 25th, 2007 — Beware, Gadgets from Laura Moncur @ Starling Fitness
I usually don’t talk about treadmill recalls, but the Cybex treadmills have been recalled TWICE now.
Cybex International Inc. Recalls Treadmills Previously Repaired Due to Fire Hazard
Here is the list of treadmills that have been recalled:
This recall involves the treadmills “Cybex 400T,” “Cybex 410T,” “Trotter 510,” “Trotter 525″, “Trotter 535″, and “CXT+” that were [...]
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