Tag Archives: media

5 Films About Body Image Every Man and Woman Should Watch

Body image is a tricky subject. It’s something we deal with every day, whether we realize it or not. “Do I look ok in these pants?” “Wow, she’s gotten thin.” “He has great muscles, why don’t mine look like that?”

We have thoughts like these so many times per day, we barely even notice any more. Even those who normally have great body image can catch themselves having negative thoughts about their bodies, or someone else’s.

Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to remind us that you can be happy and healthy without being supermodel thin or bodybuilder built. Here are five films that we think are worth your time to watch.

Embrace

Though this documentary isn’t out yet, we were inspired by Taryn Brumfitt’s story and her now infamous non-traditional “before and after” photo. In it, the before image is Taryn during a fitness competition, the very picture of a “perfect body,” but unhappy with how she looked. The after photo is her today, less “fit” but much happier.

“The day I learned to unconditionally love my body was the day I became unstoppable.” <– CLICK TO TWEET THIS QUOTE

After making that realization, she decided to create a positive body image movement and share it through, among other channels, a documentary she’s crowdfunding on Kickstarter, Embrace.

taryn

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Posted on May 30, 2023 by Elizabeth

10 Ways the Media is Messing With Our Minds and Bodies

It’s well-known that the media sets crazy standards of beauty and behavior, especially for women. You’d think since we’re all aware of this, it would start to change. However, it seems that the problem is just getting worse. Change will come eventually, but only if we all decide to stop letting magazines, commercials and our daily news tell us how to look, think and act.

We’ve got our list of 10 things the media tries to tell us to get in our heads and influence how we view our bodies. We’ve also included why we think they’re a bunch of hooey.

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Posted on December 6, 2023 by Elizabeth

7 Celebrities Celebrating Weight Loss Success This Spring

Most Americans make the same promise to themselves at the new year, and it doesn’t matter if you live on Main St. or Hollywood Blvd. We all want to lose weight, look fitter, and feel stronger, and the celebrity set isn’t any different from us, except that they do it under the watchful guise of millions. That’s why we want to celebrate the weight loss efforts of a few of these stars.

As we close out the first quarter of the year, several have posted positive returns on those weight loss resolution investments!

CeeLo Green is down more than 12 pounds toward a 50 pound goal since launching the new year as a spokesman for eDiets. When we spoke to the company’s marketing team earlier this year they said CeeLo’s goal was to improve his health and not fixate on a number. The meal-delivery service seems to be a perfect addition to this busy singer’s life. (more…)

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Health Buzz

Americans Who Watch 4.5 Hours of TV Daily Have Plenty of Time to Exercise

You don’t have time to workout, huh? Well, I have information that says otherwise.

According to the Bureau of Labour we’re a busy bunch, but we’re not exactly making the most of our free time. The biggest excuse in the book for skipping exercise kind of falls apart when you see that people spend the majority of their leisure time watching TV. Are your shows that important? Then move while you watch!

You can easily do yoga, squats, or jog in place while cleaning out your DVR and catching up on the hottest summer reality shows. There are some people who only allow themselves time to watch TV while they’re on the treadmill at the gym, and some who keep their TV in the fitness room of their home.


The only thing we spend less time doing than exercise is relaxing, and that’s no good either. Our bodies and brains need plenty of time to unwind. In some cases though, exercise and relaxing go hand-in-hand. Yoga, swimming, cycling, a round of hoops, or chasing your kids through the park are all ways to relax while still remaining active. (more…)

Posted on June 26, 2023 by Natalie K

Vending Machine Pizza Delivered to the U.S. by Let’s Pizza

Have you ever wanted fresh pizza but didn’t want to pay the hefty price tag or wait for the 30-minute delivery? Well an innovative European-based food company is fixing that problem with its Let’s Pizza vending machines that produce a made-from-scratch pizza in less than three minutes.

The vending machine, which was developed by Claudio Torghel, comes from A1 Concepts – a company based in the Netherlands. Let’s Pizza has become quite popular throughout Europe, which is why the company has decided to plant a U.S. headquarters in Atlanta later this year.

The process of installing the vending machines is expected to be swift, and A1 hopes their tasty convenience pies will be met with open arms in the states.

If you’re wondering how the pizza is made, it’s a rather simple process.When a customer approaches the machine, they first make their flavor selection from one of four options. In Europe, those selections included Margherita, Salami, Prosciutto, and Speck. But stateside options may be more American-friendly. (more…)

Posted on June 15, 2023 by Dana

How to Cook with Almonds

When I was little, I used to sit by my dad while watching TV and he’d always be crunching away on handfuls of raw almonds. I’d asked for one or two every once in a while out of curiosity, and remember never liking the things. Their bland taste just did me wrong. It would literally take me one full minute to gnaw on a single almond before getting it down. 

But these days it’s a whole other story. I eat almonds on a daily basis and have for years. I love their texture, earthy flavor, health benefits and how versatile they are. Almonds are not only delicious, but they’re also a great food for dieters as they’re a good source of protein which can help squelch hunger.

What are almonds? Almonds are the seed of the almond tree, which is native to the Middle East and South Asia. The seed or “nut” portion of the almond is what we actually consume, while the outer hull is removed before packaging. (more…)

Posted on June 10, 2023 by Dana

Chaka Kahn Drops 60 Pounds

Legendary singer and entertainer, Chaka Kahn, has reportedly dropped a staggering amount of weight and is looking better than ever.

Previously known for her curvy figure, the 59-year-old entertainer has been stepping out lately with a much slimmer silhouette, including a performance at an arts education benefit performance at the Kennedy Center Spring Gala in Washington, D.C. on May 6, and an appearance at the Red Dress Gala for women’s heart health. At both events Chaka donned curve-hugging ensembles that showed off her recent weight loss, and it appears she’s looking nearly half her previous size.

Although the star has not yet publicly attributed her 60-pound weight loss to any one program or regimen, we can assume that she achieved it through hard work and by implementing healthy lifestyle changes. (more…)

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Dana

Ashley Judd Slams the Media for Its Criticism Against Her “Puffy” Face

Ashley Judd speaks out against the harsh words directed at her “puffy” face when she was battling a sinus infection last month.

The actress explains in a Daily Beast essay that she typically ignores anything written or spoken about her, but colleagues and friends urged her to listen to what was being said. What she discovered were cruel accusations that she had gotten plastic surgery because her face appeared to be “puffy.”

She chose to address the speculations and accusations because “they were pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic and embodies what all girls and women in our culture, to a greater or lesser degree, endure every day, in ways both outrageous and subtle.”

She was further upset when she realized women were joining the ongoing “disassembling of my appearance.” She feels an additional betrayal from those whom she considered to be professional friends.

She feels the obsession with women’s faces and bodies is abnormal and yet is becoming the norm in society. “We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abuers, or as abusing other girls and women.” (more…)

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Kristina

“Gluten-Free Diet Linked to Depression” is Another Gross Misrepresentation of Medical Research

“Gluten-free diet linked to increased depression and eating disorders” – the headline immediately caught my attention. As I read the first article, I was theorizing in my head about the chemical impact of gluten and carbohydrates in our brains and bodies, as well as the mental strain of adhering to a strict diet and the extra effort it requires. I thought a correlation between depression and a gluten-free lifestyle was possible, I thought about all my friends and family members living gluten-free, and I started digging for the actual research to investigate the experimental method used. What I found was that the alarming headline was taken from partial statements made by an experimenter, but the entire findings were not taken into account.

Unfortunately, this can be common in the news media and blogosphere where the focus is more on attention-grabbing sound bites rather than in-depth analysis and education. It is my sincere hope that everything I write (here and elsewhere) and everything you read at DietsInReview is researched and thought out, and we are not jumping to conclusions or publishing alarmist headlines simply because it is provocative.

In this case, the research found that those women with celiac disease (177 surveyed) who were most compliant with a gluten-free diet reported “increased vitality, lower stress, decreased depressive symptoms, and greater overall emotional health,” according to Josh Smyth of Penn State. This sounds like the opposite of the alarmist headline that grabbed my attention. The caveat is that those surveyed, even those managing celiac disease well through a gluten-free lifestyle, reported “higher rates of stress, depression, and a range of issues clustered around body dissatisfaction, weight and shape” compared to the general population.” (more…)

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

‘My Body Gallery’ Aims to Deconstruct Body Image Insecurities in Women

In a world where the media consistently projects images of the “perfect” female body, a new site called My Body Gallery promotes a positive body image by displaying real images of real women along with their height, weight and clothing size.

“In a world full of images of how we ‘should’ look it can get difficult to tell how we DO look,” the site says. “Most women have spent so many years looking at themselves in mirrors that we can no longer see what’s really there. The My Body Gallery project’s goal is to help women objectively see what we look like and come to some acceptance that we are all beautiful.”

While the site encourages women to accept that all bodies look different no matter what your shape and size, some women are skeptical that it will have a measurable affect on how a woman views her body.

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Posted on August 23, 2023 by Maris

Can You Trust the Nutrition Advice You’re Getting?

These days, the old adage “a penny for your thoughts” would have some people asking for a refund, especially when it comes to nutrition. I bet everyone reading this can come up with at least one example of “bad” nutrition advice they received at one time or another. (I’d love to get your examples in the comments section.)apple prescription

Mistakes happen and every once in awhile you are bound to get some bad information. But when your personal health and wellness is on the line there’s no room for confusion. We’re all busy and have limited time to read and educate ourselves. Who doesn’t want a straightforward answer to their nutrition questions?

So, here are a few tips for finding credible information:

  • Use the Internet with caution. When it comes to nutrition, you have to remember that anyone can post anything on the Internet and make it look appealing without any evidence of proof. Beware of the snake oil salesman lurking on the Internet, making promises about products, supplements, potions, and pills. (more…)
Posted on September 3, 2023 by Rebecca