Author Archives: Jamie

About Jamie

Jamie is a professional writer who studied at the University of Oklahoma and specializes in covering health and fitness topics. She enjoys pilates, karaoke, and her mom's homemade chicken and noodles.

SkinnyGirl Cocktails Eliminated from Whole Foods’ Shelves

Natural grocer Whole Foods recently decided to pull the popular SkinnyGirl cocktail line from their shelves.

Whole Foods claims that the low calorie alcohol beverages contain unnatural ingredients. Lisa DeFazio, MS, RD, and Hollywood Nutrition Expert, said that Whole Foods allegedly removed the popular beverages because they contained caramel coloring, which was not within their definition of “natural.”

According to the Whole Foods blog, natural can be quite a complicated definition.

“‘Natural,’ on the other hand, doesn’t have a strong governmental definition when it comes to food, so my team (the Quality Standards Team) spends quite a lot of time defining which ingredients make up the natural foods we sell in our stores. The basic tenets of our standard require that our products are free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats,” Joe Dickson, Global Quality Standards Coordinator for Whole Foods wrote.

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Posted on August 31, 2023 by Jamie

Woman Determined to be Fattest in the World

Susanne Eman wants the definition of beauty to expand.

Eman, weighing in at around 727 pounds, wants one day to be the fattest woman in the world, beating the current record of 1,600 pounds. To reach her goal, Eman is consuming over 20,000 calories per day.

Although the obese woman consumes an absurd amount of calories and has to use a motorized scooter in the grocery store, she insists she is perfectly healthy.

“I go for a waddle and do stretches and exercises every day. My muscles need to hold up to my weight, so I have to stay strong,” Eman told the Daily Mail. “I take my blood pressure once a week, and every day, after I exercise, I take readings of my other vitals. I use a pulse oximeter to measure the concentration of oxygen in my blood stream.”

If any of Eman’s readings were abnormal she would call her doctor immediately, she said. She truly believes that what she’s doing is healthy, but has arranged for her sister to take care of her two sons, Brendin and Gabriel, if anything were to happen.

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Posted on August 29, 2023 by Jamie

Walking School Buses are the Healthier Way to Carpool

via columbianmissourian.com

As school budgets get tighter, administrators are doing just about everything to cut costs, including diminishing some of the necessities like teachers’ salaries, library book funds, and even school buses.

Although diminishing school budgets is not exactly good news, some positive results may come out of the cuts. If the budget in your school district leaves hardly any room for school buses and your neighborhood is the first to get the axe, consider starting up a “Walking School Bus” in your community.

A Walking School Bus is a new initiative created by the Healthways/ Blue Zones Vitality City group in the Beach Cities area in Southern California. The Healthways/ Blue Zones group is dedicated to help their communities live longer and healthier.

Walking school buses are a group of children who ride their bikes or walk to school with one or more parent supervising. Children learn the rules of traffic in a safe environment and get plenty of exercise on their way to and from school each morning.  As childhood obesity rates continue to increase, a walking school bus might be a good way to sneak some exercise into your child’s routine.

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Posted on August 23, 2023 by Jamie

Kate Middleton’s Photoshopped Image Doesn’t Help Eating Disorder Rumors

There will be no grazie to Grazia Magazine who recently photoshopped Kate Middleton‘s already thin frame down to waif size for their Royal Wedding edition cover.

After months of denying any alterations to the photo, Grazia finally admitted that the too-skinny result was a Photoshop accident. The magazine defended itself, saying there were no solo images of Kate leaving Westminster Abbey in her Alexander McQueen gown so a photo of the new couple had to be altered. Grazia editors photoshopped Prince William out of  the photo, forcing them to copy over another arm for her and inadvertently making her appear smaller.

“[Grazia] would like to reassure all our readers that we did not purposely make any alternations to the Duchess of Cambridge’s image to make her appear slimmer, and we are sorry if this process gave that impression,” an apology statement read in the magazine.


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Posted on August 22, 2023 by Jamie

Are Yo-Yo-ing Celebs More Relatable for Diet Ads?

Celebrities are real people. They go to the grocery store (unless their assistant goes for them), drive cars (if their driver has the day off), and their weight fluctuates.

Diet companies have a recent history of corralling celebrities into being their spokespeople, but is this the best marketing strategy? People who see a celebrity as a diet spokesperson believe that they “know” the person who is losing weight right in front of them. So what happens when this known person gains the weight back?

We all remember Kirstie Alley‘s shining moment on Oprah as she danced around in her bathing suit after her weight loss on Jenny Craig. Jenny Craig gave her the boot when she gained her weight back and she was back on Oprah, this time with conservative dress and a solemn look on her face.

Notorious yo-yo dieter Carnie Wilson was the spokesdieter for The Fresh Diet and had a successful start with a 20 pound weight-loss.

“She dropped, like, 20 pounds in the first three months. Then she, I mean, she had to go off of it. There’s no question. She might have eaten the meals, but she ate the meals with a lot of other stuff. She started a cheesecake company.” Zalmi Duchman, chief executive for Fresh Diets, said.

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Posted on August 18, 2023 by Jamie

NPR’s Living Large: Obesity in America Takes a Hard Look at Our Growing Crisis

Approximately one-third of the U.S. adult population and 17 percent of children are considered obese according to CDC statistics.

NPR’s special series “Living Large: Obesity in America” takes a  look at what it truly means to be obese in the United States, a country getting larger and unhealthier by the second.

Why are Americans obese? Blame it on the lifestyle. Americans are eating–everywhere. We eat in our cars on the way to kids’ soccer games, on the way to work, in-between meals, and after school. With our lackadaisical view of standard mealtimes, we are not only eating more, but are eating processed foods that are quick and adaptable to our on-the-go lifestyles and it’s rubbing off on other countries. The French are getting fatter, too, according to NPR.

Although France is typically viewed as a counterexample to America’s growing obesity problem, obesity in France is rising slightly. The French pride themselves on their love of food and traditional meal times. The French also know how to properly prepare a meal, something that is vastly disappearing in the age of globalization and urbanization.

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Posted on August 17, 2023 by Jamie

Victoria Beckham Uses Yogalosophy to Lose Pregnancy Weight

It has been revealed that Victoria Beckham has decided to lose her baby weight by adopting the practices of Yogalosophy. Beckham is determined to be a size eight by New York Fashion Week starting September 8th and has already started exercising at home just over a month after giving birth to baby girl Harper Seven.

Yogalosophy is a hybrid yoga program that combines toning exercises with yoga asanas, or postures, which gives you a sleek, toned look all over your body as well as a calm mind. Mandy Ingber, celebrity trainer and the woman responsible for Jennifer Aniston‘s flawless body, created Yogalosophy. Aniston has often talked about her dedication to a healthy lifestyle and has been working with Ingber for over ten years.

The good news for non-A-listers out there is that Ingber’s unique style of yoga is available on DVD for at-home use. The DVD provides instructions on how to perform each move and lose weight by following along with each challenging routine. The routines in the DVD consist of two 30-minute and one 55-minute workout. The program also gives advice to viewers on how to achieve inner peace and calm in addition to giving a great workout. Ingber is there every step of the way with encouraging words of wisdom both on the DVD and on her website which is updated frequently with “intentions of the month.”

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Posted on August 17, 2023 by Jamie

Vita Coco Gets Sued for False Advertising

The makers of Vita Coco, the 100 percent natural re-hydrating coconut water, were served with a 5 million dollar lawsuit August 11th. A recent study by Consumerlab.com, a product testing company, found that Vita Coco and other all-natural coconut water drinks were not as hydrating as clever marketing may have indicated.

Vita Coco and other coconut water drinks have become popular in the past few years, noting their superiority to sports drinks in replacing electrolytes after exercise. Vita Coco ad campaigns in particular claim that their drink has 15 times the electrolytes found in sports drinks, which according to the current law suit is false.

Many health experts believe that while coconut water is a good source of potassium it is not an adequate source of re-hydration, especially if participating in heavy exercise like marathon training. Experts also say that unless you’re exercising strenuously for over an hour, there is no need for electrolyte replacement afterwards and that water is enough to replenish your system.

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Posted on August 16, 2023 by Jamie

Google Maps Gives Cyclists Their Own Directions

Take that old Schwinn out of the garage and wipe off the dust. In addition to walking and driving directions, Google maps also has biking directions.

Many people prefer biking to work or school to help the environment, save money, or just enjoy nature. So due to popular demand, Google maps introduced biking directions in March 2024 so that cyclists could more efficiently map out bike trips. The bike directions allow a user to personalize their trips, find bike lanes, and avoid big hills and major traffic zones. Google maps provides a useful tool for those who want to stake out the best routes and get reacquainted with a heart healthy childhood pastime.

In order to find bike trails in your town, type in the city on Google maps. Once you have found the correct city and zoomed in, click “more” on the options at the top of the map. The drag down list includes a “bicycling” option. Once you have selected the bicycling feature, the city map will now include dark green lines which indicate a bike-only trail, light green lines which indicate a bike lane on a road, and dashed green lines which indicate a road is designated as preferred for cyclists but without the specific bike lane.

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Posted on August 11, 2023 by Jamie

Why Fatty Foods Boost Moods

Warm bread fresh out of the oven, mom’s homemade spaghetti, and chocolate chip cookies could make anyone have a good day. While it’s no mystery that fatty or sugary foods can alleviate just about any bad mood, hardly anyone questions why while reaching for that next Oreo.

Dr. Lukas Van Oudenhove’s study at the University of Leuven in Belgium discovers that the fatty acids in comfort food may be what is making us so happy when we’re consuming junk food. The study examined 12 non-obese volunteers the morning after a 12-hour fast. The volunteers were hooked up to a gastric feeding tube that gave either saline solution or fatty acid and their brain activity was recorded during a 40 minute fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scan.

Before the participants were given either the saline or fatty acid, the researchers played sad classical music and displayed sad faces on a screen. The results of the study were that the participants who were given the fatty acid were 50 percent less sad than those given the saline solution.

Dr. Lukas Van Oudenhove and his team proved that the fatty acids in comfort foods were able to give the participants the same feeling without the visual and oral stimulation of eating the food.

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Posted on August 9, 2023 by Jamie

Menstrual Cycle Does not Slow Athletes Down. Period.

All women dread that certain time of the month. Many women feel like crawling into bed and not speaking to anyone for a week, let alone do any kind of physical activity. So how do female athletes play under the pain and suffering of their cycles and does it affect their performance at all?

A New York Times article discusses how or if the menstrual cycle affects the athleticism of female athletes. Because women have not been participating in athletic events for very long, the research on female athletics is still in its infancy.

A study researching female rowers in Europe found that they measured the same in strength, endurance, and overall fitness in every point of their cycles. Some of the women were on birth control, which affects the production of estrogen, and some were not. Some of the women were professional athletes and others were not. Each woman could perform the same whether she was ovulating, menstruating or somewhere in between.

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Posted on August 9, 2023 by Jamie