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The final Stefon sketch from Saturday Night Live.
The Stefon bit was one of my favorites. I’m gonna miss him
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Me for the past three days!
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Paleo Banana Bread
After starting the paleo diet, I started craving the exact foods I wasn’t allowed to eat. This is my first...
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Apologies for the terrible image quality - I’m lacking scanner access at the minute so I had to take these photos on my phone
I was...
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Extended Standing Leg Stretch Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana
One of the biggest myths about...
hey! i just wanted to share. I read a lot of your stuff and its finally inspired a change for me. I have been constantly trying to slim down and always seemed to plateau and get sad and give up. But after following you it has helped me change my view on things. Instead i am no longer focuses on the inches and instead focusing on my fitness and health. I am officially training for a Spartan Race! super excited! Finally focusing on just getting fit for a bigger cause than just my image and not starving myself. I am eating healthier, but if im hungry i eat, just smart options (; So i just wanted to thank you for that!
- Awesome. :) Made my day!
I would argue that caring for your body in traditional ways- like eating a healthy diet, exercising, and taking your vitamins- may be the least important part of your health. (I know! Radical idea coming from a doctor!)
This may sound shocking to you. After all, you’ve probably watched many other doctors get on television to tell you that your health is all about using food as medicine, getting enough exercise, and avoiding bad habits. I’m not suggesting that those aren’t great health-inducing behaviors. What I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter how great your diet is if your body is flooded with stress hormones! No amount of kale is going to counterbalance the toxic effects of high levels of cortisol and epinephrine on your body.
So what’s the most important part of your health? The nature of your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. When your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are positive, relaxation responses are activated, healing hormones like oxytocin, dopamine, nitric oxide, and endorphins are released, and the body’s natural self-repair mechanisms are activated, allowing the body to do what it does best-heal itself.
- Lissa Rankin, M.D
Author of What’s Up Down There: Questions You Would Ask Your Gynecologist If She Were Your Best Friend
DIY Spinach Ice Cubes For Smoothies
Crazy easy, saves time, money AND replaces the need for ice cubes in your smoothies. Love this idea!
This is for all the women out there who feel victorious for being hungry all day. I get it. I was there too. Things have changed. And today, I’m sharing my story. Maybe you’ll recognize some similarities with your own. My hope is that it gets your wheels turning.
Let’s start with a comparison. BEFORE & NOW: My views on feeling hungry…
BEFORE:
“I’m starving, but if I make it until 7pm I “win”. Gotta get this weight off. I’m in charge of this body, not the other way around. Don’t eat, don’t eat: as long as you’re under 1000 calories for the day, you’re cool. Have some more coffee. (reality: after 7pm, eat everything in sight and feel like an awful person)
NOW:
“If you need me, I’ll be eating the food. I might be able to lose a few pounds, but it’s not a priority. Feeding the bod is. Feeling awesome, but excuse me…nom nom nom.”
It’s been YEARS since I was hungry on purpose, and the thought of spending the day feeling victorious for not eating seems foreign to me. I was an under-the-radar yo-yo dieter and my behaviors were linked entirely to my weight. Up, don’t eat. Down, eat everything. If I’d gained weight, the punishment was not eating or eating very little. The triumph was overcoming my body’s physiological needs and ‘winning’ at not eating for a day. It was pretty addictive.
AND… I didn’t know it was messed up. Really, no idea. Every woman I met was on some kind of diet, saying very similar things and feeling very hungry too. Seemed normal. It had no basis in health: I hadn’t learned that veggies were awesome, to eat to fuel my body or to reduce my sugar. I was drinking 3-5 diet cokes a day and thought they were bad ass because they were zero calories. The perfect “victory” food.
Thank fuck that’s over, lol. High five lady. I love the food.
It’s a show and tell, nothin’ to hide, body pride kind of a day, so posting this pic for a reader who messaged me about how ‘abnormal’, ‘gross’ and ‘ugly’ her stretch marks were.
She said she didn’t know anyone who had them on their thighs, butt or boobs like she did. I thought I’d put an end to that.
Hi. I’m Chichi. Nice to meet you. These are my thighs/hips. And some of my stretch marks. I’d show you my boobs, but FB gets weird about that. I pinky swear, their stretch marks look similar. I also have scars, cellulite, a big birthmark on my belly and a horrible, ill advised playboy bunny tattoo on my low back. I was 16 and thought it was ‘cool’. These all used to be things I hated about myself. I decided that didn’t work for me anymore and now I’m pretty cool with ‘em. No shame.
My body doesn’t need me to apologize for it. It’s wicked.
I have no story behind these marks. They aren’t tiger stripes, or battle wounds. At my biggest, I was a size 12-14. My boobs are smaller now, but I had the marks pretty much out of puberty. This is just my bod. I didn’t do anything to earn it. But I’m down with it.
I don’t know what your body looks like, but I can guarantee ‘most’ of us here have stretch marks or cellulite. Or will one day. You might have more marks, less marks, lighter marks, darker marks or none at all. But no matter what your body’s own brand of quirky brings, know that there are millions of beautiful women in the same boat. It’s normal. It’s beautiful. It’s not gross.
So here. Check my legs out. I’m not everybody, just somebody. And I have awesome legs and stretch marks. Bam.
(PS- Fit Mama Training started an avalanche of awesome earlier. Click on the link for the most amazing post ever.)
Spinach, eggs and bananas. Three things I eat *almost* every day. Other stuff would make the list too, but those are the first that came to mind!
Your turn! What 3 things would make your list?
Join the chit chat here. :)
In a monumentous decision, a federal judge has ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove longstanding age and point of sale restrictions that prevent women from easy access to emergency contraception. The FDA has 30 days to comply. It’s about damn time.
As it stands, emergency contraceptives are only available to women 17 and older without a prescription; younger teenagers need a prescription from a doctor. But even older women can have a hard time getting their hands on the morning after pill, since it’s only for sale at health clinics and pharmacies — and because some pharmacists take it upon themselves to (very illegally) play moral police.
Blue-Nan Re-Group Smoothie
Getting my appetit back! Re-fueling the bod. Healing starts with good nutrition, and I’ve been lacking in that department since I’ve been sick. Drinking my greens is an easier task than eating them, so hitting up the juicing and smoothies the last two days. Finally have a smidge of energy back. :)
I did yogurt here, but almond milk (or whatever you use) is fine. Freezing your fruit (and/or spinach) ahead of time helps the texture tons. Mangos also make great banana replacements, but you can use any fruit you like. PLAY! :
Things I WANT: Prepara Oil Mister
I’m not a big fan of cooking sprays, which is why I LOVE this idea! You can even create your own flavored oils by infusing dry herbs, spices, sun dried tomatoes, nuts, and more right in the mister itself.
And the wishlist keeps getting longer, lol.
When kids are younger — especially before they’re consuming tons of media and have friends — they get almost all of their behavioral cues from their parents. If their parents think it’s okay to call people names, then they’ll think it’s okay to call people names. If their mom hates her body, they can learn to hate their bodies, too.
If you want kids to learn that all people are equal and good, it requires vigilance. You can’t change the world around you — and you can’t always protect them — but you can explain to them that everyone’s equal, and you can say it again and again.
This goes double for disparaging your own body in front of your children. My mom always struggled with what she perceived to be fatness, and therefore was always on a diet. I don’t know how may disparaging comments I’ve heard her say about herself in my life, but if I had a dollar for every one, I could probably pay for my enormous amounts of therapy.
It’s hard enough to be a woman in our sexist culture, and the greatest gift we can give our girls is confidence in themselves — and that includes their bodies. As a parent, you’re competing with a plethora of outside influences — TV, advertising, friends, bullies, teachers — for your child’s attention. Inevitably, we’re all fucking up the kids around us — don’t worry, we’re teaching them good lessons, too! — but this is one thing that’s so fucking important. A girl’s sense of self is everything.
Funniest bathroom sign ever. :) Thanks Jo!
Get it. :)
“When it comes to fitness and body image, I’ve taken a pretty firm stance. All bodies are good bodies. You can’t hate yourself healthy. You can’t determine someone’s health by looking at them. Comparison is the thief of joy (and pointless). What your body can do is more important than what it looks like. And the needs of our bodies trump the needs of our egos, when it comes to keeping them healthy. (Ego needs are important too, but they cannot be solved with diet and exercise. That’s about attitude and changing how you think and feel about your body).
Along those lines, I don’t post ‘fitspo’ images here. I don’t believe it’s necessary or helpful to compare ourselves to others, and I also recognize that much like the images of very thin models we’re used to seeing in magazines, many fitness models are also photoshopped and represent unrealistic ideals to aspire to. And in my body positive space, there’s simply no room for any of that.
Don’t get me wrong: I think some of these women are bad ass fitness rockstars. I’m at a place now where I can admire their bodies without feeling negative about my own. But I’m acutely aware that even they don’t look like that in real life. I know that the kind of life I’d have to live to even come close to their bodies is NOT one I want. I train hard. I eat healthy. I like my body. But i have a life outside of the gym. And it includes cake, wine, pizza and sometimes bacon. I need my body in order to live my life, but my body doesn’t rule my life. “
