Running in a sauna suit? A $425 cleanse? Bringing your personal chef to cook for you at restaurants because you can’t trust the food? Stars, they really are just like us! Sorta! While I’ll never have a personal chef (but neither will I have people with telephoto lenses trying to take pictures of me bending over in a swimsuit, so there’s that), when it comes to making diet and fitness mistakes, it turns out celebrities are just like the rest of us. This week I did a slideshow for Shape.com highlighting some of the bad advice certain A-listers are spewing of late. Not to mock them – heaven knows I’ve made so many mistakes in the name of “health” that I could write a book about them (oh wait, I DID) – but because it makes me feel better to know everyone struggles with trying to figure this whole healthy living thing out. And because it made me laugh out loud when Serena Williams said, “I don’t like anything physical. If it involves sitting down or shopping, I’m excellent at it.” Honesty for the win!
But my favorite quote was from Katherine Heigel, because it is such a perfect example of how no woman, no matter how talented or beautiful, escapes the comparing curse:
“On comparing herself to other stars, Katherine Heigl recently said she doesn’t “have the discipline to work out 2 hours a day like Jennifer Aniston and doesn’t want to eat packaged meals like Jessica Alba.” She adds, “It’s only now that I realize how hard those girls work for their bodies, and what level of commitment they make to do that. I’m too lazy and I like food and I like my free time too much to spend it working out!”
While we admire Heigl for being true to herself and her natural body shape, she shows the danger of comparing ourselves to other women. Eating properly and exercising are good for you in so many ways, even if they never make you look like Aniston or Alba.” (May I say it feels weird to put my own quote in block quotes??)
To read the rest: 7 Celebrity Health Tips That Are Anything But Healthy
On the other end of the spectrum, I got to do an awesome slideshow featuring some of my fave bloggers (YOU GUYS!) and what they carry in their gym bag. Due to some technical difficulties (Dear Editor, the Internet ate my e-mail) it’s taken a couple of months to finally get posted but it’s now live on Shape. Go check out MizFit, Cranky Fitness, Mama Sweat, Cort the Sport, Ulli, All Health Breaks Loose, Bikini or Bust, Man Bicep, Go Tami Go, Truth 2 Being Fit, and TGI Paleo and see what these fit ladies are hiding in their gym bags! (Hint: one of them has 7 tubes of lip gloss!)
As a mom, I loved Mama Sweat/Kara’s description of her bag:
“Like most moms with un-potty-trained children, the must-haves include diapers, wipes, changing pad, sippy cup, and emergency snack (for both of us). I also keep everything I would need if I get the opportunity to shower (which rarely happens). I also want to be prepared for any workout, because I never know how I’ll feel once I walk in the door. So you’ll find everything from swim goggles to cycling shoes in my bag, and another important item: an extra sports bra. You never know.”
And the picture is hilarious as she’s holding her baby, her gym bag and possibly the dog too.
To read the rest: Fitness Bloggers Reveal: What’s in my gym bag
All of which made me think about where we get our health advice from. Obviously straight from the scientists and researchers would be ideal but let’s be honest, that often takes more time and money than most of us have. (And also more brain cells than I have left over after spending 14 straight hours with tiny tyrants who think nothing of peeling 4 pounds of oranges and shoving the peels in our new couch so I wouldn’t find them. Of course they overlooked the Hansel & Gretel-esque trail of partially chewed orange segments pointing like a guilty arrow at their feet.) The next level up would be sites like MSN Health or WebMD but they lack a certain charm. And then we have bloggers. Bloggers often get a lot of flack for giving advice that we are either unqualified to give or is just outright bad – which is exactly why I try never to give advice. But I tend to think of blogging as the modern-day equivalent of the backyard fence – it may not be the most accurate but it’s the most accessible and there’s something to be said for anecdotal evidence.
And the final tier of information is your mother. In case you don’t remember, your mother basically out-ranks everyone and you should always listen to her advice, mostly because she can tell when you’re getting a cold just by hearing you on the phone.
What sources do you trust for your health and fitness advice? What’s the most heinous piece of advice you’ve ever heard a celeb/writer/blogger give (We’ll leave your mother out of this)?
When I told my denture-wearing mother that I needed to my bi-annual cleaning, she said, “what do you need to go to the dentist for? Do your teeth hurt?” Um, no…that’s just how I keep them in my head.
This made me laugh out loud. Oh you are awesome.
I take advice from bloggers on products, recipe ideas, and new workouts. When it comes to anything like supplements I’ll read up on it and if it’s something that I’m interested in I’ll talk to the doc.
aaah, i’m on shape.com!! 😉 thank you sooo much for that, i feel like i’m famous for one day (ok, maybe just my gym bag is, but anyway…;-))
GIrl, it’s all you and your cute self that make that pic! Thanks again for helping me!!
Don’t forget your friendly PT/fitness instructor as an advice source! I get asked 17223040282 different things every day (and an alarming number of people ask me things that they should really ask their doctor….)
I get my advice online and from courses I attend… but most of all from colleagues. They have first-hand anecdotal evidence of most stuff. I read fewer fitness blogs now than I used to in a bid to keep down the info overload (also because I just don’t have the time these days). There’s almost too much out there now, and so much of it is conflicting, it’s easy to get boggled by it if you’re not careful.
Px
It is SO easy to get boggled. And good point about personal trainers being a huge source of advice!!
Thinking about it, I don’t really take advice from anyone. I get inspired by bloggers or friends to try something new, like running or Zumba, or an adjustment to my eating habits, but if it doesn’t work for me, I’ll stop doing it. I basically use myself as a guinea pig, and only stick to the things that feel right for my mind and body.
And I disagree with you last point. Even though I love my mother, she is probably the most unhealthy person I know, an underweight heavy smoker, with anorexic tendencies, who despises physical activity and vegetables. I’ve finally found health and happiness when I stopped listening to her advice.
Oooh, I’m so sorry about your mom! But you know I love the guinea pig idea:)
I pay attention to all the advice I can!
I figure the important stuff will stick 🙂
About Gwyneth Paltrow: I sure wouldn’t take dietary advice from anyone suffering from osteopenia. (Nor am I sticking to lifting weights under 3-pounds.)
The “no weights over three pounds” nonsense is maybe the worst piece of fitness advice I’ve ever heard a celebrity give. Honestly, Tracy Anderson should be hounded out of the fitness industry – and maybe off of the entire planet – for spreading that garbage.
WOw, I had no idea she had osteopenia! Although it makes sense. Eek. And I agree with both of you, Tracy Anderson is crazytoons.
Blogs, science, newspaper, magazines….I’m in constant search for knowledge. I’m super excited to start the nutrition and metabolism section of my physiology class. I finally get to teach students everything I’ve been learning and researching for the past decade just for fun! I feel so….prepared. (Aaaand, now that I said that, I will get about 192834 off the wall questions that I can’t answer.)
I wish I could take your class!!!! That sounds fascinating!
It’s funny but the things I avoid believing without some outside research first are government/conventional wisdom studies/reports. I feel like there are studies out there proving just about everything. If I find an interesting study, I always go look for more information so I can decide if it is advice I should take.
I also think that if something worked for someone and they are advising you to do it, you should look into it. There are so many diet and exercise programs out there and everyone is different so it is really great to explore all of your options even if some sound just plain old ridiculous. I mean hey if the diet sounds ridiculous to you at least you have been “advised” about what not to do! 🙂
I don’t take advice from most blogs. Trying to model my diet and exercise after HLBs just furthered my eating disorder and allowed me to justify it. I know it can work for some people, but I think that more blogs need to be more responsible and honest about their habits. Those of us that do have the genetics to struggle with eating disorders will take things the wrong way.
I totally get this: “Trying to model my diet and exercise after HLBs just furthered my eating disorder and allowed me to justify it.” It’s why to this day I can’t read any food/diet blogs… I just hopehopehope that I don’t trigger other readers that way.
The worst diet advice I ever got was from Cosmo (big surprise, lol!): “Eat an ice cream sundae, and nothing else all day.”
Yeah.
Celebrities are the LAST people we should take diet and exercise advice from!!!!!!!
Wow, that is terrible advice!! Did they recommend a little cocaine in between sundaes to keep your appetite down? Eesh.
The worst advice has come from my mom. #1 “There’s no reason you should eat anything but fruits and veggies since you’re so fat”. #2 “You threw up because you’re hair is too long”. #3 “We can eat this crappy though tasty food, but not you”. Second worst, a trainer at gym, telling me that I was 40% fat, at 200 lbs, but I should weigh no more than 115. I got up in his face about his lack of math skills, but he stuck to his numbers. Idiot.
What does your hair have to do with puking?! And I’m so glad you set your trainer straight. Eek!
I wondered about the gym bag piece!! Thanks for doing that and I definitely gave it and YOU a shout-out on my blog today. Looks like I do lots of things to the extreme, including my gym bag.
So much health and fitness (and injury related) advice that you find online is just the same stuff repeated over and over and over. So much of it is pretty worthless — like ask.com pretty much sucks. I trust my coach and trainer the most. I sift through reputable blogs of uber trainers and racers and then either make my own decisions or get input from my coach, trainer, or close racing friends. Information literacy is a critical skill!! Learn to be skeptical and evaluate the credibility of the source.
Sorry Cort! It somehow got lost in the shuffle of posts and I didn’t realize it hadn’t gone live until Cranky Fitness e-mailed me about it! Thanks so much for you help and patience!!
I think common sense goes a long way when it comes to healthy living. That, and wikipedia (if only it could be quoted in college essays!) get me through when it comes to making the right choices.
Loved & love all your articles over at Shape! Man, celebs, just not where I look for truth in “advertising”! 😉 All of them saying they only work out 2 days a week & eat.. YEAH RIGHT & that is why you are a size minus 0! 🙂
Thx so much for including me in your slideshow – what fun ti see it all!
As for advice, I do go to Mayo & I do research things that I really need to be sure about & if it is too good to be true, well, as the old saying goes… 😉
You rock!
Thanks so much for your help!!
I recently had some afternoon talk show on (I was folding laundry, I swear it!) and there was a celeb dishing out her advice–to Dr. Oz, yes, that’s right–and I thought, “well this is weird to have a celebrity explaining to an M.D. what to eat and why.” I’m definitely going with the bloggers on this one because we all (and I say we because I do this too) read, read, read, and keep up with what’s going on. And even if we read, try, fail, at least we get the whole story. Unlike celebrities it seems, failure IS an option for us. You think I’m just talking about you Charlotte, don’t you? The failure stories are the best. And I’ll have you know, I had NO idea my dog was standing behind me when my 6-year-old snapped that photo (she follows me everywhere–the dog, not the daughter–has serious separation anxiety and would love nothing more than to go to the gym with me). So, yes, it does look like I have a tail. I did not even notice that when I sent it to you, otherwise, I might have had my photog take a redo! Again, failure stories are the best!
Your dog made the pic (and the baby of course;)) – I love it! It perfectly encapsulates all the juggling we moms do! And this: “Unlike celebrities it seems, failure IS an option for us. ” YES.
I’m another one who takes in advice from as many places as I can — but I also make sure to run everything through the critical thinking factory that is my brain. Things I think about:
What are this person’s goals? If they’re trying to drop waist sizes, that might not be as compatible with my goals for strength and stamina. Similarly, if they’re trying to sell some… ANYTHING… I have to consider that sale their #1 goal, which sometimes gets in the way of sound fitness advice.
What are this person’s biases? Not always as clear-cut as the goals. Some advice givers have biases against things like muscle bulk (or fat bulk), specific activities as contributing to specific injuries (and I usually read/hear them in a way that’s oversimplified and overstated), a “no pain, no gain” mentality that can involve insufficient warm up time and/or pushing the body too hard, too fast, etc.If something checks out — and seems like something I’d be interested in anyway — then I try it, slowly and gradually at first. I give myself time to assess how this particular thing is working for me. If it seems to be causing more harm than good — even if it seems like it should be good advice generally — I look for ways to either modify or scrap it.
Great questions and I love how you answer them for yourself!! Very level-headed.
I recently wrote a post about advice and about the ‘truth in health’ and how it is really, really extremely hard to find it.
I think what everybody needs to take from hearing advice is that advice, like our bodies, are all very unique. Exercise programs, nutrition advice, anything-health-related-insert-here … is all unique to individual people. Sure, other than the obvious (like only eating ice cream sundaes!) should be avoided but when it comes to dairy free, gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, etc … people need to back down and focus on themselves instead of judging other people!
Whew, 😉
Is it too much to say that most of my advice comes from you ? I also try out thing for myself
Hahah – thanks Terri!
That’s a way of thinking about bloggers I have not come across before; ” But I tend to think of blogging as the modern-day equivalent of the backyard fence – it may not be the most accurate but it’s the most accessible and there’s something to be said for anecdotal evidence.”
The thing about the next door neighbour giving advice is that you’ve no idea about how valid it is. This isn’t to say that it’s not going to be valid, but that you need to be able to evaluate their information for yourself. Sort of like asking ‘how would I know if this is right for me?’ Which is actually how we probably should make our decisions anyway (but you might not want to trust me on this, I’m a blogger! 🙂
On the other hand, anecdotal evidence was previously valued in medicine, it’s only with the rise of studies, drug companies and big business in health that we have been told to distrust anecdotal evidence. Yet it can be very hard to miss that there is some great info out there, some of which can be life saving, useful, beneficial, life changing etc. There is also the point from sports that the methods coaches use are frequently 10 or more years ahead from the results being verified by scientific studies….
my 2c
George Super BootCamps
“There is also the point from sports that the methods coaches use are frequently 10 or more years ahead from the results being verified by scientific studies….” Excellent 2 cents! Thank you George!
My pleasure Charlotte!