Hooray, finally some really meaty articles in three of the weeklies.

New Idea, page 60, Hollywood Beach Bodies

A rundown on what the stars do to keep their bodies in great shape. Naomi Watts and Jennifer Aniston like to do yoga (don’t we all), but Jennifer’s blurb says “shoulder stands keep her shoulders looking sculptured”. Sorry, but shoulder stands really don’t use your shoulders at all - they work on balance, proprioception, and core work. Downward Dog, Triangle, any of the Warrior sequences would be great if you wanted to focus on shoulders, but the deal with yoga is balance between opposites, so if you have a good range of poses, your whole body will benefit. Boo to the Zone diet as well.

Elle McPherson’s diet is better - she follows a low GI plan - far more sensible, but apparently she uses cheese as her main source of protein, which is really strange, full of fat, and far less nutritious than lean meat, legumes or fish. Apparently she does 500 crunches a day, which is time consuming, and pointless. The Body needs someone to overhaul her core workout quickly! This article perpetuates the myth that ab exercise can change the shape of your stomach - it can’t! Especially if you eat that much cheese …

I like Eva Mendes approach, which is work hard, eat sensibly, and reap the rewards. Being genetically gifted also helps. “Everything in moderation is fine”. I agree.

This article is still full of the old “carbs are bad”, “eat raw food” diet myths, which is rubbish. Sure raw food is great, but so is cooked food if it’s the right kind. Carbs are great, if they’re the right kind. Try to educate yourself about what’s total crap, and limit the amount of times you eat it. It’s not rocket science.

On a positive note, there’s a plethora of exercise suggestions here: pole dancing (have you ever seen the upper body strength those women have?!!), surfing, yoga, Pilates, tennis, weights, running, bushwalking, judo, and Budokan are some of the things you could choose to try if you’re stuck for choices. Just please don’t eat too much cheese, or it won’t matter what you do.

Fairly mixed bag accuracy wise, so I’m giving it:

☆☆

Famous Magazine, Pg 64, Get Moving Again.

On page 64, Celebrity Overhaul’s trainer “P” has some advice for anyone thinking about getting into shape - and it’s good! Start off slowly and ease yourself into it, train with friends to help keep you motivated, and remember that if you’re moving, it counts as exercise - there’s no need to go berserk straight away. Checking with your doctor to make sure you’re okay to exercise is a smart idea, especially if you’ve taken a lot of time away from working out for any reason, like having a baby, illness or injury. Having correct equipment (shoes, non restrictive clothing, non-slip flooring) is also important.

P doesn’t ignore diet either, which is great. She also suggests employing a little positive imaging and thinking about yourself being the fitter person you want to be - great to get your brain involved. The idea of setting achievable goals is important too. All very much in snippet form, but great for anyone who wants usable suggestions on how to get back into things. I like the way she suggests using gyms, trainers and friends to help take the onus off you being the only one responsible for your exercise program. The more support you can get, the better!

Nice work P, informative and sensible advice. I give it:

☆☆☆☆

Woman’s Day

I’ve included this issue of Woman’s Day for a different reason. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been checking out a lot of websites, and have become quite fascinated by Oprah Winfrey (www.oprah.com) Oprah’s insanely well publicised battles with her weight, both in the print media and on her show are known to almost everyone. Her website credits her trainer, Bob Greene, with helping her reach a sustainable level of not only weight loss, but good health. She claims she feels better at fifty than ever before. The site has several sections with exercise programs, and her trainer’s six week boot camp, as well as sensible eating plans.

This months Women’s Weekly magazine features a ten page Oprah diet and exercise special, with Oprah talking a lot about self esteem. This quote sums it up “Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way”. It accompanies an article on her philosophy of eating for pleasure, and analogies about the symbolism of putting junk into your body and what that does to you as a person. I have to admit I liked the article and respected what she was saying.

So I was honestly disappointed (and a little shocked) to see a photo of Oprah on the cover of this weeks’s Woman’s Day with the caption “Oprah collapses, new diet threatens her life”. Sure, I know magazines love to beat up stories, and most of us don’t really want to read about stars losing heaps of weight and keeping it off - that’s no fun. But the accompanying story claims she’s limiting herself to an insane amount of calories per day after a binge eating relapse.

So what’s happened to the woman who wrote that inspiring article? Where is the supportive trainer who helped her lose weight with a disciplined work ethic and sensible nutrition plan? Did she learn nothing from the time she trained with him? Does it make it easier or harder to lose weight when you’re wealthy, famous and have every professional at your disposal? How is this going to effect all the people who’ve used Oprah’s recent sensible approach to inspire themselves?

I’ll be interested to see where this story goes, and whether Oprah will comment on it herself. No stars, because that’s not what this is about.