The Media Strikes Again

It's hard for women, let alone girls, to have a sensible attititude towards their appearance when the media constantly bombards us with what we should look like, and the consequences of not looking as we should.

Just saw this on a site called The Chart.

FitFriday: 'Skinny Can' Diet Pepsi angers eating disorder activists
It's all about liquid diets this week. A new Pepsi can is taking heat and a diet memoir by a pop star's boyfriend about losing 40 pounds while drinking every day is causing a stir. Has the dieting message gone too far? Comment below.

Skinny can causes fat debate
Diet soda is getting a bad rap this week in health headlines.

But, there’s a different kind of controversy about the new Diet Pepsi, marketed in a slender, cylindrical can, which will make its debut at New York's Mercedes-Benz Fall Fashion Week, which began Thursday

This venue is “rife with eating disorders” said the National Eating Disorders association in a press release.

Pepsi refers to its new Skinny Can can as “taller,” “attractive,” and “stylish.”

“PepsiCo’s comments are both thoughtless and irresponsible,” said Lynn Grefe, the association’s president. “Their shameful misdirection is further exemplified by tying the launch of this offensive marketing campaign to Fashion Week, where women’s body types are atypical at best … and unhealthy as to be fatal at worst.”

Is its campaign offensive to you?

The Drunk Diet
Lady Gaga’s boyfriend has landed a dieting book deal, according to the New York Post. Lüc Carl will write about how he lost 40 pounds while drinking every day, based on his blog The Drunk Diet.

Don’t expect a how-to book, Carl, a bar owner, warns on his blog.

“After reading countless books and being told time after time that it’s impossible to lose weight while drinking alcohol heavily, Lüc Carl decided to take matters into his own hands. Join him on his journey to lose 40 pounds, without giving up his principles of being a hard drinking party maker,” according to his blog.

Exercise improves overweight kids’ math skills
Overweight children put on regular physical activity improved their math scores, according to a study published in Health Psychology.

A group of 171 overweight, sedentary kids were split into activity and non-activity groups. Those who began to exercise scored higher on cognitive tests that measured planning and academic skills such as math and reading.

The magnetic resonance imaging also showed that the kids who exercised had increased brain activity in the area of the brain associated with complex thinking and decision making.

The more they exercised, the better the result, researchers at Georgia Health Sciences University found. The kids’ intelligence scores increased an average 3.8 points in those exercising 40 minutes per day after school for three months.