Gawker
smoking
Posts Tagged “
Health
”
smoking
Give Up
A new study has found that while you can shrink the size of fat cells, you can never reduce their number. The human body replaces fat cells that die off, maintaining a constant amount of them throughout our lives. You know what that means: you will always be fat no matter what you do and it's just not fair GOD. [NYT]
eat yer puddin
Food: Now Dumber
American food, despite having devolved to the point that it is totally formulated by scientists, manufactured by machines, ergonomically packaged, and full of ingredients that do not occur in the natural world, is still a bit too challenging—and downright complicated—for many of our citizens. So Kraft, which makes many of your favorite brands of junk food, is dumbing down its packaging and product offerings so even the most simple among us can enjoy pudding, Cool Whip, and cheese slices. All together, even! More »
health
Tan Or Die
The Dermatologist-Sunscreen Industry cabal is trying to kill us all! They want us to be pale, shivering closet cases, scared to venture outside for fear of being melted by the sunlight, like bloggers. Luckily, the fearless Indoor Tanning Association is here to bring the truth to light, ha. The group, which represents the major industry of Long Island, is running an ad in USA Today decrying the health nuts' attempts to "wrongly scare people out of the sun." They point out that a little sunlight gives you Vitamin D, which protects against many cancers! Except the skin cancer you got from being out in the sun. After the jump, the Indoor Tanners' press release [via AgencySpy], with the type of foolproof logic you would expect from those who spend hundreds of hours under artificial radiation lamps: More »
sail away
Scientology's Party Boat Docked Due to Asbestos
Hey, remember where Tom Cruise held his birthday party? Jog your memory with Gawker's EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of the embarrassing 2004 celebration. That's right: on the MV Freewinds, the massive "cruise ship" training center for the highest level members of the Church of Scientology. Bad news for aspiring OT VIIIs: the ship's been sealed and docked in Curacao due to the discovery of "significant amounts of blue asbestos" all over her. Blue asbestos is the insulating material that's been banned in the US for years because of all the lung cancer it causes. And, obviously, the 40-year-old cruise ship has been contaminated with it since day one—putting the lives of nearly all OT VIII Scientologists at risk! According to a CNN I-Report: "An affidavit filed in 2001 by Lawrence Woodcraft, a former Scientologist and trained architect, claims that Woodcraft encountered the fibrous minerals while working on the ship in 1987, and promptly informed Scientology leaders." And they didn't do anything about it for 20 years. So where does a Scientologist go when he dies of mesothelioma? More »
books
Gymnast Author Confirms Gymnastics Is Full Of Sickos
A new book called Chalked Up by ex-gymnast Jennifer Sey appears to confirm what many of us have long suspected: gymnastics is a weird and creepy sport. Not the tumbling and flipping part; that's cool enough. But the entire gymnastics complex that takes little girls and hammers them into world class athletes with eating disorders is a little sickening. And all those middle-aged men coaching—what are they doing there? I choose to sweepingly judge the lot of them as shady characters. Sey's experiences, related in a new interview with Salon, certainly reinforce that impression: More »
public relations
Fun: Have Dinner With Richard Edelman And Discuss Cancer
Richard Edelman, the touchy CEO of the massive Wal-Mart supporting PR firm Edelman, is going above and beyond for his client AdMeTech, a prostate cancer foundation. He's inviting a select group of "key opinion leaders"/ perfect strangers to his own apartment for dinner, where he will discuss his own experience with a false positive exam for prostate cancer. Sounds...interesting! (Note: we debated over whether it would be wrong to publish this until we discovered that Edelman already wrote all about his prostate exam on his blog). Points to him for taking up a good cause, but we...have some other thing to do that night. Not that we were invited in the first place. The full email enticing the opinion leaders to this "robust discussion" of prostates, after the jump. More »
writers
One Minor Flaw In Chris Hitchens' Sexiness
If you've been harboring fantasies of sleeping with portly British provocateur Christopher Hitchens, hold on just a minute: he snores. It's hardly his biggest personal flaw (educated guess), but he does manage to crank out thousands of words on his snoring affliction for Men's Vogue, as part of his ongoing quest to pre-empt any and all criticisms of himself so that he can continue to talk bad about whatever he likes in peace. Here, his long-suffering (educated guess, again) wife describes the experience of a Hitchens family slumber: More »
food
US Restaurants Distract You, Steal Off Your Plate
Restaurants are calling in expert consultants to help them give you less food for the same amount of money. This clearly goes against the American way, which is embodied by the $5.99 Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast. The Washington Post reports that the tough economy is hurting restaurants' revenue across the country, and they're turning to devious tactics like smaller plates, lighter forks, and more vegetables to make you less likely to notice that your steak has gotten smaller. And the menus are being tweaked—apparently we are all psychological sheep. More »
An Item Of Interest
Are you aware that there's an entire blog on the New York Post's website which consists of nothing but Post staffers chronicling their own ongoing quests to lose weight? Water retention, battles with birthday cake, and the perils of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, all chronicled in loving detail. By New York Post writers. Were we not so supportive of health in the media, we might be tempted to make some sort of joke. [NYP]
crusades
Jenny McCarthy Calls "Bullshit" On Your "Medical Science"
Larry King had noted medical expert/softcore video star Jenny McCarthy on the program last night to talk about AUTISM. Specifically, how it's caused by VACCINATING YOUR CHILDREN. This is patent conspiratorial nonsense, but it's very popular conspiratorial nonsense. Of course, in a battle between concerned, credulous parents and medical experts, the media will generally frame it as, say, Debate Rages Anew on Vaccine-Autism Link. Faced with a panel of three trained pediatricians, Ms. McCarthy shouted "BULLSHIT" twice. Then Larry put it to an internet poll. Clip after the jump! More »
trends
Breaking: Nerds Work Out
Hey nerds, guess what? Being smart is no longer an excuse for being fat. The "ripsters" thing Nick Sylvester made up comes to terrifying life in today's Observer, where Doree Shafrir investigates tall tales of New York boys who read contemporary fiction but secretly have defined abdominal muscles. These literary Lotharios are real, and they're totally embarrassed about how they look good shirtless: More »
the shingles
Jonathan Safran Foer Has The Shingles
...according to a tipster who says this shocking fact was "revealed in an email to the writing class he's teaching at yale." Also: "heard he's very grumpy and said this week's essays had better make life worth living." Anyone else have more details? Is this our fault? Did we give him the shingles with our psychic ill-will?
marketing
Dove Abandons Real Women For Alicia Keys
Remember that whole "Campaign For Real Beauty" by Dove that was all about showing that real, non-model women can be pretty too? Well, they're moving on from all that. They have a new, more fitting face now: beautiful, famous, shapely singer Alicia Keys. Screw you, real women! Dove is sponsoring a new "micro-series" called "Fresh Takes" starring Keys. It will air, appropriately, during The Hills on MTV. They've also used research to uncover this critical fact: "96 percent of women in their twenties say their inner voice speaks to them on a typical day." Psychosis? From the looks of the preview, this show will be stilted and terrible; the trailer, after the jump. More »
Guess The Context!
"Taking care of twins is tiresome. Jennifer Lopez is reportedly reviving her beauty with fish eggs." "Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters are reversing the effects of aging with the help of baby boys - and their foreskin." "The uterine lining that's normally discarded postdelivery is in demand by Eva Longoria Parker." [NYDN]
"Taking care of twins is tiresome. Jennifer Lopez is reportedly reviving her beauty with fish eggs." "Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters are reversing the effects of aging with the help of baby boys - and their foreskin." "The uterine lining that's normally discarded postdelivery is in demand by Eva Longoria Parker." [NYDN]
fitness
The Media Wants You Fat And Broke!
First, the media implants an unattainable idea in our heads about what a human body should look like. Then, on top of that, popular publications give confusing advice about how to achieve that impossibly cut look! In the last couple of days, the lying liberal media has published several articles on various fitness techniques. You don't need to read any of them, because we're about to round them all up and drop some serious knowledge on you about the phony, media-driven fitness fantasy. After the jump, how to save money and kick ass in this shallow, workout-obsessed world. More »
anderson cooper
Our Anderson Looking Just Fine After Surgery
Anderson Cooper is still the prettiest anchor on CNN after minor surgery to remove a spot of skin cancer. Anderson worried everyone a little yesterday morning when he said viewers might see his scar and "think I got into a fist fight with Charlie Rose." But really, the scar looks more like Cooper nicked himself shaving, at least judging by his appearance on CNN tonight. Hopefully all traces of cancer have disappeared as surely as this blemish will. High definition still shot, taken within the hour, after the jump. More »
advertising
