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Gwyneth Paltrow: Dumbest Diet Advice Ever?

By Mike Howard

db gwyneth paltrow.jpg
I've become somewhat unfazed about what celebrities eat, how they workout and how they get back to their size 1 jeans 3 weeks after giving birth. There is one name, though that appears to have become synonymous with stupid dietary, exercise and alternative practices. Ladies and gentlemen, Gwyneth Paltrow. (Warning, extreme "catty-ness" ahead)

In the past 4 years, the Oscar winner (Side rant: Cate Blanchett got shafted and so did Saving Private Ryan, I mean come on - Shakespeare in Love???)
ahem, as I was saying... Paltrow has been linked with the following fads:

The ~~rickets~~ Macrobiotic diet
Eat right for your baby - a spinoff book by Dr. D'Adamo based on his "blood-type" diet, a concept that has drawn the criticism of reputable nutrition experts.
Some "Live foods 5 day cleanse" - a regime that may have contributed to her hospitalization a year ago.
Cupping - some bizarre treatment whereby some practitioner sticks glass cups on your back to help with goodness-only-knows what.

And then there's the latest detox - the one she felt compelled to share with the world on her blog. Here are some gem quotes from Ms. Paltrow;

It is that time of year, folks. I need to lose a few pounds of holiday excess. Anyone else?

Well clearly! I can barely see your ribs anymore, Gwyn.

I like to do fasts and detoxes a couple of times during the year, the most hardcore one being the Master Cleanse I did last spring. It was not what you would characterize as pretty. Or easy."

No kidding... who'd of thought consuming nothing but a cocktail of water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper would be difficult?

As I do not wish to subsist on lemon water in the middle of winter, I asked my doctor, a detox diet specialist, for the guidelines he uses to achieve a good detox that is not as hallucinogenic (in a bad way) as the Master Cleanse."

Okay, 2 questions:

Is it okay to subsist on lemon water during the summer months?
Which medical schools offer a "detox specialty"?

But perhaps the ultimate slight to common sense - much worse than her dietary fads, and yes even worse than "Duets" and "Sky Captain, and the World of Tomorrow", and incredibly enough, more appaling than naming your child "Apple"... db duets.jpg

Her personal trainer - Tracy Anderson (cue high-pitched violin sounds from "psycho")

Celebrity Trainer and con artist (allegedly) Tracy Anderson declares, and I quote;

"No women should lift more than 3lbs".

SWEET LINCOLN'S MULLET!

While I don't quite have the words to express how utterly brainless that statement is - I'll leave it at "well, Tracy - that's not exactly true". (See, I can be nice)

Why so perturbed?

By now you may be wondering why I've gone berserk over some movie star's personal life. Well, I'll tell ya...

I believe this type of behavior fuels poor body image and serves only to deter women from accepting their own bodies.
I think it's arrogant of celebrities to flaunt their fads and dole out nutrition and exercise advice that is sketchy at best and potentially dangerous at worse.
I take issue with genetically thin women in any way implying that they achieved their physiques through any kind of hard work. Heellooo - have you seen Gwyneth's mom? She's older than my own mother and I would probably ask her out if I met her at a bar (did I type that out loud?)

Sources:

BBC News
NY Magazine
Oprah.com

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47 Comments

Was there suppose to be a story about diet, health, exercise, or nutrition in here? Where is Perez Hilton when you need him?

DaleK

Thanks for the morning chuckle.

Stumbled and tagged, "dumb Tracy Anderson quotes".

evie

Very funny. The thing about a trainer saying we shouldn't lift more than 3lbs is quite unbelievable. She presumably carries around her kids who weigh quite a lot more than that, and she has exploded -- or whatever it is Tracy thinks will happen.

Never teh Bride

Three pounds? A bag of pet food weighs a heck of a lot more than that, and the cats have to eat. Okay, I know what she means, but lifting three pound weights wouldn't do anything for me!

Spectra

Yep, I'm with you there...If I'm not supposed to lift more than 3 lbs, I'm probably DEFINITELY not supposed to lift the 37 lb. bags of dog food that my pup eats. Whatever shall we do? Call our big strong husbands in to help? Too bad I can actually lift about the same amount of weight or more than my husband can. Just goes to show that Tracy Anderson is full of doggie-doo. :)

She says not to lift more than three pounds while working out. She does not mean never lift more than three pounds.
Also, everyone knows that in order to get more defined muscles u must lose weight and that includes cardio and eating less.
So what is the purpose of lifting three pounds of weight. Well, even if you are relatively skinny you may not be in tone. You need to lift weights to become toned up. However, when you lift heavy weights you bulk up the muscle. Usually ladies prefer long lean muscles so they do yoga, pilates, and other exercises that have many reps but little or no weight. This is not a new idea. This has been around for ages. All personal trainers will tell you the same thing. So there is no real reason to criticize Traci Anderson for saying that. If you are a female that likes the bulky muscles and likes that look then go for it lift as heavy weights as you want- more power to you. However, most of us including myself would prefer long lean muscles.

SCal

You cannot lengthen muscles.

Spectra

Women do NOT BULK UP by lifting heavy weights. Unless you are on testosterone supplements and are lifting extremely heavy weights very often, you won't get bigger. I lift heavy weights and I don't have short or bulky muscles; mine are sleek and "toned", if that's what you want to call it. It just seems like lifting piddly little weights a million times is a big fat waste of time.

Heather

The stupidity. It hurts.

Scott

Wow D you are almost as stupid as Tracy. You cant lengthen muscles and women don't get bulky unless steroids are involved. So what your saying is women don't need to get stronger, they need to lift the weight equivalent of a can of soup a hundred times to stay in shape. What?

naija fitness

you will not bulk up if you lift more than 3 pounds when working out if you are a female. We don't have enough testosterone for that. I've been lifting weights for weeks and am yet to see the bulk. My arms are a little toned, though. No trainer will tell you that nonsense.

Charles

It's ashame that Gwenyth is not more articulate in explaining what's she's doing.

I guess that makes the point about a little bit of knowledge being dangerous.

weightlossguru

She is clearly out to embarrass herself.. oh dear.
"SWEET LINCOLN'S MULLET!" LOL!!

Cari from ditch diets

Mike, you are too funny! Hey, like you, I'm sick to death of celebs being experts on weight loss. Actually, I'm sick of celebs period. Sorry I know I'm in the minority here but I'm so tired of the status we give people who really haven't done anything extraordinary. Ok, ok.... so I know I'm just being a grouch and after all didn't we have the Golden Globes last night and isn't that at least better than hearing all the economic doom 'n gloom!

AHhahah... ohh I needed a good laugh today. Seriously... she starves her self then says she's a fitness expert?

LAME. We should raid her blog, it's people like her that are giving useless fitness advice to the general public and confusing them to the max.

Personally... UN-CONFUSING my clients is one of the hardest challenges.

- FJ

While you did go off a bit on Gwyneth, she puts herself out there as a putative authority, so she's earned it, as far as I'm concerned. Good on ya, mate! :-) Thanks, especially, for bringing up the "No woman should lift more than 3 pounds" comment. I'll admit that has been ricocheting around my brain cavity ever since I heard Anderson say it, begging for more context. She was clearly not talking about lifting in the functional sense but in the repetitive, workout sense: She's of the school that says, "many reps, light weights". And whatever we might think of Gwynnie's common sense, Madonna's a smart cookie and a very fit, veteran exerciser, and she uses Anderson. So I'm hoping someone can explain what Anderson might have meant. Really...

http://perezhilton.com/2009-01-06-gwyneths-new-years-diet-revealed-in-her-own-words

julie

What a bunch of hooey. As far as being perturbed, though, I would have to be annoyed at Oprah, also, for going on tv (and many more are listening to her) and pushing her liquid diets, strange cleanses, eating disorder desires, etc. I don't really expect much better of most celebrities, as their whole career depends on how they look, which almost by definition would make them neurotic, but someone like Oprah should know (or learn) better.

In my body sculpt class, there are tiny tiny women who do their reps on bigger weights than that (I'm still at 4 and 6 pounds), and you would never know, to look at them.

I've heard a lot of criticism about this newsletter that she put out for GOOP. I am actually impressed by her honesty. While its not healthy to be fasting continuously, fasting is a great form of cleansing. Also, I'd like to point out that the diet blog didn't publish the rest of the newsletter (shame on you!). She reccomends a great diet for fasting with very healthy meals throughout the day.

"Sweet Lincoln's Mullet"????

I just snorted my coffee right out of my nose while reading that....thanks a bunch.

And do you know what's even funnier?

Gwyneth thinks that she she should share her "knowledge" with the rest of the world via her blog - goop.

And I can guarantee that her blog will be receiving way more hits than yours or mine does today.

Oh, to be a celebrity. Guaranteed credibility in any area that you choose to blather on about...did you know that Brad Pitt is now designing buildings???

Spectra

Ugh, I cannot STAND Gwyneth Paltrow for various reasons. She always does pop into my head when I think of "stupid celebrity that tries anything/everything to lose a couple of vanity pounds"...right up there with Victoria Beckham. I wouldn't put it past her to try the Master Cleanse diet (hallucinogenic as it may be) or to be one of Tracy Anderson's clients. I can't stand Tracy Anderson, either. I've seen her "workouts" in several women's fitness magazines and I always have to chuckle because they involve 25-30 reps using 2-3 lb weights. My theory is that the women that do Tracy's regime are only able to see their muscles better is because she advocates eating 1900 calories a day or fewer and she pushes 60-90 minutes of cardio per day. Of course you're going to see more muscle if you do that...you're losing the fat that's over them. I guess for me personally, I do strength training to increase my muscle strength, so I like to lift weights that are as heavy as I can manage while still maintaining my form.

sloopnancyc

Hilarious comments. Some might say you're bitter and too lazy to exercise or fast, maybe you weigh a lot more than you should (measured against Gwyneth's standards, that is). I think you're funny and you make a great contribution to the blog-world. Keep it up.

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