Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Ever since the first Fit Flops showed up on the market, I have been warning you about shoes that promise to tone your butt. Reebok EasyTone and RunTone shoes were just another in a long line of shoes that made those promises.

They promised that their shoes could give you 28% more toning on your butt and 11% more toning in your legs. I called baloney and just ignored them. Now, it seems that the Federal Trade Commission agrees with me:

• Federal Trade Commission: Reebok Easytone & Runtone Refunds

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, charged Reebok with making claims about EasyTone and RunTone shoes that the company couldn’t support. According to the FTC, Reebok claimed that using these products would strengthen and tone leg and butt muscles.

To settle the case, Reebok has agreed to pay $25 million for refunds to people who bought Reebok toning shoes or apparel.

If you bought a pair of EasyTone or RunTone shoes, then you are eligible for a refund. The smarter consumer, however, didn’t buy the shoes because these claims have been around for a LONG time. In fact, I’ve been warning you about them for four years. Here are some of the entries I wrote about shoes that make claims that they can’t support with research data:

• Starling Fitness: 6/8/2007 » The Fit Flop: How About Just Flop?
• Starling Fitness: 11/28/2008 » Can Walking In Special Sandals Make You Thin?
• Starling Fitness: 9/18/2010 » Skechers Resistance Runner: Where’s The Research Data?

Shoe manufacturers have been making unsubstantiated claims about their shoes for YEARS and it takes the FTC even longer to catch up with them and require a retraction and refund. I’m still waiting for the FTC to force Skechers to release their research data on their Resistance Runner and it seems that they will never stop the Fit Flop people from making claims.

My grandmother wore these Dr. Scholls sandals for YEARS, thinking that they would make her legs more toned than just wearing normal shoes and she never saw any results from them. Don’t be taken in by claims from the shoe manufacturers.

Via: Get a Refund on Reebok RunTone or EasyTone Shoes

This advertisement from Nike pisses me off:

It reads:

My butt is big and round like the letter C and ten thousand lunges has made it rounder but not smaller and that’s just fine. It’s a space heater for my side of the bed. It’s my embassador to those who walk behind me. It’s a border collie that herds skinny women away from the best deals at clothing sales. My butt is big and that’s just fine and those who might scorn it are invited to kiss it.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

I just sat there looking at the ad for five minutes as my brain locked up.

I looked at the picture of the absolutely PERFECT woman in their ad and tried to fathom how ANYONE at Nike thought her butt was big.

What the BLEEP is the matter with you, Nike?! Her butt is NOT big! It’s obvious that the folks at Nike haven’t seen a normal woman in SO long that they actually believe that this model’s butt was “big and round.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve realized that Nike is absolutely out of touch with reality. I wrote about it FIVE years ago (to the day):

• Starling Fitness 08-31-2006 » Why I’m Angry At Nike

I had gone into the Nike store in Las Vegas to purchase some of their overpriced iPod clothing, but the XL shirt was the size of a XS at a normal store.

The fact that they don’t carry a size for me when I’m fifty pounds lighter, just tells me that they aren’t an athletic clothing company. They’re a fashion clothing company just like Kenneth Cole. They don’t want “fatties” like me wearing their clothes and giving them a bad name.

Despite the look on my face, I was near tears when I had Mike click this picture of me. Despite all the weight I’ve lost, I’m still not thin enough for Nike. Well, they can take their 70-dollar shirts and stuff ‘em. I’m going to give my money to a company that deserves it.

I can’t believe they haven’t gotten the message yet. I still use my Nike+ every once and a while, and back in 2006, it single-handedly got me running. EVERYTHING else about the company, however, has made me want to bite, scratch and burn down the place. F-you, Nike! Her butt is NOT big!

Advert via: For Women In Shape! | The Fitness Low Down

Update 09-01-11: Apparently, the ad above is NOT from Nike. It was created by someone else, using the Nike wording from THIS ad:

Of course, the butt shown in the Nike ad is SMALLER and less rounded than the beautiful girl in the photoshopped ad, so I stand by EVERY word I say. What the BLEEP is the matter with Nike?!

Oh, and if you are self-conscious about any other part of your body, here is a bunch of other ads to make you feel like you’re not good enough:

This one reads:

I have thunder thighs, and that’s a compliment because they are strong and toned and muscular and though they are unwelcome in the petite section, they are cheered on in marathons. Fifty years from now, I’ll bounce a grandchild on my thunder thighs and then I’ll go out for a run.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

This one isn’t nearly so denigrating:

My knees are tomboys. They get bruised and cut every time I play soccer. I’m proud of them and wear my dresses short. My mother worries I will never marry with knees like that, but I know there’s someone out there who will say to me: I love you and I love your knees. I want the four of us to grow old together.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

The ad actually gets it right. Instead of pretending that the perfect legs shown are imperfect in some way, this ad actually is an AFTER picture. Nike actually did it right on this ad. It reads:

My legs were once two hairy sticks that weren’t very good at jump rope, but by the time I reached the age of algebra, they had come into their own and now in spin class, they are revered. Envied for their strength. Honored for their beauty. Hairless for the most part, except that place the razor misses just behind the ankles.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

Of course, then they got it wrong again with this one. Those shoulders do NOT look like a man’s. It reads:

My shoulders aren’t dainty or proportional to my hips. Some say they are like a man’s . I say leave men out of it. They are mine. I made them in a swimming pool then I went to yoga and made my arms.

Just do it.

NikeWomen.com

Correct Nike Ad Images via:

• Nike Confirms “My Butt Is Big” Ad Is A Fake | The Frisky

• New Nike Women Print Ad–”My Butt is Big”

For a long time, I’ve know that running along those pine needle lined paths in the park are just as injury prone as running on asphalt. In fact, I talked about it SEVEN years ago in this blog entry:

• Starling Fitness » June 29, 2004 – The Perfect Run

They say that the ideal running environment is a trail run on pine needles, but “they” obviously don’t run as often or in as many places as I have. Where there are pine needles, there are pine trees. Where there are pine trees, I am going to trip on a fucking pinecone. It’s just how nature works. You can’t have the pine needles without the pinecones. No, the ideal running environment is not a trail run on pine needles; it’s the sixth floor at the Luxor Hotel.

It seems that now a exercise physiologist has come to same conclusion:

• For Runners, Soft Surface Can Be Just as Hard on the Body – NYTimes.com

Dr. Tanaka, a runner, once tried it himself. He was recovering from a knee injury, and an orthopedist told him to stay away from hard surfaces, like asphalt roads, and run instead on softer surfaces, like grass or dirt. So he ran on a dirt path runners had beaten into the grass along an asphalt bike path.

The result? “I twisted my ankle and aggravated my injury while running on the softer and irregular surface,” he said.

I stand by my assertion that the perfect run is the sixth floor of the Luxor Hotel. Soft carpeting, even flooring, and no pine cones to trip over. If only we could get the staff to pick up the room service trays earlier, it would be absolutely danger-free. Until then, I’ll have to dodge the leftover food and dishes.

If you think orange juice is a healthy way to get vitamin C, think again. According to Civil Eats, here is The Truth About Orange Juice in Boxes. Not from concentrate juice is held in huge vats for over a year. To keep it from spoiling, they remove the oxygen from the juice.

When the juice is stripped of oxygen it is also stripped of flavor providing chemicals. Juice companies therefore hire flavor and fragrance companies, the same ones that formulate perfumes for Dior and Calvin Klein, to engineer flavor packs to add back to the juice to make it taste fresh. Flavor packs aren’t listed as an ingredient on the label because technically they are derived from orange essence and oil.

Rather than drink a glass of franken-food, how about just eating an orange. Sure, they’re hard to peel and the spray juice all over your fingers, but you get the added benefit of fiber from the orange, plus the REAL flavor of an orange.

Via The Flavor Of Your OJ Is A Chemically-Induced Mirage – The Consumerist

The other day, we were all at Craft Lake City. Mixed in among the art was a booth for GeekyCookies. Staring at me were Star Trek cookies and Pacman cookies. They even had Browncoat Brownies. Mike made a joke about how each time we go to the planet we have to eat a red shirt cookie and we all laughed. Then Mike bought a Pacman cookie.

“Now you know what it feels like when someone eats you, Pacman!” he said while biting into the sugar cookie.

I haven’t wanted a sugar cookie for AGES, but Pacman tempted me. Why?

Part of the reason is the artificial scarcity. It’s not every day that I could eat a Pacman cookie. Sure, it’s just a sugar cookie, but it’s a sugar cookies shaped like Pacman (or a Star Trek shirt or a Invincibility Star). It doesn’t taste any differently than a normal sugar cookie, but it seems rare because it’s something I don’t see every day.

I found myself reacting the same way when I saw these Donut Kitties.

They are just donuts, but I wanted to eat one just because they are so darn cute!

The next time you’re tempted to eat something that you wouldn’t normally eat, stop and think why. Is it just because the food is cute? Is it because you think that you may never get a chance to eat something like this again? Take the time to really analyze how you are feeling and don’t let the appearance of food affect your judgement.

Related article: Starling Fitness » Patriotic Food Can Screw Up Your Eating

These patriotic cookies look tempting and delicious, but they give me pause. We are coming up on Independence Day and the grocery store is full of red, white and blue pastries and candies, tempting us at every turn. If you offered me these cookies, my first instinct is to take one (or maybe two because those stars are so very little). If you asked me if I wanted a normal sugar cookie, I can pretty much say no without any reservations, but the red, white and blue cookies are a definite temptation.

When I think about it, though, how are these cookies different from normal sugar cookies? They AREN’T.

The only reason the patriotic cookies are attractive to me is because they aren’t always available. How often am I offered cookies? Quite often, actually, so I don’t really feel like I’m missing out if I don’t eat one. Patriotic cookies, on the other hand, only come once a year. Even though they taste EXACTLY the same as normal cookies, they seem rare.

This is called Artificial Scarcity. Do not let artificial scarcity screw up your eating!

Do patriotic M&M’s taste any different than normal M&M’s? NO! Just because they are only available this time of the year, doesn’t mean that they are any more delicious. Creating red, white and blue packages of M&M’s (or Easter colors or Halloween colors), doesn’t change the fact that all that sugar and chocolate can derail your goals. They do it as a marketing ploy and, honestly, it works really well on most people. Don’t let it derail you.

This advertisement looks like business as usual to me.

It reads:

Why be stout?

When you can reduce your figure by a Natural, Easy and Healthful Mehtod which makes your unwanted fat a thing of the past.

Dr. Paul Bouchaud’s Flesh Reducing Soap

which is delighting the over stout and proving a GENUINE REDUCER to all who use it, will absorb all fatty tissues from any part of the body, and bring back natural slimness even to the worst case. All unhealthy flabbiness of muscles regain new life under the influence of this specially compounded flesh-reducing soap. It takes away from LARGE HIPS, DOUBLE CHIN, UNGAINLY ANKLES, ARMS, LEGS, BUST and WAISTLINE, reducing and slendering any part of the body you wish to reduce. It is perfectly safe and proves the needless use of dangerous drugs, dieting, steam pack or exercises.

It seems laughable now that anyone would believe that a soap could make fat go away, yet there are literally HUNDREDS of creams on the market today that claim to do the same thing. The anti-cellulite cream market accounts for millions of dollars in revenue and NONE of them have been scientifically proven to reduce fat.

The next time you’re tempted to try a new “flesh reducing” cream, remember Dr. Paul Bouchaud and save your money.

Advert via: vintage_ads: Dr Bouchard’s Flesh Reducing Soap, 1926

This advertisement for Skechers Resistance running shoes in one of my fitness magazines puzzles me:

It reads:

Helps increase postural muscle activation up to 85%

Helps increase gluteus medius muscle activation up to 71%

Helps increase calf muscle activation up to 68%

Helps burn up to 13.2% more calories

That all looks technical and scientific to me. So many numbers and percentages means they MUST have research studies proving that, right? I looked at the Skechers Resistance Runner website and videos, but there were no links to any studies. The video features the designer, a runner and the founder of the company, but not a doctor among them. They show people running on treadmills hooked up to machines and computers, but WHERE is the research data?!

Without access to the actual data, I’m not believing it and I’m CERTAINLY not going to pay a hundred and fifty bucks for a shoe that might be no better than the twenty dollar trainers at Payless Shoe Source.

Shoe companies have been promising a workout in a shoe for a LONG time. Dr. Scholl’s Exercise Sandals promised beautiful legs to my grandma and she never once saw results from them, even after YEARS of wearing them.

I’m not going to believe that the Skechers Resistance Runner is any more able to “increase muscle activation” than the Dr. Scholl’s Exercise Sandal unless they actually SHOW ME THE DATA.

This postcard from PostSecret made me feel sad.

It reads:

I think my husband loves me “the way I am” because he doesn’t want me to lose weight & be attractive to other men.

This thought is very dangerous. It doesn’t matter whether your spouse wants you to stay fat or not. Thinking that your loved one doesn’t want you to be attractive is a very defeating idea. It gives you an excuse to live an unhealthy lifestyle. It makes you fearful of getting stronger because you might hurt your partner’s feelings.

Even worse, it makes you scared of being all you can be. The idea that the opposite sex will suddenly start to find you interesting when you get to a healthy weight is scary if you aren’t equipped to fend off advances. In all honesty, people can tell when you don’t want them to hit on you.

If this secret hit home with you, let’s make a deal. You start eating healthy and exercising regularly. When you get to your goal weight, make sure you give the “don’t even try it” vibe. If the opposite sex still makes passes at you, then here are some resources you can use to protect yourself:

• How to Politely Turn Down A Date
• How to Politely Turn Down a Guy | eHow.com

Don’t let your worries about social awkwardness get in the way of your health. You owe it to yourself to live a healthy lifestyle. Move past this fear and you will feel stronger physically AND emotionally.

PostSecret‘s beneficiary is the National Hopeline Network. It is a 24-hour hotline (1 (800) SUICIDE) for anyone who is thinking about suicide or knows someone who is considering it.

A couple of weeks ago, US Weekly had a little blurb about stars and how they keep their figures. You can see it here:

When are we going to stop this madness? People are LITERALLY starving themselves in order to keep their jobs in the entertainment industry. Here are the quotes:

Elizabeth Hurley: “I swear by almost nothing for breakfast. Mugs of hot water!”

Amanda Seyfried: “[My raw food diet is] sort of awful. Yesterday for lunch? Spinach… and some seeds.”

Kristin Bauer: “The other day I realized as long as I’m in this business, I’m going to be hungry.”

Julianne Moore: “Boring diet of, essentially, yogurt and breakfast cereal and granola bars. I hate dieting. I’m hungry all the time.”

The next time you compare your body to an actress, remember what these women said and repeat this mantra:

What I see isn’t always what I get on TV and in ads. It takes a lot of airbrushing, dieting, money and work to look like that.

It’s time we stop treating our bodies like their the enemy and give them what they need: healthy food, vigorous exercise and plenty of sleep.