PopSugar

Reality Check: Gwyneth Paltrow's Detox Diet

FitSugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:30:00 -0800

There are many ways to usher in the New Year. After a couple weeks of nonstop holiday celebration replete with rich foods and plenty of drink, many folks decide that the best way to begin anew is with a detox cleanse. I firmly believe there really is no need to detox, but if you insist on doing a cleanse, you can detox without starving yourself. This issue is a place where Gwyneth Paltrow and I have agreed to disagree.

Although her daily diet is incredibly healthy, Gwyneth believes in the New Year detox. After collapsing last January at the end of a five-day live-food fast, she is at it again following a week long cleansing regimen. This time, though, she is following the advice of detox specialist Dr. Alejandro Junger. Gwyneth is also sharing the details, recipes and all, on her website goop.com.

The lovely, leggy blonde and mother of two writes:

It is that time of year, folks. I need to lose a few pounds of holiday excess. Anyone else? 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. It did work, however. 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. He actually thinks that the Master Cleanse can be dangerous because the liver is not supported by the nutrients it needs.

To see what she is eating and why, just read more.

While her explanation sounds sensible, just reading over the menu left me feeling hungry and deprived. The majority of the meals are liquids - smoothies, soups, or juice with hardly any grains (read: carbs to fuel your brain) in the meals. The simplest way to explain is to list the foods she will be avoiding for seven days:

No dairy
No grains with gluten
No meat or shellfish
No processed food including all soy products
No fatty nuts
No produce from the nightshade family - potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant
No condiments
No sugar
No alcohol, caffeine or soda

While jumping back into my healthy habits might be a bit jarring this first full week of the year, I am simply going to return to my old health habits of eating well balanced meals and exercising regularly to cleanse myself of my holiday debauchery.

Gwyneth concludes the detox edition of her newsletter like this: "I will be suffering along with you to kickstart my year a bit lighter." I, for one, do not wish to "suffer" with Gwyneth. I want to enjoy every minute of 2009 and eating just soup is not my idea of health or fun.

Source

Have You Ever Done a Cleanse?

FitSugar — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:47:09 -0700

I was asked recently if I've ever detoxed like Gwyneth Paltrow does. Personally, I've never committed myself to a rigid master cleanse or detox diet for a prescribed amount of time, but I've definitely made adjustments to my diet.

After an unusually indulgent holiday season spent away from home, I cut out alcohol and sugar for a month and ate nothing but brown rice and steamed veggies for two days. And though I do think putting limits on sugar and alcohol are helpful, you won't see me on a restrictive meal plan like that again. It's important for me to have a balanced diet that also consists of dairy, fruit, and lean protein, and most cleanses don't allow for that.

I have a few friends that cleanse at least four times a year and they swear it does wonders for them. What about you - have you ever cleansed?

Gwyneth Paltrow Does Another Detox

FitSugar — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:00:28 -0700

As someone who is known for doing detox diets a few times a year, Gwyneth Paltrow is in cleansing mode yet again. She's previously completed the Master Cleanse and other liquid-detox diets and described the three-week detox she's finishing in her most recent GOOP newsletter.

While Gwyneth writes, "This program allowed me to work and exercise regularly, something I cannot do if I am on a liquid-only detox," two of her three daily meals in this diet were liquid-only. See what her cleanse contained this time around when you read more.

Gwyneth followed The Cleanse Program, designed by cardiologist and detoxification specialist Dr. Alejandro Junger. According to the doctor, "the detox eases digestion by providing two liquid meals a day and a solid one in between, eliminating allergenic and mucus-forming food." Dr. Junger recommends eating organic foods while avoiding processed ones and "making time for detox-enhancing habits like sauna and massage."

I'm all for fueling your body with natural food instead of processed stuff, but you'll never see me adopting a diet that allows only one solid meal a day - even if it did "work wonders" for Gwyneth. My body and brain need more fuel to provide enough energy required for my active lifestyle.

Smarter Eats: Gwyneth Reminds Us to Get a Healthy Dose of D

FitSugar — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:30:31 -0800

Gwyneth Paltrow's dishing out some healthy advice on GOOP this week - get your daily dose of vitamin D. The super-fit star points to Dr. Frank Lipman's healthy tips for getting our fair share of the vital D, who reminds us that, especially this time of year -when we head into the colder season and see less sunlight - it's even more important to supplement our diets with the vitamin, and avoid a vitamin D deficiency.

If you're wondering why it's so important, just remember that vitamin D was first recognized for its importance in maintaining healthy calcium levels for our bones. According to Dr. Lipman, it's now becoming increasingly apparent that we've underestimated the value of the vitamin, and a lack of it has been associated with obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease, and breast cancer - to name a few.

Since we rely on the sun to generate the most reliable way of getting vitamin D, it's a good idea to up your intake of foods that can naturally deliver the goods - try fortified milk in your cereal, dried shitake mushrooms with your stir fry or salad, and wild fatty fish, like salmon and halibut. Just be aware that only 10 percent of your vitamin D intake can come from food, so to really eat smarter and healthier, it might just be a good idea to supplement with the active form of the vitamin, D3. Be sure to read all of Dr. Lipman's great tips, and until we see some sunlight this Spring, make sure you're getting your daily dose with fortified foods.

Ginnifer Goodwin Goes Wide and Striped: Love It or Hate It?

FabSugar — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:22 -0700

I'm usually a fan of Ginnifer Goodwin's style. She's polished, feminine, and apt to taking risks. Well, she took a risk here at an event for Alicia Silverstone's new book, The Kind Diet, but I'm not sure it worked. I love the mix of velvet and stripes, but the bold shoulders are a bit too bold for her small frame. Dark skinny jeans, the same Stella McCartney pumps Gwyneth Paltrow wore, and a yellow fringed bag add further sass to her ensemble. Thoughts?

Take all of my Love It or Hate It Polls here! Also, don't forget to join my Love It or Hate It? group.

Tina Fey Says No to Working Out

FitSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:30:37 -0700

In the November issue of Harper's Bazaar, funny woman Tina Fey reveals that she doesn't work out - at all. Looking at 39-year-old Fey I would not have guessed that she stays away from the gym. She's slim and carries herself with style and sex appeal. It's also surprising to hear that any woman working in an industry driven in large part by image is able to escape having a personal trainer.

When asked why she stays away from the gym, it comes down to not enough time in her day. The woman is busy, very busy. She's got a hit show to write, is a wife and mother, and is an Emmy-award-winning actress.

To hear what Tina thinks about working out, read more.

"Work, come home, play, kid bounce, work again, go to bed." She has thought about yoga, even done it a couple times. "But," she notes, "even yoga classes go on 80 or 90 minutes." The ethos of Gwyneth Paltrow or Madonna, with their two hours plus of bendiness a day, is not for Tina. "You will still die," she observes. "I'll do grave yoga. Someone can come and stretch me in my grave."

Tina explains her relationship to the business of celebrity this way:

"I like to delude myself that I'm in the old-Hollywood mode. I just tailor my clothes well and try to keep my skin clear. While it would be great to work out an hour a day, there is something inherently sort of selfish about it. I can't do it."

Despite not working out, the actress does focus on maintaining a healthy diet. At the age of 29, Fey dropped an astounding 35 pounds after going on Weight Watchers. The actress describes it as a time in her life where she learned to eat properly, something she still continues to do.

What do you think? Does working in a workout seem selfish to you?

Have You Ever Done a Cleanse in the Name of Beauty?

BellaSugar — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:02:35 -0700

An acquaintance of mine - who has the most amazing, glowing complexion - swore by the Master Cleanse "diet" as a means of clarifying her hair, skin, and mental state. The detoxifying program relies on gulping down a lemonade-like drink several times a day to help flush out impurities in the body. Uh, yuck.

Of course, there are other cleansing programs that involve pills, unconventional concoctions, and/or holistic approaches, such as the Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body For Long-Lasting Health and Beauty ($12). Even Gwyneth Paltrow has chimed in on the topic. (She loves it.) While some may see results, the safety of these miracle plans has come into question. What about you? Have you ever done a cleanse, or do you think good healthy living is quite enough?

All of Gwyneth's Roads Lead to Success

PopSugar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:00:54 -0700

Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, and a few of their celebrity friends like Bono and Helena Christensen got together last night at the Queen Sophia Spanish Institute in NYC to celebrate the debut of Mario and Gwyneth's Spain . . . On the Road Again. The PBS travel food show premiered over the weekend and has already been picked up for a second season in Italy - but that's not Gwyneth's only project. She's also just launched a website called Goop.com, which is dedicated to nourishing one's inner self. Gwyneth is all about sharing her passions these days, and at yesterday's event she opened up about her love of food and family. She said:

On being her own chef: "I cook all the meals for my house. I love to cook. [...] We have a wood burning pizza oven in our garden. Right now the weather is nice in London, so I'm using that oven a lot. You can cook anything in there. It's amazing."
On family tradition: "My dad was a famous pancake maker and I'm working on [adapting his] recipe right now. I'm making mine slightly healthier."

Gwyneth's mother Blythe Danner was there to show her support and also compliment her daughter's cooking. Whether or not you believe that she never diets, it seems like Gwyneth is well on her way to starting multiple side careers that sound pretty yummy.

To see more photos of Gwyneth, Bono, Blythe Danner, and others, just read more.

View 20 Photos ›

Images include: Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, Bono, Helena Christensen, Claudia Bassols, Mark Bittman, Blythe Danner

Source

Do You Get Gwyneth as a Lifestyle Guru?

PopSugar — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 12:00:44 -0800

Gwyneth Paltrow has been expanding her horizons well beyond the big screen these days. The Oscar winning actress has expressed her interest in working less to remain closer to her kids and now she has found new ventures which won't take her away from home. Along with modeling contracts, cookbook deals and high end gyms, Gwyneth's Goop website has made major headlines as well as backlash. She has defended her site recently saying, "I think the people who are criticizing it or criticizing the idea of it, don't really get it, because if they did, they would like it." Paltrow will continue to educate her subscribers with ideas on travel, food, religious wisdom and diet cleanses, making this mom a woman of all trades. So, tell us - do you buy Gwyneth as the next lifestyle guru?

INFDaily.com

Gwyneth Paltrow's New Year's Booty Workout

FitSugar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:30:00 -0800

While Gwyneth Paltrow and I tend to be on different pages regarding detox diets, her dedication to fitness is something I fully support. She has been keeping the world posted with her newsletter, and in her latest one Gwyneth shares the "New Year's butt" workout recommended by her trainer, Tracy Anderson. Gwyneth says, "It’s really hard. But do it like she says to do it and I swear that in 10 days you will see your butt change shape."

Tracy sent a video of the workout that she filmed from her hotel room, and a chair is the only equipment needed. There are several variations in the sequence and Tracy instructs her client to begin with 20 or 30 repetitions of each exercise per leg, which seems like a well-rounded (though slightly time-consuming) booty workout. She recommends working up to 50 reps and adding one-pound ankle weights for more challenge. View Gwyneth's newsletter to see the video and follow the link she provides if you want to download the workout onto your iPod.