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Help For Moms: UK Assigns Midwife To Every Pregnant Woman
If you’re pregnant and you live in the UK, you’re in luck. That’s because the National Health Service (NHS) plans to provide expectant moms with a midwife before, during and after labor. The initiative is meant to help combat postpartum depression – and I must say it’s an amazing idea.
Here in North America, many moms I know have hired a midwife or doula for the same reason – many find doctors to be too clinical or simply too busy to give them the attention they crave – and so they’re dishing out thousands of dollars to have someone support them through labor and delivery (and everything that follows). More »
Teen Against Seventeen’s Photoshopping Makes Notable Ally: The Mag’s Former Editor
Seventeen magazine may have hoped to shut down 14-year-old Julia Bluhm‘s request for authentic images with a nicely worded “no,” but the conversation surrounding Photoshop is still ongoing. Even though the magazine has announced no further plans to meet with young feminist, Julia’s petition continues to grow with now over 66,000 signatures demanding one unphotoshopped photo spread a month. Seventeen‘s editor in chief famously – and laughably — refused to even admit that the publication used photoshopped images. But a former editor of the magazine has since teamed up with Julia, sharing her own story of why she eventually quit the magazine.
The Jane Dough‘s Amy Tennery reports that DeDe Lahman, a former editor at Seventeen and now bakery owner, offered the following statement asserting that girls should be better educated on how these images are manipulated: More »
Afternoon Links: Leaving Your Yoga Mat Rolled Up Is Nasty
• Want your yoga mat to last? Don’t do these three gross things with it (FitSugar)
• Among the reasons why a woman might want to get pregnant, skipping work is probably one of the worst (The Stir)
• Why having a fit mom totally rocks (HuffPost Healthy Living)
• Are you a safe cyclist? Most people aren’t–four out of five bike riders don’t wear helmets (GOOD)
• Ballet dancers from the Royal Ballet are speaking out about the prevalence of eating disorders (BBC)
• Dairyface: a line of skincare products that require refrigeration (because it’s made of–you guessed it–dairy!) (Well & Good)
Watch Russell Brand Awesomely Testify For More Compassionate Treatment Of Drug Addicts
Perpetually-grungy recent vegan Russell Brand has turned his life around in a number of ways. Aside from kicking addictions to liquor, heroin, and sex, he’s adopted a healthy, yoga-centric lifestyle that includes great food–and awesome outreach. Most recently, Brand testified on behalf of addicts before the British Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee regarding the UK’s drug policy. In his testimony, Brand noted that while addiction is a criminal problem, an emphasis on compassionate treatment could help clean up the streets. More »
The Next Jamie Oliver: 6th Grade Boy Develops His Own Weight Loss Plan
Debates about the childhood obesity epidemic often come down to the parents — and for good reason. Establishing healthy habits and an active lifestyle in our increasing digital age of fast-paced schedules and overworked moms and dads is the modern parents’ dilemma. But despite everyone and literally their mother having an opinion about who to blame with regard to overweight children, it’s often a space where we rarely hear from the children themselves. Fat-shaming ads aside, obese kids are often spoken for in lunch time policies or by parents. Seldom do we hear from children who, confronted with unhealthy practices, decide to turn it around — like 12-year-old Marshall Reid.
The New York Times reports that the then 10-year-old was the brunt of bullying for being overweight and on a single walk home from school, decided to develop his own weight loss plan. Although the kid did ask for his mother’s help, it was of his own volition to change his diet: More »
Rockstar Coconut Water Is Like Regular Coconut Water, But With Added Crap
I have already made my feelings clear about coconut water. And even though I feel like a pawn in a giant, coconut-tree-cash-crop-probably-terrible-for-the-planet industry which targets people exactly like me (young-ish, female, sporty, into yoga, eater of kale), I can’t stay away from the stuff. However, Rockstar has managed to develop the one coconut water-ish product I could definitely avoid. It is called Rockstar Coconut Water. More »
Baby Found Alive In Morgue Is A Miracle — Or Massively Irresponsible Hospital Mistake
The little baby girl who was pronounced dead in Argentina astounded her parents, doctors, and the world frankly when she began to cry in her tiny wooden coffin. The miracle baby also has a name, Luz Milagros Veron. But the cause for celebration has also resulted in a big suspension of certain hospital personnel following her unique and puzzling birth.
The Washington Post reports that every single doctor, nurse, and morgue worker who saw or tended to the baby has been suspended following an investigation into what exactly went wrong — if anything. While some are understandably perplexed as to how a newborn — a premature newborn even — could have survived upwards of 10 hours in a freezing morgue, the question lingers if someone on staff did not properly assess the child. While the story is definitely a tear-inducing one of a mother’s intuition following the loss of a child, the possibility remains that some doctor or nurse made a very profound error in their job — one that may have gone completely unnoticed had Luz’s mother not wanted to see her baby one last time. More »
NYU Hospital’s New Placenta Policy Will Save New Mothers A Trip To The Morgue
New mothers who want to consume their placentas are running into more problems than the gag reflexes of the people they tell about it. Placenta consumption has become a serious trend, with everyone from crunchy Brooklyn mothers all the way to Hollywood’s starlets eating their afterbirth and raving about it. But some hospitals aren’t making it easy.
In particular, NYU Langone Medical Center has gotten negative attention lately for its current policy, which forces mothers looking to procure their placenta to head down to the hospital morgue. But the outcry has paid off — Langone will soon be changing the way it handles those placenta transactions. More »
The Indoor Tanning Association Would Like You To Ignore That Study Linking Tanning To Melanoma
Last week, the Mayo Clinic released a startling study about the increase of melanoma rates in young women in a Midwestern county. According to the findings, in Olmstead County, Minnesota, rates of cutaneous melanoma in women aged 18 to 39 had “increased by 8-fold.” And, the researchers theorized, it’s due in large part to indoor tanning, a practice that has been consistently linked with premature aging and skin cancer. But that didn’t stop the Indoor Tanning Association (ITA) from responding with a snippy press release, that tries to debunk the study and tout the benefits of vitamin D.
We are surprised that an institution usually as well-resp
Iowa Rep Brags (And Lies) About “Outing” Vegetarians Who Tried To ‘Take His Meat’
First, let me out myself: I am a confirmed vegetarian. I don’t wear a green “V” sewn on my sleeve, but if it were up to Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), I probably would, because at least that way, he’d be able to see me coming and know, immediately, that I was trying to steal his meat. Which, in a recent town hall that ThinkProgress caught on video (watch it below), he seemed very concerned about as he proudly admitted (and lied about) “outing” vegetarians in during an animal welfare hearing before the congressional subcommittee of livestock, poultry, and dairy. More »
Drug Problem: Americans Are Eating Painkillers Like Candy
Dang, America, you are heavily medicated. According to a new report by the AP, in 2010, patients in the U.S. took literal tons of painkillers like Percocet and OxyContin–and it’s got addiction specialists worried. Unfortunately, doctors seems more than happy to keep their patients pain-free with these strong narcotics, which often fall into the wrong hands. More »
Park Slope Parents Would Rather Ban Ice Cream Trucks Than Teach Kids About Healthy Eating
There is little that is more iconic than the rush of excitement that fills a child when their little ears first pick up the soft tinkling of “The Entertainer” from around the corner. Ah, the ice cream man. But kinds in the super-bougie Park Slope neighborhood will experience no such delight this summer, if area parents have anything to say about it. They’ve waged war against the cool treats. More »
Johnson & Johnson CEO Resigns After Slew Of Recalls
At least those many Johnson & Johnson recalls are finally causing some shift in the ranks. The CEO, Bill Weldon, announced that he will be stepping down this April following recall after recall, a few of which were for well-known baby products.
CNN reports that Weldon has been the CEO for over 40 years, describing him as “one of the most respected executives in the drug industry.” But his company’s “sterling” reputation has undoubtedly been compromised with a handful of recalls, three of which have occurred in just under six months. More »
Anorexic Mother Weighs Less Than Her 7-Year-Old Daughter, Wears Kids’ Clothes
Although The New York Times seems to find something glamorous in women throwing on their kids’ clothes, this case study is far from chic. Single anorexic mother Rebecca Jones made a startling realization one morning when in her daughter’s room. The 26 year old picked up her 7-year-old daughter Maisy‘s skirt and it fit perfectly. Now the mother and daughter share everything from tops to jeans, and while Rebecca’s illness continues to challenge her own abilities to eat, she encourages her daughter to follow a different path.
Rebecca survives on soup, toast, and energy drinks, despite doctor’s warnings that she is currently at risk for a heart attack. Although the young mother has her own barriers with food, she encourages her daughter to enjoy foods like chocolate, cupcakes, and pizza. She told Daily Mail that her daughter is well aware that her mother has an eating disorder and that Maisy is concerned for her Rebecca’s health. More »
Obesity Epidemic: CDC Report Says Americans Need to Exercise More
We don’t need new studies to tell us that obesity is a big problem in the United States, but the U.S. Centers for Disease Control released a new report revealing that only two in 10 Americans get enough exercise, and 25% of us are inactive. Many of us (Blisstree included) focus our blame on unhealthy, processed foods, forgetting the other half of the obesity equation: Movement. The CDC report highlights the fact that maintaining a healthy weight requires exercise, too. More »
President Obama, Auto-Tuned: Video of the Day
Thanks to the digital age, singers no longer actually need to know how to sing, even in singing competitions. Our favorite example of pitch-correcting technology is Auto Tune, which artist T-Pain has used often (and shamelessly) to sound like a rapping robot, like he does here on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Now President Obama can transform his speeches into hip hop using the same technology. Health care reform never sounded so – cutting edge. More »
Legendary Broadcast and Print Journalist Daniel Schorr Dead at 93: Rest in peace, Mr. Schorr. You and your inimitable voice and style will be missed. Now that was a life well-lived. (via The New York Times)
World Cup Whoops: Photo of the Day
See if you can spot the error in this newscast. Hint: Africa is not South America.
via The Daily What… More »
BP Oil Spill Remix With President Obama and Matt Lauer: Auto-Tuned News
We’re not sure what we like more: Matt Lauer’s backing vocals or President Obama’s slick rhymes. What could be better? Oh, if the BP oil spill in the Gulf had never happened.
via The Daily What… More »
