Oh No! Not Cookie Monster, Too...
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By Giselle Gerber
eDiets Content Manager
Last week, one of my co-workers, Mr. Blog-Champ-in-Training -- if you must know -- asked me a random question (he's full of those by the way.) The question was if the Cookie Monster is changing his name in an attempt to lead a healthier life.
The Veggie Monster? Could it really be true? Horrified, I quickly Googled this (a frequent procedure I have for answering random questions that come up). After doing some research, I learned that back in 2005, the folks at Sesame Street decided that my beloved Cookie Monster needed to clean up his act.
Apparently, the phrase "C" is for Cookie" has been replaced by "A Cookie is a Sometimes Food"... What? Scandalous, if you ask me.
Since then Sesame Street has kicked off the "Healthy Habits for Life" programming, which encourages young viewers to be more active and lead more nutritious lives. My favorite blue-furry friend also sings about fruits and vegetables and teaches kids about "sometimes" foods and "anytime" foods.
Growing up I always loved the gooogly-eyed Cookie Monster and was never influenced to mimic his sugar-indulging ways or pipe-eating antics. He was just a cool monster that had a slight weakness for cookies. Is that so bad? Does changing the Cookie Monster's image from cookie-lover to sometimes-cookie-lover help lower childhood obesity rates?
What do you think? Is
And just for old times sake, this blog post was brought to you by the letter "C" for Cookies!
Barbie: Little Girl's Dream or Parent's Nightmare?
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By Dorian Wagner
eDiets Senior Copy Editor
Barbie. No other toy brings up more memories, more emotions, more opinions. And since her birthday was Sunday, March 9 (she's almost 50!), I thought I'd take a minute to look back...My first Barbie was Malibu Barbie. I'm pretty sure she came wearing a bathing suit, but I can't be sure -- I dressed and redressed her 20 times a day. I brushed her hair till it fell out and slopped her face with my candy pink play lipstick. She must have kissed Ken a million times.
As time went on, my Barbie collection grew. They moved into the Dream House (I rearranged the furniture daily). Their wardrobe grew (my parents probably cringed at how much each new outfit cost). They drove around in a hot pink convertible (remember how hard it was to get their legs in there?)
For fun, I'd pack up the Barbie bunch and head over to my neighbor's house. I loved going over there to "play Barbie" because she had the really cool Barbie pool with a pump that made bubbles like a hot tub. I knew it was Malibu Barbie's favorite place to be, and, secretly, I was so jealous of my friend for that.
Eventually I outgrew my "playing Barbie" stage, but I never outgrew my fondness for Barbie herself. She was beautiful and perfect, and everything a little girl dreams of being. She had the perfect house, a hot little sports car and a handsome hunk of a boyfriend (never mind that he was missing some key parts...). I kind of wish I still had some of my old Barbies, although I'm sure they're a lot better looking in my memories than they would be now, more than 20 years after my heyday with them.
And you know the funny thing? When you're little, it never occurs to you that Barbie is too perfect. You don't think about how absurdly tiny her waist is or how ridiculously long her legs are. It's not till later in our adult lives that we look back and start attacking the very things we loved about her when we were little.
Mattel has made some changes to Barbie along the way since her first appearance in 1959. In 1972, she gave up her sexy sideways glance for a straightforward one and in 1992 her waist widened. She's become a doctor instead of a nurse and a pilot instead of a stewardess. But despite all the efforts to make her a stronger, more real woman, it's still the super-girlie, pretty princess Barbie dolls that are most popular.
And you know what? To me, that's totally OK. I want my daughters (one day, Mom, one day... just relax) to play with perfect Barbies and dream of being princesses, too. I want them live in a girlie, carefree fantasyland as long as they can. It's a big bad world out there, and frankly, I don't think Barbie would survive five minutes. :)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARBIE!
What are your favorite Barbie memories? When you think of Barbie, what do you think of? Share your stories and thoughts by commenting below!
The Science Behind Picky Eating
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Some foods just get to us. Whether it's texture, color or smell, everyone has their reasons -- however silly -- for their picky eating.
For example, I refuse to eat "chunks." This includes blue cheese, feta cheese, Thousand Island dressing, etc. Chunks. I don't even care what it tastes like -- I'm just not eating it. And, according to Psychology Today, I'm not alone...
In the first comprehensive survey of food pickiness among adults, anthropologist Jane Kauer interviewed nearly 500 adult Americans about their attitudes toward foods, food variety and eating habits. Kauer, found that mild pickiness is quite widespread -- about one-third of her volunteers described themselves as "unusually picky eaters."
It may not be surprising to learn that 60 percent of us like to leave our plates clean or that close to half of us eat just about the same thing for breakfast nearly every day. But stranger habits are also common. Many people refuse to drink while they eat. Others won't eat food that is lumpy or has a filling, like raviolis or egg rolls. Nearly 20 percent of us are repelled by raw tomatoes (something about the gooeyness inside the firmness), and about the same fraction of us simply don't like trying new foods.
In the course of her survey, Kauer found a few extremely picky people. (One woman she interviewed, for example, ate little more than canned brains, undercooked French fries and fried eggs. Kauer thinks this intensely fastidious eating is probably related to obsessive-compulsive behavior.) Questioning the pickiest third further, Kauer identified a master list of foods that are almost universally accepted: fried chicken, French fries, chocolate chip cookies, and above all else, Kraft macaroni and cheese. ("People seem to respond to the orange color," she says. "Maybe it's a signal that it's really fake and therefore really safe.") Obviously, these are all classic comfort foods, but more important for the picky person, they are unlikely to have weird or surprising ingredients. "We all know what's in fried chicken, for example, even if we get it from some place we've never been before," she says.
Why is it that all the universally accepted foods are bad for you?!?!
Read the rest of the Psychology Today article here and feel free to share your "safe" and "icky" foods below!
Labels: diet, kids, weight, weight-loss
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