I had the sexy mom

This post isn't necessarily food related except my mom was probably my biggest "food" influence or maybe she was just my biggest influence.

I didn’t realize it at the time but as I grew up I was taking notes on my mom. Who was she, how was she like or unlike other mothers? Consciously or unconsciously I observed her.

Fairly early on I knew I had a pretty mom. But my mother wasn’t pretty in the way Van Morrison says, “girls dressed up for each other”.  She wasn’t stuck on having the "it" purse or following the latest trend. And she wasn't just pretty, she was sexy. A photo of her in her white short shorts, t-shirt and white round sunglasses leaning against her white sports car comes to mind.  And as pretty as my mother was, she always said how beautiful I was  (even at so many stages when I didn’t feel it or look it).

My mother was not the mom who knew when I had a test was or what my homework was. When I was in college I went on Semester at Sea. I was dating someone at the time and sat in his room as he packed for one of our ports. He reached into a drawer and removed a Ziploc bag. I asked about the bag labeled “China” and he said his mother made him parcels of socks and underwear for each port. Wow. I’m fairly certain my mother didn’t know if I packed socks and underwear or anything that did or didn’t go into my suitcase. In fact when I was seven I went off to sleep away camp. The counselors went around handing out keys for our trunks. Turns out my mom hadn’t sent the keys (fortunately it opened with one of the other keys). In her defense, my mom did have a letter waiting for me…priorities.

My friends often remark that our family goes on great trips. To me, it’s just what you do with children, almost part of their education. My birthday is in August and my fourth birthday was spent in Spain, my fifth in England and sixth in Italy. Our apartment would be rented and off we went. And it wasn’t always smooth sailing. My mom enrolled me in camp in Spain where there was no English spoken. In England my mother looked the wrong way at an intersection and we were in a car accident…with a double decker bus. We found out I was allergic to bee stings in Rome when I was stung landing me in the hospital. And cruel as it may sound, recently when my son was terrified on a not so safe boat ride in Jamaica, I laughed to myself- it’s sort of why you go.

My opinion of many of these things has changed. I didn’t like being told I looked “just like my mom” growing up.  And part of me wondered what it would be like to have the mother who was always at school or packed peanut butter and jelly. My mother would bring me to the Plaza while she got her hair done and send me with money to Teuschers chocolates in the the lobby to buy champagne truffles.

Last week we were in Italy. My mother turned 75. I refuse to say, “she’s still beautiful” because she’s beautiful and almost ageless. When Facebook friends remarked that we looked alike, I felt proud.

As a parent now myself, I know it’s almost harder not to hover. Now my mother was working and I don’t think her parenting style was a conscious choice. I don’t know if I would allow my 12 year old (daughter!) to take the subway up to the Bronx or all the freedom my mother gave me. When I asked her about this recently she said, “you just did what you needed to do, I didn’t have to stand over you.”

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, to you and yours. And Mom I promise, despite my tendencies, to never make underwear packets for the boys.

What kind of mother do or did you have? Will you be with her today? Isn't it funny how things we ran away from are cherished now?

Cleavage and Advice

I am always intrigued by how experts resonate with people. Sometimes it’s warmth, I think of my friend/nutritionist Keri Glassman who has a fantastic smile and interest in people that comes across when she’s on TV or sitting at lunch. At times intellect does it, think Alton Brown or Michael Pollan. They say things that we remember or say things in a way we haven’t heard. Other times it’s passion, if someone feels so strongly about his or her subject matter then I often feel maybe I should too. But there’s another trend I’m noticing and that’s sexiness bordering on porn-iness and not just where you'd expect it. I understand swimsuit models or actresses playing the sexy card but experts? Or maybe a new type of  “sexpert”?

At a recent nutrition conference, a lecture on blogging encouraged nutrition bloggers to make content sexy and “sex it up”. At Foodtrainers, we always try to fun it up, even snark it up but sexy smoothie advice?  No thanks.

 

Then, I was forwarded this. The content (about nasty ingredients in Subway bread)

 is actually fine but the “expert’ rolling around on the ground, breasts front and center?  We actually looked and liked much of what the “Food Babe” had to say on her website but “babe”?  Can you imagine for a second Dr Phil looking sexy (see above)? Is it that brains-only work only for men?

There’s also Tracy Anderson, I really do admire the business she’s built and I get that a fitness professional is often in very little clothing (thank goodness I’m in nutrition).  This (see photo) is more than just a workout outfit and it’s not that I’m jealous I don’t have “more” to offer (my "offerings" will never be on full display). I'm the first one to raise my hand and say I wouldn't want an out of shape fitness instructor but this is a whole other subject.

Obviously I get the appeal of these images to men (maybe) and I understand sex sells. I fully appreciate that looks matter and that doesn't bother me. But where do you stand on experts and sexiness or cleavage? Does it matter to you? Do you think it’s a good thing? Or does it “turn you off”?

Fox News calls Adele fat, her response more newsworthy

Surprisingly, the dress is not Chanel

About a year ago, Karl Lagerfeld was blasted for calling Adele fat. In a conversation about pop stars he said “the thing at the moment is Adele. She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face.” The outcry after this comment should’ve served as a warning but Fox news didn’t seem to care (or they were hoping for a controversy of their own). The day after this year’s Grammy Awards they ran a five-minute “news” segment with a nutritionist about Adele and Kelly Clarkson’s weight.

I understand a discussion about celebrities or other public figures and weight. I recently wrote about Governor Chris Christy and whether weight should affect his potential presidential run. And I have posted about Kelly Clarkson as her songs and quotes have given the virtual middle finger to critics and their comments. What I don’t have any patience for are unfounded assumptions about people based on their weight.

The Fox segment’s nutritionist Keren Gilbert mentioned “if these women walked into my office and said they wanted to lose weight I wouldn’t kick them out.” First, the difference, as we discussed last week, is that these women as far as I know have not walked into Ms Gilbert’s Great Neck office. And if Adele did seek out a nutritionist, she may wish to discuss postnatal nutrition (helloooo). Ms. Gilbert then pointed her skinny finger saying “we’re a nation of excuses” their weight sends message “I don’t need to address these issues; I could be overweight like her.” I could dissect these comments all day long but Adele’s commentary is much more profound and definitely classier than anything I could say.

I recalled an interview Anderson Cooper did for 60 Minutes with Adele last year. I was so impressed with her as she offered the most sincere responses to tough, personal questions. She said she never looked at magazines and thought “I have to look like her to be a success”.  She also mentioned, as advice for young girls “if you want to change something about yourself, learn to appreciate yourself first.” She wasn’t standing on a soapbox for loving yourself no matter what. Rather, she said it’s ok if you want to make changes but the key, something Adele seems to have in spades, is caring for yourself.

How do we imbue young girls with that? Or adult women for that matter? How do you become immune to all the "body" stuff surrounding you?

And there’s more, Adele also takes on the issue of sexiness. She has said even if she had a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit figure, she would still wear "elegant clothing". In another magazine she was quoted saying, “'I don't want to be some skinny mini with my t*** out. I really don't want to do it and I don't want people confusing what it is that I'm about. “ In a time where JLo’s dress is slit up to her cha cha (sexy or slutty?) and Kate Upton is pretty much topless (in Antarctica!) on the cover of SI, isn’t modesty the most refreshing message of all?

And because I couldn’t resist, the expert in the Fox segment has this photo on her website? I wonder what she’s offering in that nutrition office she mentioned.

Does this photo say "let's talk about fiber?" Um no.

Do you think being in the public eye automatically makes you a role model? Do you think, as Fox suggested, overweight celebrities give others excuses to remain overweight? Would you feel differently if it were a rail thin pop star? Would to go to a health professional where "sexy" is part of their appeal? What is your favorite Adele song?

I love this song so much, Adele the pop world needs more "Someones Like You".