It’s happening. Everybody stay calm. Stay f*cking calm. Mindy Kaling (yes, that Mindy Kaling) stopped by Betches virtual HQ to chat with Betches co-founders and Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast hosts Sami Sage and Aleen Dreksler. She really needs no introduction, but in case you live under a rock, Kaling is an award-winning actress, writer and producer of The Mindy Project, The Office, and more. She’s a f*cking icon if you didn’t already know.
Mindy chatted with Sami and Aleen about her secret pregnancy, being a mother of two, why she has more time for herself nowadays, and the new projects she’s focusing on.
In case you, again, live under a rock, on September 3rd Mindy surprised the world by announcing that she had secretly had a baby in quarantine. We can’t even keep a first date that goes moderately well a secret, so we’re impressed. Mindy talks about how easy it actually was to hide a pregnancy during quarantine, which makes sense since we haven’t seen another person from the chest down in months. She then talks about her new project for HBO Max called The Sex Lives of College Girls and how weird it is to have done the entirety of the beginning of this project via Zoom. She then discusses her book of essays, Nothing Like I Imagined, and her anxiety surrounding releasing a book during a pandemic. She explains she feels being unmarried has provided her with opportunity for other projects and how sometimes she feels the need to slow down.
Watch the whole video below and check out the full episode of Diet Starts Tomorrow.
Image: Cubankite / Shutterstock.com
The evil monsters behind Flat Tummy Co that we love to hate are at it again, but this time they’re targeting the group that is perhaps the most vulnerable and least deserving of being targeted by this sort of sh*t: pregnant women. That’s right, Flat Tummy Co’s greed couldn’t be satiated by exploiting non-pregnant women’s insecurities and passing their crap off as health products. They had to go so far as to make women carrying actual human life feel insecure about not having a flat stomach. They’ve definitely faced continuous backlash for their sh*t, though, including from our favorite dietician Tracy Lockwood Beckerman (an actual professional who knows how horrible this stuff based on her actual scientific expertise), who spoke about it on the latest episode of the Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast. Here’s everything she says we need to know about why Flat Tummy Co’s “Organic Pregnancy Tea” isn’t actually safe for pregnant women, or really anyone for that matter, and how the internet is freaking out about it.
If you don’t follow any of the Kardashians aren’t familiar with Flat Tummy’s regular antics, they are known for marketing their fake healthy products via sponsored Instagram posts by celebrities with large female followings, such as Real Housewives and the Kardashians. What a clever marketing strategy!!! Make women think celebrities’ impossibly flat stomachs are thanks to a tea they can buy themselves, and not the personal chefs and trainers and doctors that only the wealthy can afford! Social media has already made beauty standards for women unrealistically high, so why not just perpetuate lies and make them even unhealthily higher?! Hahahaha everything is so great over here in womanhood. What’s even crazier is the fact that they used Amber Rose, who actually is pregnant right now, to promote their pregnancy tea and try to convince people that it actually is healthy to use while pregnant.
Luckily Jameela Jamil, who’s been the one to call the Kardashians out for taking advantage of their audience just to get that Flat Tummy money, stepped in here as well. “FLAT TUMMY PRODUCTS FOR… PREGNANT WOMEN? Is this FDA approved? Are we… fucking… KIDDING? @US_FDA,” she tweeted with a screenshot of Amber Rose’s Instagram post.
I’m sorry, but isn’t the idea of a Flat Tummy pregnancy tea a little bit of an oxymoron? If there is one time in your life you probably aren’t going to have a flat tummy, it’s when you are pregnant. Are we really now trying to force the necessity of a flat stomach on literal pregnant women?! I can’t. I’ve truly seen it all.
But not only are these bullsh*t teas harmful to body image and don’t do what they say they do, they can actually make you physically sick. Beckerman says the “detox teas” are literally just LAXATIVES. Even worse, once you start drinking them, you physically will not be able to go to the bathroom without them. Which makes perfect sense from a money-hungry marketing standpoint, because then you just have to keep buying more! The truth is, these companies don’t give a sh*t about your wellbeing, but you certainly will be giving a lot of it when you’re running to the bathroom every five minutes after using their products.
Knowing what the ingredients in Flat Tummy products actually do, Beckerman explains, “What you’re doing to your body in taking this tea is a laxative-like effect on you. It’s making you feel dizzy, it’s making you feel lethargic, you’re dehydrated, your electrolytes are imbalanced. You feel sh*tty, you’re gonna lay down, you may even get the sweats and you don’t feel good,” which is what happens to a healthy person who doesn’t have a bun in the oven when they drink the tea. Imagine how it would affect someone who’s pregnant: “Now you’re immunocompromised, you’re carrying a child, and your system doesn’t work to take care of mom ‘cause it’s taking care of baby, so mom could pass out.” The cherry on top is that THEY AREN’T EVEN FDA APPROVED. To be fair, no supplements are FDA approved, because they are not evaluated by the FDA. But still, Beckerman states, “They did a recall of over 400 supplements in the last 10 years because… They had other things like weight loss stimulants that have been taken off the market for years because they cause heart attacks.”
When Tracy called Flat Tummy out for their unethical sh*t on her Instagram, they replied to a comment on her post! Someone pointed out that their website literally said that the Organic Pregnancy Tea isn’t actually safe for pregnant women, to which they responded in a comment (that they later deleted) that said their website was in the process of being updated.
I’m sorry, but what kind of credible website selling “health products” doesn’t have accurate information ready about whether or not it’s healthy to take their products? Everyone, I beg of you, save yourself from the ridiculousness these greed machines are trying to force on us and realize that you and your baby will be better off without this bullsh*t. We all will be.
To hear more about the Flat Tummy hoax, listen to Diet Starts Tomorrow below.
Images: freestocks.org / Unsplash; kimkardashian / Instagram; amberrose / Instagram; khloekardashian / Instagram
Living a healthy lifestyle during the holidays should honestly count as an Olympic sport. For many people, Thanksgiving is the beginning of the end, diet-wise. You feel like there’s basically no hope after you’ve eaten an entire bird, your body weight in stuffing, and pumpkin pie is seeping out of your pores. That’s why we had nutrition expert Max Lugavere on our Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast to give us some tips on getting through the holidays without wreaking havoc on your body. Here are some of our highlights from our chat with Lugavere, but to get all his advice, listen to our podcast linked below.
- How our food has become less nutritious overtime
- You’re more likely to be hangry and overeat when you chose to eat processed foods
- The optimal amount of protein to consume is probably double the recommended amount
- You can burn calories by eating protein
- Why rats in New York City are becoming type two diabetic
- Why Lugavere does not believe in the “five small meals a day” method
- Lugavere lives by the motto that “Your next meal is another opportunity to turn it all around.” So yeah, diet really does start tomorrow if you want it to
- How to stretch your stomach to fit more food on Thanksgiving
- Remind yourself as Lugavere does, it’s about progress, not perfection
Hear the full Diet Starts Tomorrow episode above. To connect with Max Lugavere, check out his Instagram, podcast, and best selling book.
Images: Yakynina Anastasia / Unsplash
You may think Gen Z is all bad dance moves and Fortnite, but Dr. Emily Weinstein, a Ph.D. research fellow at Harvard University, has the most positive view on today’s kids. This week on our Diet Starts Tomorrow Podcast, we had Dr. Weinstein discusses with us the impacts social media can have on peoples’ mental health, specifically kids grades 8-12. Unlike most doctors and old people, she actually has a lot of hope that social media, in fact, won’t rot the youths’ brains and subsequently make social interactions a thing of the past. Instead, social media has the power to connect kids to each other, communities they identify with, and social change movements. That being said, there’s still a lot of bad sh*t going down, but you’ll have to listen to find out. Here are some of the highlights from our conversation with Dr. Weinstein:
- Social media does not automatically equal more depression, it’s seriously not as clear-cut as you think
- It’s not about the amount of time you spend on social media, but what you’re actually doing on it. Are you stalking your ex’s new girlfriend or are you scrolling mindlessly through a Kar-Jenner kids fan page?
- Instagram knows when you zoom in on photos to check if that pic was actually Facetuned
- Instagram also knows when you linger way too long on that girl from your SoulCycle class’s engagement pics
- The more you engage with certain content on Instagram (even if you don’t press like) the more Instagram will show you it, even if it makes you feel like sh*t
- Weinstein has focused a lot of her research on understanding the value kids place on Snapchat streaks (spoiler alert: these are legit life-and-death matters)
- Instagram bios are basically the new AIM away message
- Boys who play Fortnite probably have PIU’s (you’ll have to listen to find out what this acronym stands for)
- Social media can actually help kids who are feeling depressed or alone
Check out the full Diet Starts Tomorrow episode below to hear Dr. Weinstein’s full segment.
Image: Lisa Fotios/Pexels
Secret’s out—men aren’t always as confident as they seem to be on their dating app profiles. The self-proclaimed one-man version of Betches, Jared Freid, spilled the tea on our Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast this week. He chatted with us about what it’s like to have body issues as a man and how he deals with being self-conscious, hating workouts, and eating healthy. Even though he f*cking hates being healthy, he shares with us his experience of learning how to find a balance. Here are some of our highlights from the episode:
- Sometimes Jared just watches skinny people eat to see like, WTF they’re doing that he isn’t
- Growing up, Jared’s family ate dinner in six minutes, which is like, not so healthy apparently
- “I think every guy cares about his body image, but they’re less outward about it,” Jared explains, “I have looked at a picture and thought, ‘okay life is over now’.”
- We have to accept our bad days in order to be better at creating healthy days
- Jared became a sensation at his summer camp because he made a bet not to drink for an entire summer and everyone placed their bets on him losing
- Nighttime eating and drinking is the hardest: “the minute I have the first time bite, I’m in for the next hour and a half,” says Jared.
- Every body is an Instagram body, just put it on Instagram and it’s a body on Instagram
- It’s attractive to be a person who gives a sh*t and is motivated
- Guys are too cocky and women aren’t cocky enough on dating apps
- Nobody is 5-10 pounds away from f*cking you
Check out the full Diet Starts Tomorrow episode above to hear Jared’s full segment. Also, catch Jared on our U Up? podcast and his own show, The J Train Podcast.
Images: rawpixel/Unsplash
Society f*cking sucks (especially these days) but when it comes to beauty, it’s particularly awful. Women are held to insanely high standards of beauty and asked to be literally flawless while also not doing a single thing to achieve that. So, we had Dr. Devgan, the top female plastic surgeon in New York on our Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast to discuss and de-stigmatize plastic surgery. Along with being a mother of six, Dr. Devgan is the CEO of her own company called Scientific Beauty and the Chief Medical Officer at Real Self, so she’s like totally legit. Here are some takeaways from our chat with Dr. Devgan, but for the full scoop, you’ll have to listen to the episode below.
- Most people who come to Dr. Devgan for plastic surgery generally like themselves and have confidence, but just want a bit of a change
- Dr. Devgan’s patients are 85% female and 15% male, but the male percentage is growing
- 10% of people who see a plastic surgeon have body dysmorphic disorder, so it’s important to screen for that
- People don’t actually bring in celebrity photos to recreate their faces, because that’s really f*cking creepy, but you can totally bring inspiration photos of features you like
- Age is beauty, according to Dr. Devgan—when you hit 35-40 your face has natural contour and elegance
- Snapchat Dysmorphia is REAL and people literally want to become their filters.
- Dr. Devgan tells us, “It’s time to let women and men dictate their own choices about their own bodies with a little bit more dignity, privacy, and respect”
- The average millennial is going to take 30,000 selfies in a year
- What to look for in a plastic surgeon and what types of photos to ask to see
- Jade rollers don’t actually work and you’re wasting your money and wrist strength
- Why Dr. Devgan is also not a fan of thread lifts and cool sculpting
Listen to Dr. Devgan’s full episode of Diet Starts Tomorrow below.
For career advice from Dr. Devgan, listen to our When’s Happy Hour podcast as well (and order our book while you’re at it).
Unless you live in a cave (which at this point, I wouldn’t blame you), you’re probably aware that if you ever need a quick slap to your ego and confidence, you can just click on Instagram. Influencers with seemingly perfect lives can be super depressing to follow. Especially for women who have just had a baby. Recently, we spoke with SWEAT Trainer and creator of PWR Weight Training and PWR Post-Pregnancy, Kelsey Wells, on our Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast. She opened up about her struggles with body image and anxiety post-pregnancy. And also gave us the story on how she got into creating her own workout programs.
Kelsey talked about how women forget sometimes that they just pushed a literal f*cking human out of their vagina. Their bodies have changed and need a second to recover. There was a physical being growing inside of you, which is like, really quite the accomplishment (you also didn’t drink for nine months). So how are you supposed to get back into working out after this? Kelsey explained, “There’s really not much for that delicate phase of life .” That’s why she created her program: “you have to let your body heal.”
The first step to working out post-pregnancy: simplify. Kelsey says, “you need to take a step back, take off the guilt, and focus on nourishing your body and moving your body in simple, small ways, and those are going to compound over time.” Taking it slow is her key piece of advice. You don’t have to be extreme you just have to be consistent.
This can obviously be super frustrating when Insta fitness mommies who look like they gave birth one day and are ready for the VS Fashion Show the next. But that’s not really how it works. Insta is a highlight reel, not real life. What mom is going to post her baby’s vomit in her hair? None. Kelsey says you have to remember that: “it’s not about one super diet or super exercise that’s going to get you to your goals,” Kelsey says. “You can’t look at it as this finite thing to be done. It has to be a shift, a small lifestyle shift.”
Women also should not feel that they have to suffer in silence. It’s super normal to be upset with your body after pregnancy. You likely put on weight (which is normal when you’re literally eating for two living things) and you most likely don’t look like you did pre-pregnancy. So do yourself a favor and un-follow those intense workout accounts, that’s not the inspo you need right now.
Instead, look for the Insta-moms out there who have opened up about day-to-day challenges of postpartum (there are a ton). You can also follow Kelsey on Instagram and download SWEAT to follow her PWR Post-Pregnancy program. You can also listen to her full interview with us on the most recent episode of Diet Starts Tomorrow.
Even if you’re not a mom, Kelsey is like totally inspirational. She has a lot of great tips for self-love and making slow progress. That’s the type of sh*t I’m here for. Listen to the whole episode of Diet Starts Tomorrow below, because it’s one of our realest episodes yet.
Images: Giphy (4)
Although you’re a flawless betch, it’s hard to be fearless all the time. So, this week on our Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast, our special guest was Claudia Oshry, better known as Girl With No Job. She talked about how she stays confident. Even though she has insecurities, Claudia never lets those take over her life. What started as a blog to b*tch out her co-workers after she lost her job has now evolved into a legit career. Here are some of our favorite moments from talking with Girl With No Job. Listen to the full episode below, because we promise, we didn’t even scratch the surface of the funny and insightful stuff she said.
- The first time Claudia sharted was at fat camp because she ate two laxative popsicles and got way too excited over winning color war
- You’ll never get over the nerves of putting yourself out there, but it does get easier
- Understand that your haters might think they’re right, but then you need to remember they’re wrong and f*cking stupid
- If you pretend to love yourself you’ll honestly start feeling it—Claudia’s been faking it since the fourth grade and look where she is now
- Claudia loves getting messages that are positive, especially when people say “I love how ugly you look here”—she gets it
- If you want to be serious on Instagram, buy a ring light
- The power stance has been proven not to work, but like, it does for Claudia
- Self-deprecating jokes can seriously help build confidence (it’s like, being self-aware)
- She got surgery that changed her confidence (sorry, you’ll have to listen to find out exactly what it was). But now she’s unstoppable so clearly it worked.
Listen to the full episode of Diet Starts Tomorrow to hear everything Claudia had to say.
Check out the full Diet Starts Tomorrow podcast and order our new book When’s Happy Hour? because Girl With No Job loves it (peep her on the back cover). To keep up with Claudia, check out her Instagram and podcasts. You can also buy tickets for her stand-up shows here.
