Blog Posts by Intent.com

photo by: adria.richardsThis month at Intent Blog, we've been featuring a series of in-depth conversations with some of the nation's top yoga instructors and wellness experts in our GaiamTV interview series. In this interview with Jill Miller, Jill talks about the connection between yoga, weight loss, and eating disorders.

Hi Jill. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us! We wanted to start out just by asking you about your video, Yoga for Weight Loss. Why would someone do yoga for weight loss? Why not hiking or biking or some other form of exercise... do you think yoga is more effective?

I would not claim yoga as a stand-alone is a "more effective" approach for weight loss. Changing one's body requires change on multiple levels from inside-out: nutrition, mind-set, stress levels and day-to-day activities all bear weight (so to speak) when a body has decided that it is time to shed. What yoga brings to the table is a body-wide introduction into deeper connections between muscles and tissues that

photo by: paul bica

By Mallika Chopra

What would you do if you were given $100K to take the year off?

• Would you quit your miserable job, buy some cozy sweats, re-do your bedroom and chill at home watching movies, eating good food, sleep and get back to a state of balance?

• Would you travel the world and see those places on your dream list?

• Moms, would you hire a good nanny and a housekeeper and treat yourself to spa days and get away weekends with girlfriends?

• Would you decide to volunteer for a year - perhaps give back to your community with money and time?

• Would you go back to school? Pay off your loans? Start a college fund for your kids?

• Pursue your hobby or life long dream to become a filmmaker or guitar player?

• Would you take care of your health? Perhaps you need to learn how to meditate, get a trainer, and revamp your eating habits. Or, as a caretaker, perhaps you can help someone you love heal and find comfort? How could $100K bring healing into your life?

Posed

By Cara Sprunk

Khloe KardashianKhloe Kardashian has proclaimed that she lost 20 lbs in 20 days on a magazine cover a few weeks ago.

Generally, the youngest Kardashian sister is applauded for maintaining a healthy body image. I personally liked when she snapped back at her mom for criticizing her weight (props to you Khlo!). She definitely isn't fat - she's just perceived as so much bigger than her itty-bitty sisters. That's got to be hard. She's so much taller and bigger-boned than them, that even if she had the same BMI, she would still look a lot larger.

Fast forward to now, Khloe claiming to the world to be super skinny with her new weight loss. Yay for Khlo? No so much.

When I read that someone claims to have lost so much weight in such a small window of time, their reputation as a celebrity with a positive body image, in my mind, goes out the window.

No one should aspire to lose 20 lbs in 20 days. I'm not a doctor, but I would imagine without the help of the feeding tube diet or downright

M
By Mallika Chopra

The Mindful Mom Series with Mallika Chopra

When I told my daughter earlier this week that I had to go to NYC for work, she opened her eyes wide, looked disappointed, and replied, "But you said you weren't traveling until June!" My reaction: guilt.

I've been feeling a lot of guilt lately as I try to figure out work/life balance. And the more I talk about it, the more I realize that many of my women friends (moms and non-mom's alike) are dealing with guilt too.

My friends who are moms that work long hours in the office are feeling guilty - they feel they are missing out on their children's lives, not being there fully for their families. Even the ones who don't have kids or partners often feel like work has taken over their personal lives. My friends who are stay at home moms and choose not to work professionally are feeling guilty for leaving the work force after years of education and successful careers. They fear they won't be able to join the

Dove Ad

By Chelsea Roff

Have I mentioned how much I love Dove? No, not the sweet little song-bird kind of Dove. The Dove responsible for making many of the personal care products in your bathroom... and more importantly, the Dove responsible for blowing the top off popular misconceptions about beauty with its "Campaign for Real Beauty."

In 2004, the company set out to enlist "real women" models (i.e. not just women with a BMI that qualifies them for an eating disorder) to simultaneously market Dove's products and re-frame mainstream messages about beauty. Their goal was "to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening stereotypical views of beauty." I'll admit, I did have some reservations about that campaign initially (hey, skinny women are "real women" too!), but I think the overall impact of the campaign was commendable. Dove, in my mind, proved what many in advertising and the media have long claimed impossible: Curvy, racially diverse, older, and (gasp!) healthy women can sell

By Chelsea Roff

As if women didn't already have enough body parts to worry about shaving, waxing, and -- YES -- bleaching, a new commercial for a product called Clean and Dry Intimate Wash wants women to lighten up their apparently too-dark lady parts as well.

In the commercial, a notably light-skinned Indian couple sits down for a morning cup of coffee. But something about the dynamic between them is undoubtedly off. The husband can't even bring himself look at his wife, much less drink his coffee. The woman appears uncomfortable and self-conscious. Fortunately, Clean and Dry Intimate Wash swoops in to the rescue. The woman takes a shower and POOF! comes out with a new, improved, and (of course) much fairer vagina. Her husband now gazes at her lustily. Because, you know, no one wants a woman with a dark vagina.


Watch the video of the commercial here.

What the heck were the makers of this product thinking? Here's what one ad executive had to say:

It is hard to

Ron Sombilon Gallery"You're crawling through the desert in search of the oasis of a better body."

Those are the words of Loren Bassett, a 41-year old yoga instructor in Manhattan who teaches yoga in a room so hot it might as well be a sauna. Bassett's approach reflects a growing trend in the fitness industry to crank up the heat on traditional work-outs. Gone 75-degree gyms and large fans in aerobics classes. According to New York Times, fitness junkies in New York and Los Angeles increasingly want to do their yoga, pilates, cycling, and other types of work-out in extreme heat... no matter what the risk.

via the New York Times:

For these religious exercisers, based mostly in New York and Los Angeles, only sweltering temperatures produce adequate workouts: a jackhammering heart rate, pliable muscles and a psychologically satisfying sweat that devotees describe as "detoxing." So gyms and studios are trying to lure them with ever hotter, harder yoga classes, in addition to roasted versions

Beets

People either love beets or they hate them, mostly because they haven't discovered all the wonderful ways to enjoy beets. I, personally, am in the LOVE BEETS camp. I still remember the first time I ate them as a child. I wanted them every day after that. Whether you already love them, or just haven't discovered their marvels, here are 7 reasons to eat more beets.

1. Beets are high in nutrients such as folate, manganese, potassium, and vitamin C, making them an excellent source of nutrients, and a particularly good choice for pregnant women who have higher folate needs during pregnancy.

2. In their uncooked state, beets also contain an important compound called betaine, which research has shown reduces several compounds linked to inflammation in the body. In other words, it's a great anti-inflammatory food that helps protect us from the effects of aging and disease.

3. Beets are one of Nature's miracles in the prevention of cancer. The fiber found in beets seems to