You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Critiques’ category.
For anyone who took the time to read my blog, even if you never commented–thanks. Anyone who mentioned my blog to someone or a post to me, or ever complimented my writing–thanks!
But now it is time to wrap this lovely blogging experience up. I must say, right away I felt comfortable writing with my own, opinionated voice. I didn’t mind sharing my own experiences when it came to food or how my interest in heath stemmed from concerns within my own family or my friends. I felt like what makes someone feel good about their body image is by default a personal and subjective experience, so I felt like there was no other way to discuss such a thing than from a personal angle–and I think it worked very well; some people may feel comfortable with having an athletic build, their muscles clearly defined, and others may find that unattractive and feel better being lean and only slightly toned.
I felt in general, health is universal; what constitutes good health, the foods that boost your immune system or energy level are commonplace. Having such a wealth of information available to me to supplement my blog topics made me comfortable candidly expressing my opinions as I could easily back them up.
What I liked about blogging was being able to write with my own voice–something considered to be frowned upon in traditional journalism. I also liked being able to pick my own topics and write about what interested me as well as what I thought would interest my readers. What I think also worked for me was a great use of visuals, especially personal shots of the food I was making or eating. I think with things like food, people are looking for pictures and expect to see something.
The place blogging has in the journalism world today is being a great place for young writers like myself to develop their voice and writing skills, especially if they hope to be writing editorials or have their own columns. I think blogging has also diversified what can be considered news or allowed people to write about topics that have had to be cut from news rooms due to budgeting restraints, like education, religion, or medicine.
I may continue this blog, but perhaps sporadically. I still continue with the same topic, as I feel it is something I will always be interested in/ concerned with.
Ciao!
Lucia
I mentioned a while back how an interactive, multimedia series in the Health section of The New York Times was one of my favorite things to listen to, no matter how sad. I was talking about “Patient Voices.”
If you go under the tab under the health section called “Research,” then scroll to the bottom, you can see both audio and video from “Patient Voices.” Now what the section title means is that basically you hear from people living an affliction, or affected by it by taking care of loves ones, both old and young, with a oftentimes devastating condition.
It’s all very honest, very real, but also filled with facts, hope, and dignity. I’ve listened to ones on Cystic Fibrosis to Lupus to Autism. My one negative on the section is it’s difficult to just find a way to see all the people so you may listen and choose as you please. It’s a bit confusing and you just usually end up listening to what you see available for the day.
All in all, it’s stuff I could not possible understand without these brave individuals being willing to share. It truly is amazing!
Ciao,
Lucia
So this is a shout out to the guys. I’d like to think my blog is general health information for the most part, as written by a woman. But down the side of my blog you can see I have links for a couple healthy living oriented magazines for men as well : Men’s Fitness and Men’s Health. There’s less out there in general, unless you want to focus on body building. This post will be the same as the Women’s Edition.
Workouts
Mensfitness.com (Unique sections- Lifestyle, Sports and Outdoors, Advice, Blogs, Giveaway, Interviews, Daily Tips, MF’ers Around the Web): The fitness section seems to focus more on weights over things like running and cardio. Men, I guess you’re left to fend for yourselves and pick up a runner’s mag. They mention the importance of rest periods between sets, how to bench better, and the use of machines over free weights. There’s also weight room do’s and dont’s and a nice “Fat to Fit” weight loss challenge with a photo of the winner. They are clearly blunt.
“More” has tips on specific workouts, like for abs or how to “get ripped” in general. The Daily Tips box has info. on energy booster’s, losing weight faster to preventing sprains, the ultimate sandwich and a show upgrade. Each tip accompanies a specific day.
If you go to the top right, you can spot the somewhat hidden “Workouts tab” and again more specified workouts, with a couples workout, which I thought was nice, but the general focus is how to build muscle, muscle, muscle. This sections okay, but like I said, you’re on your own to diversify for cardio, yoga, etc.
They give sports it’s own section of fitness, which I think is unique. It’s definitely a much less boring weight to stay in shape and have fun (would be great in the women’s mags).
…However it’s a bit deceiving. You basically get a run-down of the most prominent athlete’s out of the what is deemed the most manly sports, like UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), and probably the other atheletes featured will change as the current ones are NASCAR, Basketball, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), an excerpt from Hulk Hogan’s book on life outside the ring, and how to restore your car. 3
Menshealth.com (Weight Loss, Health, Grooming, Tech, Style, The Best Life, Workout Gear, Forums, Personal Trainer, Sex, Twitter Feeds, Ask Men’s Health, Survey): Well its definitely more sexed-up like its sister’s site, but it’s focus is at least more diversified. You almost get the sports bit you desired from Fitness, in their “Survival of Fitness” feature with 23 ways to “torch fat” and build muscle without the gym. Underneath are 6 stations to avoid in your gym circuit that can hurt just as much as they help you, how bowling can improve your golf game, and a recommended book to revive your workout regime.
I like how there’s a breakdown on “Getting Started” if you’re a new at the gym, building muscle, (finally!) cardio plans, with a beginning runner’s guide, injury prevention, tools and quizzes, and some popular “celebrity workouts” (including how to get Twilight’s Taylor Lautner’s abs). They keep it nicely informative and fun.
There’s a feature of workout gear, which is nice, but of course you know they probably get a cut for who they sponsor, and a specific section on weight loss, which includes sections on finding your motivation, tips, workouts to specifically burn fat all year long and gain instant strength, as well food focused on being the buddy eating plan to losing weight. Very nice! There’s also weight loss stories for your benefit and 10 weight loss trips that does not involve starting. This is a great mixture of the topical and stayed, tried, and true advice. 5
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Food
Mensfitness.com: Well the set-up is dynamic! I like the photo boxes with the breakdown of the sections, which seems to be pretty topical, like: five energy-zapping foods, three easy tricks to fight diabetes, which I think is great that there is some disease prevention in there, five perfect post-workout snacks, weekend diet tips, candy do’s and dont’s and why you should be eat 10 most hated foods.
More nutrition continues on with more current topics like winning the cold and flu war, changing your “fat” habits, helping with hangovers, warnings against too many vitamins, and so on. Overall, not bad if you probably just looking for some semi-interesting stuff. 3
Menshealth.com:
Well this is definitely full of more information or topics in general. They have a main featured topic–The Greatest Guy Foods–which is fun and interesting. To the right of the box of focus, is the top nutrition picks, and to the right of that is an explanation of some of the most popular “wonder” fruits like pomegranate and acai berry, new flavors of protein which talks about new 15-minute dishes to fuel your workout, and 10 foods to upgrade your diet, health, and muscle.
Below that is “Eat This, Not That!” which features foods you should be eating and what to definitely stay away from, Smart Dining Out, Muscle Food, Gourmet for Guys, which includes tips on “seducing her” with an easy dinner and how to be a great cook, and finally nutrition tools which focuses on building muscle and keeping those abs. I’d go here for the latest stuff, but trust those basic sites from the health experts. 4
____________________________________________________
Miscellaneous Sections
I just have to talk about the other sections because they are way different from what you spot on the women’s health mag’s. This is almost more like a general write-up on the rest of each’s site.
Mensfitness.com: Don’t think when you click on the “Women” section you’re linked to the sister site, nope, you get: Better sex tops, seduction secrets to catch her eye, sex advice from the girl next door and the sex professor, as well as a chance to read a “hook up” archive, and below is finally the hot chick list called “Women We Love.” There’s sex everywhere in this section pretty much.
You can subscribe to some free newsletters and sign up to get a 30 day free trial before you subscribe fully on customized fitness and nutrition advice under ” Personal Trainer.”
The forums offer you the chance to discuss everything from health and relationships, to the typical diet and workout related stuff, and general topics. And there’s also a Tech section about the obvious. Enjoy! (No rating really needed, it’s subjective!)
Menshealth.com: Under advice you can fine all those sex and dating tips, the featured sexy women, but also (which I think is great) you can talk to the ask experts and ask questions in general. There’s also a specific section to boost your sex life.
The blogs range about stuff from video games, to the UFC and sports news on people like Usain Bolt. You can look at Gadgets and Gear and generally to the right you can look at a break down of categories. There is also a Women section and Photo galleries basically about featured hot women (their words, not mine). Testerone filled to the max. Again, enjoy, and no rating needed!
Ciao!
Lucia
As you can see down the side of my blog, I have links for several healthy living oriented magazines : Fitness, Self, Shape, and Women’s Health. This post is going to do a mini critique of each of their websites–the good and the bad–in a score of 1-5, 5 being the best. We’ll focus on Fitness and Food for today.
Workouts
Fitnessmagazine.com (Unique sections- Store, Video): First of all, I think it’s great that they break the section down into categories, mostly by what part of your body you want work out, i.e. Arms and Shoulders, Back or by type, i.e. Yoga, Running, Cardio Workouts, etc. There are also informational links, such as Motivation, Tips, and even informaton on losing the “baby weight” and workout music playlists. Pretty impressive! 4
Self.com (Unique sections- Reach Your Goal, All Blogs, All Videos): Not really catergorical, but topical. Its current topics are 100 healthiest cities for women, sculpting sexy curves, toning up, and then it has a break down of specific goals for 4 weeks. There’s also tips for quick workouts and a chance to register for a 14-day program with Biggest Loser trainer, Jillian Michaels. I wouldn’t go to Self’s website for comprehensive workout information, but for the newest things being talked about, for something short and interesting. They do offer something different, as in links to the hottest blogs on people writing about different things relating to health. 3
Womenshealthmag.com (Unique sections- Sex & Relationships, Yoga, Fit Coach, Store): So the graphics are pretty awesome, but just like its brother site, the website seems to be more focused more on sexy than healthy (which comes with being healthy). However, this site will probably keep you reading and is more interactive. It scrolls through for you to the different topics, from equipment free workouts that bring big results, getting a tight butt and legs, to smaller things like improving your posture and specific workouts like things to improve agility. Pretty fun site! 4.5
Shape.com (Unique sections- Lifestyle, Sweeps/Products): The design of the website I have to say is my favorite. It avoids the slight tackiness of Women’s Health and the (possibly at times) monotony of Self. Shape seems to embody a mixture of Shape and Self. Under the header workouts, you can currently find tips on weight training, yoga, and cardio, as well as fitness faux pas and breaking out of your cardio rut. However, I’m not sure if “summer calorie burners” is topical, so I’m not sure if the website’s content will always be up-to-date. Under sports, you find basically information for walkers and running, there’s also information on Gear and Gadgets, and Tools and Calculators. Each section links to more on the topic. Overall, very good! 4
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Food
Fitnessmagazine.com: I like this section for Fitness. The break down again is fantastic from 150 healthiest foods, to creating a diet, and a healthy grocery guide. Their content seems to be consistently original. They also include some topical topics as their center content, which is nice as we can see that the categories are always there, but we receive new information as well. Some of the topics currently are healthy fall foods that are also budget-friendly, guilt-free holiday recipes, and a new food for breakfast–a low calorie French toast. You can also browse for recipes with a spotlight on the most popular. Overall, really great! 4
Self.com: The content for this section leans more on the topical once again. The focus seems to be on the food diary, information on healthy comfort foods during this cold season when people tend to hibernate and snack, and super foods to fight stress. There is a food and diet Q and A, foods to combat fat, and awards for the most slimming yet delicious meals. There are again links to the newest Self blog posts and specific dinner and shopping information for November. The content is pretty original though probably always subject to change. 3.5
Womenshealthmag.com: Again, interesting shots and moving images to keep you interested. You can scroll through yourself or again it moves through and highlights the content for you. Their content seems a little more modern and would probably appeal to young women more as they have nutritional information on the worst drinks when you go out and healthy alternatives–great for those 20 somethings. There’s also information on 100 calorie candies and then more expansive content like recipes, the best fitness foods for women, and 30-minute meals. They have a bit of everything. 5
Shape.com: They have again a balance between the topical and the in-depth content a reader would want. They have a section called Nutrition 101, which also talks about super foods, a critique of energy drinks, and substitutes. There’s also information on meals and menus from quick breakfast ideas to healthy sandwiches for lunch and building a healthy meal yourself. There’s also information on calories, carbs and fat–facts and myth busters. They also have information for when you’re on the go and how to handle that junk food. You can also find recipes by season, nutrition, meal type, main ingredient, or cuisine. Nice! 5
Ciao!
Lucia
HealthTimeCrunch 