My love/hate relaish with SELF Mag

So for a long time I've read SELF magazine. I like it because it's not full of too many advertisements, it's not always full of stick thin gorgeous glamazons, and I love the celebs who are brave enough to go unretouched on either their cover, or inside in the feature.

You can forgive me then, for being a little disappointed to open up my mail copy, and seeing Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover, perfectly airbrushed and retouched to the hilt. The headline beside her? "Gwyneth Paltrow's Healthy Eating Secrets. What she really does to get those Abs!". Now, I'm not into believing magazine claims in general, but I'm even less inclined to believe this one. I flick open, to a 6 page feature at the back, half of which is Organic/Vego/"healthy" recipes. The very last page is the one supposedly telling me how to look like gwyneth. I search, and search, and there, second and third answers, it lies.  Gwyneth tells us she gets her body by doing TWO HOURS A DAY, SIX DAYS A WEEK. I'm sorry, but in reality, who has the time? And all of those sessions? WITH A TRAINER.

Which brings me to my point. While i hate the magazine for sucking women in everywhere with that article, that awful, unrealistic, stupid article, the rest of the mag wasn't too bad.

Their Drop 10 SELF Challenge is actually admirable, in it's approach to balanced diet and excercise, and its realistic "at home" excercise routines. There are fabulous stories about readers OWN BODIES and experiences, and it reminds me that it's ok to fail sometimes, it's ok to look ordinary on days, and...most importantly, that ANY woman, regardless of shape, size or color, IS BEAUTIFUL.

This May issue also contains their 2011 Health & Beauty Awards, roadtested products by readers and editors that have hit the mark, or exceeded expectations. There are some good, affordable products in there.

You can find the mag online at SELF , where you can sign up for their Drop 10 plan (online food plans, workout guides, logs and support), you can design your own 30 minute workout video using moves from their video vault, and you can even check out their fabulous Superfast Beauty routine.

Speaking of Beauty Routines? This week I'm posting BareFace pics.....so you can see how I go from Cleansed and Clear to Flawless Finish :)

TTYS xoxo