Detox Test Kitchen

Jenny Muller from TheDailyGreen.com tried out Organic Avenue's detox diet (featured in a recent GOOP newsletter). Besides the usual complaints (does anyone really like sprouts?), she reported having lots of energy, "glowing" skin and a flatter tummy:

"That little stomach pooch you tell yourself you could lose in a millisecond if you really got serious about it, yet never do? Totally gone."

We'll drink some green juice to that!

Schadenfreude Revisited

Really, Marie Claire? You too!

While reading an article about schadenfreude in the January issue, I came upon this:

"Who doesn't break into a smile when condescending would-be lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow's perfect marriage is reported to be on the rocks... ?"

We don't -- that's who! (We'll refrain from mentioning the celeb slip-ups that we do enjoy.)

Even Gwyneth herself admitted to a case of schadenfreude-itis in a past GOOP newsletter:

"I tried to take the high road. But one day I heard that something unfortunate and humiliating had happened to this person. And my reaction was deep relief and… happiness. There went the high road."

(At the time, there was lots of speculation that the alleged "frenemy" was Winona.)

So "why do people become energized when they say or read something negative about someone else?," G.P. asks. Take a look back at what some wise folks had to say.

GOOP Bytes

Seems like everyone's hopping on the G.P. challenge bandwagon! Read about this blogger/fan's test-tasting experiment, featuring recipes from a recent GOOP newsletter. Of course, the results proved to be delicioso.

A Dude Does GOOP

Who says GOOP's just for girls? Richard Dorment of Esquire took the "Gwyneth Challenge" (it's a trend!) for two weeks -- detoxing for 7 days, busting a move with Tracy Anderson and visiting an acupuncturist. The results?

"At the end of this two-week experiment, I can report, without qualification or caveat, that I felt very, very good. I was sleeping better. I had more energy. I'd lost nine pounds. (People liked to remind me that this was all water weight and that I'd probably gain it all back, but that's just noise to me.) Revolutionary or not, Gwyneth's way worked, and if it worked for this sinner, it could work for anybody. Case closed."

But, of course, his all-or-nothing approach had some drawbacks:

"I wasn't having much fun. (I like to eat red meat and drink too much at parties. It makes me happy.) I wasn't doing well at work — maybe it's because I was drinking less caffeine, but I was more reserved in meetings and a little slower on the uptake. I was also quite a bit poorer than when I started out. I came to realize that I couldn't live the life I wanted to live while doing all the things Gwyneth Paltrow thought I should do. So for those reasons and a few more, I began slipping back to where I'd started. Now I try to eat more vegetables and spend a little more time in the gym, but I have neither the time nor the resources to commit myself full-time to feeling good. I have other things to do. Like going out to lunch."

Just say no to the KFC, Robert.

P.S. We must admit, his matrix analysis of Gwyneth's goop in GOOP is pretty spot on.

OMG! GOOP on Gossip Girl

Oh. My. Gwyneth! GOOP made a surprise appearance on the season premiere of Gossip Girl last night.

For those that missed it, a brief recap: The bad-girl-turned-good-turned-bad-again Serena had supposedly taken a vow of silence for the summer and was camped out at an ashram (instead of the Hamptons with the rest of the fam). Suspension of disbelief, anyone? Well, upon her return, Serena admitted that she had relied on fellow blonde Gwynnie's advice about Bikram yoga and colonics to help fabricate her ridiculous lie: "At least GOOP is good for something," she said.

Up next: A Chuck and G.P. affair?

My Life as Gwyneth

Kudos to Rebecca Dana from The Daily Beast! She attempted to live like Gwyneth and follow the tenets of GOOP (kinda like A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically. No, we're not comparing G.P. to J.C.!). And she succeeded (sorta). Here are her final thoughts on the project:

"If you look at the big picture and not the little details, it's not so hard to understand where Gwyneth’s coming from. 'Do whatever you can, on whatever scale you can,' she says. 'It’s all about the intention.'"

Do I smell a book deal?

GOOP Is Back!

With another cooking video featuring mmm... Bibimbop





No relation to this.

A Dollop of GOOP

GP demonstrates how to make Quick Roast Chicken & Potatoes (she even debones the bird!). Julia Child and the "Chicken Sisters" would be proud.

That's Bananas!

Celeb stylist (and Bravo TV star) Rachel Zoe announced she'll be launching her own GOOP-like newsletter very soon. The Zoe Report will feature a "chic variety of accessories, apparel, and other items." Hmm, imitation = flattery, right?

GOOP for You Courtney Love!

"I am a big fan of Gwyneth's GOOP website. I'm trying to do the nourish yourself on the inside thing."—Courtney Love, who was recently diagnosed with malnutrition, is seeking help from her friends Trudie Styler and Gwyneth in New York

Why In Defense of Gwyneth?

I get why people hate Gwyneth Paltrow: She's beautiful, tall, lithe and privileged.

Given all these things, I kinda hate her, too, but it's not a true hatred; it's absolute jealousy because I am none of those things. So despite it all, I really love Gwyneth, and at the risk of sounding like some half-witted fan girl, I don't get all the hate.

I attended a roundtable with Gwyneth once, for the forgettable Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Now granted she was in a room full of press, but she was very gracious and answered each question thoughtfully. She had recently given birth to Apple and clearly missed her daughter, who she told us was just one floor above us in the hotel we were in just off Central Park South.

When you meet her in person—free of TV-interview snippets that aren't always presented in context—it's clear that Gwyneth has a very dry sense of humor, one I don't think translates well into print. Which is why whenever she talks, people listen (or read), and then they misconstrue.

Take the very idea of GOOP for instance. Paltrow says she launched the site "because I felt like I had a lot of really useful information that I was privileged enough to get, because I have this amazing super, fortunate life," which, fine, comes across as a bit pretentious at first glance, but isn't it also categorically true?

She does lead an "amazing, super, fortunate life" that has allowed her to try things like cupping and do things like travel through Spain in a Mercedes convertible. And because she's decided to extol the benefits of alternative medicine and share her favorite Spanish restaurants with us in a "harmless newsletter that goes out each week," (Gwynnie's own words) she's labeled as "just another frantic entrepreneur hoping to find something to sell," as Virginia Heffernan claimed in a blog post titled, "Leave Us Alone, Gwyneth Paltrow."

Sorry Virginia, but not everyone shares those sentiments.

That's why we started In Defense of Gwyneth. Because it's not Gwyneth who needs to leave people alone, it's people who need to leave Gwyneth alone.