Journal of Celebrity Affairs

From a WSJ profile of Dwayne Wade's fitness regimen:

Mr. Wade also started running on the beach this summer. "Running on the sand strengthens your quads and calf muscles," he says. He adds that he used to avoid running because it gave him shin splints, but running barefoot in the sand has helped him avoid that.

His diet appears to avoid some industrial foods, but seems to adhere to low-fat diet dogma.

Mr. Wade says he always avoided vegetables until he turned 30. "I hated all of them," he says. But "I knew it would help me in the long run both mentally and physically" to start eating them. His solution was to have his personal chef turn them into juice.

Full article here, including the addition of yoga and pilates to his workout regimen.

Here's the short video clip:  

Here's the full article on Bill Clinton's diet over the years.  Clinton fell under the sway of low-fat charlatan Dean Ornish, and has since gone vegan.  Let's be clear on one thing: anybody who stops eating processed foods (like the box of donuts referenced in the article) will show health benefits.  It pretty much doesn't matter what system you choose.

And this certainly isn't a valid health criticism, but I will say this: Nobody else could ever emasculate Bill Clinton like the way he has emasculated himself with this vegan bullshit.

Thanks to Allison for the link.

Novak Djokovic is the best tennis player in the world right now.  Perhaps the most dominant player in any sport, says the WSJ:

"It's no secret that Djokovic has had a breakout season, or that he has been, by any reasonable standard, the world's best athlete of 2011. On Sunday, he beat Rafael Nadal in the Rome Masters, his fourth-straight win over the Spaniard. It was his second win over Nadal on clay in two weeks, and again, amazingly, he did it without losing a set. The match ran Djokovic's 2011 record to 37-0 with seven titles."

Note: It's extremely hard to beat Rafael Nadal.  It's near impossible to beat him on clay.  Nadal on clay is like a bird in flight.  More on Djokovic's dominance:

"Of Djokovic's 37 wins, 13 are against Top 10 players, including four against Nadal and three against Federer, who in all his years of dominance never started a season in so grand a fashion. If Djokovic reaches the French Open final, he could have 43 consecutive victories—one more than John McEnroe's record 42 to start 1984 (that streak ended in the French Open final, after McEnroe won the first two sets against Ivan Lendl).

Djokovic's 2011 on-court stats border on the absurd: He has won 89% of his service games, 43% of his return games and half of his break points. In his four matches against Nadal, he has repeatedly gotten the better of the Spaniard in rallies lasting longer than eight shots. No one has done that to Nadal in his professional career."

That's just insane -- 7 of his 37 wins (18.9%) are against Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.  So to what does Djokovic attribute his success?

"Last year, Djokovic's nutritionist discovered that Djokovic is allergic to the protein, which is found in common flours."

...

"Since last year, he's swearing off pasta, pizza, beer, French bread, Corn Flakes, pretzels, empanadas, Mallomars and Twizzlers—anything with gluten."

Of course, as the article points out, athletics can be extremely mental, dependent on confidence, and small changes (even placebos) can have large effects.  And if Djokovic had gone gluten-free and played worse, then I probably wouldn't have heard or posted about it.  But even so.

Go read the full article, if only to see the Journal's artistic depiction of Nadal and Federer dressed up as steaks.  

More from the Journal of Celebrity Affairs.  Sounds like Charles Barkley may try a little CrossFit.  He clearly hasn't done it yet, because he thinks there's gonna be lots of running.  Can't wait to hear him talk about how sore he is.

Thanks to Brent for the link.

Hot off the press of the prestigious Journal of Celebrity Affairs (Us Weekly), Natalie Portman is eating animals during her pregnancy:

The 29-year-old Your Highness star -- who is expecting her first child with fiance Benjamin Millepied later this summer -- is no longer a vegan.

"I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff," she said during a Monday phone interview with the Q100 Bert Show in Atlanta. "I was listening to my body to have eggs and dairy and that sort of stuff."

"I know there are people who do stay vegan," she added, "but I think you have to just be careful, watch your iron levels and your B12 levels and supplement those if there are things you might be low in in your diet."

The Oscar-winning actress -- who became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals -- doesn't regret her decision to become a vegetarian again.

"If you're not eating eggs, then you can't have cookies or cake from regular bakeries, which can become a problem when that's all you want to eat," she laughed. "I actually wanted eggs at the beginning and then they grossed me out after awhile."

Good for her.  The body knows what it needs.  Story here.

Longtime readers know that from time to time, I develop a man crush.  Despite these crushes never ending well, I just never seem to learn.  A week or so ago I was watching the snoozefest that was the Oscars (on DVR, so I only wasted an hour and a half of my life).   And I've fallen for someone again: Jeff Bridges.

I mean, just look at that beard.  The beard that launched a thousand ships.  I see that beard on a magazine and I can't help myself from buying it.  He's made me realize that I really can't wait until my hair turns gray.  Growing a distinguished gray or white beard is one of the great perks of being a man (sorry, ladies), and I'm already looking forward to it.  And look at those silver streaks in his full head of hair -- somehow you know that Jeff Bridges has earned those streaks.  The gray of experience without the frailty of age.  

And his voice.  Every time he speaks, it says, "I've got more testosterone than you, and we both know it."  But he's also the most laid-back, ego-less guy in Hollywood.

Bridges is also exceptional in Hollywood for having a successful marriage.  (Apparently, the lack of ego is good for marriage.  Who knew?)  He's been married to his wife, Susan, for 34 years.  Here is the story of how they met.  Here's his bio.

And here is an ode to Jeff Bridges, and Jeff Bridges' beard, in pictures.

We continue with our next installment of Upstanding Citizen, a riveting series about people who don't take life sitting down.  Upstanding Citizen #2 is James Murdoch, presumed heir to News Corporation, who uses a standing desk:

"That James works from a standing desk in his office in London — sitting is less efficient in getting work done — adds to the image of him as a tightly wound executive, as do his black belt in karate and his hobby of competitive cycling."

Tightly wound or active and alpha?  They don't call them executive desks for nothing.  (But here's the question: Does the executive make the desk or does the desk make the executive?)

It gets better, this time from an interview in Intelligent Life:

"He is more animated when talking about technology. “I’ve got this great high-definition video link, right?” he tells me excitedly. “It sits [in his Wapping office], and with one push of the button—well it’s two—I get a list of people, and push the person, and they come right up!” To me, the most interesting thing about this gizmo is that it’s fixed to his office wall at head height. Just above his desk, which is at chest height. “I’m a big believer in standing up. I told some of the team at News International the other day that I thought they should get rid of their chairs. They weren’t very happy. It was very funny. They didn’t know whether to take me seriously.”

All this standing sounds, well, rather tiring. Oh no, he counters, “because, think about it, you sit down when you go home, then you lie down. So you could stand up and walk around for the day.” Which is clearly what he tries to do, much of it on the phone. He must have a lot of stamina. And very comfy shoes (although a glance under his chair doesn’t fill me with hope for his feet: the shoes are shiny, black and pointy). Still, it’s hard to picture even the hardiest soul reading or writing more than a few paragraphs in one go at a standing desk."

For suggesting, with a straight face, that everyone get rid of their chairs, you, James Murdoch, are an UPSTANDING CITIZEN.

If you don't take life sitting down, snap an interesting photo that captures you exercising your bipedal birthright, ideally with you in it, and send it in to john@hunter-gatherer.com.  I've already received a bunch.