She was on the Today show this morning, quick screen grab. I expected a better wig or weave with her money, and maybe a few pounds less when promoting a book that is supposed to be healthy living.
Picture of Robin from the NY Daily News
- Thread starter beaniemac
- Start date
I looked for a review of the book by a nutritionist or some kind of expert but have not found it yet. Read this in the reader reviews on Amazon:
1.0 out of 5 stars A Poor Attempt at Salvage Oct. 1 2013
By Benjamen Purvis
Frustrated that steroids and drugs were the only treatment her doctors recommended for her condition -- she was fat again after failed and very public weight loss campaigns, sick, tired, "almost disabled" (her melodramatic words; she was a jet-setting, hobbyist race car driver at the time) and ready to face death -- Robin publicly denounced all Western doctors and their medical practices and embraced an extreme new lifestyle made of detoxifying green drinks, a vegan diet, coffee enemas, advanced machinery that forces blood circulation (each session required an expensive cross-country trip from New York to Los Angeles), Chinese healers, functional medicine practitioners (the kind who don't take insurance), mysticism and magic beads. According to her new book, The Vegucation of Robin (subtitled How Real Food Saved My Life), these changes that she advocates improved her health in ways not possible with Western doctors calling the shots. (She doesn't mention the coffee enemas, the mysticism or the magic beads that we know about as listeners of the Stern show.) Forget counting calories; Robin says that's not necessary with a plant-based lifestyle. She emphasizes how great you'll feel when you go vegan, promising it'll cure you of your ills -- physical as well as mental -- just like it's done for her. "Look at me," she says. "I only eat plants, and I haven't died! I haven't come up with some kind of crazy deficiency. In fact, I'm healthier than I ever have been in my life."
But there's another side to this story that developed after Robin had already signed the book deal with her publisher: In the five years since Robin embraced this lifestyle, a mass in her pelvis grew to the size of a grapefruit. None of the Chinese healers, mystics, blood circulators or functional medicine practitioners she relied on for her health analysis detected this massive growth. And in May of 2012, Robin underwent a 12-hour surgery performed by the Western doctors she'd so vocally turned her back on. "Sure, the brilliant team of doctors and nurses who cared for me deserve some credit," Robin concedes, but she insists her new lifestyle was what truly saved her. "When life threw me a grapefruit-size curve ball, my body was up for the challenge." In September of 2013 -- one month before the release of this book, and after 16 months of working from home and avoiding the public eye -- Robin announced that she'd developed, and been cured of (thanks to expensive expert help at Memorial Sloan Kettering), cancer. But don't expect to read about any of that in this book, because Robin addresses her ailment as a minor setback, and never uses the word cancer.
There's no doubt this other side of the story would've prevented the publishers from doing this book, had they known about it beforehand. Nobody wants to take healthy living advice from a person whose idea of a healthy lifestyle landed her in the hospital, and prevented her cancer from being detected at an earlier stage. But the publishers signed a contract, so they've tried to salvage this project as best they can. They've softened some of Robin's familiar anti-Western doctor rants with reminders that these doctors shouldn't be cut out of your life completely. And despite the foreword by Russell Simmons that praises Robin for making the case to go vegan, there are statements throughout the book that tone down any advocacy of a plant-based diet, like: "This book is not about being a vegan, vegetarian or ovo-lacto whatever," and, "This book isn't about advocating that you never eat another cheeseburger." (My favorite is "Whatever you do, don't expect to learn everything from this book.") They even tone down any promises of weight loss due to this lifestyle, presumably because Robin had gained back a lot of the weight she'd lost between signing the book deal and taking the photos for the book. (She has since put on even more weight during her time out of the public eye.)
Although Robin is quick to blame her lifelong weight problems on her parents, the government, big business and Western doctors, she does share a tiny bit of the responsibility in this exclusive confession about her ice cream addiction (though she purposely uses drug-related phrasing to detract from her own accountability): "I could go home with just one cigarette left in the pack, but if there was only half a pint of ice cream, forget it. If I walked in and my stash wasn't big enough, no matter what time of the night and no matter how tired I was, I had to go replenish it ... It was [Note: I think she means wasn't] about fantasizing about that initial high that I got when I first started my ice-cream habit, but really just struggling to get enough of a buzz to feel normal."
What stands out as the biggest attempt at salvage is the abrupt transition from Part Two to Part Three. That's where this first person memoir/essay switches gears (and authors) and becomes a vegan cookbook. In fact, the majority of this book is made up of vegan recipes, largely created by Manhattan chef Christopher Sanchez. (Robin's part takes up about 104 pages of this book; the recipes by Sanchez take up about 116.) Although Sanchez is shown in some photos with Robin, his name isn't mentioned on the cover, the inside of the jacket, or even near his recipes.
So who is this book for? Well, it's hardly a must-read for Stern fans/haters. Howard is mentioned casually here and there, but the stories are nothing we haven't already heard on the air. In fact, they feel forced in. And aside from calling her job very stressful, there's only one amusing bit of show-related insight, where Robin talks about some back office scenarios: "In my life, dealing with stress in a healthy way is a major priority. I'm constantly under pressure, and if I'm not careful, the silliest thing can set me off. I've had episodes where I'm standing in the middle of the office screaming because somebody took my umbrella. Finally some poor guy hands me his just so I'll get out of there!" That was before she became a vegan, she points out. "When you eat a clean, plant-based diet you'll find that you feel less stressed in the first place because your mind is clearer and not so tangled up dealing with your body's issues."
The book definitely isn't for the poor, or even lower-middle class. Robin stresses eating a diet of locally grown organic fruits and vegetables (locally grown organic, not imported organic!), and forming a relationship with a functional medicine practitioner (the kind of physician who won't take your insurance). She adds, "The most common excuse I hear about not seeing an out-of-network doctor or requesting extra blood work -- or buying organic food, for that matter -- is that it's more expensive. But I don't hear those same excuses when it comes to springing for kids' sneakers or iPods or the latest had-to-haves."
Speaking of kids, non-parent Robin has this to say about their aversion to veggies: "If there's one thing parents say that makes me crazy, it's this: `My kid hates vegetables. ... I promise you that if all you're putting out is carrots and some hummus, your kids -- if they're hungry -- will eat carrots and some hummus."
And when it comes to family and friends, Robin isn't so up on them, either. "Have you ever really looked at the quality of the people in your life?" she asks. "Are your friends truly your friends? Is your family truly supportive? Do you truly enjoy being around them? ... You can't control everything in your life, but you can control whom you spend your time with. Well, for the most part -- there are holidays."
And don't even think about making one meal for the whole family. Robin says, "You need to get past the idea that food is communal -- it's not. Eating is personal. You're not having what your spouse is having ..."
In its current condition, I'd be hard-pressed to say who this book is for -- including Robin, who no longer eats grains or fruits. If the publishers truly wanted to salvage this book in a way that would relieve them of the messiness associated with the health/weight issues of its author, they should have stripped out all of Robin's melodrama, nastiness and attitude (she talks down to the reader, as always), and treated her contribution as a slightly extended foreword to the vegan cookbook by Christopher Sanchez.
1.0 out of 5 stars A Poor Attempt at Salvage Oct. 1 2013
By Benjamen Purvis
Frustrated that steroids and drugs were the only treatment her doctors recommended for her condition -- she was fat again after failed and very public weight loss campaigns, sick, tired, "almost disabled" (her melodramatic words; she was a jet-setting, hobbyist race car driver at the time) and ready to face death -- Robin publicly denounced all Western doctors and their medical practices and embraced an extreme new lifestyle made of detoxifying green drinks, a vegan diet, coffee enemas, advanced machinery that forces blood circulation (each session required an expensive cross-country trip from New York to Los Angeles), Chinese healers, functional medicine practitioners (the kind who don't take insurance), mysticism and magic beads. According to her new book, The Vegucation of Robin (subtitled How Real Food Saved My Life), these changes that she advocates improved her health in ways not possible with Western doctors calling the shots. (She doesn't mention the coffee enemas, the mysticism or the magic beads that we know about as listeners of the Stern show.) Forget counting calories; Robin says that's not necessary with a plant-based lifestyle. She emphasizes how great you'll feel when you go vegan, promising it'll cure you of your ills -- physical as well as mental -- just like it's done for her. "Look at me," she says. "I only eat plants, and I haven't died! I haven't come up with some kind of crazy deficiency. In fact, I'm healthier than I ever have been in my life."
But there's another side to this story that developed after Robin had already signed the book deal with her publisher: In the five years since Robin embraced this lifestyle, a mass in her pelvis grew to the size of a grapefruit. None of the Chinese healers, mystics, blood circulators or functional medicine practitioners she relied on for her health analysis detected this massive growth. And in May of 2012, Robin underwent a 12-hour surgery performed by the Western doctors she'd so vocally turned her back on. "Sure, the brilliant team of doctors and nurses who cared for me deserve some credit," Robin concedes, but she insists her new lifestyle was what truly saved her. "When life threw me a grapefruit-size curve ball, my body was up for the challenge." In September of 2013 -- one month before the release of this book, and after 16 months of working from home and avoiding the public eye -- Robin announced that she'd developed, and been cured of (thanks to expensive expert help at Memorial Sloan Kettering), cancer. But don't expect to read about any of that in this book, because Robin addresses her ailment as a minor setback, and never uses the word cancer.
There's no doubt this other side of the story would've prevented the publishers from doing this book, had they known about it beforehand. Nobody wants to take healthy living advice from a person whose idea of a healthy lifestyle landed her in the hospital, and prevented her cancer from being detected at an earlier stage. But the publishers signed a contract, so they've tried to salvage this project as best they can. They've softened some of Robin's familiar anti-Western doctor rants with reminders that these doctors shouldn't be cut out of your life completely. And despite the foreword by Russell Simmons that praises Robin for making the case to go vegan, there are statements throughout the book that tone down any advocacy of a plant-based diet, like: "This book is not about being a vegan, vegetarian or ovo-lacto whatever," and, "This book isn't about advocating that you never eat another cheeseburger." (My favorite is "Whatever you do, don't expect to learn everything from this book.") They even tone down any promises of weight loss due to this lifestyle, presumably because Robin had gained back a lot of the weight she'd lost between signing the book deal and taking the photos for the book. (She has since put on even more weight during her time out of the public eye.)
Although Robin is quick to blame her lifelong weight problems on her parents, the government, big business and Western doctors, she does share a tiny bit of the responsibility in this exclusive confession about her ice cream addiction (though she purposely uses drug-related phrasing to detract from her own accountability): "I could go home with just one cigarette left in the pack, but if there was only half a pint of ice cream, forget it. If I walked in and my stash wasn't big enough, no matter what time of the night and no matter how tired I was, I had to go replenish it ... It was [Note: I think she means wasn't] about fantasizing about that initial high that I got when I first started my ice-cream habit, but really just struggling to get enough of a buzz to feel normal."
What stands out as the biggest attempt at salvage is the abrupt transition from Part Two to Part Three. That's where this first person memoir/essay switches gears (and authors) and becomes a vegan cookbook. In fact, the majority of this book is made up of vegan recipes, largely created by Manhattan chef Christopher Sanchez. (Robin's part takes up about 104 pages of this book; the recipes by Sanchez take up about 116.) Although Sanchez is shown in some photos with Robin, his name isn't mentioned on the cover, the inside of the jacket, or even near his recipes.
So who is this book for? Well, it's hardly a must-read for Stern fans/haters. Howard is mentioned casually here and there, but the stories are nothing we haven't already heard on the air. In fact, they feel forced in. And aside from calling her job very stressful, there's only one amusing bit of show-related insight, where Robin talks about some back office scenarios: "In my life, dealing with stress in a healthy way is a major priority. I'm constantly under pressure, and if I'm not careful, the silliest thing can set me off. I've had episodes where I'm standing in the middle of the office screaming because somebody took my umbrella. Finally some poor guy hands me his just so I'll get out of there!" That was before she became a vegan, she points out. "When you eat a clean, plant-based diet you'll find that you feel less stressed in the first place because your mind is clearer and not so tangled up dealing with your body's issues."
The book definitely isn't for the poor, or even lower-middle class. Robin stresses eating a diet of locally grown organic fruits and vegetables (locally grown organic, not imported organic!), and forming a relationship with a functional medicine practitioner (the kind of physician who won't take your insurance). She adds, "The most common excuse I hear about not seeing an out-of-network doctor or requesting extra blood work -- or buying organic food, for that matter -- is that it's more expensive. But I don't hear those same excuses when it comes to springing for kids' sneakers or iPods or the latest had-to-haves."
Speaking of kids, non-parent Robin has this to say about their aversion to veggies: "If there's one thing parents say that makes me crazy, it's this: `My kid hates vegetables. ... I promise you that if all you're putting out is carrots and some hummus, your kids -- if they're hungry -- will eat carrots and some hummus."
And when it comes to family and friends, Robin isn't so up on them, either. "Have you ever really looked at the quality of the people in your life?" she asks. "Are your friends truly your friends? Is your family truly supportive? Do you truly enjoy being around them? ... You can't control everything in your life, but you can control whom you spend your time with. Well, for the most part -- there are holidays."
And don't even think about making one meal for the whole family. Robin says, "You need to get past the idea that food is communal -- it's not. Eating is personal. You're not having what your spouse is having ..."
In its current condition, I'd be hard-pressed to say who this book is for -- including Robin, who no longer eats grains or fruits. If the publishers truly wanted to salvage this book in a way that would relieve them of the messiness associated with the health/weight issues of its author, they should have stripped out all of Robin's melodrama, nastiness and attitude (she talks down to the reader, as always), and treated her contribution as a slightly extended foreword to the vegan cookbook by Christopher Sanchez.
Guys, she was essentially bed ridden for almost a year after 12hrs of surgery. What the hell do you want her to look like?
Her diet is why she is alive and that's all she's been pushing.
Her diet is why she is alive and that's all she's been pushing.
Holy shit I just read that 'review' and it's another person with 6 weeks of proper education under his belt.
A tumor can be around for 20years+ before making its move. Her way of eating is what allowed her to get through the chemo treatments and crazy recovery after the operation. To say that her dieting is bull cause it caused or didn't prevent this tumor is naive.
A tumor can be around for 20years+ before making its move. Her way of eating is what allowed her to get through the chemo treatments and crazy recovery after the operation. To say that her dieting is bull cause it caused or didn't prevent this tumor is naive.
How do you know that? As I said in an earlier post, I am not understanding why Robin - in her pre-green juice days - had to rest between her shower and putting on her panty hose and why she was otherwise in such bad shape... actually dying according to her. Was it because she had been weakened by eating meat and other food that mortals like me and most other people eat? Because all food other than green vegetables is "toxic"? I'm older than she is and swam laps 30 minutes straight this morning despite my toxic condition.....How can you believe her when she was pushing all that total bullshit (no pun intended) about "impacted" large intestines". Dr. Drew (or one of medical doctors Howard has in) had the audacity to say the large intestine is self-cleaning and that high pressure "colonics" were dangerous. He has been on Robin's shit list ever since.
Eventually someone who knows something is going to review the book... I hope.
Exactly.
Every year, we get the Arnold Sports Expo (or whatever they call it these days) within walking distance of where I live. A bunch of strongmen come out and push all sorts of bodybuilding stuff. Each of these guys has muscles on top of muscles and even more muscles under muscles you don't even see.
I highly doubt these guys with biceps the size of tree trunks adhere to a plant-based diet. As a matter of fact, there's a place in town that is known for their huge burgers. The rumor is that they combine their two largest burgers as a "special" for the body builders.
And what about the competitive eaters? Sure, there's a few large ones, but the champions are all the skinny people...Ok, that's probably a bad example, but they're not these fatasses you'd think someone would be after eating a lot of burgers or hot dogs or whatever in 10 minutes.
I don't buy that for a second.
Reminds me of one of Arties "fat on coke" jokes. "What are you cutting it with, butter?"
I'd wager Robin survived despite her diet. Would of made a quicker recovery with a normal diet.
The catch here is that nobody here can know that her diet didn't help her either......
Food for thought.
Use any cookbook you want.
I'm going out for a burger.
Food for thought.
Use any cookbook you want.
I'm going out for a burger.
Being huge is not healthy. Being skinny is not healthy. Dieting is not healthy.
Healthy is doing what makes your body work and feel it's best. Being bed ridden for months at a time would have a way different if she was a miserable and eating cheeseburgers all day. WAY different.
Chemo is not something that you are supposed to feel good on. As far as I'm concerned her diet helped off set the treatment. Something did. Why can't it be her diet? Who cares?
Some people smoke a pound of weed a day to be in good health, some shove coffee water up their arse pipes.
Whatever works for you.
You can be physiologically healthy (good cholesterol, good BP, good pulse) and be overweight. Actually, it has been proven that being overweight, and otherwise healthy, may extend your life another 3 years (on average).
But the big picture is that not being doctors that have examined her, we aren't really equipped to offer more than assumptions as to what has effected her health positively or negatively. Our opinions of her diet and lifestyle are just that, opinions. And they are opinions tempered by our personal belief systems, and limited experiences.
That review is pretty scathing, as "fair" as it claims it wants to be. But, she deserves a scathing review or 50. Here's my issue with Robin's diets -- in 20+ years, I've never heard her say "Oh I cut out sugar and alcohol, limited carbs, worked out 3 times a week and I lost weight." I *HAVE* heard her bring in witch doctors and Green Drink and magic vibrating blankets or what have you, and blame western medicine.
Even her marathon running -- something I think is not necessarily healthy for everyone -- she is doing all of this running but yet she's the heaviest-looking marathoner I think I've ever seen. I am not calling her a liar, I just think if when you run a few times a year it's for 24 miles or something, that in and of itself doesn't mean you are on track to be healthy. I think it means you crafted your body to run 24 miles 1-2 times. And then you trained it to stop doing that.
I don't know why Robin got cancer, a word she won't even use in her book(!), but I know why she's not healthier, and that's because she doesn't try to be healthy. She wants a magic pill and that magic pill doesn't exist.
Even her marathon running -- something I think is not necessarily healthy for everyone -- she is doing all of this running but yet she's the heaviest-looking marathoner I think I've ever seen. I am not calling her a liar, I just think if when you run a few times a year it's for 24 miles or something, that in and of itself doesn't mean you are on track to be healthy. I think it means you crafted your body to run 24 miles 1-2 times. And then you trained it to stop doing that.
I don't know why Robin got cancer, a word she won't even use in her book(!), but I know why she's not healthier, and that's because she doesn't try to be healthy. She wants a magic pill and that magic pill doesn't exist.
:2funny:
It always astonishes me how some people live to be 110 on a two-pack a day habit and others die of lung cancer with a tube in their throat at 65. Go figure. I forget where I heard it, but someone's relative was in the hospice with lung cancer. On the day they died, the guy still had to go outside for another smoke.
A "healthy diet" for a 10-year old girl who is on the soccer and cross-country teams won't work for someone like Howard or Robin. Howard's diet wouldn't work for someone in high school.
Anyone recall Robin goofing on Richard for using a phone app to count calories to lose weight? Seemed a sensible approach to me. He knew that if he was going to have a few beers, he was going to have to cut back on the food. Richard took it off and kept it off.
i just saw this on fb. Robin would not approve.
Grains?!?!?!?! Are you crazyyyy????
Grains?!?!?!?! Are you crazyyyy????
Meats? Oh, HELL NO!
We KNOW where those go! (And it isn't the mouth! :2funny: )
Robin today on the news:
"We all thought Khloe would the the Kardashian to get a divorce next, because of her problems with Omar."
LMAO - OMAR!! C'mon now.
Have another Green Drink, Robin.
Also funny how some callers were instructing Robin to show up on time for her book signings and Howard remembering when Robin stormed off the show when he joked about her being late.
"We all thought Khloe would the the Kardashian to get a divorce next, because of her problems with Omar."
LMAO - OMAR!! C'mon now.
Have another Green Drink, Robin.
Also funny how some callers were instructing Robin to show up on time for her book signings and Howard remembering when Robin stormed off the show when he joked about her being late.