I am not a vegetarian. I admire vegetarians because, in my mind, it takes more effort to stick with vegetarianism and have good food to eat. For years, I didn’t eat red meat but then one day I really wanted a steak and now I have red meat once or twice a month, usually when I’m PMSing. My general thought is… I eat meat and I don’t judge people who eat meat or fish or whatever. I know, intellectually, that pigs are smart animals, but… yeah, I still eat bacon and pork chops. So I don’t really “get” Gwyneth Paltrow’s reasoning that she won’t eat octopus because octopi are smart animals. That’s what Goop said in a group Slack chat recently – someone posted a screenshot of Gwyneth arguing against eating calamari and other octopus dishes. She wrote: “Octopus are too smart to be food. They have more neurons in their brains than we do. I had to stop eating them because I was so freaked out by it. They can escape from sea world and sh-t by unscrewing drains and going out to sea.”
Like, if you go with that reasoning – that humans shouldn’t eat anything that’s “smart” – what is the criteria for intelligence? As I said, pigs are clever. Are cows “smart”? Maybe. I think chickens are pretty dumb. But here’s the thing: I think plants are smart! They might not have “brains” like humans, but plants react to stimuli and they figure out work-arounds and more. So should we stop eating plants because they’re smart?
Meanwhile, did you know that Gwyneth is branching out her Goop-label to include a line of Goop-branded vitamin supplements? The New Yorker ran a piece about it earlier this week which I (quite honestly) thought was a parody. That’s the problem with Goop – she is so out-of-touch that everything she does comes across as a parody. I would suggest reading the New Yorker piece to get a better glimpse into how ridiculous she is. Gwyneth also ran to People to shill her new vitamin line:
Even radiant lifestyle gurus get worn down.
“I thought, ‘I eat well, I sleep, I exercise— so why am I always so tired? I don’t get it,’ ” Gwyneth Paltrow, 44, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. And while the actress says she still exercises daily, she has definitely noticed changes in how her body reacts to food.
“It’s really incredible. People warn you that it’s going to happen,” she says of her metabolism slowing down past age 40. “I was always like, sure I’ll eat a cheeseburger and fries and it just won’t stick. And then after 40 that completely changed.”
For years Paltrow heard similar complaints from the women in her life — colleagues, friends and Goop readers — so she set out to combat those concerns. This month, she launched Goop Wellness, a collection of four different vitamin packs developed with Paltrow-vetted physicians. Paltrow herself is currently taking what she calls the “Why am I so Effing Tired” pack — created with her functional medicine doc, Dr. Alejandro Junger — to fight exhaustion. In addition to supplementing with the vitamins, of course, she tries to stay in tune with how food makes her feel.
“I think as I’ve gotten older and hopefully wiser I’ve tried to focus on doing little things throughout my week to bolster my strength and energy,” she says. “I’m trying not to cave into sugar cravings and lots of white carbs all the time, because that’s my kind of go-to; if I get tired in the afternoon I want pretzels, or I want Swiss cheese on a cracker or a baguette. I really love white carbs, which is not great for optimizing your health and your energy.”
Another splurge she’s managed to rein in? “I’ve had to become more mindful about just in general when I’m having fried food just knowing that, ‘Ok, that may stick in a way that it didn’t used to 20 years ago,’” she says, adding, “By the way, I’ll never give up fried foods.”
So instead of just coming to terms with the fact that she’s a little bit slower and a bit more tired in her 40s, she decides to “fix” her problem by launching vitamin packs for rich women. To be fair, Gwyneth’s target audience is probably vitamin-deficient… because they too try every stupid f–king fad diet and ridiculous “cleanse” that Gwyneth recommends. Why do you feel so tired, Goop? It’s probably because you did a “goat milk-only cleanse” right after your “juice fast.”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I wish people would stop providing this woman with outlets to promote her eating disorder. If she doesn’t like calamari, fine enough, but those constant purges (I’m through with calling them cleanses – your body doesn’t need to have constant diarrhea to be clean) are scary.
I love your comment and even more so because you are a very delicious looking sandwich.
@TBQ I love your comment, as well.
Poor Gwyneth, I’d tell her to eat me, but I’m sure I’m not among her approved dietary options.
Calamari is squid, not octopus.
Yes! If you don’t even know what it is called how do you know what you don’t want to eat. Big dummy!
Polpi = octopus
Exactly! I read that and said ‘Huh? Calamari aren’t Octopi!’. My husband was a bit confused by my sudden outburst.
True. I’m assuming she’s opposed to both, though. The objections to eating both animals are the same.
Gwyneth should be first on the menu then? Because she is a complete dumbass.
Bazinga!!!
Really, though, something tells me that Goop-chops would be kinda stringy.
Ha!
Agreed. I don’t see how she’s avoided bein’ ground into a gigantic pretentious Goop Burger if intelligence is her criterion.
I don’t eat mammals and don’t crave it , maybe because my iud makes my periods pretty much gone, and I also take iron. Wouldn’t want to give up octopus though. Pigs are also smart. For those on the fence, you could try only eating the dumb animals (shrimp etc) and organic dairy. I indulge in cheeses that you can’t get organic and also eat organic chicken though. Chickens are probably pretty dumb too
That’s interesting! I have menorrhagia and always have strong meat cravings (which I ignore) but poor health eating vegan. I wonder if it’s related to iron.
Is cooking with a cast iron stove a myth?
No – my mom gave me a cast iron skillet and my gyno said to use it.
Thanks I tend towards anemia too and I’ve cooked with one for years
You should eat more iron rich foods during your period or take iron supplements.
For vegans, that means more dark green leafy vegetables than usual.
@Linabear.
I’ve got menorrhagia, too, and I’m a vegetarian. My iron gets extremely low, and my gyno had suggested that I eat red meat during certain times of the month.
I never like red meat, even back when I was a meat eater. Blech.
So, I now have a green smoothie in the morning with a shit-ton of kale in it, and make sure I have kale/spinach in some form or other with lunch and/or supper every day. It’s helped tremendously.
Besides the pan you can also try increasing eggs greens and nuts also legumes but I’m lazy with those. And there’s a lucky iron fish people have said is good you just put it in your soup I guess. When I got my iron pills my headaches went away! You have to take it at least 2 hours after cafe though and I often forget
I guess no eggs if you eat vegan
@heat – careful! Uncooked cruciferous veggies can mess with your thyroid!
There’s a lot of evidence that eating vegetarian is healthier than eating too much meat, but there’s also NO evidence that eating vegan is healthier still — or even as healthy.
In fact, arguably veganism is less healthy than being a vegetarian because of the permanent damage you can do to your body if you become deficient in B vitamins. A person who is careful about their nutrition is probably doing themselves no harm, but there’s no medical reason to be vegan.
Seaweed is rich in minerals and iron. You should try adding nori or wakame to your menu!
Norwegians have thischeese (brunost) which used to be cooked in iron pots or skillets I am not sure, and it increased its iron content.
From the ethical standpoint, whether dairy is organic or not doesn’t change much. You still have to rape a cow, impregnate her and take away her child right after birth (then send them to slaughter if it’s male or raise to share her mother’s role if it’s female) to get her milk.
Thank you ZXC. Fellow vegan here!
Chicken, cows or shrimps ar not dumb animals, it’s just that we are used to see them that way, but it’s not true.
If you adopt a chicken, he might make a depression if he doesn’t have another chicken around (ok it sounds funny, but it’s true). They are very social, friendly and sensitive animals.
(BTW, I’m a vegan for a few years, always had an iron deficiency, even when I was eating red meat. It didn’t change at all when I went vegan, so I take iron pills when I need it (and no deficience with B vitamines, you also can have one being an omnivore). A lot of med says that dairies are not healthy at all, so no, a vegan alimentation is not less healthy)
Regarding Gwyneth, maybe she feels tired because of her constant diarrhea, or her vagina-vaporetto sessions.
Kaiser! Please tell me you read this book! https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-Trees-Communicate-Discoveries/dp/1771642483
Kind of a snooze, kind of a can’t put it down.
And, sigh, poor Gwynnie. Such a manic approach to food. Next year she’ll only be octopus. I agree, their intelligence is unsettling. I just don’t eat them because I don’t care for the texture.
Shutup Gwen. She just can’t help herself with the word-vomit can she? Even if she is making valid points (I’m not saying this is necessarily one of them), it gets lost in her pretentiousness, EVERY TIME.
I just came here to say thank you for using that pic as the thumbnail. I laughed out loud 🙂
I second that! LOL
Agree! I love that only the most doofus-y pictures of her get posted.
Perfect derp face, matches headline perfectly.
Octopus do not have more neurons than humans.
I also thought the vitamin names were a parody. “Why am I so effing tired”? Seriously? Because you are starving. Maybe a little fat would help the hair and skin situation, too.
Haha I actually agree with her. I also try to limit pork for the same reason but the difference to me is that pigs are plentiful and if they’re killed humanely then I don’t really have a problem with it. We don’t farm Octupi, so I don’t want to be part of an overfishing problem, plus I don’t like octopus much anyway and it’s not a main dish the same way pork is. Granted I don’t research that much about the subject so maybe I’m misinformed, but that’s where I’m at.
Pigs and all slaughtered animals are brutally killed. Farmed animals basically live a life of misery and then murdered. The compassionate choice is vegetarianism or better yet, veganism.
I’m not a big pig eater I spent sometime living with some people in the 90s who had pigs for pets and they are so smart and human like it’s not my go too. I do love octopus though on occasion.
There’s definitely a majority of farming that aren’t humane but there are some smaller farmers that make the effort. I think it’s better to support the local farmers that are trying to get everyone to live to the ‘ideal’ of vegetarianism. I think that’s a more realistic option. No disrespect is meant towards you or your choice.
Being a vegetarian or vegan does not make a person more compassionate. Unfair to say meat eaters have no compassion. You don’t know me, so don’t label me because we don’t have the same diet.Meat has been eaten forever. If you don’t want to eat it or feel it isn’t right, nobody’s making you.
Beth, I don’t think they were saying meat eaters are devoid of all compassion, just towards animals. If you know an inkling about how the animals we eat live and are slaughtered – and then still eat them? Then you lack compassion towards animals. Not everything on the planet.
And like you said, we’ve been eating animals forever….so there’s a general disconnect in most people’s minds. Some people CAN’T disconnect the two and that leads them to give up meat.
>Meat has been eaten forever.
Women have also been raped during wars forever… what is your point?
Would you also defend the ethics of someone who killed their dog and ate him?
Oh, and veganism is an ethical standpoint, not a diet.
I would like to see farmed animals raised and killed more humanely. But, domestic cows and chickens have no natural habitat. If everyone suddenly became vegan, what would happen to them? Wouldn’t they die out? SHOULD they die out? They don’t contribute to the earth other than as feeder food for humans, and they shouldn’t be allowed to take over habitat from wild animals.
@zxc you’re comparing food to rape? We eat to stay alive and rape is a violent disgusting crime. I personally don’t know anyone who has killed their dog and ate it. However, I have people in my life who’ve been raped and that really shouldn’t be compared to eating.
@Beth
>@zxc you’re comparing food to rape?
No idea how you arrived at this conlusion. I’m showing you how pointless it is to consider something OK just because humans have done this for ages. Humans do a lot of bad things, and have for a long time.
Also, I didn’t ask if you knew people who eat dogs. You got offended but didn’t anwer any of my questions.
@Mrs. Krabapple
“If everyone suddenly became vegan, what would happen to them? Wouldn’t they die out? ”
They might. But we’re only breeding them to kill them again. They’re slaves, it’s not like we’re doing them a favour by keeping their species going. They’re not beings, just resources.
>They don’t contribute to the earth other than as feeder food for humans, and they shouldn’t be allowed to take over habitat from wild animals.
Humans don’t contribute to the earth either, in fact we’re destroying it.
I agree too. To me, animals play different roles in the “circle of life.” I would never eat, for example, a tiger because I think they are top predators and not meant to be “feeder food” (they are intelligent, they breed slowly, they are dangerous and difficult to kill). On the other hand, I think chickens are meant to be feeder food for larger animals, and have no guilt eating them (they’re dumb, breed rapidly, easy to kill). I don’t think there is any “hard line” but I do think about the traits of the animal in deciding whether I am comfortable eating it.
There’s no circle of life in factory farming, and chickens are smart animals.
Though personally I believe the question is not “Are they smart?” but “Can they suffer?”
https://www.facebook.com/pg/tamarakenneallyphotography/photos/?tab=album&album_id=304728389576084
I eat,sleep,exercise and take vitamins . I’m 38 and I’m still always tired.
Check your thyroid.
If it isn’t something obvious that pops out with a medical exam and lab testing – take a look at exactly what you are eating and see if you can eliminate prime suspects for food allergies for a short time, to see if you feel more energetic. Eat simply for a while to make it easier to see what’s going on. (Read about food allergies and rotation diet to get some ideas, it’s a very old approach and ultimately more reliable than any existing lab tests.) Allergies really can make you very tired.
Same for environmental allergies – I need lots more sleep during pollen season, even though I take a Claritin clone every day. Also check out anything else you use routinely that can get into your system, such as cleaning products, cosmetics, hair care products etc., you can be sensitive to any of those. Increasing numbers of people have problems with artificial fragrances in particular, and those are in nearly everything. Just temporarily dumping the scented products might reveal any problems.
Also you might not be getting enough sleep in general – individual needs vary a lot. So try gradually getting more sleep or take naps to see if that helps.
Don’t know how common this is – but if I get less than a certain level of B vitamins as a supplement then I see a big difference in quality of sleep, ability to just get going to do things in general, even typing speed and accuracy are affected (one of the B’s seems to help with short-term memory). But I do have several allergies and that tends to deplete the B’s.
I don’t feel sorry for her, she makes herself such an easy target.
She changes “doctors” and shamans like she changes her woodland faerie underwear. She has very serious eating disorders (obsessions) and body dysmorphic disorder. This would be fine if she were some nobody blogging away to 5 followers in the wilds of Maine but she is rich and famous which makes her far more powerful. She spreads faux science and misinformation with authority and that makes her not only annoying but very dangerous. Plus, woman looks like shit. You’re so effing tired because you don’t eat. (Don’t believe for one second that she eats white carbs, burgers and fries.)
Yeah, no, she was later corrected. Octopi have around 500 million, humans around 100 billion. Both figures are, of course, considerably larger than the number Gwyneth has (2).
yet it is such difficult exhausting work to get those 2 to rub together!
if she could only rub them together long enough to realize if she is this exhausted than how exhausted the rest of us are having to listen to her verbal diarrhea and witness her incredible neediness for attention.
Can’t stand this woman but maybe I’m an idiot too, because I don’t eat octupi for this very reason.
Cephalopods are notoriously extremely smart creatures… continuously referred to by scientists as some of the smartest animals on the planet. Cows and chickens are not generally held in the same category. I do agree with the argument that if we’re going to look at animals that way, we probably shouldn’t eat any, but I have to admit that I do eat a lot of chicken and a bit of beef here and there. If I found out tomorrow that any of the other animals I eat were as smart as scientists say cephalopods are, I wouldn’t eat them either.
I dont eat Cephalopods for the same reason…I eat Pig very rarely because I feel so bad for them : (
I am the same and am an omnivore. Octopus are really amazing creatures and I have no interest in eating one. http://www.upworthy.com/13-of-the-most-frighteningly-smart-things-octopuses-can-do
I’d rather have an octopus as President than trump
You seem to know quite a bit about it, what about the little octopuses or cuttlefish do you think they are also smart? For me it’s just as yummy so maybe I should stick to the tiny ones
Little octopuses would be just as intelligent – they think the intelligence evolved because they’re basically just mush (relative to something with a shell or bones).
Check out this vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knzBtZNBk9w
I agree. I don’t eat octopus or pork for that reason. Mostly chicken, fish, and veggies. Mmmm, veggies.
I shall make a point of not eating German Shepherds, Monkeys and Parrots, as they are all remarkably clever…
Calamari, Beef, Pork, Chicken and Lamb are fair game though.
Thank you God for giving us GOOP, the gift of daftness that keeps on giving.
She’s so weird.
Her skin and hair look awful.
They do!
Yeah, never mind about not eating what-/whoever, I don’t see why anyone would follow her dietary advice. Good on her for no/minimum fillers and such, but her skin’s pallor and hair’s condition alone appear to be more about pseudo-starvation (of food, nutrients, moisture, etc) than tried-n-true moderation.
I’m a Massachusetts girl who loves seafood more than anything. I’ve never had octopus. Nothing to do with how smart they are, it just doesn’t look very tasty
Do you guys have dim sum restaurants there (it’s a Chinese thing..) curried cuttlefish may change your mind!
I keep thinking about a Fairly Odd Parents episode where Timmy’s mom serves a casserole she calls “squid surprise”. You can see the tentacles waving around above the bowl…. Once Timmy became brave enough to try it (to salvage his mom’s honor during a cooking contest), he claimed it was actually quite tasty. Oog.
Ill just ignore that.
I don’t know how vegans do it. I’m trying to go on a dairy free diet but so many things contain dairy. Have cut down on milk but can’t go without butter. My consolation is butter is more fat than milk so doesn’t really count as full dairy hahah.
I used to think that too. Then I watched Gary Yourofsky’s “Best speech you’ll ever hear” (it;s on youtube) and all the cravings went away. Within an hour, literally. Once you see animal products for what they are (a product of abuse), you stop viewing them as food. It;s an ethical stance, absolutely zero to do with willpower. I have no willpower to speak of when it comes to food and have been vegan for 2 years now.
Here’s the link, by the way. It’s amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4
Until some “guru” says that rubbing octopus ink all over her skin has anti-aging properties..then she will be shilling 600$ octopus ink face creams.
I think she should clean her vadge with an octopus…if only it weren’t cruel to the creature.
Exactly! An effective anti aging serum made of kitten skin or a weight loss panacea made of boiled puppies would become Goop’s Holy Grails in instants—her priorities have little to do w the inherent value of anything or anyone, its value all is measured by how well it suits her personally. It’s all GOOP, all the time–just like her vapid, wretched, insufferably self promoting, elitist, often dangerously ignorant website. (A central irony of it all being that she imagines anyone would aspire to *look* like her—unhealthy hair and skin, a frail, gaunt body wracked by early osteoporosis: where on earth is the appeal?) Being intentionally very thin does NOT inherently make one either beautiful or healthy: GOOP could be the poster child for this fact. In GOOP’s case, its merely another symptom of her alarming (if comical, and deeply ludicrous) self magnification and obsession w her physical appearance.’
I felt tired and drained all the time. I went to the doctor. I had iron deficiency anemia. My red blood cell levels were low enough to put me in heartattack and stroke territory. I received a blood transfusion immediately.
Gwyneth Paltrow should not place herself as a nutritionist or anyone who advises on the issue of health.
Smart women would not follow an actress’s health advice, smart women go to health experts like doctors.
Hmmm. No big opinion on the octopuses except to agree they are indeed smart. But as to feeling tired and having general post 40 woes I wonder if anyone suggested she get her thyroid checked. Apparently a lot of women accept symptoms like weight gain, metabolism, mild depression etc as due to ageing or being pre-menopausal, to be accepted as a fact of life but which in fact are reflections of low thyroid issues (which is a symptom of ageing!) Anyway, if you’re eating well, and exercising, and have general good lifestyle then vitamins may not be what you need (never mind that with the food that she can afford she shouldn’t need vitamins…nutrition through real food is always optimal is my understanding).
Animals should not be eaten, regardless of intelligence. Intelligence does not dictate the inherent right of a living creature’s right to live their lives. Farmed animals live a life of misery and then are brutally murdered often screaming and crying before they are slaughtered. All animals, whether farmed or hunted, have as much a right to live their lives without harm as much as we do. Animals do not exist for us to use and kill and eat. They exist for themselves. There are tons of tasty substitutes for those who feel they must have the meat experience.
In order to produce any dairy product cows are kept continuously pregnant. Once the calf is born, they are taken from their mother and are mostly killed within a short time. The mother cow often bawls for her baby for weeks. Dairy products are created through cruel means.
I don’t understand how people simply don’t care about the plight of any animal. Octupi should not be eaten but neither should chickens nor fish nor any other sentient being. They feel pain, sorrow, grief, happiness and love just like we do.
My ex is a zoologist and animal care specialist. He works with all kinds of animals every day. Believe me, he cares a lot about animals! You’d think he would be a vegetarian and never put meat near his mouth. He won’t eat any kind of vegetable.
Look I have a lot of vegetarians in my life and I’ve even gone a few years here and there as a vegetarian. I currently don’t eat much meat and do my best to eat free range, sustainable etc when I do. I actually even have friends that are farmers. That basically learned the trade because they are passionate about being humane to animals.
I don’t want to change your mind and make you eat meat but I do think that the rhetoric vegetarians use is just really alienating. For instance in Belgium they encourage people to be vegan one day a week (school children and state workers) that’s so much better than just saying all meat eaters are awful.
I get that it seems harsh and disrespectful when people that don’t know shit about you criticize your lifestyle and ethics, but from a vegan perspective there’s nothing ‘humane’ about killing animals. Keeping animals for dairy is also problematic, since cows can’t consent to let humans use them — and the only reason they ‘need’ to be milked is because they’ve been bred to produce unnatural amounts of milk. People are people, most omnivores and farmers are probably kind people. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t reflect on what they believe is moral and why, and if their actions reflect those beliefs. The same goes for everyone.
@Jolo I think it’s fine for you to hold those perspectives for yourself. I also get that there are awful things going on in the farming industry (I don’t eat much dairy). I just think the strident judgemental broad brush painting ethical farmers that take the time to learn about sustainability as the same as factory farmers is just wrong.
@Luca76 farmers learn about it because it’s all the rage now that people are starting to see what they’re contributing to. They wanna choose “humane” to soothe their conscience. They’re doing it to earn money, it’s not charity.
There’s no humane way to kill someone who doesn’t want to die. If someone slit your loved one’s throat today, would you say they were killed humanely? Would you euthanise a terminally sick dog by electrocuting him, then hanging upside down in front of other dogs and slitting his throat? Why does it suddenly become humane when it’s a cow or a pig?
ZXC do you actually know any farmers or is that just something that you read . I know quite a few small town farmers that work full time to support themselves so they can farm. It is a passion for them. It is a way they feel like they are contributing to the well being of the planet.
+1 Mapley. Very sad. I can’t eat meat because I think about how I’m chewing on a body.
Yeah, no. Once an animal begins lactating, so long as they keep nursing or getting milked, they just keep lactating.
Their baby goes straight to slaughter. And they have milk for quite some time but it’s enough to feed a baby, not a diary factory…. it’s not enough. Which is why they rape and impregnate cows every year, and why they are too weak to continue producing milk and are sent to slaughter at a youg age.
The baby does not go straight to slaughter….
@Mapley Animals eat other animals. Is that morally wrong? Octopuses eat fish and crabs and other living creatures.
I wonder if she still has that marble egg in her va-jay-jay?
I don’t eat octopus either, but I dislike all seafood. I’ve tried very hard to curb my bacon habit, as pigs are extremely intelligent animals.
Ha! Did you read what Dr. Jen Gunter had to say about Gynnie’s crotch egg?
I know it sounds blasphemous, but turkey bacon is pretty good. Especially after you’ve been eating it for awhile.
I tried, I really tried turkey bacon, but it’s useless. Pork rules.
(Incomplete duplicate)
You can have fun trying all the different foods made for bacon-loving vegans. There are actually more “bacovegetarians” around than you might think who just can’t kick the bacon habit. The stuff is addictive somehow.
Bacos (based on soy) and the McCormick equivalent are actually pretty good for that bacon taste, although rather salty.
I’ve tried a lot of more nutritious vegan bacons and many do have a nice taste that more or less hits the bacon button. It’s the spice blend that makes all the difference. One company even makes bacon flavored coconut chips that are pretty good. But I recently found one that is exceptionally tasty – Louisville Vegan’s maple bacon jerky. It’s soft and easy to eat. It’s pricey but worth it.
There are also recipes for making something bacon-like. One recipe suggested using soy sauce or Bragg’s Aminos to marinate and fry up thin strips of tofu (freezing the strips first helps).
@jwoolman These artificial bacon products are very unhealthy. They are made with soy which is a known endocrine disruptor. Soy protein isolate is the worst offender.
God help me for defending Gwyneth Paltrow, but I also don’t eat octopus because they’re smart. To be fair, I do restrict myself to free-range and don’t eat things like veal or foie gras that involves animal torture. Also no whales or dolphins because they aren’t fished sustainable (and are incredibly intelligent). Cephalopods are beyond pig-smart. They communicate with each other through coloration changes, engage in courtship rituals, use tools (and have dedicated tool use– they remember which tools are which), and demonstrate capacity for observational learning. They’ve passed a lot of the tests that used to be considered the litmus test for human-animal divide (like symbolic thinking– see communication through color changes) Also, though, the way they are killed for food, at least in Asia, is horrible. They cut off a leg if they need it and continue to do so. It’s hard to kill them because of the distribution of the nervous system in their body.
All killing of any animal involves torture, including the so called ‘humane’ ways. There is no humane way of killing animals, the only exception is perhaps when pets are euthanized from a vet. All animals have the right to live their lives free from harm regardless of intelligence.
Exactly. If you wouldn’t kill your dying dog this way, why is it suddenly become humane when it’s a cow or a pig or a chicken? ALL male baby chicks are either thrown alive into a grinder or gassed just after they’re born because they’re useless to the egg industry. Is that humane too?
And if you believe there’s such a thing as humane slaughter, do you also think there’s humane murder? Humane rape? Humane child molestation?
The fact is that supplements can do harm. There are supplements that prevent proper meds absorption, including thyroid medication. No one should take supplements because they feel like they have to or because someone like Goop tells them to.
can she not go beyond the stereotype of vanity? she seems to support nothing outside a very very few charities (which seem strictly self promotional) and these hairbrained schemes of making money and getting attention. her schilling vitamins is rich. where is her activism for actual physical and mental health outside of what she can profit from (which seems to be full of quackery)?
she has children yet can’t be vocal about the need for children, every damn child, to have safe water, plenty to eat, and a first rate education regardless of socioeconomic status.
idk why i think she should care about anything outside of herself yet i do. maybe since she claims to be a genius and definitely has a platform for promoting and dispersing actual helpful information. it would actually help her brand in the long run so why can’t she pull her head out of her “stripper butt”? too tired? she’s never too tired to hustle her BS that benefits no one but herself.
There’s a difference between working in a clever way and being capable of clever thought. I’m vegan because it just seems too effed up to treat sentient beings the way we treat them, kill them the way we do, and then put their dead bodies in our mouths and enjoy it. Once upon a time I did think meat dishes tasted good, but after a while you stop seeing meat as food and you just see it as a once living creature’s carcass, and then it just seems morbid and gross to touch it with my tongue 😅 I get Gwyneth, even though as Kaiser points out, it can seem a bit hypocritical.
I’m the same way. As a child I didn’t know better. I ate what my parents gave me. But as a teen I started feeling grossed out by the thought of meat. Especially seeing meat with the bones still attached. The thought made me disgusted so I stopped eating meat. I don’t tell others what to eat but just looking at someone sucking chicken off a bone makes me want to vomit…but I keep it to myself lol.
Exactly. All sentient beings want to live just as much as we do. We have no right to take their lives regardless of intelligence.
From the NYorker article:
“Paltrow laughed. “These nanospheres are going to come out my nose.”
OMFGGGGGG….*eyeroll*
If we shouldn’t eat anything smart then I guess we should eat her! *yuck*
To be fair, this is one of the least crazy things she’s said recently … I don’t think anything she said is actually untrue. I’ve felt a lot of guilt for eating octopus lately because of reading more about what incredible animals they are. They have emotions! But they’re also so delicious……..
An old Dr. Who episode arc (with the Doctor in the plaid pants) featured a humanoid species that was relentlessly carnivorous and epicurean. The chef character kept eyeing the Doctor’s human companion as material for a meal. He had heard that humans were quite tasty and was anxious to try one…
Why on earth would ANYONE want to follow Gwyneth Paltrow’s advice on any topic whatsoever? Helen Mirren, Queen Elizabeth, Betty White, LAK, or Sixer, yes. Gwyneth: NO WAY.
Oh to be so rich, privileged and bored to come up with a different bizarre nonsense every day.
I’ll be honest- I have been really into octopus lately as far as being amazed of how intelligent they are. I just posted an octopus carrying shells on my FB page. They really are incredibly smart and capable creatures
I’m with her on this one. By all accounts, an Octopus is a bright creature. They do solve puzzles. Cutting them out of your diet is a humane and morally sound reaction to that knowledge. Good for her. Think I’ll follow suit.
Listen, I’m the first one to roll my eyes at the pretentious privilege of Goopie, but she is right about octopi. I won’t eat it either.
I actually like her and haven’t formed an opinion on octopi yet but gotta say I’m a little shocked how common her opinion has turned out to be here! Wow!
I eat octopus daily. And I’ve gotten smarter. Maybe Goop should give it a whirl.
I grew up on a working farm. Cows and chickens are dumb. So so dumb. Pigs are very smart. Like you’d better hope they don’t escape and go feral smart.
I respect vegans–my husband is one–but I don’t think shaming people for eating meat is a great way to win them over.
Also, I don’t and never will eat lobster again after reading David Foster Wallace’s essay in Gourmet, “Consider the Lobster.”
Ugh I haven’t eaten lobster in my life. When I was six my dad bought a lobster. I made friends with it. He thought it would be funny to yell my name as HE DROPPED MY FRIEND INTO A POT OF BOILING WATER, ALIVE. So to this day, no lobster. And I still feel guilty af reading that essay.
I agree with her about octopi. They are so smart that they can watch another octopus do a complex puzzle and maze and can do it themselves without a mistake. I will never have calamari again.
Smartness of the animals that I currently eat is one reason I’m intending to be an ovo-lacto vegetarian by the end of the year. (Eggs and milk and milk products. But only free range, locally purchased, non-GMO, non-antibiotic, non-hormone ones.) Pigs are as smart as dogs, and I’d never eat my dog. So why am I eating pork? I ask myself that at times when I start eating pork yet again.
As for her vitamins, as screwed up as her diet and cleanses are, I wouldn’t trust that they would be correct or beneficial.
She means very well. Her hair is usually messy but the colour is nice so is the cut and I love her nails. The fact that her ideas and recipes are out of reach for poor people kind of means nothing. Every thing is more out of reach the poorer you are, restaurants , quality of food, time to do anything (unless you don’t work I guess)… But her ideas or the ideas she shares that her gurus have absolutely can change lives and culture. I know plenty of people that can afford to do and eat her stuff but would think she’s snobby and it’s silly stuff. Plenty of people make over 100k and because they grew up eating crap that’s what their kids eat more or less, and this brings Monsanto much joy. Gwyneth is rocking the status quo and I think it’s wonderful.
Chicken aren’t “dumb”.
One of the problems with measuring “smartness” of an animal is that we often judge them by how well they listen to human commands – which I (and scientists) think is just wrong. If we have no common language – because we’re, I dunno, DIFFERENT SPECIES? – then, as laymen, we have very limited possibilities of assessing animal intelligence.
It should be left to scientists who have actual, if imperfect, methods of looking into animal mind.
So far, they found chickens to be sensitive, social and empathic.
Just because they don’t bring back a frisbee doesn’t mean they’re stupid.
Even invertebrates like hermit crabs have some very complicated behaviors and can feel pain.
So saying “I eat X cause it’s dumb”… It’s not very smart in itself.
I’m aware of animal suffering, but sometimes I eat meat (red and fish) because I like it, I prefer non-industrial produced meat (because animals have better living conditions), but I still eat it.
It’s egoism and it’s morally wrong, but I won’t be spewing some excuses how I eat this or that because of it’s low IQ!
I agree that people are way off base when trying to evaluate the intelligence of other species. We have such different interests and different sensory equipment, different bodies. We can’t go by brain size because most of the brain just runs the body. Men used to claim women were inferior because we have smaller brains, when actually we just have smaller bodies on the average.
Humans tend to be pretty arrogant about their own role in Nature and tend to think they are the only ones who can have long-term memories or exercise logic, for example. But I’ve lived with cats for decades and despite the language barriers, I’ve observed things that directly contradict such assumptions (which really have no basis anyway). But if we say so, we’re accused of imagining things or anthropomorphizing. Honestly, how do we decide that other people operate like us? By observation, of course.
It’s a baffling phenomenon, I don’t know why humans so often feel compelled to believe they are such a special species and above all the rest. It’s often embedded in their religious beliefs as well.
Long ago, I read about one really funny example of the wrong conclusions my fellow scientists can leap to with limited knowledge of the species they study. They had cats in cages and were trying to see if the cats would learn to work levers to get food. They thought they had succeeded because they observed the cats bumping up against the levers. Finally a lab assistant who actually knew cats saw what was really happening- the cats were greeting the humans when they entered the room. When a cat can’t get to the person greeted to rub up against them (depositing scent signals that oblivious humans don’t even pick up), they do the next best thing and start rubbing up against anything handy. Which in the cages – were those silly levers!
This is a brave stand for Gwyneth to take. I mean, if you’re judging your foodstuffs based on brain power, it’s likely Paltrow Stew will totally become a new gourmet, cruelty-free (based on IQ) thing. I hear the innards come pre-steamed.
She seems to have an eating disorder