The Seven Deadly Spins: Part II

The second deadly spin, from Vain Hair's 'advisory council that I'd like to address is Sloth. For the first installment, click here: http://blazingpants.blogspot.ca/2015/08/the-seven-deadly-spins-part-1-lust.html When we think of sloth, we we think of laziness, slow movement, etc. Today we'll address sloth in one that wants fame and fortune but is far too lazy to get an actual education in nutrition and so, opts for online diploma mills that spend more time educating students on how to start and run a scam business than about human biochemistry or actual nutrition.

Meet Christa Orecchio, self proclaimed "co-author" of a pamphlet of recipes called "eating for wellness" written by Ms Orecchio and Cheryl Tiegs - because you know a paid supermodel knows everything about nutrition. Of course, our slothful O'wrecker doesn't call it that; she calls it the "The Anti-Inflammatory Diet" which was actually a subtitle to the original e-publication that is no longer available. Perhaps it's because it was pushing a product that Tiegs was endorsing through infomercials that the FTC had a significant problem with. TriVita was sued by the FTC for making false health claims about their 39.99 (plus shipping and handling) bottle of miracle elixir cactus juice. No, I'm not making this up - read it for yourself here: FTC on TriVita

But O'wrecker likes that narrative of 'anti-inflammatory' because it pushes her concept of Candida being the root of all physical ailments, which of course, she has a cure for. But I won't get ahead of myself here. Let's take a look at O'wrecker's educational claims and we can see where the deception starts.

According to Orecchio's own linkedin resume, she posts this:

I contacted University of North Carolina and they know nothing about the CN or HHC designation, nor do they offer classes in nutrition outside of a nursing program nor do they have anything related to "wellness". Nope, instead her CN, HHC come from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), which will start you on your new business for the low, low price of $5,995. along with about 25,000 other quacks. Don't worry about the rigors of academia though, it's an online school with all open book tests and in order to satisfactorily complete your education you need only do a few simple tasks. for nearly half of the required points, you need only attend a few "coaching circles" and if you complete and submit your required "health history" (potential new clients) you need only score a 50% on one of 4 tests to graduate! So much less stressful than a real education don't you think? Then you can hang that HHC off the end of your name to make it appear as though some certifying body thinks you know what you are talking about. There is no body that certifies a holistic health coach (HHC) by the way. I'm going to dedicate a whole post to IIN, after all, how many actual higher institutes of learning have rich CEOs instead of deans or chancellors? This "school" not only teaches you to create your own scam business (and recommends you charge $125/hr) but sells you all the tools to do it along the way. You can even buy your "integrative" web site from them. Sorry, I couldn't resist that! Nor is there any certification for a 'clinical nutritionist' (CN).

It seems that O'wrecker wanted a more lucrative career than her degree in business was providing for her so she gave up selling yoga pants and went on into woo instead. Her website shows lots of videos that make it seem like she's an in demand TV personality when, in truth, most of them are infomercials that she paid a pretty penny to make to the "Wellness Hour". These shysters specialize in helping quacks health care providers attract and keep suckers  clientele.  They even have a video on "gummy bear breast implants". I swear! I cannot make this shit up!

Anyway, O'wrecker hangs out her shingle in the greater San Diego area and tells people that they have an overgrowth of Candida yeast but sells a ton of supplements to solve the issue. In fact, going back to TriVita, they sell a line of supplements (probably about as effective as their cactus juice) and have a newsletter for which O'wrecker is a regular contributor. So please tell me how food is medicine (one of her favorite lines) but as a consultant she recommends lots and lots of pills, drops and books? Guess that crack education pays off because she offers a whole store for her "whole journey" through woo, and the products don't come cheaply!

But before you can start to recommend your crap, you have to have a backstory. You have to have overcome some life threatening ailments due to your eating habits, right?It doesn't even have to be very original, since that would be too much like work. I mean The Food Babe had appendicitis, right? O'wrecker has to go one better:

Now that she has you convinced that you can be healthy and attractive like her (sound like the food babe?) you'll need to follow instructions. First you need to enrol in a "gut thrive program because everyone in the who's who of woo has to say 'gut' these days. Her program can be yours for the low, low cost of:

Of course she must have been doing crystal math when she proclaimed the value of this "program" at $3800.00! But wait, you have to purchase the supplements FIRST.

And of course it doesn't end there - you need a transition and maintenance supplement plan for the low, low price of:

And be prepared to keep forking over the cashola, because she's a "nutritionist" after all, it says so on several of her many websites.  She also makes some claims about closing her 'successful' private practice to go with her new online program, because I'm sure that it's much more profitable to suck in a couple of thousand people at a time, charge them 700 bucks and sell them a bunch of supplements. Additionally she claims to have co-authored a book about fertility called ""Whole Baby, Whole Mama". An online search for the title of this book, however, only results in one hit. Her website. But you can get her "cookbook" which is available only for sale on her website as a non-refundable digital download only. Yeah, that sounds legit.

The food babe has a bio on her 'advisory council' that states O'wrecker had a private practice for 10 years, though Christa claims 8 on her own site (which she began while still enrolled in that crack, intensive nutrition program). Food babe also touts a "nationally syndicated" radio show, which is really the paid programming from the folks at the Wellness Hour that we mentioned above. Someone has some disposable cash apparently.

While I could go on for hours about her dubious credentials and online practices, I'm going to go ahead and call this one a big fat, five alarm, get the bucket brigade fire, fire!

If you buy into any of this quack's line of BS about your gut, candida (which by the way, she refers to as a disease as opposed to a common yeast that we all have present in and on our bodies) overgrowth or anything that requires you to buy expensive supplements, think about her lack of qualifications and endorsement of the food babe. Those two are peas in a pod. Both are too lazy to get a real education about their topics, they just want to cut to the paydirt.

I'll just leave you with a set of her qualifications in her own words: The Whole Journey are not acting in the capacity of a doctor, licensed dietician, psychologist or any other licensed/registered professional. Christa Orecchio and The Whole Journey will not diagnose, treat, or cure in any manner, any disease, condition, or other physical or mental human ailment.

Thanks for coming along with our queen of sloth; O'wrecka.

Food Babe; BA or BS?

What does the Food Babe know, that you don’t? Quite likely she knows something about stacking the deck in her favor on the Internet, but she doesn't know any more about food than you or I do. In fact, probably less. Food Babe LLC is a company. It’s not a person with a particular insight, education or talent. It’s a profit making business and should be viewed that way.  Vani is not a researcher or an industry expert in any sense of the word - she's a peer; perhaps just a bit more ethically corrupt than the rest of us.

If you were going to start a new career after 15 years and enter a new field, how would you do it? Personally, I would get more education, not necessarily a new degree, but classes, internships or certification courses to ensure that I was adequately prepared and at least competitive and knowledgable in my new chosen field. When Van Hari left the computer consultancy business to start a new career, she did none of these things. Why? Because she never really changed careers. According to Hari, she earned a degree in computer science from UNC, but whether it’s a BA or a BS is unclear, though certainly neither would qualify her to spew the BS she does about food, additives and agriculture.

Vani's response to scientific (or even common sense) criticism of her "advice".

No, instead of changing careers, Vani only progressed in hers. She started out as a consultant on large custom software projects for Accenture, moving on to Program management and Product management. Having spent many years myself in Product management for “shrink wrap” or off-the shelf software, I have a good idea of the skill sets one must employ. One of her more notable projects was as Web Services Manager. When managing a set of products such as this, her goal was to increase demand for Bank of America and their services by leveraging web based services and platforms. Their customers are banking customers like you and me, who would avail themselves of the software. In order to do this, SEO (search engine optimization) is a critical component. People have to find your products when they do a google search. Keywords that ring a bell with consumers must be used and you need to generate links to and from other sites to improve your visibility. The backend has to lead to upgradeable products and services to increase the reach and revenue of the bank. So all Vani really did was to create a new set of products for a new set of consumers using the experience she developed in managing web based projects. And those keywords that ring bells? Yup, toxins, chemicals and GMOs or anything else she believes might scare you right out of your grocery cart. And certainly all her links take you to upsell opportunities such as partner products or expensive newsletters.

It’s no accident that Vani was named one of the top influencers on the Internet. It has nothing whatsoever to do with her knowledge of the subject matter and everything to do with her knowledge of creating an online presence. The same is true for social media. If you ran across Vani via the web (which is how she launched herself), it was undoubtedly due to her canny abilities in web based software and techniques for leveraging the software. While I have no problem with someone leveraging their software expertise to earn a substantial income, I do have a problem when the products or services provided are detrimental to the end user. People employ the same methodology to bring you the likes of porn or child porn, but that doesn't make the product they are delivering any more palatable.

The hypocrisy here is that Vani goes after companies and entire industries as though they were nameless faceless entities, not comprising hundreds of thousands of employees that work every day to feed their families. They are a "them" and worthy of derision.  Food Babe, however, claims to be a researcher or a citizen journalist (fighting "them" for YOU) though she proudly claims to have gotten her research skills from a high school debate team.  Apparently, her research skills were a little subpar; when she tried to compete on a college debate team, she failed after only a week.  Her behavior on the web also shows that she lacks debate skills, preferring to ignore (block or ban) those who challenge her or accuse them of being paid by some "big company". (sound familiar?)

Imagine something so big an entire industry wants to hide it - aka put on your tinfoil hat!

Fueling conspiracy theories and fear-based marketing are effective, though morally deficient ways of increasing the web clicks on your site. By impugning large sectors of the population with a blanket label of "industry" or "companies" as she likes to call them, she fails to include herself in that mix. The organic market has become a huge and quickly growing market sector which has profit margins that soar above the meager margins of the conventional sector. And while the conventional sector is well regulated, the organic market sector is not. It is chock full of charlatans like the "Food Babe" who blanket the Internet with rumor, innuendo and outright untruths about the conventional sector, simply to secure the high profit margins they are currently experiencing. They sell unregulated "supplements" to combat the yarns they spin of the dangers of vaccines and food products you consume. So make no mistake, the organic sector is an "industry" and "companies" in the same right as the conventional food companies.

So the next time you see the Food Babe and her cohorts in trickery; John Roulac (CEO of Nutiva and board member of GMO Inside),  Mike Adams (self-titled "Health Ranger") and David Wolfe (avocado wolfe) condemning a particular food product or slandering a conventional food company, stop and ask yourself; what's in it for them and how are they profiting? The answer will probably be pretty clear when you see the "miracle" products they offer instead. But guard your wallet because their brand of faux-nutrition and health isn't cheap and it could actually do more harm than good.

So of course, Vani still gets our 5-alarm, stand back, pants-on-fire award since the more frequently she gets called out on her lies, the louder and longer she screams, much like a toddler in the throes of a temper tantrum. You've seen them, they do it in a supermarket too. Just because something comes up in a search engine result doesn't mean you should buy into it...but hey, it's on the Internet so it must be true. Just like I'm a bunny rabbit slipper in real life.

That's all folks - thanks for coming along for the ride!

Pirate of the Caribbean

I've posted before about the self proclaimed "Food Babe" aka Vani Hari, aka Vain Hair. Whelp, truth is always stranger than fiction, or so the old saw goes, and this food barbie makes a good case for the truth of that.

Whilst her vast "army" was out marching against Monsanto and GMOs, Vani was happily posting pics of her West Indies vacation on Instagram, never once considering that she should be leading this fight against the enemy that she claims is the root of all ills (literally). It seems like basking in the sun (sans effective sunscreen of course) was a much better use of her time and the money she earned from her "army" purchasing the overpriced products she promotes on her pages. A pirate is a thief and this one loves the Caribbean.

From Vani's Instagram

Many of her followers excused her obvious absenteeism, claiming that she works so very hard that she deserves to be on vacation spending her shillbucks on expensive private bungalos and sailboats in the Caribbean. But, many of those of us who aren't necessarily enthralled by the brand of woo she peddles wondered if she had kept to her strict dietary regimes, while enjoying the fruits of her pseudoscience.

Turns out she's a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to that. She'll happily grill the staff about their food products and preparation even going so far as demanding to tour the kitchens and have special meals prepared based on her daily whims. However, according to Vani herself, she can't seem to resist "croissants and the most delicious breads". Now hold on there a moment! I thought that gluten, GMOs and non-organic foods were poison? At least that's what Vani tells her followers every chance she gets. So, tell me why would a poisonous concoction of these foul ingredients be even remotely tempting? Seriously, I hear that antifreeze tastes sweet but I am never, ever, tempted to swig the stuff just to please a temporary sugar craving.

From Vani's Instagram - Echire butter is the most expensive in the world.

So why does Vani claim that it's human to crave desserts and breads? She has also stated that when you go through her juice cleanses and start eating strictly from her $17.99 per month food guides, that your body will crave only good foods. Are you seeing the hypocrisy here? Oh wait, if you look at Vani's real goals, there is no hypocrisy. Vani is in this game to build herself an empire of fame and fortune. The more her army harasses companies like Monsanto, Kraft and Subway, the more she can claim personal victory for any changes those companies do in fact make. Of course, even when they make changes, Vani still won't relent, it only fuels her hunger (pardon the pun) for more fame based on fear 

Take for instance Kraft foods. In particular Kraft Mac & Cheese. She claims a personal victory for Kraft announcing that they would change their formulation for their popular Mac & Cheese to remove the artificial color - that orange color that kids around the world have come to equate with their after school Mac & Cheese treat. But was that enough to appease Vani and her army? Nope. She's like a food terrorist, once she sees that she has a little power, she is unwilling to let it go. In fact, she is demanding that people who purchase from her line of over-priced guides and partner products, NOT purchase Mac & Cheese from Kraft. Honest. This is a screen shot of the Vani's checkout page on her website:

Theoretically these statements are legally binding agreements. Now, I'm not an attorney but that statement sure doesn't seem legal to me. Seems to me that it violates competition/anti-trust laws that prohibit agreements that prevent fair trade between competing businesses. And this, after Kraft bowed to her ridiculous demands?

But back to Vani's perceived hypocrisy. Vani eats whatever the hell Vani wants. Her goal is to make the rest of us follow her rigid guidelines because it brings her more fame and wealth. That's the bottom line. So if Vani gets caught with butter running down her chin and croissant crumbs on her billabong top, she twists it into a way to make more bucks from her army.  She sent an email to her army (full disclosure: she has banned me from her facebook army, her page and even receiving her email newsletters) telling them of her "slip" and proclaiming that as a result, she was doing a webinar; but only for those who would order her juicing guide within 24 hours, to get back on track. Of course, they weren't the ones eating croissants in St Barths, but they should have to pay the price anyway, apparently.  It was when I went to see how much her juicing guide cost, that I found her not-so-legal insistence that you could have her or you could have Kraft but not both. Never both.

From Vani's Instagram; she captioned it: "My ride for the next 2 weeks"

So for Vani's indiscretion, it will only cost you an extra $24.99 and with it you'll get even more pitches to purchase partner products, but hey, your money will help get Vani back on track. Won't you be so proud? I'm guessing that some fan - or not fan - must have snapped a pic of her stuffing her face with foods on the Vani unapproved list, so she took the opportunity to turn a fault into some more big fat dollars for Mr & Mrs Food Babe. After all, 2 week vacations to the Caribbean aren't free you know! But according to Vani. she's personally cheering you on...between dives, sails and croissants. For real, she cares and I guess all  that expensive French butter she's using makes her hair shiny in the Caribbean sun. Don't you wish you could afford some?

So for these reasons, I once again award Vani Hari with our highest honors. The 5 brigade, Too hot to get near, Pants-on-Fire award. (she doesn't buy her own garbage any more than I do)

That's All Folks!

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Shayna Hubers, the Final Chapter

Hey there! I'm back today with Wally, who in a case you missed the last post, is doing a little worm sleuthing inside Shayna Hubers' brain. It's a twisted dark and scary place, but Wally is charging me an arm and a leg for the inside scoop so I'm hoping we can finally get some sort of reading on the Truth-O-Meter today.

Hey Wally, welcome back. Whatcha got for us today? Hopefully you were able to dig deeper than the high school background?

Oh, for sure Bunny. After all, she's only a couple of years out of high school - not that she acts it. I found some info on her dating life. Pretty recent too, well, recent before jail that is.

Good point, she's been in jail since the night of the shooting back on October 12, 2012, right?

Right you are, Bunny, though she did try to pay off some judge to get her bond! That one backfired!

OK, OK Wally, at your rates, I can't afford for you to do a legal analysis, just get to what you dug up while you were in the brain.

OK. There was the whole obsession thing going on listen in:

OMG, OMG, Ah cannot believe that damned Ryan hasn't answered my text yet. Ah sent it like 30 seconds ago. OK, Ah'll send another, and another and another. DAMN IT! Ah hate him, Ah hate him, Ah hate him.

Oh, there he is. Oh, Ah love him, Ah love him, but Ah hate him for making me send him 75 texts in an hour just to get a reply. Ah mean, really. Doesn't he KNOW WHO AH AM? Ah mean, Gawd, he's even bitching to his cousin about me now and she's MAH friend, not his. The nerve of him.

OK so she's pretty obsessed with him then? Maybe conflicted about her feelings?

I wouldn't say that conflicted is an accurate description. Obsessed? Yes. Scorned? Oh yeah. Conflicted? Nah. That chick was good and pissed off. Listen in some more:

God damn it! Ah went to his folks for dinner and Ah still cain't get that man to act right! If he thinks he's gonna go out with that Miss Ohio slut, he's got another think comin'! Oh, mah God. He told me to leave and when Ah wouldn't he literally picked me up and put me outside and locked the damned door! Good thing Ah still got mah key. Ah'm gonna call Momma on him!

Wow so she was pretty mad then hunh?

Oh yeah, but her twit of a momma is no better; check out what else I found in that twisted head:

Well, Ah'm so glad momma came up to be with me. Ah told her he was bein' mean to me. So she came and took me out for a nice breakfast and some shopping! Shopping always cheers me up. So when she dropped me back off at mah car, I made her get me some gas and some aspirin and then Ah texted Ryan again. Well, Ah told him how sorry Ah was fer gettin' all emotional and stuff last night but he didn't want to hear it. He told me he wanted some time to himself this weekend but Ah KNOW he just wanted to be with that Ohio whore. He thinks she's so purty but Ah took psychology so Ah know how to handle her. And his ass, too.

Oh, so now this is the same day that she shot him? Wow, Wally you really went in deep!

Yeah. So the shooting part is kind of a blur, since she studied psychology and gave herself some PTSD symptoms. But holy shit, the 911 call and the police interviews were just nuts. I'm exhausted bunny. Let me take a break.

OK, Wally, take a load off and I can take it for a while. So according to the court testimony and the 911 calls, Shayna is really a nut case. She told the 911 operator that she killed her boyfriend in self defense, several times and asked if she was going to be arrested after waiting 15 minutes after the final shot to even call the cops.  When she told the dispatcher that she'd shot him because he was twitching and didn't want to watch him anymore the dispatcher was incredulous. She asked "So you shot him again instead of calling 911?"

When you listen to this - her concerns are very odd. She said twice that he tried to carry her outside and she wanted to get her things. This is anger - a lot of anger, not self defense.

Some of the choice excerpts that came up in trial were things she said to the cops during her interview immediately following the shooting;

"I honestly like shot the man in self-defense."

"He said, 'You're just a fucking hillbilly from Kentucky and I fucking hate you.' And I am. I guess the hillbilly came out in me, and I took up for myself,"

Of course she also told them that Ryan was so vain that she'd given him the nose job he always wanted, went on to compliment one of the police interrogator's teeth as well as humming a few bars of Amazing Grace between giggles. Of course, you could say that was self-comforting behavior or perhaps she thought she could convince people that she was temporarily insane what with her psych background.

However the text messages she sent to him and to her friends, showed that she wasn't crazy, she was just a self-centered bitch.

To Ryan; "You have a small dick and your tummy looks like you guzzle beer."

To a friend; "I think he knows now I play on his facebook hahaha and block shit."

and of course the infamous text messages about shooting Ryan while at the gun range and making it appear accidental.

I think it's clear to everyone that Shayna is guilty of murder, not shooting due to self-defense. The jury agreed and convicted her last week with a recommended sentence of 40 years in prison. It remains to be seen what the judge will ultimately decide is a fair punishment for her crime.

I think we can safely say that we give a Pants on Fire rating to little miss narcissist from NKU.

What swayed me was the fact that she repeatedly claimed to be putting this man out of his misery. This human being that she claimed to love, she shot repeatedly rather than render aid. When I had to put my cat to sleep recently, I was devastated and couldn't watch after the sedation. Think about it. I couldn't deal with watching my cat take her last breath but this murderer shot two more times? out of mercy? Whoop Whoop Whoop - the extreme heat warning is going off on the Truth-o-Meter so I'm going to wrap it up now.

RBMBS - That's all folks!

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