How Junk Food Wrecks Your Body

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It’s no surprise that junk food is low in healthy nutrients and high in ingredients like sugar and salt. But new animal research suggests that a diet high in junk food might harm the kidneys in a similar way to type-2 diabetes.

In the study, published in the journal Experimental Physiology, rats were fed a junk food diet of chocolate bars, marshmallows, biscuits, and cheese for eight weeks. Other rats were fed chow that contained 60% fat for five weeks. By analyzing the rats’ blood sugar levels and the function of blood sugar transporters in the rats’ kidneys, the researchers were able to see what happened to the kidneys of rats that ate junk food and fatty foods, compared to the kidneys of rats with diabetes.

All of the groups experienced “very similar” negative effects and increases in blood sugar levels, says lead study author Havovi Chichger, a senior lecturer in Biomedical Science at the Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K.

The study was small and used rats rather than people, so the results can’t be extrapolated to humans. “Animal studies provide insights about potential effects in people, but they rarely provide definitive answers,” says Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, who was not involved in the study. “Animal research is most meaningful when interpreted in the overall context of established evidence. In this case, we certainly already knew that junk food is not good for us. so this is not a great surprise.” In humans, eating a diet high in sugar has been shown to interfere with a person’s blood sugar levels and increase their risk for type 2 diabetes.

This is not the first study to suggest that junk food does more to your insides than simply add fat around the middle; it can also disrupt hormones, change a person’s sense of taste and even raise the risk for mental health problems. A 2015 study published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that a calorie from sugar is much more dangerous to the body than a calorie from other carbohydrates, like starch. Added sugars were linked to poor insulin levels and blood sugar, as well as harmful fat storage around the belly, which promotes problems like inflammation and high blood pressure. Another study published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at questionnaires from around 70,000 women and found that diets higher in added sugar and refined grains, like white bread, were associated with a higher risk for depression a few years later. Sugar had an especially strong link, and healthier foods, like fiber, fruits and vegetables appeared to have a protective effect. The study only found a correlation, but overeating sugars and refined starches can increase inflammation and risk for heart disease, both of which have been linked to depression, the study authors said. Eating junk food and can increase the risk for insulin resistance, which has been associated with cognitive problems also found among people with depression.

This article originally appeared on Time.com.

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If 1 in 10 U.S. Smokers Quits, $63 Billion Saved

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Kicking the smoking habit boosts more than just your health — it also saves money.

That’s because health care costs plummet just one year after stopping, new research shows.

A 10 percent decline in smoking would reduce U.S. health care costs by $63 billion the following year, a study from University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) estimated.

“Our study shows that significant changes in health care expenditures begin to appear quickly after changes in smoking behavior,” study first author James Lightwood, an associate professor in the UCSF School of Pharmacy, said in a university news release.

The researchers reviewed health care costs linked with smoking in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They looked at the time period between 1992 and 2009.

In addition to the direct effects that cigarettes have on smokers, the study also included the indirect effects of passive smoking on nonsmokers.

Smoking causes a wide range of serious health issues. These include heart and lung disease, as well as pregnancy complications, the researchers explained.

The researchers found clear evidence that reducing the number of people who smoke, and getting smokers to have fewer cigarettes, was quickly followed by a rapid decline in health care costs.

A major reason is that the risks for smoke-related diseases also change quickly once smokers quit, the study reported. For example, once smokers quit, their risk of heart attack and stroke drop by roughly 50 percent within one year. The risk of having a low birth weight baby virtually disappeared when a pregnant woman stopped smoking during her first trimester, the researchers said.

“These findings show that state and national policies that reduce smoking not only will improve health, but can be a key part of health care cost containment even in the short run,” said study co-author, Stanton Glantz, director of the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.

The study authors estimated that California spent $15 billion less on medical costs in 2009 because smoking in that state is well below the national average. On the flip side, Kentucky’s higher-than-average smoking rate cost the state nearly $2 billion more in health care expenditures, the study authors said.

“Regions that have implemented public policies to reduce smoking have substantially lower medical costs,” the study authors wrote. “Likewise, those that have failed to implement tobacco control policies have higher medical costs.”

The study was published May 10 in PLOS Medicine.

More information

The American Cancer Society provides more information on the benefits of quitting smoking.

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Meditation May Sharpen Memory

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A regular meditation practice might benefit older adults beginning to notice memory problems, a small pilot study finds.

The study focused on 25 older adults deemed to have mild cognitive impairment — problems with memory and thinking that may, in some cases, progress to dementia.

Researchers randomly assigned them to either 12 weeks of meditation and other yoga practices, or 12 weeks of memory enhancement training — which taught strategies for improving forgetfulness.

In the end, the study found, both groups did a little better on tests of verbal memory — the kind involved in remembering names or lists of words, for example. But the meditation group showed a bigger change, on average, in tests of visual-spatial memory — which is needed for navigating while walking or driving, or trying to recall a location.

The meditators also showed fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.

To Dr. Helen Lavretsky, the senior researcher on the study, that is a key finding.

“The benefits of yoga and meditation are diverse,” said Lavretsky, a professor-in-residence in the psychiatry department at the University of California, Los Angeles.

There are several reasons the practices might help seniors with memory issues, Lavretsky said.

One way is by easing their anxiety about those problems. But, there may also be more-direct effects on “brain fitness,” she explained.

Her team found evidence of that in specialized MRI scans that charted study participants’ brain activity. In both groups, changes were seen in the “connectivity” of certain brain networks involved in memory.

The findings, published May 10 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, are based on this small group of older adults followed for a limited time.

So it’s hard to draw firm conclusions, said Mary Sano, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, in New York City.

For one, she said, older adults with mild cognitive impairment are an “amorphous group.” It can include people with temporary memory issues, or anxiety over memory lapses that are not pathological.

“The study participants’ scores were pretty high, so that raises the question, are they really impaired or just nervous [about memory issues]?” said Sano, who was not involved in the study.

That said, many other studies have pointed to “neural effects” from meditation, Sano noted. So it’s not surprising, she said, that people who practiced it would show changes on memory tests.

For the study, all the adults recruited by Lavretsky’s team were ages 55 and older who had memory complaints — forgetting names and appointments, or misplacing things, for example.

Eleven went through 12 weekly sessions in memory enhancement training, which has proven helpful in past studies of people with mild impairments. It involves learning techniques for managing memory issues, and performing mental exercises at home — ranging from crossword puzzles to computer-based programs.

The yoga/meditation group also had a weekly class. It involved breathing practices, “kriyas” — which combine some movement, stretching and breathing exercises — and meditation. Their homework was to perform the 12-minute meditation every day on their own.

The study tested a specific form of meditation called kirtan kriya, which involves hand movements, chanting mantras and visualizations.

That combination, said Lavretsky, may be particularly engaging for the mind.

Since the study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, what’s not clear, Sano said, is whether the study results reflect a specific effect of meditation. Learning a new activity stimulates the mind — as does the social engagement of group classes, she explained.

Lavretsky agreed, and noted that many different activities — physical, mental and social — could help keep the brain fit.

“People like different things,” Lavretsky said. “Personally, I don’t like crossword puzzles. Mind-body practices, like yoga and meditation, offer another option.”

The study tested a specific form of meditation, so it’s not known whether other types would show the same results, Sano said.

On the other hand, she said, giving meditation a try is unlikely to be risky.

Older people who want to try a class should be aware that some “yoga” classes may involve a vigorous physical practice and little or no meditation, Lavretsky said.

She suggested that older adults with physical limitations look for gentler forms of yoga, such as restorative yoga and yin yoga. They can also try classes that focus on meditation alone.

More information

The Alzheimer’s Association has more on mild cognitive impairment.

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Obesity May Not Take Years Off Your Life: Study

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Obesity may not cut your life short after all, a new study suggests.

Danish researchers report that the risk that an obese man or woman will die prematurely has dropped dramatically over the last 40 years.

How dramatically? According to their analysis, the 30 percent greater risk of dying early from any cause found back in the 1970s has virtually disappeared.

Translation: The researchers said that the risk of dying early for any reason is now the same among obese individuals as it is among normal-weight individuals.

Not only that, but having a body mass index (BMI) of 27, which is considered overweight, was linked to having the lowest risk of death from all causes, the study authors said.

But both the Danish researchers and U.S. experts noted that longer life might not be better life, particularly if an obese or overweight person is struggling with chronic disease.

The startling finding stems from work led by Dr. Borge Nordestgaard, a clinical professor with the Institute of Clinical Medicine at the University of Copenhagen.

The analysis stacked BMI data against all-cause death statistics among three groups of Danes: 14,000 enrolled in a heart study during the mid-1970s; 9,500 enrolled in the same study in the early 1990s; and more than 97,000 who were enrolled in a lifestyle study between 2003 and 2013.

Today’s weight classifications peg normal weight as having a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9. Those with a BMI of between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight, while anyone with a BMI of 30 or more is considered obese. BMI is a measurement based on height and weight.

The result in the Danish analysis: In addition to obesity-related early death risk dropping to normal-weight levels, the team found that the BMI level linked to the lowest rate of all-cause early death had gone up by more than three units, rising from 23.7 in the 1970s to 27 in 2013.

“On the BMI scale, a rise of 3.3 units is quite a lot,” said Nordestgaard. “And a BMI of 27 is actually right in the middle of what we today call being ‘overweight,'” he explained.

“But, of course, this is just one paper. Certainly the BMI categories for what is considered overweight and obese were defined by the World Health Organization based on data collected before the 1990s. So it might be that we should revisit what we now call overweight and obesity,” Nordestgaard suggested.

“But we don’t know what’s cause and what’s effect. And we only looked at the hardest endpoint, which is longevity, not quality of life. So even if you live longer today while being overweight, you might also be sicker. You might be alive, but with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and problems with knees and joints — things we didn’t look at,” Nordestgaard explained.

“And in the U.S., of course, obesity is often far in excess of a 27 BMI,” he added. “So if you have a bad conscience about being a little bit overweight, that you’re going to die early, maybe that’s not actually the case. But our data should not be used as an excuse to eat a lot more or to become overweight if you are not.”

That point was seconded by Lona Sandon, program director and assistant professor in the department of clinical nutrition at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

“I do not believe it has necessarily become safer to have what is classified by U.S. National Institutes of Health as an overweight BMI,” she said.

“A big difference between the decades is advances in drug treatment and other medical treatment that has helped people live longer, with or without overweight and obesity, and associated conditions,” Sandon added.

But that does not mean being overweight has become healthier than in the past. It simply means that “doctors can just treat symptoms better,” she cautioned.

“Whether you are optimal weight, overweight or obese, making an effort to reach your personal best for healthy eating and exercise is key for reducing risk of chronic disease,” Sandon advised. “Regardless of size, healthy eating and exercise behaviors help protect our health and well-being.”

The findings were published May 10 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

More information

There’s more on healthy weight advice at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

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Move of the Week: Reach Back & Kick

Who doesn’t want to sculpt a firmer booty? The reach back and kick is a surefire way to tighten your tush and exercise your core at the same time. Follow celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson as she demonstrates this butt-boosting move.

RELATED: Tracy Anderson’s Top Exercises for Flatter Abs and a Stronger Core

Here’s how to do it: Grab a mat and a set of 1.5- to 2.5-pound ankle weights. Place your right hand on the mat, raise your left leg, wrap your left hand around the laces of your shoe and pull your foot toward your upper back. Your back should be arched. Now move your knee forward and release your foot to extend your leg in front of you. Return to the starting position and repeat.

Trainer tip: Keep your core engaged the entire time to stay balanced and reap all the toning benefits of this move.

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FDA to Re-examine What Makes a Food ‘Healthy’

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Which of these foods, if any, should be labeled “healthy”? Raisin bran? Avocados? Granola bars?

Going by current — and perhaps outdated — U.S. food-labeling regulations, it’s impossible to know, food makers and legislators contend. But that’s about to change under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration plan to redefine the definition of “healthy” foods.

“We believe now is an opportune time to reevaluate regulations concerning nutrient content claims, generally, including the term ‘healthy,'” the FDA said in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.

The process could take years, and will likely rely on public input. A bill in Congress, if approved, would urge the FDA to make this matter a priority, according to the news report.

The nutritional landscape and knowledge of what constitutes a healthy diet has changed considerably since 1994, when the FDA first officially used the term “healthy.” Back then, health advocates were taking aim at fats — not sugar or gluten — which are among today’s targets.

By those old standards, sugary cereals like raisin bran might be considered a healthier option than an avocado, which contains “good” monounsaturated fat.

Among food makers urging a reevaluation of “healthy” is Kind LLC, a producer of granola bars, which was warned by the FDA last year to stop labeling its bars as “healthy” because of fat content, the Journal reported.

“We very much hope the FDA will change the definition of healthy, so that you don’t end up in a silly situation where a toaster pastry or sugary cereal can be considered healthy and a piece of salmon or bunch of almonds cannot,” Kind’s Chief Executive Daniel Lubetzky told the newspaper.

The FDA has since allowed Kind to keep using the phrase “healthy and tasty” on its bars, the Journal reported.

The guidelines that the FDA currently uses for “healthy” include total fat, saturated fat, salt levels, cholesterol and beneficial nutrients, such as iron or fiber.

The agency has in recent years tackled related issues, such as addressing the use of “natural” in packaging and banning trans fats, the newspaper noted.

Sharon Zarabi is a nutritionist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She pointed out that in the early 1990s, fat was “demonized” for causing heart disease and obesity. Then sugar started to replace the fat in foods for enhanced flavor, “which may be responsible for our country’s rise in metabolic syndrome,” she said. By the early 2000s, “carbs got a bad rap so we followed the Atkins Diet, South Beach and other trends of low-carb, high-protein diets,” she added.

Zarabi’s suggestion: “Why not just go back to eating clean and simple? Single-ingredient foods that are not bound together by sugar, and not enhanced with ingredients we cannot pronounce. Remember when fruits and vegetables were the snack Mom used to put in our lunch box and our only source of calories — aka fuel?”

She also suggests eating foods that “come close to the Earth.” They include nuts in moderation, due to high fat content; plants such as fruits and vegetables two to three times a day, and lean sources of protein.

More information

The American Heart Association lists healthy foods for less than $1 a serving.

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Malaria Vaccine Shows Promise in Small Study

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — An experimental malaria vaccine protects a majority of adults against the mosquito-borne virus for up to one year, according to the results of a small study.

The findings also showed those who were vaccinated couldn’t spread the virus to others.

“These results are really important,” researcher Kirsten Lyke, from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a university news release. “Malaria has such a devastating effect on children, especially in Africa. This vaccine has the potential to help travelers, military personnel and children in malaria-endemic areas.”

Hundreds of millions of people are infected with malaria and more than 500,000 die from the virus each year, the researchers noted. Most fatal cases of malaria involve children under the age of 5, the study authors said.

The first symptoms — which can include fever, headache, chills and vomiting — typically begin a week or two after being bitten by an infected mosquito, according to the World Health Organization. Without prompt treatment, malaria can progress to severe illness and death.

There is currently no malaria vaccine but this experimental vaccine, known as PfSPZ Vaccine, was developed and produced by Maryland-based Sanaria Inc. with support from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The researchers continue to test the vaccine in parts of Africa.

In this phase 1 clinical trial of the experimental vaccine, the researchers exposed a small group of 101 healthy adult volunteers to malaria in a controlled setting. None of the participants had ever had malaria before.

Of the group, 59 people were given the malaria vaccine, which contains a live but weakened form of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum.

Study participants who received the vaccine were divided into three groups, based on the following variables: the dose they received, how many immunizations they had, and how the vaccine was administered.

The remaining participants were not vaccinated.

The researchers assessed the effectiveness of the vaccine by analyzing the levels of the malaria parasite in blood samples taken from the participants.

The study authors added that receiving the vaccine through an IV provided better protection than injecting the vaccine into muscle.

The findings were reported May 9 in the journal Nature Medicine.

“In Africa, we’ve given up to 1.8 million parasites safely,” study author Dr. Robert Seder, from NIAID, told The New York Times. “As we keep going up in dose, the results get better.”

Long-lasting reliable protection from malaria is important for those routinely exposed to malaria, as well as travelers and those in the military, the researchers pointed out.

More information

The World Health Organization has more about malaria.

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Pot-Linked Fatal Car Crashes Doubled in One State After Legalization

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The number of fatal car crashes involving marijuana more than doubled after Washington state legalized the sale of the drug, a new study finds.

Marijuana became legal in Washington in December 2012, researchers said. Between 2013 and 2014, the percentage of drivers in Washington involved in fatal car accidents after using marijuana rose from 8 percent to 17 percent, according to the study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

In 2014 alone, one in six drivers involved in a deadly crash had recently used the drug, researchers found.

“The significant increase in fatal crashes involving marijuana is alarming,” Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said in an AAA news release.

“Washington serves as an eye-opening case study for what other states may experience with road safety after legalizing the drug,” he added.

At least 20 states are currently considering marijuana legalization, the researchers said. Washington, Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, D.C., have already legalized the recreational use of the drug.

The drug has also been legalized for therapeutic and medicinal use in 20 states, researchers said.

Whether or not marijuana is legal, no one should drive under the influence of the drug, the researchers noted. But it’s not yet exactly clear how lawmakers should address the issue.

One problem is that the effects of marijuana vary from one person to the next. This makes the development of consistent and fair guidelines on safe legal limits very difficult, the researchers explained.

In order to control drug-impaired driving, some states have established legal limits for the drug.

These rules specify the highest level of active THC — the main component of marijuana — that drivers can legally have in their system. Active THC in the bloodstream typically suggests that someone has recently used marijuana, study authors said. THC affects the mind and can impair people’s ability to drive safely, the researchers noted.

Montana and Washington state have implemented a legal limit for marijuana at 5 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). In Colorado, a blood concentration of at least 5 ng/mL means it’s likely someone was driving under the influence of the drug, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, Nevada and Ohio have set a limit at 2 ng/mL. Pennsylvania’s legal limit is lower at 1 ng/mL.

Twelve states have strict legal limits that prohibit the presence of any levels of marijuana in drivers’ blood, the study authors said.

After investigating the lab results of drivers arrested for impaired driving, the researchers found many problems with legal limits for marijuana, including:

• There is no reliable scientific evidence that drivers become impaired when they have a specific level of marijuana in the blood.
• Various levels of marijuana have different effects from one person to the next. For some people, low THC levels may lead to impairment. Other people, however, may not be impaired even with high levels of marijuana in their system.
• Marijuana in the blood may drop to a legal limit before a suspected impaired driver is tested. On average, it takes more than two hours to take blood from a driver since it requires a warrant and people must be transported to a lab for testing.

“There is understandably a strong desire by both lawmakers and the public to create legal limits for marijuana impairment, in the same manner as we do with alcohol,” said Marshall Doney, AAA’s president and CEO.

“In the case of marijuana, this approach is flawed and not supported by scientific research. It’s simply not possible today to determine whether a driver is impaired based solely on the amount of the drug in their body,” Doney said.

Rather than rely on limits of THC in the blood, AAA advised states to use a two-pronged approach to enforce drug-impaired driving. This approach would include:

• A positive test for recent marijuana use.
• Behavioral or physiological signs that a driver is impaired.

The researchers noted this approach would rely heavily on law-enforcement training programs that help officers recognize drug-impaired driving.

“Marijuana can affect driver safety by impairing vehicle control and judgment,” said Doney. “States need consistent, strong and fair enforcement measures to ensure that the increased use of marijuana does not impact road safety.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse provides more information on the effects of marijuana on driving ability.

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Kids With Autism Do Well Learning New Words: Study

TUESDAY, May 10, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Children with autism learn new words the same way as other children do, but it takes them longer, a small study found.

The researchers compared 15 children with autism, aged 18 months to 7 years, and a control group of 15 children without the developmental disorder.

A series of tests showed that both groups of children relied heavily on the same technique to learn new words — they followed a teacher’s gaze as the teacher named an object, the investigators found.

The children with autism were able to follow the teacher’s eye movements 75 percent of the time, compared with 78 percent of the time for children in the control group, the study findings showed.

Most children with autism have trouble making eye contact with other people under certain conditions, so therapists strive to encourage them to make eye contact, according to the researchers from Ohio State University.

“A lot of good work has gone into targeting this skill in kids with autism. It’s considered a pivotal skill — looking at other people and monitoring eye movement,” Allison Bean Ellawadi, director of the Autism & Child Language Learning Laboratory at Ohio State, said in a university news release.

“We found that if we use eye gaze in a meaningful way, and in a consistent pattern, kids with autism will pick it up on their own, and they’ll learn new words,” Ellawadi added.

The study was published recently in the International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on autism.

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5 Famous Women on Their Stretch Marks

Photo: Getty Images

Kendra Wilkinsin is the latest celeb to show off her #tigerstripes. Over the weekend, the Kendra On Top star, 30, celebrated Mother’s Day by sharing an unedited Instagram photo of her stomach. “Look what my 2 babies did,” she wrote in the caption. “They make me happy. #happymothersday.” The reality TV actress has two adorable children with husband Hank Baskett (Hank is 6 years old and Alijah Mary is 11 months).

The photo has racked up more than 123,000 likes, as well as praise from Wilkinson’s followers: “This is beautiful,” wrote one commenter, while another said, “You have just made me feel fine with the way my body looks now.” Need even more proof that almost everyone gets ’em? Here are four more times famous women got real about their stretch marks.

Robyn Lawley

Seven months after giving birth to daughter Ripley, 1, the Australian model proudly displayed her stretch marks in a topless photo on Instagram. The pic and accompanying Facebook post were a response to a UK magazine story that claimed she’d considered having an abortion to avoid getting them.

“I was shocked, not only because that is not what I said—not to mention I already had a ton of stretch marks like 90 percent of the world—but to read that entire article and be already heavily pregnant, that’s their angle?” Lawley wrote in the post. “I knew [my stretch marks] were coming and as they’re fading into white (like all my others) I thought I might capture them. Because they are some bad ass #tigerstripes. And I earned them.”

RELATED: 5 Rules for Loving Your Body From Model Ashley Graham

Chrissy Teigen

The model, cookbook author, and new mama to 3-week-old Luna Simone is famous for her social media honesty (from spray tan fails to wardrobe malfunctions to her in-flight skincare routine, Teigen shares it all—and we love it). In one of her best-ever body-positive snaps, the model posted an Instagram photo of bruises and stretch marks on her inner thighs, captioning it, “Bruises from bumping kitchen drawer handles for a week. Stretchies say hi!”

Shortly after, the model appeared on The Meredith Vieira Show and explained why she’d chosen to share the unedited photo. “I actually am working on a cookbook and I was bumping around in the kitchen and the door handle would just nick me every single time,” she said. “And I was actually just taking a picture of the bruises and then I saw the stretch marks in there. I have those apps, the Facetune and Photoshopping ones, and I just didn’t feel like doing it anymore—and I’m never doing it again, because I think we forgot what normal people look like now.”

 

Stephanie Rothstein Bruce

The elite runner (who gave birth to her two children just 15 months apart) made headlines in March when she posted photos of her postpartum belly on Instagram. Bruce suffered from “a very bad case” of diastasis recti, a separation between the left and right side of the rectus abdomens muscles. By chronicling her journey back to a stronger core on social media, the athlete has helped to inspire other women to embrace their postpartum bodies.

“#keepinitreal doing side planks. The strength and stability is coming back steadily but the appearance of abs and stretch marks remains the same,” Bruce wrote on one Instagram post. “The not so glamorous part of getting strong post baby.”

RELATED: 11 Celebrities on What They Think About Their Breasts

Reese Witherspoon

The body-positive movement may be relatively recent, but Witherspoon has spoken candidly about her imperfections for years. In a 2004 interview with Vanity Fair, the actress opened up about how motherhood changed her both emotionally and physically. “I have cellulite. I have stretch marks. My breasts aren’t what they were before breastfeeding two children,” she said. “Parenthood is a great equalizer. It doesn’t matter how cool you think you are—when you’ve got baby spit-up all over your back and smashed chocolate cupcake all over your jeans, you’re just like any other mother.”

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