Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? The book cover, Book Expo news, and more!

Here it is! The cover of that book we've been working on for the last year.

Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? The Essential Guide to Loving Your Body Before and After Baby is "due" October 1st, 2009. We surveyed and interviewed more than four hundred women for this project and we were absolutely floored by their honesty. We know you will be, too. A few things we learned:

Seventy-eight percent of women we surveyed who do not have children yet or don't plan to have children said they have concerns about how pregnancy and motherhood will change their bodies. At the top of the list of concerns? Weight (how much they'll gain during pregnancy and how soon they'll be able to lose it after delivery).

Women keep their body worries to themselves. Fifty-seven percent said they don't talk about the connections between body image, pregnancy, and motherhood with their friends. Fifty-one percent said they never discuss the connections with their partners. Many told us that they don't want to admit to their fears because others might deem them "selfish."

Perhaps most disturbing is the silence between patients and doctors. Of the pregnant women and mothers we surveyed who said they have a history of body image issues, disordered eating or eating disorders, seventy-six percent said they did not discuss this history with their OB or midwife.

For all the buzz about celebrity mom slim-downs and "how to get your body back," there are some serious insecurities that mothers and mothers-to-be just aren't talking about. Our hope is that this book will spark those conversations and help women find the support they need and deserve. We'll be previewing more stats, facts and quotes in the months leading up to the book release, and we invite you to share your thoughts and experiences.

We'll also be at Book Expo. If you are there, please stop by and say hello! Take a sneak peek at our Healthy Beauty Pledge (more on that soon) and pick up a gift bag filled with goodies from Mama Mio, Carol's Daughter, Preggie Pops, and more. We'll be at the HCI booth on Friday, May 29th from 3-4 p.m. and in the central signing area on Saturday, May 30th at 11:30 a.m. And yes, we'll be tweeting.

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It took us a while to get there, but now that we are nearly done with book writing, we can make a go at tweeting. Follow us here.

Australian Teen Magazine DOLLY Publishes "No Retouching" Issue

A teen magazine down under has just launched the "Heart Your Body" campaign, which includes an issue with non-airbrushed photos. Dolly editor Gemma Crisp appeared on Australia's Today show to discuss the campaign.

"Airbrushing in magazines is quite insidious, everyone does it...I'm really worried about girls looking at magazines and these so-called 'perfect' images." A survey conducted by Dolly revealed that four out of five of girls are unhappy with their bodies.

Of course not every image in the magazine, which hit newsstands May 13th, is free of retouching. The editor admits that they often get photos directly from publicists or photo agencies that have already been altered. And while Crisp discusses a series of before/after shots (including Jessica Alba in the Campari ad campaign), revealing how dramatically retouching can alter the shape of someone's body, she's reluctant to admit that Dolly has done any digital slim-downs in the past. She said most of their retouching has been limited to removing red-eye, bruises, and "patchy, fake tan." As part of this new campaign, which includes Kat Dennings and Taylor Swift, non-retouched images will be labeled throughout the magazine.

The campaign seems like a great idea, but they only showed one image from the magazine. It was difficult to see the bruise on actress Jessica Mauboy's arm or the red-eye that Crisp mentioned. And what about the cover? The "all airbrush-free" tagline refers to specific stars (not cover girl Kristen Stewart) and the article included with Today appearance says that "all the action starts on page 61," referring to "retouch-free zones." Did they leave Kristen Stewart alone? Because there is not a blemish or a bruise to be found, and the whites of her eyes are white as white can be.

When asked if this campaign would continue in future issues, Crisp responded: "Probably. Definitely."


"Dolly goes air-brush free" [Nine MSN]