Lindsay Lohan glitter bombed on her way into court in Los Angeles

We can think of worse things to be showered with on your way into court! It seems whatever magic gold glitter Lindsay Lohan had thrown at her seems to have done the trick

Continue reading...

View the original article here

Typical Restaurant Meal Loaded With Fats, Salt, Calories: Studies

Just one meal often provides most of the daily recommended amounts, encouraging obesity

By Steven Reinberg

HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- The next time you sit down at your favorite local eatery, ponder this: Two new studies find that the average restaurant meal provides diners with most of the calories, fats and salt they require for the entire day.

The authors of both reports said these excesses can make restaurants unhealthy places to eat, adding to the obesity epidemic and increasing diners' risk for heart disease.

"In all of the meal categories there are huge ranges in calories, sodium and fats," said Mary Scourboutakos of the University of Toronto, and lead author of one of the studies. "You really don't know [what menu choice is healthiest] unless there is calories labeling or sodium labeling. There is no way to predict which meals are going to be the worst."

Both reports were published May 13 online in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The first report was conducted by researchers from the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. They found that most typically ordered restaurant meals contain more than half the calories the person would need per day.

"Your average serving -- just an entree, no drinks, no appetizers, no desserts -- is virtually a whole day's calories on one plate," said lead researcher Susan Roberts, director of the center's Energy Metabolism Laboratory.

For the study, Roberts' team analyzed 157 full meals from 33 restaurants in the Boston area.

They found 73 percent of the meals ordered had over half of the 2,000 daily calories recommended for adults by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and 12 meals contained more than the full daily recommendation.

Large portion sizes seemed key, the Boston study found, because prior research has shown that people tend to eat what is placed in front of them.

"When restaurants provide these [large] portions -- which are far more than the human body can process -- they are very directly contributing to the terrible epidemic of obesity we have today," Roberts said.

Meals with the highest average number of calories included those from restaurants specializing in Italian (1,755 calories), American (1,494 calories) and Chinese (1,474 calories) fare. Meals with the fewest average number of calories were from Vietnamese (922 calories) and Japanese (1,027 calories) restaurants, the researchers said.

A person's local diner or family-run restaurant was just as likely to pile on the calories as a big chain, the Boston study found. In fact, local, small-chain restaurants tended to have slightly higher calorie counts per meal (an average of 1,437) than national chains (1,359), although the difference wasn't statistically significant.

"Many of these [local] restaurants make fast food look healthy," Roberts said.

However, without the aid of calorie counts on menus, figuring out which meal is better for you can be tough.

View the original article here

I’m in my 50s — could my unhealthy eating patterns be an eating disorder?

Posted May 27, 2013, 2:00 am

I’m a woman in my 50s. Ever since my divorce last year, I’ve developed an unhealthy pattern of eating and purging. A friend suggested I might have an eating disorder. Could she be right?

I understand why you ask the question, as most people think of eating disorders as a teenager’s disease. But eating disorders also affect middle-aged and older women, and even some men.

Experts disagree about what causes eating disorders.  There probably is no single, simple answer. Genes seem to play a role. Identical twins are more likely to have eating disorders than non-identical twins, for example.

Eating disorders appear to be more common in people who have dieted frequently in the past, and in people who needed to be lean at one point in their lives — because they were competing in certain sports, for example, or dancing.

People with eating disorders appear to be more likely to have psychiatric disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder and substance abuse. I’m not a psychiatrist, but I’ve always been struck by the parallels between obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders. Both involve irrational behaviors that people cannot control. Eating disorders may be a way of responding to stressful events in life.

There are many reasons why eating disorders may develop or reappear during middle age. With age, for example, you are increasingly likely to lose people you care about. Restricting food or purging can be a way to deal with distressing feelings. Divorce is another common reason. In addition to grief and loss, the breakup of a marriage can spur a person to view their body unfavorably.

The type of disordered eating you’ve described sounds like bulimia nervosa. People with bulimia go through cycles of binge eating followed by purging. While on a binge, a person with bulimia may eat an entire cake rather than one or two slices, or a gallon of ice cream rather than a bowl. This is followed by a purge: making oneself vomit or using laxatives or diuretics.

Talk to your doctor about your eating patterns. If you do have bulimia, treatment can help you achieve a healthy weight and eating pattern, eliminate binge eating and purging, and address any stressful issues in your life:

Psychotherapy is the cornerstone of treatment for eating disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) challenges unrealistic thoughts about food and appearance. It can help you develop more productive thought patterns. Interpersonal and psychodynamic therapy can help you gain insight into issues that may underlie your disordered eating.Through nutritional rehabilitation, a dietitian or nutritional counselor can help you learn (or relearn) the components of a healthy diet. He or she can help motivate you to make the needed changes.Fluoxetine (Prozac) is the only medication approved to treat an eating disorder. At high doses, it reduces binge eating and vomiting, particularly in combination with psychotherapy. Other antidepressants and the seizure medication topiramate (Topamax) may also be prescribed for bulimia.

With the help of these treatments, you can overcome your eating disorder.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: "199616670120169", status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true});}; (function() { var e = document.createElement("script"); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js"; document.getElementById("fb-root").appendChild(e);}());

View the original article here

Weekend Project! How to Perfectly Arrange Flowers

Meet one of SELF's Editorial Assistants, Alyssa. When's she not scoping out the latest pop culture trends for our Entertainment department, Alyssa can usually be found DIYing. We tap into her craftiness to find out what she's whipping up every week.

We may have lost an hour this past week, but we gained spring. (Or at least, we almost have!) There's no better way to ring in the season than adding fresh flowers to your home or apartment. I'm pretty bloom-obsessed, so through the years (and a little trial and error involving dead, smelly flowers), I've picked up several tips and tricks that make pulling together a proper arrangement a cinch. Follow these, and you'll be a veritable flower child before you know it.

Trim It

Always trim a fresh end for stems once you bring them home from the flower shop. Cutting the stem at an angle allows for more water to be absorbed into the flower. To keep your flowers alive as long as possible, you can continue to cut the stems on an angle every four days (they'll get progressively shorter, so make sure you keep a bit of length initially).

Tape It

If you're looking for a simple way to give your arrangements a professional look, look no further than your junk drawer. Use tape (yes, really!) to create a grid formation on the mouth of your vase to keep flowers evenly spaced and in formation. If you want to get really fancy-pants, pick up some florist tape (but you totally don't need to).

Arrange It

There are several tricks to arranging a gasp-worthy bouquet. First, always remove any stray leaves from the stems-a good rule of thumb is anything below the waterline (aka where you're filling the water up to in the vase) goes. Then, decide what look you're aiming for.

One of my favorite bouquet styles is a lot of one flower (in one color family as well) arranged in a vase. Pick a big guy, like a hydrangea bloom and let it take center stage in a vase by itself. Hydrangeas are needy-replace their water every day!

Another fun twist is quirky vases. I was gifted this little fishy as a housewarming present-I happen to think it's totally awesome. I put a small bundle of flowers in it and tied with a burlap string-it looks a little shabby-chic, and I love that! Another option is turning a light bulb into a hanging vase-and you need are pliers, a little patience and burlap string-SO cute.

If you're looking for a long-lasting minimal look, try sprigs of dried lavender and grass in vases (mason jars or old bottles that have been spray painted work perfectly!). They look natural and stylish-and you don't have to worry about them dying!

RELATED LINKS:

View the original article here

Workday to Glam Night: Makeup to Have Handy

By Paige Herman-Axel
WebMD Feature

Taking your makeup look from day to evening is easier than you think. These tricks of the trade from celebrity makeup artists help you dial up the drama with just a few brush and pencil strokes. No time-wasting pit stop at home needed!

Just remember to take off all your makeup after your night on the town to keep your skin as healthy as possible.

Dirty Secret: Trying on Makeup

Q: I love trying on makeup, but I don't use those tiny plastic swabs at beauty counters. Am I going to bring home something besides a great new shade of gloss? A: It's quite possible. To a dermatologist, that's like strolling through a public restroom. Those tubes and jars resemble petri dishes, teeming with microbes and bacteria. The viruses that cause herpes and pink eye thrive on moist, inanimate objects -- making a pot of lip gloss, foundation, or eye shadow a perfect breeding ground. Even...

Read the Dirty Secret: Trying on Makeup article > >

When you know you’re going out after work, keep your daytime makeup simple, suggests Alicia Mizrahi Siller, a Hollywood makeup artist.  That way you can easily punch it up for your nighttime look.

Touch up your foundation. If you've sprouted shiny patches over the day, dab them with blotting papers.  New York City makeup artist Scott Barnes swears by this easy way to restore smooth, pretty skin. The papers absorb excess oil while avoiding a powdery look.

Tanya Rae (who counts Bette Midler and Megan Hilty as clients) suggests carrying some foundation in a travel-friendly container. Dab and blend with a damp sponge where needed to restore a smooth, even-looking complexion.

Deepen your color and luminance. A subtle glow is ideal at any hour. Full-on radiance is a necessity after hours!

Emmy-winning makeup artist Kevin James Bennett suggests creating a candlelit glow with a highlighting powder. Brush it on the tops of your cheekbones and under your eyes to accent and brighten the center of your face.

For extra oomph, try a light swipe of bronzing powder from your cheekbones back toward your temples, across your hairline, and just below your chin.

Your eyes are the prize. Rae offers simple ways to amp up your eyes.

Line the inner rims of your upper and lower lash lines with a black eye pencil for instant sex appeal.Try topping your lids with a smoky shadow for more drama.

If you find yourself without eye shadow for your evening update, draw short strokes of black liner on your lid and blend really well for a soft, yet sultry look.

Two more tactics courtesy of Siller: Add a darker eyeshadow just to the crease for a more defined, dramatic look. Or simply take your eyeliner pencil and draw a cat-eye or winged look over your daytime makeup.

Pucker up. Change your lip color and you change your whole look, says Siler. If you go neutral by day, a bold pop of lip color by night does the trick.

Rae says it's easy to start from scratch on your lips -- and you probably should for a fresh look. “Remove all traces of lipstick, add lip balm, blot, and apply a new lip” she says.

Bennett offers this secret: “Top off your lipstick with a dab of sparkling gold or silver iridescent gloss to give it some glamorous gleam.”

Cheat fatigue with shimmer. Eight hours in front of computer can take a toll on your appearance.  Give your look a second wind with a Rae's glimmery trick. Apply shimmer cream under the brows and in the corners of the eyes to create an awake appearance and help you sparkle.

View the original article here

Vegan - is milk really that good for you?

So I read an article in the topics section promoting milk and how people dont drink enough of it. Basically its got calcium, potassium and vitamin D as basic daily nutritional benefits and whatnot (just to start). However people like myself - vegans, or people who want to cut back on fats have been switching to almond and soy beverages and it continues to say how its not as beneficial.

My answer to the question is no. I feel milk is not something people should be drinking because if there is a report comparison without all the facts (sugar contents specifically) then its probably not something you should be considering in your diet. Theres 11g of sugar in 250ml of milk, doesnt matter what percentage and right there in the grocery store i can clearly see the additives they bother with. Its not something i want in me, period (i dont even eat that much sugar in a day...) To me, If one wants more calcium, then take supplements; i mean, it costs just as much as 3 bags of organic milk (im canadian).

Please don't hold back milk from kids... but for yourself, just understand that unsweetened almond and soy have added in nutrients to make it more nutritious. Personally, i just use whatever is "the cheapest unsweetend nondairy beverage with the lowest calories and sugar content" in my tea.

What do you drink, Why, and do you agree with me? Have a good one :)) Stay healthy!

View the original article here

Transverse Abdominus

I have been doing free weights for some time now, and planks in addition to that. I've noticed a big difference in the overall look and musculature of my abs, but I am not seeing a big change in my transverse abdominus muscle. This is definitely not an issue of fat...I have very little fat there. The muscle is weak. Is there anything besides planks (I do regular & side) I can do to target it?

Thanks in advance :-)

View the original article here