FitSugar

Get the Bod: Joan Jett

FitSugar — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 05:50:11 -0700

I love the idea that a new audience gets to see the awesome-ness of Joan Jett - via Kristen Stewart - in The Runaways, which opens this Friday. The woman seriously rocks, both literally and figuratively. She was off my radar for a bit, but her recent press appearances have reminded me of her amazing body: washboard abs and some smokin' guns to boot. Not too shabby for a 51-year-old rocker.

Curious at how she manages to look ageless, I did a little digging to see what I could find. From what I gather, there is no celebrity trainer or detox cleanses; Joan seems like a poster child for healthy living. As she told the New York Times a few years ago, "most days I feel like 25" - she stays active by always being on the go. Like many musicians, a demanding tour schedule leaves little time to sit around, but she does find time to exercise when home in Long Island. She's been known to go biking and knock out 50 push-ups during commercial breaks. Challenging rock star preconceptions, Joan doesn't smoke or drink, and does her best to stay out of the sun's harmful rays.

See Joan in action and find out about her vegetarian diet when you read more.

Joan also keeps her health in check with a healthy diet, and has been a vegetarian for over 20 years. She told Go Veg that she turned to a vegetarian diet while touring.

I was on the road eight months a year, and meat was too heavy to eat late at night, so I ate other things. I slowly lost my taste for meat, and at the same time, I experienced a slowly dawning awareness that it is unnecessary to eat animals in order to live in this world.

No alcohol, smoking, or red meat sounds like a surefire recipe for health! Next time you're at the gym, try working out to "Do You Wanna Touch Me" performed by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - it's the kind of song that makes you want to be stronger.

Rob's Details Interview

athena4rob — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 08:34:10 -0800

COFFEEIt's the unseasonably cold November of 2008 when I go to New York's Bowery Hotel. There's a young man sitting in the garden, wrapped in about nine black sweaters and wearing a wool hat, smoking cigarettes, sipping a latte the size of his head, and furiously making notes on a script in the bitter cold. I have read about teenage girls lighting themselves on fire in front of his hotel, but at the moment Robert Pattinson is warming his hands on a coffee cup.
Hello, I'm Jenny. I think I'm here so you can check me out."Okay. I'm Rob. Um . . . would you like some fries? With gravy?"
Allen Coulter, the director of Hollywoodland and a creative force behind The Sopranos, has sent me. He was thinking about doing this movie-it wasn't quite there yet, but I should "come meet Rob."
Rob. When he came to the United States, he slept on his agent's sofa and then got a small part in a movie called Harry Potter and the Something of Something, which grossed nearly $900 million worldwide. And then he made another one, called Twilight, which grossed $385 million in theaters and almost another $200 million in U.S. DVD sales. Box-office riches, like so much of the female population of this planet, follow him from continent to continent, nursing a raging crush.
Coulter suggested I do some rewrite work on Remember Me (for the record, there is only one credited writer, Will Fetters), the first American release in which Rob will portray a mortal, nonmagical, carbon-based life form of the earthly realm-Salvador Dalí, whom he played in Little Ashes, surely doesn't qualify. As Rob scribbles away on the script's pages, it's clear he is starting his own revision process.
Rob's face is constantly busy-especially his kaleidoscopic eyes, which are continually rolling and dilating, because he is always thinking. Over the course of that latte, he contemplates Jimi Hendrix, French fries, girls, art, beer, his cousin the philosopher, girls, truth, God, his dog, girls, and whether this week's stalker has followed him from L.A. I don't think he could turn his brain off if he wanted to.
Despite the legion of fans trailing him from hotel to hotel, laying siege to each like the Roman army, he is neither fearful nor cocky-he's hungry, curious, forever reaching intellectually. That may not sound like a big deal, but think of the context: Complete strangers want to f*ck you, shoot you, be you, buy you, sell you, run their fingers through your hair, watch you have sex, hear you pee, eat chips with you, and kidnap you and stuff you in the trunk of their car. And you? You must know more, more, more about exotic tropical diseases.
Rob and I discover we share a mutual fascination with afflictions that maim and disfigure and disgust: He brings up cancrum oris, in which bacteria eat away at your face until you get kind of a window in the side of your head and the entire world sees your teeth; I mention cyclic vomiting syndrome, a condition in which you puke literally all the goddamn time; he delights in lymphatic filariasis, where parasitic worms burrow into your lymph nodes and can make your balls swell to the size of watermelons, forcing you to tote them around in a wheelbarrow.
We come up with a blockbuster hit movie, entitled Candiru Infestation, about a tiny fish that swims up your urethra and into your urinary tract and lodges in your cock with backward-facing umbrella spikes it shoots from its spine.

"f*cking brilliant! It could be like Finding Nemo!" says Rob. "And the little candiru is lost in the balls! Think of the soundtrack!"

BEER NO. 1Fourteen months later we're in London. New Moon, the second movie in the Twilight saga, has set box-office records for largest midnight opening and biggest opening-day gross. Remember Me, Rob's young-man-in-crisis drama, has wrapped. He has 24 hours before he has to start rehearsals for Bel Ami, based on the Guy de Maupassant novel, in which he plays a bed-hopping social climber.
He is waiting to pick me up in the bar of my hotel. He has ordered himself a pint of beer and, remembering my beverage of choice, a Diet Coke for me. He has the lovely manners of the good son of a good mum.
He says he wants to take me to a particular restaurant nearby, "just a little out-of-the-way place." So out of the way, it turns out, that after wandering around nearly all of Covent Garden, we can't find it. He doesn't seem too surprised, really. Of late he's been getting lost a lot in his own hometown. But then it's been a couple of years since he's actually lived here, and London is confusing as hell anyway.
Considering alternatives, we peek into a crowded café full of the young and beautiful, but he recoils. A few minutes later, when we come to a tiny Mexican place, his hackles go up a bit. Hmm. I ask him whether, at this point, he's able to sniff out crazed fans lurking under the tables.
"Yes. Sure. But last time I was here, the guacamole was bad."
Rob has made no sartorial concessions to Britain's ugliest winter weather in 30 years. A button-down, light Carhartt-like jacket, no gloves. He does have a hat, perhaps the same one he wore in New York. I'm swaddled like the Michelin Man and I'm f*cking freezing. He's cheery, unfazed, giggling away. It occurs to me that London seems to afford him a freedom he doesn't have in New York or Los Angeles. And a London night with deserted, snow-piled streets, after an epic storm that paralyzed Heathrow and shut down the Eurostar trains, is like an unbridled romp while going commando.
Without trying, we arrive back where we started, in front of the Covent Garden Hotel. Across the street there's a high-end sex-toy-and-bondage shop called Coco de Mer. I mention that I popped in there earlier (before the National Gallery, thank you), and I tell him about this insane S&M body-harness contraption they have that allows you to dress up like a horse and have a long tail.
"That's so English. I want to do this entire interview wearing it, from an equine point of view," he says, stomping the sidewalk with make-believe hooves. "Seriously. As an experiment in public perceptions. Is the place still open?"
BEER NO. 2We're inside, at a warm corner of the hotel's Brasserie Max, and Rob is having another beer. We're talking about how he copes. "When I was 17 until, I don't know, 20, I had this massive, baseless confidence. This very clear idea of myself and how I would achieve success, which involved making decisions. I saw myself picking up the phone and saying 'Absolutely not' or 'Definitely yes.' Having control. Except you have to figure out whether the way you think at 19 or 20 has any value. And eventually I understood, with all that control, which was probably illusory, I wasn't progressing. So now I'm relinquishing a bit. I'll be a tiny bit naked. Except tonight I won't, because it's f*cking freezing and my balls will shrivel up."

He may keep his balls covered in winter, but Allen Coulter says that during the shooting of Remember Me, Rob did bare himself: "It was about control, for him, in the beginning. But he wanted forward motion more than he wanted to protect himself. Really brave-especially for a young guy with a big target on his back."
Rob does seem eager to shed some clothing, to give up the reins.
"Shall we go see about that harness? Seriously, you eventually realize you can't make every single decision. I was always building, always protecting something. At the same time, I seemed to be losing the ability to move. I'd protected myself into checkmate. Even mentally." In that moment, he has a realization: "I can barely remember the last two years. Not like a haze of partying or anything like that. Just . . . it's been crazy."
There's been surreal stuff. Like the time at a charity event in Cannes when two attendees bid nearly $60,000 combined to have Rob give their daughters a kiss on the cheek. There's been scary stuff, though the idea he might truly be at risk strikes him as absurd: "I find it really funny-if I got shot, I would literally be in hysterics. I would be like, 'Are you serious? Jesus Christ, get Zac Efron! He's got more social relevance than I do.'" He's pretty sure there was some good stuff, too. "There was this one time with some elephants on a golf course in Barcelona . . ."
He drifts into a reverie. He gets amazed easily, and at the moment he's fixated on the mysterious green bar snacks. They're sort of like wasabi peas, but not. They're covered in chili powder and look like tiny tumors. He's eating every single one.
"f*ck, these are good. What are they? I want to snort them-they'd clear up my sinuses."
BEER NO. 3Rob's hunger is more than merely metaphorical. He orders two entrees-the mini beef burgers with tomato-and-onion relish and the mini chicken burgers with mango chutney-along with another pint. "I eat so much, I'm like a compulsive eater. I've been eating room service, and I'm always really worried about it, so I choose like six things on the menu and eat them all."
He doesn't want to miss anything, which implies a hint of regret. He didn't always want to be an actor. He modeled. He's a talented guitarist and keyboard player who has toyed with following his older sister Lizzy into pop music. But he's a serious type, and his most serious aspirations involved political speech writing. "It's fascinating. You'd have two or three minutes to affect someone. Make them hear you. Get the message out and maybe it will echo. I quite enjoyed doing press for the first Twilight, because there was a similarity. But after a bit I was ladling it out. If you want people to listen to you, you'd better have something to say. I felt a responsibility to be fascinating. You're bargaining with the audience. Is this enough for them? And that affects the way you look at art."
Art. It's illogical to think he's not allowed to have ideas about it merely because he has helped a lot of people make a lot of money.
"Before, I felt like I couldn't break through anything, including myself. And now it feels a bit as though I've climbed along the side of my brain and am at least looking in. But I know it will take me at least another 10 years before I'm remotely satisfied with anything I do. But with acting you keep trying in the hopes you might be . . . great. But then I think, does wanting to be good or even great, or even just wanting to make art, cheapen the experience?"

I worry his head is going to explode. He answers questions with questions. Doors open onto more doors. This sometimes leads to trouble with scripts: Since he sees every character's point of view, he often needs some sort of distillation. The catch is that unless the distillation somehow encompasses every character's essence, it only causes his imagination to fire more wildly. It's the kaleidoscope-vision thing.
Some people can have the ocean in front of them and just put their big toe in. Rob wants to swim until he drowns, and he's going to try to drink it all up before he goes under. His striving is a source of worry because he can't really tell anybody he wants more: "Please don't make this about me complaining. Please. I'm the luckiest bastard on the planet." He worries he might be selfish. He worries maybe he's a nonhumanist-separatist-weirdo because his most profound moments have been with his dog. And he worries about whether he can be an actor who can reach the masses and still ask for anything.
"If it exists out there-this invisible-creative-spirit-idea thing-then you're the medium through which it travels so everybody can touch it. But . . . what gives you the right to be the medium? What gives you the right to claim it? And then get an agent and say I want $20 million and a fruit basket to be the medium, thank you very much.
"As an actor, you can elevate the human condition or cheapen it. I would assume it's the same with anything you do-you try to elevate and maybe someday you will." An actor may indeed have the ability to raise us, but Rob unconsciously starts speaking sotto voce each time he utters the word actor or any variation of it.
Rob, did you know that every time you say actor or acting you lower your voice to a whisper?He's genuinely startled. "I do?"Yes, so quietly it's like you're saying Negro.He laughs, lightens up. "What if we were 'acting' like 'Negroes'? Then we'd be f*cked-we couldn't hear anything. . . ."
BEER NO. 4Rob asks the waiter for another beer. He's talking about an uncle who worked in a steel mill in the Yorkshire town his dad grew up in. Rob's father and his other uncles moved away as soon as they were old enough, but the eldest brother stayed there his whole life.
"They're bulldozing houses, whole streets of houses. And my dad asked him, 'Why stay?' He said, 'Who's going to look after our mom?' And I was just thinking, Jesus f*cking Christ, there might be something wrong with my emotional sight, because I'm not sure if I could make that kind of sacrifice. The only emotional connection of relevance is with my dog. My relationship with my dog, it's ridiculous.
"I think you need to be able to break through what you think about yourself to try to make any sort of art. I used to play music all the time, and the most amazing part was the freedom that came with kicking myself in the ass, letting go, and surprising myself."
He tried to let go a little bit with the photo shoot accompanying this interview-it wasn't easy.
"I really hate vaginas. I'm allergic to vagina. But I can't say I had no idea, because it was a 12-hour shoot, so you kind of get the picture that these women are going to stay naked after, like, five or six hours. But I wasn't exactly prepared. I had no idea what to say to these girls. Thank God I was hungover."

Is your mom going to have something to say about it?"Oh, God." He puts his head in his hands, shrugs. "Well, she quite enjoyed when I got her cable." It's not that Rob's mother now spends all night watching Skinemax in her London home. "No, no! God, no! It's just that there's nakedness all over the place now. But this shoot, it's kind of eighties nakedness, you know? If you look at porn in, like, the eighties, there was something kind of quaint about it, quite sweet-like this little naked community. The people who made it liked it, they had respect for it. Not remotely like the porn that's available now. No community in it at all. It's just everything, everywhere."
CANDYIn the U.K., Smarties are made of chocolate and are kind of like M&M's in weird colors like mauve and teal but somehow more delicious. Rob's not really a dessert guy, yet he's rapidly hoovering my last packet of Smarties. "Amazing. I've eaten like 5,000 of these already. See what you have to deal with?"
In Remember Me he plays a guy whose issues are eerily like his own. Tyler is a young man who has retreated into himself, but then he meets a woman, becomes conflicted, and has to choose whether to remain in lockdown or step into life and the world.
"Tyler is so aware of his actions. But he has no idea whether they're of any value at all. Can you be a person if you live in the bubble? He's stuck in the middle. At the same time, he's lucky to have the choice. Conflict is innate in a lucky person."
What attracted you to the role?"I'm a lucky person. Thank God. And I'm conflicted. Thank God."
He tells me about a book he read called Eat the Rich, by P.J. O'Rourke (full disclosure: P.J. was married briefly to my sister, though Rob had no idea). He was drawn to a part that says something like: One man's wealth does not mean another man's poverty-and vice versa. Rob's slightly embarrassed to voice this idea.
He is unsure whether to feel guilty, to bask in it all, or both. Thing is, there aren't any rules for a life as extraordinary as his is right now. He tells me an elephant story. Not the one about Barcelona elephants-one about some he'd met recently in California.
"Did you know elephants purr? It's completely scary if you don't know what it is. They purr like cats, but their heads are so deep they sound like velociraptors. You feel it in the ground under your feet. So this big female started sniffing my foot-big female elephant, that is. She sniffed it so hard it came up off the pavement like her trunk was a vacuum cleaner. Then she took my entire body in her mouth. I was holding on to her head, and as I slowly let go she tightened her grip really carefully until I'm just upside down in her mouth and she's going through my pockets with her trunk, looking for peppermints. It was the best day of my life."
So you gave up control to an elephant, got groped, mugged, had your candy tugged at-and it was glorious? "Yeah. So beautiful you can't imagine. And the baby elephant was so excited that it sprinted out and did its routine in five seconds and then curtsied to everybody. It was actually laughing. Brilliant. Did you know they can also do imitations of other animals? A horse, a chicken, a monkey-these elephants could, anyway. They were movie elephants. One had written a screenplay, and one really wants to direct."

He laughs. He was in Los Angeles, in discussions to star with Sean Penn in Water for Elephants, an adaptation of Sara Gruen's novel. The elephants are actors like him, and he wonders if he might, on some cosmic level, be a bit like them.
"Do you know how they die? The elephant guy told me their molars get ground down from eating wood but regenerate like six times. And after that they slowly starve to death. Which is poignant, but that must also be what gives them time to get to the elephant graveyard. They're incredibly designed creatures. I mean, people hang on way too f*cking long. If I knew that when my teeth fell out, that was it . . . Wow. The best day of my life. Beautiful, beautiful day."
A few moments later, Rob announces he's going to get a cab home and excuses himself.
Can I walk you? I don't like you going out there all by yourself."I'll be okay."

Will You Get Breast Cancer?

starangel82 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:01:32 -0700

Considering this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I though this would be a good post.

There's no part of our bodies that we obsess about more than our breasts. Even those of us not prone to health anxiety wonder which, if any, of our everyday habits are upping our odds of getting breast cancer. And it's no wonder we're confused: New scientific reports constantly contradict earlier ones. One week, a new medical study tells us what to eat to prevent breast cancer; the next week, another tells us that diet doesn't make a difference. Is it any surprise even smart women are baffled?

"There are so many conflicting studies out there, it's hard to distinguish between what's valid and what's not," says Debbie Saslow, Ph.D., director of breast and gynecologic cancers at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. So what are real threats to the health of your breasts-and which dangers are just myths? What actually slashes your breast-cancer risk? Redbook went to some of the country's leading breast experts to get answers. Read on and take control of your breast health today.

And remember: The key moves to help yourself stay safe are to see your ob/gyn every year for breast exams, do monthly self-exams at home (it's best to do them after your period) and follow your doctor's recommendations for mammography screening. If you have tested positive for one of the breast-cancer genes or have a strong family history of premenopausal breast cancer (two first-degree relatives have had it), these recommendations may include consulting with a breast specialist, who will counsel you about how to protect yourself, including the one thing that can prevent the disease: chemoprevention and/or double mastectomy.

Mammograms

There's a common misconception that radiation from annual mammograms causes breast cancer. But leading experts say it just isn't so. Mammograms expose you to only about 18 millirems of radiation per exam-the equivalent of two days of normal exposure to natural radiation in our atmosphere, or about four times what you'd get on a routine cross-country flight from New York to Los Angeles, according to the American College of Radiology. "The benefits of having a mammogram far, far outweigh the risks, considering how many lives it saves every year," stresses Rache Simmons, a breast surgeon at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. Also, today's mammography machines emit significantly less radiation than machines of 30 years ago.

So why the scary rumors? It is true that in super-high doses (we're talking nuclear meltdown), radiation can lead to cancerous changes in breast tissue. And women who are exposed to very large amounts of radiation during their teen years and early 20s have higher rates of breast cancer, probably because developing breast tissue is more susceptible to its effects. When women in their 30s and older are exposed to radiation, the risk is not as great as it is for younger women, says Simmons. Most women don't receive their first mammogram until age 40, the age recommended by the National Cancer Institute guidelines.

Caffeine

Good news: There's no need to skip your daily java fix. Several major studies-including one published this past January in the Annals of Epidemiology-have found absolutely no link between caffeine consumption and breast cancer. The reason there have been so many studies is that researchers once suspected a connection between caffeine and breast cysts. No link between caffeine and breast cancer has been found, and "even the theory that there was a connection between consuming caffeine and breast cysts has never been proven," says Peter Pressman, M.D., professor of clinical surgery at the New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and author of Breast Cancer: A Complete Guide.

Dairy

Log on to the Internet and you'll find plenty of Web sites claiming that the animal fat and hormones in dairy exacerbate breast cancer. "There are rumors that compounds in cow's milk contribute to breast cancer, but there's no evidence to support that," says Saslow. In fact, several studies-including a Norwegian study published in The International Journal of Cancer-have found that women who drank more than three glasses of milk every day had a lower incidence of breast cancer. So go ahead and keep eating good-for-you dairy products (low-fat is what most doctors recommend for overall health benefits). They may even help decrease your breast-cancer risk.

Lumpy breasts

Doctors have a scary name for lumpy breasts: fibrocystic breast disease. But although the word "disease" may induce panic, lumpy breasts are extremely common and not linked to breast cancer. "The majority of women experience lumpiness, tenderness or thickening of the breast tissue throughout the month due to normal hormonal fluctuations; it's not at all unusual," says Ruth Oratz, a breast-cancer oncologist at the New York University Medical Center Kaplan Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Years ago, before doctors knew a lot about breast cancer, they used to speculate that there was a link between fibrocystic disease and breast cancer, but today we know that's absolutely not true."

In fact, leading breast-cancer researcher Susan Love, M.D., analyzed studies following thousands of women with fibrocystic breast disease and concluded that they had no higher risk of breast cancer than did women who didn't have lumpy breasts. But having lumpy breasts makes breast self-exams even more important. "You need to get a good sense of your breast-tissue texture so you can distinguish between merely fibrocystic changes and an actual new lump," says Pressman.

Bras

The bra rumor is based on the hypothesis set forth by husband-and-wife anthropologists a few years ago in the book Dressed to Kill: The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras, in which they claimed that bras-especially underwire bras-constrict lymphatic tissue, allowing cancer-causing toxins to build up. "When I first heard this one, I thought, You've got to be kidding," says Pressman. "Research has proven that bras-even tight-fitting ones-don't interfere with lymphatic drainage at all." There have been many large-scale studies of what increases breast-cancer risk, and none of them have found any connection between wearing a bra and breast cancer.

Having one drink (or more) a day

Women who have one alcoholic drink every day up their chances of getting breast cancer by about 9 percent from those of women who don't drink at all, according to a 1998 study done at the Harvard Medical School of Public Health in Boston. "We found that breast-cancer risk increased by about 9 percent for every daily drink consumed," explains study author and Harvard epidemiologist Stephanie Smith-Warner, Ph.D. In other words, regularly downing two glasses of wine a night increases your risk for breast cancer by about 18 percent; three a night raises your risk by 27 percent. So is it safe to drink at all? Yes, in moderation, says Simmons. "I'd recommend limiting your intake to a drink a day."

Piling on the pounds

Carrying extra weight means more than being self-conscious in a bathing suit: It may actually up your chances of getting breast cancer. "Women who are overweight tend to have higher blood estrogen levels and higher insulin levels, both of which we believe may promote the development of cancerous cells," explains Oratz. After menopause, being overweight can increase your risk for breast cancer by up to 60 percent, according to one study. (Researchers are still unsure exactly how much weight gain is too much, so check with your doctor.)

And even though menopause is very likely years away, experts say you should lose any extra weight now. "You should really avoid weight gain during your 20s, 30s and 40s, because it's likely that any weight you put on will carry into your postmenopausal years," explains Deborah Axelrod, M.D., chief of the Comprehensive Breast Center at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center in New York. You should also try to limit pregnancy weight gain to between 25 and 35 pounds: A recent Georgetown University study found that women who gained more than 40 pounds during a single pregnancy faced a 40 percent greater risk of developing breast cancer after menopause. (Women who retained the added pounds after pregnancy were at the greatest risk, regardless of their starting weight.)

Being a couch potato

There's plenty of evidence that going out and breaking a sweat can help lower breast-cancer risk. One study at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles found that women who participated in at least four hours of exercise a week during their premenopausal years had a 58 percent lower breast-cancer risk than women who were inactive. Why does exercise reap such positive benefits? Most likely because it decreases the estrogen in the blood. Studies have shown that exercise may increase your body's production of cancer-fighting cells. Aim for at least three 45-minute sessions a week.

Postponing motherhood

Women who have their first full-term pregnancy after 30 or never give birth at all are at slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer, notes Saslow. "The more children a woman has, the lower her risk of developing breast cancer-probably because she's not ovulating as much (because of pregnancy) and thus her lifetime exposure to hormones is lower," she explains. Studies also suggest that breastfeeding offers a bit of protection against the disease, particularly against postmenopausal breast cancer. "The benefits may be slight, especially for those who do it for only a short time, but there are so many other health advantages to breastfeeding that we encourage women to do it if they can, for as long as they can," says Saslow.

Not eating your broccoli

A few florets a day may keep breast cancer at bay. Research at the Strang Cancer Prevention Center in New York found that women who daily ate a mixture of cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, etc.) showed significant reductions in an estrogenic compound believed to cause breast cancer. "These vegetables contain chemicals called indoles, which seem to induce the body to burn off the form of estrogen that promotes breast cancer," explains Axelrod. Try to include these veggies in your diet at least two to three times a week. It doesn't matter if you eat them raw or cooked; researchers believe that their protective benefits are essentially the same either way.

Even leading experts are still scratching their heads over conflicting research in the following areas:

The Pill

A reassuring recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine found no link between Pill use and breast cancer. But other studies have found a slight connection. "It appears safe to be on the Pill for around five to 10 years," says Oratz. "But the jury is still out on long-term use."

A high-fat diet

Two recent Harvard Medical School of Public Health studies found that women who ate a low-fat diet weren't any less likely to get breast cancer than women who ate a diet higher in fat. Still other research says that eating monounsaturated fat (such as olive oil) may lower risk.

Sun exposure

Women who live in sunny areas have lower breast-cancer rates than women who don't. The likely reason: The sun's UVB rays enable your body to produce vitamin D, which may reduce breast-cancer risk. But the vitamin D-cancer connection is preliminary, and it's not clear whether you can reap the same effects from fortified foods or supplements.

Source: MSN Fitness & Health/Redbook

Glenn Beck's Bizarre Outburst Against Meatless Mondays and Vegetarians

Roarman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:17:00 -0700

This goes along with the story that I posted in 4.0 about Meatless Mondays in Baltimore schools

Jon Stewart ended an interview with climate-change contrarian and Super Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt on Monday night by noting, "I've apparently frightened our audience by suggesting that conservation isn't the only way out of any of the problems of the world. I sincerely apologize."

He added, "And I do also believe that we should just eat vegetables."

I'd love to report that Stewart has embraced Michael Pollan's "eat food/not too much/mostly plants" edict. But, of course, Stewart was only joking. The line drew a big laugh from the audience.

The interview followed a report on the Whole Foods "buycott" from Daily Show correspondent Wyatt Cenac asking "whether conservative hatred of liberals is so strong it can make them buy organic food."

Fresh fruits and vegetables remain the Rodney Dangerfield of the Western diet, getting no respect from cable commentators -- the comics or the crackpots. Stewart's mock endorsement of mock duck came on the same day as an anti-tofurkey tirade from Glenn Beck, who echoed Lou Dobbs' recent condemnation of the Meatless Monday campaign adopted by Baltimore's school cafeterias as a form of "indoctrination":

"Americans love our steaks, we love our chops, we love our burgers, and you'll throw me in jail, my last meal will be a giant steak. Are we going to stand for that? Are we going to put up with this? Well, you'd think not, but in Baltimore, Md., public schools have now started, in the schools -- no indoctrination here -- Meatless Monday. No meat on the menu for 80,000 kids that they serve, no meat, that way the students that they serve can quote 'eat and learn about healthy, environmentally friendly choices.' "
Beck has struck ratings gold with his weepy, creepy brand of small-minded faux populism. He's not a big picture kind of guy. It takes a wider perspective than a tea bagger's tunnel vision to connect the dots between: a) the wars we're mired in; b) our fossil-fuel-dependent way of life; c) the perils of climate change; and d) our meat-dominated diet.

He prefaced his anti-Meatless Monday rant by mocking President Barack Obama for taking time out from agonizing over Afghanistan to deliver a speech at a solar-power plant in Florida, in which the president emphasized the need to invest in clean, renewable energy. Beck sneered:

"I'd hate to have the president rush a decision on Afghanistan, I'd hate to have him cut short his solar-panel trip today ... get a nap in, Mr. President, before you deal with the war ..."
Beck belongs to the "pump all you want, we'll drill more" camp, so, from his petrocentric perspective, fighting two wars in the oil-rich Middle East presumably makes more sense than exploring alternative ways to meet America's massive energy needs.

And, since he's also a skeptic on climate change, why worry about reducing our greenhouse-gas emissions?

In fact, it's the folks who are calling on us all to curb our carbon footprint who pose the greatest threat to "U.S. sovereignty," according to Beck. He cited a quote from U.K. climate chief Lord Stern in Monday's Times Online:

"Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world's resources. A vegetarian diet is better."
Beck added:

But what really scares me is that the Times writes our Lord Stern said: "A successful deal at the climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases."
Cheap gas and cheap chuck remain American birthrights to loopy libertarians like Beck. It doesn't matter that the link between livestock production and greenhouse-gas emissions has been well documented, as have the environmental and health benefits of adopting a predominantly plant-based diet.

With meat consumption on the rise the world over, it's going to be physically impossible to produce enough meat to meet the growing demand. New York Times columnist Verlyn Klinkenborg noted on Monday that we simply can't continue to plunder the world's resources in order to indulge in our animal-flesh fetish:

I adhere to a conclusion reached long ago -- by James Madison in 1818, who said, simply, that it cannot be right for all of earth's resources to "be made subservient to the use of man." We need to act on that principle. That will mean more than simply roping off habitat. It will mean among other things, a new and far more modest idea of food prosperity, more limited and almost certainly less meat-driven than the present American model.
Beck perpetuates the perception that campaigns such as Meatless Monday represent an attack on consumer choice. But as anyone who actually prefers to eat fresh, healthy foods can attest, those of us who'd rather eat a diet based on legumes, whole grains and vegetables are the ones whose choices are painfully limited.

The meat industry is trying to portray the decision to emphasize vegetarian entreés in the Baltimore school cafeterias one day a week as a dangerous exercise in protein deprivation -- as if you can't get sufficient protein from non-meat sources. The Center For a Livable Future's Ralph Loglisci did a terrific job of setting the record straight with his post "Protein 101: Dispelling the Myth Surrounding Meatless Meals."

And ABC News reported last week that the Meatless Monday campaign in Baltimore's schools has, in fact, been a great success. Only a meathead -- or a meat-industry shill -- would brand this modest attempt to serve our kids healthier entreés and raise awareness about the environmental impact of our food choices as some kind of insidious conspiracy.

How will Beck handle the season premiere of Sesame Street, in which Michelle Obama shares the joys of homegrown vegetables with the Muppets? Will he demonize Elmo, who is, after all, a suspiciously socialist shade of red? Will he accuse Big Bird of being a secret agent for the food police, attempting to brainwash American tots into accepting their pro-plant agenda?

If only we could dismiss this self-described "rodeo clown" as a harmless buffoon. Sadly, he's too influential to be written off as a greenhouse-gas-denying gasbag.

All we can do is keep poking holes in him and hope he deflates. Fox News: They distort, we deride.

Source: http://www.alternet.org/media/143586/glenn_beck%27s_bizarre_outburst_aga...

Why Oprah Is Hanging Up the Mic

amybdk — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:32:59 -0800

Source

Posted: November 20, 2009 at 10:14 AM

Oprah Winfrey is going to announce today that she will be leaving her eponymous talk show in 2011. The New York Times believes Winfrey is resigning from network TV in order to focus on the cable network she's working on, called OWN, which will feature shows from all of her favorite cronies, like Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray, and Dr. Phil. While this might be the case, I think another reason Oprah is hanging up the mic is because she has destroyed the core of what made her so popular in the first place: She's no longer relatable.

Last year I profiled a blogger for the Times who was living her life based on all Oprah's advice for a year. The blogger, Robyn Okrant, has a forthcoming book based on her experience, and one of the major points she makes is that Oprah is now more famous than almost anyone she interviews. This wouldn't necessarily be a problem, except that Oprah gathered her fan base because of the fact that she was just like them. What pop-culturally conscious woman who was alive in the mid-'80s does not remember when Oprah dropped 67 pounds on the crash diet Optifast and wheeled out a giant tub of fat on her show to signify that weight loss? And who doesn't remember when she gained it all back? The average Jane could easily commisserate with this kind of vulnerability and outward struggle. Of course, Oprah still struggles with her weight, but she does it with the help of a vegan chef, a physical trainer, and a team of assistants.

Many women without personal chefs still watch Lady O, but her ratings have been declining substantially. During the July 2009 rerun season, Oprah had her lowest ratings since the show debuted in 1985. Oprah's minions still have enough of the common touch to appeal to the audience that she seeks to move over to her cable network. Or at least that's what she's hoping.

Scarlett covers ''Glamour'' magazine

kty — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:19:23 -0700

by Amy Larocca

GLAMOUR: So would you like to do musical theater?
SJ: I would love to work on Broadway, but I don’t know that it would manifest itself in musical theater…. I have terrible stage fright that I’d have to get over.
GLAMOUR: Really?
SJ: Crippling. Not as a kid. It came on when I was a teenager, and I think it somehow sticks with you.
GLAMOUR: You’ve really grown up in front of the camera, but you didn’t seem to have an awkward phase.
SJ: I was pretty awkward in The Horse Whisperer. I watch it now, and it’s painful. Did I go through a phase where I had cystic acne and greasy hair? No. But I certainly had an awkward phase.
GLAMOUR: I read your piece [about body image and Hollywood] on The Huffington Post recently. Tell me what inspired you to write it.
SJ: I was training for Iron Man 2, which was a lot of work, full-on. I wanted to do a lot of my stunts and to be believable as this superspy, so I started getting fit and eating well and feeling really good. But then there was this rumor mill cranking out stories that I had lost 14 pounds-I could never lose 14 pounds-and was on some miracle diet. I just thought it was ridiculous. I was working my ass off, but I was doing it on my own terms and certainly through no miracle diet. I don’t want to get caught up in that s-t…. I hate seeing these ridiculous articles where [tabloids] guess someone’s weight. But they approach it as fact! I’m sick of it as a woman-not just as a person on the other side of it. As a reader. I got fed up.
GLAMOUR: How do you keep sane about the whole weight thing?
SJ: I want to look good, obviously. I don’t want to look at the screen and go, Oh, my skin looks terrible, or, I look exhausted. That’s why I take care of myself when I work…. But I don’t feel the obligation to be a specific weight. I don’t feel like I have to fit into a body that’s not my body. I have the body I have and I try to maintain it.
GLAMOUR: So how do you avoid getting crazy about it?
SJ: My parents never put a lot of pressure on us to be any kind of way…. I have [my] funny moments where I look at myself and think, Oh, this is a disaster. But you have to give yourself a reality check and go, All right, if I feel this way, I’m going to do something about it that’s healthy. I can’t look at somebody who is 6 feet tall and 120 pounds and say, I’m going to get that body. That’s just never going to happen. You have to work with what you’ve got.
GLAMOUR:In a lot of your films over the years, you had a sexpot thing going on. When did that start?
SJ: It was a weird phenomenon, but at the time, being 17, 18, 19, I kind of embraced it. You’re realizing your own sexuality at that time, and you’re kind of coming into your own womanhood, so it felt natural…. But I don’t think about being sexy, being seductive. What you don’t want to see is somebody trying to be sexy. That’s the most unsexy thing.
GLAMOUR: You’ve done a lot for someone who is 25. What do you think has made you so successful at a young age?
SJ: I’m an actor for hire. It’s important not to forget that you’re disposable….When you have that mentality, you fight for the jobs you want.
GLAMOUR: Well, speaking of things you’ve done at a young age-what made you decide to get married young?
SJ: I never really thought about getting married-it just kind of happened. It seemed natural, the right thing to do. It was kind of a celebration of the time.
GLAMOUR: Does it feel different?
SJ: I think the only difference is that I’m kind of making my own little family now, which is funny. It’s like a little bit of a tribe. You hope that a relationship makes you better, that you learn things about yourself. You’ve had this one view, and now you have another view. I feel more confident to explore things within myself that I hadn’t thought about in the past…. My parents divorced when I was 13, so it was not the ideal representation of marriage.
GLAMOUR: Is it weird seeing your husband on Letterman talking about you?
SJ: Yeah, it is weird, because I would never ask somebody about their marriage if I didn’t know them. I don’t profess to know anything about marriage that anybody else doesn’t know, or how to make it right. I don’t want to read about somebody who’s giving me relationship advice. So I try to keep some things for myself, to have a private life. Because that’s kind of all you have, really, isn’t it? When it comes down to what separates you from the next person. You don’t go to work and talk about your marriage. Why should I?
GLAMOUR: Right. There are a lot of actresses who can’t make a move without the paparazzi following them. How have you avoided that?
SJ: By not talking about my personal life! I think that makes a big difference. I go to work, I make movies, I publicize them. I hope people enjoy them. I’m not a relationship expert. I’m not a diet and health expert. I don’t know anything except for movies, other than some Trivial Pursuit kind of information.
GLAMOUR: So what’s next for you?
SJ: I’m going to get some deep tissue massages. [Laughs.] No, I don’t know, but I know myself, and if they ask me to work in two weeks, I’ll be like, OK. I don’t have hobbies. If I go on vacation for too long I get anxious.
GLAMOUR: Really, no hobbies?
SJ: There are things I like to do, but I don’t have kids. So it’s not, I want to spend time with the kids. And it’s not like I’m whittling bowls…. I like to be productive.
GLAMOUR: Well, that you are!
Amy Larocca is a freelance writer living in New York City

These Bodies are Beautiful at Every Size

starangel82 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:55:04 -0700

The cavernous photography studio in New York City is bustling with fashion assistants, hair and makeup stylists, and models chatting in white terry robes. All typical on a photo shoot, but when the robes come off, you see what's different. Kate Dillon, Ashley Graham, Amy Lemons, Lizzie Miller, Crystal Renn, Jennie Runk and Anansa Sims -- some of the top plus-size models working today -- have beautiful curves, round shoulders, belly rolls and lots of other womanly stuff many of us see when we look in the mirror. Oh, and there's lunch, which the models actually eat. "Gosh, it's so nice that they're feeding us," says Lemons. "When I was doing runway, all I was ever offered was water and champagne, all day long." But it's not the food the models are excited about -- it's the mission. They've been assembled to help Glamour continue an extraordinary dialogue on body image that you, our readers, began.

It started in our September issue with a small photo of Lizzie Miller sitting au naturel -- confident, sexy and clearly unconcerned about a little belly overhang. We loved the photo, but it was just one of more than a hundred of full-figured women we've run in recent years, so we were surprised when it hit a nerve. "This is true beauty!" wrote one commenter on glamour.com. "A woman that eats!" Added Megan Fehl, 23: "Because of my own belly, I always thought I was some deformed woman, but not now. Holy hell, I am normal!" And in the words of another reader: "I've struggled with eating disorders and body image since I was 12. Seeing this picture is the first time I have felt good about myself and comfortable with my body (just the way it is) in a very long time. Thank you for the self-esteem."

Why did this particular picture, at this particular moment, resonate with so many women? Some possible reasons: The recession has us all in a back-to-basics, tell-it-like-it-is mood, so realer images of women's bodies seem appropriate now. Celebrities like Kate Winslet, Jessica Simpson and Scarlett Johansson have spoken out against a culture that nitpicks a woman's every thigh dimple. First Lady Michelle Obama dresses to accentuate rather than camouflage her regal curves, and has the entire world swooning. And maybe, as Emme, a pioneer plus-size supermodel and host of More to Love believes, "we've just had it with the beyond-slender, airbrushed-from-head-to-toe models and actresses who've dominated [newsstands] for over a decade."

Glamour has been on this wavelength since the early nineties. We've put Queen Latifah on the cover twice and frequently feature other fuller-bodied celebs and models (including all the women you see here, with the exception of Glamour newcomer Jennie Runk). But the phenomenal response to the Lizzie Miller photo shows there is a thirst for an even more inclusive view of women's bodies. So what's keeping the fashion and media worlds from portraying as many size 10's and 14's and 20's as we do size 0, 2 and 4? And what ratio of fantasy to reality does the average American woman really want to see in magazines and ads?

It All Starts With the Clothes

Let's say you fit the most popular American dress size, a 14, and you want to wear high-end designer fashion. Good luck to you, because most designer fashion labels don't make a size 14 (they stop at 10 or 12). That's an aesthetic decision, not a business move, says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for the market research firm NPD. "We know that larger-size women will pay almost anything for good-quality clothes that fit, and luxury brands could benefit greatly from serving that need," he says. "But there remains a deep stigma against going plus-size in the high-end fashion market. Find a brand that's willing to bet its image and licensing revenue by doing this, and you will find a progressive company."

Such companies do exist, and kudos go to Michael Michael Kors, Isaac Mizrahi for Liz Claiborne New York and Baby Phat, among others, for making chic clothes in sizes larger than 14. But even if more designer fashion came in plus sizes, you'd still rarely see it modeled in a magazine by plus-size girls. Why? It's the sample-size problem. When fashion editors do photo shoots, they can't simply buy clothing that's in stores now. They need samples of clothing that will be available when the magazine hits newsstands -- samples made by the manufacturer and cut, almost always, to fit a woman size zero to 4. When Glamour uses models and celebrities who are larger than sample-size, getting of-the-moment fashion for them "can be a challenge," says Maggie Mann, senior fashion editor. "We'll have a tailor standing by, doing alterations and opening up seams. And we might buy clothes off the rack if we can find something that'll be available months later when the issue comes out." Major celebrities have it a little easier; a designer will occasionally make a dress in her size as a courtesy, as happened when Queen Latifah was Glamour's cover girl.

In June, Alexandra Shulman, editor-in-chief of British Vogue, wrote a letter to top designers, begging for reform. "We have now reached the point where many of the sample sizes don't comfortably fit even the established star models," read a portion of her memo, quoted in The Times of London. She charged that designers were forcing magazines to hire models with "jutting bones and no breasts or hips." Strong words. Will they make an impact? "We hope so. It will take a season or two before we know," says Glamour deputy fashion director Sasha Iglehart. "Crystal Renn has already graced Glamour's pages multiple times. It would be a dream come true to work with beauties like her dressed in our favorite designers and brands."

Looking Into a "Skinny" Mirror

The sample-size problem means that standard-size models are slim. But guess what? Plus-size models aren't all that "plus." "At most modeling agencies, any girl larger than a size 4 might have trouble getting work because she won't fit the clothes, and over a size 6 she might be moved to the plus division," says Glamour senior bookings editor Jennifer Koehler. "There's a shortage of truly plus-size girls to choose from, and every other week I'm e-mailing the agencies asking, "Do you have any new size 16s?'"Often the answer is no, she says, because there still isn't enough work to employ them.

Jennie Runk, a size 12, admits she's often much smaller than the plus-size samples she models, so "I'll sometimes wear padding." Did she say padding? Indeed she did: "I travel with my own set. It's a series of foam ovals and circles you can put on your butt, hips, waist or boobs so you fit the clothes," Runk explains. Many commenters on Glamour 's picture of Lizzie Miller felt that, given her actual size, the term "plus" shouldn't apply. "This girl is normal, "wrote one reader. "Redefine plus-size for me again? Is every woman over 120 pounds and a size 2 considered ‘plus' now?"

Not all commenters lauded the photo, however; a sizable minority objected to it on health grounds. "Putting a young model who is obviously overweight and living an unhealthy lifestyle in your magazine to make some people feel better only serves to propagate that unhealthy lifestyle," wrote Angie E., 44. Another reader took that criticism a few steps further: "We have enough problems with obesity in the U.S. and don't need your magazine promoting any more of it. Shame on Glamour for thinking this was sexy!"

Obesity is a significant health problem. But let's check the facts: At 5'11"and 180 pounds, Miller, who exercises and eats a balanced diet, is "just barely overweight, according to her BMI. She is healthy and far from being obese," says Hilda Hutcherson, M.D., a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University. Dr. Hutcherson also notes that beautiful images of bigger bodies can help women feel good about themselves. "The first step to taking better care of yourself is having self-respect," she says. Glamour assistant editor Margarita Bertsos, who documented her 75-pound weight loss on glamour.com, is living proof. "Being told that I must occupy Barbie proportions in order to be beautiful is definitely not what motivated me to lose weight," blogged Bertsos. "In fact, those beliefs are what kept me obese for so many years. It's when I made the shift toward self-acceptance that I finally found the motivation to lose weight."

So What Do You Want to See?

OK, let's envision a world where women of more body types do get glamorous work in magazines and ad campaigns. Would female readers, viewers and buyers want it? Some commenters said no. "It's about fantasy, " posted one. "Even the most physically perfect human cannot measure up to the perfection in magazines. We all know that. But we can imagine that perfection while we read. We can all be perfect for a minute. "That's the argument for so-called aspirational imagery, which, according to advertising gospel, puts consumers in the mood to buy. But some media insiders say women aren't biting anymore. "We are undergoing a shift in the mind-set of the modern female consumer," explains Ben Barry, who coauthored a study on how women in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom respond to advertising images. Conducted in collaboration with the University of Cambridge's Judge Business School, the study of more than 3,000 subjects showed that women were most likely to want to purchase a fashion product if it was associated with a model that directly resembled them. "This does not mean that women want to do away with aspirational images," cautions Barry. "It is the very opposite. The worst thing a magazine could do is to showcase an image of a ‘normally sized' model that looks like most driver's license pictures, with poor styling, clothing and photography. Instead, women want these models to have the same glamour and artistry as other fashion models."

We at Glamour couldn't agree more, and we're listening hard to our readers' call to action. "The public wants to see all types of models represented," says Gary Dakin, vice president of client services at Ford Models. "This portrait [of the models on page 198] is an amazing step toward that." It's one step of many. Here's what you can expect to see in our pages going forward:

-A continued commitment to showing a wide range of body types -- and, of course, racial diversity -- in our pages, including fashion and beauty stories.
-A promise to give the best plus models not just work, but the same great work straight-size models get, partnering with top photographers, stylists and makeup artists. Because a generous helping of fantasy, in our view, is fabulous -- as long as it's extended to women of all sizes.
-An ongoing celebration of the so-called imperfections, from nose bumps to gap teeth smiles that make us all unique.

Enthusiastic support for any designer who manufactures chic clothes we can photograph on full-bodied models. Isn't it time for changes like these? Reality, after all, is everywhere. On Twitter, Demi Moore tweets matter-of-factly about her body: "I still have excess skin & stretch marks!" And then, "Comes with having a few kids 4 some of us!" Scott Schuman, a.k.a. the Sartorialist, has attracted a cult following by photographing real people with great style -- and quirks. Crystal Renn has written a fascinating new memoir about her transition from an anorexic straight-size model to a healthy, exuberant and very successful plus-size model. And Jeffrey Buchman, professor of advertising and marketing communications at the Fashion Institute of Technology, notes that Renn and plus-size model Johanna Dray have shown up on runways at Jean Paul Gaultier and John Galliano, respectively. "Art leads social change, and high fashion is art," says Buchman. "So these are not frivolous choices; they are clarion calls."

All are good signs, but perhaps most promising is your joyous and impassioned support of Lizzie Miller. Because the simplest way to move the needle on body confidence is to judge one another, and ourselves, less. Let's start that revolution right now.

Source: MSN Lifestyle/Glamour

Robert Pattinson's Vanity Fair Q & A

Pnutjenny — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 07:42:46 -0700

*This interview is from vanityfair.com; I do realize this is an interiview of the past. However, I really liked this interview because I found out things about him I never knew. Check it out!

Robert Pattinson, 22, plays Edward Cullen, a young vampire on a self-restricted animal-blood diet and Bella Swan’s love interest. He fights James’s coven of vampires in order to protect Bella from being bitten. Pattinson starred as Cedric Diggory in both Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and played a young Salvador Dalí in the independent film Little Ashes. VF Daily: Had you read the Twilight books before getting the script? Robert Pattinson: Not in their entirety before getting the script, no. I did my screen test, had the weekend before my next meeting for it, and read all three over one weekend.
What was your impression of the books at first? Well, I obviously really liked them, but it is always strange reading a book knowing that I am hopefully going to play the part. It’s read in a very different context.
Did you go into the auditions wanting to play Edward? Somewhat, but I was literally embarrassed walking into the audition. I had no idea how to play Edward at all. I thought that even going into the audition was completely pointless, because they were just going to cast a model or something. I felt it was kind of arrogant of me to even go in. I was almost having a full-on panic attack before I went to the screen test.
How did the screen test go? Casting was really easygoing, and Kristen [Stewart] is also very cool, but at the same time there is something very, very serious about her. I really wasn’t expecting the girl who plays Bella to be like her at all. Her professionalism made me keep my mouth shut whenever I wasn’t acting. It further gave the illusion of being serious.
What did you do to prepare for your role? I basically spent two months thinking, “O.K., how can I play this character like he is written and be absolutely nothing like him in real life? How can I get away from the most major aspect of his description-his appearance?” As it is written from Bella’s perspective, she describes him in this obsessively lustful way. She does not see a single flaw in him at all. It’s a very traditional aspect of first or young love. So, it took me ages to think of it, but it ended up being really simple: if you are in love with someone, you can’t see any flaw in the other person. So I finally figured out that I didn’t have to play the most beautiful man on the planet, but just play a man in love.
Why is Edward so alluring? What I never really understood about his attractiveness, especially to young girls, is his gentlemanliness. I thought that teenage girls like the dangerous aspect of males, and so I tried to emphasize the danger and make the more gentlemanly side of this character a veil to something else underneath. I really tried to make him an incredibly strong and powerful character, but at the same time self-loathing and extremely vulnerable.
So you saw Edward as sometimes vulnerable? Yes. When his life is put into basic terms, he has nothing to live for and all he wants to do is either become a human or die. The only reason that he hasn’t died is because he is too scared; he doesn’t think that he has a soul. Then he meets Bella, who makes him feel like a human and feel alive again. At the same time, her human vulnerability makes him incredibly vulnerable, because even with his super speed and his super strength, he still can’t fully protect her. Whenever she is in danger, he is in danger. If she dies or goes anywhere, then he is gone, too.
What was your favorite scene to shoot? I knew that there were some scenes where I was going to have to look demonic and have a glare that would scare humans. That was difficult to prepare. My favorite scene that we ended up shooting was this little random one near the beginning where I try and intimidate Bella by being a scary vampire and she doesn’t back down at all.
Hometown? London.
Siblings? Two sisters, Elizabeth and Victoria.
New York or L.A.? I like them both for different reasons. They are literally opposite sides of the coin, so it’s kind of nice to switch between the two. New York is incredibly frenetic, and nothing ever happens in L.A.
Trademark style? Looking terrible. Truly, I wear the same thing every day. I don’t know how to use a washer machine.
What book are you reading? Dennis Potter’s Ticket to Ride.
Celebrity crush? I don’t know. I am sure that if I did say anyone’s name, it would be really embarrassing if I met them.
Favorite kind of music? A lot of different things, but especially blues.
Favorite movie? A tie between The Exorcist and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Do you play any instruments? Yes, the guitar and the piano.
Mac or P.C.? I used to prefer Macs, and I have a Mac, but I kind of like the dorkiness of the P.C. commercials.
Do you have any piercings or tattoos? No.
Do you speak any foreign languages? I speak French, sort of. At, like, a three-year-old’s standard.
Significant other? No.
What are some of your interests outside of acting? I play a lot of music. That’s what I wanted to do before the acting thing accidentally took off-be a musician. All my best friends are musicians and they have all got their albums and deals, and now I am acting.
What type of music do you play? Van Morrison–ish, Jeff Buckley–ish stuff.
Do you have any upcoming projects? I don’t want to curse them, but I am doing this thing called Parts Per Billion, which is a kind of existential love story set against the end of the world. It’s one of the most lyrical scripts that I have ever read in my life. I am quite looking forward to doing it. It’s very different.

RH Bethenny Frankel Gets on Reality Show!

KAT0002 — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:28:23 -0700

Bethenny Frankel is saying goodbye to Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City for greener pastures on her very own reality show. This fall, the self-professed fitness guru will star in a new show on Bravo called Skinny & The City.

“The show will follow her planning her wedding to [fiancé] Jason Hoppy,” The NY Post’s Page Six Column revealed Thursday.

Bethenny is the best-selling author of the book Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting.

Source: http://www.popcrunch.com/bethenny-frankel-reality-show-skinny-the-city/

ICU (Invisible Chronic Illness) Finally Finished.

Monique Marie — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:09:16 -0700

ICU (Invisible Chronic Illness)
1. Arthritis

What is it? Arthritis refers to more than 100 different conditions that cause fatigue, inflammation, swelling, stiffness, and pain particularly in the joints. Included in the list of arthritis related conditions are lupus, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, scleroderma, Sjogren’s syndrome, Reiter’s syndrome, and gout. The two most known forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. For many people osteoarthritis is part of the aging process: the gradual wear and tear on joints, especially the hips, knees, and spine. Osteoarthritis causes a breakdown of joint cartilage resulting in pain and loss of movement in the affected joints. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease and is less common than osteoarthritis. It usually causes damage symmetrically –ex., in both knees. A systemic disease, rheumatoid arthritis may involve other parts of the body.

Who gets it? Arthritis affects about 90 million Americans. People of all ages are affected by arthritis. Nearly 75 percent of the people who have osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis are women. In general, rheumatoid arthritis starts between ages twenty and forty-five, while osteoarthritis primarily affects people after the age of sixty-five. Juvenile arthritis typically occurs in children between ages two and five and afflicts girls far more often than boys.

2. Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease

What is it? Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (also known as hereditary motorsensory neuropathy and peroneal muscular atrophy) is a hereditary disorder of the peripheral nervous system. Slow degeneration of the nerves cause impairment of normal use of legs, arms, and hands. The result of nerve degeneration is muscle wasting. Sensory perception is affected, making it difficult to feel hot and cold in the body’s extremities. Fine movement of the hands, such as in writing, becomes increasingly difficult for some people. A high arched foot is one of the first signs of the presence of CMT. Symptoms include the arched food, diminished sense of touch, pes cavus foot (foot drop and hammer toes), and in some cases chronic pain and fatigue. CMT is classified as Type I or Type II. In general, the two types are similar in presentation: they differ in nerve conduction velocities (speed with which messages are communicated in the peripheral nervous system). The severity of illness varies widely, even within the same family, although men tend to suffer more severe disability than women. People with CMT typically have a normal life span.

Who gets it? Men, women, and children are afflicted with CMT. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. In other words, there is a 50 percent chance that the illness will be passed on if one parent has the disease. Carrying the CMT trait does not predictably lead to the onset of symptoms. 125,000 people in the US are diagnosed with CMT.

3. Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS)

What is it? Chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CDIFS) is also referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), chronic infectious mononucleosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) in England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. It has been derogatorily called “yuppie flu”. Research suggests that CFIDS is an immune dysfunction disorder triggered by a viral illness. The outstanding symptom of CFIDS is chronic fatigue. Fatigue, however, is only one of a complex constellation of symptoms, which include swollen and painful lymph glands, sleep disturbances, headaches, cognitive impairment (memory loss, confusion, decrease in ability to concentrate), and low grade fever. Symptoms come and go; they may velar up in six months or persist for years. CFIDS does not result in death. In some instances people with CFIDS spontaneously recover. The Centers of Disease Control have produced a provisional “working case definition” of CFIDS to guide physicians in the diagnosis of this illness. As of yet, there is no conclusive evidence of a specific cause of CFIDS, there is no lab test to identify the marker of CFIDS in the body.

Who gets it? Women are more typically affected by CFIDS than men, though both sexes are susceptible to the illness. People tend to contract the illness between the ages of twenty and forty.

4. Endometriosis (ENDO)

What is it? Endometriosis is a disease that involves endometrium, the tissue that lines the uterus. Normally this tissue builds up only in the uterus and is shed each month during menstruation. In women who have endometriosis, the endometrium also implants itself outside the uterus. The abnormal growths of endometrium can be found almost anywhere in the body but are typically found in the fallopian tubes, ovaries, bowel, bladder, and outer surface of the uterus. Not as usual are growths outside the abdominal cavity, such as in the rectum, external glands, lungs, arms, legs, and thighs. During the menstrual cycle, as the endometrium increases in the uterine cavity, the ectopic growths also build up outside the uterus. While the endometrium lining is eliminated from the uterus, these growths have no way of shedding the blood. The result is inflammation of the surrounding tissue and scar formation. If the growths are large, they can rupture or cause blockage in the bladder and bowel. As with the other ICI’s, the symptoms of endometriosis vary in kind and intensity from woman to woman. The symptoms include painful menstruation, painful intercourse, chronic pain (in the back, legs, gastrointestinal tract, and urinary tract), heavy and irregular bleeding, chronic fatigue, and infertility. The cause of endometriosis is unknown. A number of theories proposed and under investigation include a genetic predisposition for the disease and the possibility that remains from the embryonic stage develop later into adulthood into endometrium. The most widely held theory as to the cause of the illness is retrograde flow, that is, endometrial tissue that is shed through the fallopian tubes and deposited into the pelvis. This theory, however, does not explain the mechanism of endometriosis fully, since women with retrograde flow do not develop endometriosis. Some research suggests that a dysfunction of the immune system may be involved in endometriosis. Endometriosis is a benign disease. It can not be cured but it can be clearly diagnosed with tests, and there are treatments that can relieve the intensity of symptoms. Ignorance in the general and medical population is an additional battle that women who suffer with endometriosis must confront. The suspicion that the disease is psychosomatic is lessening, but slowly.

Who gets it? Effects about five million American women during their reproductive years.

5. Fibromyalgia (FM)

What is it? Fibromyalgia is a musculoskeletal condition that is sometimes referred to as fibrositis, myofibrositis, fibromyositis, and myofascial pain syndrome. It is characterized by the presence of diffuse and persistent pain and chronic fatigue. Sleep disturbance is another common symptom. Sleep disorders that affect people with fibromyalgia are myoclonus (spasms in legs and arms at night), alpha-delta sleep disruption (delta sleep disrupted by alpha waves), and nonrestorative sleep (waking after sleep with stiffness and soreness). Less common symptoms are frequent headaches, dry eyes, hair loss, sun sensitivity, and irritable bowel syndrome. Symptoms tend to fluctuate and do not necessarily occur simultaneously. They may appear slowly or attack suddenly. Although fibromyalgia may have been a condition plaguing mandkind forever, it has only recently been given serious attention by the medical and research communities. Research in the 1980’s and 1990’s proliferated and suggested a basis for diagnosis. Fibromyalgia may be identified when patient’s reports a history of pain over an extended period of time in eleven out of eighteen specific tender points. Tender points are zones of the body that when pressed are excruciating painful. For many people with fibromyalgia, sleep is not restful. The symptoms of fibromyalgia are so similar to those of chronic fatigue syndrome that some researchers believe that they “are different strains of the same disorder”. They do differ, however, in that “CFS patients have grater fatigue while FM patients have greater pain.” There are no cured for fibromyalgia, but some symptoms can be treated. The cause of fibromyalgia, as with all ICIs, is unknown. Some areas of possible causes that are being investigated are central nervous system abnormalities, viral triggers of FM such as human T-cell lymphotropic virus, head and neck trauma, bacterial infections, low level amino acids, metabolic disturbances, and traumatic events.

Who gets it? Primarily women suffer with fibromyalgia. It may be that more women then men are diagnosed with fibromyalgia because women, in general, tend to seek medical attention more often then men. There may be, however, a link between fibromyalgia and hormones, since there appears to be an increase in flare ups of symptoms before menstruation. This however, does not explain the symptoms in men and children.

6. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

What is it? Human immunodeficiency virus is the most widely accepted cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). When a person is infected with HIV, the potential for AIDS and AIDS related complex (ARC) is ever present. I am primarily focusing on the HIV stage of AIDS since that condition is characterized by the invisible chronic illness factors. First of all, it is not possible to detect from casual observation that a person has HIV. Someone with HIV generally appear healthy. People with HIV face the inevitable progression of the illness and development of AIDS, but the illness develops in different patterns and the nature and severity of the symptoms are different for each person. Symptoms that may occur in the early stages of infection include fever, fatigue, render and swollen lymph glands, and headaches. Often these symptoms temporarily recede. When the disease becomes more active, new symptoms occur, such as chronic diarrhea, chronic fatigue, weight loss, cognitive changes, skin disease, night sweats, lymphoma, and ear-nose-throat problems. HIV sufferers can experience years of exacerbations and remissions of these symptoms. Early recognition is vital for treatment and relief of symptoms and to assure longer survival. Opportunistic infections (infections that the healthy immune system routinely wards off) eventually weaken the immune system, allowing the onset of AIDS.

Who gets is? The early cases of diagnosed AIDS in the US were found in 1981 in LA and New York. During the early and middle 1980s AIDS was particularly found in the homosexual, Haitian, and hemophiliac population. Since that time, AIDS have been discovered in the heterosexual population, particularly among intravenous drug users and their sex partners. Men, women, and children are vulnerable to HIV infection. No race appears to be exempt.

7. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

What it is. Included in the inflammatory bowel disease category are two disease, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, also referred to as ileitis and regional enteritis, is an inflammatory disease that causes thickening of tissue in the small intestine and colon. The thickening can cause obstruction in these organs. Fistulae are formed when the inflammation spreads to the bladder and other parts of the bowel. Ulcerative colitis attacks the colon (the last section of the large intestine) and the rectum. Onset of colitis is marked by soft and loose stools (more so than usual) mixed with blood and a pressing sensation that signals an intense need to defecate. Symptoms common to inflammatory bowel disease are diarrhea, loss of appetite, weight loss, abdominal pain, and rectal bleeding. Severe cases of these two diseases can cause systemic symptoms; in other words, other systems of the body are affected, such as the liver, skin, joints, and eyes. Inflammatory bowel diseases are characterized by ICI conditions. Authors of The Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis Fact Book, “The diseases are chronic and as yet their cause-is therefore their cure-are unknown. Some people have mild symptoms while others have severe and disabling ones.” In either case, symptoms exacerbate and remit. Treatment and surgery can alleviate the intensity of symptoms. Some causative agents being investigated are intestinal bacteria, virus, and dysfunction of the immune system, yet no single lab test identifies the disease.

Who gets it? 500,000 people in the US have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease. Estimated that include people who suffer with the illness but have not been diagnosed may go as high as two million. Males and females are vulnerable to Crohn’s disease and colitis. Onset generally begins between the ages of twelve and the late twenties; a less frequent age onset is after the age of fifty. IBDs appear predominantly in developed countries.

8. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

What is it? Irritable bowel syndrome (erroneously called spastic colon) is the common cold of the intestinal tract. Elaine Shimberg, author of Relief from IBS, estimates that twenty-two million Americans suffer with IBS. Common as it is, IBS makes people feel miserable. This syndrome is a functional disorder; in other words, tests can detect no evidence of pathology to explain the symptoms. Normally, the contents of the intestines are propelled by muscular contractions. In people who have IBS these contractions are irregular and uncoordinated, causing intestinal distress. Symptoms common to IBS are abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, alternating constipation and diarrhea, excessive gas, distension and bloating, appetite loss, headaches, and fatigue. Symptoms are aggravated by certain foods, alcohol, caffeine, and smoking. IBS does not lead to cancer or any other disease. Some symptoms can be relieved by changes in diet, eating habits, and medical treatment.

Who gets it? In the US, women are twice as likely as men to suffer with IBS. It occurs in young people, with more people identifying the symptoms of the syndrome before the age of thirty-five.

9. Lupus Erythematosus (LUPUS)

What is it? Lupus Erythematosus is an autoimmune disease that generally affects the skin, kidneys, joints, lungs, and blood. It may affect every system of the body. In lupus the immune system becomes hyperactive and produces excessive amounts of the blood proteins called antibodies. When functioning appropriately, these antibodies attack foreign invaders of the body, such as bacteria; during lupus flare ups, the antibodies attack healthy tissue and cells. Lupus can strike suddenly or appear gradually. Symptoms exacerbate and remit and in some cases may manifest themselves so slightly that they may not be noticed. Symptoms do not occur in a typical pattern, thus complicating diagnosis. One person with lupus may feel flu-like symptoms, while another may have kidney problems. There is not cure for lupus, though symptoms often respond to treatment. There are three kinds of lupus-discoid, systemic, and drug induced. Discoid lupus causes a pronounced rash of the face and scalp and severe hair loss and may leave scars on face and scalp. Typically, discoid lupus causes little internal disease; however, a small percentage (5 percent) of the people with discoid lupus may experience a systemic attack at some time in their lives. Systemic lupus involves not only the skin but also internal systems such as kidneys, blood, joints, tendons, and lungs. Symptoms such as sun sensitivity, sharp pains in lower parts of the chest, joint pain, fever, kidney inflammation, and anemia are common. The cause of lupus is presently unknown, but intensive research activity takes place worldwide. Some researchers are looking into the possibility that lupus is a viral disease; other causes being investigated are immune dysfunction, sun exposure, and infection.

Who gets it? Women develop lupus eight to ten times more often then men. The illness tends to attack women during their childbearing years. In some women the first symptoms and signs develop during pregnancy, in others they appear soon after delivery. While men and children contract lupus less frequently than women, they suffer similar symptoms. The Lupus Foundation estimates that there are 500,000 Americans who suffer with lupus.

10. Lyme Disease

What is it? Lyme disease is an inflammatory disorder that is transmitted by a tick borne spirochete. The disease gained recognition in the US in 1975, when an unusual number of cases were identified in Lyme, Connecticut- hence the name. Typically, a small red lesion identifies the presence of a tick bite. The symptoms become evident within three to thirty days after the bite’s occurrence. They include fatigue, headache, fever, and stiffness of neck. Less frequently occurring symptoms are backache, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands. When the illness is not detected and treated early, it may trigger neurological problems, arthritis, and persistent muscle pain. Research indicated that Lyme disease may trigger the onset of fibromyalgia. Symptoms may relapse and remit, and they may linger for extended periods of time. Administration of antibiotics is effective treatment once the disease is identified.

Who gets it? Adults and children are susceptible to Lyme disease. Cases of the disease have been noted in almost every state as well as in Europe.

11. Migraine

What is it? Migraine is not, as several individuals told me, “just a headache”. The pain of migraine, a disorder of the cranial circulation, is caused by dilation of the scalp arteries. What causes the dilation is not known, but research suggests that it may be genetically transmitted. Recurrent attacks of intense pain can occur once a day or once a month. The pain may occur unilaterally (on one side of the head) or generally about the head. It often begins in the eye or in the area surrounding the eye. While intensity, type, and pattern of migraine vary from person to person, the symptoms include nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, and fatigue. Migraine is typically preceded by prodromal symptoms, which are sometimes called aura symptoms. These symptoms signal the onset of migraine and may include pain and needles in fingers, hands, and face, loss of appetite, irritability, restlessness, and depression. These symptoms abate after the migraine begins.

Who gets it? Migraine usually begins between the ages of ten and thirty. In some cases migraines go into remission after the age of fifty. Women are more likely then men to be afflicted with migraines; children are struck with the disorder less often then adults.

12. Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

What is it? Multiple Sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system in which the nerve cells lose their covering of myelin, a fatty tissue that insulates the cells and facilitates the transmission of messages within the nervous system. Plaques form where the myelin has been destroyed. These plaques interfere with communication within the nervous system. The symptoms of MS are multifocal, transient, and recurrent. They include weakness of limbs, bladder urgency, loss of bowel and bladder control, numbness, tingling in limbs, parathesias (shock like symptoms), and chronic fatigue. When MS is suspected from clinical observation, CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can confirm the diagnosis. There is no cure, but some symptoms can be alleviated with treatment. The course of the disease is unpredictable and varies greatly with each individual. For 20 percent of the population of people with MS the illness is benign. Benign MS is characterized by one or two exacerbations of symptoms with complete recovery. The exacerbations of symptoms may be so mild as to go unnoticed. The majority of people with MS, 60-70 percent, have exacerbating-remitting multiple sclerosis. When an exacerbation of symptoms occurs, it can last for periods of days, weeks, moths, or years; then symptoms may remit unpredictably. Remissions, may last for extended periods of time, possibly for years. Progressive MS (my mom has this one) affects 10-20 percent of the MS population. This form of MS appears gradually but steadily progresses and cause incapacitation.

Who gets it? Men and women are affected by MS, though it is more common in women between the ages of twenty to fifty. Children under twelve are not susceptible to MS. Perhaps as diagnostic methods become more sophisticated and accurate; the diagnosis of MS may be determined at earlier ages then previously thought. It is typically found in people living in the northern hemisphere. 250,000 people have been diagnosed with MS in the US; the National Multiple Sclerosis Society suspects that there may be more cases of undiagnosed MS.

13. Post-Polio Syndrome (PPS)

What is it? PPS, also called post-polio sequelae and progressive post-polio muscular atrophy (PPMA), is regarded as the late effects of polio. In the 1940’s and 1950’s epidemics of this crippling viral disease caused widespread fear. Vast amounts of money went to support research in search of a cure. The result was the discovery and development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines, which virtually eliminated the disease. But in the 1980’s physicians and physical rehabilitation therapists, as well as past victims of polio, observed a consistent set of physical problems being experienced by past victims of polio. Initially, the medical community failed to pay attention to what the polio patients were beginning to call post-polio syndrome. Not until the survivors of polio organized associations such as the Polio Society and the International Polio Network was the syndrome fully acknowledged. The difference in attention that has been given to polio as opposed to that given to PPS dramatizes the predicament of ICI sufferers. When polio was an evident and widely recognized disease, research was financed and patients were treated with intense medical attention. As an invisible chronic illness, PPS is only beginning to be accepted as an authentic disorder and the victims given the treatment and medical advice they need to manage their symptoms. The symptoms include fatigue, new joint and muscle pain, decreased stamina, new difficulties in breathing, new muscle weakness, generalized pain, and sensitivity to cold. Not everyone experiences the same symptoms or the same severity of symptoms. According to the Polio Society, “the most widely accepted explanation (for PPS) is that nerve cells damaged by the polio virus decades earlier, as well as the neighboring nerve cells that took over for those killed by the virus, are now wearing out. “

Who gets it? 640,000 people contracted polio and of these it is estimated that half suffer today with post-polio syndrome.

14. Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

What is it? Premenstrual syndrome is probably the most maligned and dismissed disorder afflicting women. It is characterized by cyclicity, occurring eight to ten days before menstruation and disappearing immediately after menstrual flow begins. Physician and PMS expert Katharina Dalton indicates a specific set of criteria for diagnosis of PMS:
1. Symptoms must be present every month for at least the previous three months.
2. Symptoms must be present premenstrually and cannot start before ovulation.
3. There must be a complete absence of symptoms after menstruation for a minimum of seven days.

The symptoms of PMS are caused by fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone, which cause retention of fluids. Symptoms vary in intensity and nature, but the list includes fatigue, breast swelling and tenderness, weight gain, bloating, headaches, vertigo, abdominal cramps, acne, muscle aches, depression, and irritability. For most women symptoms do not tend to be disabling, but they are disturbing and persistent. For women who suffer with severe PMS the symptoms interfere with normal function and the disorder is agonizing.

Who gets is? Millions of women.

15. Thyroid Illness

What is it? Thyroid illnesses are caused by the overproduction of hormone (hyperthyroidism) or the underproduction of hormone (hypothyroidism). These conditions can affect different parts of the body; including the skin, heart, liver, and kidneys. When the thyroid produces too much hormone, primarily triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), symptoms such as dry skin, heart palpitations, weigh loss, eye complications, bowel dysfunction, and nervousness are triggered. The symptoms caused by an inadequate production of hormone are weight gain, hair loss, prematurely grey hair, fatigue, and constipation. Hyperthyroidism and Hypothyroidism can be detected through blood tests and familt history. Unfortunately, people afflicted with these illnesses are often misdiagnosed because such symptoms as fatigue, nervousness, and weight change are indicative of so many illnesses. These conditions can be treated and cured.

Who gets it? Thyroid illnesses are inherited conditions that are more likely to strike women then men. Hyperthyroidism typically occurs between ages of twenty and forty while hypothyroidism is more common after the age of fifty.

Sources: Monique Marie
Dr. paul Donoghue
Dr. Mary Siegal
Center for Disease Control
www.fatigueandfibro.com