SC20110607-222033.png on Flickr.Fewer miles, but more calories...

10 Disturbing Sunscreen Secrets.

Summer salad + a glass of white wine on the balcony with heather. Heavenly.

++ Click to Enlarge Image ++

Via: Paxil-Birth-Defect.com

Eating healthy tonight!

Breakfast:

Vegetable Omelet (1 Egg)

Lunch:

Fruit Salad

Dinner:

Vegetable Casserole (Small Portion)

Snacks:

After dinner - Tea and Cornbread.

I ate a Cinnamon Roll at Lunch which probably wasn’t the healthiest. I regret it now, but it was delicious.

Exercise:

Swimming for Thirty Minutes

Walked Around Campus

Mini Workout After School

Full Workout After Dinner

You’d think for a newly registered dietitian, I’d have this eating healthy thing down pat, but I’m human and it is a struggle for me, just like it is for most people. That being said, I’m committing to making more of an effort for the next month.

Goals:

• go booze-free for the next 30 days. my liver will thank me, as will my wallet. hopefully it shouldn’t be as difficult as it sounds as i’ll have to be sober throughout nxne anyways and i don’t have too many other shows lined up other than SCENE and i never really drink that day anyways

• drink more water. this used to be so easy when i was working, i’d fill and re-fill my water bottle hourly and would end up consuming ~ 2L of water and 1.5L of tea just during the work day. it’s been harder since i’ve been off to keep up the habit but i just have to make it part of my routine. i also need to replace my stainless steel water bottle so i have something to carry with me when i go out.

• cut out junk food/processed sugar hopefully completely. definitely overindulged in desserts over the two week period that included my birthday and graduation. and that needs to stop. allowed cheats to include frozen yogurt and gelato - but only fruit-based ones (no chocolate) and 100% fruit juice freezies, because let’s be honest, it’s hot out, i need some sort of frozen deliciousness. no baking because i just end up having to eat it all and i can’t handle the sugar.

• have a salad with lunch and/or dinner. with the hot weather here, salads are definitely making more of a comeback in my meals. have cooked vegetables too. also, snack on cut up vegetables and hummus. pretty much, eat more vegetables. i find it so easy to feast on fruit but veggies have always been harder to consume in the appropriate number of servings for me.

• give up cheese. i’ve actually stopped buying cheese when grocery shopping so that’s helped a lot. really only have parmegiano on pasta which doesn’t count (because i say it doesn’t count) and when eating out, especially at sky blue sky, but i’ll try to pick cheese-free options as much as possible. 

• go wheat-free. this will definitely be the hardest - i love me my bread. but as long as i try to buy gluten-free from the grocery store, it will really only be sky blue sky sandwiches that will be my cheat. i can live with that. might get harder during nxne when i’ll likely eat out more often, but i’ll try my best. 

• i think that’s all. luckily i gave up caffeine 3 years ago, so don’t have to worry about that.

How can I lose inches off my waist…in a day? :O It just happened so that I’m a 28/29 now :)). I used to be 29-31.

Oh well.

YAY FOR ME YAY FOR ME

Typhus fever, a common tic born disease. http://dld.bz/qVs7 health disease

SC20110607-222033.png on Flickr.

Fewer miles, but more calories expended. Another great workout month!

#Men 'Crucially Important' For #WomensHealth. #Women #CervicalCancer

10th June 2011

Men have an important role to play in women’s health, according to Women’s Health Concern (WHC).

Patrick Shervington, chief executive of the organisation, said: “Whether it is an employer, a boss, a work colleague; whether it’s a husband or a partner; a man needs to be very understanding, very caring and very positive about health issues, not just cervical screening, but any health issue that the woman may have.”

Coinciding with Cervical Screening Awareness Week [running from June 6th to 12th], a survey conducted for Jo’s Trust by YouGov found that a lack of flexibility by employers and GPs could be putting women at risk.

Mr Shervington said: “Flexible surgery hours or health centre hours would make a positive difference.”

He added that women who work full-time are perhaps reluctant to have time off because of the money they will lose, so have limited opportunity to get to surgeries.

“If more and more surgeries are open for longer hours, then they can be fitted in. Then de facto, there will be a rise in the take up of screening,” he stated.

Posted by Jeanette Royston

Health News is provided by Adfero in collaboration with Spire Healthcare. Please note that all copy above is ©Adfero Ltd. and does not reflect views or opinions of Spire Healthcare unless explicitly stated. Additional comments on the page from individual Spire consultants do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of other consultants or Spire Healthcare.

Original Article

?”I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford” — Cindy...

 ?”I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford” — Cindy Crawford

Longer #Maternity Leave Ups #Breastfeeding Rates. #WomensHealth #Women

Go with the flow. Purchase MerryLiving™ healthy and absorbent natural pantiliners and sanitary napkins from the LadyFresh Natural Feminine Hygiene store.

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, May 30 (HealthDay News) — Women who stay home longer after having a baby are more likely to breastfeed their babies, a new study indicates.

Researchers found that new mothers who were at home for three months or more were about twice as likely to be predominantly breastfeeding beyond three months. Results of the study are published in the June issue of Pediatrics.

“Women need to be helped. If the government could make changes, like extending the Family and Medical Leave Act, women would know they have job security, and it would help those who want to breastfeed,” said study author Dr. Chinelo Ogbuanu, a senior maternal and child health epidemiologist in the division of public health at the Georgia Department of Community Health in Atlanta.

Even better, she said, would be making paid maternity leave available to all women. “That could help women stay home longer,” Ogbuanu said. “Some women don’t take leave because they don’t get paid.”

The U.S. Family Leave and Medical Act, which became law in 1993, requires that employers offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave after the birth of a child. But, the law does not apply to all employers. Businesses that have fewer than 50 workers are exempt and, in all cases, women must have held the job for a year or more and worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months to be eligible. Just five states offer maternity leave that goes beyond the federal law. California, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island provide partial wage compensation to women after the birth of a child.

By comparison, Canada generally provides 17 weeks of paid maternity leave at 55% of a woman’s wages, although this does vary by province, according to the United Nations Division of Statistics. Sweden offers 16 months of parental leave, with 80% of the worker’s salary, and Japan offers 14 weeks, but at two-thirds pay, according to the U.N.

Previous research had pointed to the length of maternity leave as a significant factor in a woman’s decision on whether to even try to breastfeed, as well as for the early cessation of breastfeeding, according to background information in the study.

“Many women have to return within six weeks of giving birth,” said Dr. Deborah Campbell, director of neonatology at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. “But, it takes time to establish breastfeeding. Not every baby is born knowing how to breastfeed. Mothers can have feeding challenges. Mom and baby need time to become in sync with each other. Even with high rates of breastfeeding initiation, when women have to go back to work, they often choose to combo-feed with bottle and breast, and the bottle undermines breastfeeding.”

To get a better idea of the impact of maternity leave length on breastfeeding, the researchers reviewed data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort. This group included a nationally representative sample of 6,150 women who had given birth to a single child. All of the women had worked in the 12 months leading up to the birth of their child.

Slightly more than two-thirds of the women started breastfeeding, according to the study. About 74% of those who took at least 13 weeks of maternity leave initiated breastfeeding, compared with about 65% of women who took one to six weeks of leave.

Among women who stayed home more than three months, 34% continued to predominantly breastfeed for more than three months, compared with 18% of women who returned to work one to six weeks after childbirth, the study found.

“This study provides further support that we need to have more maternity leave for women to establish and promote the continuation of breastfeeding,” Campbell said.

Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

SOURCES: Chinelo Ogbuanu, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., senior maternal and child health epidemiologist, Maternal and Child Health Program, division of public health, Georgia Department of Community Health, Atlanta; Deborah Campbell, M.D., director, division of neonatology, Montefiore Medical Center, and professor, clinical pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City; June 2011 Pediatrics.

Original Article

“This study provides further support th

Your health should be first

Something interesting I read while revising for an exam…

Modern day woman represent a shift from an external judging male gaze to a self-policing narcissistic gaze. We are so hard on ourselves nowadays.

Sexual objectification can be presented not as something done to women by some men, but as the freely chosen wish of confident, assertive ‘liberated’ females.

The beauty myth attacks women physically and psychologically and leads them to willingly submit to regimes of torture (e.g. dieting and plastic surgery)

Remember that your health is the most important aspect of your lifestyle change, helping you feel happier, energetic, fit and most of all confident in your own body. Not striving for an unattainable goal.

(some of this is taken from ’Advertising and Postfeminism’ by Rosalind Gill 2007, for those of you interested)

That New Year's Resolution...

Way back in January, I made a resolution to become more feminine. 

Now, when I first came up with this idea, I thought of those women who made glowing skin, excellent taste, and feminine mannerisms look effortless. I know that somewhere within me, too, lies such a woman. And this year I’m going to try to bring her out a little bit more.

I have a number of phases that I have planned to complete this “mission”, if you will. It’s taken me six months to finally implement them.

Phase One: Extra Effort in Front of the Mirror

This is an easy one. How often have you heard “feminine hygiene”? It’s everywhere! It’s also one of the most difficult things for me to keep up with. I’m a tomboy-nerd by nature. I paint my nails maybe five times a year and never use tanning lotion.

However, I have started to style my hair every morning (and by style I mean put product in it after showering and blow dry), and today I did my first ever facial! It was a clay mask I found at Target, and it felt great. My next steps will probably be keeping my legs silky smooth every day, and paying special attention to my facial complexion. I already monitor breakouts, but now I’m actually investing in daily cleanser instead of just plain soap and water. 

Phase Two: Putting Good Food in for a Healthy Glow 

How is eating healthy feminine? It’s kind of a long shot, but I think that having good taste includes eating the good food that happens to be good for you. Now, I’ve seen some pretty drastic things that call themselves “diets”. Weight Watchers, that legendary Atkins diet, etc. I think they’re all nuts. There are only a few things that I need to maintain food health, and they are as follows:

• It’s all about the ingredients. I think twice before buying something with more than 5 ingredients in it. 
• Anything homemade is better than its store-bought version, simply because I know exactly what’s in it. 
• Buy fresh first, canned/prepackaged as a last resort.
• Grass-fed meat if I can afford it. (Anything not specified is corn-fed. I won’t spit statistics, but I highly recommend looking up comparisons.)
• The one thing I agree with the diet books on is that water is the best beverage. 
• Eggs can make a meal. Hard-boiled, scrambled, in a sandwich, fried, etc. Quick and easy. (Don’t be fooled by “vegetarian-fed”. A chicken’s natural diet is omnivorous.)
• Yogurt with live/active cultures like acidopholus are good for the tummy.

So, in order to meet my Phase Two, I’ve got to be a smart food shopper and a good cook. It’s going well, but difficult to make a healthy choice when I feel lazy. 

Phase Three: A Little Demure, A Little Wily

Women, stereotypically speaking, always have a little something up their sleeve, be it a dirty little secret or a handkerchief. Many women who embody the feminine ideals also have this insane ability to make their manner of speaking graceful. It is similar to a man’s “business speak”, but completely different from the common “passive aggressiveness”. 

While this graceful speaking may be slightly out of reach for me, I know that I can become a little more feminine by knowing when to keep my mouth shut. In past relationships, I have had a problem with blurting out my insecurities about how the relationship is going. While discussing real issues may be necessary in a relationship, my outbursts certainly weren’t. Ergo Phase Three.

~~~

That’s all I can come up with for now. I’m sure that I will find other “phases” to implement when the time comes, but these three are the core of my plan. Let’s hope I can stick to them.

Just had an epiphany!

So i don’t know how many of you women order issues of Women’s Health or have ever noticed while reading one that of course it’s all pictures of other women, along with advertisments and articles within it. 

But the other day I picked up a Men’s Health just for fun… and BOOM. It was filled with pictures of gorgeous, muscular, handsome, strong men. That right there is MUCH more motivating to look at rather than  women. So my new idea?… Putting those pictures in women’s magazine(; maybe us girls would all lose weight faster!