WEIGHT LOSS TIPS

Starbucks and Calorie Excesses

A recently released report points out that a regular habit of buying Starbucks or other coffee chain 'special drinks' can really add up your daily calories consumed.

For example, how many calories would you say are in the Starbucks' blackberry green tea Frappuccino?

Three hundred? Guess again. It's 560 calories! One could eat a nice meal of grilled chicken and a heaped plate of tasty vegetables and still not come close to this kind of calorie dose.

Such high-calorie drinks are now very popular in coffee shops across North America. But they add zero nutritional value to our daily diet.

The photo of girls in black enjoying Starbucks is by Malingering.

Beyonce Wears a Spanx Girdle?

It's interesting to see that even young celebrities with perfect bodies are wearing the modern equivalent of girdles - SPANX - when they want to cinch the waist and slim the hips.

But no one uses the word 'girdles' anymore. These evolved girdles are called 'slimming shapewear'.

Here's a photo (taken by Splash News) of Beyonce Knowles in what appears to be SPANX tummy control nylons. It's made of a special spandex weave giving "seamless, leg-shaping support." And it's designed "with a soft, nonbinding waistband."

This photo of Beyonce will probably be a bigger boost for the SPANX company than any advertising they've done in their short but successful history to date.

High Fiber Foods

How to cook Corn on the Cob

This is the season for fresh corn. Eating corn on the cob is a great way to fill up on a delicious, nutritious and low calorie food. Corn is very high in fiber. A one cup serving (at 177 calories) will provide you with about 18% of the recommended daily value of fiber.

Corn is also high in folate, (19% of daily recommended), Vitamin B1, (24%) and Vitamin C (17%).

I bought six corn on the cobs to make for dinner tonight for my husband, toddler and me.

Corn on the cob is one of the easiest fresh vegetables to cook. I husk the corn and pull off any excess threads. Then I boil water in a large pot and put the corn in when the water is boiling. I then turn the heat off, and leave the corn in the boiled water for at least five minutes. Some people like it less cooked and would take it out sooner.

I usually put a little butter and salt on my corn when eating. But I've heard flax seed oil would make a good and healthy substitute.

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The photo above is by Akash k.

Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson and Her Personal Trainer

Jessica Simpson has her own personal trainer, just like many other celebrities. His name is Mike Alexander. He's actually an old friend from highschool who she hired to create her eating and fitness regimen when she was preparing for filming the Dukes of Hazzard. He lived with her for three months during this time and she worked out six days a week.

Now her personal trainer is establishing a name for himself in Los Angeles. On his website he says he molded her "from an adorable Newlywed into a rock-hard Daisy Duke". Since then he's also become a personal trainer for her sister, Ashlee Simpson, as well as Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks.

Mike Alexander's personal trainer website is not really up and running yet. But we are to watch this space for his basic exercise and nutrition tips.

Models that are too skinny to be healthy are being banned from next week's prestigious fashion show in Spain. Being too skinny to qualify for this show is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of less than 18.

The government in Madrid has decided to take the lead in breaking the dangerous cycle of excessively skinny models being role models for young girls who then go on to starve themselves and endanger their health.

About a third of the models who took part in this fashion show last year were rejected this year because their BMI was less than 18.

As an example, if a model is 5'9", she would be banned from working at this show if she weighed less than 122 pounds.

The fashion show organizers say they want to "help ensure public opinion does not associate fashion, and fashion shows in particular, with an increase in anorexia, a disease which, along with bulimia, is considered ... as a mental and behavioral problem".