Dull Hair Solution

Since many pomades and volumizers are water based, adding a dab to wet hair just dilutes the effect. The product will work best with a dry base. Use Beer. Just take one into the shower and massage it into your hair a few times a week after shampooing, and then rinse. The hops may help coat your hair and add volume.

Source: Men's Health

Carbs Curb Hunger

According to researchers, when dieters are taken off a low-carb diet and shifted them to an approach that includes generous amounts of fiber and Resistant Starch foods, something wonderful happens: Within two days, the dieters’ cravings go away. The fiber and Resistant Starch fills them up and satisfies them while allowing them to eat the foods they crave. These good-news carbs also raise levels of satiety hormones that tell the brain to flip a switch that stifles hunger and turns up metabolism.

Source: Health Magazine

I'll Show You My Skincare Routine

 By Petra Guglielmetti

So here's my skincare routine--with the disclaimer that the exact products I use changes very often, as I'm always discovering and testing new things. That said, the basic framework of my routine and the ingredients I use remain pretty constant, and lately I've been very dedicated to the following regimen.

EARLY MORNING

1. Super-quick wash with a gentle cleanser. Cetaphil is my trusty standby.

2. Apply Aveeno Positively Radiant. I have tried all sorts of daytime moisturizers and this one remains by far my favorite; great hydration while not greasy, and the sunscreen never stings my eye area. Plus, helps fade dark spots and adds subtle sheen.

MID MORNING

1. During post-gym shower, I use my Clarisonic Mia brush and a slightly deeper cleanser--currently Mario Badescu Botanical Facial Gel. It never dries out my skin and smells great. I also like to borrow the husband's Biore Ice Cleanser sometimes to mix things up and clear out my pores even more (I got it for him after you guys recommended it for fighting pimples!).

2. After shower, I use a glycolic-acid toner or pad. Currently I am testing (and loving) Cane + Austin Retexturizing Treatment Pads.

3. Apply an antioxidant serum, like Skinceuticals Phloretin CF or Mario Badescu Vitamin C Serum.

4. Reapply Aveeno Positively Radiant.

NIGHT

1. Clean skin with Clarisonic and Cetaphil. I used to be lazy about p.m. washing--sometimes I'd just use a face wipe--but lately I'm being diligent so that my night treatments/creams absorb more effectively.

2. Every other night, I apply Skinceuticals Retinol .5 (their less-concentrated version). I'll up it to every night once my skin fully adjusts (if I use it daily now, I peel a LOT and feel sensitivity).

3. I wait half an hour for the retinol to absorb, then I apply a night cream. Sometimes I use Olay Pro-X Wrinkle Smoothing Cream, a drugstore product derms swear by. Or if I feel like I need something more mellow, I use Mario Badescu Seaweed Night Cream.

My all-time favorite p.m. moisturizer so far, though, is a weird sciencey one called Bio-Cream that uses one ethically questionable ingredient (I've posted about it before). The things is, they haven't sent me any in a while and I feel silly paying $135 for moisturizer when I get tons of it for free. But I might break down and do it soon. This stuff is that amazing.

I know this all looks like a lot in writing, but honestly I probably spend 5 minutes total on my face each day.
More Mario Badescu...
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Once or twice a week, depending on how my skin feels, I'll do an exfoliating peel or mask. Lately I use something different pretty much every time.

Oh, and before some of you ask whether I'm on the Mario Badescu payroll, I'm not! The reason I discovered their products is because I used to live just one block from their NYC spa and went there for facials! I always end up falling back on their products despite the many I have to choose from because they never make my skin freak out and have a sort of hand-crafted feel about them.


Source: Glamour

Save The Earth, Simply

Go Vegetarian For A Day - Livestock production is responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gases.

Lose Your Love Handles

By John Romaniello

When it comes to losing fat, we’ve all experienced the dreaded plateau. You work hard and make good progress in the beginning, and then you hit a wall. Things are slow going from there, and you make on-and-off progress.

Why? Why isn’t fat loss a linear process?

When you get to the final stages of leanness, it’s not enough to just keep doing the same things you’re doing; it’s not enough to reduce calories and exercise more.

You’ve probably also noticed that when you hit a plateau, fat loss doesn’t just slow down all over; it begins to reveal other things. When you’ve lost the first several pounds — whether that means 20, 50 or even 100 pounds — you’ve lost the "easy" fat. As your fat loss slows, you’ll notice that you’re holding fat in some areas more than others. In fact, you may be holding all of your fat in one or two specific areas.

We tend to call these “trouble areas.” These vary from person to person, but generally, men will deal with trouble areas in the love handles and belly, while women will have them in the hips and thighs.

Why do we have these trouble areas and how do we fix them?

This has to do with your hormones. At the later stages, fat loss is not just about calories in vs. calories out. It’s not just about energy debt or cardio or even (to a lesser extent) diet, although all of those things do factor in quite a bit, obviously. Really, it’s about your hormonal environment and the way that affects fat storage and, thereby, fat loss.

When your fat loss has stalled and you’re trying to break through that wall, or when you’re trying to rid yourself of those last stubborn 5-10 pounds, it’s a hormonal battle.

Far and away, the most common incarnation of this issue in mean is sagging love handles.

My own battle, and that of many of my male clients, revolves around love handles and lower back fat. When I’m dieting or getting ready for a photoshoot, it can take me several weeks to get rid of the fat in this one area, even when I’m very lean everywhere else.
As mentioned above, the reason many men, myself included, tend to store fat is due to the effects of hormones on fat storage. The hormone responsible for love handles is insulin.

The degree to which you are able to process and respond to glucose (sugar) levels in your body is called "insulin sensitivity." The higher this is, the easier and more efficiently your body uses carbohydrates for energy and the less likely you are to store carbs as fat.

If you’re insulin resistant, on the other hand, you don’t deal well with carbs. And anything other than a low-carb diet pretty much means you’re going to be storing more fat overall, specifically in the love handles. If you’re insulin resistant and you still eat a lot of carbs, then your glucose clearance from the heavy carb load is going to be compromised and hormonal receptor sites in your love handles and lower back are going to be overloaded.

The good news is that insulin resistance (and the resulting cascade of regional fat) can be mitigated with certain types of diet and training.

Misconceptions

You can see in gyms across the world the rampant use of “site specific” spot training. This is a futile attempt to thrash the last bits of fat from the edges of your body and does little to help you understand why nothing has worked up to that point.

My friends, the time for side bends and ab-twister machines is over. In fact, it should never have ever begun.

The reality is that these “spot-reducing” exercises often carry an abysmal level of total-body taxation. That is, they are incredibly easy and contribute very little to improving your insulin sensitivity.

Sure, you may drop a bead of sweat and cringe at the burn through your midsection, but the reality is you are probably wasting your time.

Big, dynamic multi-joint movements strung together in a specific way will provide the results you crave and rid you of those horrible handles of love. By doing this, we play into the power that hormones have on the body and use them as weapons.

One hormone in particular plays a major role.

Insulin Resistance vs. IGF-1

Insulin resistance can be combated very nicely by a hormone called IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor 1.

Producing extra IGF-1 through training will help you improve your insulin sensitivity and rid yourself of love handles and lower back fat.

We know that insulin resistance is very common, particularly in people who were previously overweight. So, if you have lost some fat and you’re now struggling to lose a bit more (and that fat happens to be in your love handles), I’m willing to bet you’re suffering from some degree of insulin resistance and an inability to efficiently clear glucose from your system.

In order to get rid of that fat, you need to do fat-burning workouts (obviously) and increase your insulin sensitivity to the greatest degree that you can. As a result, you need to employ metabolic resistant training (MRT).

MRT is the overarching theory that dictates how I design fat-loss training programs; it consists of using fast-paced, multi-joint movements to train the body to move more efficiently.

Because this style of training is extremely expensive in terms of energy (caloric) demand, MRT is excellent as a general fat-loss modality. However, perhaps more important is the fact that it's also an incredible way to produce IGF-1.


The Method

Using a combination of explosive exercises, speed drills and numerous varietals of traditional methods, train in a way that increases your agility, dexterity, and mobility.
Nearly all of your training sessions should be heavily dependent on variations of the best fat-loss exercises, which are compound, dynamic exercises that move your body through space.

My personal favorites are the lunge, overhead press, single-leg squat and bodyweight pulling. These exercises serve as the foundation for your fat-burning mission and can be built upon to provide variety to a number of different training protocols.

When setting up a workout, using a noncompeting order — like alternating lower body exercises with upper body exercises — is also a powerful variable. The extreme flow of blood from one side of the body to the next causes a great deal of systemic disturbance. Your heart is practically cracking your rib cage while it pounds to move enough blood from point A to point B.

Combine this with minimal rest, moderately high repetitions and adequate loads, and you've got one of the most effective fat-loss protocols known to man. As an added bonus, your cardiovascular efficiency will enjoy a nice boost.

Here’s a quick workout using the above concepts:

A1) Bulgarian split squat — 10 reps per leg
A2) Inverted row — 12 reps
A3) Push-up — 15 reps
A5) Reverse lunges — 8 reps per leg
A6) Pull-up — 6 reps
A7) Overhead press — 12 reps
A8) Plank — 60 seconds

Perform A1-A8 in a circuit fashion, moving form one exercise to the next with little to no rest. Perform a total of 6 rounds, resting 60-90 seconds between rounds.

Even though you’re only doing one abdominal exercise (the plank) and none for the actual area where you store your love-handle fat, this workout is far better for increasing insulin sensitivity — and therefore reducing love handles — than any workout with a bunch of side bends and twists.

Without the use of any spot-reducing movements, your love handles will melt before your eyes. However, a warning: This type of training takes effort — a ton of it.


If you’re not one to tolerate hard work, possess mental toughness or have a burning desire to break past the final stages of fat loss, this may not be for you. Sadly, sitting or lying in a machine while flexing the spine will not get you where you need to go, but it is a heck of a lot easier.

So, if you're plagued by love-handular fatitude, do yourself a favor and start incorporating some dynamic work and MRT into your programming in order to up-regulate every fat-burning mechanism your body has to offer.

Seeking the “burn” in your abdominals is a false altar when it comes to the final stages of fat loss, particularly when dealing with love handles.
By performing big, taxing exercises, a different type of deficit is created. Instead of starving yourself, the deficit comes from an increased metabolic rate and systemic up-regulation. Hormonal function is maintained, sanity restored and stubborn fat storage combated.

Armed with this knowledge, design yourself a program that combines each of the variables mentioned above. Stay committed to the mission, and in a few weeks' time, those love handles may not be such an impossible issue after all.


Source: Askmen.com

Questions Women Ask About Their Body

Q: I'm always starving after I work out, and then I eat more! What's going on?
A: The problem is probably the foods you're choosing, not your workout. A recent study of young women found that those who exercise and ate foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat yogurt and lean protein felt more satisfied, even hours after exercising, than those who ate a diet with more pasta, bagels, cheese, cookies and pizza. And while both groups ate approximately the same number of calories over the course of the day, the women who ate the healthier stuff lost more weight and body fat. Fruits and veggies are loaded with fiber and keeps hunger under control.

Mila Kunis Eye Makeup

It's not hard to make Mila Kunis' eyes look amazing. She maybe has the most gorgeous peepers on the entire planet. But there's a trick she uses upon occasion to make them look a little bigger and more sultry at the same time.

Her eyeshadow is winged out and up past her eyes. This is an old-school trick that opens your eyes and makes them look like they extend a bit farther. And because it's done with dark shadow, it also adds a touch of smokiness that's pretty hot. A one-two punch, really.

All you do to pull this off is load up a tapered-tip eyeshadow brush (or a Q-Tip, if you don't have one) with some shadow and brush up as if you were following the line of your lower lid up toward your temples. Easy enough, right?

Source: Glamour

Carbs That Boost Fat-Making

Carobhydrates provide essential blood sugar - glucose - which is the fuel used for energy production in the brain and every cell of the body. Glucose also helps maintain body temperature, digestion, movement, breathing, tissue repaire and immune system functions - so it's one of the most important compounds coursing through your body.

There are three basic types of carbohydrates, labeled according to the complexity of their molecular structure: monosaccharides (simplest), disaccharides and polysaccharides (most complex). Polysaccharides consist of many sugar units, bonded together by nature to form complex carbohydrates (starches).

Starches either may be left unrefined or may be refined, as happens when we process them to make certain foods. Unrefined complex carbohydrates come associated with lots of fiber, vitamines, minerals and other nutrients. Most of us need to eat more foods like whole-wheat bread and brown rice in order to get enough of these unrefined complex carbs in our diets.

By contrast, foods like white bread and white rice are both less filling and less nutritious because they have refined carbs. In the process of refining, such as the milling of wheat to make white flour, the fiber and many vitamins and minerals are lost. In general, unrefined complex carbs are gisted slowly and efficiently, providing a steady source of energy without the biochemical roller-coaster effect of concentrated sugars. Eating foods with complex carbs helps stabilize your sugar levels.

Refined white sugar - sucrose - tops the list of "empty calories", alone with its counterparts corn syrup, brown sugar, dextrose, maltose and cane syrup. High intake of refined sugar has been linked to a variety of health problems, including elevated levels of cholesterol and other blood fats, a deficiency in chromium, a trace mineral associated with heart disease and diabetes, and development of breast cancer. The simple sugar molecules in sucrose require very little digestion, entering the bloodstream and quickly raising blood sugar levels far above normal. In response, the body's insulin secretion mechanism is activated to remove the excess glucose from the blood, causing a downswing in sugar levels.

Even "natural sugar alternatives" such as maple syrup, honey and fruit juice are no panacea. The fact is, no sweetener used excessively is healthful.

Source: Low-Fat Living by Robert K. Cooper

Beauty Questions

Q: I have oily skin. Should I moisturize my face?

A: Yes. Drying out oily skin sends a signal to your body to produce even more oil. Plus, most people are oily only in certain spots like the T-zone, so you risk drying out areas like your cheeks and chin if you pass on moisturizing. Look for an oil-free product and apply a dime-sized amount all over your face. You'll get a healthy dose of hydration without making you skin look slick.


Source: Health Magazine

No-Tech Teeth Whitening

If you'd rather pass on the peroxide, check out these other options to whiten your smile.

Baking Soda - The refrigerator deodorizer also removes discoloration on your teeth. The abrasive particles polish the surface while a chemical reaction between baking soda and water lightens stains. You can damage your enamel with the scrubbing, so don't do it more than once a week. Just dip your toothbrush in the soda, or switch to a toothpaste that contains baking soda like Arm & Hammer.

Feel the Crunch - Foods that are high in cellulose, a strong starchlike compound found in celery, carrots and apples, act as natural abrasives, cleansing teeth and removing surface stains naturally. Greens such as spinach, broccoli, and lettuce contain mineral compounds that form a film over the teeth so pigments from other foods can't stain.


Source: Men's Health

Save The Earth, Simply

Lower Your Water Heater from 140F to 120F - It will save 6-10% on your energy costs, and trim emissions of heat-trapping pollutants by as much as 10%.

Taylor Lautner: Don't Overwork Your Abs

Don't Overwork Your Abs
"A lot of guys hit their abs every time they hit the gym," says Yuam. "That's why so few of them have six-packs." Your abs are like any other muscle group, and the same rule of muscle building applies: Don't overwork them. Lautner targets his abs only 3 days a week and does a combination of exercises to work his entire core. "The result is a balanced, more detailed musculature," Yuam says. One of his favorite combinations is the hanging leg raise to reverse crunch, holding for 7 to 10 seconds. That works your whole core, preventing a muffin top.

Source: Men's Health

Is Your Hair Thinning?

Thinning Hair - Blame dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a hormone that in excess, lengthens the resting phase of your hair's growth cycles and eventually causes it to jump ship. In the a.m., apply a 5 percent minoxidil solution. Minoxidil is still the only over-the-counter product FDA-approved to help stop shedding and grow new hair. At night, spray on a product called FNS (Follicle Nutrient Serum). While it's not yet FDA approved, a study showing that the spray stopped hair loss in men after 3 weeks has prompted researchers to suggest giving it a try (It's $60, osmotics.com). It contains a natural insulin substitute that allows nutrients to get into the cells of the follicles and stimulate hair growth.

Source: Men's Health

Kate Hudson's Beauty Rules

1. Embrace your inner thrillseeker. "I've bungee jumped, I travel a lot, but I've never been to the Scychelles. And I'd love to go to Thailand."

2. Use this goo everywhere. "I discovered Egyptian Magic about 14 years ago. My hair is straight in some places, curly in others. And a friend of mine was like 'You've got to get this stuff!'. I put it on my hair, my face, my body, my kids."

3. Stay natural. "I probably wouldn't do eyelash extensions or anything too experimental. I like to keep it simple."

4. Start with what's inside. "My mom's so great. She really is wonderful. The best beauty advice she's given me is that being happy always make you look a little bit better. Happiness is what she's most interested in for us and our bunch of boys."

5. Look Alive! "I'm the face of Allmay's Wake-Up collection. It feels cold on your skin, which is great. A makeup artist once told me that Paul Newman would dunk his face in ice water in the morning. Guys, They'd much rather stick their head in ice water than put makeup on. But I started doing it too!"

6. Doctor your products. "I mix exfoliator with cleanser to make it gentler. And when I wear lots of makeup, I use moisturizer underneath for that dewy look."


Source: Glamour

Beach Health Myths

Myth: You have to wait an hour after eating to swim

Truth: Yes, your stomach might protest with cramps and nausea if you hit the water right after eating a really big lunch, but a fully belly won't increase drowning risk. In fact, if you're swimming laps, a 100 calorie bite ten minutes beforehand will actually help fuel your workout.



Myth: Urinating on a jellyfish sting eases the pain

Truth: Pee won't help. Try vinegar; it deactivates the venom. As you pour, scrape off barbs with the edge of a credit card. Some stings are deadly. If you feel nauseated, head to the hospital.



Myth: Washing a cut in the ocean water will speed healing

Truth: Although clean salt water can kill many types of germs, the sea hosts a variety of bacteria. A very small number of which could cause infection if they were to get into an open wound. For that reason, you're better off rinsing a cut in clean tap or bottled water instead.

Source: Health Magazine