Archive for the ‘Healthy Self’ Category
It’s always an amazing day, and this year’s Race for the Cure more than lived up to my expectation: more pink-clad racers, walkers and survivors than ever (The CA said more than 14,700 signed up), with more than $900,000 raised. My favorite sight this year: That terrific guy Ron Olson (that’s us, left) put on a pink skirt in honor of the new Skirt! magazine! Be sure to see more of Ron’s great legs in our November issue, out Wednesday, and you can hear me talk to Ron and Karen every Thursday morning about things both Diva and Skirt! on FM-100.
Other happy sights … Read the rest of this entry »
What is it about this time of year? In my column Sunday, I mentioned a few of my friends who had recently gotten diagnoses of breast cancer, and today I heard from an old friend in the fight who, I’m sorry to say, is wrestling with another chapter of her breast cancer drama. When she saw yesterday on Oprah that Dr. Oz was interviewing “cancer patients who are dying pretty soon, I thought I simply couldn’t watch it. I am too emotional right now, too vulnerable … But, Leanne, I’m so glad I did. Because they were so strong, so together, as to what’s important in this life, that it just gave me resolve to nag the crap out of women to get their damn mammograms.”
In what I can’t imagine is a coincidence, one of the women on Oprah was Kris Carr, author of “Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips” (a Skirt! book; read more here) and queen of a burgeoning movement to empower women with scary diagnoses (as well as young women with cancer) to take the fight into their own hands. My only quibble … Read the rest of this entry »
On the heels of the story about the British woman who went 40 days without beauty products or bathing comes this story about a new study that says breast cancer could be linked to deodorant usage — particularly those deodorants/antiperspirants that rely heavily on aluminum (the study says the average antiperspirant is 90 percent aluminum).
Antiperspirant is mainly made up from aluminium salts which have long been associated with cancer, as well as other human disease and the daily application of aluminium-based antiperspirants could possibly result in the presence of aluminium in the tissue of the underarm and surrounding areas.
I’m always skeptical of these short, soundbyte-ready studies, but I’m also skeptical that every FDA-approved chemical we routinely apply to our bodies is truly safe in the long run. So, it doesn’t hurt to ask: Am I doing what’s best for my body? Of course, with all these inconclusive studies, it’s hard to tell. But if you’re feeling skittish, there are alternatives.
I’ve always wanted to take a two-week vacation. One week just doesn’t cut it. You arrive with all kinds of hopes and plans, and all of the sudden it’s Wednesday, and you’re staring at the end of the week and starting to think about packing up.
But this year, we did it. Two weeks at the beach. Two weeks of island living. No McDonald’s. No chain hotels. No traffic. No alarm clocks. Who needs a watch? Who needs a hair dryer? We slathered on 50 sunscreen and spent most of our time outside. Yes, it was hot on Dauphin Island, Ala., but not as hot as it was here. And if it’s going to be hot, I’d rather be at the beach.
Re-entry has been a little rough.
Imagine it: Twenty-four hours without brushing your teeth, taking a shower, or washing your face. Then forty-eight hours. Then five days. Then ten. By that time, your teeth are probably coated in a gritty film, your armpits itchy, your face slick with oil, and your hair is (depending on the texture and presence of natural oils, of course) may be greasy and flat. You’re covered in dirt and soot from the time you spend outside every day. You probably don’t smell too great, either, from the bacteria swimming in the caked-up oils on your skin.
You’re probably grumpy, too, because you feel gross and smelly and anti-social.
Imagine, then, going forty days without grooming.
Sound impossible? Or at least very icky? Well, there’s no need to try it (like you were leaping out of your chair to do so anyway), because a British woman has already performed this grand experiment.
