It’s that time of year again, when you start to see women and girls with a deep, dark island tan. Even though it’s only just barely spring. Today I saw a billboard for a local tanning salon chain. Some advertising/ marketing/ PR spin master with absolutely no morals or ethics has come up with the brilliant idea of promoting tanning beds as a Fun! and Exciting Way! to GET YOUR VITAMIN D. I threw up a little bit in the back of my mouth when I saw that.

It’s a well-known fact that your body does generate Vitamin D with exposure to sunlight. Whether or not artificial ultraviolet rays also accomplish this is beyond me and beside the point, the point being: TANNING BEDS ARE DANGEROUS AND THE TAN IS UGLY ANYWAY. (See also: photo of La Lohan above.)

Lest you think I am one of those overly cautious Chicken Littles that goes out with SPF 50 and a big hat, let me assure you that I am not. Against the advice of all the most knowledgeable experts, I love the sun. As a teen living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I was a world-class tanner and sunscreen was absolutely for amateurs. I’ve never worried a whole lot about what tanning would do to my skin because my mother has also been a sun-worshipper her whole life and if you think I look young for 41, you should see her. She’s 66 and doesn’t look a day over 55. So I figure good genes count for…oh, pretty much everything. Although I have wizened somewhat with age and do use a low-digit sunscreen now.

So understand that my opinion of tanning beds is coming from a self-proclaimed life-long tanner. After the jump: My tanning bed experience.

Read the rest of this entry »

Maybe I thought yoga was enough. Maybe I’ve been deluding myself that all of those Starbucks mochas are actually about caffeine and not chocolate sauce. But whatever it is, it ended Monday, when I finally went back to serious aerobic exercise, weights and strength-building. And I don’t mind telling you: I’m in agony.

Maybe not that bad, but after I ran just two measly sets of steps at the gym this morning (at, yes, 5:45 AM!), I could barely breathe, and by the time I got to work, I was glad to be able to just sit down. But it’s a start, and I’m going back out there tomorrow morning, when, I’m sure, it will be dark and — oh, yeah — raining.

So how do you get through this beginning-again pain? Does lots of water, lots of Advil or lots of wine make a difference for you? Maybe it’s my music … this morning, it was a barely audible radio. If you’ve got advice (and don’t tell me it’s just my age), let me hear it.

OK, so with the new year, I’m all into Dr. Oz’s anti-aging regimen, and you’ve already helped me find a green tea I love. Now the question is about natural deodorant.

No, it probably won’t make me look any younger, but there’s some evidence that the paraben preservatives in mainstream deodorants can become like estrogen and may (may, it’s not proven yet) be a factor in breast cancer. Shaving often only aggravates the problem, according to this short magazine story. And you could probably guess that anything that keeps you from sweating isn’t going to be great for you in the long term

But friends, Tom’s of Maine Calendula deodorant flat doesn’t work. It’s sticky going on, and has an OK scent, but as the day wears on, the, um, scent doesn’t help.

So what natural deodorants do you use, and what do you like?

Because I don’t already have enough to worry about, I’ve decided to read Dr. Oz’s latest, YOU: Staying Young, his anti-aging book, and see if I can slow down what he says doesn’t have to be an inevitable decline. Actually, there’s all kinds of fascinating stuff here, even for those of us who keep up with health and nutrition news and try to take care of ourselves. I’ll be writing about my adventures in staying young, and Dr. Oz’s 14-Day Plan, in the coming weeks. (You’ll also want to look at RealAge.com, a companion site to the book with all sorts of cool quizzes, blogs, and info on everything from better sex to flossing the right way. More on my RealAge discoveries later.)

But today, I’m thinking about green tea. As you probably already know, green tea has powerful anti-oxidants, which help fight bad cell growth and can keep LDL (that’s the bad kind) of cholesterol down. Dr. Oz recommends drinking as much as you want. So I’m trying, but here’s the problem: To me, most green teas I try don’t really taste like much (except bitter). I’ve tried Lipton and Constant Comment. Like the Tazo version they serve at Starbucks, but I’d really like to brew this at home.

What green tea do you like, and how do you drink it? 

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 »