Upside-Down Yoga Isn't as Weird as It Looks

Hot yoga is so passe. Even floating yoga, or yoga on the water is, like, so last week! The latest craze is upside-down yoga, or AntiGravity Yoga. Sounds so Jetsons, right? Like you need to get in a space shuttle to do it, or go to one of those indoor skydiving spots. Child pose in midair?!

I know -- it's REALLY bizarre ... but I totally want to try it!!

You know those workouts that come along every couple of years that make it seem like you'll change your whole body and life with the help of some stupid accessory or fancy footwear ... but you're really just doing the same old cardio or weight-training or yoga? Yeah, I hate that kind of thing. But I don't see this being the same. Because Harrison explains that hanging upside-down balances out the body, enhances abdominal workouts, and opens up (decompresses) the spine. He even said his own mother, who suffered from back problems, has found success from doing the Cirque du Soleil-ish workout.

Read more: http://thestir.cafemom.com/healthy_living/124067/upsidedown_yoga_isnt_as_weird

The 'Chewing Diet' could be the next South Beach

Here's yet another reason to slow down at mealtimes: Chewing more could make you eat less.

A new study showed that participants who chewed about 2.5 times more than the typical 15 times caused them to eat almost 12 percent less calories. Do you know what this means? If further research produces similar results, it's only a matter of time before the "Chewing Diet" catches on among people looking to drop some poundage.

First, some explanation of the science behind the study: By comparing a group that chewed their food 40 times to a group that chewed it only 15 times, researchers found that more chewing showed lower blood levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone called ghrelin and higher levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone called CCK.

In other words, the group that chewed 40 times ate less calories because their brain told them to stop eating. The obvious takeaway from this study? More chewing could lead to significant weight loss.

Can you even imagine how potentially attractive a "Chewing Diet" could be to dieters? People could eat whatever they want -- cheeseburgers, French fries, cheesecake! -- as long as they chewed it a significant number of times. Along with nutritional information and calorie counts, menu offerings and groceries would come with a chewing label instructing people about how many times they need to chew it to lose weight.

Read more: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-chewing-diet-could-be-the-next-south-beach-2519828/

How Your Baby Learns to Love You

The answer that springs to mind may be the first day of preschool or kindergarten: the first time kids are in a classroom with a teacher. Or perhaps you’ve called to mind the toddler phase, when children are learning to walk, and talk, and eat with a fork. Maybe you’ve encountered the “Zero to Three” movement, which asserts that the most important years for learning are the earliest ones, so your answer to the question would be: Learning begins at birth.

The correct answer may surprise you. You may even find it implausible — though it’s supported by the latest research from biology and psychology. And that is that some of the most important learning we ever do happens before we’re born, in the womb. When we hold our babies for the first time, we might imagine that they are clean slates, unmarked by life — when in fact they have already been shaped by us, and by the particular environments we live in.

First of all, they learn the sound of their mothers’ voices. Because sounds from the outside world have to travel through the mother’s abdominal tissue and through the amniotic fluid that surrounds the fetus, the voices fetuses hear, starting around the fourth month, are muted and muffled. One researcher says that they probably sound a lot like the voice of Charlie Brown’s teacher in the Peanuts cartoons. But the pregnant woman’s own voice reverberates through her body, reaching the fetus much more readily, and because the fetus is always with her, it hears her voice a lot. Once it’s born, it recognizes the sound of her voice, and it prefers listening to her voice over anyone else’s.

How can we know this? Newborn babies can’t do much, but one thing they’re really good at is sucking. Researchers in these experiments rigged up a pair of rubber nipples so that if the baby sucks on one, it hears a recording of its mother’s voice through a pair of headphones. If it sucks on the other nipple, it hears the voice of a female stranger. Babies quickly make their preference known by choosing the first one.

Read more: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/how-your-baby-learns-to-love-you-and-more-in-the-womb-2518469/

Plus-size models wearing fat suits?

Plus-size models are certainly having a moment. After Italian Vogue featured three beautiful plus-size models on their June cover, the industry has been coming around to the idea that the public is ready for and asking that gorgeous, full-figured models have a significant place in fashion, beauty, and style. Great, right? Well, yes and no. The proliferation of plus-sized models may be a step in the right direction, but the fashion industry is just as fickle with the heavier models as it is with the skinnier ones.

Marquita Pring, who appeared on that June cover, admitted that she's worn thick foam padding under outfits to make her look heavier, rounder, and smoother. We can't win.Models are either too fat, too skinny, or now ... not fat enough? Pring, 20, says that the "fat suits" are good because she's able to work out and stay healthy, but retain her plus-size modeling gigs.

I thought we were getting to see some "real women" (I hate to use that phrase, but you know what I mean) in advertising, but we're not getting that at all. We're getting models wearing padded undergarments that add inches to their waist and thighs in one fell swoop. As with airbrushed regular models, we won't be seeing a real picture of plus-sized models because guess what: Advertisers don't want to show real fat, because, duh that's gross, so they'll use fake fat instead. Problem solved!

Read more: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/plus-size-models-wearing-fat-suits-are-new-fashion-low-2519062/

Drink wine, don't get sunburned?

Important health tip for the summer: Drink more wine! A better protection against harmful sunburns might be a healthy dose of SPF sauvignon blanc, suggests a new Spanish study.

A compound found in grapes or grape derivatives may protect skin cells from skin-damaging ultraviolet radiation, report researchers from the University of Barcelona and the Spanish National Research Council. The flavonoids found in grapes work to halt the chemical reaction that kills skin cells and causes sun damage.

Here's what happens: When UV rays hit your skin, they activate "reactive oxygen species," or ROS, which then oxidize big molecules like lipids and DNA. This activates particular enzymes that kill skin cells.

But grapes' flavonoids work to decrease the formation of the ROS's in skin cells that were exposed to UVA and UVB rays. The researchers, led by Marta Cascante, a biochemist at the University of Barcelona and director of the research project, note that this finding may lead to better sun-shielding drugs and cosmetics.

Read more: http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/01/7218394-drink-wine-dont-get-sunburned?gt1=43001

Top Sex Comedy Quotes

"That's what I love about high school girls, man. I keep getting older, they stay the same age." - David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) in "Dazed and Confused."

"Tattoo on the lower back? Might as well be a bull's-eye." - Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) in "Wedding Crashers."

"Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate." — Rachel Hansen (Chloe Moretz) in "(500) Days of Summer."

"My closest relationship is with my Blackberry. Thank God it vibrates!" - Kara Monahan (Jessica Biel) in "Valentine's Day."

"We are all programmed to believe that if a guy acts like a total jerk that means he likes you." – Gigi Phillips (Ginnifer Goodwin) in "He's Just Not That Into You."

"The good ones screw you, the bad ones screw you, and the rest don't know how to screw you." - Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) in "Sex and the City."

"I'll have what she's having." - Older woman customer (Estelle Reiner) in "When Harry Met Sally."

"See, when a girl decides that you're her friend, you're no longer a dating option. You become this complete non-sexual entity in her eyes, like her brother, or a lamp." – Chris Brander (Ryan Reynolds) in "Just Friends."

"I have a weakness for prostitutes – all kinds apparently." Stu (Ed Helms) in "The Hangover Part II."

Emma: "Congrats? For what, having sex with you?" Adam: "You did a good job, so... I thought you deserved a balloon."- Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) in "No Strings Attached."

"I gave him everything! I was half a virgin when I met him." - Regina George (Rachel McAdams) in "Mean Girls."

"When a girl tells you how many guys she's slept with, multiply it by three and that's the real number. Didn't you f--kers learn anything in college?" - Stifler (Sean William Scott) in "American Pie 2."

"Marriage is like a tense, unfunny version of 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' only it doesn't last 22 minutes. It lasts forever." - Pete (Paul Rudd) in "Knocked Up."

"I'm glad he's single because I'm going to climb that like a tree." - Megan (Melissa McCarthy) in "Bridesmaids."

More: http://photos.toofab.com/galleries/toofab_movie_quotes_romantic_comedy_lines#tab=most_recent&id=466943

The place men are most likely to cheat will surprise you

Do these women want your man?If you think your man is more likely to cheat at a bachelor party than anywhere else, think again. It's actually the wedding where your man is most likely to stray, especially if you aren't there. And after my wedding 8.5 years ago, I believe it.

The news comes after IllicitEncounters.com surveyed 2,000 cheating men and found that one third of them had cheated at a wedding where they had gone solo. So if you have ever sent your man to a friend's wedding alone, just hope he didn't do more than you know!
Here are the places men are most likely to cheat:

• Wedding: 32 percent
• Bachelor party: 27 percent
• Office Christmas party: 21 percent
• School reunion: 9 percent

Meanwhile, women thought their partner was most likely to cheat at these places:

• Office Christmas party: 37 percent
• Bachelor party: 35 percent
• School reunion: 17 percent
• Wedding: 11 percent

So, ladies, your men have picked the perfect place to cheat! It's the place you would never suspect. Grrr ... it makes sense, right? Weddings are the perfect pick-up place. People are in from out of town, they get close fast, drink together all night, and celebrate love.

Read more: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/the-place-men-are-most-likely-to-cheat-will-surprise-you-2517320/