Take ingredients. Put in a blender. Blend. Drink. Enjoy your new muscle. (more…)

American Idol: Great for your career, not always so great for your waistline.

During her 12 weeks on Season Five and through the three-month-long Idol tour last year, says runner-up Kellie Pickler, “I didn’t work out at all! I got really lazy and every time I’d walk by the catering table I’d grab a handful of M&Ms or some Twizzlers.

I wasn’t even hungry — I’d just eat because it was there. It was junk food heaven!” Before she knew it, the 5′1″ Pickler — who says that pre-ldol she would work out daily and run during the hour that Oprah was on TV — went from 103 lbs. to 125 lbs. (more…)

The Mediterranean Diet For centuries, the people of the Mediterranean have been eating a joyful, flavorful diet — one that happens to protect them against the chronic diseases of modern times: heart disease, adult-onset diabetes, stroke, and colon and other cancers.

In a recent Spanish study, men and women between 65 and 80 who followed the Mediterranean diet were 31 percent less likely to die over the next nine years, compared to those who did not.

The traditional diets of Greece, southern Italy, southern France, Spain, Portugal, and even Turkey and Israel are rich in bread, grains, beans, fish, vegetables, some red meat, fruits, and olive oil, but they contain little ice cream, or highly processed snack foods. (more…)

Getting breast surgery tends to improve women’s mental health, two recent studies suggest. One, published in Plastic Surgical Nursing, found a significant correlation between breast augmentation and increased self-esteem.

In the other study, focusing on breast reduction, 20 women took a series of psychological tests when they first consulted a surgeon about the operation. Twenty percent of them had been treated for depression in the past, although none were depressed at that time.

Four months after the procedure, every dimension of the patients’ quality of life that the researchers measured had improved significantly — including anxiety, ability to sleep, and attitude about appearance — and the women generally felt that their hopes and expectations for the surgery had been fulfilled. (more…)

Acne can usually be treated with a combination of benzoyl peroxide plus antibiotics, but prolonged use can lead to antibiotic resistance. A new combination product in development avoids that problem.

Doctors assigned 26 patients with mild to moderate acne to apply benzoyl peroxide plus butenifine (an antifungal agent that activates benzoyl peroxide) or only benzoyl peroxide for eight weeks.

The patients who used the combination treatment had significantly greater reductions in blackheads, acne lesions, acne severity, and facial oiliness than did the ones who used just benzoyl peroxide. (Overall, the combination group had a nearly 64 percent decrease in blackheads, as opposed to about 16 percent in the standard group.) (more…)

Monique Imes (a.k.a. Mo’Nique) is fat – and that’s not bad. Mo’Nique, a size 20 and loving it, says she sees herself more like, “Fabulous and thick. Full and tasty. Fluffy and tender. When you say fat, you have to smile.â€?

Not only that, Mo’Nique, 39, is out to prove big girls have more fun – and her success would seem to prove her point.

She hosts a plus-size beauty pageant called Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance, whose third season premiers July 28 on Oxygen, and taught etiquette on VH1’s recent Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School. (more…)

Physically fit pregnant women have less back pain, easier delivery and better metabolic health. Most fit women can continue training during pregnancy (with some modifications), but untrained women should begin conservatively and do only mild- to moderate-intensity exercise.

Pregnant women should avoid exercises that might traumatize the fetus (unborn baby), trigger high body temperatures or compromise blood flow to the fetus.

During weight training, avoid exercises that challenge balance and require good hip mechanics, such as lunges, squats and barbell lifts off the floor (e.g., deadlifts and cleans). (more…)

What is laser hair removal? “A laser is an intense single wavelength of light that transfers its energy to a target. In this case the target is the melanin in the hair root,” says Dr. Yael Halaas, NYC facial plastic and laser surgeon. The energy reaches the hair follicle and stops hair growth. (more…)