SPF The Higher The Better???

Last year, Coppertone rolled out two easy-to-use sprays with its highest-ever sun protection factor: SPF 70+. Not to be outdone, Neutrogena offered its Ultra Sheer Dry-Touch lotion in SPF 85 strength, that year’s big gun.

This sun season, Banana Boat is retaliating with a pair of SPF 85 sprays, which it trumpets on its Web site as “our highest SPF level in a continuous spray formula.”

But now, SPF creep has hit the triple digits with Neutrogena’s SPF 100+ sunblock, leading some dermatologists to complain that this is merely a numbers game that confuses consumers.

The parade of stratospheric SPFs is “crazy,” said Dr. Barbara A. Gilchrest, a dermatology professor at Boston University School of Medicine. “For a normal person who is fair-skinned and concerned about skin damage and photoaging,” Dr. Gilchrest said, “it’s really in my opinion tremendous overkill.”

A sunscreen’s SPF number is calculated by comparing the time needed for a person to burn unprotected with how long it takes for that person to burn wearing sunscreen. So a person who turns red after 20 minutes of unprotected sun exposure is theoretically protected 15 times longer if they adequately apply SPF 15. Because a lot of sunscreens rub off or don’t stay put, dermatologists advise reapplication every two hours or after swimming or sweating.

“As you get higher and higher, it’s not really a practical difference,” said Dr. David M. Pariser, the president of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Consumers should worry more about wearing enough sunscreen, several doctors said, rather than how high their SPF is.

Skimp and you lose. To get the SPF advertised, you must use a full shot glass on your body. That’s an ounce, which means a three-ounce tube should last, at most, a few outings.

Yoga For Plus Size Bodies Has Arrived

Typically, yoga studios are not havens for plus size bodies.  It's not easy twisting into a pretzel when you're large.  But all that's changing.  

If you've always wanted to try yoga but were ashamed, now there is Buddha Body Yoga, one of many yoga classes for people of size.  Check outMegaYoga at East West Yoga in Manhattan, HeavyWeight Yoga in Austin, Tex., and Yoga for Round Bodies at Whole Life Yoga in Seattle.

Buddha Body Yoga is not for people of all shapes and sizes. “It’s only for big people,” said Michael Hayes, the owner of Buddha Body Yoga.

“I’m not interested in teaching small people,” said Mr. Hayes, 49, who has been teaching the Manhattan class for five years. “There are so many other classes for them.”

Mr. Hayes, who is 5-foot-11 and weighs 250 pounds, said that the concern goes beyond feeling bad because you don’t look like the 22-year-old actress on the next mat.  Yoga classes, even beginner courses, don’t address the needs of big bodies, he said. 

The owner of Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, Tracy Weber, believes that courting people with less-than-Olympian physiques is the future of yoga.  

“My dream is to have my students go into a regular class and just blow people away,” Mr. Hayes said.

For more on Buddha Body Yoga click here. 

Detox - What Is It and Does It Work?

What do you do when you desperately want to change how you feel?  When you want the cough you've had for 12 weeks to go away. When you want to wake up feeling less tired than when you went to bed.   Elle UK editor, Lorraine Candy was determined to find the answers.  She says "I work hard and my life is stressful.  Everything happens at lightening speed, and I'm always on fast-forward".  Lorraine is like so many of us Real Cougars who are living similar lifestyles.

Lorraine ended up at London's Hale Clinic.  She began working with Dirk Budka, a micro-biologist specializing in nutrition and immune biology who hates the word detox.

He explains that the amount and growth of bacteria in a person's system influences the way their body works. 'We are more bacteria than human,' he tells Lorraine. He believes if you know your bacterial make-up, you can work out the exact nutrition your system requires to work optimally.

Lorraine went through a battery of tests and then Dirk created an individually tailored program designed to work with her exact body composition.  He told her to be patient explaining that "you can't change the way the body works in less than six weeks.  It takes that long to reboot your system".

Lorraine left the clinic armed with a course of probiotics and other remedies for her reboot. To find out what happened in the next six weeks and her ultimate outcome click here for the complete story.

Hydroxycut Forced To Recall Products

Today government health officials warned dieters and body builders to immediately stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold upplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at least one death.

The Food and Drug Administration said the maker of the dietary supplement has agreed to recall 14 Hydroxycut products. Available in grocery stores and pharmacies including Walgreens, Target and The Vitamin Shoppe, Hydroxycut is advertised as made from natural ingredients. At least 9 million packages were sold last year, the FDA said.

Dr. Linda Katz of the FDA's food and nutrition division said the agency has received 23 reports of liver problems, including the death of a 19-year-old boy living in the Southwest. 

Other patients experienced symptoms ranging from jaundice, or yellowing of the skin, to liver failure. One received a transplant and another was placed on a list to await a new liver.

Health officials said they have been unable to determine which Hydroxycut ingredients are potentially toxic, partially because the formulation of the products has changed several times. A medical journal report last month raised questions about one ingredient, hydroxycitric acid, derived from a tropical fruit. The article said it could potentially damage the liver.

Real Cougar - Marilu Henner

I am excited - this Friday, May 1st Marilu Henner will be our special guest on The Real Cougar Woman Unleashed radio show. She has lots of great stories and tips on how to stay fabulous over 50.  You won't want to miss it.  Listen to the live broadcast, where you will be able to call in and chat with Marilu, or catch the podcast right here on this blog.

Marilu is well-known for her many leading roles on television, in feature films, and on the stage. Her breakthrough as an actress came in the late 1970s, when she starred as Elaine Nardo in James L. Brooks' hit TV series Taxi. She later starred in Evening Shade, a CBS sitcom that also starred Burt Reynolds.

She has been one busy gal appearing in more than 30 films with such leading men as Richard Gere, John Travolta, Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Keaton, and Tom Berenger.  But her first professional acting work came on stage as Marty in the touring company of Grease, a role she later played on Broadway. Ms. Henner has continued to take roles in musicals, playing to rave reviews following Anne Reinking as Roxie Hart in the 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago, and later as Annie Oakley in the national touring company of Annie Get Your Gun.

Ballroom dancing — as well as ballet, tap, jazz and modern— has been part of Marilu's life ever since her childhood in Chicago. Her love of dance goes hand-in-hand with her work on health and fitness. She offersonline nutrition and fitness classes at (www.marilu.com), hosts a new television series called Shape Up Your Life for the Discovery Networks, and has written a series ofNew York Times best-selling books on the subject.

So you see Marilu has lots to talk about.  Don't forget to listen this Friday at 11AM EDT. 

Real Cougars Will Love This - Exercise Not Necessary!

Are you ready to burn calories without  the exercise?  Is it really possible not to move your butt off the sofa and still reap the benefits of a good workout?  Apparently it is and it's called the infrared sauna.  This particular type of sauna is cooler than regular saunas (around 140 degrees).  This means you can stay in longer, allowing the heat to raise your core body temperature. If you stay in one these saunas for 30 to 40 minutes it will have the same effect on your metabolism as 30 to 40 minutes of exercise. 

The research shows that by using the infrared sauna you can burn as many as 300 to 600 calories during one sauna session. This is because of the sweating process itself, plus creating an increased heart rate. 

An infrared sauna assists in weight loss in three significant ways: 

1. It effectively reduces heavy metals which have been directly related to metabolic imbalances in the body causing poor digestion and weight gain.
2. It decreases fat stored (lipophilic) toxins. Often weight loss cannot be accomplished unless these toxins are first removed.
3. Although weight loss due to perspiration (water loss) is quickly regained, sending more blood to the capillaries and converting fats and carbohydrates results in as much as 600 calories burned during one short sauna session.

To tell you the truth, I won't be giving up my exercise routine any time soon. You know what they say about something that sounds too good to be true! 

Real Cougars - Blame It On Stress

During these tough economic times our stress levels are going through the roof.  We are stressing out about everything and our bodies are suffering.  All that psychological anxiety is turning into physical pain and illness.  That's why everyone you talk to these days is complaining about an ache, a pain, or a flu that won't go away.   

When we are stressed out our adrenal glands pump extra adrenaline, cortisol and other hormones that make our muscles tense up, our digestive tract slow down, our blood vesssels constrict and our hearts beat faster.  Is it any wonder we end up with migraine headaches, clenched jaws, knots in our necks and shoulders and pain in our lower back. How many of these symptoms are you feeling?

Stress also creates biochemical changes that affect our immune system making us prime targests for a host of other problems.  Did you know that stress is killing off our brains cells?  Maybe that's why we are running into so many people lately who have lost their ability to think clearly.

What can we do about reducing our stress levels? Here are some of the ways:

Exercise - it releases endorphins and uses up excess adrenaline & cortisol

Get more sleep - try listening to a guided meditation when you go to bed

Eat healthier - when we are stressed we go right for junk food - don't do it

Focus your thoughts on things that make you feel good - not on things that are stressful

I am using all four of these stress busters and they do work if you use them consistently. Start incorporating them into your daily lifestyle.  Another thing that helps is a really good massage.  It gets rid of the toxic buildup in your body.  These days a massage isn't a luxury it's a necessity.      

Real Cougars Make Sure You Get Screened

Here’s another good reason for women to get regular cancer screenings: doctors may be able to catch ovarian cancer in its early stages in postmenopausal women.  That's important because if it's caught early it can be successfully treated.

There are currently no perfect tests to detect ovarian cancer, but British doctors who published their new ongoing study in The Lancet Oncology say their research shows that among postmenopausal women who were screened for ovarian cancer by a blood test, then a scan, or by transvaginal ultrasound scan, almost half the cancers were detected before the disease spread past the pelvis.

This may not be the greatest news, but in my book, any progress in the detection of this killer disease is a step forward. 

Every year when I go for my PAP Smear I also get a transvaginal ultrasound scan.  It's painless and it makes me feel I am doing everything I can to take care of myself. I also ask for a CA-125 test as part of my routine blood test. You have to ask your doctor for this because it's not done automatically.  I would suggest the CA-125 if you have a history of ovarian cancer in your family or you are experiencing changes in your body such as bloating or abdominal  discomfort.  

Calcium - Cancer Connection

  A new study shows that  women who got the most calcium from food and supplements had a 16% lower risk of colorectal and other cancers of the digestive system than those who got the least calcium.

Calcium is already known to boost bone health, but researchers say previous studies on calcium’s effect on cancer have produced mixed results.

“Our study suggests that calcium intake is associated with a lower risk of total cancer and cancers of the digestive system, especially colorectal cancer,” write researcher Yikyung Park, ScD, of the National Cancer Institute and colleagues in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine recommends 1,200 milligrms of calcium per day for women over 50.  Just so you have a reference one 8 ounce serving of skim milk or yogurt contains about 300 milligrams,  Other nondairy sources of calcium include beans, broccoli, spinach and other green leafy vegetables.

This is good news for us Real Cougars.  If you are not already taking 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day, talk to your doctor about starting.  Make sure you also add magnesium and vitamin D3 to that protoocol.  They are necessary for absorption. 

Real Cougar Alert - Hormone Replacement May Help Fight Off Ovarian Cancer

Finally, some good news for women who are heavier and taking hormone replacement.  

According to researchers at the National Cancer Institute obese older women who never took postmenopausal hormones are at almost double the risk of developing ovarian cancer than their peers who are thinner.

These findings add to an ongoing scientific controversy over the potential association between body weight and ovarian cancer. “We speculate that what may be driving the increased risk among the obese is the surplus estrogenproduced by the fat cells in the body,” said Dr. Michael F. Leitzmann, a former investigator at the National Cancer Institute and first author of the paper.

The study looked at 94,525 women ages 50 to 71. Over a seven-year period, 303 of the women developed ovarian cancer. Overall, women who were obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or more (isn't that 90% of all us women over 50), were 1.26 times more likely to develop cancer than those of normal weight.  Those are the women having a B.M.I. under 25.

But, in a subgroup of women who had never used hormone replacement therapy, obese women were 1.83 times more likely to have developed the cancer than women of normal weight.

Among those who had taken hormones, there was no association between B.M.I. and ovarian cancer, the study found.

Interesting - don't you think?