June-July 2002 Newsletter

Happy Summer to All of you! It's been two months since my last newsletter and a lot of things had happened, so just sit down, bring your beer and start reading! (Oh, you don't drink beer??? Good! That was  just a test if you have been reading my write ups and advice... ). So lets start nicely, chronologically...

If you remember, I was getting ready for my May contests. I competed May 11 in Hayward, northern California, in Contra Costa bodybuilding championship. I was 168 lbs on stage. When I started my diet in January, I was around 193 lbs. I was in my best shape ever for this contest season, even though I must admit that I looked my best about 4 weeks out. Then I started to play around too much with my carbs, cutting them too low, my body was getting too stressed out and started to resist... And the more I was stressing out about it, the more my body resisted. In the Contra Costa contest, I was holding water, because I repeated a mistake that I've done before, but forgot about it... I cut my water too much too early. I drank only about a gallon on Friday before my contest, in early hours, and then cut the water out. My body doesn't like no water... it started to hold it, and by the evening on Friday I was feeling like a balloon...  :-)  A nice, brown, tanned, balloon, with braids. I released some water until the next day, but as I said, I think I looked better 4 weeks out.

After the contest, I was driving back home to LA, while stuffing myself with muffins, peanut butter, nuts, cookies, etc... the 450 miles drive took me about 4.5 hours, talk about "cruising", huh? I went straight to the gym to do some cardio and get rid of the fluffiness from all the food. I was 182 lbs, 14 lbs more than on a contest day. Wow, wow...

The next following 3 days I was working my ass off to get my body back to normal, because I had scheduled photo shoot with Bill Dobbins, on Wednesday, and with Nathan Long on Thursday. I got it somehow right, but not too perfect. The shoot with Bill was great, we were doing some pictures under the water and I think we got some great material. When they will be available on my (and Bill's site) I will let you know. He's far behind his schedule, so it's been taking a while.

The shoot on Thursday with Nathan (Heroine Film productions) was fun too... it was more "the girl next door" type shoot (besides some cute nude photos, but hey, who says that the next door girl cannot be nude in the bed???) and I have some samples here in the newsletter and more hopefully soon, even for sale.

Now, the next contest was the California State Championship, May 25. I was 170 lbs on stage, and looking at the pictures from the stage, I guess I was the smallest one in the open heavy weight. And probably the only natural person there  :-)  I did better with my water this time, I was drinking through the whole contest and it works better for my body. I've learned from these two contests that it doesn't work for me so well to carb deplete and carb load... it just stressed out my body, it doesn't know what to do with so many carbs. I think that the balance works much better for me... Well, that's what I promote as well: Balance in life, and here it is again.

After the California contest, I stuffed myself with anything I saw, and gained 17.5 lbs in two days. I was 187.5 lbs on Monday. Trying to go back to the gym, but feeling really tired and all my joints were hurting and when I visited my acupuncture doctor, he mentioned that my body was run down to the ground and I should take a break... Thinking about it, for 16 weeks, I was doing 2 hours cardio 7 days a week, and weights 6 days a week. It's about 30 hours of training a week, it's like a part time job. So I am not surprised that I got a bit tired... So I listened to the doc and took off for the entire week. I don't even remember when I had a week off last time... And I allowed myself to indulge in all the foods I want, for the whole week. I don't even think you want to hear what I've eaten... in a few days, 7 lbs of dried fruit and nuts (you know, I am a Costco shopper!), cookies, ice cream, more pounds of nuts... etc. I attended two nice parties, with lots of food and pies. After the week off, on Monday, I stepped on the scale and I thought I would faint. The scale tipped at 196 lbs... holy poop!!! OK, now I am back to my diet and training. I dropped 11 lbs in two days, as you can see, lot of my weight was water, but then it went slow. It's been 3 weeks since then and I am back to my more-normal-self. I am down to 176.5 lbs and feeling light and lean - now it's fun to run on the beach again.

In the beginning of July, I participated in a teleconference with some impressive ladies... Divas in Training... 33 women of all ages, shapes, and life styles... All with a similar goal: for specific amount of weeks they are 100% focused on getting in shape. It's like a contest preparations for them. All are coached by David Greenwalt C.S.C.S. (http://www.thepowerstore.com) That day, I was a "topic" of their weekly teleconference, talking about my training and life style and beliefs... It was an amazing experience, mostly because all the "girls" were so motivated, so positive and so determined to reach their goals. And even though at that occasion I was their motivation, I must say that it was a mutual experience. It does not matter in what shape you are, or what your fitness goal is, we all must work hard, stay persistent and determined and believe in ourselves. And then we get what we want. I just wanted to say "You go, girls!!!" and good luck to your all, divas in training. You and your coach has done an excellent work.

In the middle of June, I got a tip from Brenda Kelly (thanks girl!), a beautiful fitness pro, about a sci-fi movie with amazon women. The casting was done, but the producer wanted to see me anyway, and I think he was pleased with what he saw and I got a part in the movie, a satire, "The Interplanetary Surplus Male and Amazon Women From Venus". I will be a Head Fighter Pilot, Tilea (Tee-lay-ah), a tough and imposing military figure. Tilea‚s name was taken from Zsa Zsa Gabor‚s character in the sci-fi cult classic "Queen Of Outer Space",  released over 40 years ago.
 

The movie sounds like a lot of fun, here is a little description: "The Surplus Male is a social satire disguised as a sex comedy... or the other way around, reminiscent of sci-fi potboilers of the Œ50‚s and Œ60‚s. It is also a spoof of low-budget film making that is totally self-aware of itself, appealing not only to the science-fiction community who will recognize the obvious references but to fans of movies like "Airplane", John Landis‚ "Amazon Women on the Moon." and "Scary Movie" who will appreciate the out-of-character responses to the obvious jokes.

Our outrageously preposterous story begins on Earth with Harvey Kirk. He is a science fiction fan as well as a cultured and well-bred physics professor whose debunking of the physical impossibilities of interstellar space travel is well known. He is also a compulsive womanizer. His marriage remains stable only because his wife, Barbara, one of his former PhD students in astrophysics, clings to the belief of a happy hearth, home and family* although they have yet to have any children.

Unbeknownst to him, Harvey has been scrutinized by an alien race of superior women* Amazons if you will* who see him as a likely prospect in their thousand year quest to find an appropriate subject each millennia to impregnate their population and give birth to a new generation.

Barbara is coerced to hide in the trunk of her husband‚s car so she can catch him in the act of promiscuity. Instead, the two of them end up being abducted by a huge Amazon mother ship and spirited away to galactic parts unknown.

Upon reaching the mysterious planet, Barbara is shuttled aside while Harvey is welcomed with pomp and circumstance. He is treated like a king and his "subjects" appear to have stepped out of every magazine dedicated to the beauty of the female form imaginable... glamour queens, fitness queens, even bodybuilding queens.

Barbara undergoes a startling transformation under the Amazon‚s tutelage all the while planning their getaway as Harvey soon realizes that his Paradise is not all it‚s cracked up to be. Escape becomes a priority before he is turned into a permanent display in the Amazon‚s  'Hall of Kings'.

After a sudden uprising by Amazonian dissidents, Barbara and Harvey get out of the castle. Their escape is thwarted by the dissidents, who only want the same rights as their sisters, and see them as allies. Using an abandoned space station as their headquarters they are soon discovered by the Queen and her soldiers. They are all brought back to the planet to suffer summary executions.

The "Beast in the Pit", a creature the Amazon hierarchy worship as a god, escapes when the executions are disrupted by Barbara‚s ingenuity. In the chaos, the dissidents help the couple succeed in their escape back to Earth where Harvey, realizing that he must be careful what he wishes for, comes to terms with his wife who has adopted a new way to deal with her life...

... And the search goes on.
 

The shoot starts July 7 for  a week, and then another 2 weeks in August.  July 6th, we have a little "get-together", all the amazons, camera crews from Surplus male and Beautifitgym , photographers and media and PR people - Ironman Magazine , Flex Magazine , Ralph Dehaan, Bill Dobbins etc. We'll meet at the gym - Lou Gaudio's Health and Day Spa - for a few hours of training, shooting, sexy dressing, mingling and having fun... Other amazon girls in the movie are going to be: Valentina Chepiga, Timea Majorova, Cynthia Bridges, Sherry Goggins, Lauren Powers, Gayle Moyer, Nicole Rollolazo, Carmen Garcia, Kat Meyers, Brenda Kelly, Viviana Soldano, Kim Dolan, and KC Cavanah. The camera crews will be there. The media will be represented by taking the promotional stills.

And to finish all the news for this newsletter, I have a little funny story... I bought a nice tight sexy black dress, that is a little bit too long (under the knees). Of course I want to reveal more of my legs, so I took it to the tailor... a sweet Russian lady with a sweet Russian accent. I told her that I want to make the dress shorter, so she made me to put it on and put in on the pedestal an started to put the nails there to see where to cut it and how it would look like. And I was telling her that it's still too long, I want it shorter. And she was trying to convince me that it's not going to be nice... I showed here where I want to have the dress to reach and she was pointing on my legs just above my knees, with her cute little Russian accent telling me that it's no good... it doesn't look good... pointing in my outer quadriceps... She wanted to hide the muscle, and I wanted to show the muscle... She said "it's no good, doesn't look good" and I said, "yes it does,  I like my muscular legs"... so for a while, we were debating if the my wonderful "sweep" looks good or not... and then she gave up and made the dress as short as I wanted it... moaning and mumbling... I realized, that it is really very relative, what we think is beautiful and what is not...

It's like with everything in life... We need to be careful, not to judge people, for any reason... We all have different views, beliefs, values and expectations. Who says that our is  the "right" one? Stay open-minded and listen to other people and learn from everybody. Expand your horizons.

OK, not lets expand our horizons and lets talk about summer and the beautiful half-naked bodies walking around and all that fun stuff... How's your diet and your training? All of us are more motivated to get in shape for the summer, and all of us want to do it quickly. Just remember, there are no short cuts... hard work, discipline, motivation and persistence. Let me present an article here about all the promises and myths about weight loss...

If you still haven't got your hands on my  video "The Lioness" , it's here, it's back in the stock...
 

Paunch Lines: Weight Loss Claims Are No Joke For Dieters

Are you one of the estimated 50 million Americans who will go on a diet this year? If so, you may be tempted by advertisements for products promising easy, quick ways to lose weight. You should know that when it comes to losing weight, gimmicks usually don't deliver on their promises.

While some dieters succeed in taking off weight, perhaps as few as five percent manage to keep it off in the long run. Most experts agree that the best way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories and burn more energy by increasing physical activity. Experts suggest aiming for a goal loss of about a pound a week. This usually means cutting about 500 calories a day from your diet, eating healthy, low-fat foods, finding a regular exercise activity you enjoy, and sticking to it. When it comes to evaluating claims for weight loss products, the Federal Trade Commission recommends a healthy portion of skepticism. Before you spend money on products or programs that promise fast or easy weight loss, weigh the claims and consider these tips:

· "Lose 30 Pounds in Just 30 Days." As a rule, the faster you lose weight, the more likely you are to gain it back. Also, fast weight loss could harm your health. Unless your doctor advises it, don‚t look for programs that promise quick weight loss.

· "Lose All the Weight You Can For Just $39.99." Some weight loss programs have hidden costs. For example, some don‚t advertise the fact that you must buy their prepackaged meals that cost more than the program fees. Before you sign up for any weight loss program, ask for all the costs. Get them in writing.

· "Lose Weight While You Sleep." Claims for diet products and programs that promise weight loss without effort are phony.

· "Lose Weight And Keep It Off For Good." Be suspicious about products promising long-term or permanent weight loss. To lose weight and keep it off, you must change how you eat and how much you exercise.

· "John Doe Lost 84 Pounds in Six Weeks." Don‚t be misled by someone else‚s weight loss claims. Even if the claims are true, someone else‚s success may have little relation to your own chances of success.

· "Scientific Breakthrough...Medical Miracle." There are no miracle weight loss products. To lose weight, you have to reduce your intake of calories and increase your physical activity. Be skeptical about exaggerated claims.

Hmmm... if it would be so easy to loose weight, everybody would be walking around with a nice six-pack and separated quadriceps and striated glutes...
 
 

Ten POWER FOODS
by Cathryn Majorossy

Salmon- Salmon is an excellent source of protein and high in Omega 3 fatty acids which help you body function optimally!

Spinach- Spinach is high in vitamins A and C as well as folate. It's a good source of fiber and it may also help reduce the risk of several diseases such as cancer and age-related macular degeneration of the eye!

Almonds- You may already enjoy them in your cereal or as a snack but you probably don't know just how good almonds are. Each ounce of almonds contains a good amount of the antioxidant vitamin E, 6 grams of protein and no cholesterol. Almonds are also an excellent source of magnesium and offer calcium, fiber, the B vitamin folate and phosphorus. Almonds also supply you with monounsaturated fat- the "good" fat associated with decreased heart disease risk.

Cranberries- Cranberries are high in cancer fighting anti-oxidants, and have been used to treat bacterial infections including kidney and urinary tract.

Wheat Germ- Wheat Germ is the "heart" of the wheat kernel - a concentrated source of several essential nutrients including Vitamin E, folate (folic acid), phosphorous, thiamin, zinc and magnesium.

Beans- Beans give your body a boost providing a good source of fiber, complex carbohydrates, and protein! Toss them in a salad or with your favorite veggies!

Extra Lean Ground Beef- Lean beef is full of power packed nutrients especially iron, protein & creatine.. all the muscle building components you need!

Eggs- Eggs contains a wide array of necessary nutrients. Egg protein is of such high quality that it is often used as the standard by which other protein is measured. Egg protein contains all the essential amino acids (building blocks of protein which the body needs but cannot make) in a pattern that matches very closely the pattern the body needs. An egg contains varying amounts of 13 vitamins plus many minerals. An egg yolk is one of the few foods which contain vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin.

Tomatoes- Researchers have found that tomatoes and tomato-based products can reduce your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and several other chronic illnesses. The lycopene contained in these products can be a useful tool for people trying to stay healthy.

Oatmeal- Oatmeal is a good source of complex carbohydrates providing your body with sustained energy and good fiber!

Sun Tanning, bad or good???
 

Well, you who know me, you know that I LOVE the sun, and lay out like a big cat and get my tan... outdoors on indoors... All of my close friends are "nagging" me about my sun-love... Maybe they are right, at least I should use a bit sun screen? I just believe that proper nutrition and healthy life style heals everything... But that's what I truly believe, and not everybody can agree with me. I don't even expect that... but here is a collection of a few write ups about sun and sun tanning and how bad or good it is for us. The literature reveals many contradictions... You make your own opinion and your choice.
 
 
 

Sunshine
by Neil Nedley, M.D., Taken from his book, "Proof Positive"
 

Sunshine has gotten a bad rap. It is true that excessive ultraviolet light
from sunshine can increase the risk of skin cancer and cataracts, but
judicious amounts of sunshine can be extremely beneficial. For example,
sunshine can play a critical role in helping to prevent osteoporosis.
Sunlight, you will recall, is able to convert cholesterol into vitamin D, an
essential factor in maintaining good bone health.
In Chapter 7 that deals with protein, we saw that high intake of animal
protein sources was also a significant factor in causing osteoporosis. In
addition to sunshine and nutrition, however, other NEWSTART factors are
important in dealing with osteoporosis. Exercise is vital to staving off
age-related loss of bone mass. Recent research from Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis has demonstrated that a woman can increase
her bone mass by 2 to 3 percent per year by exercise alone.
But what about skin cancer? Why not get our vitamin D from pills or
supplemented foods, so we can avoid sunshine's cancer risk? There's no
question about it: when many Americans think of sunshine, they think of an
agent that increases the risk of cancer.
Sun Exposure in High Doses and Cancer
Sunlight in high doses increases skin cancer risk. About 95 percent of skin
cancers are of two types: squamous cell and basal cell. Both of these types
of cancer are increased by substantial cumulative lifetime exposure to the
sun. Fortunately, however, they are slow growing and usually remain confined
to the skin. Even though some 750,000 squamous and basal cell skin cancers
are diagnosed each year in the United States, only about 2,100 fatalities
(less than one percent) result. The fatalities occur mostly in those who
fail to get prompt and complete removal of the cancer.
Melanoma, another type of skin cancer, provides a markedly different
situation. This usually darkly pigmented cancer has a fearsome tendency to
spread and kill the victim. Each year only about 34,000 cases of melanoma
are diagnosed in our country; however, 7,200 (more than 20 percent) die
annually from this dreaded skin cancer. Melanoma is currently on a rapid
rise worldwide; in Europe, it increases by three to seven percent every year.
Regarding this deadliest of skin cancers, it appears that the important
factor is not so much the total amount of sunlight you are exposed to, but
whether or not you get sunburned. Thus, overdoses of sunlight are to be
avoided. More information on skin cancer is found in Chapter 2.
Sunlight in moderate amounts, however, is healthful, and may even be
beneficial in cancer prevention. Research now suggests that judicious sun
exposure and the production of vitamin D may also help to prevent certain
types of cancer. Colon cancer is one of the malignancies that sunshine
exposure may help to prevent. Researchers at the University of Washington
studied cancer rates in nine different areas of the United States. They
discovered that men from Southern states had much less colon cancer than
Northerners. For example, when compared to men living in New Mexico, men in
Michigan, Connecticut, and Washington had colon cancer rates 50 to 80 percent
higher. The effect also seemed to hold true for women, although it was not
as marked.
Another scientific article reviewed studies possibly linking cancer
prevention with sunshine exposure. H.G. Ainsleigh, the author, pointed out
that there is a long history of medical documentation suggesting that regular
sun exposure substantially decreases the death rates from certain cancers.
Like other researchers, Ainsleigh observed that the linkage between sun
exposure and cancer prevention appears to be due to vitamin D. Vitamin D and
related compounds appear able to suppress the abnormal growth of a variety of
cancer cells. These include leukemia and lymphoma as well as cancers of the
breast and colon.
Ainsleigh did not stop there. He went on to make some startling
calculations; namely, that although frequent regular sun exposure
statistically causes 2,000 U.S. cancer fatalities per year, it also acts to
prevent another 138,000 U.S. annual cancer deaths - and could possibly
prevent another 30,000 more if all Americans adopted the practice of regular,
moderate sunning. He even raised the concern that blame for a 17 percent
increase in breast cancer incidence during 1991 and 1992 may have been
related to misplaced solar-phobia; with a "decade of pervasive anti-sun
advisories from respected authorities, coinciding with effective sunscreen
availability." Sunscreen may induce otherwise cautious sunbathers to get
overdoses of sun exposure.
Regarding sunshine and cancer, two facts clearly stand out. First,
excessive, injudicious amounts of sunshine can increase skin cancer risk.
Second, avoiding sunshine is not a good alternative. It is likely that
sunshine and the vitamin D it produces may actually play a role in cancer
prevention as well as in bone health.

Sunshine protects against Common Cancers

Sunshine may protect against three of the most common and life-threatening cancers. A little sun might reduce the risk of developing colon, breast and prostate cancer because of the way it helps the body manufacture vitamin D, according
to scientists. However the discovery does not challenge the fact that too much sun causes skin cancer, especially in fair-skinned people. xperts have repeatedly warned of the need to avoid over-exposure to the sun as the number of people suffering from melanoma, the most dangerous form of kin cancer, continues to soar. But it is also a fact that colon, breast and prostate cancer rates are higher in colder, northern climates than in hotter parts of the world.

Dr Michael Holick, a US skin expert at Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts, believes the reason may lie in the way sunshine promotes production of vitamin D. At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston he described how he had isolated a critical enzyme involved in vitamin D manufacture that appears to protect against the three cancers. He said: "The presence of this enzyme in the colon supports the notion that vitamin D may have a key role in cell growth regulation and cancer protection." The active form of vitamin D prevented colon cells from proliferating and helped them change from immature forms to more mature cells less capable of becoming cancerous. Dr Holick said he had evidence that the same process occurred in breast, skin and prostate cells. The enzyme may also play a critical role in regulating the immune system, he
added. A recent study had reported that children who received vitamin D supplements early in life had less insulin-dependent diabetes than children who lacked vitamin D.....

The myths, exaggerations, pharmacological politics, commercial background and other issues about sun

The following web site examines the myths, exaggerations, pharmacological politics, commercial background and other issues relating to the alleged dangers of any form of sunbathing: http://www.beachouse.com/tan_info.htm
Here are some small noteworthy excerpts:

 
....New research has shown that vitamin D deficiency is epidemic in American
adults today, that we do not get vitamin D from our diets and that up to 90
percent of the vitamin D in our systems comes from sun exposure. Ultraviolet
light exposure is our body's natural way, and the only reliable way, to
produce vitamin D. A study published in March 1998 in the New England Journal
of Medicine showed that more than half of all Americans may be vitamin D
deficient, and that 37 percent of people whose diet included sufficient
levels of vitamin D were still vitamin D deficient upon testing. Vitamin D
deficiency is a leading cause of osteoporosis, a disease affecting 25 million
Americans which leads to 1 million hip and bone fractures every year. In
elderly individuals, such fractures are often deadly. By encouraging everyone
to wear sunscreen all year long in any climate, the dermatology community is
undoubtedly contributing to this problem........

WHAT ABOUT MALIGNANT MELANOMA?
Melanoma skin cancer does not fit the mold of other skin cancers. Melanoma is
more common in people who work INDOORS than in those who work outdoors and
commonly appears on parts of the body that do not receive regular exposure to
sunlight. Heredity, fair skin, an abnormally high number of moles on one's
body (above 40) and a history of repeated childhood sunburns have all been
implicated as potential risk factors for this disease. But because people who
receive regular exposure to sunlight get FEWER melanomas, blanket statements
that ultraviolet light causes melanoma cannot be made. Indeed, some studies
have found that an individual's genetic susceptibility to sunburn, and not
the actual sunburn incidence itself, is the risk factor.
Further, studies on indoor tanning have not shown a statistically significant
connection between commercial use of tanning equipment and an increased risk
of melanoma. That is important, considering that most of the studies did not
account for confounding variables such as outdoor exposure to sunlight,
childhood sunburns, type of tanning equipment utilized and duration and
quantity of exposures. (What's more, European studies on this topic do not
account for regulations in place in the United States governing maximum
exposure times for people of all skin types.) So the professional indoor
tanning industry is doing its part to help individuals of all skin types
minimize their risks by teaching them how to avoid sunburn at all costs.....

HOW DO YOU DEFINE "MODERATE TANNING?"
The term "moderate tanning" means something different for every different
individual, and that is an important point. The bottom line --- what we call
"The Golden Rule of Smart Tanning" --- is simple: Don't EVER sunburn. A
fair-skinned, red-headed, green-eyed person may not have the ability to
develop a tan without sunburning. This person should not attempt to tan then.
On the other hand, most of us have the ability to develop a tan, and the
majority of us tan very easily. Moderation, in our view, means avoiding
sunburn at all costs. Going about that agenda will mean something different
to every different person.
"People need to focus on their individual risk characteristics, such as their
pigmentary phenotype, their family history, and the type and number of moles
they have. I recommend that people avoid the sun when they are clearly at
high risk and that they should enjoy a reasonable amount of outdoor
activities with less anxiety when they are clearly at reduced risk."...

Sunscreen promotes skin cancer???

The following website points out that, far from preventing skin cancer, sunscreens may even promote it:
http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/MJ93/castleman.html
 

...Unfortunately, the public health authorities who urge routine, liberal
use of sunscreen (especially on children) fail to mention that sunscreens
have never been shown to prevent melanoma. The medical research community
knows this. The Food and Drug Administration knows it. And sunscreen makers
know it. Yet, as a result of scientific myopia, bureaucratic inertia, and the
almighty bottom line, they've essentially told us to use sunscreen and not to
worry.
But two San Diego epidemiologists, Cedric and Frank Garland, are worried.
Best known for their work linking sunshine with the prevention of breast and
colon cancer, the Garland brothers (with research associate Edward Gorham)
have compiled a body of evidence suggesting that sunscreens dupe the public
into believing they're covered by state-of-the-art melanoma protection, when,
in fact, they may be highly vulnerable to the disease. Even worse, the
Garlands' research suggests that sunscreen use just might promote
melanoma.......
During the 1970s and 1980s, suntan lotions were repositioned as sunscreens,
which, experts said, prevented skin cancer by preventing sunburn. Sales in
1991 were $380 million, more than twice as much as a decade earlier. But as
experts persuaded more and more Americans to use sunscreens, melanoma became
an epidemic, with new diagnoses roughly paralleling sunscreen sales.
This epidemic has been a godsend for sunscreen makers. According to the
journal Drug and Cosmetic Industry, "Every indicator that skin cancer is on
the rise, every utterance by a dermatologist . . . seems to reinforce the
need for consumers to use more of these products. The missionary work
required to double the market [by 1995] has already been done, and not just
by the industry."
Sunscreen makers frankly admit that their products have never been shown to
prevent human skin cancers. "The studies show that sunscreens prevent
squamous cell cancers in animals," says Patricia Agin, sunscreen product
manager for Schering-Plough, whose brands, including Coppertone, account for
one-third of the market. "I think they do the same in humans. But .... we
don't know for certain. Because there's no animal model for [melanoma], we
don't know if sunscreens prevent it. I see no reason to think that they
wouldn't, but we have no proof that they do."
Jack Surrette, marketing vice-president of Tanning Research Laboratories
(makers of Hawaiian Tropic sunscreens), goes further. "To some extent, when
you protect only for UVB, it would seem to run a risk for potential skin
cancer," he says. "UVA is a more damaging ray. We may be hurting ourselves by
protecting ourselves too well on the UVB side."
Unfortunately, sunscreen labels do not reflect Agin or Surrette's
understanding of the research. They echo the claims of dermatologists and
cancer-education organizations: "Regular use may prevent skin cancer." Of
course, when a label says "skin cancer," sunscreen makers insist that it
means nonfatal squamous cell skin cancer. But if the label doesn't
distinguish between melanoma and other skin cancers, then how can consumers
be expected to?
...... But the best theory is the one that answers the most questions, and
the sunburn/long-lag-time theory looks shaky. It ignores the studies showing
a brief lag time. It doesn't address why sunburn rarely caused melanoma
before the 1950s. It sheds no light on why melanoma risk is linked to income.
And it fails to explain why increases in the melanoma rate have so closely
paralleled the rise in sunscreen use.....

Other websites which comment that sunscreens may not protect against melanoma:
http://www.mercola.com/1998/feb/23/sunscreens_may_not_prevent_melanoma.htm
http://thewellspring.com/Sunscreens/index.html
 

...Until around 1950, melanoma was rare. then its incidence increased slowly
until the mid-1960s, when it accelerated into the current epidemic. The
standard, pro-sunscreen explanation is that, like lung cancer, the disease
has a long lag time, on the order of 20 years. Americans began sunbathing in
earnest in the 1950s, and as a result, the melanoma epidemic hit in the
1970s. But even a cursory look at the history of sunbathing washes this
explanation away faster than a sand castle in a hurricane. Ask any elderly
person you know. Beaches around the country were jammed on summer weekends in
the 1930s. Why didn't a melanoma epidemic hit the Depression generation 20 y
ears later? Why did it take until the mid-1970s for the epidemic to strike?
Sunscreen promoters offer no clue......

Some research examining the link between sun exposure and skin cancer suggests that sun exposure is responsible for the very high incidence of skin cancer in Australia, but other research (cited by Dr William C Douglass) apparently shows that, as sun exposure increases, malignant skin cancer risk decreases. Moreover, he adds that lifeguards in the sunniest parts of Australia have lower skin cancer rates than office workers. Who on earth are we to believe now?
 

Fight your age with weights!

Research shows that participating in a regular weight training sessions (2-3 times a week) has a lot of benefits (in case you haven't notice yet  :-)  )...

1. Lose fat, gain muscle. For every 1.75 pounds of lean muscle you gain, you‚ll lose 3.5 pounds of fat.
2. Increased metabolism. Your resting metabolism will increase because lean muscle burns calories 24-hours-a-day.
3. You‚ll be stronger. Weight training can increase strength by 30-50%. This makes carrying groceries and doing yard work easier.
4. Prevents osteoporosis. You‚ll not only build bone, you‚ll reduce the risk of fractures by improving your balance.
5. Reduces the risk of diabetes. Regular exercise helps combat type 2 diabetes. Plus weight training increases glucose utilization in the body by 23% in just four months.
6. Fights heart disease. Strength training can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
7. Fights arthritis and lower back pain. Lifting weights can ease arthritis pain and strengthen joints. And strengthening the lower back muscles can eliminate lower back pain.
8. Improves athletic ability. Whatever your sport, you‚ll improve your proficiency (you‚re stronger) and reduce your risk for injury.
9. It works at any age. Muscles respond to weight training at any age! But the sooner you start the better off you‚ll be.
10. Better mental health. Lifting weights helps fight depression better than counseling, according to a recent Harvard study.
 

Obesity, Dopamine and Addiction
 

After my contests, when I so "successfully" participated in my eating orgies, I started to think about what it does with the brain... I noticed that the more I ate, the harder it was to get back to the proper eating, it was like my brain stopped working. And even though I was uncomfortably full, I still wanted to eat. I suspect that all of us have been through something similar. Almost like I forgot how good it feels to be light and lean, and not too full in my stomach. I was feeling like probably most of overweight people feel... Like addicts! And then I found this interesting information posted my Mr. Mel Siff, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/  Read on and understand what's going on in your brain!

Very overweight people apparently react much like addicts partly because they have a decreased sensitivity of the brain's dopamine system -- they're less sensitive to other pleasures apart from food.   Thus, if the urge to eat hits, it's hard for them to be distracted by other things. But food brings them a disproportionate sense of reward.   In all of us, the mere display of food causes dopamine levels to surge so that just looking at food on TV or in a store window can trigger the eating urge.  For more information on this topic, read this web page: http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm?article_id=6056&code=24019

The Brain Chemical That Triggers Bingeing
 

Ever wonder why you look at that pizza on the TV screen and have the
irresistible urge to eat? Or why you find yourself wolfing down slice after
slice of soft supermarket bread long after you even stopped tasting it?

You have, in part, dopamine to thank for that. It's one of the substances
known as neurotransmitters swishing around in your brain. There are circuits
of nerve cells in your brain that communicate with one another courtesy of
dopamine, which turns them on and activates them.

The brain dopamine system is very much involved with the motivation and drive
for doing things and delivers a sense of pleasure and reward when you act.
Food and sex, among other things, are associated with increases in brain
dopamine in pleasure centers in the brain.

In fact, researchers now know that the dopamine system is abnormal in people
who are addicted and the drug-taking pumps up dopamine levels and compensates
(temporarily) for the deficit in dopamine activity.

Depression also involves a decrease in activity of the dopamine system.
That's why depressed people develop apathy and are unable to get pleasure out
of things they once enjoyed doing. The majority of depressed people lose
interest in food along with everything else. One of the things
antidepressants do is to retune dopamine receptors, which restores
sensitivity to pleasurable stimulation.

Normally your brain requires a certain level of stimulation of reward centers
to create a sense of well-being. In its absence, your brain sends out a
signal that goads you to do something rewarding.

For many people, that's likely to be eating. Almost all of us associate
eating with pleasure and reward. Eating is a highly reinforcing behavior: We
eat, dopamine levels go up in our brain, and we get a sense of pleasure. We
definitely learn to like it and want to do it again.

Researchers have documented that in very overweight people, there's decreased
sensitivity of the dopamine system. No one knows yet whether sensitivity
returns when they lose weight. But food brings them a disproportionate sense
of reward. Their dopamine response is likely to be extra strong. Perhaps at
some point in their past they had an encounter with food that was so
pleasurable it created a particularly strong memory, and so when they are
exposed to the same foods again it sends dopamine levels soaring.

And by virtue of the dysfunction in the brain dopamine system, they're less
sensitive to other pleasures apart from food. If the urge to eat hits, it's
hard for them to be distracted by other things.

Here's the kicker. A new study shows that the mere display of food causes a
surge in dopamine levels. Which means that just looking at food on TV or in a
store window can do it. And it does it in everybody, including normal-weight
people. It probably has to do with our prehistoric past, when our forebears
had to go out and hunt or forage for food.

The dopamine system likely stimulated our ancestors to eat when food was
present because they didn't know when they might be able to do so next.

And the brain responds not in the part of the dopamine system that notes
pleasure in food, but in the part of the system that creates the desire just
to consume calories. Looking at food stimulates a very basic craving, the
hunger to eat just to stay alive.

It's not even something that's consciously perceived as pleasurable. It's
likely operating when someone starts on a binge, eating anything in front of
them even when it's completely unpalatable. It is a very basic drive gone
haywire.

In the new study, the people were not given the food to eat. But were it
available they probably would have consumed it. At home they might have
gotten up from in front of the TV and opened the pantry or the refrigerator,
and almost anything would have looked good. That bag of white bread, for
example.

There are people who are better able to control their food intake, despite
the urges to eat food. Ongoing studies show it has a lot to do with
sensitivity to stress.

Very overweight people react much like addicts. Addicts have the urge to take
the drug even when it is not pleasurable and even though they know it will
cause problems in their life. They cannot control the urge.

No one's claiming that decreased sensitivity of the dopamine system makes
people fat. Lots of factors influence weight. Metabolic rate. Activity level.
Hormones of various kinds. But the decreased dopamine signaling system makes
it that much harder to control food intake. It creates pressure to eat, to
drive dopamine levels up.

No one knows yet how long dopamine-based food cravings last. It might be
around 20 minutes. But to resist you can't have the food in front of you. And
you have to put it out of your mind, too. Otherwise, thinking about food is
another way to set off the urge to eat.

What makes weight control so difficult is that we all live in a
hyperstimulating environment. Food is all around us. It's not just in the
supermarket. It's on the street corner. It's in the shopping mall. And we're
bombarded with visions of food, in magazines and TV. It's virtually
unavoidable. No wonder so many have a very big struggle with it.
 

 HOW TO MAKE A WOMAN HAPPY
all you have to do is to be a friend
a companion
a lover
a father figure
a teacher
a cook
a gardener
a carpenter
a driver
an engineer
a mechanic
an interior decorator
a sex therapist
a psychologist
a psychiatrist
a therapist
a good father
a gentleman
well-organized
tidy
very clean
athletic
affectionate
attentive
ambitious
amenable
articulate
bold
brave
creative
courageous
complimentary
capable
decisive
intelligent
imaginative
interesting
prudent
patient
polite
passionate
respectful
sweet
strong
skillful
supportive!
sympathetic
tolerant
understanding
someone who loves shopping
someone who doesn't make problems
someone who never looks at other women
AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO MAKE SURE YOU: are neither jealous nor disinterested, get on well with her family, but don't spend more time with them than with her, give her, her space, but show interest and concern.
ABOVE ALL IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO:
Not forget the dates of: anniversaries (wedding, engagement, first date...), graduation, birthday, or menstruation

HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY

have sex with him