Author Archives: Elizabeth

About Elizabeth

Liz Simmons is a fun-loving, stubbornly positive person who will try just about anything once. Her competitive spirit rarely says no to sand volleyball, but gets chilled out by practicing yoga. She's an avid reader whose love of writing led her to a bachelor's degree in communication from Wichita State University.

7 Things You Must Know About Energy Drinks

Ask a room full of people about energy drinks, and you’re likely to get a room full of different responses. Some people love them, some hate them, and a fair amount fall squarely in the middle. Shape Magazine attempts to shed some light on the issue by breaking down what energy drinks contain, and how they can affect the body.

Whether you’re a regular consumer of energy drinks, or only pop the tab of one occasionally, there are some things everyone needs to know before consuming one.

Energy Drinks Aren’t All Bad All the Time
Everyone has one or two things in their lives they need extra and energy and focus to accomplish. Personally, I turned to energy drinks during sorority recruitment to stay awake and enthused during a long week of mingling. For others, energy drinks can be used to stay alert at work, or power through your workout.

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Posted on July 25, 2023 by Elizabeth

Shame on Social Media for Shaming Our Bodies: Instagram and Facebook Censorship Goes too Far

If you want to post a picture of yourself — or someone else — on Facebook or Instagram, you better first make sure you’re not too fat, thin, sexy, or maternal. You can wear a bikini in your photo, but only if you look like a celebrity, or actually are one. Definitely don’t post a picture of yourself breastfeeding unless you’re famous. You also can’t post pictures that show your breasts, no matter the circumstances. Unless they’re covered by an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie bikini of the color of your choice.

Got all that? Don’t worry, we don’t either. That’s because none of those “rules” are mentioned even remotely in the Terms of Service of Instagram or Facebook.

From Instagram’s Terms of Service:
“You may not post violent, nude, partially nude, discriminatory, unlawful, infringing, hateful, pornographic or sexually suggestive photos or other content via the Service [Instagram].”

From Facebook’s Terms of Service:
“Facebook has a strict policy against the sharing of pornographic content and any explicit sexual content where a minor is involved. We also impose limitations on the display of nudity. We aspire to respect people’s right to share content of personal importance, whether those are photos of a sculpture like Michelangelo’s David or family photos of a child breastfeeding.”

Why then, do you think so many women are complaining of their photos or accounts being deleted for posting photos that comply with the rules, or at least comply with them as much as anyone else’s? Here are some of the most recent examples of ridiculous body-shaming by social media sites.

Nineteen-year-old Samm Newman’s Instagram account was deleted after she posted this near full-body selfie. Shortly after the photo was posted, Instagram suspended her account. While Newman is wearing only bra and underwear, she’s hardly posing provocatively or suggestively.

Newman told her local news stations that she felt there was a double standard on Instagram since her account was deleted while other, thinner girls could post even racier photos without consequence. (more…)

Posted on July 22, 2023 by Elizabeth

Miss Idaho Wants You to #ShowMeYourPump

Forget what you think you know about beauty pageant contestants. The courageous, strong, talented and yes, beautiful women who compete for the crown are so much more than pretty faces who can rock and evening gown. The newly crowned Miss Idaho, Sierra Sandison, for example, made waves by wearing her insulin pump on her bikini during the swimsuit competition.

The idea to proudly display her pump, instead of finding some way to conceal it, came from a pre-competition lunch. While the competition director was asking about Sandison’s community service platform, the topic of Sandison’s diabetes came up.

“Since we were at lunch, I had to give myself a shot, and when she saw the shot, the director said, ‘Oh my goodness you’re a diabetic.’ Then proceeded to tell me about Nicole Johnson, who was Miss America in 1999. She actually wore her insulin pump on stage,” Sandison told E! News. “That gave me the confidence to get one, when I first heard about Nicole.”

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Posted on July 21, 2023 by Elizabeth

Survival of the Fittest: The Most Active Women are More Likely to Survive Than the Least Physically Active

While popular wisdom may hold laughter as the best medicine, science indicates exercise might actually be the way to go. A study from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) shows that moderate to high intensity activity is a key part of reducing the risk of premature death in older women.

Those who worked on the study, like Professor Debra Anderson of QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, say that health professionals should be prescribing exercise programs in addition to conventional treatments for both physical and mental health.

“Studies clearly show moderate to vigorous intensity activity can have mental and physical health benefits, particularly when part of broader positive health changes,” she said in a statement.

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Posted on July 18, 2023 by Elizabeth

Something to Stress About: Your Stress Eating Adds 11 Extra Pounds a Year

Whether it’s ice cream, fries, or some other comfort food, most of us have that one thing we crave when stress hits. It’s not that we’re eating it all the time, only when we’re feeling frazzled and feel like we “deserve” or “need” it. If we’re eating healthily the rest of the time, what’s the harm in indulging in some stress eating now and then?

The harm, as it turns out, is an average of 11 extra pounds a year. A new study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry shows that stress eating alone can lead to weight gain. Eating just one high-fat meal after experiencing one or more stressful events the day before can slow women’s metabolism enough to add more than ten pounds a year.

“The question we were asking is whether stress affects metabolism, and I was so surprised at the magnitude of the effect,” Dr. Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychiatry and psychology at The Ohio State University and lead author of the study, told Today, adding that she wasn’t expecting to see such dramatic results. (more…)

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Elizabeth

Our 13 Favorite Chocolate Covered Recipes to Indulge in on National Chocolate Day

Fellow choco-holics, today is our day. Though other days may masquerade as a Chocolate Day of some sort, today, July 7, is in fact Chocolate Day. Whether your preference is dark, milk or something in between, I think we can all appreciate a day dedicated to this delicious, and healthy (when eaten in moderation) treat.

We don’t need to remind you about the benefits of enjoying a few bites of chocolate, especially dark chocolate which is full of antioxidants. It’s not just the finished product that’s good for you either. Raw cacao, the beans from which chocolate is made, is one of the best kept nutrition secrets.

If you’re looking to satisfy a chocolate craving on this holiday, or really any day, we’ve got the perfect line-up of recipes that will allow you to enjoy the chocolaty goodness without feeling like you’ve completely overindulged.

S’more Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

S’mores are good, cupcakes are good, and both are made even better when combined into one finger-licking delicious treat! Topped with a simple chocolate cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.

Double Chocolate Peppermint Donuts (more…)

Posted on July 7, 2023 by Elizabeth

Feed Your Kids Whole Grains. According to Science, They’ll Eat Them

It’s assumed that kids will turn up their noses at whole-grain foods like oats, whole wheat bread, and brown rice if offered to them, but that may not be the case.

In another strike against “kid food,” a new study from the University of Florida indicates kids will eat whole grains if they’re offered. In fact, they’ll eat them in equal amounts to foods containing refined-grains, especially if they’re snack foods.

One of the authors of the study, Allyson Radford, said, “We tried to choose foods we thought kids would enjoy, such as cereal bars, macaroni and cheese and SunChips and found that they ate the ready-to-eat snack foods the most.”

“We were interested to see if they would eat the whole-grain foods as much as the refined-grain foods, and so we were pleasantly surprised that they would eat the same amount whether the food was whole or refined.” (more…)

Posted on July 2, 2023 by Elizabeth

Supplement Pods Could Change the Way We Take Our Vitamins

Show of hands, how many of you start the day by turning on your coffee maker? Now while I can’t actually see any of you holding your hands up, I think it’s pretty safe to assume most of you are. Making that first cup of coffee is natural, but what if instead of coffee when you turned on your coffee maker, you got your daily servings of vitamins and minerals?

That’s the idea scientists at Nestle have come up with. The serving of vitamins and minerals would be formulated to your daily needs; to be sure you didn’t get too much or too little of the good things your body needs to function.

It may sound too much like science fiction to be true, but Shape Magazine reported that Nestle’s Institute of Health Sciences is working on the project, which has the code name “Iron Man.”

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Posted on June 27, 2023 by Elizabeth

Food Labels Lead to Confusion, Waste

Open your fridge, and examine the labels on your food. No, not the nutrition labels, the ones that indicate if your food is still safe to eat. Based on the information you find, is your food still safe? Depending on which label your food carries, this may be a harder question than you think.

Many of us assume the three main labels (Sell by Date, Expiration Date, and Best if used by Date) mean the same thing. However, each of those three labels has a distinct meaning that may or may not tell you when you should throw out the food.

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Posted on June 25, 2023 by Elizabeth

David Sedaris Is “Obsessed” With His FitBit

Fitness tracking technology is a great way to both stay motivated to get enough exercise, and track how well you’re doing. However, I think we all know a few people who take their fitness tracking to an extreme; doing anything in the name of adding extra steps to their daily count. Maybe they walk to the restroom more times than absolutely necessary or pace while brushing their teeth. Perhaps they always take the long way on a walk – no matter how much extra time it adds (or how late it makes their kids for school).

Using a fitness tracker, like a Fitbit, can drive people a little crazy about tracking their activity. Writer David Sedaris takes an entertaining look at the obsession created by Fitbits in this article for The New Yorker.

“‘Every little bit helps,’ my old friend Dawn, who frequently eats lunch while hula-hooping and has been known to visit her local Y three times a day, said. She had a Fitbit as well, and swore by it. Others I met weren’t quite so taken…To people like Dawn and me, people who are obsessive to begin with, the Fitbit is a digital trainer, perpetually egging us on. During the first few weeks that I had it, I’d return to my hotel at the end of the day, and when I discovered that I’d taken a total of, say, twelve thousand steps, I’d go out for another three thousand.”

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Posted on June 23, 2023 by Elizabeth

Author Archives: Elizabeth

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