Crack out the bottle opener ladies! According to “new” studies, a glass of wine every day will help you stay slim.

This American study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston  studied 19,200 women aged 39 and over and asked about their drinking habits. Their weight gain was recorded for the following 13 years. Not surprisingly, all of the women gained weight, but those who reported to drink “moderate” amounts – which consisted of a glass or two of wine each day gained the least weight.

But the researchers noted that not all types of alcohol are equal – hard liquor and beer are less friendly to the waist line.

So, with this information, the researchers decided that one theory for this is that the livers of regular drinkers develops a separate method of breaking down alcohol, with surplus energy turned into heat, rather than fat.

Another theory is that maybe the age old saying of “everything in moderation” could be true…

Or alternatively, since this study does not appear to prove that wine is the sole reason behind these women gaining less weight. It could be that they exercise more, or that they eat a more balanced and healthy diet? Or it could just prove that women who throw back a few glasses of wine each day lie about their weight! Who knows!

It’s groundbreaking research, nonetheless!!!

Also, it has been proven that eating too much fruit will make you fat. And the acid in fruit – if ingested too much – can lead to tooth decay.

Fruit is of course, very good for you. I am not trying to tell you to not eat fruit. But it’s the crazy people who take it a step too far, and go and a diet, vowing to be more healthy. And instead of eating a salad and an apple for lunch, they eat 6 salads, 5 apples and 2 grapefruits.

*Just because it’s healthy, doesn’t mean you should eat 70 times more of it*

The fact that someone needs to research this means that there is clearly a problem. I mean, isn’t it just common sense!? It’s like telling someone that water is good for them, so they go and drink 6 gallons of water. What will happen? They will die from drinking too much water! Ok, this may be a bit of an extreme example, because I don’t think too much fruit can actually kill you, but I think you see my point.

Eating reasonable amounts of nutritious food with a bit of excercise – even just a brisk walk will make you healthy.

And I’m not even going to start on the study by the British fish & chip people claiming that cutting the chips bigger will be more healthy – something about how the oil is absorbed when they are fried.

If they’re that bloody concerned about obesity etc, then the governments and councils should stop allowing McDonalds and Burger Kings to be built on every corner! Keep the humble chippy and let the fast food joints go!

Ok, so everyone is pretty much up to date with the whole Tiger Woods situation – and I’m sure you all watched his “apology” speech. As soon as he said “I’m… So… Sorry…” whilst looking dead into the camera, I just didn’t buy it. He was either acting as if he didn’t give a toss, or he really didn’t…

Regardless, British footballer Ashley Cole has found himself in a similar pot of hot water. His wife, Cheryl Cole, has left him as it emerged he’d been texting pics of his naughty bits to women and apparently had been “seeing” 5 other women.. Bloody horrible behaviour. Of course he is blaming his wife for not paying him enough attention. That’s a good argument isn’t it.. “You were ignoring me Misses.. so i texted pictures of my genitalia to all the women in my phone book”… Yuck, Ashley. Sexting is not cool!

A lot of people – men especially – are saying that women everywhere are slagging off Ashley Cole and Tiger Woods, but if one of these guys put the moves on them, they would be all over it. I think that’s a big giant load of rubbish. Wallet size really doesn’t play into it – unless the girl in question is only after money or to get their face in the dirty tabloids or glossy mags.. Aside from that, the state of the girls that they cheated with pretty much sums it up – madams, “dancers, etc, etc..

It’s a mess when people get famous for dating famous people. In a month or two, one of these Ashley Cole “piece-on-the-side” women will probably be some sort of D-list celebrity.

I think it’s especially easy in a tiny country like the UK to become famous like this – think Alex Reid.. Having a few pics in the glossy mags makes you famous. Like it’s so sad how some girls aspire to be a WAG.. It’s awful. But that being said, Victoria Beckham does a good job at juggling everything that she does. And the Beckhams have had their share of scandalous tabloid headlines.. And they’ve managed to come out of it – as a couple – in one piece.

I guess the good part is that the Cole’s didn’t have any babies yet.. It’s bad enough when their mothers are getting involved, trying to calm the waters. But it’s even worse when there are little ones that are caught in the middle. If Cole is a lyin’, cheatin’ ****, then Cheryl is good to be rid of him.

Basically, the show took a bunch of “celebs” who are/were known for singing at one point or another and attempted to transform them into opera singers.

It was actually pretty good. The final saw Bernie Nolan and Darius Campbell (who appeared on another one of these “find the next famous singer” shows about 10 years ago) against each other.

Both are very talented singers, and Darius won. I’m actually glad he won. Not only is he very ridiculously good looking, he’s very talented and seems like a genuinely nice bloke.

I hope he has an album out soon!

Wasn’t a fan of Meatloaf’s judging abilities. didn’t really make much sense sticking him in the judging panel…? And Alan Titchmarsh as a host…? “Garden Digger To TV Host”? But what do I know…

And Myleene Klass… Nothing against her (half Asian girls are fabulous!)  - but she NEVER stood up straight. She was wearing all of these beautiful dresses and was schlepping across the stage and standing awkwardly with her legs looking all out of place.. very bizarre.. and her weird little pout thing that she’d do at the end of every sentence got a little irritating.. But she seems to be doing very well for herself! Just stand up straight, love!

Anyway, here’s a picture of the winner: Darius Campbell.

Darius Campbell (Image from dariusmusic.com)

Well Done Darius!!!! <3

It’s a little bit disgusting how I have not had a single entry this month! I hope you’re not too upset! I’m sure you have other things to procrastinate with online!

Anyhow – the reason for my lack of posts is that i’ve been travelling around a bit and sadly, I really have not had the time – or the access to a decent internet connection – to post anything

But I will be writing more bits and pieces in the next week or so.

How many of you have been watching the olympics? I wish I had a pair of those Canada mittens with the Maple leaf on the palm! They’re SO cute!!!!!

Oh!!! I started reading Twilight! I decided that it was time to see what all the fuss was about. I must admit that I really enjoyed the first book! I’m several chapters into the second one and I wish that I could read it all day! I can certainly see why all the girls love them. But saying that, they are quite suggestive – and I’m not sure that I’d be too happy with my hypothetical tweenage daughter reading them.

And finally, I’m going to a Chinese doctor on Monday. I’m always a bit skeptical about Chinese doctors because I did have a bit of a bad experience with a dodgy one.. To make a long story short, he burnt me with his chinese herbal cigar and started to massage my tummy where he had left a needle – thankfully I managed to stop him before he pressed down onto it. Anyway, we’ll see what kind of weird and wonderful things this lady will give me to eat..

I have been hounding my boyfriend for about 4 months to set me up an email address that links to this – since I am technologically challenged, I’m not even going to attempt to do it myself. So, in the meantime, if you have any comments or bits and pieces you’d like to send, feel free to send them to: vickyc.me@hotmail.com

Thankfully I can set up my own hotmail account without getting confused and breaking my laptop!!

Ok, that’s all for now. Happy weekend!

VickyC xoxo

Here’s a picture of my Kitten when he was a baby!

I feel like I need to create a chart on healthy vs unhealthy vs deadly, because I’m getting very confused over here.

Ok, so in latest health news, if you’ve been ingesting a whole ton of antioxidants in an attempt to fast-track your way to good health, then put down the green tea and goji berries and keep reading. Nutritionists have been pushing the idea that anything “antioxidant” is magical and really extra super good for your health. These foods were believed to lower the risks of cancer, lengthen life and allegedly can lead to better sex!

But new studies by the Cardiorespiratory Exercise Lab at Kansas State University have revealed that too many antioxidants makes the chemicals in the body unbalanced. The body needs antioxidants and pro-oxidants (essentially the evil twin of antioxidants) in order to maintain a balance. So a lack of pro-oxidants can lead to the body crying out for the missing pro-oxidants. So downing too much green tea and popping too many blueberries is actually not a good thing.

In the last few years, the word “antioxidant” has become a buzz word. Everyone has been jumping onto the health food bandwagon. But these new studies are claiming to show that although antioxidants can slow down and even reverse some effects of aging, some of the changes that the body go through are not good.

One of the main points in the study was to show that the antioxidants hinder the way that blood flows by taking out vasodilators – which are chemicals that help open the blood vessels. As you can imagine, this is not good for the body! In older people, this results in individuals getting out of breath quicker, which in turn stops them from exercising.

One of the researchers behind this study, Steven Copp, said that antioxidant therapy takes away hydrogen peroxide (a naturally occurring vasodilator) which can impair the body’s ability to deliver oxygen to the muscles. This causes muscles to be sore and for individuals to get tired easily when exercising – because the muscles are being starved of oxygen.

Copp says that his findings should be treated as cautionary. Antioxidants and their functions and effects need to be studied more in order for nutritionists to recommend certain foods to their patients.

I think the “everything in moderation” is applicable to this.

You know the feeling you get when you log onto Facebook and you see a new album posted by a friend’s younger sibling, and it’s their wedding pictures. Or when there’s a status update from an ex saying that he’s taking his girlfriend to Cabo. Or there are someone’s engagement party pictures or baby shower pictures. How does it make you feel?

I’m always happy when I see that people are happy and doing well, but secretly, I’m actually a jealous crazy person. But it’s not that I’m not happy with my life right now, because I am, but I guess it really gets to me when people younger than me already have everything together. Every girl has done the “backwards life math” that makes guys think that we actually are backwards! I remember I rattled this off to my current boyfriend not long after we met and he looked at me like I had been taking some serious mind altering drugs. He thought I was a crazy person. To think that we’re still dating!! Ok lets do some girl math. For example take the following scenario: you want to be pregnant or have a baby by the time you’re 30

Ok, so no one wants to have a baby the second that they are married – we’re not the Duggers over here! So, say that we allow 2 years of married life before baby – which would put us at being married by 28.

But you want to be engaged for a year, so you have time to plan everything and throw a sufficient amount of Bridezilla hissy fits before your big day, so that means you have to be engaged by the time you’re 27.

But you don’t bump into some guy on the bus or at the grocery store and have him propose over coffee the following day.. Again, we’re not the Duggers here! You need to date for 2-3 years before you get engaged. I mean, he needs to know your style in order to know what kind of diamond to buy you.. Hello!

So that puts us at having to know the guy (or at least know of him) when you’re 24-25 in order for the backwards math list to work. What that tells me is that I’m behind schedule!!!

Christ, maybe I should become a Dugger..! It would take all of the stress out of everything! They don’t  lark about; they just pick their mate and stick with it.. Kinda like penguins or swans or something.. I don’t remember which animal it is that mates for life. Regardless, I’m secretly jealous of their lives too. Yeah, I said it!

Like they’re so pure and un-jaded by TV and society. They don’t seem to worry about waiting in line at H&M to buy the newest pair of Jimmy Choos. Yet they do have the sickest cameras and they all have iPhones… ?! But they don’t spend time fretting over Facebook or picking apart a text message or voicemail from a boy. And they’re pretty much guaranteed life as a housewife – which would be great. I mean come on, what woman wants to juggle a career with babies and housework etc? I certainly don’t.. I guess I’ll have to start buying lotto tickets and buying scratchies..

This is going to be the BEST thing you heard all day. A job centre in England refused to display an advertisement asking for a “reliable worker” because they risk being sued by unreliable workers for being discriminatory. Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous?!

The ad said the following:

Domestic cleaner required immediately for local hospital. A variety of different shifts available. Must be fluent in written and spoken English for Health & Safety reasons. Previous experience preferred. If you have a current CRB, it would be an advantage but not necessary. Training will be provided. Must be reliable and hard working

I wonder why they didn’t go after the part where they wanted fluent written and spoken English.. Isn’t that discriminating against 75% of the British population?! And I presume “Health & Safety” has now magically become a proper noun – because of the capital letters?

So the job centre refused to display the ad because they didn’t want to be discriminatory. Does this mean that soon I sue a law firm or hospital for discrimination because I don’t hold a law degree or any medical qualifications? Of course not! What a giant load of rubbish.

The person who banned this job should be in line waiting to find a new one because it seems that they are too incompetent to do their present one.

But it doesn’t really surprise me. I mean, this is coming from a country with a government that is allowing hoards of foreign people to come and be workers when a huge percentage of the population is just sitting on it’s bum, in a council house, drinking lager on a sofa watching daytime TV with a pack of cigarettes surrounded by a whole bunch of babies and collecting welfare cheques. There’s just no incentive for anyone to do anything..

But if you think about it, what percentage of the “unreliable” people would actually have the energy to go out and find a lawyer to fight a case for them because of the wording in this ad being discriminatory? Probably not very many, since they’re unreliable and lazy!

Bah.

I read this quote today from a book mark:

I am reading this book because I don’t want to think about my life. I believe it is what is known as escapism.

How true is that!!! How many of you pick up a book, turn on the TV, hit the internet in an attempt to procrastinate from life? I know I do!

Life is supposed to be so simple – we need to eat, sleep, find a way to support ourselves, and find time to fit in menial tasks like washing clothes and tidying things up. I wonder if the cave-dwellers ever procrastinated or partook in a bit of escapism from time to time in an attempt to ignore their troubles..? Why do we end up  making everything so difficult for ourselves?

It made me think of that article I wrote that had the section about choices in the grocery store causing us stress. Shopping doesn’t have to be difficult. If you like Red Delicious apples and they have 3 different kinds, find the best looking kind for the lowest amount of money.. Or if you’re being frugal, just go for the cheapest one! But we don’t do that.. We might see a dress, and we’ll pick it up, try it on, put it down, pick it up again, go into a different shop, still thinking about the dress we didn’t buy, then go back to the shop a week later only to find that they have sold out. And then you’re mad at yourself for a month for not buying it in the first place.

So why do we avoid things? Is it laziness? The fear of failing? Maybe we’re waiting for something better to come along? Or is it because we just get too comfortable? I know that with my life, so far whenever something has seemed like it’s ruined my life completely, I always know that everything will eventually work itself out. Maybe I’m too complacent, knowing that the people around me have my back..

But escapism is really not a good way to deal with things. Pretending to be blissfully unaware may work for us for a short amount of time, but after a while, things tend to catch up with us and sometimes, the problems we have may seem even worse. Kind of like “Confessions of a Shopaholic”… But luckily, the movie had a happy ending.. Unluckily for us, when the closing credits roll, we’re right back where we were when the opening credits started – hiding from life, and escaping from our problems.

Then again, a little bit of escapism from time to time is good for us! It’s nice to unwind with a book or a movie. Like most things in life, everything in moderation is the best way to go!

But if you’re reading this when you actually have something to be doing, then copy and paste the following into the comments:

I am reading this post because I don’t want to think about my life. I believe it is what is known as escapism.

Thanks readers!

VickyC xoxo

For those of you whose boyfriends are obsessed with games like Call of Duty and … I can’t think of any more…. there is a new game that is being released this week – MAG: Massive Action Game. It’s basically like the Call of Duty games but there are over 200 players playing in each match – everyone is in a squad, and there are all these different squads playing on the same giant map.. I guess the idea is pretty cool, but for those of us whose boyfriends/partners/brothers/someone we live with loves gaming, a game release normally means that we won’t see/hear from them for at least the next week or so. So consider yourselves warned – don’t be surprised if there are no signs of life.

For those of you who are actually interested, the game has the following release schedule:
- North America: January 26, 2010
- Europe: January 27, 2010
- UK: January 29, 2010
- Australia & New Zealand: February 5, 2010

What about Asia? And why is the UK not the same as Europe? I guess it’s for the same reason as when someone tells me that I’m European, I say “no, I’m British” – and then they roll their eyes at me… Why the eye rolling?!

Anyway, according to talk on the gaming forums, stores in the USA will be doing midnight releases.. but as of right now, I’m not sure about the other countries. I guess it’s best to call the store? Maybe they could give you more info?

So girlies, if there’s a guy you live with who will be hitting up this game the second it comes out, I just hope for your sake that you have another TV available to you! If not and you want to really irritate them, just start downloading something so that the internet connection gets all screwy!  I’m just kidding, that’s mean.. Besides, you wouldn’t want them to “accidentally-on-purpose” unplug the cable box when Sex And The City is on, would you…?

According to the internet, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have broken up. It seems that every so often, this particularly personal rumour surfaces about the celebrity couple. So far, the press and gossip pages have been wrong.

But this time, the rumours are more vicious than ever. British “newspaper” News Of The World broke the story yesterday claiming that Brangelina hired a divorce attorny – which in itself is ridiculous since the couple were not married in the first place. But, between them, their net worth is staggering. Allegedly, if they were to divvy up their fortunes, a total of $205 million would be divided. The tabloid is claiming that an unnamed source tipped them off, saying that the couple has already signed a separation agreement, and that the news is due to be announced very soon.

Brad and Angelina have yet to confirm or deny the rumours, and this has done nothing but provide more fuel for all of the gossip columns. Now there is speculation flying everywhere that Brad Pitt will return to his ex-wife Jennifer Anisten. Poor Jennifer seems to get stuck with all of the “relationship” gossip. Apprently, this week, John Mayer misses her, and she attended the Golden Globes with Gerard Butler – which fuelled more rumours that the two were on-again…

And who’s to say that if Brad Pitt wanted to get back with Jennifer that she would be down with being a step-mom for 6 kids? I mean, that’s a big responsibility! If I had to pick between Brad Pitt, Gerard Butler and John Mayer, I’d pick Gerard FOR SURE!!

Anyway, back to Brangelina.. I hope they don’t split up.. They have their beautiful kids to look after.. and they seem to make a good team.. But Angelina needs to lose her Cryptkeeper skeletal look – I’m sure having that many babies to look after will make anyone stressed and skinny, but take 2 minutes and eat a cheeseburger, or even a tofu burger with some sweet potato fries or something!!!

I’m sure this rumour will be disproved very soon! But thank you News Of The World for giving all us bloggers something to write about!