Archive for April, 2009

Birth Control Pills May Interfere with Muscle Building

Well, we’ve all heard of some friends that claim that being on the pill has made them gain weight, or maybe even in some cases increased the size of their breasts, but also various other parts of their body to their dismay, but there is new research coming out now that is showing that if you’re wanting one of those toned, sculpted and muscular physiques, and have been training to get that kind of body, then you may need to kick your oral contraceptive to the curb unfortunately.  While there are other methods of birth control that are fairly effective, there are none yet that are as easy or as consistently effective as the oral contraceptive.

Believe me, when there is, I will be the first in line to get it, as I can’t stand being on the pill.  The only thing it does for me is give me timely periods and help keep my skin clear, oh and not make me worry about getting pregnant.  But other than that, I feel like it kills my libido and I also do feel that it makes it easier for me to gain weight and may even impact my food cravings.  Tell that to any gynecologist though, especially a male gyno, and he’ll probably look at you with a condescending look (I had this happen, I’m not saying they’re all like that, but some definitely are).

The research that has come out on the pill shows that women who were put through a strength and muscle building training program, when divided into two groups, one that is on an oral contraceptive, and another that is not, the women in the non-oral contraceptive taking group gained almost 60% more muscle mass than those that were on the pill.  Pretty depressing news if you’re on the pill, and happen to be training your little butt off to get those beautiful, sculpted muscles.

The reason they think this happens, but have not been able to be conclusive on this yet, is that the birth control pill increases estrogen and decreases testosterone.  Testosterone is the primary muscle building hormone, and estrogen is a prime component in fat storage unfortunately, so those that are on the pill are supposedly at an automatic disadvantage when it comes to building those sleek, firm, muscles on their arms, legs and belly area.

There will be more to come on this study, but right now it looks like the results are pretty clear cut.  Hmm, can I use this as an excuse that I don’t yet have those Jennifer Aniston sculpted arms yet even though I’ve been training for three months?

Woman Under Twenty Has a Double Mastectomy

Well, I guess that even young women are not immune to breast cancer, and unfortunately, although breast cancer is much more rare in women under the age of the forty to fifty year range, it can be much more deadly when it occurs in a younger woman because these types are typically much more agressive and hard to treat conventionally.  In Britain,a  nineteen year old woman, the youngest to undergo such a drastic preventive and treatment surgery for the disease, has undergone a double mastectomy, setting the record for the youngest woman in Britain to have the radical breast cancer surgery.

The interesting part of this is that the nineteen year old didn’t even have breast cancer yet when she made the decision.  The key word here though is “yet”.  We all know that if breast cancer runs in your family, especially in your mother of aunts on your mother’s side, you are much more likely to get breast cancer at some point in your life, and so preventive measures are wise suchs as diet and exercise and lifestyle.

However, such a radical measure as a double mastectomy is relatively unheard of, especially in such a young woman.  She gave the reason that her aunt and two of her cousins have the disease, and that she’d rather just be safe than sorry, and so opted to have both of her breasts removed rather than always be worried about developing the cancer.

The woman also, like so many women today, was genetically tested and found out indeed she did carry the BRCA2 gene that makes it much more likely you will get breast cancer at some point.  This will likely be a continuing trend, we are already seeing a lot of older women having the surgery just so they can live with peace of mind if the disease runs in their family, which is understandable, it’s just a shame they have to lose a part of their womanhood to do it.

PA Baby Dies From Cocaine Tainted Breast Milk

In Pennsylvania, a 2 month old baby died recently of a suspected cocaine overdose from it’s mother’s breast milk.  This unfortunately is more common than we may think, and commonly an actual drug overdose via breast milk from a mother who has done cocaine is misdiagnosed as SIDS, however many times further testing shows otherwise, that the mother was actually to blame since the baby took in cocaine or some other hard street drug through her breast milk.

Cocaine, and potentially other drugs, although I’m not sure if they behave the same way, can remain in a woman’s system for 48 hours after she inhales it, and if she feeds her infant during this time frame, then she trasmits a very heavy, deadly drug to her infant, whose tiny body can’t handle it the same as an adult’s (even adults cant’ handle it many times, imagine a baby trying to process a hard street drug).

Not only can cocaine intake by an infant result in death, but it can also result in brain damage, central nervous system problems, respiratory failure, and other disastrous results.  Same goes for alcohol, especially when the child is in the womb.  Children whose mothers are drug users or smokers are at a higher risk for SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).

Most drugs can be transmitted to a baby through breast milk, so it is wise to even see how prescription drugs could affect your infant, and if you’re pumping, then to get rid of the milk that you pumped in a designated time frame after you’ve taken something.  Cocaine is one of the deadliest drugs to infants, but I’m sure there are many more, like I said, even prescription drugs, that could have potentially disastrous results if transmitted to a baby as well, precaution and extreme diligence is the best policy when it comes to your precious baby!

Are Australian Women More Busty?

I saw an interesting headline that up to forty percent of Australian women wear a DD sized bra for their breasts, which really blew my mind, especially considering that they were probably talking I assume about women with natural breasts, not inflated artificial breast implants.  That’s quite a large breast size to have in the first place, let alone having almost forty percent of a female population have breasts that large.  Geez, are they eating some sort of natural breast enhancement supplements or food over there, or is there something in the water for heaven’s sake?

When you compare that with the bra cup size the Australian women were wearing in the fifties, it has more than doubled, since it used to be an average of a B cup back then.  So, since Australian women’s breasts have grown so out of control, making larger bra sizes necessary, what could be the reason behind the virtual explosion in breast size?  Well, some say that it may be the prevalence of obesity has contributed, since breasts tend to be much larger the more fat one has on their bodies.

Some say it may be more hormones in our diet (foods), or the introduction and popularity now of the birth control pill.  I have noticed that since I’ve been on the pill that my breast size fluctuates a lot more during the month than it used to, but I also notice that I tend to have more cellulite and that my overall body fat seems to be higher as well while on the pill, so this could be the reason.

Bra companies in Australia have had to manufacture a lot more DD sized bras, and also have had to increase their offerings of the ridiculously larger sizes like the J cup and the K cup, which are even larger than what was once considered the biggest boob size of all, the DD cup size.  Jeez, talk about moving up in the world.  I’d imagine they have lot of back problems over there in the outback amongst the female population too.  At this rate, they will be introducing breast reduction surgeries for free in the next forty years, out of necessity!

Breast Cancer Drug Sutent Trials Stopped

A drug that was thought to be potentially promising in the treatment of breast cancer because of it’s relative effectiveness in the treatment of other types of cancer called Sutent made by drug giant Pfizer, has been stopped recently in trials. The reason is not that it was totally useless to help treat cancer, but rather that it was no better than the other common chemo drug that is used to treat breast cancer, and the whole point was to see if it could be any more effective than what was already out there.

However, just because the phase 3 trials for Sutent were discontinued in normal breast cancer trials, they are still not counting it out for the treatment of far advanced breast cancer. They are still resuming trials on patients with advanced breast cancer cases, hoping that they may get better results than some of the drugs that are already out there treating those with cases of advanced breast cancer.

The drug is currently being used to treat kidney cancer though, and it quite a successful sales drug at that.  It will still be used for that purpose, however, I’m sure Pfizer is disappointed they didn’t have a blockbuster drug for breast cancer as well on their hands since they have already done the research and development necessary for the drug and it’s a successfully marketed and known cancer treatment already.

Just think of the amount of energy we put in to the treatment of cancer. If only we could somehow teach people how to dramatically increase their odds of not getting cancer at all.  After all, prevention is the best medicine.  Although a lot of cancers are admittedly genetically predisposed to occur in some individuals and admittedly we will probably never eradicate all chances of getting cancer by changing our diet and lifestyle habits, we still can put a huge dent in the numbers on our own by using methods of prevention.

Sexy Sports Bras?

Yes, there is such a thing.  And as my  boyfriend has told me, he likes some of my sports bras.  Of course, they’re always the ones with the more minimal coverage, with the barer sides to them, with less fabric overall, but they can still be totally comfortable as well as sexy.  I’ve learned that you can wear lingerie that is both sexy and comfy, you just have to pick the right materials, and above all, you have to pick the right sizes to wear.

Sizing is important in bras.  This may be even more true of the sports bra, since sports bras are mostly made of stretchy cotton, and a tighter fit means you may feel like you’re wearing a vice around your chest instead of wearing a soft, stretchy comfy bra.  Not only can you buy one of the most comfy bras in the world, but sports bras are available in a variety of colors, some sexy and some plain, and you can wear them under any sweater, and some you can even wear under a tshirt because they often come lined so that you don’t get the dreaded nipple showing through the shirt effect that we all try to avoid – unless you like that!

My most comfortable sports bra I ever owned was actually a cheap one by the teenie bopper brand Mudd, and because I bought it so long ago, it’s so nice and stretched out that now it’s comformed to my ever curve, whether I’ve been heavier or not.  My boyfriend keeps bugging me to throw it away and suck it up and buy a new one because it’s white (well, it used to be white) and now it’s a dingy, brownish color from all the years of wear and tear.  Sometimes you just can’t throw away those comfy old bras, it’s sort of like men with their old tshirts I guess.

Did Scarlett Johanssen Lose Her Boobs?

Well, this may be the umpteenth time I’ve written about an actress with well known, ample busoms, to have lost her natural boobs to weight loss, heck we may have already reported on Scarlett herself losing her breasts before to weight loss.  Scarlett Johanssen, affectionately referred to by some gossip rags as “Scarjo” (these cutesy names are getting really annoying, I wonder how the stars they are assigned to feel about them?), seems to have dropped some pounds as of late from her curvy frame, reducing her ample boobs to less than what they were before.

She was never chunky by any means, but she had nice curves, even though she was still very thin by most normal women’s standards, and she’s always been known for her cleavage and her ample breast size.  She’s changed her hair color a million times, and can be somewhat of a chameleon when it comes to the way she looks, but the men never cease to love her for her gorgeous curves.

Recent pictures have come out showing Scarlett in very dark hair, in a sort of fifties pinup look, and looking about ten pounds thinner.  She still looks great, but in the pictures, either she isn’t wearing her best pushup bra, or she has definitely lost some of the weight in her breasts.  Figures, doesn’t it?  It seems like that’s always the last place to get it and the first place to lose it, doesn’t it?

Women in Topless Job Seeking Increases with Recession

It’s no surprise that desperate times call for desperate measures, and one of the signs of the times is that more and more women who admit that a job in the topless or totally nude entertainment industry (AKA stripping at strip clubs), isn’t their first choice or in their intended line of work or skill sets, they are having to apply for these types of jobs simply to make ends meet.

Some say that while they feel they were forced to find other options, they have found that the job offers great flexibility and fun, and although they have to deal with the occasional obnoxious customer who doesn’t know his limits, they enjoy the job.

Exotic dancing has long been considered a recession proof job, although the adult entertainment industry as a whole has seen business take a dive along with every other business in the world, although perhaps not as steep a dive as some other businesses that are very economicaly sensitive.  The thing is that men still go out to blow some steam off at bars (and women too) and that includes strip clubs.  And men always will love to see bare breasts, you can bet your bottom dollar on that, they just may not be willing to shell out as much in tips as they did before.

In our area where we live, we’ve seen an increase in the amount of exotic dancing places opening in one particular area which must be zoned for it or something.  A lot of women say that they’ve chosen a career in topless dancing as a temporary measure to pay their student loans off, or to bring in extra money.  Some say they’ve been laid off from their white collar desk jobs and had no where else to turn, had nice physiques, and thought why the heck not?

Admittedly some are probably self conscious (I sure would be), when they do their first few dances, but I’m sure like anything else it becomes like riding a bike after a while.  What do you think, could you go topless if your options were slim of getting another job that pays right, especially if you could bring in the dough doing it?  Food for thought!