Low calorie, low fat FROZEN YOGURT! Yummmmy

Today I had an incredible snack… basically fro yo. Get the 60 calorie sugar free puddings… lots of fun flavors: mint chocolate and chocolate banana are my absolute faves!!

I put it in the freezer and hours later, YUMYY! I had my very own 60-calorie fro yo. And it is 1 point on Weight Watchers (60 calories, 1.5 grams of fat, and no fiber.)

Me Think this is a great discovery! If you try it, let me know…

Please add you favorite low-cal snack here…

The Link Between Couples and Weight

From the Weight Watchers site… an article about love and dieting!! <3

Couples tend to gain weight at the same time.

May, 2007—A growing body of research has found a connection between couples and weight. Not only do women and men who live together tend to gain weight at similar times, they also are more likely to achieve better results if they tackle weight loss as a couple.

While it’s true that many factors play a role in determining body weight, so does a shared living environment. There’s a considerable amount of research showing that people who live together, particularly spouses, tend to have similar BMIs, and if that shared environment is conducive to weight gain, there is also an increased risk of obesity.^{1, 2} For example, in a study that followed newly married spouses for two years, researchers found that the couples had similar BMIs and that marriage was associated with a weight gain.³

The reasons why living together may predispose couples to excess weight seem to be twofold. First, marriage generally increases eating opportunities because married people tend to eat together, and they may eat more when dining together than if they were eating alone. Secondly, the newly married person may have less motivation to stay thin.³ In a single world, both men and women want to maximize their attractiveness to the opposite sex and that often includes having a healthy body weight. With marriage, the comfort of being in a stable relationship can lead to a reduced commitment to maintaining one’s weight.

Tighten Your Belt, Strengthen Your Mind

Spend Less … Eat More

This is one of the most interesting concepts in the field of psychology: the idea of exercising restraint in one area (say, not talking to a boy) and as a result, having less mental strength in other areas (say, not eating junk food or not spending money shopping.) [Note: not that I have any personal experience in trying not to speak to boys... or trying to diet!]

DECLINING house prices, rising job layoffs, skyrocketing oil costs and a major credit crunch have brought consumer confidence to its lowest point in five years. With a relatively long recession looking increasingly likely, many American families may be planning to tighten their belts.

Interestingly, restraining our consumer spending, in the short term, may cause us to actually loosen the belts around our waists. What’s the connection? The brain has a limited capacity for self-regulation, so exerting willpower in one area often leads to backsliding in others. The good news, however, is that practice increases willpower capacity, so that in the long run, buying less now may improve our ability to achieve future goals — like losing those 10 pounds we gained when we weren’t out shopping.

The brain’s store of willpower is depleted when people control their thoughts, feelings or impulses, or when they modify their behavior in pursuit of goals. Psychologist Roy Baumeister and others have found that people who successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.

In one pioneering study, some people were asked to eat radishes while others received freshly baked chocolate chip cookies before trying to solve an impossible puzzle. The radish-eaters abandoned the puzzle in eight minutes on average, working less than half as long as people who got cookies or those who were excused from eating radishes. Similarly, people who were asked to circle every “e” on a page of text then showed less persistence in watching a video of an unchanging table and wall.

Other activities that deplete willpower include resisting food or drink, suppressing emotional responses, restraining aggressive or sexual impulses, taking exams and trying to impress someone. Task persistence is also reduced when people are stressed or tired from exertion or lack of sleep.

Sex Therapists: a Few Minutes Is Best

Sexual beings, read on…

NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe men had it right all along: It doesn’t take long to satisfy a woman in bed. A survey of sex therapists concluded the optimal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes. The findings, to be published in the May issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, strike at the notion that endurance is the key to a great sex life.

But, the article warns:

If that sounds like good news to you, don’t cheer too loudly. The time does not count foreplay, and the therapists did rate sexual intercourse that lasts from 1 to 2 minutes as “too short.”

And the rest of the article:

Researcher Eric Corty said he hoped to ease the minds of those who believe that “more of something good is better, and if you really want to satisfy your partner, you should last forever.”
The questions were not gender-specific, said Corty (who, it must be noted, is male). But he said prior research has shown that both men and women want foreplay and sexual intercourse to last longer.

Dr. Irwin Goldstein, editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, cited a four-week study of 1,500 couples in 2005 that found the median time for sexual intercourse was 7.3 minutes. (Women were armed with stopwatches.)

It’s difficult for both older men and young men to make sexual intercourse last much longer, said Marianne Brandon, a clinical psychologist and director of Wellminds Wellbodies in Annapolis, Md.

“There are so many myths in our culture of what other people are doing sexually,” Brandon said. “Most people’s sex lives are not as exciting as other people think they are.”

Fifty members of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research in the U.S. and Canada were surveyed by Corty, an associate professor of psychology at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, and student Jenay Guardiani. Thirty-four members, or 68 percent, responded, although some said the optimal time depended on the couple.

Corty said he hoped to give an idea of what therapists find to be normal and satisfactory among the couples they see.

“People who read this will say, ‘I last five minutes or my partner lasts 8 minutes,’ and say, ‘That’s OK,’” he said. “They will relax a little bit.”

Disloyalty that Merits an Insult

By James Carville

Last Friday the New York Times asked me to comment on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president. For 15 years, Richardson served with no small measure of distinction as the representative of New Mexico’s 3rd Congressional District. But he gained national stature — and his career took off — when President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and later made him energy secretary.

So, when asked on Good Friday about Richardson’s rejection of the Clintons, the metaphor was too good to pass by. I compared Richardson to Judas Iscariot. (And Matthew Dowd is right: Had it been the Fourth of July, I probably would have called him Benedict Arnold.)

I believed that Richardson’s appointments in Bill Clinton’s administration and his longtime personal relationship with both Clintons, combined with his numerous assurances to the Clintons and their supporters that he would never endorse any of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s opponents, merited a strong response.

I was fully aware of what kind of response calling someone a Judas would evoke.

And a closing point:

I believe that loyalty is a cardinal virtue. Nowhere in the world is loyalty so little revered and tittle-tattle so greatly venerated as in Washington. I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty — whatever my personal misgivings — to stick by him. At the very least, I would have stayed silent. And maybe that’s my problem with what Bill Richardson did. Silence on his part would have spoken loudly enough.

Date Obama but Marry Hillary

In light of the Democratic primary possibly coming to a close sooner rather than later, please read this! Me think this makes some great points. Thoughts?

Date Obama but Marry Hillary

Who among us can resist Obama’s boyish charm, oratorical flourishes, the “messianic” crowds that follow him everywhere and his message of unity and hope? I know I can’t. When I was younger, I couldn’t resist men who have a certain “savoir faire”, a “master of the universe” attitude towards their present and a “manifest destiny” outlook towards their future. I was the plodding student, the one who did her homework, who obsessed about her grades, who prepared for contingencies real and far-fetched and was grateful when disaster did not strike. I took nothing for granted. So, of course, I was attracted to men who seemed unchained by mortal constraints and unfettered by doubt. Twenty-five years later, I see the world differently. As my husband can attest, not only do I want a man who claims to know power tools but a man who can wield them, a man who not only knows where to buy the groceries but who knows what should be on the grocery list and where they should be stored in the pantry. I am less impressed by professed skill sets, best-laid plans, and home improvement ambitions as I am in his proven ability to fix the leaky toilet, manage roof contractors and keep the family fed and in clean clothes in my absence. These are the unglamorous, tedious and thankless chores that sustain a “marriage” and maintain a household. In three long decades of painstaking attention to details, dogged persistence and political nimbleness, Sen. Hillary Clinton has shown that she can breathe life and form to the ideals that she and Sen. Obama espouse on the campaign trail. Sen. Obama may have these qualities as well but his mettle has not been forged in the crucible of the national political arena — a forum that often rewards perception at the expense of substance, unforgiving of the slightest missteps and susceptible to “me-too” stampedes. Flirt, date and be swept away by Sen. Obama but in the end, bring Sen. Clinton home to your parents and marry her because she will help us put food on the table, clothes on our backs, a roof over our heads and give our children the chance to grow up in the America of Sen. Obama’s dreams.

Can you say “student-athelete” 10 times fast? NCAA Bitching…

Ok, so you all know I don’t no much about sports… nor do I care most of the time. But me think this article was super interesting and made some great points. What are your thoughts about NCAA changes?

Some NCAA Bitching…

Everyone knows why the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is a must-watch event. We all love the unveiling of the brackets; we all love San Diego and Western Kentucky and we really love Davidson. We all agree Tennessee’s band should get a bid every year if only to play “Rocky Top” at least a dozen times a game, and there are few things better than being in a building when a major upset is brewing and all the so-called neutral fans start screaming for a group of kids none of them could have picked out of a lineup two hours earlier.

That’s all good. But the NCAA tournament is far from perfect, in large part because the NCAA, in spite of all its yammering about doing what’s best for the “student-athlete,” sold its soul years ago and continues to put it up for resale to make a few extra bucks every year.

Click the link to read all the suggestions the writers have. Click! It is funnnny.

And check out this great last line:

Then again, they’re usually quiet during the official timeouts and the 20-minute halftimes while the PA guy thanks all the corporate champions, tells everyone the second game will start at 10:10 and reminds everyone that NCAA “student-athlete” day is April 6.

Seriously, they do that.

Thank God for Davidson.

Lush gets political… “Which is, um, a little hardcore for bath time. “

Talk about making bathtime a bit stressful…

Lush is trying to start a revolution in the bath: They’re calling their latest fizzing bath product a “ballistic,” and have named the product Guantanamo Garden. “When immersed in water, each product releases a photograph of Sami Al Haj or Binyam Mohamed, who are prisoners at Guantanamo, and information on how to learn more about the human rights charity Reprieve,” reports WWD. Which is, um, a little hardcore for bath time. [WWD, sub req'd]

Accidentally funny URLs… which is your fave!??!

Me think these are so funny. Which one is your fave? Do you have any other good submissions? The best submission will get a shout out on my blog…

(And I can’t take credit… they are from here: http://www.jdbshow.com/worst_urls.html)

Attn: Entrepeneurs Everyone knows that if you are going to operate a business in today’s world you need a domain name. It is advisable to look at the domain name selected as other see it and not just as you think it looks. Failure to do this may result in situations such as the following (legitimate) companies who deal in everyday humdrum products and services but clearly didn’t give their domain names enough consideration:

1. A site called ‘Who Represents‘ where you can find the name of the agent that represents a celebrity. Their domain name… wait for it… is www.whorepresents.com 2. Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net 4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com 5. Then of course, there’s the Italian Power Generator company… www.powergenitalia.com 6. And now, we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales: www.molestationnursery.com 7. If you’re looking for computer software, there’s always www.ipanywhere.com 8. Welcome to the First Cumming Methodist Church. Their website is www.cummingfirst.com 9. Then, of course, there’s these brainless art designers, and their whacky website: www.speedofart.com 10. Want to holiday in Lake Tahoe? Try their brochure website at www.gotahoe.com

NY Governor Eliot Spitzer linked to prostitution ring

Married with three kids, fought against these types of prostitution rings and fought for ethics reform.. He will give a press conference soon…

From the New York Times: Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring

ALBANY - Gov.

Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.

Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides inside his Fifth Avenue apartment early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He scheduled an announcement for 2:15 after inquiries from the Times.

Mr. Spitzer, a first term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform an end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

But a person with knowledge of the governor’s role said that the person believes the governor is one of the men identified as clients in court papers.

The governor’s travel records show that he was in Washington in mid-February. One of the clients described in court papers arranged to meet with a prostitute who was part of the ring, the Emperors Club VIP on the night of Feb. 13.

Mr. Spitzer appeared on a CNBC television show at 7 a.m. the next morning. Later in the morning, he testified before a Congressional committee.

An affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan in connection with that case lists six conversations between the man, identified as Client 9, and a booking agent for the Emperors Club.

He had a difficult first year in office, rocked by a mix of scandal and legislative setbacks. In recent weeks, however, Mr. Spitzer seemed to have rebounded, with his Democratic party poised to perhaps gain control of the state Senate for the first time in four decades.

Mr. Spitzer gained national attention when he served as attorney general with his relentless pursuit of Wall Street wrongdoing. As attorney general, he also had prosecuted at least two prostitution rings as head of the state’s organized crime task force.

In one such case in 2004, Mr. Spitzer spoke with revulsion and anger after announcing the arrest of 16 people for operating a high-end prostitution ring out of Staten Island.

“”This was a sophisticated and lucrative operation with a multitiered management structure,” Mr. Spitzer said at the time. ”It was, however, nothing more than a prostitution ring.”

Albany for months been roiled by bitter fighting and accusations of dirty tricks. The Albany County district attorney is set to issue in the coming days the results of his investigation into Mr. Spitzer’s first scandal, his aides’ involvement in an effort to tarnish Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, the state’s top Republican.