Blog Posts by The_Stir

Yummy pre-diet snacks

So, how many of you resolved to lose weight this year? For the umpteenth year in a row, losing some pounds tops my list of to-to's. It's so hard, though, trading chips and cookies for carrots and celery sticks. They just taste so much better, dammit! And, then there are the times when it's just plain unfair. Sometimes, calories just shouldn't count, right? Well, I think so ...

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1. Finishing kids meals. Ingesting fractions of food once belonging to your offspring simply counteracts the nourishment you passed onto them for 9 months while they lived inside of you. Ask any OB. It's true.

2. Your Birthdays. It's the one day a year that's all about you and only you and is not a day to be deprived of anything. It's, like, a law.

3. Other people's Birthdays. It's the one day a year that's all about them and only them, and nobody should eat birthday cake alone. You are simply preforming a public service.

SaladGood morning, New Year Resolvers! Who else has pledged to eat healthier this year? I know I have, so I've been scouring the Internets for healthy food blogs. I'm talking daily inspiration -- blogs that support my goals for a healthy new year, with recipes for high energy and a robust immune system.

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I've been reading a lot lately about what makes change possible. It's not always about will power! Sometimes it's about finding inspiration and tearing down barriers. And when it comes to making healthy changes in your life, those barriers could be time, money, and kitchen skills. Here are 10 websites that will help you overcome those barriers and inspire you with yummy-looking nutrition superhero recipes you can make for the whole family.

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1. 101 Cookbooks. This is the blog that always comes up first when people talk about healthy eating blogs.

couple kissingEvery year we make resolutions. And every year they are boring. Lose weight. Pay off the credit cards. Eat better. Stop smoking. Exercise. Blah blah blah. Can we please stop kidding ourselves here and instead focus on what really matters?

Sex. That's what matters, and none of us are having enough of it, are we? And if we are, we can always have more, right? Besides, if our New Year's Resolution for 2012 is about having more sex, all those other resolutions are actually being accomplished as well. Don't believe me? Here's proof:

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Sex burns calories -- 150 to 250 per half hour. So if you have more sex, it's like exercise. Get healthy, lose weight! Now you just got to get him to last more than 15 minutes since that's only around 75 to 125 calories. You know what you can eat that is 75 calories? Nothing good.

Sex keeps you from using your credit cards because you're too busy getting it on to get to the

My husband and I are hiding in our 6-year-old's bed. His comforter is pulled over our faces, and we're lying in the dark breathing stale, slightly pee-smelling air. Somewhere off in another corner of the house, we hear our kids giggling and yelling, "18, 19, 20 ... ready or not, here we come!"

Soon the boys are bumbling through the hall, laughing and pulling open doors, looking for us. My husband feels around in the bedclothes for my hand and takes it. "This is our life now," he whispers, and I can hear the wry grin in his voice.

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We are quiet and still in our son's bed. Buried under a blanket, listening to the voices of our children.

We started out with a few wild booze-soaked years before saying our vows, and eventually we had a mortgage and a dog, and then a baby. We've been together for 13 years or so now, and over that time, so much has changed. My god, so much.

Do you ever stop and

ScaleEver since college, I've been losing and regaining the same 10-15 pounds - over and over and over again. Each time, I struggle to shed the excess weight by eating less and exercising, watching the numbers on the scale slowly decline until I hit my goal. But then I'm able to bask in my skinny jeans for only a short while before I feel my belly again pushing against the zipper and bloom over the top. The numbers on the scale seem to leap back up to where they were before I even realize it. And I feel helpless to stop them. It's as if my body just feels more comfortable at the higher weight. That's where it wants to be - no matter what I want.

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Turns out, my sense of helplessness when it comes to weight loss is entirely justified.

Writing in the New York Times magazine, Tara Parker-Pope reveals that research has proven what many of us have sensed ourselves: Once we put on weight, our bodies adjust in ways

When we think of old people in love (think super, super old), we generally think of diamond commercials featuring wrinkled hands clasped in everlasting adoration. We think of happy couples who bicker affectionately after decades spent loving one another, fighting, making up and making babies. We do not think of divorce.

But for one couple in Italy, divorce court is exactly where they are headed. And the only difference between them and the other millions of couples who divorce around the world is their age. Antonio C, now 99, is demanding a divorce of his wife of 77 years after discovering that she (Rosa C, his 96-year-old wife) carried on a love affair back in the 1940's.

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Antonio does not see fit to forgive his wife despite the fact that she begged for it and apologized. So, at 99, he is going to become the world's oldest divorced man. Does that seem a bit rash to anyone else?

I don't like to make a

DadA new study has discovered a link between mother-toddler bonding and teenage obesity. Apparently, if you moms don't connect emotionally with your tykes well enough, it could raise Junior's risk for obesity by the time they're 15. No pressure or anything, but you could make your kid fat.

Okay, two things: First, obviously bonding emotionally with your toddler is an important thing to do for a million reasons. And honestly, I think the vast majority of us get the job done just fine, thank you. I guess I'm not surprised that kids who don't get properly attached to their parents at a young age would grow up to "eat their feelings," which is what appears to be happening. But something irks me about this study: why didn't they study toddlers' relationships with their DADS, too?

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It's like there's another study every-other day about ways Moms Are Do It Wrong -- I think I see about 200 studies about moms for

Camila AlvesI think it's unanimous: We all have girl-crushes on Matthew McConaghey's new fiancee, Camila Alves. Former model, mom to their two delectable kiddies -- and did we mention she's not one to jump on the treadmill 10 seconds after she has a baby? Nope, unlike other celeb moms like Victoria Beckham, Camila was not in a hurry to shed the baby weight after having each of their children.

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Camila believes in what Brazilians call "quarentena." It's actually practiced all over the world. What it means is that the mother spends time restoring her health and bonding with her baby for a little over a month. For Camila, it was 40 days. And it included no sex!

"Where I come from, we believe in something we call a 40-day break after the baby," Camila said soon after the birth of daughter, Vida. "You have to let your body do its own thing. You give it time to recover and let everything settle down. You kind of respect