Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

Carrie Fisher in her hit show She's rich, respected and far more cynical than your average weight-loss spokesperson. At first, Carrie Fisher seemed a strange choice for diet company Jenny Craig. Their cast of characters are usually picked up on the way back from sitcom obscurity-grateful, rehabilitated and ready to write a tell-all book.

Think Valerie Bertinelli or Kirstie Alley. How could a cult legend with a shameless past and a thriving one-woman-show fit the mold? And why would she even want to? Even the clumsy, Cathy cartoon humor of Jenny Craig commercials seems a slight to Fisher's writing talents; she's one of Hollywood's most sought after script-doctors. But Fisher's respectability and slap-in-the-face-wit is just what Jenny needs.

Despite gaining an unhealthy amount of weight (5'1, 180 pounds), she's not the kind of person you immediately associate with body image. Her career as a writer eclipsed her career as a sex symbol long before she put the weight on. As a result, the very public diet she's about

Read More »from Could Carrie Fisher be the best diet spokesperson ever?

(ThinkStock Photos)The average American consumes up to three teaspoons of salt a day. The American Heart Association wants to knock that down to less than one teaspoon. The new guidelines have reduced the recommended salt and sodium intake from 2300 to 1500. That's about a third less than the original recommendation, which we were already exceeding by two teaspoons.

The stricter guidelines may mean less flavor, but the payoff is a longer life span. Reducing sodium is the first line of defense in the nation's number one killer: heart disease. In fact, a 30-year study in Finland found that reducing salt intake by 30 percent led to a 75 percent decrease in both stroke and heart disease mortality. The revised sodium diet elevated the entire country's average life expectancy by 6 to 7 years. Now the AHA is hoping for similar results in the United States, but it will mean a nutrition overhaul.

Many of the foods we consider healthy are saturated in salt. According to the Center for Disease Control,

Read More »from Painless ways to eat less salt

Kate's smile after her reported makeover. (Getty Images)Kate's smile in 2005. (Matt Cardy/ Getty Images)


Used on children-and possibly during the Spanish Inquisition-the torture of braces isn't worth repeating unless you're joining the English monarch. So that may explain why Kate Middleton is said to have gotten a mouth makeover. The Daily Mail reports her smile became glossier in anticipation of her engagement thanks to whitening treatments and super high-tech braces. She already has fairly decent teeth and suffered through her twelfth year with a mouth full of metal.

For most of us, perfect teeth seem like a throwback to the era of "Pearl Harbor" (the Michael Bay movie, that is). But Kate's mouth can single-handledly salvage an entire country's reputation for bad teeth. So to defend England's honor, she reportedly went for her second round of braces. These, however, are far more high-tech and expensive than the original prototype. In addition to whitening, Kate got lingual braces which line up along the back of your teeth so they're actually invisible (not like those "clear" braces

Read More »from Did Kate get a $15,000 mouth makeover?

Students honor shooting victim Christina Taylor Green with notes, candles and ribbons outside her elementary school. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Last Saturday's massacre in Arizona has become a political minefield. But as adults point fingers and broadcast their opinions, a makeshift memorial outside 9-year-old victim Christina Taylor Green's elementary school quietly grows. Today, as the youngest casualty of the shooting is laid to rest, we looked at what Green's peers had to say about the tragedy. Here are a few notes left in memory of the third-grader:

"I am so sorry for your family and I hope in their hearts you can guide them on the right pathway of life because yours was taken short." -Rachel Cooper Blackmore, Mr. Curry's 5th grade class

"To: Christina I will miss you" -Anonymously written on a baseball cap in honor of Green's love of the sport.

"Christina, we love you from the bottom of our heart" -Anonymous

"You were always a sister to me . . . and always will be" -Serenity, one of Green's best friends. She included a photo from their first sleepover.

"You are in our thoughts and prayers" -students in the Mesa

Read More »from Dear Christina: notes from kids to youngest victim in Arizona shooting

Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman battle out their romantic differences in a scene from In a scene from the new movie, "No Strings Attached," a young woman chastises a man for breaking their no-romance code by showing up at her work with a balloon. Uncontrollable urges of chivalry? Sounds like a romantic comedy myth, but it's not.

"Men are typically more romantic than women," says Dr. Terri Orbuch, a social psychologist who has spent the last 24 years studying 373 married couples. In interviewing spouses, she discovered husbands were more likely to describe their wives in traditional romantic terms, while wives spoke more practically about their relationships. "When we asked married men to talk about how they met their wives, their stories had more romantic flavor," explains Orbuch, who details her findings in the book 5 Simple Steps to Take Your Marriage from Good to Great. "They talk about being smitten, falling hard; they also use terms like 'soul-mate' and 'love at first sight'," she says. "In contrast, wives talked about being very cautious of their partner when

Read More »from Why men are more romantic than women

Bridal Party To-Do List: Hire choreographer, learn basics of contemporary dance, sign up for a month of intensive vocal training, rent rehearsal space, hire lighting and sound tech, submit proposal to local law enforcement to avoid arrest.

Remember when hosting a shower and getting a gift was enough? The race to have the next viral wedding video has turned brides and grooms into stage moms. Scream about your dress alteration, fire the caterer, but stop making relatives reenact episodes of "Glee."

Because you didn't ask, here's the latest Youtube wedding video. It takes place in a Boston mall, where unsuspecting shoppers are treated to a wedding party surprise song-and-dance routine. Please tell me there was a buffet spread afterward-these people look exhausted.

Related on Shine:

• 6 weird weddings you may have missed
• 5 crashed weddings
• 9 awesome wedding cake-toppers
• 7 tips for hooking up at weddings

Read More »from Viral-zillas: Thanks Youtube, now weddings are more high-maintenance than ever.

(ThinkStock Photos)There aren't enough guns in schools-that's what two bills proposed last month by Arizona representative Jack Harper seem to suggest. If signed into law, HB 2001 would allow faculty members the right to bear arms on college campuses across Arizona. HB 2014, Harper's second bill, would allow students to also carry guns on campus. Before Saturday, the proposed legislation may have slipped by national news outlets but in light of the tragic shootings in Tucson, it's a central talking point in the debate over Arizona's gun laws.

Shortly after Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others were shot outside a Tucson supermarket, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik pointed to Harper's bills, saying: "The legislature at this time is proposing that students and teachers be allowed to have weapons in schools and in college...that's the ridiculous state to where we have become."

For Dupnik and many others, more lax gun policies lead to more tragic shootings. But state Senator Karen Johnson, who proposed

Read More »from Should college kids be allowed carry guns to class?

Susie Weber biked to the hospital to deliver her baby. (photo via babble.com)When Susie Weber's contractions were three minutes apart, she knew it was time to get to the hospital to deliver her baby. So she hopped on her bike and pedaled to one a mile away. If there is ever a time to rationalize taking a taxi, it's when a human is falling out of your body. (Also cold weather or uncomfortable shoes.)

But Weber, a 41-year-old Wisconsin resident, had already planned out her tour de labor with her husband who rode alongside her, according to Babble.com. Here's what she said about the ride: "It was 67 to 70 degrees. No wind. It was just beautiful. I think I had one or two contractions along the way, but they actually seemed mild in comparison. I think it was because I was distracted."

Sounds amazing, but it would probably be even better with a hang glider. We jest because we're lazy and highly impressed when anyone uses a bike, period. Weber, in fact, wasn't taking any risks. She'd gotten approval from her doctor beforehand and had maintained a daily cycling

Read More »from Labor riding: woman who biked to hospital in labor invents new extreme sport