Blog Posts by Vitamin G, Glamour Magazine

We talked about whether the Food Network could be making us fat with all that yummy food programming. But what about movies? I have to admit, when my husband and I were on DVD marathons of the Sopranos, I ate a lot of baked ziti. I thought you might be interested in this list of hunger-inducing movies...

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The Diet Blog recently compiled a list of the most fattening movies of all time:

Soul Food: "Mouthwatering" Southern fare.

Chocolat: Need we say more?

Monsoon Wedding: Featuring kabobs, curries, and sweets.

Bella Martha (Mostly Martha): The German predecessor to "No Reservations" may make your mouth water.

Waitress: You will be craving pie for weeks after this one.

Spanglish: A man who can cook is about the best thing in the world. And he cooks amazing food.

Babette's Feast: Lots of odd, but amazing delicacies to watch in this one.

Yin shi nan nu (Eat, Drink, Man, Women): The Diet Blog calls this one "culinary adventurism."

Under the

Hi guys! A few of you have asked about my eat-at-home challenge. Remember, I challenged myself to go without restaurants, takeout, and pizza delivery for the entire month of February. Did I make it? Did I go crazy? Did it improve my health? The details...

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Honestly, the challenge was hard. Really hard. As much as I love to cook, I didn't realize how much work this would be--especially on long days when both kids were screaming around dinnertime.

But, I persevered--and with only one slip up (a random weekend dinner with the kids at The Cheesecake Factory (of all places)--forgive me!), I cooked my way through the month of February. There was homemade pizza, baked salmon, quinoa salad, sushi, veggie lasagna, grilled flank steak, and all kinds of other yummies (including some reader recipes I tried out--thanks guys!).

Keep it simple by learning the only 20 things you'll ever need to know how to cook.

Overall, the experience was a good one. And I'm so glad I did it.

ArameWhat's the most unusual thing you've seen at the grocery store recently? I still want to know what cow colostrum is doing in the dairy section (you know, the stuff that mothers--of all species--produce before their milk comes in--sorry, don't want to nauseate you!)? Anyway, I've assembled a list of unusual, non-gross, foods that we all should consider getting to know a little better...

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We've talked about weird food cravings, weird (and downright gross) foods, but not weird, but healthy foods. Here are five to add to your list:

Arame: Ara-what? Chances are good that you haven't heard of this unique sea-vegetable, but now that you have, time to get acquainted. Harvested off the coast of Japan, arame is loaded with vitamins and minerals. Add it to salad or soup for an extra boost of nutrition.

In Japan, women are going crazy for the "Banana Diet" --does it work?

Yerba Mate: It's tea, with a really weird name. But its health benefits may not be so weird. According

Do you ever get the feeling that your friends with kids want you to become a parent--ASAP? Maybe your pal with a baby goes on and on about how wonderful motherhood is, how easy her baby is, how pain-free her labor was. Well, it's time to call BS! Check out this list of lies women sometimes tell each other about pregnancy and motherhood...

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The lies, according to Sarah Vine and Tania Kindersley, authors of the new book Backwards in High Heels, as reported by The Times:

1. It doesn't matter if you get fat, the weight will drop off afterward, especially if you breastfeed.

2. The birth itself isn't that bad, and anyway your body is biologically programmed to forget the pain.

3. Breastfeeding can be a little tricky to start with, but in the end you'll get the hang of it.

4. You get used to not having as much sleep as you used to.

5. The experience of looking after a newborn can really bring two people together.

Read up on the insanity of pregnancy from the

If there's one thing I've learned covering health and fitness topics for so many years, it's this: If you can think it up, some researcher out there has probably studied it. Take Facebook for instance. The Web site we all know and love (and probably spend too much time on), is under fire for being "bad for your health." I'll explain...

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Do you use Facebook? I'm a newcomer (VG readers, friend me!), but since I've set up my profile, I have to admit--I'm a little obsessed (just how frequent is too frequent when it comes to status updates, BTW?).

Here's a no-brainer way to make friends (and meet dudes)...

I suppose this is what interested some researchers recently. Their study, published in the Journal of the Institute of Biology, claims that "increased isolation could alter the way genes work and upset immune responses, hormone levels and the function of arteries," reports The Daily Mail. "It could also impair mental performance. This could increase the risk of

What's your favorite way to exercise? Yoga? A good run? Swimming? Interestingly, researchers believe that different workouts may produce different food cravings afterward. Want to know which exercise produces fattier food cravings? The answer may surprise you...

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When I was a child taking swimming lessons in the summer, I remember being so ravenously hungry after an hour in the pool. I loved it that my health-nut mom would allow us one candy bar afterward, and I'd always choose a PayDay.

Turns out, there may be some scientific explanation for my high-fat food cravings after splashing around in the pool. Researchers at Loughborough University studied how hormones stimulate hunger under various exercise conditions and found that different exercises produce different food cravings.

Swimming, for instance, they say, causes the body to crave foods higher in fat--which is even more true for those who swim in colder water. Runners tend to crave fruit, and high-water foods

I wrote about salad dressing recently, and with apologies to Paul Newman, I told you about why I think people should just stop buying it--especially when you can make your own super-healthy and delicious dressing at home. But then I heard my fitness guru brother tell me this unusual idea for an even skinnier salad...

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Have you ever heard of dressing your salad with salsa? I know, when I first heard my brother (the one who is in the gym just about every day of the week, putting me to shame) tell me about his favorite way to dress a salad with few calories, I thought "could that really be good?"

Beware the evil salad! Don't make this salad mistake.

Intrigued, I opened a jar of salsa and dropped a few tablespoons on top of my salad of romaine, corn, black beans and red onions the other day for lunch. Not bad! (Important note: You don't need much--too much and you end up with a soggy salad.)

Definitely worth a try (though I still believe that the health benefits you

Have you ever wondered if you're going, well, a little insane? (Believe me, with the crazy-busy life I lead, I ask myself that question a lot!) While mental health conditions are real and serious--and should not be discredited by any means!--I think that stressful lives send a lot of us into the am-I-going-crazy boat, when we're really, well, normal! I spoke to one top psychologist who reassured me that we're probably doing just fine...

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It's easy to jump to conclusions about your mental health--especially when things aren't going so well. Your boyfriend dumps you, your boss is acting like Cruella De Ville, you're freaking out about the big presentation you have to give at work tomorrow and suddenly you're thinking, "I'm seriously losing it!"

You're not.

While there may be important reasons why you should seek counseling or treatment from a doctor for symptoms of depression--click here to read about whether you should take an antidepressent or not--(and those things