Blog Posts by Vitamin G, Glamour Magazine

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

You love your coffee, but maybe order this instead. Researchers say that it might help fight off breast cancer...

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It's been long known that a compound in green tea, Polyphenon E, may help fight breast cancer by messing with what's known as cancer's "growth factors."

Researchers at Columbia University took a look at Polyphenon E's affect on women, and they found something surprising: "After two months of Polyphenon E, there was a reduction in hepatocyte growth factor," says Katherine Crew, MD, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "This is one of the growth factors that affect breast cancer cell growth, spread, and invasion. ...There really does seem to be something there. The new study provides a potential explanation for why green tea may help."

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OK, so you love coffee (and I do too!),

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

If you have a little extra love around your midsection (who doesn't?!), and you'd like it gone, consider this secret ingredient that experts say may be the key to blasting more belly fat...

Natasha Turner, ND, wrote a piece for Chatelaine about the belly fat-zapping power of vitamin C. (And, this is important to read, as many of us may not be getting enough!) If you didn't know about C's ability to slash fat, read on:

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"Vitamin C is one of the most widely used supplements today, but many of us don't realize that it also plays a key role in our blood sugar levels," writes Turner, who goes on to share a recent study that found that patients who took 1,000 mg of vitamin C daily for six weeks saw a reduction in fasting blood sugar, triglycerides, cholesterol (LDL) and insulin levels.

"Vitamin C and glucose have a similar chemical structure," she continues. "When both are high they compete with one another to enter

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

I have a list of things that, without fail, (even on days when I'm sleep-deprived and have splurged on something I wish I didn't) always make me feel healthy. And when you feel healthy and proud of your choices, your more likely to continue to make healthy choices, right? Here's my list...

I call it healthy inertia. By choosing the simple things that make us feel healthy, we're more likely to continue to make healthy choices throughout the day/week. Here are seven things that I turn to frequently to feel healthier:

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1. Green tea, repeat: If I'm feeling stressed and overwhelmed, or if I've just eaten something I wish I didn't, green tea has this way of resetting my good-health button. Green tea is loaded with good-for-you antioxidants that researchers believe have benefits that range from improved skin to weight loss, so I know that whenever I can squeeze in a cup of green, I'm doing well.

2. Stretching: Maybe

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

Maybe you have a thing for a certain actor or actress. Maybe it's a author whose books really resonate with you. Maybe it's a movie trilogy (hello Twihards). The question: Is all this fandom good for us?

Vulture recently took a look at the subject of fandom and found that most experts believe it can be, well, bad for us. Dr. Drew Ramsey, a Columbia professor of psychiatry and co-author of The Happiness Diet, says he's seen marriages break up over intense fandom (think of the NFL-loving guy who demands hours of TV time each week and travels to every home game despite family commitments).

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"I believe in leisure," he says, "but we've sort of swapped out something that is supposed to be pleasurable and leisurely and replaced it with an intense involvement."

I think this is so timely, as fandom, at least from my perspective, has gotten pretty intense in the last 10 years, thanks to Twitter, Facebook, and all the

by Lexi Petronis, Glamour

OK, it might not be so much where you live as how much you like where you live... but this is still super-interesting.

A new Gallup poll has found that people who feel satisfied with where they live are physically healthier than people who are dissatisfied (or who feel like their community is becoming a bad place to live).

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In fact, people who said that their city offered a safe place to exercise--or that they felt safe walking alone at night--scored higher on an overall physical health index. Those who didn't feel like they had anywhere safe to exercise scored lower.

Reports LiveScience:

The survey can't, on its own, draw a causal link between community and individual health, but other research suggests that the two are linked. Location can determine opportunities for exercise, for example, as well as what foods people eat. A recent study published in the Journal of Rural Health

Have you ever called in "sick" to work when you were maybe not really that sick at all? Don't worry, we won't tell. Besides, your excuse is probably not as crazypants as these excuses...
by Lexi Petronis, Glamour

According to a survey by CareerBuilder, about 30 percent of employees fake the occasional sick day so they don't have to come in for week. The real reasons are at least semi-understandable--they just don't feel like going (34 percent); they wanted to relax (29 percent); they had a doctor's appointment (22 percent); they wanted to catch up on sleep (16 percent); or they had errands to do (15 percent)--but maybe they're also too boring? Because, according to the site, people have come up with some real doozies for not clocking in:

One employee said he couldn't make it to work because his toe was stuck in a faucet, and another said a bird bit her. [...] while another claimed he got sick from reading too much.

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by Lexi Petroni, Glamour

Do you have anything that's stressing you out today? Before you get fully embroiled in all that Monday has to offer, consider this new research about a breakfast food that might help you conquer the day.

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According to a study from the University of Cork, probiotic-rich yogurt may help stamp out stress, depression, and anxiety.

The researchers found that a regular diet including Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1), bacteria found in yogurt, may actually alter brain chemistry, causing the brain to release fewer stress hormones and reduce signs of stress and anxiety.

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And yes, the study was performed on mice--very relaxed mice, probably!--so take that for what it's worth, because experts aren't yet sure which probiotics are good for people. But there are lots of other health benefits that can come with a container of yogurt, like weight management,

by Sarah Jio, Glamour

I was looking at my hair in the mirror this morning and wondering why it was so dry and brittle looking, and then I did some reading about some common medications that can have not-so-good side effects for your hair...

1. Antidepressants: One side effect of certain antidepressants is hair loss. While most women don't experience significant hair loss, it is something doctors warn that can happen, and the drug Prozac is most commonly associated with hair-loss issues. If you're taking antidepressants and experiencing hair loss, ask your doctor about whether there's a better option for you. (For a full list of depression drugs that may mess with your locks, visit americanhairloss.org.) But, I think we can all agree that adequately treating depression is a lot more serious than how your hair looks!

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2. Birth control pills: According to Australian researchers, women who take hormonal birth control pills, in