Barbie Xu animal loving Taiwanese doll

Barbie Xu, a Taiwanese singer and actress, was voted Asia's sexiest female vegetarian celebrity earlier this year. Barbie became a vegetarian 9 years ago, not because she loved all animals, just her dog Wu Mei Niang! She had fallen sick, and to make her get better Barbie Xu promised God that she would eat vegetarian food for a year.

But after that one year of eating veggies, Barbie Xu felt and looked so much better that she gave up eating meat altogether. "My health has improved a lot since I became a vegetarian," slim and sexy Barbie said recently. Xu's favorite things to eat are mangoes and water spinach, and she loves horseback riding.



This week PETA Asia chose Barbie to promote vegetarianism in China, where meat consumption is booming due to increasing prosperity, as people imitate the unhealthy western diet and lifestyle. "Eating vegetarian food will lessen the burden on your body and will rigorously enforce environmental protection, I appeal to everyone that they can also enjoy the health benefits and pleasure of eating vegetarian foods".

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Sanya Richards female athlete of the year

American 400-meter sprinter, Sanya Richards, won her second IAAF World Athlete of the Year awards on Sunday. Sanya had previously won the 2006 female athlete of the year. The Jamaican-born Richards has been consistently winning gold in her event this year: at the six Golden League meets in Europe, and at the World Championships in Berlin. She also helped team USA win the 4x400m Relay at Berlin.

"I am so excited and overwhelmed," said Richards. "You work so hard to be a world champion. It's right up there with winning the title in Berlin." Sanya Richards is set to marry New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross in February 2010.

For the IAAF title, the accomplished sprinter beat out other female athletes like the shot-putter Valerie Vili, the high jumper Blanka Vlasic, the hammer-thrower Anita Wlodarczyk, and pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva. Sanya Richards suffers from Behçet's disease, which causes problems in the body's immune system, but this has not stood in the way of her athletic achievements.

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Eat your veggies

Vegetables and fruits contain essential minerals and vitamins, are a good source of complex carbohydrates, and contain antioxidant phytochemicals. In many ways fruits and vegetables help you to cut down health care costs. And when you buy locally grown fruits and vegetables you do your bit for the community.

Some veggies also contain roughage, which keeps your system clean and rids the body of toxins. In a study by Prof David Perrett, from the perception laboratory at St Andrews University, it was found that vegetables are good for healthy skin complexion. "The only natural way in which we can make our skin lighter and more yellow is to eat a more healthy diet high in fruit and vegetables."

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Showers for hygiene baths for muscular relief

According to many surveys, both men and women prefer daily showers to baths, because they take less time and consume less water. Showers are the preferred mode of body cleansing because they let you multi-task; you can brush your teeth while in the shower, or do a quick shave on the legs and arms. While taking a shower the majority of women first wash their hair and then their bodies. Showers are great for hygiene because the running water cleans off the dirt, bacteria, and dead skin. The skin also absorbs moisture while you shower.

Long hot showers in winter are bad for the skin because they strip off the natural oils and cause skin dehydration. So keep the water lukewarm and don't shower for more than ten minutes. Long hot baths may be relaxing, but here again the hot water strips off the natural oils, so don't soak for more than 10-15 minutes. And after taking hot showers and baths, always apply moisturizer to the skin.



Baths are great for giving relief to tired bodies, because the water buoyancy reduces the pull of gravity on muscles and bones. The muscles relax and tension in the joints is reduced. Soaking in tepid water also increases blood circulation in the skin. Most people take weekly baths for muscular relief.

Why do people feel tired after showers and baths? The water acts like a massage for the body, which responds to the stimulus and pumps blood into the muscles and skin. The feeling of tiredness is more pronounced with baths; because after floating in the buoyancy of water, the muscles take time to adjust back to normal gravity when you step out of the tub.

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Leona Lewis role model

British singer Leona Lewis performing at London's Hackney Empire earlier this month, wearing a Vivienne Westwood designed lilac top and black puffball skirt. Lewis has turned down a £1 million offer to pose nude in the men's magazine Playboy. Leona is also releasing her second album "Echo" next week. She is scheduled to go on tour in the UK and Ireland next year. The beautiful mixed race singer is already such a positive role model for girls; she doesn't drink alcohol, smoke, or do drugs, and she refuses to wear leather.



Leona Lewis at SoHo in New York City last September. The 5'7" tall singer who rose to fame after winning The X Factor in 2006, became the first British artist ever to have her debut album Spirit go straight to number one in the US Billboard charts. Leona's friend told the Daily Mail, "There is no way Leona will strip however much they offer. For starters, she is just far too shy." Lewis has earlier told Closer magazine how she can't stand to being photographed while on the beach: "Being pictured in my bikini was a nightmare, especially for somebody like me. I'm a normal-sized girl and it's embarrassing."

While releasing her book "Dreams" in London last month Leona Lewis was suddenly punched in the face by a deranged man! "It was shocking." Leona said as she recalled the incident to the Mirror. "It's a shocking thing to happen to anyone - to be attacked by a man, especially as a female. Being in this industry you are exposed - more so than other people. I know that I have to look after myself as well."



Role model Leona Lewis is also vegetarian and an animal rights activist, seen here with her family dog, Misty, a rescued Stafford Bull Terrier. Leona and Misty appear in a "Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare" campaign for WSPA. "I support the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) because they are trying to end some of the most appalling acts of animal cruelty in the world," says Leona. "Now I make careful choices like the food I eat and the things I buy." For her fitness Lewis has hired a personal trainer, and she says, "I ride horses and do spinning classes."

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Female aggression in sport but not because of it!

Traditional forms of female aggression and bullying of peers involves the formation of cliques, spreading nasty rumors, gossiping, and giving the silent treatment to their victims. But increasingly girls have taken to aggressive behavior associated with boys, like swearing, taunting in filthy language, and physical confrontation. Girl fights are a recent trend in many schools in North America and Britain.

The recent case of football player Elizabeth Lambert, star of the New Mexico Soccer Team, has lead many to question if female aggression is welling up because of the sports they play? 21-year old Lambert helped lead her high school team (Lancaster Paraclete) to two league championships during her sophomore and junior seasons, before joining New Mexico. In a recent game against the girls of BYU (Brigham Young University) Elizabeth was yellow-carded for kicking another girl in the face but there were many incidents of elbowing, punching, and hair-yanking not seen by the referee:



Some people are blaming this behaviour on girls trying to "play like boys" but they're missing the point. Football is a full contact sport, which has the players attacking the ball, tackling, shouldering and dodging past their opponents. Such acts of physical aggression are a natural part of the game but can degenerate to mindless violence, especially when so much is at stake in winning the game. It's the same in men's football. Controlled aggression makes a successful player but overdoing it can lead to that player being shown the yellow or red card. And not everybody overdoes it.

A survey cited by the Women's Sports Foundation claims that most successful female executives played organized sports as girls and described that as a factor in their rise. "I think structured environments like the soccer field, basketball court, those are places (where) there is an expectation of a bit of aggression and there are rules," said Jennifer Brown, co-author of What Angry Kids Need.

Sports are good for girls. A study presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting surveyed 13,000 U.S. high school students to evaluate links between team sports and risky behavior. Athletic girls showed 10 percent lower rates of fighting, 30 percent less depression, 50 percent less smoking and 10 percent less unhealthy weight loss habits compared with non-athletic girls.

The only risky behaviour because of sports was found in boys! Boys playing team sports indulged in binge-drinking 40 percent higher, and fighting 30 percent more often, than non-athletes. I don't think Elizabeth Lambert or her team mates, or any other girls playing soccer, do binge-drinking or fight outside the soccer field.

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Winter sun and sunscreen

November is designated as National Healthy Skin Month in the United States by The American Academy of Dermatology for the past two years. Winter is the time of shorter days and less intense sunlight, which makes many people store away their sunscreen lotions. But dermatologists recommend wearing sunscreen all through the year to protect against UVA rays (which cause aging and wrinkles) and UVB rays (which cause sunburn and skin cancer). "UVA rays--which penetrate your skin and cause wrinkles, discoloration, and precancerous cell changes--are just as much of a problem in the cold-weather months as they are in July," explains New York City dermatologist Karen Burke, PhD.



Actress Rachel Bilson never leaves home without her sunscreen. "I still have girlfriends at 29 who are laying out without sunscreen," she says. Bilson not only wears sunscreen, she also wears a hat for sun protection.

Those traveling to higher altitudes for winter sports need even more sunscreen protection. That's because the snow reflects 80 percent of the sun's rays, and thinner air cannot filter out the harmful rays and hence UV exposure increases 8 to 10 percent for every 1,000 feet of elevation.

But what about the sunshine vitamin? The body manufactures enough Vitamin D from just 20 minutes of exposure to the sun, two or three times in a week. Some studies show that sunscreen reduces the body's ability to manufacture Vitamin D, which is important in fighting cancers, warding off colds and flus, and in building strong bones. More recent studies on sunscreen, that looked at results for months, and sometimes years, suggest that the effect is slight. While sunscreen does hamper Vitamin D production, these studies say, it is not enough to cause a deficiency. Food sources of Vitamin D include milk, orange juice, fortified cereals, eggs, salmon.

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Dakota Fanning active girl

Dakota Fanning as pale-skinned, red-eyed, Jane in the upcoming New Moon from the Twilight series. "I thought I was pale before I did the movie, but I realized that I'm not!" Dakota said of the white face powder she wore as makeup. Home schooled for most of her childhood, the young actress decided to join a private school and experience life as a normal teenage girl, including the sport of cheerleading.



The working girl joined cheerleading camp last year in August. "For four days, there are 600 cheerleaders on the field all day doing cheers and dances," Dakota told W magazine. "And then you have a break and you come back for evaluations. And it's so much fun. It's sooo fun." The photo above shows active girl Dakota as a Vikings cheerleader, the varsity squad of the Campbell Hall Episcopal High School in North Hollywood. At the October 30th game 15-year old Fanning, who had just returned from filming Twilight: Eclipse, was voted 'Homecoming Princess'!

Dakota plays the piano and enjoys horseback riding; her favorite subjects are English, history, and photography. "It was a really big challenge because I had been home-schooled previously," Dakota told Scholastic Choices. "It was difficult at first, but I ended up having such a great year. All you hear about beforehand is how hard ninth grade is and that it's such a big jump. But I had really great teachers and I met friends who I think I'll have as friends for a long time. I'm proud of what I accomplished in ninth grade."



Dakota Fanning wearing an off-white dress by Marc Jacobs, at the 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards early this year. Of her fashion sense Fanning says, "I have a very classic style. I love proper outfits with vintage hats, necklaces, or boots." Her favorite designers are Chanel, Elizabeth and James, and Marc Jacobs.

Too young to drink or drive, Dakota Fanning is allowed to watch R-rated movies because she is an actress! She has acted in movies like I Am Sam, War of the Worlds, and Charlotte's Web. One of her movies Hounddog, generated controversy with some scenes showing her being raped, but when the movie opened the scene was found to be not so graphic. Another adult theme is in Dakota's upcoming movie The Runaways, with Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart, which shows them exploring a lesbian relationship.



Dakota Fanning stretches after going running. On the question of boys Dakota says, "It'll happen when it happens. I don't think that I need to look for a date right now." Dakota Fanning knits for fun and she has read all the Harry Potter books!

After working on Charlotte's Web, which had farmyard animals as her co-stars Dakota Fanning turned vegetarian. "You know bacon - I can't even do it any more. I don't think I'm ever going to eat ham or bacon again. It's just not appealing. They were like my little buddies, but they kept growing up,"

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Aspirin dose and stomach bleeding

Several medical guidelines issued between 2005 and 2008 by professional health bodies recommend routine use of aspirin for people aged 50 and older with type 2 diabetes and those with high blood pressure. "But current evidence makes it hard to recommend starting aspirin for primary prevention," says Dr Iheanacho, editor of the respected Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

A British study released in September found aspirin can double the chances of dangerous internal bleeding in people without a history of heart disease, while having no effect on the rate of heart attacks or strokes. June Davison, of the British Heart Foundation said: "It is well established that aspirin can help prevent heart attacks and strokes among people with heart and circulatory disease. They should continue to take it as prescribed by their doctor. But for those who do not have heart and circulatory disease the risk of serious bleeding outweighs the potential benefits. We advise people not to take aspirin daily, unless they check with their doctor."
Daily Mail

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