It's all over the supermarkets and a big splash with celebs (like Madonna). Here are the real facts about this water craze.
The talk It speeds up your metabolism.
The truth "This is an urban legend," says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., director of sports nutrition at the University of California in Davis. "There is no valid research proving it." Another, albeit contradictory, myth: Coconut water makes you fat. This bad rap came from coconut milk, which is made from pressed coconut meat and packs 445 calories per cup, most from saturated fat. The water (the fluid in young coconuts) has only 46 calories per cup. Of course, for a truly trimming sip, opt for zero-calorie water, coffee or tea.
Related: Gwyneth Paltrow's Arm and Abs Workout
The talk It's nature's sport drink
The truth It's a fine postworkout chug for the average active Jane, but it falls short for more hard-core athletes. The gist: When you exercise, you sweat out a lot of sodium and some potassium. You should replace both after intense sweat sessions (more than an hour a day), so your muscles contract properly. Coconut water is a potassium powerhouse, delivering roughly 600 milligrams per cup, about 175 mg more than a banana does and 13 times what most sport drinks offer. "The problem is that it has only about 30 milligrams of sodium per cup; we lose much more than that during a long workout," Applegate says. Thus, serious athletes may need a sport beverage with a higher sodium-to-potassium ratio, such as Gatorade or Powerade Ion4; lighter exercisers can rehydrate with whatever they like best, including coconut water or plain H²O.
The talk It makes you look younger
The truth Coconut water contains cytokinins, plant hormones shown to slow the aging process in plants and fruit flies, according to a study in Molecules. Alas, the benefits aren't yet proven in humans. The search for the fountain of youth continues.
The talk It's a hangover helper
The truth There's a reason the morning after a bender is so painful: Alcohol dehydrates you, leading to nausea and headaches. Like any drink, coconut water refills your H²O stores, but plain water does the job just as well, notes Samir Zakhari, Ph.D., director of the Division of Metabolism and Health Effects at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. As for electrolytes, our kidneys preserve them when we drink, so there's no need to replace them with coconut water. If the taste lifts your postspirits spirits, go for it; but you can save cash (and calories) with the tap.
See Also: Gwyneth Paltrow's Slim-Eating Secrets
The talk It protects your ticker
The truth Diets high in potassium can help lower blood pressure and promote heart health, says Andrea Giancoli, R.D., spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Coconut water is a good source of the mineral, but it's better to get it from whole foods like veggies (spinach, sweet potatoes) and lowfat milk, which supply additional heart-healthy nutrients such as fiber and vitamin D.
Three more ways to crack this nut
1. Coconut milk A sweet alternative to regular dairy, coconut milk is derived from the white meat of a mature coconut, and it provides almost as much healthy potassium as coconut water does. But beware its high saturated-fat content: One cup has about 43 grams.
2. Coconut milk beverage Diluted with water, it contains about five times fewer calories than conventional coconut milk. It tastes richer than coconut water.
3. Shredded coconut Coconut meat isn't as high in potassium or sodium as coconut water, and it has about 388 calories and 22 g of saturated fat per cup. If you're tempted to cover yours in chocolate, opt for a snack-sized candy bar dipped in antioxidant-rich dark chocolate, which has only 80 calories and 3.5 g of saturated fat. (Don't mind if we do, Mounds bar!)
Miyerkules, Abril 27, 2011
South Africa photographer honored for Soweto photo
PRETORIA, South Africa – A South African photographer is being honored for helping expose apartheid's brutality to the world with a picture that ended his career.
On Wednesday, celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa because it is the anniversary of the country's first all-race elections, President Jacob Zuma will bestow national honors on Sam Nzima for a photograph reminiscent of the "Pieta" he took showing a dying Hector Pieterson, a 13-year-old shot by police during the June 16, 1976 Soweto uprising.
Nzima is receiving the Order of Ikhamanga, which recognizes South Africans who excel in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism and sport. He joins such past winners as jazz legend Hugh Masekela and novelist Alan Paton.
Nzima said in an interview Wednesday his photograph seen around the world "tells the story of what happened. You don't even need a caption to see that something terrible has happened."
Nzima, 75, said police were so enraged by the attention his photograph drew, he feared they would kill him. He left Johannesburg and his newspaper to become a businessman in a small eastern South African town.
But his photograph continued to draw attention. Nzima has spoken to students at a German high school named for Pieterson, and attended exhibitions that included his photograph in the United States, Briton and the Netherlands. Later this year, he will go to Belgium.
Pieterson was the first to die from police gunfire after Soweto students were ordered to disperse. The students were protesting an order that black students to be taught in Afrikaans, the language of the white-minority rulers.
Hundreds of blacks, many of them young people, were killed in ensuing clashes nationwide. Conflict escalated in the 1980s and finally led to apartheid's demise in the early 1990s.
Nzima said he arrived in Soweto early that morning in 1976, assigned to cover what he thought would be peaceful protests. He watched students paint signs.
"One said, "Afrikaans must be abolished.' Another, `We are being fed the crumbs of education,'" Nzima recalled.
The marchers were confronted by a white police officer who told them he would shoot if they did not disperse, Nzima said. Instead, Nzima said, they began singing, "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika ," or "God Bless Africa."
"That song, which is the national anthem today, was banned then," Nzima said.
The police began shooting, and Nzima saw a boy fall. A tall boy picked him and began to run. Nzima took six pictures as the boy was taken to the nearest car, driven by a colleague from his newspaper, and taken to a clinic. There, he was pronounced dead and identified as Pieterson.
Nzima, working at a time when restrictions on reporting on conflict were draconian, removed the film and hid it in his sock. Later, police forced him to expose film in his camera, but the photos of Pieterson were safe.
"A lot of people ask me, why didn't I help Hector Pieterson?" Nzima said. "It was not my duty. A journalist must do his job. My job is to take pictures."
And this picture, he said, made a difference.
"This picture was an eye-opener for the whole world."
Mistakes you're making with your skin (that you might not know about!)
Despite our efforts to achieve glowing, flawless skin, many of us are making mistakes that stand in the way of the finest potions and lotions. Here, the 14 biggest mistakes women are making with their skin, and the fixes to set things right. Gorgeousness, here we come!
Mistake: You're not wearing sunscreen every single day
We are all sick of hearing this advice (it gets more play than Lady Gaga!), but dermatologists are probably just as tired of repeating it. This is the single biggest mistake most of us are making with our skin, and there's no need: it's an easy gaffe to fix.
The Fix: You know it already: Wear an SPF lotion or cream with broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection every single day. But why every day? While UVB rays are strong in summer, UVA rays stay the same year-round. "If you go outside to shovel shovel snow on the most overcast day of the year, you're getting the same amount of UVA as if you were on the beach during the summer," says Dr. Jeannette Graf, a Board certified, clinical and research dermatologist. Slather up, whether or not the sun's out.
Mistake: You think the SPF in your makeup is good enough.
We love a time-saving double duty product as much as the next lady, but this kind of two-fer just doesn't cut it. Why? Because dotting foundation on to even out skin tone or sweeping a powder across the t-zone simply isn't a generous enough application to offer real sun protection.
The Fix: "You really need to use an SPF cream or lotion," says Dr. Graf. In the winter, wear a moisturizer with SPF, but "during the summer you really need to bump it up and use a real sunblock that doesn't have any other ingredients but sunscreen and antioxidants," advises Dr. Graf. "You need that extra protection."
Mistake: You pick and squeeze.
We've all been there––it's just so hard not to!––but it's a habit that's not doing anything to help. "When you have a pimple under the skin, there is absolutely no way that you are going to be able to do anything about it in terms of squeezing," says Dr. Graf. "Nothing will come out and nothing good will come of it if you touch it." That is, unless you call scarring a good thing. (Nope!) Another mistake? Using a warm compress to draw out whatever is in there. That just expands the irritation even more, explains Dr. Graf.
The Fix: "If you start to feel a blind pimple under the skin, take it to the dermatologist's office for a shot." Can't make it to the doctor? Apply an ice pack, suggests Dr. Graf. The cold will help constrict the blood vessel and could help make the blemish smaller.
Mistake: You over-dry your skin.
It's the battle of the blemish, and we're all just trying to use our strongest artillery. But this plan of attack actually backfires. Over-drying the skin creates irritation and redness, and what's worse, dry skin leads to clogged pores. Keep this up, warns Dr. Graf, and "you're actually going to get more breakouts and more clogging."
The Fix: Take the path of moderation and lay off the full-on product offensive. You might need to try using your acne treatments every other evening or only a few times a week.
Mistake: You treat your entire face like it's a problem area.
It's like trying to use a chainsaw to shape your eyebrows. While you might have a few oily areas, like across your t-zone, you don't need to treat your entire face with products formulated for oily skin. When you treat combination skin like an oil slick it leads to irritation. And you know where irritation gets you––more clogging and more blemishes.
The Fix: As adolescence turns into adulthood, what was once oily skin is more often combination skin, explains Dr. Graf. Evaluate your skin type and treat it accordingly, whether you're dry, oily, or somewhere in between.
Mistake: You only protect your face from the sun.
Since we're trying to protect ourselves from the signs of aging, it makes sense that we'd focus on putting our best face forward. But as Dr. Graf warns, "one of the biggest places I see aging is on the chest." Also scary: covering up with clothing isn't much help. "A white t-shirt gives you an SPF of about 5," explains Dr. Graf.
The Fix: Any day you're going to be outside for a prolonged period of time, apply sunblock from head to toe, not just on your face and exposed arms and legs. Don't forget your ears!
Mistake: You're religious about using oil-free or non-comedogenic products.
Women with oily or blemish-prone skin have been taught that these words are the preventative gold standard for a break-out. In fact, many of us won't buy products that don't boast these terms on the bottle. But we might want to think again. "The terms non-comedogenic and oil-free are not FDA-approved terms. That's really just a selling point," explains Dr. Graf. The terms date back to the 1950s when beauty products used industrial-grade mineral oil that could break you out. "Today's mineral oil is a totally different cosmetic grade and is not going to break you out."
The Fix: If you're someone with oily skin who lives in fear of a break-out, you should use a pH-balanced foaming cleanser on your face, and you might want to add in a silicone-based powder or gel, suggests Dr. Graf. But you don't need to rely solely on products billed as oil-free or non-comedogenic. Seek out products you like, regardless of meaningless marketing terms.
Mistake: You're over-exfoliating.
Quick science lesson: Over the course of 28 days, the bottom layer of your skin––the basal layer––migrates toward the surface of your skin. When it gets there, it dies. Enzymes in the dead skin cells then cause the dead layer to fall off. That natural process is called exfoliation. Got it?
"If you see a 3-year-old child, that process is working perfectly. As we get older, that's not working as well. Why? Because the enzymes in our skin require hydration and moisture in order to be activated. When we lose that natural moisture over the years, our enzymes don't work. We have that dead skin cell layer that hangs on, and we need to remove it. That's why we use exfoliators."
But exfoliation needs to be gentle in order to be effective. "I've seen doctors on television talking about exfoliating. 'If it burns, great.' I see this, and I want to cringe."
The Fix: Steer clear of harsh scrubs and exfoliators like BuffPuffs, which can break blood vessels, and apricot scrubs, whose needle-sharp pits will break your skin and cause redness. At home, "using a peel kit or microdermabrasion kit is great. Using it every single day is not," says Dr. Graf. Any deeper exfoliation should be done in the care of a skin care professional, she says.
Mistake: You're using the right products at the wrong time.
You've got an all-star line-up of retinols, sunblock, and microdermabrasion kits in your medicine cabinet. But when you use your products is as important as what you're using. "Everybody's using the kitchen sink in the morning," complains Dr. Graf. Retinols are light-sensitive, so using them during the day isn't such a bright idea.
The Fix: "You want to use protective products in the daytime," says Dr. Graf, so slather on sunscreen twenty minutes before you leave the house. At bedtime, bring out the big guns, like exfoliators and retinols, "when your skin's natural circadian rhythms renew themselves," explains Dr. Graf.
Mistake: You use products with gold or metal in them.
It might seem super luxe to use creams flecked with gold, but you're better off keeping your money in your pocket. "They can cause contact dermatitis and there's no evidence that they do anything except drain your wallet."
The Fix: Invest your money in gold you can wear around your neck. And when you feel like splurging on a rich potion, pick something that smells divine or has a luxurious texture––but is free from any precious metals.
Mistake: You go to sleep with your makeup on.
We've all been there: You get home late and can't quite muster the energy to wash off the day or your makeup. (And waking up looking as "done" as Kim Kardashian can seem kind of screen goddessy.) "A lot of people will go to bed with makeup on. And a lot of people who don't go to bed with makeup on won't wash their face in the morning," says Dr. Graf. Both are big mistakes.
The Fix: Wash your face morning and night. But doctors sympathize with real life; they just want us to be prepared. "You go out on a Friday night and come home at 2am––it's going to happen. At the very least, have those pre-moistened makeup removers at your bedside. I'd rather you do that than not do it at all."
Mistake: You don't give your skincare products a chance.
We live in a quick fix world, so when we don't immediately see results from a new skin care regimen, we can get frustrated and give up. We then bounce from product to product, trying to find the magic potion.
The Fix: Exercise some patience. We take multivitamins, Dr Graf explains, knowing they're good for us, even when we don't see results. Sometimes you have to give your products the same measure of faith. "When you're using a skincare product, don't be so hard on the product. Understand that it's doing something for you." And that means waiting more than two days to see a difference––more like four to six weeks.
Mistake: You smoke.
If your health isn't motivation enough to quit, let vanity convince you. The toxins in cigarettes cause decreased oxygen flow to the skin, resulting in a dull complexion, explains Dr. Amy S. Pappert, assistant professor of dermatology at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Repeatedly contracting your muscles to inhale, or squinting to protect your eyes from smoke can deep, premature wrinkles around the mouth, frown lines, and crow's feet.
The Fix: There's no better time to quit than now. Talk to your doctor about a game plan, and comb online resources like the Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society, and the American Lung Association. Your skin, not to mention your family and your friends, will thank you.
Mistake: You're not wearing sunscreen every single day
We are all sick of hearing this advice (it gets more play than Lady Gaga!), but dermatologists are probably just as tired of repeating it. This is the single biggest mistake most of us are making with our skin, and there's no need: it's an easy gaffe to fix.
The Fix: You know it already: Wear an SPF lotion or cream with broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection every single day. But why every day? While UVB rays are strong in summer, UVA rays stay the same year-round. "If you go outside to shovel shovel snow on the most overcast day of the year, you're getting the same amount of UVA as if you were on the beach during the summer," says Dr. Jeannette Graf, a Board certified, clinical and research dermatologist. Slather up, whether or not the sun's out.
Mistake: You think the SPF in your makeup is good enough.
We love a time-saving double duty product as much as the next lady, but this kind of two-fer just doesn't cut it. Why? Because dotting foundation on to even out skin tone or sweeping a powder across the t-zone simply isn't a generous enough application to offer real sun protection.
The Fix: "You really need to use an SPF cream or lotion," says Dr. Graf. In the winter, wear a moisturizer with SPF, but "during the summer you really need to bump it up and use a real sunblock that doesn't have any other ingredients but sunscreen and antioxidants," advises Dr. Graf. "You need that extra protection."
Mistake: You pick and squeeze.
We've all been there––it's just so hard not to!––but it's a habit that's not doing anything to help. "When you have a pimple under the skin, there is absolutely no way that you are going to be able to do anything about it in terms of squeezing," says Dr. Graf. "Nothing will come out and nothing good will come of it if you touch it." That is, unless you call scarring a good thing. (Nope!) Another mistake? Using a warm compress to draw out whatever is in there. That just expands the irritation even more, explains Dr. Graf.
The Fix: "If you start to feel a blind pimple under the skin, take it to the dermatologist's office for a shot." Can't make it to the doctor? Apply an ice pack, suggests Dr. Graf. The cold will help constrict the blood vessel and could help make the blemish smaller.
Mistake: You over-dry your skin.
It's the battle of the blemish, and we're all just trying to use our strongest artillery. But this plan of attack actually backfires. Over-drying the skin creates irritation and redness, and what's worse, dry skin leads to clogged pores. Keep this up, warns Dr. Graf, and "you're actually going to get more breakouts and more clogging."
The Fix: Take the path of moderation and lay off the full-on product offensive. You might need to try using your acne treatments every other evening or only a few times a week.
Mistake: You treat your entire face like it's a problem area.
It's like trying to use a chainsaw to shape your eyebrows. While you might have a few oily areas, like across your t-zone, you don't need to treat your entire face with products formulated for oily skin. When you treat combination skin like an oil slick it leads to irritation. And you know where irritation gets you––more clogging and more blemishes.
The Fix: As adolescence turns into adulthood, what was once oily skin is more often combination skin, explains Dr. Graf. Evaluate your skin type and treat it accordingly, whether you're dry, oily, or somewhere in between.
Mistake: You only protect your face from the sun.
Since we're trying to protect ourselves from the signs of aging, it makes sense that we'd focus on putting our best face forward. But as Dr. Graf warns, "one of the biggest places I see aging is on the chest." Also scary: covering up with clothing isn't much help. "A white t-shirt gives you an SPF of about 5," explains Dr. Graf.
The Fix: Any day you're going to be outside for a prolonged period of time, apply sunblock from head to toe, not just on your face and exposed arms and legs. Don't forget your ears!
Mistake: You're religious about using oil-free or non-comedogenic products.
Women with oily or blemish-prone skin have been taught that these words are the preventative gold standard for a break-out. In fact, many of us won't buy products that don't boast these terms on the bottle. But we might want to think again. "The terms non-comedogenic and oil-free are not FDA-approved terms. That's really just a selling point," explains Dr. Graf. The terms date back to the 1950s when beauty products used industrial-grade mineral oil that could break you out. "Today's mineral oil is a totally different cosmetic grade and is not going to break you out."
The Fix: If you're someone with oily skin who lives in fear of a break-out, you should use a pH-balanced foaming cleanser on your face, and you might want to add in a silicone-based powder or gel, suggests Dr. Graf. But you don't need to rely solely on products billed as oil-free or non-comedogenic. Seek out products you like, regardless of meaningless marketing terms.
Mistake: You're over-exfoliating.
Quick science lesson: Over the course of 28 days, the bottom layer of your skin––the basal layer––migrates toward the surface of your skin. When it gets there, it dies. Enzymes in the dead skin cells then cause the dead layer to fall off. That natural process is called exfoliation. Got it?
"If you see a 3-year-old child, that process is working perfectly. As we get older, that's not working as well. Why? Because the enzymes in our skin require hydration and moisture in order to be activated. When we lose that natural moisture over the years, our enzymes don't work. We have that dead skin cell layer that hangs on, and we need to remove it. That's why we use exfoliators."
But exfoliation needs to be gentle in order to be effective. "I've seen doctors on television talking about exfoliating. 'If it burns, great.' I see this, and I want to cringe."
The Fix: Steer clear of harsh scrubs and exfoliators like BuffPuffs, which can break blood vessels, and apricot scrubs, whose needle-sharp pits will break your skin and cause redness. At home, "using a peel kit or microdermabrasion kit is great. Using it every single day is not," says Dr. Graf. Any deeper exfoliation should be done in the care of a skin care professional, she says.
Mistake: You're using the right products at the wrong time.
You've got an all-star line-up of retinols, sunblock, and microdermabrasion kits in your medicine cabinet. But when you use your products is as important as what you're using. "Everybody's using the kitchen sink in the morning," complains Dr. Graf. Retinols are light-sensitive, so using them during the day isn't such a bright idea.
The Fix: "You want to use protective products in the daytime," says Dr. Graf, so slather on sunscreen twenty minutes before you leave the house. At bedtime, bring out the big guns, like exfoliators and retinols, "when your skin's natural circadian rhythms renew themselves," explains Dr. Graf.
Mistake: You use products with gold or metal in them.
It might seem super luxe to use creams flecked with gold, but you're better off keeping your money in your pocket. "They can cause contact dermatitis and there's no evidence that they do anything except drain your wallet."
The Fix: Invest your money in gold you can wear around your neck. And when you feel like splurging on a rich potion, pick something that smells divine or has a luxurious texture––but is free from any precious metals.
Mistake: You go to sleep with your makeup on.
We've all been there: You get home late and can't quite muster the energy to wash off the day or your makeup. (And waking up looking as "done" as Kim Kardashian can seem kind of screen goddessy.) "A lot of people will go to bed with makeup on. And a lot of people who don't go to bed with makeup on won't wash their face in the morning," says Dr. Graf. Both are big mistakes.
The Fix: Wash your face morning and night. But doctors sympathize with real life; they just want us to be prepared. "You go out on a Friday night and come home at 2am––it's going to happen. At the very least, have those pre-moistened makeup removers at your bedside. I'd rather you do that than not do it at all."
Mistake: You don't give your skincare products a chance.
We live in a quick fix world, so when we don't immediately see results from a new skin care regimen, we can get frustrated and give up. We then bounce from product to product, trying to find the magic potion.
The Fix: Exercise some patience. We take multivitamins, Dr Graf explains, knowing they're good for us, even when we don't see results. Sometimes you have to give your products the same measure of faith. "When you're using a skincare product, don't be so hard on the product. Understand that it's doing something for you." And that means waiting more than two days to see a difference––more like four to six weeks.
Mistake: You smoke.
If your health isn't motivation enough to quit, let vanity convince you. The toxins in cigarettes cause decreased oxygen flow to the skin, resulting in a dull complexion, explains Dr. Amy S. Pappert, assistant professor of dermatology at the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Repeatedly contracting your muscles to inhale, or squinting to protect your eyes from smoke can deep, premature wrinkles around the mouth, frown lines, and crow's feet.
The Fix: There's no better time to quit than now. Talk to your doctor about a game plan, and comb online resources like the Mayo Clinic, the American Cancer Society, and the American Lung Association. Your skin, not to mention your family and your friends, will thank you.
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