Some questions answered

The flat-iron I use is one inch. I use the cheap-o Andis one with a flat plate and a beveled edge from good ol' Wal-Mart.

The shampoo I use is Hydrotherapie from Biolage.

I buy most of my product at Target. I find they have the best selection.

My middle daughter, the blonde one, has hair to just beneath her shoulders. It is thin and baby fine. So any of you who want to know about hairstyles for shorter hair, try those. Also, on my side bar there are several moms who deal specifically with baby hair and short hair.

Unfortunately, I won't delve into adult hairstyles. I just don't have the time and most days I don't get around to doing my own hair! Many like THIS and THIS can be done on adults.

More about → Some questions answered

Acne: Disease of Civilization

I often focus on the bigger facets of the disease of civilization. Things like cardiovascular disease and cancer, which are major killers and the subject of intensive research. But the disease of civilization is a spectrum of disorders that affects the body in countless ways, large and small.

I recently read an interesting paper written by an all-star cast, including Loren Cordain, Staffan Lindeberg and Boyd Eaton. It's titled "Acne Vulgaris: A Disease of Western Civilization". The paper presents data from two different groups, the Kitavans of Papua New Guinea and the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay. Both were systematically examined by doctors trained to diagnose acne. Out of 1,200 Kitavans and 115 Ache of all ages, not a single case of acne was observed. Hunter-gatherers and other healthy non-industrial cultures have nice skin. I dare you to find a pimple in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

In Western societies, acne is a fact of life. The paper states that 79 to 95% of modern adolescents suffer from some degree of acne, along with about 50% of young adults. That's an enormous difference.

The paper presents a very Cordain-esque hypothesis to explain the high incidence of acne in Western societies. In sum, they state that the Western diet causes hyperinsulinemia, which is thought to promote acne. This is due to insulin's effects on skin cell proliferation, its interference with the retinoid (vitamin A) signaling pathway, and its effect on sebum production.

They then proceed to point the finger at the glycemic index/load of the Western diet as the culprit behind hyperinsulinemia. It's an unsatisfying explanation because the Kitavans eat a diet that has a high glycemic load due to its high carbohydrate content, low fat content, and relatively high-glycemic index foods. I think the answer is more likely to reside in the specific types of carbohydrate (processed wheat) rather than their speed of digestion, with possible contributions from refined vegetable oil and an excessive sugar intake.

More about → Acne: Disease of Civilization

More Knots

Wet the hair on the top and the front.

Make a slanted part. From that slanted part, you part the hair down from the end of the part to the ear. Divide this section in half, I followed the original part. Pull into a ponytail and secure with an elastic.

You then pull the elastic into a knot. To see a tutorial on how to make a knot, go HERE.

Then take that first knot and pull the hair from that knot down into the next section and make another ponytail. Then you make another knot.



Repeat on the other side.



Now, you could just leave it like this. It would be pretty with curled ends to make it feminine, however, it was PE day. Lots of running involved. So we pulled it back.



And we did just one more knot.

More about → More Knots

Tidy Braids

Someone requested that I share how I keep their braids so together. Here you go!

Here is that soaking wet ponytail again.


And here it is all gooped up with product.




Section it into three parts. Try to make them even

Then just braid. I hold my braids tight...some people braid loose, some braid tight. I belong to the latter group. It's all about preference.

Just keep going. Notice the parts under the braid are starting to get unruly. Since I MUST have order, I take care of that by running my comb down each part.

Then just proceed to the end.

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Little Ponytails off a Slanted Part

This is the look we are trying to acheive today.









Directions:

Wet the hair thoroughly.

Part from right or left side through the crown.

Part from the crown to the ear on either side, I also take the hair that I am not using and put it in an elastic so the stray hairs don't get caught up in the ponytails

On one side, you follow the part and do that into three ponytails.

On the other side, you work off the part and make the three ponytails come off the part.

I then took the elastic that was holding the extra hair out and I parted the hair down the middle.

Then pull the three little ponytails into the main two ponytails and made them into messy ponys by only pulling them half through the last time I pull them.

I liked the way the ends looked so I didn't curl them. I just sprayed them with hairspray and put the bows in.

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Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is milder form of NASH, in which the liver becomes enlarged and accumulates fat. Ready for a shocker? The prevalence of NAFLD is thought to be between 20 and 30 percent in the Western world, and rising. It's typically associated with insulin resistance and often with the metabolic syndrome. This has lead some researchers to believe it's caused by insulin resistance. It's a chicken and egg question, but I believe it's the other way around if anything.

There are certain animal models of human disease that are so informative I keep coming back to them again and again. One of my favorites is the LIRKO mouse, or liver-specific insulin receptor knockout mouse. The LIRKO mouse is missing its insulin receptor in the liver only, so it is a model of severe insulin resistance of the liver. It accumulates a small amount of fat in its liver in old age, but nothing that resembles NAFLD. So liver insulin resistance doesn't lead to NAFLD or NASH, at least in this model.

What else happens to the LIRKO mouse? It develops severe whole-body insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, high fasting blood glucose and hyperinsulinemia (chronically elevated insulin). So insulin resistance in the liver is sufficient to cause whole-body insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia and certain other hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome, while liver and whole-body insulin resistance are not sufficient to cause NAFLD or NASH. This is consistent with the fact that nearly everyone with NAFLD is insulin resistant, while many who are insulin resistant do not have NAFLD.

In all fairness, there are reasons why NAFLD is believed to be caused by insulin resistance. For example, insulin-sensitizing drugs improve NAFLD. However, that doesn't mean the initial metabolic 'hit' wasn't in the liver. One could imagine a scenario in which liver insulin resistance leads to insulin resistance in other tissues, which creates a positive feedback that aggravates NAFLD. Or perhaps NAFLD requires two 'hits', one to peripheral insulin sensitivity and another directly to the liver.

In any case, I feel that the most plausible mechanism for NAFLD goes something like this: too much n-6 from polyunsaturated vegetable oil (along with insufficient n-3), plus too much fructose from sweeteners, combine to cause NAFLD. The liver becomes insulin resistant at this point, leading to whole-body insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, impaired glucose tolerance and general metabolic havoc.

More about → Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Corkscrew How To

Start by putting the hair in a ponytail. I wet the ponytail thoroughly.


Then I goop it up with product. This is the BOLD IT! Gel. See how shiny it is? I worked it through the entire ponytail.

Separate the hair into two sections.

Now you twist the two sections separately in the same direction. See the picture below. I twist them super tight because it will relax a bit in the end and I don't like them to relax too much. You also use both hands because you aren't holding the hair AND the camera

Then I twist them together the other way. You don't have to do it this way. You could twist each side down completely and then twist the opposite way, I have found that for myself, I twist as I go because I can hold it tighter.

Like this.

Here is the completed twist. It just needs to be secured. However, because this was pre-bath and I had to bribe her, I just used a clip to hold the end.

But you can see in this picture how it relaxes just a bit.

More about → Corkscrew How To

Product

Let's discuss product. I am a product junkie. It is like an addiction. I LOVE going to the store and walking down the product isle. It draws me.

Now, as a disclosure, I do not work for Garnier or Suave or FX or Infusium 23. I am just a mom who loves using their products on my kids hair. And as another disclaimer, I use a really good shampoo on my daughter's hair. I feel like the shampoo and conditioner are the foundation of a good hairstyle, and since I use SO MUCH product, I feel better washing it out with a top of the line shampoo. You would THINK that my girls had terrible hair, but quite the opposite. Their hair is healthy and shiny and full and luscious.

First are my favorite putty's and pomades. I LOVE these sculpting ends and for making them stay where you want them to go. Pomade and the Gel are GREAT for putting in braids to make them smooth and to stay smooth throughout the day. Pomade makes my girls hair, and MY hair look the same after they have slept on it! I use whatever I feel will be the best for the style that particular day. It's just something you have to get a feel for.

Rarely, I leave their hair down. When I do, I want it to look smooth and soft. This little baby does the trick.

I do curl their hair...a lot. This is what I put on before I attack their hair with a curling iron, flat iron, rollers, whatever.

My handy, dandy cheap-o hairspray. I should have bought stock...Honey???

Water. Most styles start with a wet head of hair.

After every washing, this goes in. Including on my baby's hair.

Any questions?

More about → Product

What do you want to see?

I am taking requests.

So far on the list are a zig-zag part tutorial and a curling with a flat iron tutorial.

So go ahead, request away!

More about → What do you want to see?

Lavender Teacake

While flipping through the stack of cookbooks that I have borrowed from the library, I chanced upon this quick & easy-to-make cinnamon teacake recipe from this book. I love to browse through cookbooks from The Australian Women's Weekly series. The recipes are simple to follow and most of the time they are accompanied with beautiful illustrations...every single photo is shouting for my attention! After looking through the list of ingredients and the nutrition information, I was pretty set to give the recipe a go. The total amount of fat for each serving is 9g, which is even lower than that of a single cookie featured in the same book. It makes me feel less guilty to bake it , as I usually won't stop at just one slice of cake.

As with coffee cakes, in the past, I used to think that tea cakes are cakes made with tea as one of the key ingredients. Silly me! Now I know, they are just cakes or even breads served for afternoon tea. Although coffee cakes are either cakes that are made with coffee or referred to as any cakes that are served with coffee, a teacake could mean different thing to people living in different regions. In Australia, a teacake is typically referred to as a sweet cake made with flour, eggs, fat and sugar. They are sometimes sprinkled with a mixture of cinnamon and caster sugar, and are often served warm from the oven, with tea. Since my kids have yet to acquire the taste of cinnamon, I tweaked the recipe a little...I left out the cinnamon and only sprinkled the cake with caster sugar. To add flavour, I added in a teaspoons of dried lavender. So, here's my version of a Lavender Teacake:

It proves to be a very easy cake to prepare. I made it with just a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. Of course you can use a manual whisk, or leave it to your electric mixer to do the job. If you are going 'manual', do make sure the butter is very soft before you start working on it...unless you don't mind working on your biceps at the same time. I got the cake into the oven within 20mins, which was 5 mins longer than the preparation time stated in the recipe. I will have to learn to be more efficient.

Although the cake was not as moist compared to cakes made with 'moisturising-agents" such as yogurt, buttermilk, etc, I thought the taste was very delectable. The cake was rather light and I like the nice fragrant of the lavender. It's just a little on the sweet side for me...which is mainly due to the generous sprinkling of caster sugar on the cake surface. On hind sight, I should have added some lemon zest to kick up the flavour a little.


Here's a slice of cake for all of you who have taken the time to leave me your heart-warming comments and encouraging words after I published my earlier post. I'm truly touched by the kind words of encouragements...it certainly boost up my morale, and made me see the light at the far end of the tunnel. Even if you didn't leave a comment, I thank you for taking time to read and come over to my humble blog :)

From your comments, I got to know that a couple of you have actually picked up the hobby of baking after reading my blog :D It also brings me great joy to learn that some of you had started making homemade breads following the recipes I have posted here. The one and only concern that I have is that, I hope I am not the blind leading the blind. Till now, I do not know whether I am doing the kneading of the dough correctly :')

So, what are you waiting for? Go grab your spoon and enjoy!

I mean, go grab your wooden spoon and start baking!



Ingredients
(makes one 20cm cake, serves 8)

60g butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
1/3 cup (80ml) milk
1 teaspoon dried lavender*

topping:
15g butter, melted
some caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degC. Grease and flour side of a 20cm (8") round pan, line base with parchment paper. Sift self-raising flour, set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, with a wooden spoon or a manual whisk, beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the egg gradually, beat well each time egg is added. Add in vanilla extract, mix well.
3. Add in shifted flour and milk, stir with a spatula until smooth. Stir in dried lavender.
4. Spread batter into prepared pan, bake for 25mins till the cake turns golden or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Stand cake in pan for 5 mins. Turn onto cooling rack, brush top with melted butter and sprinkle with caster sugar. (*Note: If desired, omit dried lavender, instead, mix 1 tablespoon of caster sugar with 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture on top of cake after brushing the surface with the melted butter.)

Recipe source: The Australian Women's Weekly,Food We Love

More about → Lavender Teacake

Agave Syrup

Anna brought up agave syrup in a comment on the last post, so I thought I'd put up a little mini-post so everyone can benefit from what she pointed out.

Agave syrup is made from the heart of the agave plant, which is pressed to release a juice rich in inulin. Inulin is a polymer made of fructose molecules. The inulin is then broken down either by heat or by enzymatic processing. The result is a sweet syrup that is rich in fructose.

Agave syrup is marketed as a healthy, alternative sweetener. In fact, it's probably as bad or worse than high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They are both a refined and processed plant extract. Both are high in fructose, with agave syrup leading HFCS (estimates of agave syrup range up to 92% fructose by calories). Finally, agave syrup is expensive and inefficient to produce.

The high fructose content gives agave syrup a low glycemic index, because fructose does not raise blood glucose. Unfortunately, as some diabetics learned the hard way, using fructose as a substitute for sucrose (cane sugar) has negative long-term effects on insulin sensitivity.

In my opinion, sweeteners come with risks and there is no free lunch. The only solution is moderation.

More about → Agave Syrup

How to Fatten Your Liver

Steatohepatitis is a condition in which the liver becomes inflamed and accumulates fat. It was formerly found almost exclusively in alcoholics. In the 1980s, a new condition was described called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), basically steatohepatitis without the alcoholism. Today, NASH is thought to affect more than 2% of the adult American population. The liver has many important functions. It's not an organ you want to break.

This week, I've been reading about how to fatten your liver. First up: industrial vegetable oil. The study that initially sent me on this nerd safari was recently published in the Journal of Nutrition. It's titled "Increased Apoptosis in High-Fat Diet–Induced Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis in Rats Is Associated with c-Jun NH₂-Terminal Kinase Activation and Elevated Proapoptotic Bax". Quite a mouthful. The important thing for the purpose of this post is that the investigators fed rats a high-fat diet, which induced NASH.

Anytime a study mentions a "high-fat diet", I immediately look to see what they were actually feeding the animals. To my utter amazement, there was no information on the composition of the high-fat diet in the methods section, only a reference to another paper. Apparently fat composition is irrelevant. Despite the fact that a high-fat diet from coconut oil or butter does not produce NASH in rats. Fortunately, I was able to track down the reference. The only difference between the standard diet and the high-fat diet was the addition of a large amount of corn oil and the subtraction of carbohydrate (dextrin maltose).

Corn oil is one of the worst vegetable oils. You've eaten corn so you know it's not an oily seed. To concentrate the oil and make it palatable, manufacturers use organic solvents, high heat, and several rounds of chemical treatment. It's also extremely rich in n-6 linoleic acid. The consumption of corn oil and other n-6 rich oils has risen dramatically in the US in the last 30 years, making them prime suspects in NASH. They have replaced the natural (more saturated) fats we once got from meat and milk.

Next up: fructose. Feeding rats an extreme amount of fructose (60% of calories) gives them nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), NASH's younger sibling, even when the fat in their chow is lard. Given the upward trend of US fructose consumption (mostly from high-fructose corn syrup), and the refined sugar consumed everywhere else (50% fructose), it's also high on my list of suspects.

Here's my prescription for homemade foie gras: take one serving of soybean oil fried french fries, a basket of corn oil fried chicken nuggets, a healthy salad drenched in cottonseed oil ranch dressing, and wash it all down with a tall cup of soda. It's worked for millions of Americans!

More about → How to Fatten Your Liver

Triple Twists

Sometimes I start doing their hair and I never quite know where I will end up. You can tell that is the case with this do.

I started by wetting her hair and parting it in a zig-zag down the middle.



I then took each side and pulled it up into high ponytails.



Unfortunately there aren't pictures of me twisting her hair into corkscrews, but that is what I did. I separated each ponytail into three sections about the same thickness. I smoothed some pomade on each section and split it in half. Then I twisted each half in the same direction while twisting them together the other direction. I repeated on each ponytail until I had three twists on each.



Then I took each corkscrew and pulled it up under the main elastic. IF I had known where I was going with this, I would have used clear elastics. She was playing soccer that day and I didn't want to chance the corkscrews coming undone and so the elastics needed to stay in place. Clear would have been much less noticeable.



It will look like this. I am not a fan of those ends.



So I took my flat iron and curled them towards myself.



Then I added her soccer ribbons. Which, by-the-way, we can't use anymore because they won't let us use metal. Whoops. Guess they will have to wear them when they go to pro soccer games on daddy-daughter dates. The also helped to push those out-of-control ends back.

More about → Triple Twists

WINNERS

Let's see who won:

BIG SISTER




MIDDLE SISTER




BABY SISTER





Thanks to everyone who entered! For those of you who won, I will be trying to contact you via your blog, but if you could contact me at blackeyedsue2@gmail.com, that would make my insane life just a touch easier!

More about → WINNERS