With summer coming, all of us are beginning to worry about our bikini bodies and what we can do to lose weight fast. There are many diets out there that have reached popularity, but have negative health effects. Plus, they may not be effective in the long run.

One old diet is the Cotton Ball Diet. The cotton ball diet is exactly what it sounds like: you eat cotton balls, either by themselves or soaked in gelatin. The idea is to fill up your stomach with something that will take away hunger but not add any calories. However, the cotton ball diet deprives your body of key nutrients. Even the fiber that people believe they are getting isn’t the type of fiber necessary to sustain bodily functions. Not to mention the inevitable digestion problems.

Another old diet it the Tapeworm Diet. Before being banned in the United States, Fly by Night, Inc. sold pills called Megaslim that supposedly contained a live tapeworm. You could eat as much as you want, and the tapeworm would absorb at least half of the calories for you. Yet tapeworms may not actually eat enough of what you ingest to make you lose weight, and can cause bad infections, malnutrition, and even death by reaching other parts of your body, like your heart or brain, through your bloodstream.

New diets, reinforced by celebrities, are reaching popularity as well. The Lemonade Diet, also called the Master Cleanse, involves drinking a mixture of freshly squeezed lemon juice, syrup, purified water, and cayenne pepper for ten days.

The purpose is to cleanse the colon of built-up toxins while making the dieter feel younger and more energized. Beyoncé made this diet popular when she announced that she lost twenty pounds for the set of DreamGirls. However, after ten days on this diet you verge on starvation. Beyoncé herself says she wouldn’t recommend this diet for anyone.

The Cabbage Soup Diet involves one week of eating cabbage soup, water, and vitamins. The soup consists of cabbage, peppers, onion, tomatoes, carrots, mushroom, celery, and spices. You can eat as much as you want of this soup, but nothing else. Some celebrities like Sarah Michelle Gellar have reported results about this diet. You burn more calories digesting these foods than eating them.

The Grapefruit Diet, in which you eat nothing except one grapefruit per meal and a lot of water, is based on the principle of cutting back carbohydrates. A variation of this diet is to eat a grapefruit before every meal to cut back on meal size. The grapefruit can be replaced with any other fruit or vegetable.

Dieters average losing about ten pounds in a twelve day period. Yet this diet averages about 800 calories a day. The minimum calorie goal is much higher, and depends on the dieter’s height and weight. Similarly, both Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston support the Baby Food Diet, with which you replace two or three meals a day with jars of baby food.

You can also have one adult meal and snack on the baby food all throughout the day instead. This diet cuts out a lot of the fillers and added ingredients that adult food features. It also cuts out too many calories: dieters eat less than they should.

The goal with any of these diets is to shed pounds fast, and see immediate results. Yet most of these pounds come from water weight-dieters are likely to gain it all back once they begin to eat regularly again! Plus, most of them deprive your body of key nutrients and starve you, which could have damaging effects on other internal organs if used too drastically or longer than recommended.

Make sure to talk to a doctor if you are going to attempt one of these diets. It is much healthier to simply watch what you eat, cut out fatty or processed food, and exercise regularly. Those pounds have a chance of staying off, even if it takes a longer time.

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Avon Global Ambassador & Honorary Chairman of the Avon Foundation for Women Reese Witherspoon and Avon Chairman and CEO Andrea Jung  awarded four global non-governmental organizations with the inaugural Avon Communications Awards: Speaking Out About Violence Against Women for their campaigns that are bringing attention to the need to end violence against women.

Witherspoon and Jung presented the awards, funded by the Avon Foundation, at the 2nd World Conference of Women’s Shelters in Washington, D.C., which brought together more than 1,400 advocates, activists and leaders from 96 countries to collaborate to change attitudes about such violence. The awards are part of the Avon Speak Out Against Domestic Violence program, which has donated nearly $40 million globally to end violence against women.

Avon Communications Awards Winners
The Avon Foundation recognized the U.K.’s Women’s Aid, YWCA Canada, Rwanda Women Network and India’s Breakthrough for their exemplary communications campaigns. A global panel of judges selected the winners from among 19 finalists identified through an Avon Foundation-funded global survey to determine strengths and challenges in communicating efforts aimed at reducing violence against women.

Survey results revealed that communications campaigns have evolved significantly over the past two decades and the portrayal of women has changed from victim to survivor, empowered by the tools and services available to her.

To view the award-winning campaigns in each of the four categories – Storytelling, Innovative Campaign, Break the Silence, and Global Excellence in Communications – as well as other finalists’ campaigns, please visit: http://www.avonfoundation.org/globalspeakout/avon-communications-awards.html. These materials and many others will be available in June 2012 on an online global hub, the Communications X-Change, funded by the Avon Foundation and managed by Futures Without Violence.

Storytelling Award Winner:
Women’s Aid (UK) – CUT the movie campaign 
This movie starring Keira Knightley shows a woman suffering a brutal assault. On the day of CUT’s launch, the story was the most read entertainment story on the BBC News website, and within six days, the film received over a half a million hits.

Innovation Award Winner: 
YWCA Canada – “Safety Siren” app and campaign 
This “Safety Siren” app promotes healthy dating and provides specific ways to help stop violence against women. The unique app, which has been downloaded more than 4,000 times, is activated with a press of a button or a quick shake, turning a mobile device into a multifunctional safety device.

Break The Silence Award Winner:
Rwanda Women Network campaign
The poster shows a disturbing image of a man physically abusing a woman with witnesses watching the assault, demonstrating that violence against women is a societal problem by encouraging community responsibility and victim assistance.

Global Award for Excellence in Communications Winner: 
Breakthrough (India) – “Bell Bajao! (Ring the Bell!)” campaign 
This campaign is helping bring domestic violence to a halt through real life scenarios of neighbors interrupting violence behind closed doors. These powerful public service announcements show that “ringing the bell” is one way to break through and end domestic violence incidents without confrontation.

Other Avon Foundation Initiatives at World Conference of Women’s Shelters:
Avon Foundation-Funded Domestic Violence Counts Survey
The National Network to End Domestic Violence released its annual Domestic Violence Counts survey, funded by the Avon Foundation. The survey, a one-day snapshot of services provided across the United States, found that more than 9,500 requests from domestic violence victims for services and assistance go unmet every day in the United States.

That is almost 3.5 million families that aren’t getting the help they need every year, and 60 percent of those victims are seeking emergency shelter or transitional housing.

Reese Witherspoon Shares Three Ways to Speak Out Against Domestic Violence
In honor of International Women’s Day on March 8th, Reese Witherspoon also is offering “Three Ways to Speak Out” against domestic violence through a video she is encouraging people to share (http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/VOD/46212_a_3Ways_0228.zip).

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‘This Means War’, starring Chris Pine and Tom Hardy and directed by McG, is an action romantic comedy about two CIA agents who accidentally start dating the same girl. Despite having a contrived coincidence plot, the film itself, released early for Valentine’s Day and set for wide release February 17^th, is actually a shining beacon in the dying genre of romantic comedies.

The film kicks off with the two agents, Tuck (Tom Hardy) and FDR (Chris Pine) scouting out a party for a target. This introduces us to the two main characters and their dynamic, which is a typical but adorable pair of good friends. Tuck is more polite and sweet while FDR is roguish and impulsive. Their targets are two brothers and when a fiery shootout hits, one of the brothers is accidentally killed, causing the other, Heinrich (Til Schweiger), to swear revenge on the two friends.

Meanwhile, a lonely woman named Lauren (Reese Witherspoon) has gotten tired of the single life and her best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler), makes her a profile on a dating site. Similarly, Tuck has had little luck in love as he is divorced and has a child to take care of and so he decides to try the same dating site. He and Lauren meet up on a blind date and hit it off while FDR hangs out in a video store nearby just in case the date goes south and Tuck needs an escape.

However, Lauren goes to the video store and FDR, clueless that it’s the same girl Tuck had just gone out with, becomes interested in her as well. Tuck and FDR meet up later at their office only to discover they are dating the same girl. Both men offer to break it off with her because they are friends and do not want to lose their friendship over a girl, but their pride gets the better of them and it becomes a competition to see who Lauren chooses.

As their tempers flare, their friendship starts to fall apart while they aggressively try to get Lauren to fall in love with one of them. The casting is what truly sets this romantic action comedy apart from other movies in its genre. Pine and Hardy are believable best friends and work incredibly well together.

Both are genuinely funny, charming, and perform fantastic in both the comedy scenes and the action sequences. This is no surprise as both actors have backgrounds in both genres: Chris Pine started his career in romantic comedies like ‘Just My Luck‘ (2006) and ‘The Princess Diaries 2’ (2004) before getting his big break with J.J. Abram’s ‘Star Trek’ (2009), and Tom Hardy starred in Guy Ritchie’s hit action comedy ‘RocknRolla’ (2008) before landing the big job with Christopher Nolan in ‘Inception‘ (2010).

However, casting is also one of the big problems of the film: namely Reese Witherspoon. Her character is generic because the film focuses more on the boys than her and she is woefully miscast in this role because at the end of the day, she is not the kind of girl that these two handsome and incredibly talented fellows would fight over.

Her character is largely undefined and mostly uninteresting throughout the film, which may be a result of her best friend being the boisterous and crude Chelsea Handler. Handler easily outshines Witherspoon in every scene they share, which unfortunately makes one wonder if Witherspoon was only chosen as a second choice or because she is lovely eye candy.

Another detractor from the film is the tacked on villain role for the menacing actor Til Schweiger, who most know from his chilling role in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009). He is little more than an afterthought to the main conflict of the best friends’ fighting and is ultimately taken out in an insultingly simple fashion. His character has almost no lines and only serves to give the best friends a big scene to finish on, rather than being a legitimate threat.

Furthermore, while the best friends work perfectly together, they do have a lack of development by the film’s finish. FDR does grow out of his lecherous nature, but not much time is spent showing that he is a new man. There are also underlying, and probably unintentional, unfortunate implications that occur after Lauren’s choice. Overall, the ending is abrupt and the last line of the film feels forced, though it is enjoyable.

This Means War is honest about what it is: a popcorn flick with the buttery taste of a romantic comedy and the salty flavor of an action movie. Women can enjoy its thoroughly handsome main protagonists, men can enjoy the action, and both will enjoy the humor.

OVERALL GRADE: 3/5

Image Courtesy of   https://www.facebook.com/thismeanswar

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From Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman’s stacked bracelets to Angelina Jolie and Jessica Biel’s diamond stud earrings, Hollywood’s leading actresses chose to celebrate their achievements with platinum jewelry at the 69^th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Platinum is naturally white, so it never changes color or fades, thereby maximizing the brilliance of diamonds and colored gemstones. It is the ideal setting for the red carpet. Following is a list of stars that celebrated the night’s achievements in platinum:

Angelina Jolie

-Platinum and diamond stud earrings (25 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond ring (12 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Reese Witherspoon

-Platinum and European cut diamond drop earrings (9 carats each) by Fred Leighton
-A pair of platinum and diamond bracelets from 1900 by Fred Leighton
-Platinum and diamond bracelet from the 1920s by Fred Leighton

Natalie Portman

-Platinum and diamond drop earrings by Harry Winston
-3 platinum and diamond bracelets by Harry Winston
-Platinum and pear shaped diamond cluster ring by Harry Winston

Jessica Biel

-Platinum and round diamond opera length necklace worn down her back by Tiffany & Co.
-Platinum and round solitaire diamond stud earrings by (6.12 carats) by Tiffany & Co.

Emma Stone

­-Blackened platinum and ruby stud earrings (19 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Lea Michele

-Blackened platinum and diamond earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum and emerald ring (29 carats) by Lorraine Schwartz

Claire Danes

-Platinum earrings with princess cut diamonds by Bulgari

Jessica Alba

-Platinum earrings with diamonds (37.14 carats) by Bulgari

Kate Beckinsale

-Platinum and diamond mesh bowtie earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond braided cuffs by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond geometric cuff by Lorraine Schwartz
*Total is 300 carats of diamonds

Jodie Foster

-Platinum and diamond earrings (8 carats) by Bulgari
-Platinum bracelet with 84 diamonds (42.61 carats) by Bulgari
-Platinum and diamond ring by Bulgari

Stacey Keibler

-Platinum and diamond cluster earrings by Chopard (9 carats)

Sofia Vergara

-Platinum and diamond earrings by Harry Winston
-2 Platinum and diamond bracelets by Harry Winston
-Platinum and diamond ring by Harry Winston

Jessica Chastain

-Platinum cluster earrings with pearl and diamonds by Harry Winston
-Platinum and diamond feather ring by Harry Winston
-Vintage platinum and diamond bracelet by Harry Winston

Emma Roberts (Warner Bros./InStyle party)

-Platinum and diamond cluster earrings (15 carats) by Chopard
-2 platinum and diamond cuffs (107 total carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and rose cut diamond ring (15 carats) by Chopard

Diane Lane

-Platinum chandelier earrings with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane
-Platinum cocktail ring with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane
-Platinum bangle bracelets with yellow and white diamonds by Neil Lane

Zooey Deschanel

-Platinum Estate ring from 1970 featuring pearl and diamonds by Van Cleef & Arpels

Dianna Agron

-Platinum bow bracelet with onyx and diamonds from the 1920s by Fred Leighton
-Platinum line bracelet with diamonds and onyx from the 1920s by Fred Leighton

Sarah Hyland

-Blackened platinum and multicolored diamond flower earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond ring by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and diamond cuff by Lorraine Schwartz

Piper Perabo

-Platinum and diamond cuff by Tiffany & Co.
-Platinum and diamond stud earrings by Tiffany & Co.

Debra Messing

-Blackened platinum, amethyst and emerald drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Platinum and emerald ring by Lorraine Schwartz

Julianne Moore

-Platinum earrings with diamonds and emerald bead tassels by Fred Leighton

Julianna Margulies

-Blackened platinum, green jade and diamond drop earrings by Lorraine Schwartz

Paula Patton

-Platinum and diamond “Firecracker” earrings by Kwiat
-Platinum and diamond bracelets by Kwiat

Madonna

-5 platinum and diamond bracelets by Neil Lane
-Platinum and diamond cocktail ring by Neil Lane

Helen Mirren

-Platinum pendant earrings with sapphire and diamonds from the 1950s by Fred Leighton
-Platinum barrel link bracelet with sapphire and diamonds from the 1930s by Fred Leighton

Queen Latifah

-Platinum and diamond chandelier earrings (30 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and asscher cut diamond bracelet (40 carats) by Chopard

Andrea Riseborough

-Platinum and diamond necklace (25 carats) by Neil Lane

Jane Lynch

-Blackened platinum, black diamond and blue sapphire earrings by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum ring by Lorraine Schwartz
-Blackened platinum bracelet by Lorraine Schwartz

Jane Fonda

-Platinum and diamond drop necklace (38 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and diamond bracelet (43 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and cushion cut diamond drop earrings (7 carats) by Chopard
-Platinum and diamond heart shaped rings featuring 390 diamonds (14 carats) by Chopard

Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

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