Beauty and Fashion Tech -

The New Science of Perfect Skin by Daniel Yarosh, PH.D.

Daniel Yarosh, Ph.D. is a thirty-year veteran of the beauty business who comes from the development end of the industry. Among his accomplishments are the invention of new ingredients for brands such as Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Shiseido. Now he has an excellent book out, The New Science of Perfect Skin: Understanding Skin Care Myths and Miracles For Radiant Skin at Any Age, along with an accompanying skin care line, Remergent, from his laboratory, AGI Dermatics.

I will cover the Remergent line in a few weeks. For now, I want to focus on what I think is one of the best beauty books to come along in a great while—at least as far as skin care and anti-aging is concerned. The book provides a thorough and accurate overview of everything a person needs to know about skin, from protecting it, to treating its problems.

From the get go, Yaraosh tells it like it is, with early chapters on “Cutting Through the Hype,” and a glossary of product ingredients. He then painstakingly breaks down cosmetic products into chapters with explanations of what to avoid and why, and what to focus on for the best results. Each chapter includes specific product recommendations by brand across various levels of cost. Yarosh also provides a wealth of information on skin cancer and sun care, along with antioxidants and wrinkle treatments, including descriptions of various lasers and injections. The book also contains skin care regimes for men and children. Throughout the book, Yarosh does a nice job of recommending products that will do double duty by addressing multiple skin conditions at once—something I am quite a fan of.

Overall, The New Science of Perfect Skin is a book with a great deal of information, written for the everyday consumer. Wonderfully informative, to the point, and easy to read, it is a book that you can pick up, understand, and learn from without any specific scientific background. If you do have some background, you will find it to be a well informed and handy reference tool.

I recommend The New Science of Perfect Skin for any person who is concerned about skin care and who seeks to separate the products that have the most chance of success from those that are unlikely to work. Isn’t that most of us?

By Carleenp Posted in Beauty Tech, Book Reviews, Skin Care | No Comments

New E-Book! Leon’s Anti-Aging Beauty Secrets

A fellow Splendicity beauty writer has come out with a really great e-book full of all natural anti-aging secrets and recipes. Leon’s Anti-Aging Beauty Secrets by Leon Rao is full of information, from suggestions for an anti-aging diet, to recipes for various skin care serums and lotions.

The diet chapter contains some great information and chart of antioxidant foods that I found quite handy. There is also neat list of various ethnic anti-aging foods. But what really shines are the multitude of recipes in this book. There is a section on Ayervedic recipes and then additional chapters coving cleansers, toners, masks, exfoliators, serums and more. There is even a recipe for lip balm and a chapter dedicated to an eyebrow and eyelash booster.

Throughout the book, Leon explains the purpose of the ingredients and provide clear direction for each recipe. For the do-it-yourself makeup and skin care fanatic, this book is a must have.

The e-book is 60 pages in color pdf format and is now available for $15—a great price for the wealth of information provided. Visit the purchase page to view chapter summaries and order.

By Carleenp Posted in Book Reviews, Skin Care | No Comments

Ten Years Thinner by Christine Lydon, MD. One Month Later Review

It has been about 5 weeks since I finished the six week Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan. So here is my promised update.

I spent plenty of time cheating lately by having wine or beer with dinner and going out to eat a bit more. But I otherwise eat fairly well and according to the plan. I also lost 2 more pounds over the past 5 weeks, while my measurements stayed about the same.

I still do the exercise plan a couple of times each week, but have replaced it on other days with a more traditional weight program at the gym, dance class, yoga, and some intervals on the cross trainer. I like the program in the book, but I also like to have a bit more variation and I enjoy the gym. So I do the book program on days when I need to be at home or don’t feel up to going to the gym.

Overall, a month or so out, I still feel that the Ten Year’s Thinner program is a good choice. It provides a nice guide and solid program to jump start weight loss and leave the dieter with a solid foundation when the six weeks are finished. So I give it a big thumbs up!

Jump to: PreDiet Writeup

Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap
Week Six Recap

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

By Carleenp Posted in Book Reviews, Diet and Fitness | 10 Comments

Ten Year’s Thinner by Christine Lydon, MD: Week Six

I now have week six of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan done, which marks the end of the formal program laid out by the book. Of course, that doesn’t mean that I get to return my old ways. But it will mark the end of my weekly updates. I will post back in a month with a final follow up.

I had a pretty good final week. Despite a bit of cheating by having wine with dinner a few times, I lost 2 more pounds and found that I have also gone down a full clothing size. I did not have any measurable changes in inches this week. Here are the totals:

Total weight lost in week six: 2 pounds

Total weight lost through six weeks: 12 pounds

Total inches off so far: Thigh 1 3/4, Hips 1 1/2, Stomach 2 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest 4.

The six week experience has been good. I still feel that the Ten Year’s Thinner program is a good choice for both weight loss and general fitness. The diet is effective and builds good eating habits, while also being fairly flexible once the initial few weeks are finished.

The exercise program is a great alternative for those who do not, or cannot, go to a gym. It also is easily adaptable for varying levels of fitness. However, those who are already fairly fit may find themselves adding extra exercises or cardio time to the program. I have settled into adding a couple of interval training cardio sessions and a heavier weight routine at the gym each week. I also add several gluteal and thigh exercises to the end of the home program.

I will post something again in four weeks to report on the longer term effects of the program.

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Five Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

By Carleenp Posted in Book Reviews, Diet and Fitness | 6 Comments

Ten Years Thinner by Dr. Christine Lyndon, M.D.: Week Five of the Diet and Fitness Plan

I have now finished week five of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise book, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. I have one week formally left to go.

This week essentially saw no changes. No gain, no loss, either in weight or size. I found that interesting because while I did cheat with Easter dinner, I wasn’t terrible about it–I kept portion sizes low, especially on the high glycemic items. I also felt that the week went particularly well in terms of exercise and I feel stronger despite the lack of any results this week.

Total weight lost through five weeks: 10 pounds (most lost generally in the first 2 weeks)

Total inches off so far: Thigh 1 3/4, Hips 1 1/2, Stomach 2 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest 4 (losses were generally spread across the weeks).

The diet now allows grains and high glycemic vegetables in limited amounts and allows a bit of dark chocolate. I found that I adore Planter Nutrition Energy Mix, which has Almonds, Honey Roasted Sesame Sticks, Peanuts, Walnuts, Pecans & Dark Chocolate Covered Soynuts. That would not be compliant with the first 4 weeks, but I think is OK now. The calories are slightly higher with it than other nut mixes, although not horribly so. If other chocolate is not added, it does not add any more calories than a person would get following the diet and adding chocolate separately. I still am eating a more standard nut mix for some snacks as well.

I also found a decent eating out option. Outback Steakhouse has a chopped ahi tuna salad that is terrific. It is a basic chopped lettuce salad with chunks of cucumber, and it comes with a light wasabi vinaigrette. Thin slices of rare ahi tuna are laid across the top. The salad does include crunchy tortilla strips, so ask for those to be left off in weeks 1-4. It also is a rather large salad, so consider saving half. The hardest part about eating at Outback for me was not eating the bread. Somehow I managed to stop myself. My husband, however, ate the entire loaf and then asked for a second!

Next week will mark the end of the 6 week program and will be my last weekly update. However, I will likely update again one month after that.

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Four Recap
Week Six Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans

By Carleenp Posted in Book Reviews, Diet and Fitness | 2 Comments

Book Review: Ten Years Thinner: Week Four of the Diet and Exercise Program

I have now finished week four of the Ten Years Thinner diet and exercise plan, by Dr. Christine Lydon, M.D. This week saw another illness, which made me miss a number of days of exercise. I lost no weight, but my measurements continued to shrink. For those confused how that could happen, keep in mind that muscle takes up less space, but weighs more than fat, so I assume that I replaced some fat with muscle. That is good with me!

Weight lost in week three: 0 pounds (no gain either, I just stayed the same).
Total weight lost through four weeks: 10 pounds

Inches off in week four: Thigh 1/2, Hips 1/2, Stomach 1 (Yay!), Arm 0, Chest 0.
Total inches off so far: Thigh 1 3/4, Hips 1 1/2, Stomach 2 3/4, Arm 1/2, Chest 4.

The annoyance this week was that I was ill yet again. A couple of weeks ago I had the flu, and much of this week I had a cold. I am normally very healthy, so back to back illnesses are quite unusual for me. I’m beginning to wonder if the sudden lifestyle changes messed with me enough to make me more susceptible to such things. Regardless, while I did not lose weight, I did continue to drop inches–something I could tell by the fit of my clothes before I even took my weekly measurements.

I was allowed to bring dairy back in this week and used that to switch out eggs for a couple of breakfasts with cottage cheese and fresh pineapple. Otherwise, I didn’t take advantage of the dairy all that much. I added a bit of Feta cheese to a salad, and sprinkled a bit of cheese on some chili, but that was about it. Obviously, I am being good about taking my calcium and magnesium pills since I am not drinking milk like I used to!T

Today marks the start of week five. I am now allowed to have up to 100 calories of high glycemic foods, such as grains, potatoes, or corn with each meal, and 2 ounces of chocolate or dried fruit with each snack. However, I am a bit concerned that because of my two illnesses, I haven’t built up as much muscle by this point in the program as I should have for my body to be ready to handle the high glycemic foods and still continue to lose weight. So I am inclined to wait another week before adding much of those. My hope is to have a full week of normal exercise this week now that my cold is subsiding.

Amazingly, I don’t miss the grains now anyway and have pretty much gotten a fruit habit formed. Our beer of the month club shipment came today though and will have to sit in the fridge and wait a few more weeks. I do miss that!

Jump to:

PreDiet Writeup
Week One Recap
Week Two Recap
Week Three Recap
Week Five Recap
Week Six Recap
One Month After the End Review

Comparison shop for diet books and plans