The Flat Belly Diet Review

Have you seen the absolute latest diet frenzy that has hit the planet? The Flat Belly Diet is now here and available for purchase. Heck it was even featured on Good Morning America.

The diet is pretty straight forward and was written by the Editor-in-Chief of Prevention magazine Liz Vaccariello (with a little help from Nutrition Editor Cynthia Sass).

What's it all about?

The main thrust of the diet is what they call MUFA or Monounsaturated Fatty Acids. The Flat Belly Diet says to have a MUFA food at every meal.

According to exciting new research, MUFAs can actually help you lose weight, specifically around your middle.

What foods contain MUFAs? Olive oil, sunflower oil, flax oil, avocado, nuts and seeds.

The diet also talks about eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and limiting meat intake. In fact it sounds very similar to a traditional Mediterranean diet. The suggested meal plans are set at 1600 Calories per day.

As with most programs it of course recommends "optional" exercise such as; 25 minutes brisk walking, or a strength training workout including Lunges, Squats, and Push up Rows.

Sadly, there are many things about this diet that seem a little (or a lot) over-exuberant. All the material points to a direct loss of abdominal fat from the diet -- this is a very bold claim and there is no apparent evidence to back it up. When body fat is lost it tends to disappear from all over the body. There are also claims like:

* Lose up to to 15lbs in 32 days
* Trim up to 12 inches of fat
* Tighten, tone and flatten your tummy
* Look and feel sexier

These are the buzzwords that draw in the crowd. The book costs $31.95 and the online program appears to cost around $15 per month (although there is a 3 month 'free' trial available).

The Flat Belly Diet espouses a healthy diet - but it is hardly "Breakthrough Science". Eating a certain kind of fat is no miracle weight loss cure. However - in all fairness - there is some research (such as this and this study in the British Journal of Nutrition) that demonstrate how replacing saturated fats in the diet with MUFA's can result in favorable outcomes.

'Terminator Salvation" Trailer Review

by Jason Roestel, Movie Examiner

Even if he has boxes of Girl Scout cookies in his cold metal claws, never open your front door for this guy...

Cyberdyne Systems got you down? Strike back movie fans, or at least support the human race's last real freedom fighter John Connor. Check out the brand Marv-Albert-served-spanking new trailer for Terminator Salvation by hitting THIS LINK to the Apple website...

Trailer Critique: The awesome 80's look like they're back. I was hesitant to get even slightly excited over Terminator Salvation. I'm still a bit hesitant. But it looks like Director McG, (it's a trendy white boy thang - you wouldn't understand) has managed to capture that rusty Terminator essence that James Cameron created in the first two films of this series. This trailer looks exactly like Kyle Reese's flashbacks to the future we saw in the original 1984 film - skulls crushed under Hunter/Killer tank tracks and all.

Christian Bale looks like he was born to play Connor. I'm thinking nobody is going to remember Nick Stahl, or even Ed Furlong, (if people do indeed still remember lil' Eddie Furlong) ever played this role before Christian seizes it for his own.

I'm also going to give a pass to the CG in this flick. CG effects work best when they're creating something inorganic. Iron Man proved that an "iron man" can look pretty damn real when animated. Things usually go wonky when artists try to recreate a living, breathing organism. Thank god Skynet is populated by killer robots. That's not the best way to put that but you know what I mean...

Speaking of killer robots, those Terminator crotch rockets looked pretty slick. That stuff had a nice Road Warrior vibe to it. Especially that big rig with the cow-catcher welded to the front. I'm not so sure how I feel about the massive Transformer style Terminators though. If Skynet was so bright, why wouldn't it just fill the planet up with these three story tall killing machines instead of fracking around with T-100 clones?

I'll admit it. I'm much more excited now to see this movie than I was ten minutes ago. The trailer brought up some early memories of seeing the original Terminator on VHS for the first time. As long as this film justifies its existence in the Cameron canon, I'll be there supporting it. Pull this off McG, and we'll all look past that silly name of yours.

Holiday Gift Cards:BEWARE of Stores Selling Gift Cards this holiday season:

Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling gift cards through the holidays even though the cards may be worthless if there isn't another outlet nearby or even still in business to honor them. There is nothing illegal about the companies continuing to sell them.

Here's a partial list of stores we need to be cautious about:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores; more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stor~s
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores

Watch Zipfy In Action

Zipfy, the freestyle mini luge, heads to the largest freshwater sand dunes in the world on the banks of Lake Michigan to do some dune riding. This one dune is particularly sweet as the high speed descent ends in a refreshing plunge into blue waters.



Zipfy On the Snow Watch these folks in the Alps have fun. You can get a zipfy today

Zipfy Sled is The Hot Sled of 2008

Zipfy is a uniquely designed rugged plastic snow sled with a distinctive lever used for stability and turning. Pronounced - zip - fee Lightweight (only 3 1/2 lbs.) Easy to Control Speed & Stop Quickly Carves Slalom Turns Down the Hill Easy to Carry Uphill For All Ages (250 lb. capacity) Safe Feet-First Design High density plastic with UV protection. Race decals and anti-skid vinyl seat.