Tag Skin
Sexy Selfie From Phoenix Photo Shoot November 7th, 2014
Wi Spa Rocks!
What a GREAT place to go in Los Angeles for affordable massage, nail, face and body treatments, and sauna and steam room services! This place is on Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown, and features Korean style spa amenities, including a Korean style restaurant on the top floor. It is open 24 hours a day. There are a number of community tubs and saunas in the women’s and men’s spas, and the coed area features several dry saunas. My dear friend Blanche Le Beau and I visited the facility right before Halloween, and we both had a Buff Treatment done:
BUFF (BODY SCRUB) 35min
$30.00
The buff is a traditional Korean technique which employs full body exfoliating techniques to lift impurities and dead skin, while naturally boosting your blood circulation, leaving you with healthier, brighter skin
Basically, I felt like a fish being scaled during this treatment. An elderly Korean woman clad in a black bra and black granny underwear called my number, then escorted me to a table which was covered in bubble gum pink plastic. She threw a bucket of water on the table so that it was wet, then instructed me to lie face down on the table, whereupon she commenced scrubbing my skin vigorously. I was instructed at intervals to turn over and to lie on my side while she continued this vigorous scrubbing technique. At the end of the treatment, my skin was incredibly soft and glowing. I would HIGHLY recommend this treatment for sloughing off dead skin cells.
Corsets And Waist Training
https://www.yahoo.com/style/whats-the-deal-with-the-corset-training-101355906803.html
I am posting an article which I found the other day on Yahoo! Style which made me chuckle. Here is the original link as well. I will reserve comments until the end of the article.
To the ways you can attempt to whittle your waist — Slim-Fast, side planks — add one more: Corset training.
The method, which requires you to cinch yourself into a corset for four to six hours a day, is popular with celebrities and has been intriguing many other women seeking hourglass shapes.
Both Kim and Khole Kardashian have tried it. Kim posted a picture of herself yesterday in her mom’s foyer wearing a corset — hers is from a company called “What A Waist” — with the caption “I’m really obsessed with waist training!”
Jessica Alba is a fan, too. She actually wore two at the same time to help her lose weight after both of her pregnancies. “It was brutal; it’s not for everyone,” she told Net-A-Porter. “I wore a double corset day and night for three months. It was sweaty, but worth it.”
Self-described “corset fetishist” Kelly Lee Dekay, 27, has been doing corset training for seven years, and claims she has a 16-inch waist because of it. “I loved how Batman’s outfit let him channel a different side of himself,” she told the Sun. “That’s what the corset does.”
Women have worn corsets for ages. In the 1500s, they smashed down their entire torso. Later, in the late 1800s or Victorian era, they were used to help define the waist. It’s thought that the reason ladies back then were always fainting was because their corsets were squeezing their internal organs and restricting their breathing.
In these modern times, however, women now think that wearing a corset can actually help you lose weight. The Cincher by AMIA claims, “[It can] sculpt inches from your midsection and enhance your curves while increasing thermal activity in your core.”
According to TheCorsetDiet.com, you can shed up to six pounds a week by wearing one of their custom-made waist shapers. The UK-based company describes the pressure from its corsets as “gentle hugging feeling.”
But when writer Rebecca Harrington tried wearing one, albeit from a different brand, she wrote on NYMag.com, “My breathing is slightly impaired, but I can still breathe; I just have to take short, staccato breaths. I try to drink coffee, and it’s very difficult. After four hours, I whip off the corset and throw it across the room. My waist has red welts on it.”
In reality, doctors say that the corset is not — I repeat not — helping you reshape your body with simple pressure. It’s simply so tight around your stomach that you won’t — or can’t — eat too much, and doctors roundly decry any kind of corset diet or waist training as a viable long-term weight loss method.
“It’s outrageous, and it just absolutely makes no medical sense whatsoever,” Keri Peterson, M.D., a physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York told Women’s Health.
It also could be dangerous. Wearing one could actually shift or compress your internal organs and fracture your ribs, Dr. Jyotindra Shah said. “People might put it so tight that the liver, spleen and kidneys could get bruised,” she told The Huffington Post.
Even “corset fetish” Dekay knows she has to remove hers sometimes. “It can be restrictive when climbing stairs,” she told the Sun. “You can’t carry heavy things as you could hurt yourself. I don’t go to the gym in it. That would be very dangerous as I lift weights.”
Okay, here goes my commentary. I jumped on the corset bandwagon back in 2011 when I was informed that it was a very effective way to whittle the waist. During the time in which I diligently wore a corset (or two) several hours a day, every day, I noticed my waistline whittle down from 24 inches to 22-1/2 inches. So do I think it works? I KNOW it works.
I have to say I disagree with so-called doctors’comments that the corset prevents consumption of large amounts of food, thus resulting in weight loss. This just sounds like something one of my male colleagues would mutter. If caloric consumption is kept constant, women and men who engage in corset training WILL have a reduction in inches no matter what. This sounds like the typical uber conservative medical snobbery which makes other doctors the types of people I will NEVER choose to spend extensive periods of time with. I do agree that the practice of wearing a corset is outrageous, painful, and could be dangerous. But it DOES work. What price beauty?
Over the centuries, women have compressed their waistlines effectively with corsets, so it blows my mind that these narrow minded physicians have decided to toot their horns and express skepticism. As a physician who competes, I chose to give corsets a chance and had great results. I am glad that I didn’t allow the part of my brain which is trained in traditional Western medicine talk the competitor in me out of doing all that I could to make my waist smaller.
I would usually wear a neoprene wrap underneath my corset (or Squeem as it is somewhat affectionately called in the bodybuilding world due to one manufacturer brand), or one corset over a second. I would do this for at least 6 hours, sometimes as long as 14 hours. Was I uncomfortable? Yes. Did I sweat like a pig? You bet. Was it worth it? I think so.
I have dealt with the metal boning poking out as the corsets would wear out, and would glue them back into their channels, so I know all too well the sensation of metal poking into my underboob, my ribcage or my hip bone when the corsets began wearing out. I would have digestive upset, abdominal pain, and at times had difficulty breathing. During one stretch of time when I was wearing latex corsets, I developed painful lesions all over my back from the yeast overgrowth which resulted from the long hours of wear and the constant sweating. It took me over a year for my skin to heal from all those lesions, and I have a couple of permanent scars to mark my determination to sculpt a waistline that would win a Pro Card. Thankfully, I won that Pro Card in 2013 and almost immediately tossed the corsets aside.
Now I wear corsets from time to time if I feel the need to squeeze out extra water from my midsection, but I will probably never return to the days of wearing corsets for many hours, driving to work in pain because a metal boning was jabbing me in the rib, sweating profusely under nice clothing, and dealing with skin around my midsection which was constantly macerated, lighter in pigment, and showing signs of skin breakdown.
I know you ladies want to slim down the midsection, but please be careful when you wear corsets! It isn’t worth ruining your skin and compressing organs to wear these torture devices for extended periods of time. Give your skin and your torso a rest in between the sessions during which you are training your waist. I recommend wearing corsets for a 4 hour stretch.
Another Image In The Window By Zoltan Vegh Photography
Sexy Image In Budapest Industrial Building
New Autographed 8×10’s Available
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$15 includes personalized autograph, shipping and handling.
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A Couple Of Nuts
Most people love nuts, especially those of us in the fitness industry who will actually fantasize about the calorie dense morsels. Since I usually take a stance from the fitness end, I want to explore one very popular nut as well as another which had until recently been considered more forbidden. Meet the peanut and the cashew.
Peanuts have become popularized by baseball stands, candies which feature them, and clever labeling on peanut butter jars which, through their colorful and whimsical labels, have won great favor by children and adults alike. The problem with consumption of large amounts of peanuts and peanut products is that androgen dominance develops, which is closely tied to inflammation and insulin resistance. Individuals who are more sensitive may find that they have more acne breakouts when they consume peanuts, peanut oil, or peanut butter. So in a sense, peanuts can wreak some hormonal havoc on the body.
In contrast, cashews may be considered a hormonal ally. Cashews contain compounds referred to as anacardic acid which has a demonstrated anti-estrogen effect in which it blocks the activation of estrogen receptors once they have attached to estradiol. Anacardic acid also kills hormone sensitive breast cancer cells in vitro and may have a beneficial effect in human subjects. If you consume one half cup of cashews, you will ingest approximately 20 milligrams of anacardic acid. The jury is still out on how much of an impact the anti-estrogen effect has, but it certainly won’t hurt either.
By no means am I suggesting that you eliminate peanuts or peanut products from your diet (provided you aren’t allergic to them). But if you consume excessive amounts of peanuts and are noticing that you are suffering from acne breakouts, the peanuts may be the culprit. You might want to stop eating peanuts for a couple of weeks to see if your skin clears up. If you simply cannot live without a nut butter, you can consume almond butter or cashew butter as an alternative. If you have any interest in blocking estrogen through consumption of key foods, adding cashews to your meal plan may be just the boost you need to balance estrogen levels.
Mineral Oil Sensitivity
I was compelled to revisit this topic because I foolishly went against my better judgement and used a product which I happen to hate, with disastrous results. I hate Lubriderm products and think they are a scam due to the presence of mineral oil. Mineral oil is a very cheap filler which is used in skincare products and cosmetics. What many people don’t realize is that some individuals suffer from mineral oil sensitivity and truly cannot come into contact with it. Sadly, I am one of those people.
Lubriderm is touted as a “dermatologist tested” product, which basically doesn’t mean a thing. Apparently the dermatologists who tested this product weren’t aware of the fact that mineral oil can be a very reactive substance for a segment of the population. I for one have ALWAYS been reactive, though I could never understand as a child why I always broke out in itchy rashes within an hour of being exposed to baby oil. To this day, a high concentration of mineral oil will drive me into an itchy frenzy. This was the main reason why I hesitated when the idea of trying Lubriderm once again, but my stubbornness won out.
I used Lubriderm lotion for normal to dry skin for one week, and during that entire time, experienced itchy skin which only got worse at night, as well as a diffuse papular (raised) rash which covered my shoulders, arms, and thighs. On the last day in which I used the Lubriderm, I actually broke out into hives on my thighs!
As soon as I stopped using Lubriderm, the rash cleared up without any intervention. This was a clear sign that I was indeed still very sensitive to mineral oil, and that it was tragic that products could still be found which listed mineral oil among its top 5 ingredients.
PIt’s important to bear in mind that mineral oil is manufactured from crude oil, and as a result can cause pronounced reactions in people who are sensitive. Such reactions aren’t confined to skin rashes, but also include headaches 
or joint aches. Mineral oil can also disguise itself as petrolatum, paraffin, or propylene glycol.
lease please please be aware that mineral oil sensitivity is very real!
Princess And The Pea
I have a bit of the princess and the pea in me, in which I notice small granules in my socks, sharp edges on clothing tags, and strands of hair hanging from my workout shorts. Repetitive noises or hums may grate on my nerves, and I can pick up on back beats in songs that many people are unaware of until I point them out. I also have a keen sense of smell and can detect odors when many others cannot. It seems sort of odd that I am built this way, because I am a very low maintenance person, but my senses of touch, sound and smell are amplified, the most heightened of which is touch.
My mom told me that when I was a baby, I could not stand the feeling of dirt, asphalt or sand on my bare feet, and would refuse to tread on those surfaces. I got over my displeasure over the sensation when walking on sand, but I am still bothered by walking barefoot on soil or asphalt and avoid doing so as much as possible. When I return home from photo shoots in which I have to climb on rocks or stand barefoot, I will usually wash my feet in the sink before stepping into the shower, because the combination of dirty feet and standing in a shower stall with the grit compressed from weight bearing is very uncomfortable for me.
I usually avoid tight waistbands because I cannot stand the feeling of elastic around my waist or hips. I was thrilled when low rise bottoms and yoga pants became popular, because they eliminated the issue of elastic constricting my midsection. What is strange is that I can tolerate the extremely compressive effects of corsets and waist trimmer belts, but I think this is mostly the result of my willingness to suffer for the sake of whittling my waistline.
My skin is very sensitive to anything sticky or which leaves a film, so I avoid any creams, lotions, gels or serums that leave a tacky consistency. Since I often try new skincare products, I am frequently exposed to formulations which are sticky and which I must remove from my skin immediately. Even one dot of product can bother me if it is sticky or if it dries and has a pulling effect on my skin. It’s like Chinese water torture for me.
As long as I make my adjustments quietly, I see no issue with being so sensitive to tactile insults. If there is an issue with dirty feet, sticky skin or a granule in my shoe, I try to take care of it before it riles me up.
dr. stacey naito's blog 