Brittany Murphy’s Cause of Death Released

The death of Brittany Murphy came as a tremendous shock to us all. She died of cardiac arrest, but what caused that has been a mystery. Many speculated what played a part in her death–from her husband, Simon Monjack, who had released statements that he did not want an autopsy performed on Murphy and made us all speculate a lot more, to drugs, to the flu, to H1N1, and so on. Finally, the cause of Brittany Murphy’s death has been released.

The official report states that it was an accidental death caused by “community acquired pneumonia,” iron deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication. The L.A. County Coroner concludes that “injury occurred” because of drug intake.

This is incredibly sad, because Brittany Murphy did not have to die. This story is still developing, but we can, at least, stop speculating on what exactly caused the death in this incredibly young woman. Also, keep in mind that “multiple drug intoxication” and “drug intake” does not necessarily mean illegal substances. As we have seen so many times throughout the years, it is the prescription drugs that are just as lethal as illegal substances.

Our thoughts continue to go out to Brittany Murphy’s family.

Make Dieting Easier: Diet Food Delivery

Disclaimer: Woman Tribune and its staff does not condone “crash dieting” particularly because it has been proven not to work long-term and is extreme in its nutritional deprivations, typically severely restricting calorie intake. We love each and every woman just the way they are. No matter what size you are, we think you are fabulous. If you are currently crash dieting or are thinking about starting a crash diet we hope that you are doing so for health reasons and are treating your bodies with the respect that they deserve. This post is about dieting, but if maintained correctly, these diet resources are in no way deemed as “crash diets” and have the ability to work long term. If you do choose to start a diet, we strongly suggest you follow your diet correctly and maintain a healthy calorie intake with nutritional value.

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Dieting is perhaps one of the hardest acts to carry out effectively. Women particularly have a hard time losing the weight they wish to lose because women lose weight very differently than men. If you and your partner have decided to start a diet together, you may find him losing weight at a much escalated rate than you, lowering your confidence and will power to be able to carry your diet out long enough to see changes to your own physique; I know, I’ve been there.

The key to effective weight loss is to do it right–In the healthiest way possible. When most people hear the word “diet” they immediately start thinking that they must give up the foods that they have come to love and are apprehensive about it even working to begin with. Most women who diet have also tried two or three other diets in their lifetime, all proving to be ineffective long term. The key to success is your determination to lose weight and also to treat your diet (and your body) with respect. You should not be giving up the foods you love or treating the act of eating as a chore. Food is what makes so many people happy and while this leads to portion control is some cases, the key is to limit your portions, not give up the food you love completely, ie: you can still have a piece of chocolate cake (Oh the love I have for chocolate cake…) but you can’t have an entire chocolate cake.

Grocery shopping, especially for me on a personal level, is a chore and a half. For one, I live in a strictly residential area in the middle of nowhere; I have to drive for at least a half hour to get to the nearest grocery store and because it’s the one grocery store for an entire three small cities, they hike their prices up to a degree where you feel as if you are being robbed by the time you’re ready to check out. Because of this, I usually drive over an hour to get to WalMart, which is the only other option I have for cheaper groceries. If you go through a similar ordeal when it comes to grocery shopping and also feel that purchasing the foods for your diet cost you an arm and a leg and after a few weeks have to quit your diet because it’s easier to order off the McDonald’s dollar menu than buy nutritional, healthy foods for yourself, I have a secret to share with you.

There are many diet programs who offer diet food delivery for a price cheaper than buying it in the store. This is an excellent option for people who, like me, find it difficult to get to a grocery store or find their bank accounts fast approaching zero because of what it costs to buy them in the store.

Medifast knows that dieting is all about choosing health, they believe in choosing health over anything else so much in fact, that it’s their motto. Medifast has a great food delivery service that will ship you the best possible diet foods making it easier for you to diet and not have to give up the delicious foods you love. Medifast is also a highly trusted company when it comes to weight loss, so what you receive from them is simply the best and by using their diet regimen, you will be losing weight and going about the process the healthiest way possible.

The foods you will receive from Medifast are high in nutritional value and are given to you in well controlled portions. While they are about portion control, which is what every diet thrives on, their foods will not leave you hungry afterward, eliminating the temptation of overeating. Their menu is highly diverse with a menu that will please everyone–Even those of you who are vegetarian will be surprised by their extensive menu.

For an entire breakdown of Medifast, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Medifast diet reviews.

Nutrisystem is a diet plan that helps you not only lose weight and keep it off long-term, but it will help you lose weight fast. For any of you who need to lose those 10 or 15 extra pounds before your wedding, high school reunion or any other event where you really want that wow factor as soon as you walk into a room, Nutrisystem is for you. Nutrisystem will also work at the same fast pace for people who want to lose up to 100 pounds or more. It has been said to be the fastest working diet plan out there right now, so it is definitely worth looking into and hey, if it’s not for you, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you don’t get what you expected or were looking for. With a money back guarantee like that there’s no reason not to try it!

Nutrisystem ships you prepared and packaged food right to your front door. They understand that people who are instructed to eat the same, bland meals every day aren’t going to stick with that diet, so their plan is all about choices giving you a myriad of food choices to fit your particular lifestyle. They offer over 120 different products for you to choose from to help satisfy your hunger and cravings for delicious food.

The Nutrisystem has many different systems to choose from including omnivores, vegetarians, different programs specifically for men and women because women tend to lose weight very differently than men and they also cater to men and women with type 2 diabetes. This system is so healthy that your need for insulin if you do have type 2 diabetes may even decrease over time while using Nutrisystem.

For an entire breakdown of Nutrisystem, their diet plan and diet foods as well as some of their success stories, be sure to check out the Nutrisystem reviews.

Help Support Locks of Love with Social Media

Heavy As Hell, a social media site for music of the rock, metal, punk, industrial and goth variety was relaunched at the beginning of this month. Not only is this good news for all music lovers, bloggers and followers everywhere, but it is also good news for Locks of Love.

Locks of Love helps financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love suffer from a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. Locks of Love provides hairpieces to children to help to restore their self-esteem and confidence, which can of course be hard because children their own age are most of the time a child’s worst critics. By receiving a prostheses from Locks of Love these children are rejuvenated, feeling like just another normal child free to live their lives free of ridicule and feelings of insecurity.

Mark Carras, founder of Heavy As Hell has designed a challenge for the members of the Heavy As Hell community and also for people who may have never heard of the social media site in hopes of inspiring other music lovers to jump on board and help out a great cause. Because this challenge launched in the very beginning of August and has yet to take off as much as we would like to see, Mark has extended the challenge. First of all, here is the original challenge video:

Changes in the challenge since then include getting 250 on topic stories on the front page of Heavy As Hell by the end of this month, which gives us 9 more days! If 250 on topic music stories get on the front page of Heavy As Hell by August 31, we will then have until September 30 to reach 1000 stories gracing the front page of the site. As soon as 250 stories are made popular, the wife of Mark Carras, The Queen of Cheese will be donating one foot of her hair to Locks of Love and the popularity ticker will keep on ticking until 1000 stories are reached, where Mark Carras will shave his head and donate $1000 to Locks of Love to sponsor a child. We’re talking cumulative here, so reaching 1000 stories is made even easier by the counter on popular stories not being restarted to reach 1000.

I have personally donated hair to Locks of Love–Over 11 inches of it and love what Locks of Love are doing for children who frankly would benefit from your hair more than you. It’s a worthwhile cause and I know I will be donating to them again, I’m already in the process of growing my hair out again. But if you don’t have the means (or patience) to donate to them yourself, the least you could do is support someone else who wants to do a good deed and Mark Carras is presenting a fun opportunity to get everyone on board.

So if you’re a music lover or even if you’re not particularly interested in the type of music Heavy As Hell covers, but have some interesting music industry news, go over to Heavy As Hell, sign up, submit your story and also vote up some others and help support Locks of Love. Mark Carras really wants to shave his head so let’s help him do it.

Blogging for Blood Cancer

The first ever, annual Blogging for Blood Cancer event starts tomorrow! I wish I had heard of this cause sooner, but as soon as I stumbled upon it over at Goodies for Mom, I immediately signed up.

The Blogging for Blood Cancer event is hosted by Goodies for Mom in conjunction with the Friends of Heroes (FOH) National Light the Night Team in hopes of bringing United States bloggers together to raise awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and its mission to cure Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease and Melanoma as well as to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

This is an excellent cause to hop on board for and I will most definitely be participating this upcoming week. I have personally seen what Leukemia and Hodgkin’s Disease can do; how tragic and merciless the diseases are and how an entire family and support system for someone who has these diseases are affected, so raising awareness and helping the Leukimia & Lymphoma Society is very important to me.

If simply blogging to raise awareness about blood cancer isn’t enough, Goodies for Mom has lined up several prizes for the bloggers who take part in this event, so head on over and sign up to start blogging for blood cancer and win some awesome prizes! Also, be sure to check out the other bloggers who are participating and don’t forget to check back here to read what I’ll be posting throughout the week.

Vote For Your Favorite Undies and Help Cervical Cancer Research

I love underwear. Seriously, I cannot be within five feet of Victoria’s Secret or any store selling cute and sexy undies or I would go broke in minutes. I’ve owned pretty much all styles and types of bras and panties and if you’re like me, once you find that bra or panty that fits you the best and is the most comfortable, you love it to death–Literally, you will wear it until it develops holes and still consider keeping it. You may even go as far as to want to tell every other woman you come into contact with all about the bra that makes you feel incredible or the panties that you can wear with a tight skirt without any discomfort.

So I want to hear about your favorite undies. What are your favorite bras, panties, G strings, thongs, body shapers and so on? Not only do I want to wear about them, but I want you to vote in The Undie Awards.

The Undie Awards are where men and women can vote for their favorite undies by type, brand and style and once your vote is in, 25 cents is donated to cervical cancer research. The voting is completely anonymous, all you have to do is provide your email address after you cast your votes and the only information The Undie Awards have about you is that and your body type.

This is a fun and easy way to donate money to the National Cervical Cancer Public Education Campaign, so go on over and cast your vote for your favorite undies!

Natural Aromatherapy for Your Bathroom

As a person who has easily spent way too much money on aromatherapy home and bathroom products including skin care, bath and shower products, candles and incense, I recently found a terrific natural approach to aromatherapy guaranteed to lift your spirits and your immune system.

Head over to your local flower shop or crafts store and pick up a small bundle of eucalyptus, mint, or lavender and some natural garden twine. Hang the bundles off of your shower curtain rod using the twine, close to the shower head but out of the way enough so it won’t get too wet when you turn the shower on.

If you have a cold or would like to boost your immune system, eucalyptus is a natural decongestant. The steam from the shower will release the scent throughout your bathroom and it will also clear up your cold and prevent it from returning and others from attacking.

Mint is also used as a throat soother, if you’ve looked through your local store’s cold and flu section, you may have noticed some products that aid in the soothing of the throat or medicines that get rid of sore throats and most often, those products contain mint. What not a lot of people know is that mint can also aid indigestion, helping stomach aches and also chest pains.

Lavender is my favorite plant for aromatherapy. Lavender as an essential oil has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties and it is also used to naturally soothe headaches if applied to the temples; I used to get horrible stress headaches and ended up buying myself a natural body salve with lavender essential oils that worked wonderfully. Breathing lavender in has a calming effect and it is used to soothe stress, aches and pains and is best for you when exposed to it right before bed, as it produces a deeper sleep rid of stress that is most often carried with you into sleep making you wake even more tired than you were before you went to bed and still carrying emotional baggage and stress.

This little trick can even be used just to put a nice, natural fragrance in your bathroom that will last for a few weeks.

The ‘Healthy’ Glow

It’s spring, which means summer is just around the corner and women are getting ready to get their bikini bodies. But what if women, with their exercise schedule and healthy diets, are backtracking and while they think they are being healthy in their efforts to maintain that perfect beach body, are really just harming their health more?

If you go to a gym, you most likely utilize most of the facilities and activities that they have to offer. Work out equipment, maybe some private classes with a personal trainer or being part of a weekly class, if they have a nutritionist on staff, you most likely consulted with them about maintaining some healthy eating habits or have gotten a quick snack from them. Just before taking your shower, getting back into your street clothes and going home, how many women hop into the tanning bed for that healthy summer glow; because lets face it, who wants to be a color just a few pigments darker than chalk? But what you don’t know is that tanning beds, a $5 billion a year industry, are harming you more than you may think.

Personally, I used to frequent tanning salons because I suffered from chronic insomnia and I found that while accompanying a friend of mine on her tanning trip and deciding to try it out for myself, that a tanning bed was the only place where I could fall asleep. While I didn’t strive for the perfect tan, I do know women who became absolutely obsessed with tanning, making appointments at two or three different tanning facilities just so no one told them that they were tanning too much because they would go to a variety of different places. It looked as if they were going once a week, but they were really visiting these facilities three times a week or more!

Tanning, while incredibly bad for your skin to begin with, as the ultraviolet radiation can cause wrinkles, dark spots and premature aging; indoor tanning can also put you at a 55% higher risk for Melanoma.

Dermatologist Louis Barich, MD, has reported that “Essentially, 20 minutes in a tanning bed can do as much damage as five hours of natural sunlight.”

So before hopping into that tanning bed for that healthy glow, go outside and get some fresh air instead–but be sure to put the sunblock on! While being pasty white may not seem very attractive to you, think about how you would feel about wrinkles, dark spots and ultimately, skin cancer.

Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk

The battle between women and breast cancer is one that is fought daily for many women across the globe. One great way for you to join the battle against breast cancer is to join up with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, who have given a whole new meaning to the term activism, and participate in the Susan G Komen 3 Day Walk.

To qualify for the three day walk, you must raise a minimum of $2,200 for breast cancer research. Afterwards, you join thousands of other women in walking 60 miles in three days (about 15-22 miles a day.)

There are a total of 14 cities participating in the walk which will take place during the months of August through November. After registering you will have access to participator tools and also be sure to check out the calendar for activities taking place in your city. You can also buy some 3 Day gear to get all decked out for the big days!

The reason behind raising awareness for this walk so early is to get as many people as possible in joining the battle against breast cancer and to give the participants the time to train, since 60 miles in three days is no easy task!

Cities participating the Breast Cancer 3 Day:

• Chicago – August 8-10
• Boston – August 15-17
• Cleveland – August 22-24
• San Francisco Bay Area – September 5-7
• Seattle – September 12-14
• Twin Cities – September 19-21
• Michigan – September 26-28
• Washington, DC – October 3-5
• Philadelphia – October 17-19
• Atlanta – October 24-26
• Tampa Bay – October 31 – November 2
• Dallas/Fort Worth – November 7-9
• Arizona – November 14-16
• San Diego – November 21-23