You’ve already heard the many variations on this advice. As a dieter, you know what you’re supposed to do to succeed. But what about the things you’re not supposed to do?

Did you know, for example, that drinking diet soda can make you fat? And so can eating low-carb protein bars and eliminating fruit! Here, for a refreshing change of pace, are the top 10 things you shouldn’t do if you want to lose weight and keep it off long term:

1. Eat too little or infrequently. Keep moods and energy up, hunger satisfied, and metabolism in high gear by eating three meals and two to three snacks a day. Don’t skip breakfast!

2. Eliminate all fruits. Extremely low-carb diets that forbid fruit are punishing and invite cheating. Stay on track with moderate portions of fiber- and nutrient-rich strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, kiwi, grapefruit, or peaches.

3. Eliminate fats. Several studies at Harvard and elsewhere prove that low-fat diets result in weight gain. To lose weight, you need to increase your consumption of good fats (monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats).

4. Get snacks out of your kitchen. Snacking helps with weight loss. Make sure you replace commercial baked goods, candy, chips, crackers, cookies, and pretzels with healthy snacks such as hard-boiled eggs, cheese, celery, nuts, sugar-free gum, homemade “slow-carb” bars and muffins, protein shakes, cucumbers, yogurt, and sugar-free JELL-O.

5. Splurge away from home. Your healthy eating program is a way of life. Try to stick to your new behaviors and habits everywhere you eat–at restaurants, friends’ homes, and while traveling.

6. Consume lots of artificially sweetened foods and beverages. Artificial sweeteners trigger cravings for additional sweets in some people. Others gain “false fat” or bloating caused by the body’s inability to digest sugar substitutes.

7. Count calories. Hormone (insulin) levels, not calories, are what determine your metabolism — the rate at which you burn fat. Eat balanced meals to keep your insulin levels steady and your metabolism working efficiently.

8. Eat lots of commercial low-carb products. Many companies have jumped on the “low-carb” bandwagon with high-calorie, low-nutrition snack foods that will not help you change your eating habits or lose weight.

9. Adopt a rigorous exercise routine. Exercise is important, but daily activity that you enjoy and can sustain over a lifetime is more important than killer workouts that are hard to stick with. The name of the weight-loss game is adopting habits that become second nature.

10. Load up on protein, eliminate carbs. Protein-loading has serious health risks, and few people can stay on radical high protein, low-carb diets long term. Switch to a balanced diet that features healthy amounts of protein balanced with lots of high-quality “slow carbs” — carbohydrates that convert slowly into blood sugar.

Lancome now offers a mascara that oscillates at 7000x a minute! Gee, sounds pretty intense. Not sure I want a lawn mower coming at my eye, hmmm!

Supposedly all you need to do is push the button and the vibrating brush will coat your eyelashes in 360 degrees of exquisitely smooth formula. Which will make your eyelashes look extended, remarkably separated, and virtually multiplied in number.

Hmmm, can someone try this and tell me if it works?

The Gitanjali-sponsored Lakme Fashion Week Spring Summer 2009, starting today 20th October and till Friday 24th October at the NCPA.

Being high in demand, this time, there is a Menswear day. Obviously the Indian male has concluded personality, success and finally clothes maketh the man! The only downside to this is that the man now is going to be fighting for closet space. Otherwise, great to see better dressed Indian men!

Art is going to be on display. An interpretation of fashion by 20 artists. Laila Khan, who is one of them, has painted a nude woman with a tattoo on her body, representing her interpretation about the uniqueness and confidence of fashion. Laila’s untitled work has an inscription written next to it, referring to fashion and art. “It reveals yet conceals, charms yet seduces and transforms the complexity of the figure with the greatest clarity and inspiration.”

And what inspires Mehul Choksi of Gitanjali to unveil a diamond studded shoe to kick of the start of largest fashion week of the country. “The romance of Cinderella!” said the man who rightfully believes there to be a connection between jewellery and fashion. “We are also going to be exhibiting the likes of jewel-studded chandeliers and chess sets, one of their kind in the world,” said the man. “Does Cinderella really get this shoe?” I joked with him visualising a line of the female variety squeezing their toes into this jewellery piece. “Of course!” he said riding my line of jest.

It is considered that fats should make 30% of daily calorie intake. But fats are not equally healthy. Monounsaturated fats help neutralize harmful effects of triglycerides. It makes monounsaturated fats especially beneficial for our heart and cardiovascular system. Even those who want to lose weight need fats in their diet. So, before saying no to fats, one should distinguish between “good” and “bad” fats.

Healthy Fats
“Good” fat group includes the following foods:

* Peanut butter,
* Olive oil,
* Avocado,
* Soy beans,
* Nuts,
* Corn oil,
* Canola oil,
* Sesame seed,
* Sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

Unhealthy Fats
“Bad” fat group includes the following foods:
* Marbled meat,
* Insides,
* Sausages,
* Butter,
* Ice cream,
* Mayonnaise,
* Milk,
* Cream,
* Cheese,
* Palm oil.

Neutral Fats
The middle group comprises the following foods:
* Red meat,
* Chicken,
* Fish.

Is your mascara clumpy? Is your foundation thickening? It is difficult to know when to get rid of cosmetics because most don’t have an expiration date, and of course I understand it is hard to chuck expensive cosmetics but not doing so can actually be dangerous for your health because bacteria could literally be growing full force in your old makeup containers. Which can cause you pink eye or peri-oral dermatitis that might irritate the skin and cause little red bumps that look like acne.

- Experts say you should go by when you first opened the makeup. Eye make-ups and liquid foundations last the least amount of time and should be tossed out after just three months.

- Powders and foundations opened more than a year ago can also cause problems and should be chucked.

- Makeup applicators should be replaced regularly as well, it is suggested that you re-fresh these supplies once a week.

- You should NOT share lipsticks, lip balms and lip glosses! They might have a strain of the herpes virus and give you cold sores.

- Lastly if makeup looks old or changes texture is it a good idea to throw it out. Experts even advise to smell your makeup, an unusual odor usually means that it contains bacteria.

Well I hope that helps ladies, truth is I was never this diligent about keeping my makeup supplies fresh. I usually purchase a few “fad” makeup items and stick to my “every day” face makeup daily.

But I would rather chuck my old makeup then get some funky eye infection or skin rash. I hope this information helps you, it helped me.

Can’t think of a good gift for someone on your list?  I say, give them a cosmetic gift set.

Cosmetics and accessories may be a highly appreciated gift if you know the preferences of the person who you will give it to. I mean, who doesn’t love to get a pack of shiny lip gloss or skincare products from their favorite cosmetic brand? Fashionable young ladies will adore these cosmetics and accessories because they are always fishing for the latest trends to remain in style.

A graduate of the Pakistan School of Fashion Design, Maheen’s designs have wowed the chic genteel of Lahore, and other cities of Pakistan, since the year 2000.  Karma has also presented their collections at international venues like the Malaysian Fashion Week at Kuala Lumpur, fashion shows in LA, and numerous shows in the Middle Eastern countries.

Karma’s signature style is that their themes are very jewel inspired, they are very graphic and bold, they use a lot of crystal and sparkle. They are also known in the country for color, they have a strong color sensibility and that’s one thing Karma is associated with.

Maheen Kardar                           Bags Designed By Maheen