TMZ reported that Summer was private about her illness, and that there may have been a connection between debris from 9/11 and her lung cancer:
TMZ has learned … Donna died from lung cancer. Several sources are telling us Donna believed she contracted it by inhaling toxic particles after the 9/11 attack in New York City.

However, there are very few details about Summer's cancer, or if there were any complications that were involved with her death.

The family of the "She Works Hard for the Money" singer issued a statement, AFP reported, which said: "While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time."

Lung cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer death for both men and women in the United States, according to the Mayo Clinic. The National Cancer Institute reports that there have been 226,160 new cases of lung cancer so far this year, and 160,340 deaths from the disease.

The cancer occurs when tumors form in lung tissue, most commonly in the cells that line the air passages, according to the National Cancer Institute. There are two main types: small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer. Small cell lung cancer tends to be more aggressive than non-small cell lung cancer, according to Cedars Sinai.

Risk for the disease is highest among smokers, according to the Mayo Clinic, though lung cancer can also occur in never-smokers, too.

Henner, who many remember as the character Elaine O'Connor Nardo on the sitcom Taxi, is one of only 12 documented cases of Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, or HSAM. People with HSAM have an abnormal ability to remember the intimate details of events in their lives and what was going on in the world on any given day in vivid, experiential fashion.

In her recently released book Total Memory Makeover: Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future, Henner recalls the memory games she played as a child.

These exercises, writes Henner, were a way to "mentally challenge and exercise my brain to the point that I could 'time-travel' back to: What did we do each day of our vacation? What was I doing when I was exactly to the day my younger brother Lorin's age? My niece Lizzy's age? And it was not just about touching down on a fleeting image or a feeling from the past, but rather going deeper and deeper into memories and specific moments, exploring my past thoughts through the lens of the present."

In Total Memory Makeover, which just made The New York Times Bestseller list, Henner guides readers through exactly that process, helping them create connections between their past memories, present lives and the futures they hope to create. Henner sees memory as both a vast reservoir of information and an opportunity for self-exploration — a contention confirmed by research that suggests that everything we've ever experienced is stored somewhere on our mental hard drives.

Wearing side bangs, a la letting your swoopy, Nicole Richie-esque fringe cover one eye, can cause visual obscuration that can result in amblyopia, a disorder commonly referred to as lazy eye, according to Dr. Andrew Hogan, an executive member of the Optometrists Association Australia:

"If a young [person] has a fringe covering one eye all the time, that eye won't see a lot of detail. And if it happens from a young age, that eye can become amblyotic."

Dr. Hogan recently told the Daily Telegraph that the hair covering the eye acts like an eyepatch, which prevents the eye's access to sunlight and stimulation, which can weaken the eye and cause short sightedness:
"If you walk around with an eyepatch on all day, then that eye will end up seeing more poorly than the other eye."

Amblyopia, which occurs when the eye sends a blurred image to the brain causing the eye's nerve pathway to never develop, is most common in youngsters including teens but Dr. Hogan said research has shown vision can still be affected later in life.

The hairstyle has been popularized by celebs including Nicole Richie, Cameron Diaz and Jessica Alba. And though these leading ladies don't seem to show any visual impairments, we're not sure if we're willing risk our eyesight for a cool hairstyle.

Now is the time to clean up your cabinets and rearrange the contents of your fridge and freezer to decrease unhealthy temptations.

Watch, learn, and then take up the task!
 

Serena Williams says altering her diet in support of big sister Venus hasn't been much of a hardship.
Serena said she's cut down on eating chicken and fish and is eating more raw foods like Venus, who adopted the change to help her body cope with Sjogren's syndrome, an autoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain. But while the new diet has been a big change for Venus, it's not been that big a deal for Serena, she says.
"I've always been a better eater than her, even though I'm a lot, lot thicker," she said, laughing during a recent phone interview.
Serena said since she lives with Venus, she is mindful to eat foods that won't tempt her.
"I don't want her to come home and see a piece of chicken and be like, 'Oh, I want it,' and she can't have it. It would be like a stumbling block for her," she added.
Both Serena and Venus have been back on the tennis court recently after dealing with health issues. Serena had ankle injuries this year and last year made her return after missing nearly a year because of several health concerns, including cuts on her feet from glass at a restaurant and clots in her lungs.
"I'm looking forward to playing, and just playing and being healthy; I haven't really been healthy in a few years, and I'm just really looking forward to having a chance to play," she said. "I think right now I am at 100 percent … I'm really looking forward to continuing this and continuing to be healthy."

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The Olivia Newton-John Cancer & Wellness Centre is "more than just treating cancer, it's about providing care and treatment for the whole person, body, mind and spirit."

We are all "pearls on a chain," to quote a lyric from Olivia's Grace and Gratitude album.

When Olivia was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, she knew she had a bigger mission then winning Grammys for hit records. Even more than all the fame in the world (she had plenty with Grease the movie and its soundtrack), she would soon discover that her real fortune in life was to help others heal.

We got a lot of feedback (no, we didn't set an age cut-off; this is about people who are throwing their arms around the aging process, no matter how many birthdays they've had), which is why we feel it's time to revisit the topic.

This time around, we've got 10 more celebrities — folks who have been particularly outspoken about some aspect of aging with courage and grace. And a lot of these faces? You suggested them.

Any celebs who you find personally inspiring when it comes to aging gracefully and who you can't believe we overlooked on this list (or the last)? Let us know!

The Takers are easy to spot, but I'm always on the lookout for the Givers, because they give me hope. Michael J. Fox is a Giver.

Michael was just 30 years old when he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. By then an acclaimed, award-winning star of both television and movies, Michael was thunderstruck by the discovery of his illness, and his ever worsening symptoms would take the ultimate toll: In 2000, he semi-retired from acting, a career that had brought so many blessings to him and his family.

But Michael did not permit the ravages of a disease to extinguish his spirit. Instead, he decided to fight back rather than lay back. One of the ways he did this was to build the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Celebrating its 12th year, the foundation has funded more than $280 million in aggressively pursued research, ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's — and with the hope of eradicating the disease once and for all.

Their beloved mother, Elli Stassinopoulos, passed away 12 years ago, but it is apparent her soulful wisdom translated into a healthy approach to life for both of her accomplished daughters. Each in her own way has inspired others and had great impact: Agapi as a bestselling author and inspirational speaker who spent 10 years sharing the wisdom of the Greek goddesses in her books and performances, and Arianna as a high-powered and respected media star who founded The Huffington Post and now guides AOL.

Agapi’s new book, Unbinding The Heart: A Dose of Greek Wisdom, Generosity and Unconditional Love (Hay House), offers a revealing look into their childhood and how it was shaped by a courageous mother who encouraged her girls to truly celebrate life with joy — despite any challenges that might come their way. Agapi weaves a fascinating portrait of the seeds of empowerment planted by their mom, despite her own pain and heartache.

Some roles call for an actor to gain or lose a significant amount of weight and that's why they get paid the big bucks.
Anne Hathaway may have scored the coveted role of Fantine in the "Les Miserables" remake, but she has to shed the weight to look deathly ill. U.K. paper The Mirror reports that the 29-year-old actress is on an extreme crash diet, eating fewer than 500 calories a day, since she was ordered by movie execs to lose 16 pounds in fewer than 20 days so director Tom Hooper can film her character's death scenes.
Losing that much weight that quickly can be dangerous, but Hathaway is too smart to starve herself.
"The story is a huge exaggeration," her rep Stephen Huvane told The Huffington Post. "Anne is on a special diet, but is not looking to lose that much weight and she's consuming more than 500 calories a day. She just needs to look more frail as she is playing a prostitute who is dying of tuberculosis."

Read more…

This story stuck with me all this time for several reasons. I tried to picture whether I would have liked Lady Gaga, or 'Stefani,' in college and if we would have been friends. I tried to picture how she must have felt when she saw the Facebook group and if it fueled her desire even more to succeed. I also tried to picture all of the people who hated her in college and wondered what they were doing now. I believe Lady Gaga is quite possibly the most interesting and talented artists of our generation and she is someone who had faith in her greatness. We could all use a little of that Lady Gaga magic within us.

In Oprah's recent edition of her show Next Chapter, she shares her personal experiences with meditation and explores "TM Town" — Fairfield, Iowa, home of Maharishi University of Management and an unlikely mecca of entrepreneurs, sustainability, creativity and, most of all, meditation.

"Smack in the middle of Midwestern farmland," she said in a recent issue of The Oprah Magazine. "The last place you'd expect to get stuck in an evening traffic jam because so many people are headed off to practice transcendental meditation."

With meditation's rising popularity and acceptance in American culture, it seemed inevitable that the country's most high profile "spiritual seeker" would soon discover the largest meditation community in the U.S., where some of the most advanced brain research on meditation has been taking place for decades and thousands of people meditate together everyday — several hundred of them students, from kindergarten to Ph.D.

A former Mr. Universe who has just turned 100 said Sunday that happiness and a life without tensions are the key to his longevity.

Manohar Aich, who is 4 foot 11 inches (150 centimeters) tall, overcame many hurdles, including grinding poverty and a stint in prison, to achieve body building glory.

His children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered Sunday in the eastern city of Kolkata to celebrate his birthday the day before.

Hindu priests chanted prayers while a feast was laid out to honor Aich, winner of the 1952 Mr. Universe body building title.

Rippling his muscles and flashing a toothless grin, Aich says his ability to take his troubles lightly and remain happy during difficult times are the secrets to his long life.

That, and a simple diet of milk, fruits and vegetables along with rice, lentils and fish have kept him healthy.

He does not smoke and has never touched alcohol, he said.

"I never allow any sort of tension to grip me. I had to struggle to earn money since my young days, but whatever the situation, I remained happy," Aich said, sitting in a room decorated with posters and pictures of his many bodybuilding triumphs.

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On Friday, the Milk Processor Education Program, a dairy industry group, will announce the latest version of the National Milk Mustache “got milk” campaign. The initiative, called the Breakfast Project, is meant to promote drinking milk during the first meal of the day.
Ms. Hayek will be a bilingual spokeswoman for the campaign, which will run in English and Spanish on television, in print and online.
Vivien Godfrey, the chief executive of the milk processor program, commonly known as MilkPEP, said earlier campaigns mostly focused on reaching specific demographic groups, like mothers and teenagers, while the campaign’s new focus would be drinking milk at meals like breakfast.
“There’s lots of people who think breakfast is important, but lots of people who skip breakfast or don’t eat it regularly,” Ms. Godfrey said.

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Her secret weapon? Trainer and co-host ABC's lifestyle makeover show "The Revolution," Harley Pasternak.

"With someone like her, it's about the fine tuning," Pasternak told PEOPLE magazine, explaining how he helps her maintain her naturally beautiful physique.

On the road, Rihanna squeezes in at least three 25-minute workouts a week, Pasternak says. But once she's settled in one place, she increases her sessions to five days a week, with 30 minutes of cardio a day, up from the 10 minutes she would normally do.

Rihanna's cardio regimen includes biking or cycling, jumping rope without a rope, stationary jogging and jumping jacks, exercises Pasternak says she can do in a hotel room or backstage before a show.

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First lady Michelle Obama cajoled Jay Leno into nibbling on apples, sweet potato fries and a pizza made with eggplant, green peppers and zucchini on the "Tonight Show," breaking his long-held aversion for all-things-healthy in his diet.

Leno once told a magazine he hadn't eaten a vegetable since 1969, and he insisted he tasted his last apple in 1984. That didn't dissuade the first lady, who's promoting her "Let's Move!" campaign to get kids excited about fitness and healthy eating habits.

Earlier, Obama poked at him in a Twitter post, hinting she'd "get Jay to eat some veggies" on the NBC show.

He did.

Standing in a vacant Southern California store set to be refurbished and reopened this summer, Obama lauded efforts to bring large grocery retailers to inner-city areas that traditional supermarket chains spurn.

"That's how we solve this problem — one community, one household at a time," Obama said, speaking in front of a display depicting an old-fashioned grocery store with crates stocked with fresh fruit and vegetables. "We're not just making this generation healthy. We're making the next, and the next and the next."

They were referring, of course, to Paula Deen — the controversial Food Network star who is best known for her high-fat, high-sugar riffs on Southern comfort food. Last week, Deen revealed that she has been living with Type 2 diabetes for the past three years, drawing criticism from colleagues and viewers alike for concealing the condition while promoting unhealthy foods that are particularly dangerous for diabetes sufferers. What's more, many questioned her motivation for speaking out, given her timing. While announcing her condition, Deen also revealed that she'd signed a multi-million dollar deal with pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to promote their diabetes drug, Victoza. What's more, reported Business Insider, she has continued to profit from peddling diabetes-inappropriate fare, making an estimated $30 million during the period between her diagnosis and her public statement about the disorder.

The longtime Penn State head coach was diagnosed with what his family had called a treatable form of lung cancer shortly after the university’s Board of Trustees voted to fire him.

He had been hospitalized in December after breaking his pelvis in a fall at his home and again in January for what his son called minor complications from his cancer treatments.

Earlier:

A spokesperson for the Paterno family has denied a report by CBS that former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has died. CBS previously reported that the 85-year-old college-football legend had succumbed in his battle with lung cancer.

Earlier on Saturday, the family announced that Paterno's condition had taken a turn for the worse.

"Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," family spokesman Dan McGinn told The Associated Press. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious

.

She may be a blogs fixture for her hair, clothes or figure, but “The Voice’s” lone lady coach, Christina Aguilera, is totally comfortable in her own skin.

“I’ve been in this for a long time. I came out on the scene when I was 17 years old. ‘You can never be too much of anything. You can never be too prefect, too thin, too curvy, too voluptuous,’ this, that. I’ve been on all sides of the spectrum.. [Every] female in this business at one time or another has had criticism… and I’m always a risk taker too,” Christina said on Friday during NBC’s “The Voice” panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Session in Pasadena.

“I’m very confident in my body,” the singer continued. “I think my video works over the years have spoken to that… I’ve been no stranger to being very comfortable in my own skin,” she added.

Christina said despite the “massive scrutiny,” she’s happy and her boyfriend, Matthew Rutler, loves her curves.

“As long as I’m happy in my own skin, that’s all I need, that’s all the confirmation I need. I’m happy where I am, I have a boyfriend love that loves my body, I love my body, my son is healthy and happy. That’s all that matters,” she said.

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"It's not something I feel like totally comfortable talking about but yeah, it's a very personal thing … I dealt with it," Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

"Yeah. That and it's also interesting as an actress you're supposed to be sensitive and vulnerable and have this side to you. But then your supposed to be super sociable and 'on' and like nice to everybody. That's a weird dichotomy. It's a lot to ask of a person. It's not a normal thing," she added.

Weight loss giant Jenny Craig has unveiled a new company name and a new spokesperson – newly-svelte pop star Mariah Carey.

The company, now called just "Jenny," said Wednesday it was teaming up with the 41-year-old singer after the diet helped her shed 30 pounds following the birth of her twins.

Carey, the best-selling female recording artist of all time, told Us Weekly she used a nutritionist and workout plan from Jenny which included a 1,500 calories-per-day diet, and workouts three times a week.

"I'm proud of how hard I worked to get my body back," she told the magazine. "I had to do this for me."

Carey's role as Jenny's "brand ambassador" includes participation in a new company initiative called "My Heart. My Life." The initiative, which includes a partnership with the American Heart Association, will feature public service announcements and community and education programs.

"Two-thirds of the country is placing themselves at risk for heart disease and diabetes," Carey said in a written statement. "Largely, that is due to unhealthy eating patterns and lack of physical activity," "I obtained a greater understanding of this when I was pregnant with my twins and dealing with my own health issues. That's why I feel so strongly about working with Jenny and the American Heart Association to help Americans get serious about their health as it pertains to these issues which are so important."

BMI looks at height and weight to measure a person's body fatness, placing them in four broad categories: underweight (18.5 or lower), normal weight (18.5 to 24.9), overweight (25 to 29.9), and obese (30 and up). Some life insurance companies look at BMI measurements in considering the cost of coverage. But is this really an accurate measure of body composition?

Often the numbers don't add up

For athletes with loads of lean muscle mass, BMI measurements can be misleading because the scale doesn't differentiate between muscle and fat. That means that the world's top sports stars are often classified as overweight. But even the trimmest actors—particularly the shorter ones—aren't immune to confusing BMI classifications.

We asked our top two nutrition experts to put BMI to the test with seven celebrities. Registered dietitians Frances Largeman-Roth and Julie Upton, both members of the American Dietetic Association, analyzed photos of these stars. Keeping heights in mind, they offered their best estimates of their weights, and we started crunching the numbers.

Angelina Jolie

Estimated BMI: 17.9

The mother of six must stay lean chasing after her growing brood: At 5'8", our experts say she probably weighs about 118 lbs.

Though many people envy her beauty and accomplishments, her estimated BMI of 17.9 suggests she'd be an even better role model if she gained some weight.