Janet’s getting in shape…again

Janet Jackson getting back in shape, plus dressing slimmer and burning fat with carbs

Janet’s getting in shape…again

The June 23 issue of Life & Style reports that Janet Jackson’s weight has been creeping up from the skinny state she was in last year. Witnesses at a show she taped for BET earlier this month said she clearly wasn’t comfortable with her now-bigger body and wasn’t showing any skin.

It’s estimated she’s gained about 20 pounds since last October, but with a tour planned to kick off in September, Jackson is sure to be slimming back down quickly.

She says she works out for an hour or so in the morning when she’s trying to get in shape for a tour, as well as doing an hour of stretching and dancing all day. She also works with a nutritionist, personal chef and trainer to help curb her self-proclaimed addiction to junk food, choosing grilled chicken instead of fried and fruit instead of chocolate.
Dressing to look skinny

The same issue includes tips from celebrity stylist Pamela Watson on how to look 10 pounds lighter just by wearing different clothes. Marcia Cross, for instance, looks large in a tunic dress but just right in a dress with a high waist and peep-toe shoes that show off her long legs.

Katherine Heigl looks better in skinny jeans and a belted jacket than a cropped loose jacket and wide-legged jeans, and Eva Longoria-Parker should pick a short dress over a floor-length number that just makes her look shapeless.
Choosing carbs to help burn fat

June 30’s issue of Woman’s World suggests that those carbs we’ve long been taught were bad, such as rice and pasta, might actually be beneficial when it comes to fat burning.

Researchers at the University of Colorado say that “resistant starch” found in carb-filled foods like potatoes can help people burn 20 to 25 percent more fat. The trick is that the starch needs to be consumed when the food is cold, such as in potato salad (or pasta or rice salad, for that matter).

Resistant starch is similar to fiber in that it resists being digested. Other starches are broken down quickly in the body, but this sort of starch is said to stick around and ferment, inhibiting the body from using carbohydrates for energy and causing fat to be burned instead.

What’s more, eating a diet full of resistant starch is said to help people feel full longer, stabilize the blood sugar and increase production of anti-hunger hormones. The magazine suggests filling up on fat-burning carbs like bananas, corn, beans, potatoes, brown rice, pasta, oatmeal and bread.

One reader who tried the plan said she ate pasta salad every day for a week and lost six pounds, and said the diet was easy and full of good foods.