Interesting & Funny

Carolyn Hartz boasts a bikini body and glowing complexion that many women decades younger could only dream of.

The Perth-based mother-of-three, who gave up sugar 28 years ago after years of being "addicted" to sweets, recently spoke about her top beauty and health secrets for women of all ages.

"A lot of women post 50 think that it"s not possible to maintain a reasonable shape and weight when they reach 50 or beyond".

"I even speak to women who are in their 40s and who have had children and think they cannot regain their post baby body."


Carolyn Hartz (pictured) boasts a bikini body and glowing complexion that many women decades younger could only dream of


Mrs Hartz, who is 70, says while it may be "a little more difficult" to stay in shape for women post 40, it can "still be possible if you really want to work at it".

"We know our metabolism slows down as we get older it just means we have to take control and make healthier choices and work a little harder," she said.

"I believe it is very important to be aware of the type of food you eat and the quantity of food you eat. Being mindful while you are eating is a huge factor.

"Mindless eating can lead to unnecessary weight gain. I say to my customers "taste and enjoy every mouthful"... it will help you slow down and you will be less likely to overeat."


The Perth-based mother-of-three, who gave up sugar 28 years ago after years of being "addicted" to sweets, recently spoke to FEMAIL about her top health secrets for women



Breakfast

I like to start my day with a banana or kiwifruit and my favourite cup of English breakfast tea. I then have either two eggs or scrambled eggs with spinach and tomato or salmon on a piece of gluten-free toast. If I don’t want a big breakfast I have natural yogurt with fresh fruit and sometimes I add whey protein or ricotta.

Morning Snack

Cup of tea, a piece of fruit and 10 to 12 almonds or a piece of cheese and a couple of rice biscuits

Lunch

Chicken, avocado, feta cheese and tomato on either rice cracker biscuits or gluten-free toast, or a salad with a serve of protein. Which can either be salmon or haloumi.

Afternoon Snack

Similar to my morning snack but sometimes I have a sugar free cookie or slice that I have made with Perfect Sweet.

Dinner

Mostly lean chicken or fish, and occasionally red meat with a salad or green vegetables and sweet potato. I love my casseroles in the winter.

TIPS

- I cut out sugar 28 years ago, which was difficult because I was a sugar addict. I now bake my own sweets and desserts with sugar free Perfect Sweet and nutritious ingredients like almond meal and coconut instead of flour.

- I think it is important to include fresh fruit and vegetables, dairy and protein daily in my diet. I always include protein in every meal as it helps me feel satisfied and helps stabilise my blood sugar levels.

- I love my sweet treats and I don"t deprive myself. I eat 2 pieces of dark chocolate every night.


And when it comes to food, sugar is most certainly out, with Mrs Hartz opting for an alternative called Xylitol

Xylitol is an all-natural sugar free sweetener that tastes and looks like sugar, but that is where the similarities end. Our bodies produce up to 15g of xylitol daily during normal metabolism.

Xylitol is one of a group of sugar substitutes known as polyols. Others in the same group include sorbitol and maltitol, but they have 6 carbon structures and can be metabolised by harmful bacteria. However, xylitol has a unique 5 carbon structure metabolised only by friendly bacteria. Xylitol is a sweetener that occurs naturally. It can be found in berries and other fruits and some vegetables.


Mrs Hartz said the first two tips for women hoping to look their best are to do with their attitude and diet.

"I am an optimist even when I have challenges thrown at me I have learnt to stay positive. I have trained myself to remember the half the glass is always half full," she said.

"You may laugh at this but I wish the weather presenters would say a partially sunny day not a partially cloudy day. I think it would make the viewers so much happier."

And when it comes to food, sugar is most certainly out, with Mrs Hartz opting for an alternative called Xylitol.

"Research has shown that obesity in Australia has reached epidemic levels and sugar has been a major contributing factor," Mrs Hartz explained.


"I make sure I eat protein with every meal especially breakfast. It stops the cravings," she said



1. Ditch or reduce sugar, flour and take away food.

2. Don’t deprive yourself.

3. Be mindful.

4. Exercise regularly.

5. Enjoy food and life.

"I have been sugar free for 28 years. It was difficult at first as I was a sugar addict but I believe it is one of the most important reasons I have been able to keep myself healthy and keep my body shape.

"I make sure I eat protein with every meal especially breakfast. It stops the cravings."

Mrs Hartz also urges people to never deprive themselves of the food and drinks they love but to be careful of "portion size".


Mrs Hartz recently took up tennis again after 25 years


1. My daily routine

2. Practice gratitude

3. Meditate

4. Yoga

5. Walk the dog

6. Shower breakfast briefly read the paper

7. Work 9.00- 6.30 and I am now aiming for a 4 day working week and taking Fridays off. But not much luck so far!!!

8. Evenings with my husband. We both love the movies and usually go at least once every fortnight when there is a good movie showing.

9. Weekends is time with my family and friends and I love shopping at our farmers market.

Sleep is also crucial, with Mrs Hartz trying to sleep for at least eight hours every night.

"I have done this for most of my life and now the research shows that it is essential for good health to get this number of hours," she said.

"It is when our body heals and rejuvenates."

Meditation and gratitude are two thinks Mrs Hartz credits to her incredible health.

"I meditate every day usually in the morning it means I have to get up half an hour earlier but the benefits during my working day is enormous," she said.

"I am so much calmer and intuitive since I have been meditating. I only started meditating at 65 so it is never too late.



INGREDIENTS

Cake – makes 1 layer

150g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra to grease

100g Perfect Sweet® xylitol

3 X-large eggs

200g almond meal

50g arrowroot

1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder

Pinch of salt

180 ml milk, lukewarm

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

To Assemble

500ml whipping cream

400g fresh berries of your choice

200g Perfect Sweet® Berry Jam (Recipe on Website)

75g Dark Bitter Chocolate, melted (optional) (Recipe on website)

Rose petals or edible flowers to decorate (optional)

METHOD

Preheat oven to 150˚C/130˚C fan-forced. Grease a 24cm round cake pan with butter and line with baking paper,

Use an electric beater to beat the butter and xylitol in a medium bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well.

Mix the almond meal, arrowroot, gluten free baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl. Add to the egg mixture and combine on low speed. Add the lukewarm milk and vanilla and stir until combined.

Pour mixture into prepared cake pan and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cool in pan for 10-15 minutes then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Repeat this recipe twice for the remaining layers.

To Assemble

Whip the cream in a medium bowl until soft peaks form.

Set aside 1 cup of the whipped cream and 150g of the fresh berries to decorate the top layer.

To assemble, place the first cake layer on a serving plate and spread over half the jam, then half the remaining cream and top with half the remaining berries. Gently place the second cake layer on top and repeat.

Place the third cake layer on top and finish with the reserved whipped cream and berries. If using, drizzle with melted chocolate and serve.

"Even just starting with five minutes a day and build to 20-30 minutes.

"I practice gratitude for five minutes every morning as part of my meditation. It is the most wonderful uplifting practice."

When it comes to exercise, Mrs Hartz says she feels the best when she is outside in nature.

"I walk my dog in the park 30 minutes a day. This is one of the best things that I do all day as he loves it and I love it too. I try to do yoga three times a week," she said.

Mrs Hartz also recently took up tennis again after 25 years.

One of the most important pieces of advice Mrs Hartz has for women is to never compare themselves to others.


"I love my sweet treats and I don"t deprive myself. I eat 2 pieces of dark chocolate every night," she said



"Be aware of what you like about them and let them inspire you but we are all individuals and we all have our own special traits," she said.

"Be happy for your friends successes, enjoy them together. Never be jealous or resentful, both are wasted emotions and only hurt your wellbeing."

Mrs Hartz also regularly gives back to society and will be working with the Care Brain Foundation next.

With beauty, Mrs Hartz has been following the same skincare regime since she was 17 years old.

"I never go to bed without cleansing and removing my make-up and I moisturise every night especially around the eyes and neck," she said.


"I never go to bed without cleansing and removing my make-up and I moisturise every night especially around the eyes and neck," she said



"I wear sunscreen everyday under my makeup and never sun bake. I am very aware of the damaging effects of the sun and I had this reminder when I had a cancer removed from my nose when I was only 30."

For women in their 20s and 30s, Mrs Hartz advises them to live life to the absolute fullest.

"Be happy for everyone and never worry about your age," she said.

"Don"t listen to the naysayers, be your own person. Attitude is your most important asset. Life is not perfect, accept this and grab it with both hands.

There is no such thing as failure, it is just a stepping stone to success. In fact I don"t use the word failure I prefer "setback". It does not have a negative tone.

"Most importantly train yourself to see the glass as half full. The day is partially sunny not partially cloudy!"

Seoul, South Korea South Korean President Park Geun-hye"s two apologies have not quelled some Koreans" anger over an abuse-of-power scandal engulfing her administration.

Thousands took to the streets in Seoul on Saturday, calling for Park to step down and blocking a 16-lane highway in the capital. Police said the crowd had 40,000 to 50,000 people; organizers said 200,000 protested.

Park is accused of letting her confidante Choi Soon-sil, who does not hold an official government post, view confidential documents and presidential speeches.

Local media and opposition parties have accused Choi of using her relationship with Park to accumulate millions of dollars in donations to her foundations.

Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Choi on Wednesday on charges of abuse of power and attempted fraud.

Two of Park"s former aides have been arrested on Sunday according to Yonhap News Agency.

The much-hyped Netflix series, “Narcos” (2015-present), tells the story of the rise and fall of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Here are some facts about one of the wealthiest and most dangerous narcotics kingpins of all time.

• Starting as a petty thief, Escobar used to steal cars and smuggle contraband cigarettes to earn money. In the early 1970s, he allegedly made $100,000 by kidnapping an executive based in the Colombian city of Medellín.

• During the peak of its operations Escobar's infamous Medellin cartel is estimated to have netted a whopping $70million on a day-to-day basis. Around $1000 were reportedly spent each week on rubber bands to wrap the stacks of cash.

• In the 1980s, the Medellin cartel accounted for 80 per cent of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S. Among other things, he shipped the drug in airplane tires, offering handsome amounts of money to pilots.

• Roberto Escobar , the accountant of Medellin cartel and Pablo’s brother, claimed that in addition to planes, his brother used two small submarines to smuggle massive amounts of cocaine into the U.S.

• As documented in the book “Escobar: The Inside Story of Pablo Escobar, the World's Most Powerful Criminal,” by Roberto Escobar, the biggest shipment of cocaine to the U.S. weighed 51,000 lbs. (23,000 kg).

• In the early 1990s, as one of the wealthiest criminals in history, Escobar pooled around $60 million a day, skyrocketing his net worth to around $30 billion.

• Beginning in 1987, quite incredibly, he was featured on Forbes’ international billionaires list seven years in a row.

• Located in Puerto Triunfo, Colombia, Escobar’s sprawling estate, Hacienda Nápoles, spreads over 7.7 square miles (20 sq. km). It comprised a sculpture garden, a lake, a private bullring (pictured), a kart racing track, a private airport and a zoo, which featured a huge array of animals from different continents including antelope, elephant, exotic birds, giraffe, and hippopotamus. After his death, the estate was converted into a theme park.

• After being charged with the assassination of Colombian journalist and liberal politician Luis Carlos Galán, Escobar was confined to his self-built luxurious prison, La Catedral, overlooking the city of Medellín. Also called “Hotel Escobar” or “Club Medellin,” it comprised a football pitch, giant doll house, bar, Jacuzzi, and a waterfall. He is said to have installed a telescope that helped him look at his daughter’s house in the city.

• To stay onside with the Colombian public, Escobar sponsored children’s football teams, built fields and multi-sports courts. He also aided the construction of hospitals, churches, and schools in western Colombia.

A teen nearly died trying to rescue her cell phone.

Chenelle Agnew, 17, was standing at a subway stop in Brooklyn on Thursday when her precious cell phone slipped out of her hands and dropped onto the tracks, reports the New York Post.

Agnew made the decision to save her phone from peril and jumped onto the tracks at the Bergen St. stop to retrieve it. That"s when a train barreled into the station - and ran over Agnew and her phone.

Agnew was hit by an incoming northbound train and went straight under the car - but she survived with minimal injury - as did her phone.

Agnew was pulled from the tracks by emergency service crews.

Pictures of the phone-loving teen on the stretcher show her staring intently at her beloved device.

She, and the phone, were taken to a nearby hospital where they are both expected to recover.

After more than 18 years of service, faithfully shuttling your messages, emojis and A/S/L requests back and forth across the internet, Yahoo has announced they will be signing off and closing its old Messenger app for good on August 5th.

The app launched in 1998 under the incredibly dated name "Yahoo Pager," but is heading off into the software sunset after the company introduced a more modern version last year.

After August 5th, anyone still using the legacy Messenger will no longer be able to log in or send messages. Same goes for messages sent through third-party apps.

The new Yahoo Messenger will become the sole way of exchanging messages, emojis, or GIFs. Yahoo is asking users to upgrade to the new version because from August, users of the old service will not be able to send or receive messages.

A senior police officer has become an Internet sensation after posting pictures of her toned body online.

Adrienne Kolesza, from Germany, has notched up thousands of followers on her Instagram account, which features her in skimpy fitness gear.

The 31-year-old fitness fan said her bosses have no issues with the revealing photos as long as they are kept decent.

Adrienne, who weighs 10st 2lb, and is 1.73m tall, has also been bombarded with praise on her account which has more than 95,000 followers.

Adrienne posts pictures in form-fitting workout gear and shows her ripped abs in crop tops.

Fans commented on her pictures that they would willingly drive into a speed trap if it meant she would pull them over, while others posted 'please arrest me'.

While RC_Roberto wrote: 'I fell in love with you.'

She was a participant in the Bodybuilding-WM in 2015 in the bikini class, while her day job sees her dealing with accidents, fights and domestic violence cases.

Adrienne works out in the gym five times a week after her shift, training with a 170kg Hip Thrust device.

Adrienne, who says her toned figure was 30 per cent sport and 70 per cent healthy eating, said: 'It helps me work on my backside. Every woman wants to have a nice backside.'

One of her favourite dishes is protein porridge, consisting of egg whites and porridge oats.

She also insisted her bosses have no issue with the photos, as long as they are kept decent, and find her internet fame amusing.

But she added that it was not her style to be photographed naked and she is encouraging women to be fit and healthy.Adrienne, who is in a relationship with a 28-year-old professional swimmer and athlete, said: 'I am mainly aiming my photographs at women, not men.'

A wife who was caught on camera hiring a an undercover cop to kill her newlywed husband told a court she was acting in a bid to become famous on a reality TV show and was threatened to go along with the scheme by a police informant.

Dalia Dippolito spoke at a hearing ahead of her retrial for allegedly trying to pay a hitman $3,000 to murder spouse Michael in 2009, after the pair had only been married six months.

The 32-year-old became an internet sensation when hidden cameras from the show Cops captured her crying in 2009 as officers in Boyton Beach, Florida, revealed he was dead.

It was later revealed that he was still alive and cops had set up the scene to catch Dippolito's ploy in the act.

She admits her tears were fake - but only because she and her husband had formulated the plan together in a bid to be famous after getting the idea from another actor.

During her court appearance on Wednesday, she reiterated that she didn't want to kill her husband and was pressured into saying it.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2011 for solicitation to commit first-degree murder with a firearm, but the case was thrown out in 2014 after evidence of police misconduct surfaced during appeals.

Now she is facing a retrial after Boynton Beach judge Glenn Kelley said the case had been hanging around for too long.

Oliver Dietmann, 46, could be jailed for five years for the bedroom death of his lover Rica Varna, also 46.

The court in Mannheim where he is on trial had members of his victim's family including her father and sister in the public gallery hearing the sordid details of the episode, which also featured a bunch of carrots and some courgettes.

A 25-year-old mother of one has died after undergoing a routine breast enlargement operation in Shenzhen, southern China.

The woman referred to as Ting Ting died on Wednesday after her heartbeat dropped during surgery.

Ting Ting, who was a fashion model, decided to undergo surgery after being told during her consultation that she had so-called 'small breast syndrome' and small eyes.

According to a surgery brief provided by the hospital, Ting Ting paid 45,600 yuan (£4,884) for breast enlargement along with surgery on her eyes.

During a consultation before the surgery, medical staff told her that she had small eyes along with small breast syndrome.

Her mother named Tian sad her daughter was a model. She told reporters: 'I always told her she looked so pretty.'

She says that Ting Ting didn't think that she was perfect enough and often talked about making her eyes longer and rounder.

The hospital staff confirmed that she had previously had a nose job at the same surgery.

According to hospital records, Ting Ting entered the operating theatre at 10.30am and had surgery on her eyelids using partial anaesthesia. She then underwent breast enhancement surgery with added anaesthesia. It was during this surgery that her pulse dropped followed by her blood pressure.

She was given adrenaline however her heart stopped.

Ting Ting's husband was told of the news at 5pm. However she had already been dead for some time.

Tian, the woman's mother says she is angry that they weren't informed earlier about complications.

She said: 'She had already passed away and paramedics had been called without our knowledge'.

A spokesman from the clinic confirmed that they had called paramedics at around 3pm and that they had tried for 30 minutes to resuscitate Ting Ting.

The spokesman confirmed that the death had been caused by the use of anaesthesia. He said that all of the medical staff involved were fully registered and certified.

The hospital have said that they will bear full responsibility and offer some compensation for the woman's death.

The health supervising authority in Nanshan District of Shenzhen said that they are currently investigating the case.

The cause of death will be confirmed following post-mortem examinations.

Plastic surgery is becoming increasingly popular in China, with many young women opting to undergo surgery to get the 'western style' double eyelids.

A baby girl has been born with an extra leg sprouting from her back due to a rare condition which affects one in a million infants.

Two-year-old Varsha Sena, from Delhi, was born with two legs, and a third limb growing sideways out of her spine.

Varsha suffers from a rare condition called polymelia, which causes a person to be born with extra limbs, often arms or legs.

Doctors at the Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, Delhi, were able to successfully amputate the unwanted third leg at the end of last month.

The lead surgeon, Dr Daljit Singh, said: 'The baby was suffering from polymelia.

'It is a condition in which is a person is born with more than four limbs. We have not seen such a case in the last fifty years.

'This was the first case of polymelia in which the spinal cord had developed into an additional limb.' Via dailymail.co.uk

A young woman has publicly shamed her racist father after he sent a letter saying her family would leave her homeless and never speak to her again if she continued to date a black man.

Stephanie Hicks from Keller, Texas, shared the vile note on Twitter in which she was told she had 'disrespected her family in every way' by having a boyfriend with a different skin colour to her.

The dad, who claimed to be a Christian, gave her a final ultimatum - saying there were three empty suitcases waiting for her belongings to be packed in if she stayed with her partner, called Nike.

He wrote: 'While it may not be anti-biblical, I know I will never accept it, and I’ll never forgive you. My belief is that interracial relationships are despicable. Vulgar and reprehensible.

'There’s nothing worse than a half-black, and I’m crushed that my own daughter has entered into such a disgusting relationship.'

He went on to say that if he chose Nike 'over her family' he never wanted any contact with her again and asked her to change her name as he didn't want to be associated with her.

Stephanie , thought to be 19, uploaded a snap of the vile letter to Twitter commenting 'sad that it's 2016 and skin colour still matters', tagging her boyfriend.

She was met with overwhelming support and the post was retweeted more than 8,000 times and favourited by 7,000 people.

But she was also met with further abuse from racist users, and she has since deleted her account.

The letter from her father also read: 'This isn’t easy, but you haven’t made it easy. Over the last several years, you’ve turned on everything that we tried to instill from childhood.

But he said that Stephanie didn't want to split and instead told her parents they had broken up, but when the post of her letter went viral her family realised they were still together.

It is not known whether her father followed through with his threat.

Messages of support for the pair have flooded in on Twitter.

A new species of luminous creatures have been discovered in the Red Sea and they’re pretty incredible.

They were found by Russian researchers investigating coral reefs just off the Farasan Islands.

The ‘fluorescent lanterns’, as they have been dubbed, revealed themselves when biologists placed them under UV-light.

Attaching on to miniature shells of a sea snail, the creatures garland the animal with luminous green lights.

Vyacheslav Ivanenko, one of the lead authors of the research, said: ‘Sea hydroids, unlike hydrae, are often found in colonies and canbranch off tiny jellyfish

‘The unusual green glow of these hydrozoas (presumably, a new species of the genus Cytaeis, whose body length reaches 1.5 mm) was revealed in the peristomal area of the body.’

At the moment, the role of the glow has not been investigated at all but zoologists suggest that the glow around the mouth of polyps may attract prey.

‘Fluorescent flashlights’ may be visible to other invertebrates in the moonlight, and at sunset and sunrise.

Ivanenko added: ‘The fluorescence can be useful for quick identification of hardly recognizable species and for the studies of ecological peculiarities and distribution of hydroids and their hosts molluscs’. Via metro.co.uk