In a world where all we want to do is stand apart form the rest (and quickly spot our luggage at baggage claims), a personalized bag is the way to go. Getting one monogrammed just feels so special, and it’s an accessory that you can truly call your own (and luckily won’t be obligated to share with your siblings or roommates). Monogrammed tote bags are especially all the rage right now, perfect for beach days, weekend market strolls, and vacations.

You know what goes great with an ice-cold Aperol Spritz and balmy summer weather? Gleaming, sun-kissed skin. There's an undeniable mood boost that comes with catching your reflection in the living-room mirror and seeing bronzed shoulders. The thing is, no matter how much we love that golden glow in the summer, we’ve come a long way in understanding just how dangerous the sun’s rays (and tanning beds) are for our skin. That's why we've made it our mission to find some of the best alternatives for a flawless faux glow. Enter: self tanning drops.

Regulators in the United States have approved the sale of chicken made from cultivated cells, marking a huge step for the nation’s first “lab-grown” meat. The move comes after Good Meat, a developer of chicken grown from animal cells, announced in March 2023 that it had received a “no-questions” letter from the Food and Drug Administration, which indicated the FDA was satisfied that the product was safe to sell, according to CNN. Upside Foods, another company that makes chicken using cultured cells, received a similar letter from the FDA in November, the outlet reported. At the time, Dr Uma Valeti, the founder and CEO of Upside Foods, called the approval a “watershed moment,” noting it’s “never happened before in the history of humanity”. However, before the lab-grown meat could be made available to US consumers, it required approval from the US Department of Agriculture. With Tuesday’s approval by the Agriculture Department of federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the US, the two California companies will be able to make the lab-grown chicken available to restaurants and, later, to supermarkets. The goal of lab-grown meat is both to eliminate harm to animals and to reduce the enivornmental impacts of traditional animal agriculture. “Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat. The cultivated meat is made using cells from a living animal and grown in steel tanks. Upside’s lab-grown meat first comes out in large sheets, before it is then formed into recognisable chicken shapes, while Good Meat turns the chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays. Good Meat’s chicken is already available in Singapore, the first country to allow the sale of lab-grown meat. As for when individuals living in the US can expect to see the meat in grocery stores, it will likely be some time, as the lab-grown chicken is more expensive than traditional meat, and cannot yet be produced on the same scale, according to Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at University of California Berkeley. However, those eager to try the cell-cultivated meat will be able to do so in certain restaurants, with Upside partnering with San Francisco restuarant Bar Crenn to make the meat available to consumers, while dishes made with Good Meat will be served at Chef Jose Andrés’ restaurant in Washington, DC. According to Amy Chen, Upside’s chief operating officer, the most common response the company has gotten from people who have tried the meat is that it “tastes like chicken”. Read More Lab-grown meat is worse than real thing for climate. But will it always remain that way? Company creates mammoth meatballs using DNA from extinct animal Lab-grown meat takes one step closer to hitting supermarket shelves

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 21, 2023--

If you're rushing to complete this year's back-to-school shopping, there's still time to save on sales taxes on those purchases in three states.

I will be honest: The idea of shopping for a swimsuit used to terrify me. Everyone has their own insecurities, but as a plus-size person, those insecurities felt so much more heightened. I focused so much on what I wanted to cover up that it took the joy away from being in the water. Over time, after following influencers, models, and folks that I just thought were cool and shared the same body shape and size as me, I realized that if I can love and admire them, then I can feel the same way about myself.

Milan Fashion Week was not even over and the fashionistas were already heading to Paris on Monday for another 100-plus shows in...

Our bellies have always been the target of derision and ire. Long have they been poked and prodded. Sighed at and sucked in. Reprimanded and insulted. But ever since social media became the new WebMD for chronic self-diagnosers, it’s been open season on every little bodily function. Every involuntary twitch, skin bump and mood shift has been analysed to death – but none more so than the dreaded bloat. Stomach bloating can happen for all sorts of reasons. Often the main culprit is a big meal. It’s that feeling of being uncomfortably full and needing to undo the top button of your jeans, as if you’ve just had a particularly heavy Sunday roast. Unless you have real food intolerances or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or the symptom is caused by hormonal changes, bloating is the body’s normal reaction to eating a little too much. It usually subsides after a few hours. But this is 2023. A bit of bloating is no longer something you can just wait a few hours to get rid of – social media dictates that it needs to be gone immediately, and if it doesn’t then there must be something wrong with you. And not to stop there, either. You should also be cutting 10 different types of foods out of your life, doing five simple exercises 200 times a day and taking an assortment of supplements and pills because God forbid your stomach be round for the next two hours. According to Dr Tamara Alireza, a functional medicine specialist at Skinfluencer London, bloating should be taken seriously if it doesn’t come and go with food. If it becomes a chronic problem, or is accompanied by other symptoms such as persistent stomach and pelvic pain, changes to bowel habits, unexpected weight loss, fatigue and fever, vomiting, or bleeding, it may be something different entirely. “Excess bloating can be linked to IBS, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and coeliac disease, but also to more serious conditions,” she says. But we are a society obsessed with quick fixes, and anti-bloating pills have become a popular “cure” for the woes of a distended belly. Last month, fitness influencer Sam Cutler took it to new heights when she provided the pills for her wedding guests during the meal. Some viewers of her TikTok video – which sparked so much horror that it rapidly went viral – claimed that the pills were essentially “laxatives”. The glut of brands that have emerged in recent years would disagree, though. Many claim to use all-natural ingredients to “speed up digestion” and reduce gas without a laxative effect. Admittedly, curiosity got the better of me. I am lucky enough not to suffer from any particularly gut-churning conditions, but I do have eyes bigger than my stomach. It means I regularly end up regretting wearing trousers to a meal, cursing myself as my belly strains against the waistband. Could these pills really make me feel more comfortable after a big dinner, or would they just lead to some unfortunate toilet habits? I am kindly sent a couple of packs by Wild Dose, which lists extracts of ginger, liquorice, fennel seed, turmeric, peppermint leaf and dandelion root alongside a “proprietary enzyme complex” and a probiotic blend in each brown pill. They smell very herbal and are a rather unappealing greenish-brown colour – it initially makes me wonder if it’s an omen for what my guts are about to experience. After two weeks of taking them daily, I found that they did make a slight difference in my post-meal stupor and I feel comfortable quicker than before. However, the change has been marginal and, if anything, they made me more gassy, to the chagrin of my significant other. The medical community is reluctant to support the efficacy of similar supplements, as there remains little clinical research to back up their claims. Dr Alireza describes anti-bloat pills as a “Band-Aid on a fire hydrant” for people who have genuine problems with their gut. “I generally would not recommend taking any pills to counteract the bloating,” she says, “rather I would be keen to first determine the source of the issue.” She points to her practice, which aims to determine the root cause of symptoms and treat it – instead of providing temporary fixes. But I think the real reason behind social media’s obsession with bloating has nothing to do with #guthealth. Instead, it is our inherent fatphobia and fear of fatness that fuel this battle against the bloat. Are we so afraid of looking fat for even a couple of hours that we flock to pills and exercises with such abandon? Given the way people have fallen over themselves to get their hands on Ozempic, a drug intended to help diabetes patients but which has made a name for itself as a weight-loss miracle, it appears the answer is yes. It’s no mistake, either, that women are the primary targets for anti-bloating content online. Studies show that women are twice as likely to experience it as men, particularly during menstruation and menopause because of hormonal fluctuations. But the expectation for women to maintain at least the illusion of thinness at all times is also much higher. Many of us learned at an early age how to suck in our stomachs and – even as adults – keep them sucked in pretty much all day. As I write this, I realise that I’ve been subconsciously engaging my core muscles despite sitting behind a desk. No wonder the promise of no more bloating is so appealing, if it makes looking mildly smaller less of a chore. Joanna Dase, fitness expert and operations director of female-focused health clubs Curves, says that any medical conditions should be diagnosed by qualified professionals rather than social media. She acknowledges that while bloating can affect body image, no one should worry about your normal, natural responses to digestion. “If you have a professional opinion and there is no health problem related to it, then you just need to have an actual understanding of your body and its natural functions, and being OK with yourself. It’s just how your body breaks down food.” Read More Wellness gurus claim your hormones are out to get you – but is it just another scam? ‘Thanks Pfizer’: The weird world of shakes, health anxiety and illness online A One Direction fan claimed she had a brain tumour. Five years after her death, we still need answers How to protect pets from wildfire smoke amid air quality alert Gamer finds indent in head from prolonged headset use after shaving his hair From masks to AC units: All the dos and don’ts to keep safe from wildfire smoke

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 23, 2023--

We know when Google's big Pixel 8 event is supposed to take place. We even

Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80% more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines

The acclaimed British novelist Ian McEwan is baffled by the current obsession with sensitivity in the publishing world. "Be brave,"...