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Cameron: It’s natural to not want children

Cameron Diaz has spoken out about her choice to not be a mother, saying many women are afraid to admit they don’t want to have children.

The 36-year-old Hollywood A-lister said despite the fact there were too many children in the world already, women who chose not to be mums were made to feel they were unnatural.

“I think women are afraid to say that they don’t want children because they’re going to get shunned,” Cameron told Cosmoplitan magazine.

“But I think that’s changing too now. I have more girlfriends who don’t have kids than those that do.

“And honestly? We don’t need any more kids. We have plenty of people on this planet.”

Do you think there are too many people on the planet? Have your say below.

While she was advocating a woman’s right to choose, Cameron also said she wasn’t ruling out the possibility of one day becoming a mother.

“I never say never. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

“I could end up adopting half a dozen kids, or I could end up being the next ‘octomum’.”

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Grains and weight gain: Fact or fallacy?

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For many Australians losing weight and maintaining weight is high on their list of priorities. And when it comes to weight, there is a lot of talk about grain foods – including bread, pasta and cereals – and the role they may play in weight gain. But do grains really contribute to weight gain? Or is it a fallacy?

Despite bad press in recent years, grain foods can play a significant role in helping people to lose weight. In fact, a recent scientific review found that diets high in wholegrain foods and legumes were associated with significantly greater weight loss than other popular diet methods.

Are all grains created equal?

In a word, no. Whole grains – where the three layers of the grain (bran, germ and endosperm) are still intact – offer protection from cancer and heart disease as well as being the grains most associated with weight loss.

How much should we eat?

While the Australian dietary guidelines suggest that we eat plenty of cereals – preferably wholegrain, until now, we haven’t had a specific recommendation for serves of wholegrain foods. Go Grains Health & Nutrition – a leading grains organisation in Australia – has reviewed the research and established a daily target for wholegrain consumption. So now we know we should be aiming for 2-3 serves or 48 grams of wholegrains per day. Meeting this target simply includes eating a serve of wholegrain wheat biscuits for breakfast and two slices of wholegrain bread at lunch.

A wide variety

Along with wholegrain wheat and brown rice, there are many other interesting varieties of wholegrain for you to try.

  • Rye. A nutrient rich grain that we are becoming more familiar with, rye contains gluten but much less than is present in wheat. Choose rye or pumpernickel breads and try alternating rye varieties with your regular bread purchase.

  • Buckwheat. Readily available in Australia, buckwheat is commonly made into porridge. You can also add buckwheat to pancakes or try Japanese buckwheat noodles in stir-fries or soups.

  • Quinoa. (keen-wah) A nutritious grain similar to buckwheat in its texture and taste, quinoa has a high protein content compared to other grains which makes it an excellent inclusion to your meals. Try using it as a substitute to couscous. It is available in health food stores and some supermarkets.

  • Barley. One of the oldest cultivated cereals, barley is often ground and can be used as an alternative to flour. Dehulled barley is the wholegrain form as it only has the inedible outer layer removed and it is a great addition to soups and stews. Pearled barley, unlike the dehulled variety, is not considered a wholegrain because it is polished and more refined.This information is brought to you by the Sanitarium Nutrition Service. If you would like more information email [email protected]Your Say: Do you get enough grains in your diet? Do you find it helps with weight control? Tell us your thoughts below…

This information is brought to you by the Sanitarium Nutrition Service. If you would like more information email [email protected]

Your Say: Do you get enough grains in your diet? Do you find it helps with weight control? Tell us your thoughts below…

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*Disgrace*

Icon Film Distribution Australia

Professor David Lurie(John Malkovich)and Lucy (Jessica Haines).

A screen adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s Booker Prize winner, Disgrace could easily have gone horribly wrong.

Fortunately, creative partners, Australians Steve Jacobs and Anna-Maria Monticelli have delivered a finely nuanced film that closely reflects the intelligence and subtlety of the novel.

John Malkovich gives a suitably malevolent turn as somewhat dissolute literature professor David Lurie whose philanderings eventually catch up with him.

Dismissed from his Cape Town university post, he goes up country to see his daughter Lucy (Jessica Haines in a beautiful performance), who makes her living growing fruit and flowers, which she sells in the local town market. Despite initial scepticism, David begins to acclimatise to country life but it is only when he and Lucy become the victims of a savage attack that he begins to reconsider his own behaviour. And so begins a journey towards attrition and forgiveness. Disgrace is as much the story of South Africa and its disturbing history as it is of David and Lucy. It is as searing in its observations of the troubled complexities of that nation, as it is of sexual exploitation, hypocrisy and the dynamics of family.

Pauline Webber is a Sydney-based writer and reviewer

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What would you do if you won the lottery?

A question often asked by psychologists, educators and curious minds alike. The Weekly's financial expert, Virginia Graham, poses it from a financial point of view.
1 million fireworks, Getty Images

They often say people who actually do win a few million dollars from the lottery, lose all the money within a year and end up in a worse situation than before. You might be thinking ‘yes, but I wouldn’t be so silly, I would keep it all, I would get proper advice and buy the right things.’

The question is: why aren’t you doing that now? What’s stopping you from getting yourself financially organised and savvy today?

If you win the lottery or get an unexpected inheritance wouldn’t now be a good time to be organised. Is there anything wrong with adopting a millionaire mindset now?

Even if you don’t win lotto or an inheritance, maybe once your mindset changes, you’ll think of a way to make a huge amount of money. Maybe you’ll think about all the things you’d do and want, and realise you have them already or could buy them for a lot less than a million dollars. So, in one sense you win the lottery today anyway — without even buying a ticket!

Just for fun

Why not imagine you’ve won the lottery and think about all the ways you could organise your wealth. You will still have to plan and budget, still learn more about money, still think about all the things you really want. Write them down. Implement a plan of firstly all your goals and dreams and then how you are going to achieve them all.

Budget/Goals

On a micro-scale you can start now anyway. If you’re in debt, still budget but plan to pay off your debts and once they are gone, plan to start a savings and investment program for the same amount. The same system you would use to budget if you had millions you can do on a smaller scale now.

Learning Program/ Team

Start now learning more about money and how to manage it. Also work out who you would have on your financial advice team if you were richer and follow what they do and see if you can understand more about how they work.

Millionaire Mindset- Decide you are wealthy

Change your mindset now and the money will follow. After interviewing several billionaires the one thing from them about wealth that I learned was that they made a decision that they were already wealthy, and THEN the money flowed — not the other way around. This was the only commonality between them; their mindset.

The best thing about changing your mind is that you can do it today for free; the decision is yours.

By Virginia Graham from www.modelmortgages.com.au

YOUR SAY: What would you do if you DID win the lottery? Email us on [email protected]

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Madonna to adopt a Nigerian child?

Devastated after her unsuccessful attempt to adopt a second child from Malawi, Madonna is turning to another African country in her search for a sibling for little David Banda.

The singer’s application to adopt a young Malawian girl was rejected by the country’s high court earlier this year, but now she’s looking at adoption centres in Nigeria and has sent a female friend to make enquiries and “test the waters”, according to reports.

Nigerian law states that applicants must be resident in the country for at least three months prior to adopting. It was a similar law that prevented Madonna from adopting in Malawi, but she hopes to find a way around it this time.

“Madonna has some of the best legal minds working for her and she’ll be pushing them to find a loophole,” a friend revealed.

Meanwhile the material girl is trying to get her personal life in order so that she’ll seem like a more suitable parent when making an application to adopt, and that includes getting her 22-year-old boyfriend Jesus Luz involved.

Madonna believes her relationship with Jesus was one of the reasons her application in Malawi was rejected.

“She’s determined not to make the same mistakes and feels that the only way to do this is to get Jesus involved from the off,” says a friend.

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I faked an injury so he would talk to me

I got messed around by men pretty badly when I was in my early twenties, and the repercussions of this were that for most of my late twenties I, myself, was not very nice to the men I used to meet through friends, at parties, pubs. I found myself being hostile in order to keep men at arm’s length, and it was only after several years of therapy that I realised this was what I was doing. And it seemed as though I’d already pushed away the man of my dreams.

Vincent was an amazing human being. He was kind, funny, intelligent – a little arrogant perhaps – and I was so scared by my feelings for him when I met him through friends that I chose to focus on his arrogance, and declared that I despised him. It sounds like a Jane Austen novel, I know, but it’s true! It wasn’t long before my friends, my family, everyone who would listen, knew how I felt about arrogant Vincent – not my real feelings, of course, but the ones I was using to deflect them.

Unfortunately, Vincent knew too. He’d been so friendly when we first met, but after a few months of my coldness, he stayed well away and it was then that I realised how I truly felt. But too late – it wasn’t pride; I was far too cowardly to own up to my problems and tell him how I felt. So I let it go, and hoped I’d meet someone even half as great as I knew Vincent to really be. But inside, I was pining; desperate for a second chance to make things right. But I never even saw him anymore and my friends, tired of how I treated him, gave me no opportunities to repeat my disgraceful behaviour.

Eventually, about twelve months passed. I hadn’t seen Vincent in all this time, and I supposed I’d moved on, although I wasn’t seeing anyone else. On a shopping excursion to the city, I entered a bookshop, and low and behold, to my astonishment, a few aisles over spied Vincent! All the old, warm feelings that I had tried so desperately to suppress bubbled to the surface, and I knew I had to act – but how? It didn’t seem likely that he would even give me the time of day if I just ambled over to say hello, and I wouldn’t have blamed him. But if there was one thing I knew about Vincent, it was that he wouldn’t turn his back on someone in distress. Even if that someone was evil old me.

Creeping over to a step that was within a few feet of him, I suddenly let out a pretend yelp of pain and half fell to the floor. To anyone who had seen, it looked as though I had tripped on the step and twisted my ankle. As strangers came running from all directions, Vincent helped me off the floor and offered to drive me to the nearest emergency room. Suddenly feeling very foolish, and not sure what to do next, I muttered that I would be alright, but Vincent insisted.

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‘Why I left Grant’ – Lisa Curry Kenny’s heartbreak

The dream for the sporting world’s golden couple was over long ago … we reveal why Lisa had to walk away.

When Lisa Curry and Grant Kenny last week announced their separation after 23 years of marriage, with Lisa moving out of the family home, their devoted fans were shocked. But while the Australian public saw them as the perfect golden couple, Woman’s Day can reveal that after enduring troubles for some time, Lisa was left with no choice but to leave Grant.

“It’s as if they have been leading, unofficially, separate lives over the last few years,” says one former ironman who knows the couple well. “When I first met Lisa and Grant back in the ’80s they were this golden-haired dynamic duo who lived for each other in their own little world.

“They had the sort of connection that made other people jealous and seemed to have even more in common than other husbands and wives. But that bond between them went up in smoke quite a while ago, and now when they’re together everyone around them feels uncomfortable.”

The final blow for the relationship came after the bombshell news of Lisa’s heart troubles in early 2008. Lisa says at first she was “tearful and angry and upset” about her diagnosis of myocarditis — an inflammation of the heart muscle caused by infection — but her resilient nature soon kicked in.

She underwent surgery to have a pacemaker implanted to control her erratic heartbeat, and was hospitalised again six months later when her body threatened to reject the implant.

As the former swimming champ put up the fight of her life, Grant was overwhelmed by serious problems of his own after a helicopter owned by the family’s Curry Kenny Group, a property and aviation empire worth an estimated $80million, crashed in WA, killing four people.

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PM’s wife Therese Rein – how she lost 25kg

The First Lady’s trainer reveals to Woman’s Day the program that helped her to drop four dress sizes.

Kevin Rudd‘s better half Therese Rein is fast becoming Australia’s first lady of health and fitness after dropping an incredible 25kg in six months.

The businesswoman and mother-of-three has spent almost every day this year working out in the gym and sticking to a special low-carb, high-protein diet to gain a fit and leaner figure.

It’s been the most discussed transformation in Australia, but Therese, 51, has kept her diet and exercise secrets under wraps – until now.

Trainer Al Forsyth confirms that he tailor-made a special exercise program for Therese, designed to help her lose weight after she suffered deeply hurtful criticism for what was often referred to as her “frumpy style”.

“Obviously Therese wanted to lose weight and tone-up,” Al says. “I tailor-made a program to suit her needs, with particular emphasis on altitude training because she is going on a trip with us next month.”

The former Special Air Service Regiment commando, who regularly takes executives trekking on the Kokoda Trail, says Therese is incredibly committed to her main goal of losing weight.

“She does enjoy coming to the gym,” he says.

“She is doing exceptionally well. She’s very committed to the cause of losing weight but she is not trying to do it all in one week – which increases her chances of keeping it off…”

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Schapelle’s family tells: She’s paranoid, delusional and a danger to herself

Following dramatic scenes as Schapelle Corby was suddenly forced to leave hospital and return to jail, her sister Mercedes and mother Rosleigh reveal to Phillip Koch they fear she may end her own life.

Having barricaded herself in a hospital toilet, Schapelle Corby‘s mental state reached a new low last week.

Distressed and clutching a pillow for comfort, she was shocked that police officials demanded without notice that she return to jail after she’d spent the previous 12 days in hospital under 24-hour watch.

Her sister Mercedes holds grave fears for Schapelle since her sudden and unexpected removal from hospital after very limited treatment.

“Schapelle was asleep when they came in and woke her with no notice, preparation or even counselling and told her she was going back to prison,” Mercedes confirms to Woman’s Day.

“The doctor treating her in hospital saw her only three times in the past 12 days and each visit lasted only minutes. Clearly she needs better treatment if she is to get well.

“I am very afraid for her wellbeing because she is not rational enough to take her medication, and is still extremely paranoid and suffering side effects from the medication she is on.”

At the time of going to press, Schapelle’s family and her lawyer were once again attempting to get her transferred to a medical facility in the hope that she can be properly treated.

It was the death of her father Michael in January 2008 that sparked Schapelle’s slow descent into madness, after three years of refusing to allow the horrors of life in a Bali jail to break her spirit.

The loss of her final appeal in April and the death of her stepfather Greg a few days later drove her over the edge, leaving Mercedes fearing her sister would end it all, or lash out at the guards and prisoners she says torment her on a daily basis.

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Bec Hewitt forced to leave Australia

The Hewitt clan are relocating to a tropical tax haven, leaving Bec more isolated than ever. Angela Mollard investigates.

Bec Hewitt has to say goodbye to Australia and start a new life thousands of kilometres away from her family and friends.

After three years of dragging her family around the world following her husband Lleyton Hewitt‘s attempts to regain his former tennis glory, Bec, 25, is now faced with the task of setting up a new base in the Bahamas.

For years, Bec and daughter Mia, 3, struggled with exhausting long-haul flights and constant jet lag, but the birth of son Cruz, now six months, has forced the family to make moves to reduce the strain.

Lleyton’s manager David Drysdale confirmed to Woman’s Day that the couple had bought a home in the luxurious tax haven in February so they could be closer to tennis tournaments in the US and Europe.

While there are enormous financial benefits to living in the Bahamas, where John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Mariah Carey and Bill Gates also have homes, Woman’s Day can reveal that the move comes at a huge price for Bec, who is extremely close to her family.

In the past, Bec has resorted to asking her brother Shaun to travel with her for company and to help her with the kids. Bec looks forward to spending a lot of time with her parents Darrel and Michele and sister Kristy when she’s in Sydney.

Although friends say the former Home And Away star is devoted to Lleyton and wants to make the kids’ lives easier, they fear she’ll feel isolated and homesick living in a cloistered celebrity playground.

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