Hooey Diet Alert: Hoodia Ice Cubes Help You Drop Pounds?

Please.  What's the saying?  If it sounds too good be true.....

It's called the Hoodia Ice Cube diet.   In theory, you either drop one hoodia-filled ice cube into some liquid or just pop the frozen cube straight every day.  The hoodia frozen in the ice cube is from a succulent plant native to the African desert.  Desert Labs, the company that manufactures the little green cubes, says they contain a molecule called P57 that is supposed to suppress your appetite.

Hoodia started getting a lot of press a few years ago as a supplement that tricks your brain into thinking you're full .  60 Minutes even profiled the plant in 2004.  It does have some scientific evidence to back up the appetite-suppressing claims but it's still pretty cloudy. 

Cowboys Offensive Lineman Alex Barron Likes His Gum

It’s not often we get to chat with offensive linemen. They are, generally speaking, the most reluctant group on a football team when it comes to talking to the media even going so far as to institute a fine system if one of them “breaks the code”. Leonard Davis and Adre Gurode aside, you don’t see a ton of interviews (tv in particular) with Cowboys linemen. So it was a rare treat on Tuesday when a few of us interviewed new Cowboys tackle Alex Barron who Dallas acquired in a trade with the Rams for Bobby Carpenter.

Before we go any further, Barron is a physical specimen! He stands a pretty accurate 6’7 and is listed at 302.  It's not a soft, have-another-a-pastrami-sandwich 302, either.  Even fully clothed this man looked solid.

He would be a great addition to the Mavericks frontcourt. I tried to butter him up, or beat him down depending on your perspective, by talking some basketball with him. I knew he was a double-double guy at Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He admitted a few small area universities and community colleges tried to recruit him but he played football at Florida State.

North Texas Summer Fun: For Fresh Fruit & Vegetables Think Ham's

May 15th doesn't just serve as a reminder for me that my taxes are one month late.  The date is much more important.  It means that Ham's Orchard in Terrell is finally open!  I discovered Ham'View Blogs when my parents bought some property in Mineola a few years ago and since then, every trip east involves a stop at Ham's.  Although, truth be told, it's not like I need an excuse to go, just a free hour.

Ham's is true orchard and roadside market about 35 miles east of Dallas on Highway 80.  It serves fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade ice cream, cobblers and all the stereotypical country kitchen stuff that everyone's Texas Grandma had in the pantry.

Cowboys Turning 50 & Feeling Fine w/ New "Celebration" Logo.

The traditional "gift" for a 50th anniversary is gold.  Something golden.  Austin Powers infamous Goldmember comes to mind.  Fancy a smoke and pancake?

I digress.

The Cowboys unveiled their 50th anniversary "celebration" logo today.  Your thoughts?

Dirk Opting Out: Take a Chill Pill, Miss Saigon

Dirk Nowitzki can put Dallas in a panic like few men can.

In honor of Sex and the City's 2's Thursday release, I'm taking inspiration from the HBO show's second season for this one.  In the episode, "Old Dogs, New Dicks", one drag queen tells another to "Take a chill pill, Miss Saigon!" and I think that's the message Mavericks fans need to heed. 

Marc Stein had this news mid-afternoon on Saturday.  I was literally walking out the door to go the HP Byron Nelson Championship when the Steiny posted the article on ESPNDallas.com.  My brother, Lance, called and texted in a panic.  My phone started exploding. 

Cabo San Lucas Resort Reviews

From the blue topaz-like water to the sweet, blue agave scent that seems to waft through the air, Los Cabos is one of my go-to quick getaways.

Long a favorite of Los Angeles celebrities and professional athletes, it's an easy trip for those of us coming anywhere ranging from Dallas (two hours 17 minutes) to northern California natives (just under three hours).  I arrived this past Saturday for a three-day jaunt and barely missed every Mavs fan Denver Nugget nemesis.  Our driver had just taken Chris Anderson to the airport.

Tread Fitness Class Review

From sprints and hills to squats and flutter kicks, high intensity interval training is guaranteed to make you work as hard as you can but shed some serious fat in the process.

“This is, like, the hardest workout of my life,” Victoria Snee of Mix 102.9 FM told me after taking a class at Tread Fitness in Dallas.

High intensity interval training, or HIIT for short, is a method of working out that uses short bursts of aerobic activity paired with a short recovery period. It’s so effective at increasing the body’s endurance as well as burning calories and fat that it produces rapid, dramatic changes to your shape and fitness level.

Tony Hauser has dropped ten pounds in just seven classes.

“That’s one of the most amazing things is that it’s so quick,” Hauser told me.