She Found Her Dream Wedding Dress for $25 at a Thrift Store–and ‘It Fit Like a Glove’

Julia Webber and Michael Webber at their wedding – SWNS

After she couldn’t find a gown she liked in any bridal shop, a Florida woman bagged her dream wedding dress in a thrift store for just $25.

Julia Webber felt disheartened after trying on dresses at a boutique shop and not finding anything that was right.

“I wanted something simple and elegant… something form-fitting at the top.

So she couldn’t believe it when she found the perfect dress in a local thrift store.

Accompanied by her mom and sisters, the 26-year-old walked into her favorite second-hand store, the Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation Resale Shop, and immediately spotted the dress.

“It was the first one we went to,” she said. “I zipped it up and it fit like a glove. I knew immediately it was the one.

“Life can be so serendipitous.”

“It was completely meant to be,” said the speech pathologist from West Palm Beach. “Everyone had the same reaction; their jaws were on the floor.”

Julia Webber trying on wedding dress at thrift store – SWNS

Last month she married her school sweetheart, who cried when he saw her walk down the aisle.

Julia has always been passionate about thrifting and grew up hunting through second-hand stores with her mother and two sisters, so looking for a wedding dress was a natural Plan B.

The dress was priced at $50 but that day it was ‘half-off day’ so Julia took it home for just $25.

“I loved the beading,” Julia said. “And it had a brand new tag on it.”

She couldn’t find the Casablanca dress new online but estimates it might have cost up to $3,000.

Julia Webber and Michael Webber at their December wedding – SWNS

The arm straps needed to be shortened, which cost $40, and she paid $75 to have it professionally cleaned.

“At the wedding I started telling people the cost and the live reaction of disbelief was amazing.”

Julia shared her thrifting discovery on social media and hopes it has inspired others to go hunting for second-hand pieces—and she plans to pass on the dress to a bride who can’t afford a new one. She Found Her Dream Wedding Dress for $25 at a Thrift Store–and ‘It Fit Like a Glove’

Read More........→January 17, 2025

Eating Dark Chocolate Is Associated with Lower Risk of Diabetes Type 2 in Large Study

Curated Lifestyle for Unsplash +

In a US study of 192,000 participants, five servings of dark chocolate a week was associated with a lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes.

This was in direct contrast to milk chocolate consumption, which was not associated with any protective effect, and rather was linked to higher weight gain.

The study included 34 years of data and over 18,000 incidents of type-2 diabetes, pointing to how dark chocolate, particularly the kind with 70% cacao or more, can be part of a healthy diet.

Everyone should first understand that the study is the most fertile soil for a phenomenon in science literature known as the ‘healthy user bias.’ Put simply, people who care about looking after themselves are more likely to select dark chocolate, because of its lower sugar content, than milk chocolate, just as those people who are less bothered about monitoring their overall sugar intake won’t be bothered about which chocolate is available.

Furthermore, the 192,000 participants were nurses and health practitioners, and are therefore those most likely to be aware of the risks of added sugar in food.

Even though the authors of the study, published in the British Medical Journal, report to have adjusted the results for diet, personal, and lifestyle factors, the healthy user bias can manifest in other ways; and the diets of the individuals were gathered from food frequency questionnaires which are notorious for participants entering what they imagine or want to perceive themselves as eating, rather than what they actually ate.

These are not only challenges related to this study on chocolate, but almost all dietary literature because people don’t have the time or desire to lock themselves in a metabolic ward to perform a randomized controlled trial that would yield the gold standard of medical data.

With these caveats printed, there was still a 21% associated risk reduction in developing type-2 diabetes, the most rampant metabolic disorder in the US and around the world, when consuming dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate.

One potential strength of the study was that 5 or more servings of dark chocolate per week was actually associated with a 10% lower risk of developing type-2 diabetes when compared with those who ate no chocolate at all.

It could be because they are selecting other options such as vanilla ice cream, but it’s a possible indication that the finding is something more than corollary.

Another potential strength of the study was that it identified a dose-dependent response to dark chocolate’s protective effect. In the study, every additional weekly serving was associated with a 3% greater risk reduction in developing type-2 diabetes.

While this could again be down to the healthy user bias, in the sense that every additional day of the week consuming dark chocolate means one less consuming a more sugary dessert, it may also point to the influence of an organic compound present in chocolate that isn’t found in processed deserts: flavanols.

Flavanols are a plant chemical that acts as an antioxidant. Readers who frequent the supplement aisle at the pharmacy may have seen a bottle marked ‘Quercetin’. Derived from the Latin word for oak, quercetin is a flavanol, and is sometimes taken to ease inflammation of the prostate, reduce blood pressure, and tame upper respiratory tract infections.

Some studies have suggested it may have a potential for improving heart health, though more research would be needed to know for sure. Going off of first principles, quercetin is found in vibrantly-colored fruits and vegetables, like bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and dark leafy greens like kale and cabbage, and probably contributes in many small ways to proper physiological functioning, or we wouldn’t have evolved palates to enjoy these foods.More research is definitely needed to explore this association, but consumers and individuals can use it regardless as a good guide for selecting foods, particularly deserts: more dark chocolate, less milk chocolate. Eating Dark Chocolate Is Associated with Lower Risk of Diabetes Type 2 in Large Study

Read More........→January 16, 2025