Music's Biggest Jokes

So here we are: April Fools' Day is upon us. The day where countless "funny" people pull your seat out from under you, tell you that you're fired and joke about being pregnant. Here at HuffPost Entertainment, we'd rather not pull some flashy prank on you. But April Fools' Day is also a time for humor and letting off steam, a time where everything normal pauses and some honest, all-in-good-fun straight talk takes center stage. On that note, the following collection of musicians have earned the dubious honor of landing on our list of Music's Biggest Jokes. Keep in mind that these folks aren't meant to represent all that's wrong in the music business; nor are they meant to be taken as the worst musicians of all time. But for the reasons enunciated in the text accompanying their photos, they do seem to have taken things a step too far.

Avoid These 6 Brunch Mistakes

As many of us celebrate Easter with a festive brunch, we may find ourselves staring down a monster buffet table. What should you grab? When is it okay to indulge and what constitutes a major diet setback? We asked our favorite nutrition experts to outline their absolute brunching don'ts as we head into the holiday.What's your strategy for eating healthfully at brunch? Tell us in the comments!

1. Brunching In The First Place

"Honestly, the biggest mistake is going to brunches at all," says Ruth Frechman, M.A., R.D., C.P.T. "It’s calorie suicide. Typically, brunches are expensive. Most people want to get their money's worth. They could easily consume 4,000 calories in one meal. The average person only needs 2,000 calories for the entire day."

2. Choosing Sweet Over Savory

This is the central question of brunch: Do you go sweet or savory? Pancakes or eggs? Now we have an answer: savory (but not too salty!).

"My number one brunch don't would be dishes that are practically made of pure carbs like pancakes or waffles. Because these are digested so quickly they're guaranteed to make your blood sugar spike and then plummet," says Karen Ansel, R.D. "While you might feel fine for a while you're inevitably going to get that carb coma feeling a couple of hours later. Adding sugary maple syrup to these only adds insult to injury. Instead pick something that's more balanced with a combination of protein, complex carbs (preferably from whole grains) and some healthy fat like huevos rancheros with avocado."
3. Confusing Brunch and Breakfast

"One of the biggest mistakes people make, they do before they even get to brunch. And that's not eating anything at all," says Rachel Begun, M.S., R.D., registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "You need calories to burn calories, meaning you need to eat food to get the metabolism going. If you wait until late morning or early afternoon to eat something, your metabolism is sluggish and not operating at maximum capacity. Plus, going to brunch starving is a recipe for overeating."

Joy Dubost, Ph.D R.D. C.S.S.D. agrees: "We may think because we are combining two meals we can [eat more]," she says. "But if you are not careful on choices and portion-size, brunch can quickly exceed calories consumed in two separate meals."Instead, try to have a healthful snack in the morning before you head out the door -- something that combines fiber and protein, like low-fat cheese with an apple or yogurt with berries and slivered almonds.

4. Ordering From The Drink Menu

Alcoholic brunch drinks like bloody marys and "adult" coffee drinks are an easy way to go overboard on the calories without even realizing it. "Consuming multiple beverages, particularly those that are higher in calories, can end up being a high calorie meal on its own," explains Dubost. "I would recommend keeping it to one 12-ounce beverage. For lighter options you may want to choose mimosas or wine spritzers."

5. Beware Customizable Options

We're looking at you, omelet bar. The egg base might be just fine, but add enough meats and cheeses and you've got a calorie bomb on your hands."Many dishes can be higher in calories because we load them with numerous ingredients," says Dubost. "Try to keep it more basic or include various flavorful vegetables."

6. Thinking About Calories, Fat ... But Not Sodium

Between the bloody mary mix, hollandaise sauce and hash browns, brunch can amount to a salt lick. And while you might choose egg whites for your omelet and salad on the side, it won't do much to lower the sodium of your meal. That means you can easily surpass the government's daily recommendation of 2,300 mg within a matter of bites.

No Link Between 'Too Many Vaccines' And Autism Risk

Despite concerns by some parents that their children receive “too many vaccines too soon,” a new study finds that many shots, even on the same day, do not increase the risk of autism. In the first six months of life, children receive as many as 19 vaccine doses of six different vaccines, and by the time they are 6 years old, a total of 25 doses from 10 vaccines. In a 2011 survey, about a third of parents expressed concerns that their child received too many vaccines before age 2, and too many vaccines on a single day. Previous studies have found no link between the number of vaccines a child receives and their risk of several neurological conditions (though these studies did not specifically consider autism). The new study went a step further by looking at the link between a child's total exposure to antigens — the proteins in vaccines that stimulate the body's immune system — and his or her risk of autism. The researchers looked at total antigen exposure rather than the total number of vaccines kids received because, at the root of parents' concerns is the idea that "somehow they provide too much immunological stimulation, more so than a young child's immune system can handle," said study researcher Dr. Frank DeStefano, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DeStefano and colleagues analyzed information from about 250 children with autism and 750 children without autism, born between 1994 and 1999. Children with autism were exposed to about same total number of antigens as children without autism at ages 3 months, 7 months and 2 years. There was also no difference between the two groups in terms of the total number of antigens they were exposed to on a single day. "Parental concerns that their children are receiving too many vaccines in the first two years of life, or too many vaccines at a single doctor visit are not supported in terms of an increased risk of autism," the researchers write in the March 29 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics. Kids are exposed to many viruses and other pathogens that stimulate their immune systems in the same way vaccines do, and it's been estimated that kids could theoretically receive thousands of vaccines at once, the researchers said. Although children today receive more vaccines than children in the mid-90s, the vaccines used today contain fewer antigens. So while children in the mid-90s were exposed to between 3,000 and 15,250 antigens in the first two years of life, children today are exposed to about 315 antigens, the researchers said. Pass it on: The multiple vaccine doses kids receive early in life do not increase their risk of autism.

Could A Breath Test Predict Heart Failure?

Breathalyzers may soon do a lot more than earn motorists a ticket for drunk driving: they could one day predict and diagnose a wide range of health problems, including heart failure and obesity. In a paper published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Raed Dweik, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic, detailed how and his colleagues successfully detected heart failure in patients using breath analysis. "We were actually very surprised by the finding," said Dr. Dweik, who has studied breath testing extensively. He and his team had at first included heart failure patients as a control group for a study analyzing the breath of patients with kidney failure. Then they realized the heart failure patients had their own unique "breathprint." A finding like this is what makes this particular field of research, which in some ways is still in its infancy, so exciting, Dweik said. More from Everyday Health: Cold Sores Could Signal Later Memory Problems, Study Finds Childhood Activity May Prevent Later Bone Problems Putting Cancer Screening to the Test "Breath testing, one can argue, is as old as medicine itself, even though we don't think of it that way," said Dweik.

"A long time ago, physicians noticed that people with certain diseases, like diabetes, kidney failure, or liver failure, have a different smell to their breath. We knew this, but we didn't have a way to test it." In the last 10 to 20 years, Dweik added, more sensitive technology has allowed scientists to detect specific particles in the breath. These particles have led researchers to identify a number of serious health problems using breath, from digestive issues to colon cancer and even tuberculosis. And the research continues. A study published today in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that breath tests might be able to identify people who are more likely to develop obesity by detecting a combination of gases that signals a specific microorganism living in the gut. For the study, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles analyzed the breath of 792 participants and found that those with high concentrations of the gases methane and hydrogen had significantly higher body mass indexes (BMIs) and higher percentages of body fat than those whose breath had the normal mix of gases or a high concentration of either methane or hydrogen alone.

Elevated concentrations of methane and hydrogen together can be traced back to what's happening in the gut, according to the researchers. Methane is associated with a microorganism called Methanobrevibacter smithii, or M. smithii. Too much M. smithii, according to the researchers, makes weight gain more likely. "Usually, the microorganisms living in the digestive tract benefit us by helping convert food into energy," said the study's lead author, Ruchi Mathur, MD, in a release from Cedars-Sinai, where he is the director of the Diabetes Outpatient Treatment and Education Center in the Division of Endocrinology. "However, when this particular organism -- M. smithii -- becomes overabundant, it may alter this balance in a way that causes someone to be more likely to gain weight," Mathur said. Excess M. smithii sets off a reaction that makes a person store more calories from the food they eat, causing them to gain weight. The Cedars-Sinai study is the first to make a connection between gas production and body weight, potentially identifying people prone to obesity via their breath. Not all breath tests can be used predictively just yet, said Dweik, but that is the hope. "These studies you're hearing about are the basis for the future, what we call point-of-care, with testing in the office or clinic and eventually at home," he said. "People would have said that was impossible a few years ago."

Ex-Surgeon General Joins Electronic Cigarette Board

Former U.S. surgeon general Dr. Richard Carmona, who highlighted the dangers of secondhand smoke and supported a ban on all tobacco products, is joining the board of directors for NJOY Inc., the nation's leading electronic cigarette company – a move that could bring increased legitimacy to e-cigarettes as a viable alternative to traditional cigarettes. The country's senior public health official under President George W. Bush from 2002 to 2006 will advise the Arizona-based company on public health and regulatory issues. He'll also spearhead its research of the battery-powered devices that heat a liquid nicotine solution and create vapor that users inhale. The private company's flagship NJOY KING product is the top-selling e-cigarette. The 63-year-old Carmona serves as president of the health and wellness nonprofit Canyon Ranch Institute in Tucson and is a public health professor at the University of Arizona. In 2006, he published a comprehensive report that concluded that breathing any amount of someone else's tobacco smoke harms nonsmokers and was instrumental in smoking bans around the country.

And in testimony to a Congressional committee in 2003, Carmona was critical about the possibility of safer tobacco alternatives to smoking. "Definitely there's an argument that can be made for harm reduction, but clearly more research needs to be done," Carmona said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm probably going to be (the company's) biggest critic. ... I still look at my job as being a doctor of the people and I'm going to look at the science. ... If we can find a viable alternative that gave us harm reduction as people are withdrawing from nicotine, I'm happy to engage in that science and see if we can do that." There are two approaches to regulating tobacco use: one that says there's no safe way to use tobacco and pushes for people to quit above all else. The other supports lower-risk alternatives like smokeless tobacco and other nicotine delivery systems like gum or even electronic cigarettes as methods to improve overall health. Devotees insist e-cigarettes address both the addictive and behavioral aspects of smoking. Smokers get their nicotine without the more than 4,000 chemicals found in regular cigarettes.

And they get to hold a cigarette, while puffing and exhaling something that looks like smoke. More than 45 million Americans smoke cigarettes, and about half of smokers try to quit each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "When he comes on board, it's very hard for anti-tobacco people who see themselves as health campaigners to simply oppose e-cigarettes. They have to deal with the fact that one of the leaders of their community not only is supporting e-cigarettes but is willing to be on the board of directors of the biggest e-cigarette company," said David Sweanor, a Canadian law professor and tobacco expert who consults with companies and others on industry issues. In an interview with the AP, NJOY's CEO Craig Weiss said the addition to Carmona to its board is a "very powerful step forward" in its mission to "obsolete cigarettes."

The Solution To Those Stress-Induced Gut Problems? Probiotics

Probiotics could counteract the negative effects of stress on the gut, according to a new study in mice. Researchers from the University of Michigan found that stress can wreak havoc on the gut by inducing inflammation (which can lead to issues like diarrhea and belly pain, and make disorders like irritable bowel syndrome worse) because of its suppressive effect on inflammasomes. Inflammasomes are multiprotein complexes that play a vital role in the body's innate immune system. But researchers also found that giving mice probiotics seemed to reverse stress's effects on inflammasome. Probiotics are live bacteria that are known to aid in the digestive process. "This study reveals an important mechanism for explaining why treating IBS patients with probiotics makes sense," study researcher Dr. John Y. Kao, M.D., an associate professor of internal medicine at the university, said in a statement. The findings are published in the journal Gastroenterology. Aside from aiding in digestive health, past research has also suggested that probiotics could play a role in improving bone density in mice. For more ways probiotics can aid health, click through the slideshow:

Avoid These 5 Breakfast Mistakes

News Health
Many of my patients admit to skipping breakfast with this excuse: Whenever they eat in the mornings, they wind up feeling much hungrier than if they hadn't eaten at all. Sound familiar? My nutrition intuition tells me that they're not feeling hungry because they ate breakfast, but rather, because they ate the wrong breakfast. In my years working with patients, I've found that for some people with good intentions, there seems to be a disconnect with what they consider a healthy breakfast.

Not Enough Protein
Many of my patients have a bowl of cereal with milk for their breakfasts. Seems like a good choice, right? Yes, one cup of milk provides eight grams of protein, but think about it: How often do slurp down all the milk that accompanies our cereal? Not often, I would guess. Protein digests more slowly than carbohydrates, so without ample amounts, you'll be hungry sooner rather than later. If you don't want to drink the milk from the bowl, add a hard-boiled egg to your meal for extra protein. You can also consume protein via 100 percent whole-grain toast, and when you do, don't top it with just a tiny smear of peanut or almond butter. Enjoy the full serving of nut butter with your toast to get more protein.

Too Little Fiber
The more sugar in your breakfast cereal, the faster it digests, and the hungrier you'll be. Conversely, more fiber will keep you fuller longer. So, here's my rule of thumb for cereal: There should always be at least five grams of fiber, and there should always be more fiber than sugar. For extra fiber, add chia or flax seeds. If you choose the latter, make sure to grind the seeds first, or else you won't absorb their nutritional benefits.

No Fat
A meal with no fat can make you hungry again within an hour. Let's look at the supposed healthy breakfast of non-fat Greek yogurt, high-fiber cereal and berries. Where's the fat? I tell my patients to either switch to 2 percent-fat yogurt or to add some nuts to prevent feeling hungry. However, whenever I mention adding fat, I want to drive home the point that more isn't better. A little fat goes a long way.