However unintentional she says it has all been when it comes to the sultry and seductive persona that oozes sexuality through the television screen during her cooking shows, How to be a Domestic Goddess author Nigella Lawson has made a career out of making food sexy and the act of food consumption sensual. It is part of her not-always-so-subtle coy kitchen charm.

But if we believe her life to be as silky smooth and decadent as warm cream flowing over a morning bowl of juicy plump strawberries, and equally as charmed as she is charming, we would be mistaken. Yes, she is remarried to multi-millionaire, ad man and art dealer Charles Saatchi, but she is also the widow of journalist and writer John Diamond, who died of tongue cancer five years ago, leaving her suddenly mother and father to their two children, Cosima and Bruno.

A decade earlier, Lawson's mother had died of liver cancer. Her sister Thomasina died in her 30s of breast cancer. Cancer changes people. It is unavoidable, and the change can take many forms. For Nigella, who in the public eye has taken criticism for her ample figure and lack of concern for the fat content of food, has an almost unreasonable fear about thinness. After watching three family members waste away and die from cancer, she sees thin as a sign of illness.

"So even though I mind it when I put on weight I have a visual memory of seeing those people become skin and bone, and that gives me a slight reality check," explains Lawson. In watching her cooking show Nigella Bites, she came through as warm, down-to-earth, without a care for pretentious protocol or rules for the sake of rules. It is the way she cooks, and I get the feeling it is the way she lives. Cancer changes every person it touches and shapes perspectives about what is truly important in life. Being comfortable and enjoying yourself, including the food you eat, is a good recipe for life. A recipe Nigella seems to dish up with ease.

Nigella Lawson is Food Network's newest host in Nigella Feasts. On January 7, the theme of the show will be Feel Good Food featuring Smoked Salmon, Avocado and Pumpkin Seed Salad, a Vietnamese Prawn and Glass Noodle Salad, a colorful Antioxidant Fruit Salad, and a Syllabubbed Yogurt. Yum.

"I will never forget what the experience has taught me....who I am, who I want to be, who I can never be again. It was a hard time but I'd rather have the really hard stuff than to never know what I know now." -- Sheryl Crow, Letter from the Road.

Sheryl Crow has returned to performing after her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment last spring, and she keeps an online diary. In the latest post Letter from the Road: The C, The Food, A Star, she shares some of her thoughts about being a cancer survivor and tips from her nutritionist. A few of the tips I already knew, some came as a surprise. Here is a sampling of what Sheryl said her nutritionist Rachel Bellar taught her:

• Don't drink water from a bottle that has been sitting in your car. Heated plastic will bleed toxic substances that can be carcinogenic.
• Do NOT cook in olive oil at high heat. This too is carcinogenic. It is fine to saute in olive oil but if you are browning or frying, use canola oil.
• Spices that are cancer preventative, particularly prostate and colon cancer, are cinnamon and tumeric.
• A high omega 6 diet consisting of fish, colorful vegetables, high fiber foods have proven to be cancer preventative. In Asian and Eskimo cultures, the rate of breast cancer is shockingly lower. Whenever you have a choice, go with color -- brown rice instead of white -- sweet potato instead of regular potato.
  

Basically, bright dark and green. I knew that olive oil is good for you, but I did not know that it is dangerous to cook with it at high heat. To read more tips, and to find out about the star in the title of her latest diary entry, go here.

Celebrity Naked Chef Jamie Oliver has started a true food revolution to ban junk food and get fresh, tasty and, above all, nutritious food back on the school lunch menu. As a result of public demands for better food for England's school children -- inspired in part by Oliver's very vocal and public campaign -- government officials have announced new nutritional standards in how often school children can be served certain foods. According to the new guidelines for school lunches, school meals must be free from low quality meat products, fizzy drinks, crisps, and chocolates. Also banned is the sale of junk food at school and in vending machines. School lunch programs are required to provide at least two portions of fruits and vegetables, and to offer high quality meat, chicken or oily fish on a regular basis.

"This is a really ambitious program," Schools Minister Jim Knight told BBC radio. "It will take a long time to transform a whole culture around food and transform the health content of school meals, undoing decades of neglect." Yes, but change has to start somewhere -- and this seems a good start. Everyone talks about the problems of obesity in children and the long-term health consequences such as an increased risk for cancers later in life, but here is someone who took it on to inspire a nation to make a difference -- and appears to be succeeding. Hats off to Oliver!

Nigella Lawson has created a gorgeous recipe for lavender-tinted and lavender flavored cupcakes -- aptly named Lavender Trust Cupcakes -- that Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care has generously published online. The recipe uses lavender sugar. Lavender sugar can be purchased at specialty shops, or you can make lavender sugar simply by placing a few sprigs of fresh lavender into a jar of sugar for a few days.

According to the recipe introduction, lavender has been used as a flavor in Provencal cuisine for many years, and has recently begun to come back into fashion as an ingredient in the UK in both savory and sweet dishes. To get a copy of the recipe for Nigella Lawson's Lavender Trust Cupcakes, go here.

The Lavender Trust at Breast Cancer Care was founded by Beth Wagstaff and journalist Ruth Picardie, both breast cancer survivors. The Lavender Trust provides support for younger women living with breast cancer. Lawson supports the breast cancer charity in a number of ways, including the design launch of a limited edition set of lavender measuring cups as part of her Living Kitchen line of products.

Celebrity Naked Chef Jamie Oliver, on a quest to transform the eating habits of school children, appeared on NBC's Today Show with Katie Couric this morning to share fun healthy recipes and tips on how to encourage children to eat healthy. Oliver suggested involving your children in meal preparation, from planning the menu -- to visiting the fishmonger in selecting fish for dinner -- to preparing the meal. In the spring cooking school episode, Fake out your family with these healthy dishes, showed Oliver preparing Summer Pan-Baked Salmon that children would not turn down. NBC features the salmon recipe, as well as several others, for viewers online.

In addition, Oliver hosts Jamie's School Lunch Project, which airs on The Learning Channel. This television series covers a range of issues, from diet and obesity, behavior, nutritional standards, food education -- to the need for a clear government policy on school meals and children's diets. I cannot imagine a better long-term cancer prevention plan than teaching children how to eat healthy when they are young. Oliver makes it easy and fun. TLC hosts an online feature of Oliver's show, with tips, recipes and advice. To learn more about Oliver's projects, programs and where to find his blog, go here.

Jamie Oliver, celebrated chef and concerned father, is determined to start a food revolution in school cafeterias. Feed Me Better is his campaign to ban junk food and get fresh, tasty and, above all, nutritious food back on the school lunch menu. According to Oliver's factoids, 92 percent of kids consume more saturated fats than the maximum recommended amount for adults. Childhood obesity is epidemic. Both saturated fats and obesity are linked to cancer. In addition, much of the food currently being served to children is devoid of vital nutrients necessary for healthy growth.

Initially, the going wasn't easy. Oliver challenged the lunch lady at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich to change the school menu with foods that are healthy. As the story goes, "Using culinary magic and legendary passion Jamie battled, negotiated, penny-pinched, cooked, chopped and peeled his way through his toughest challenge yet. It was very hard work. The kids cried. Parents slipped burgers to their children through the school gates. But in the end, Jamie had won over the council, the caterers and the kids. He proved that it was possible to switch from a junk food menu to providing nutritious meals like Hot & Kickin chicken and Sweet Potato and Lentil Korma."

The Feed Me Better website was created as a portal for the food revolution. The plan was to gather 10,000 signatures of people interested in recreating the school lunch menu to offering good nutrition and healthy food for children. Thousands of visitors turned to millions. Over five million people visited the website while Oliver's television show was on the air. Parents, teachers and school lunch ladies swarmed the forums with stories and suggestions on how to make a difference. The revolution has begun.