we're back with bhor of "today" on tuesday morning, 10th of july, 2012. nice people sticking around on the plaza on what is a beautiful day in the northeast. hopefully it's nice where you're waking up as well. i'm matt lauer with savannah guthrie and al roker. coming up we'll talk about caffeine. in the early morning hours, most of us have one or two cups a day. more than half of americans drink coffee at least once a day. you add to that the jolt we get from tea, maybe a glass of soda during the day. what about that 2:00 p.m. jolt we need. how do you know when you've had

too much caffeine. joy bauer will be here to answer questions. >> i think if you can see through your eyelids, too much caffeine. >> that's bad. >> your summer gift guide. we have ideas for every occasion, whether a hostess gift or baby gift. great, thoughtful ideas, if you're on a budget. what will olympians be wearing? we'll get a sneak peek of what olympians will be wearing in just seven days. the outfits team usa will be sporting during the olympic opening ceremony. >> should be fun. natalie standing by at the news desk. good morning, natalie. >> good morning, everyone. the bush era tax cuts for middle class take center stage on the campaign trail as president obama pushes to extend those lower rates for americans making less than $250,000 a year. the move would not extend tax breaks for wealthier americans. a proposal that republican rival

mitt romney is opposing. a hostage situation at a french school summer camp ended this morning where an armed man has now been arrested after taking at least one adult and several children hostage in the town just south of paris. the last of those hostages has now been released. none of them was harmed. the gunman surrendered to police soon after. officials are not comparing the situation to the deadly standoff in toulouse earlier this year. more than half the country is suffering through some form of drought. arkansas, indiana and illinois are among the hardest hit states. low rainfall with record high temperatures have already caused serious damage to corn and soybean crops of the amount of rain needed to break the drought is not in the long-term forecast. attorneys for tom cruise and katie holmes announced monday the couple has signed an agreement to end their five-year marriage. holmes will reportedly have primary custody of the couple's 6-year-old daughter suri with generous visitation rights for

cruise. a major setback for cyclist lance armstrong as he fights doping charges against him. armstrong's lawsuit to block the u.s. anti-doping agency from proceeding with charges was shot down by a federal judge within hours. the judge dismissed the lengthy complaint as an attempt to garner public approval in the face of charges that could strip armstrong of his record seven tour de france titles. armstrong can refile his lawsuit that claims the actions of the u.s. ada are unconstitutional. the florida lifeguard who was fired for saving a drowning man outside his designated area is finally being honored as officials from hallandale beach awarded tomas lopez the key to the city. he has been offered his job but turned it down. he's back to school as a local community college. "50 shades of grey" fans can decide if fantasy should be left to the imagination. a british professor created a composite skrech of christian

grey, the sexy billionaire that titillated millions of readers. she used descriptions from female fans and combined the best features from heart throbs like channing tatum, johnny depp, val kilmer. meantime they announced monday the producers that collaborated on the social network will reteam for the filmar adaptation for the novel. does your morning commute get you down? we'll check out how x games rally cross driver gets around san francisco. take a look with his 650 horsepower ford through the famously winding streets of the city by the bay. the high-velocity video racked up more than 3.7 hits on youtube in the last 24 hours alone. yes, he is a professional driver. you can't do that normally. it is four minutes past the hour. let's go up to al for a check of your weather. >> i wish i could do that. oh, man. all right. thanks, nat. we show you what we've got

today. we are looking at a risk of strong storms, heavy from georgia to bristol, tennessee and greenville, south carolina. could be damaging winds, hail and rain. you can see we've got activity already firing up in the mountains, down around the gulf and along southern florida. rainfall amounts anywhere from a half an inch to almost three inches of rain in louisiana. >> good morning.h as you get this is what looked like at sunrise. a nice start to the day. a mixture of sun and clouds.

this morning on joy's diet israeli o.s., your caffeine questions answered. the healthy afternoon boost. joy bauer is a registered dietitian and nutritionist. good to see you. >> good morning, al. >> we're going to head to skype charleston, south carolina, is location. our question comes from ashley. good morning, ashley. >> good morning. >> what's your question? >> every day after lunch i hit a 2:00 p.m. crash where i just want to fall asleep. instead of drinking high-calorie sodas and energy drinks, what is a good wake me up that's healthy and stimulating. >> so for a healthy afternoon boost, i'm going to recommend that you sip an unsweetened green or black tea. a hot mug or refreshing iced frozen. the reason i'm saying tea is because it has half the caffeine of coffee. you get a modest boost in the afternoon but not so much it will keep you up at night.

you get the bonus of all the antioxidants in the leaves. if you prefer coffee, you could do the same idea with coffee by mixing half decaf and half regular. i'm a little nervous you'll have insomnia later in the evening if you go for a full cup. you can order lattes like that as well. just want to when it comes to milk go for skim or low fat, soy, even unsweetened almond and go easy on the sugar. i think it's going to work. >> drink some water and go for a walk. >> a walk will wake you up as well. the key is to stay away from real sugary stuff. then you get a high and then you get a crash. >> you've got to answer your e-mail, ashley. thank you so much. now let's head to san diego. we've got abby, she's on the phone. good morning, abby. >> good morning. >> what's your question? >> how much caffeine is too much and does it depend on your size? >> great question. for healthy americans, a moderate amount of caffeine is perfectly safe. in fact, it has some pretty

impressive benefits these days. we define moderate as 300 to 400 milligrams per day. that's going to translate to three to four cups of coffee or six to eight cups of tea, because tea has, like we talked about half the caffeine when it comes to coffee. now, your body size is going to affect the amount of caffeine you're going to be able to tolerate, genetics, medication you're taking. here is something interesting. the more caffeine you drink, more coffee you drink regularly, you can increase your tolerance. so three to four cups a day. you have to figure out what your personal tolerance is. i'm only 5' tall, al. i can handle three cups a day, easy. ian, my husband, 6' tall, half a cup, gets jittery. it's not just about body fat, have you to figure out what you can handle. for pregnant women, one cup a day is safe. >> an e-mail question comes from a viewer in newark delaware.

she writes i recently gave up caffeine cold turkey and suffered the three-day headache that followed. i don't want to add caffeine back into my diet with beverages but would like to add chocolate. will that undo my efforts. >> chocolate will not undo the efforts. a miniscule amount, only six milligrams of caffeine. dark chocolate richer income come has 20 to 30 milligrams per ounce of caffeine, compare to 100 to 150 in a cup of coffee. she can certainly enjoy occasional chocolate now and then. i just would avoid having it before bed. she's completely gone cold turkey, taking all the caffeine out of her diet. she could be ultrasensitive to even that small am. i don't want it to keep her up. >> one more from the e-mail from dina in phoenix. she asks, "i've heard that caffeine can be a cause of belly fat. is that true? is one or two cups of coffee bad

for swimsuit season? >> it's not true. >> i've never heard of that. >> caffeine in coffee will not cause belly fat. it only accumulates if you take in more calories than you're burning. no calories in black caffeinated coffee or tea. on the other hand the fattening add-ons like sugar and flavorings that will add coffee. if you drink too many you'll wind up getting belly fat. >> our director has a couple beers, that will add fat. joy bauer, that's so much. still to know, what is stress doing to your body. what you need to know. gift giving made easy. perfect presents for every occasion right after these messages. the capital one cash rewards card

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whether it's a barbecue, birthday or graduation, summertime means party time. that translates to a lot of gift giving. here with creative ideas to help you find the perfect gift, lifestyle expert and "today" contributor. good morning. >> good morning. >> a lot of different parties and celebrations to get to. you found gifts for every occasion. first, say somebody has a new home to decorate or somebody that's a tv buff. i love this idea. >> this is really interesting. it's a woman who studied interior design. she didn't want to decorate but loves drawing floor plans. she does what's called fantasy

floor plans. they are floor plans of your favorite tv set. for example, this is jerry and cramer's apartment, the "mad men" office, the golden girls, how all the ladies lived. you name it, she's got it. go to her website, fantasy floor plans.com. they are $40. she signs them. can you frame them. if you're a tv buff, it's fun. >> fun to look at this. >> exactly. you can kind of compare her vision versus what you remember from the show. >> okay. over here for the birthday girl. you found a great little -- i guess it's a cosmetic set? >> basically this is started bay mother who found there was not good skin care for her daughter. her whole tag line is start young, stay young. everything from sunscreen to lip gloss. it's all absolutely natural, completely chemical-free. i have actually taken to using it. it's my favorite product now. especially her spf 30.

we know to use sunscreen. hers does not have a sunscreen smell. it's also tinted and goes right into any skin tone, feels sicky smooth, 30 spf. i say get girls taking care of their skin early. it's called willow skin care. can you get it at target. a whole line, even a little pouch to put it in the backpack or you take it. i've taken my daughter's. >> over here for boys. tell us about the wallet. >> boys or girls, i stock up on these. especially as we go back to school, birthday parties. these are the mighty wallets. they are very thin. made out of a tougher grade than what a fedex package is made out of. take this, peanut butter and jelly, looks like bread, open it up, looks like peanut butter and jell on the inside. i like those, put a gift card. if you don't like to give cash

alone. a great way to go. tons of different designs. vote on favorite designs hope one day they will make it. it's all artists and different graphic people who make them. >> keep organized. everybody needs organization. you found all these great tools here. >> this is another gift i would stock up on. i think you can give it to anyone, a set of three pads. it's called one day at a time. for the person stressed out, you're just telling them to take it one day at a time. twenty-four hours, seconds, minutes, every page counts down. it's really fun. get it at organized.com. russell and hazel. they have another company and they have released these new note pads that have famous quotes from oscar wilde, clever and fun. something to stock up on if you're going to someone's house and want to bring a little gift. >> a great tool, inspirational ideas for kids and adults. i love this idea.

>> this was started by two moms who found giving their kids inspirational quotes helped them set the right mental note for their work and everything. pick different packs. i am an athlete, i am a performer, i am a writer. great graduation gifts. all you do is open the tin up. the quotes, change them daily. the way the tin is designed, take it, flip it, put it on your desk. great for college students, even high school students, even for my sixth-grader. >> okay, perfect. they need motivation. over here napkins are great. these are interesting, not just plain cloth napkins. >> they are not. they come in a roll of 28 napkins. you just unroll them. tear them off and they are made out of cotton. but they are disposable. can you use them up to six times. who doesn't when you're having a party need extra napkins on hand. they are so much prettier than a roll of paper towels.

throw them in the wash. a great wrap-up for hosters guests. >> for the person who has everything, a hostess gift. a wine chiller. >> with this hot weather our wine can get warm quickly. this is called the car of a, it takes one bottle of wine. then it has a tube you fill with ice cubes and pop it in. pull this up. it's a carafe. that will keep wine chilled. they make a sleeve that sits around the bottle of wine. even if you're bringing ross a or white wine, put that around it and keep it chilled. >> excellent. quick. we've got to go. we've got great art ideas. >> minted.com for a baby gift. you can personalize these posters. they start at $40. they come in tons of different patterns. >> thank you. good job as always. thanks so much. coming up next, what will team

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and see how goodnites bed mats can help. this morning on "today's" countdown to london, the much anticipated opening ceremony for 2012 london olympics is now just 17 days away. this morning for the very first time david lauren from ralph lauren is here to unveil the uniforms team usa will wear on

that evening. david, good morning. this is very exciting. before we do our big reveal, tell us the inspiration for the looks we're about to see. >> ralph lauren has always been inspired by the olympics. we've had the special opportunity to work with the team looks into archives, very inspired by 1948 games, which is the last time america competed in england. of course chariots of fire has always been inspiring, old world elegance brought up to time. >> let's start with the women. we have heather, two-time gold medalist soccer player. >> hi, how are you guys? >> tell us about the uniform. >> well, we tried to create something very elegant, something that would be comfortable for the athletes. we're dressing basically 1,000 people representing america to be walking together. something that was easy to put together but still takes us between the men and the women, really makes everything fit perfectly. >> ken moorehouse, silver

medalist for men, a similar look but more mass collin. >> we love the berets. are you trying to go back to salt lake city ten years ago. >> the berets was so popular. we brought you guys berets. they are great collector's items and really fun. people just like something. >> what's the proper way to wear the beret. >> how do we do it. >> makes the outfit. >> ready to play soccer in these outfits. >> a great outfit for fencing. >> how do you feel about the outfit. >> i think it's amazing, gorgeous. they look great. >> it's exciting to be in the outfit right now. to know we're wearing it in the opening ceremonies is quickly. >> david lauren, heather, thank you so much. we appreciate it. reminder, we'll be in london july 23rd. back after your local news. [ telephone rings ]

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>> live, local, latebreaking. this is a wbal-tv 11 news update. >> really nice morning. instead of rain, we have a blue skies. this may come far enough north to be close to us in the form of an isolated shower, but the basic forecast

♪ ♪ ♪ and that is the zac brown band with their signature country, bluegrass, reggae style. they will be here bringing their signature southern style to the plazas part of our summer concert series this friday on "today." if you are planning to come to the plaza, get creative. bring a really fantastic sign. if they pick your sign as their favorite, you could win two tickets to an upcoming concert. inside studio 1a, i'm natalie

morales with savannah guthrie and al roker. >> some impacts on your well-being, you may not know it. coming up, five shocking -- >> al, you will be shocked. he's stressing out over that. >> i'm already stressed right now. >> don't be anxious about your anxiety. that's what we're going to learn in our segment. >> one way to relieve stress, get a sizzling summer read. we've got best selling author linda bearstein here. she's got our latest crime drama and best picks for southern thrillers. "today's" kitchen, delicious cake featuring the sweetest of the summer, peaches. >> that looks really good. first, al, a check of the weather. >> start off today, show you a risk of strong storms southeastern atlantic coast, wet weather back to the gulf, sizzling conditions through the northern plains, beautiful pacific northwest. lots of sunshine and cooler weather in the northeast. it will continue tomorrow.

more heavy rain through the gulf. look for sizzling conditions in the west. mild weather continues, plenty of sunshine in the p >> good morning. a nice morning. no rain this morning. most of the rain is south of us. >> that's your latest weather. >> thank you, al. coming up next, five facts you didn't know about stress that could be affecting your daily life right after this. [ humming ]

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a lot of flowers. it's on the zingy side of floral. potpourri factory, maybe. you can take off your blindfolds now. oh my gosh. [ laughter ] [ male announcer ] success. victory over odors, for good, both here and in your home. febreze. breathe happy. this morning, shocking facts about stress. whether you're getting married or buying a home or simply had an exhausting day at work, we've all been stressed out. it can be more serious than you think. dr. gail saltz, a psychiatrist, "today" show contributor. she's our shrink. >> good morning. stress. >> it can really affect our wallets. >> did you know people spend $800 million a year on

anti-anxiety medication. that's a lot of dough. people are very stressed out. they come to their doctors and say they are stressed out. partially because doctors say let me give awe pill as opposed to giving them other ways. >> do you think they are overused, medication. >> i do think they are often used and sometimes misused. i will say the united states is the number one stress country so a lot of people really are struggling with stress and some people do need medication. >> acid reflux part of stress? >> there are many medical problems part of stress. first let me tell you, 1 million employees miss work every day because of stress. have you guys ever missed work because of stress? >> no. >> no. >> good. actually you do have one of the more stressful jobs. did you feel stress? >> we haven't felt any stress here. >> actually being in the public eye is actually a stressful element of work for some people,

many people. most stressful jobs are those jobs where your life is at risk, policeman, firemen. dealing with the public is actually considered stressful at work. >> stress can age you, too, right? >> tremendously. did you know that your real age, which is the age you feel, your health age, can be as much as 32 years older than your chronologic age. >> i'm 90. is that in human years or dog years. >> 50. >> it's very aging because your body when your stress releases cortisone, that affects many systems. lack of sleep, chronic body pain. it affects your cardiovascular system. >> what about mental acuity. >> when your brain is bathed in

cortisol it can cause brain cells to die. chronic stress over time really can. so if you've had a lot of difficulty with your memory. if you often feel disorganized and forgetful and overwhelmed, it could be due to stress really affecting your brain. >> is there any way to regenerate those brain cells? >> actually no. brain cells that die have really permanently die. but your brain can make new cells that aren't the same but can actually rework pathways if you work on them. >> what's the simple solution to helping relieve stress. >> did you know that laughter actually lowers your blood pressure and reduces -- actually reduces your stress level. >> al is like a one-man stress reliever. >> there you go. >> seem stressed, though. what's the difference between chronic and acute stress. >> things happen during the day and if you're stressed out but you get over it. let's say a caregiver who is

every day, day in and day out, taking care of somebody and has that on their shoulders, that's what we mean by chronic. months of ongoing, relentless stress. >> other ways to manage stress quickly besides laughing. >> breathing. what do you guys do. >> running, exercising. >> not drinking. exercise is great. >> laughter, item one. >> meditation. >> meditation is great. venting to friends, talk about stress. that actually genuinely really helps. >> doesn't that stress them out? >> it might but relieves your stress. >> return the favor. >> medication is definitely one. ohm. medication. >> sizzling but not stressful summer reads to throw in your beach bag. a delicious summer desert.

light, fruity coming up, but first these messages. [ cellphone rings ] hey honey! mom, we're dying. no you're not, you're just hungry. make some totino's pizza rolls. we don't have any! front... left, totino's. [ male announcer ] well done mom! less drama, more fun! totino's pizza rolls.

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and now is a great time to start. our beatches are even more relaxing... the fishing's great. so pick your favorite spot on the gulf... and come on down. brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. ♪ this morning on "today's" sizzling summer reads, what's hot in the criminal drama. criminal investigators of linda fairstein's novels, latest, "night watch." >> always great to be with you, al. >> you give us the dark side of some sort of history of new york city. >> yes. >> this time you have trained your sights on the restaurant world. >> certainly have. it's a tough business. >> killer business. >> as you know from your books, it's elegant, it's refined.

it's where we want to be to have our wonderful meals. the business side of it is really to kyle for. >> as it were. >> when we first find her she's in france. her lover is opening up -- going to be opening up a legendary restaurant here in new york. >> yes. trying to do that. then the first body surfaces in this paradise of a town in the south of france. the victim has matchbooks from luke's restaurant in her pocket. so that's how it begins. >> off we go. >> off we go. >> you dug up some great secrets about restaurants. like the 21 club from prohibition. how much fun is it to do research for these books? >> tremendous fund. people when you show a love or respect for what they have got, here is 21, a speak easy during prohibition. it was designed so every time the feds came to raid it, the

architect made collapsable shelves. all the liquor bottles would break immediately. there would be the smell of alcohol but no bottles. nobody was arrested. it was fun. >> how do you keep her fresh? >> well, she's so young. she's -- i try to think fresh. i stay current with the genre. that's kind of fun. she is aging not with stress, because she doesn't have any. fourteen books later, she's just two years older than when she started. >> i want to live in your world. >> i want to live in her world, too. >> you picked three great books in the criminal genre, first off a beach category, "criminal by karen slaughter. >> she's great one of the greatest women writing crime fiction today. a saga set in atlanta. it's got 40 years of history of law enforcement in atlanta, women in policing. but a serial killer and

fascinating character will trance, we've known through many books. we get the back story. >> you're at the beach, starts raining, a rainy daybook. istanbul in the 1940s. >> joe kanon, great writer, good guy. all books set in the '40s. germany. america, france, now takes us to that post-war very evocative istanbul and intrigue. smart, really good books. >> the category, under the covers. steamy or scary. "broken harbor" by tana french. >> i don't know her. her characters, set in dublin, from the other side. i loved a book she wrote called "faithful place." she's got a great homicide detective. i would like alex cooper to work

with him. i've got a girl for her guy. >> the ultimate crossover. >> it's by all accounts must be a great book, comes out next week and i'm looking forward to picking it up. >> yours is terrific. night watch, anybody that likes a good restaurant murder mystery should pick it up. >> thanks, al. coming up, everything peachy in "today's" kitchen. but first, "today" on nbc. fi

this morning in "today's" kitchen, delicious deserts. we're using one of the juiciest fruits of summer, peach cake. owner of the mail order website daisy cakes. good to have you here. i love peaches. i'm excited to have a cake filled with peaches. how do we start here? >> we have delicious chopped up south carolina peaches. >> how ripe do you want them usually. >> well, i like them to be ripe. that way you can put less sugar

on them for your filling. >> perfect. >> soft but not too mushy. what we do first is throw in a little lemon juice to keep it from turning dark, then a little bit of sugar. if they are really sweet you can cut down on the amount of sugar. the reason for that, too, we're going to mix in peach flavored gelatin. that way -- >> the glue that holds it together. >>ie exactly, thank you. mixed in with hot water so it's been sitting a little bit. >> the peach flavor enhances peach flavoring throughout. >> makes it nice an peachy. once you get that blended, you're going to add in two cups of your whipping cream. fresh whipping cream. a good rule of thumb, for every cup of whipping cream, put in a tablespoon of powdered sugar. so it's not too sweet. you don't want that to overpower. you're just going to fold that

in. >> mix it all up. >> mix it up nicely. >> meanwhile you prebaked your cake. >> this is something you can do ahead of time in the summer to have a nice desert for the weekend, if you want company over. >> we have our filling. here are our yellow cakes. you divided them into four. did you make it with a yellow cake mix. >> these i did. yellow cake mix. but use your favorite cake mix. >> whatever timeframe you have. >> what's nice about it, the moisture of the peaches goes into those layers. freeze your cake layers first. that way you don't have to worry about getting crumbs into your icing. makes it go on a whole lot easier. >> the layers throughout. >> you want to grand prix one of those for me, we'll throw it on. >> hands are clean. i promise. >> go ahead and put that on. we'll quickly assemble it. >> beautiful. >> really easy. >> it's super easy and super delicious. the nice thing about making it a

day or two ahead of time, those layers really get that nice moistness and favor of the peaches in there. >> one more layer. >> gorgeous. gorgeous cake. >> nice and cool and refreshing for the summertime. >> there you go. how do you frost it overall. >> we'll top it off with the rest of our whipping cream. don't be afraid to squish it down. >> super fresh. >> one of those big containers in the refrigerator. >> whipping cream or cream cheese frosting. >> if you do cream cheese, just standard two butters, two cream cheeses, two boxes of powdered sugar and vanilla. >> this is lovely. it's more for giving to spread on the cake. >> perfect summer desert. you could do similar with strawberries. >> use strawberry gelatin in the

middle. gives you the glue. that nice strawberry flavor. >> some other gorgeous cakes and deserts. this is something else you can make with peaches. >> this is peach -- i call it peaches foster. it's like bananas foster but use peaches instead. brown sugar and butter and brandy. >> is that a red velvet cake? >> it is. >> good eye. >> savannah. >> live from south carolina, al. >> very good. >> the peaches foster over your favorite ice cream. i love home made buttermilk ice cream you make with brown sugar. it's fabulous. >> this is foster. thank you. >> speaking of alcohol. >> kathie lee and hoda. >> the girl next door. >> but first we've got your local news and weather. >> perfect.

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