]
] After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid
] as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now
] saying that drinking too much during intense exercise
] poses a far greater health risk.

Study Cautions Runners to Limit Their Water Intake

] The vertiginous pattern of low-carb sales is reminiscent
] of previous trends in the food industry. Foods made with
] oat bran became the rage in the late 1980's, with the
] grain finding its way into everything from muffins and
] bagels to potato chips and tortillas.
]
] For several months in 1988, Quaker Oats couldn't produce
] enough oats and oat bran to sate the newfound desire for
] products that consumers believed would lower cholesterol.
] The company had to ration its products and posted
] apologetic "Dear Customer" letters in cereal aisles when
] supplies were low.
]
] Then came the low-fat obsession in the mid-1990's,
] spurred in part by a surgeon general's nutrition study
] released in 1988 that implored Americans to greatly
] reduce the amount of fat in their diets. By 1995, one of
] every four new food and beverage products made some kind
] of low-fat claim, according to ProductScan.

This is not really surprising. In the last 2 years, low-carb went from being a credible albeit fringe strategy to a total fad. The herd of fat americans, always looking for a quick-fix flocked to it.

Like low-fat, low-carb dieters became surrounded by what is effectively low-carb junk food. There's no magic to Atkins or any other diet; if you eat more than you burn, you won't lose weight!

I think Dr. Atkins was right about blood sugar. Everyone can benefit from cutting refined carbs -- corn syrup and sugar in particular -- out of their diet.

Low-carb makes no sense at all for performance athletes. The study that showed low-carb athletes performed just as well as those eating a normal diet was at a low (60%) level of exertion. When you work hard, you're burning glycogen stored in your muscles which is stored from carbs in your diet. The first weight you lose on a low-carb diet is stored glycogen!

Is the Low-Carb Boom Over?

] Features:
]
] * The first and only defibrillator available
] over-the-counter that can be used by virtually anyone
] with the materials included
] * Easy to use with guided interactive voice
] instructions
] * Safely delivers a shock only if needed
] * Reliably runs daily self-tests for readiness
] * Philips is the worldwide leader in portable
] defibrillators on airplanes, and in airports, workplaces,
] communities, and homes

Amazon.com: Philips HeartStart Home Automated External Defibrillator (AED)

] Dedicated to making a safer world, NOCIRC is a 501(c)(3)
] educational non-profit organization committed to securing
] the birthright of male, female, and intersex children and
] babies to keep their sex organs intact.

In response to the SmartKlamp meme...

NOCIRC National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers

] Vigorous behind-the-scenes lobbying by the sugar industry
] threatens to derail a landmark anti-obesity strategy due
] to be adopted this week by the World Health Organisation,
] despite expressions of support for the strategy from US
] and European food groups.

20 years from now, the plaintiffs in the food-industry obesity
lawsuits will point to this. It is really shocking to hear the
industry literally saying: "we want people to stay fat because if
they lose weight, we lose business!"

Sugar industry threatens WHO's anti-obesity strategy

] In the world's most extreme plastic surgery operation,
] British woman, Valerie Rogers is going to have 35 lbs of
] fat and loose skin cut from her body. As an erasure of
] the past in which she lost a whopping 308 lbs, she will
] transform into a new person.

The word of the day is "circumferential body lift."

Trash Can of Skin

] In 1989, Mr. Palagonia, who entertains at children's
] parties dressed as characters like Barney and Elmo,
] decided to quit. He turned to Nicorette gum to curb the
] cravings for a cigarette. The smoke savored between sips
] of his morning coffee was replaced with a peppery square.
] On breaks at work, driving his car, after dinner - all
] the times he had luxuriated in smoke - he would pop
] another piece.
]
] "I got to the point that I was having problems with my
] teeth, and my jaw was killing me," Mr. Palagonia said. He
] eventually returned to smoking for a short time "to get
] off the gum." What ended up working for him was
] counseling, not a hit of nicotine.

Health Care: A Quitter's Dilemma: Hooked on the Cure

] Bypass surgery in which the heart keeps beating — instead of
] being stopped while the patient is hooked up to a heart-lung
] machine — is as good as or better than the old method, says a
] new study by an Emory University surgeon.

Wow!

Emory heart surgeon makes case to bypass the pump

] A couple of years ago Swedish scientists discovered that
] acrylamide is dangerous. It's a "natural" byproduct of
] high-temperature cooking. Mega-doses of the stuff
] produces cancer in rats. The World Health Organisation
] confirms that the risk to humans is real. Acrylamide is
] found throughout the food chain and there are tiny
] amounts in tap water (among its other unlovely
] associations, the chemical used to purify sewage so we
] can drink it without puking). The highest concentrations
] are in what America calls fries and we call chips. Not
] enough to kill rats, but enough to cause concern.

Guardian Unlimited | Columnists | Hold the French fries

] But harm reduction for hard-core smokers is another
] matter.
]
] At issue is a form of smokeless tobacco, a popular
] Swedish product called snus (rhymes with loose) that
] satisfies smokers' nicotine addiction with negligible
] health risks of its own. But to many foes of smoking, it
] is not a lifesaver, but the devil's instrument.

Hear hear.

Commentary: A Smokeless Alternative to Quitting