I REFER to your paper’s report, “83 kilo loser wins big” (The Star March 10.) and wonder whether the human body can be subjected to the torture of losing 53% of body weight (83kg) over a period of five months, leaving the winner, “King David”, with a weight of only 74kg?

The “King” worked eight to 10 hours a day punishing his poor body, leaving it a gaunt image of himself, as I and so many viewers observed, comparing him at the end of the three months at the Biggest Loser campus, and the David on Tuesday night. In the picture of him in The Star, he looked aged, like he was at least 50.

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Just in case avoiding death isn’t a good enough reason to pay attention to your health, researchers from the University of Chicago offer another incentive: people who are healthy have better  and longer  sex lives.Stacy Tessler Lindau and Natalia Gavrilova examined data from more than 6,000 American adults between ages 25 and 85.

The men and women provided information about their overall physical health and their activity between the sheets. The researchers found that people in “very good” or “excellent” health were 50% to 80% more likely to be interested in sex than those in poorer health.

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There were many good reasons for Vancouver to host the Olympics. But one of the best of them, in our view, was that they'd encourage a whole new generation of young Canadians to get off the couch and get into sports. So often you hear top athletes, including gold-medallist Alexandre Bilodeau, talk of how their inspiration came from those who won Olympic medals before them.

It's the kind of inspiration B.C. children clearly need, not just to succeed in sports, but to do well in school as pediatrics at West Virginia University.well. That's because academic success goes hand in hand with physical fitness, as a new study shows.

U.S. researchers who tested nearly 1,200 children in Grade 5 and then again in Grade 7 found their academic performance increased when their fitness improved . . . and fell when it declined. "Children's physical fitness is associated with their academic performance," noted study author Lesley Cottrell, an associate professor of.

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As we age, our bones start becoming thinner and lose their density. The process starts pacing up especially in women after menopause. However, eating the right diet can give you the maximum defense as well as boost your bone mass and bone density at any age.

Here are the top eight must have foods that should be included in your daily diet for healthy, stronger bones: 1. Milk: Perfect Strong-Bone Food Our bones need calcium to stay healthy and strong. Milk is one of the richest sources of calcium.

A single eight ounce cup of milk, whether skim, low-fat or whole, contains 300 milligrams (mg) of calcium. It is said that kids, teenagers, and adults younger than 50 years, need 1000mg of calcium everyday and adults above 50 need 1200mg a day.

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According to a new investigation conducted in Israel, it would appear that three types of diets may be playing a very important role in promoting a healthy heart, by helping reverse blockages in arteries.

Mediterranean, low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets were deemed to be the most effective in terms of their health benefits for the circulatory system, the team of experts writes in the latest issue of the respected journal Circulation.

The main way through which these diets work is by preventing the deposition of fatty tissue inside arteries, the team adds, quoted by the BBC News.

The investigators conducted their experiments on 140 people, who were surveyed on average for two years.

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Fat-free, carb-free and Mediterranean foods could help in retracting congested arteries thus preventing heart attacks and strokes, finds a new study.

Researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel found that restricting to any of these three diets could help thwart Arteriosclerotic Vascular Disease (ASVD)--a state in which an artery wall coagulates because of accumulation of fatty materials like cholesterol.

Lead author, Iris Shai, nutritional epidemiologist, Ben-Gurion University said, “Once one adheres to a sensible diet, even though you experience only a moderate weight loss, if you stick to it long enough you can cause regression of atherosclerosis.”

Dr. Charles Knight, British Cardiovascular Society, secretary and consultant cardiologist said, “Although the study is small, it sends an effective message from a public health perspective.”

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Western diet may be bad for teens’ mental health (Getty Images)Western diet may have a negative impact on adolescents’ mental health, according to a new study. In the study of 1600 14-year-old adolescents, Dr Wendy Oddy, from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Western Australia, found that a typical Western diet increased a child’s chance of developing emotional and behavioural problems. During the study, Oddy identified two distinct dietary patterns that influenced the well-being of an individual.

The Western dietary pattern was linked to hamburgers, pies, sausage rolls, confectionery, red meat, refined grains, full-fat dairy food, as well as dressings and sauces such as ketchup. However, the healthy dietary pattern consisted of red, yellow and leafy green vegetables, fresh fruit and legumes, wholegrains and fish.

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Tips for Good Health 1. Eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, legumes and grains – as these are foods that are high in complex carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fiber. Also, these are low fat and free of cholesterol foods.

All of them must be fresh in order to maintain the above mentioned characteristics. Tips for Good Health 2. For High Blood Pressure, Soak one raisin (kishmish) overnight in pure rose water. Eat it empty stomach the next day. Soak 2 raisins on the second day, 3 raisins on the third day & keep on increasing the number for 21 days.

Tips for Good Health 3. Drink plenty of water – as you should know by now, 75% of our bodies are made from water so it is a vital part of a healthy diet. The water helps “flush” our entire system, especially the bladder and the kidneys of toxins and waste products.

Tips for Good Health 4. One should chew food properly. One must devote atleast 20 minutes in chewing food. Tips for Good Health 5. Eat early and often – by having a healthy breakfast you can jumpstart your metabolism and eating the majority of your daily caloric allotment early in the day gives your body time to work those calories off.

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When there are no leftovers in the fridge and no time to make a sandwich, the new Healthy Choice Gourmet Steamers from ConAgra Foods offer a tasty lunch in under five minutes, for under $3.Unlike other frozen entrees, these meals come with two plastic trays called duotray steamcookers that allow the food to cook separately from the sauce "to lock in nutrients and fresh flavours and to deliver crispy vegetables and meats that are always tender."

We tested the Beef Merlot and were impressed by the generous amount of red-skinned potatoes, carrots and green beans. The chunks of beef were melt-in-your-mouth tender and came with a rich, dark gravy Best part: The 284-gram portion contains only 210 calories and seven grams of fat and boasts six grams of fibre and 17 grams of protein. Downside: The tasty stew contains 700 mg of sodium (29 per cent of your daily intake) and 21 grams of carbohydrates. And though clever, the two-in-one plastic bowls aren't exactly planet friendly.

Scientists have found only a few medical differences between children born as a result of assisted reproduction and kids conceived in the traditional way.

More than three million children have been born worldwide as a result of assisted reproductive technologies since the birth of the first "test tube baby" in 1978.

While the majority of these kids are healthy and normal, as a group they are at greater risk of certain kinds of birth defects and being low birth weight, which is linked to obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes later in life.

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