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The Staggering Number Of U.S. Workers Who Are Sleep-Deprived

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Despite the recommendation that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep a night, a new study shows that about a third of us aren't hitting those goals.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey on sleep habits of U.S. workers. They found that 30 percent of people in the study -- which calculates to about 40.6 million workers in the U.S. -- get fewer than six hours of sleep a night. Their research was published in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The study of 15,214 people also shed light on what kinds of jobs are linked with less sleep. The researchers found that people who work in manufacturing get less sleep than other workers, with 34.1 percent of them reporting getting less than six hours of sleep a night.

In addition, people who work the night shift were more likely to report getting inadequate sleep (44 percent), compared with those working during the day (28.8 percent).

Among people who worked the night shift, certain industries had high prevalences of inadequate sleep, including 69.7 percent of warehouse and transportation workers and 52.3 percent of health-care and social assistance workers, according to the report.

The researchers also found that people between ages 30 and 64 were more likely to report not getting enough sleep, compared with workers between ages 18 and 29 and workers age 65 and older.

People who work more than one job are also more likely to not get enough sleep during the night, compared with people who just have one job -- 37 percent versus 29.4 percent. People who work more than 40 hours a week are also less likely to get enough sleep per night, compared with those who work a 40-or-under week.

Sleep deprivation is dangerous because it raises the risk of a whole host of health problems. Studies have linked inadequate rest with depression, a decreased immune system and memory issues, WebMD reported. Sleep deprivation has also been linked to obesity, high blood pressure and daytime fatigue, which could present safety issues on the job, Harvard Medical School reported.

Earlier this year, the Sleepy's mattress company released a study based on CDC data, ranking the most well-rested and the most sleep-deprived jobs. Click through the slideshow to see what made the list:



To My Grade 7 Self: Video Targets Teens' Homophobia And Discrimation

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Part of the difficulty of getting older is in discovering how very wrong you were in your younger years -- and how much you wish you could take back about half of the things you said to other people.

Chris Studer, a student at the Western University, is doing his best to take back his own wrongdoings, particularly as they relate to homophobia. Studer's group, Get REAL (Reaching Equality At Last), aims to create an environment without discrimination on his campus, and hopefully, on university campuses across the continent. He's gathered together a few of his fellow students, both gay and straight, in an emotional roundup to testify to their own behaviour in grade seven (or age 12), and how they'd do it differently if they could.

Showing the flip side of the "It Gets Better" project, which was created by columnist Dan Savage to demonstrate to LGBT youth that life becomes easier after their teen years, "To My Grade 7 Self" combines the people who are now embarrassed by the hurtful words they once said with those against whom the insults were hurled.

Focusing on the painful power of language, "To My Grade 7 Self" might be coming from a university setting, but it falls right in line with the many books and articles about the things we all "wish we'd known" when we were younger. Will that help teach kids just how harsh those terms they throw around casually can be? It's hard to determine, but the concrete messages ("Those words are learned, and you can unlearn them," Studer emphasizes) could be a stepping stone.

We all have things that we did in our pasts that embarrass us to think about now that we've grown and changed. What do you regret from your early teen years? Let us know in the comments below, or on Twitter at @HuffPostCaLiv.

WATCH: Celebrities star in It Gets Better videos:

CORRECTION: This article previously identified Western University as University of Western Ontario. It has been corrected, as per Canadian Press style.

J. Crew Opens Retail Store In Vancouver (PHOTOS)

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Vancouver fashion lovers rejoice: J. Crew, the beloved and iconic U.S. brand, has finally opened its doors in your city.

Now open to the public at 1088 Robson St., the store will carry the line's bright, preppy and fashionable womenswear as well as the much-coveted men's collection (which has yet to launch in Canada).

The two-storey location is only the second J. Crew store to open north of the 49th -- Toronto's first shop opened in August 2011.

The company's expansion plans include a store at West Edmonton Mall and another at Toronto's Eaton Centre later this year.

The store is just the latest American retail chain to expand to Canada. In February, Target held a pop-up shop in Toronto (hundreds of people showed up to nab looks from designer Jason Wu). And Marshall's, one of the world's leading off-price retailers, recently opened several stores in Ontario.

According to Jenna Lyons, the President and Creative Director of the company, the response to J.Crew's Canada presence has been incredibly positive. "We're excited to be opening combined men's and women's stores and are working to curate our high quality fashion collections for each market."

This despite some shoppers' complaints J. Crew's Canadian pricing is much higher than in the U.S.

Excited for the store's opening? Take a look at some of the items from J.Crew's spring/summer 2012 line.

Will Their Marriage Last?

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Sunday marks the one year anniversary of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, and while we're certainly rooting for the royal couple, we can't help but wonder: will they last?

After all, William's father, Prince Charles, was said to have strayed in his 11-year marriage to Princess Diana before they split in 1992. And it can't be easy for the young couple to withstand intense scrutiny from the royal family and the public.

So we put the question to the Twitterverse: Will Kate and William's marriage last? Here, some of the responses:

Tote-ally Gross Bacteria In Your Reusable Bags

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By Melissa Valliant, for HellaWella.com

We’re willing to bet you don’t wash your grocery totes -- a study released this month revealed that only 15 per cent of North Americans do.

Here’s another lovely statistic for you: A 2010 study found coliform bacteria -- a type of bacteria found in our environment and, well, poop -- in more than half of randomly tested totes carried by shoppers in Tucson, Ariz.; Los Angeles; and San Francisco. E. coli, the infamous culprit behind 73,000 cases of food poisoning each year in the United States, was detected in 12per cent of the bags. Grossed out yet?

“Bacteria levels found in reusable bags were significant enough to cause a wide range of serious health problems and even death,” said Charles Gerba, a University of Arizona professor of soil, water and environmental science and co-author of the 2010 study. “They are a particular danger for young children, who are especially vulnerable to foodborne illnesses.”

Gerba’s research, conducted by the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University in California, discovered that most shoppers didn’t even realize they needed to wash their bags. Guess what? You definitely do. And you need to take additional precautions to avoid contamination of your food.

For more tips on healthy living, check out HellaWella.com

Home Food Safety -- a public awareness campaign focused on food safety and established by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and ConAgra Foods -- and the University of Arizona recommend the following safety measures:

1. Sanitize your reusable bags with thorough washing -- machine or hand-washing -- with hot, soapy water. UA’s Gerba recommended doing this about once a week, depending on how often you use the totes.

2. Wrap uncooked meat, poultry and fish in individual plastic bags before placing them in the tote. This way you avoid possible contamination from leaky juices.

3. Who doesn’t love colour-coding? Pick one tote to always use for raw meat, poultry and fish -- fresh or frozen -- and pick another tote for produce and ready-to-eat foods.

4. Do not -- we repeat, do NOT -- store the reusable bags in the trunk of the car, whether they contain food or not. The hot temperature in there means it’s a nurturing home for bacteria; in fact, the UA study found that the large numbers of bacteria that tend to live in reusable bags can increase tenfold in a trunk within only two hours.

5. Don’t use your reusable bags for other purposes, like carrying your books or your dirty gym clothes (ew).

6. Clean wherever you usually drop your totes when you get back from the grocery (e.g., kitchen counter or table) to prevent cross contamination.

7. Store the reusable bags in a clean, dry place.

Why Being A Faithful Partner Is A Matter Of Life Or Death For A Spider...

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It's a hard life being a male spider. Sex destroys your genitalia and then your partner will - most likely - eat you.

But, for those spiders who make it back to have another go (spiders are given two 'palps' with which to mate), half will remain monogamous and head back to the lady spider who made their first encounter so memorable, says new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal Frontiers In Zoology.

So far, so unlike humans.

But wait. In another twist of 'spiders aren't like humans' logic, the male is more likely to head back to the woman if she is... on the larger size (as bigger females tend to be more fertile).

Klaas Welke explains to Science Daily: "Amongst spiders, regardless of age, heavier females are the most fertile. Males were more likely to mate twice with the same female if... she was heavy."

In addition, the male spiders who preferred not to remain faithful preferred to 'trade up' to heavier females as second mates, says the report.

However, this is a risky mating strategy as there's a good chance another male spider will have already left their 'palp' inside that female, thereby forming a 'plug' to prevent such antics, researchers point out.

Beyoncé: Feminist Or Fauxminist?

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By Bianca Pencz, Vancouver Observer

Today, Beyoncé was chosen by People Magazine as the “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 2012. With Sasha Fierce in this fresh piece of spotlight, I thought I’d spotlight something as well: Not her beauty, but her feminist stance. Because when it comes to judging women, the values they embody are what should be noteworthy.

Yesterday, she released 4: The Remix, reworkings of some of her latest record’s hits. “Run the World (Girls)” is included. When its video first premiered, it wasn’t the sampled beats and designer threads that had most people talking. It was the overt “girl power” message, and whether it was true or false -- empowering or misrepresentative. (Well, that and the shoulder-stutter dance move. How does she do that without looking like she’s seizing?)

Beyonce's Feminist Lyrics And Sexed-up Image

The lyrics are polarizing. While it’s heartening to think of mini Beyoncé wannabes chanting, "Who run the world? Girls!" when we remember that that statement couldn’t be further from the truth, the reaction becomes more of a, "Aw, isn’t that cute: They think girls rule the world!" And then it's back to reading about systematic rape in war-torn countries, or the lack of female politicians across the board.

But B's all-things-considered feminist message is, to many, negated finally by her look and actions in the video. As usual, her dancing is highly sexual, almost atavistically so at points: one move has her laying on the ground, scissoring her legs in the air.

Does the ultimate message of female empowerment resonate with audiences, or are they too distracted by Beyoncé's obvious pandering to the male gaze to take it seriously, or even notice it at all?

After all, men joke all the time about how hard it is to think when all their blood has rushed south. And it's hard to project a powerful persona when one is so subservient to the ideals patriarchy has set out for women: perfect hair, a perfect face and a “bootylicious” figure.

The issues around this one song and video are important not only because of their content, but because they have plagued Beyoncé's creative output her whole life on stage.

Mixed Messages In The Songs

One of the most successful and celebrated women in the entertainment world, if not the world, she has always made it a point to inspire her sisters not to take shit from the men in their lives (i.e. in anti-stalker Destiny's Child song “Bug A Boo”, or the adultery-bashing “Say My Name”) and to find their worth inside themselves, and not in their partners (the Glamazon anthems “Survivor” and “Independent Woman”). After all, B didn't get to where she is today by being tied down to a guy.

At the same time, throughout her career, her heels have made huge feminist missteps, like her song “Nasty Girl,” which slut-shames mercilessly, or the little-remembered DC3 single “Cater 2 U”: “Baby I heard you, I'm here to serve you (I'm lovin' it) / All I want to do is cater to you boy.”

Beyoncé's sexy persona has had as big a part in her rise to fame as her siren call. Doubtlessly, she knows this, having maintained it always. And by always I mean always -- she has never portrayed herself as anything other than attractive, as pleasing to the male gaze. (If you think she is excused because every other pop star does the same, recall Gaga in her meat dress, or sporting a dildo in her pants while in male drag.)

There is, of course, the argument that portraying sexiness is empowering to a woman. And this is, of course, sometimes true for some women. However, women's ideas of sexiness are diverse and ever-changing. When pop and R&B stars conform to the idea of sexiness that is the same as the mainstream society and culture's, which operates within a patriarchal framework, perhaps the power Beyoncé feels comes not from truly expressing her own sexuality, but from so effectively embodying what patriarchy has told her from birth she should embody.

After all, girl power -- in small, concentrated doses -- sells. It connects girls and women together, and connects B to her fans... who then throw cash at her pedestal-borne feet. It's hard to determine whether the independent women thing is genuine or manufactured, particularly in the entertainment industry, whose job it is to create fantasies, not recreate reality.

Can Beyoncé and other superstar women of her ilk really have their cake and eat it too? Mold to fit perfectly into the constructs of patriarchy, then sometimes singingly subvert it--but only when it's "hot"?

Maybe that's something modern feminism needs. Not the occasional shout-out from flaky allies, allies who, half the time, actually work against feminism. What is needed is devotion to the cause of women's equality, commitment. In Beyoncé's words...

“If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it...”

Read more local news with a global reach at Vancouver Observer.

SEE: Beyonce through the years:

One Doctor Explains Why The Internet Hasn’t Really Changed Medicine

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So how do we start to deliver on the outrageously great and transformational potential that personalized digital medicine holds? We think it starts with that first point of contact. We need to get everyone connected--at least once--to the digital health ecosystem.


Thomas Beatie, World's First Pregnant Man Accuses Wife Of 'Hitting Him In The Crotch' In Divorce Papers

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They split after nine years of marriage and the divorce between Thomas Beatie, the transgender father dubbed “the pregnant man” and Nancy looks set to turn ugly.

Thomas claims he has been physically attacked by Nancy several times, including an episode where he was struck in the crotch.

According to divorce papers seen by TMZ, In Februray 2012, Thomas claims he tried to stop his “visibly intoxicated” wife from driving their children to nursery.

The 38-year-old said he dialled 911 and claimed of Nancy: “She hit me in the crotch”.

The papers also claim Thomas was woken by Nancy at 2am in January 2012 by a punch in the face. He said: “This night, like every night [Nancy] hovers over me, threatening me with physical and emotional abuse.”

Nancy has denied the allegations and has filed her own documents claiming Thomas abused her.

SEE ALSO: Thomas Beatie, World's First Pregnant Man, Splits From Wife After Giving Birth To Three Children (PICTURES)

A judge has issued a restraining order banning Nancy from contact with Thomas or their children, aside from three supervised visits a week.

The next court hearing is set for 7 May.

News of the split emerged earlier this month with Thomas making an announcement during filming for The Doctors.

The 38-year-old admitted: "Like all marriages, we have our ups and downs, and we’re going through a rough patch right now. At the moment, we’re separated."

Thomas, who recently underwent his final round of gender-reassignment surgery, said his wife has not yet seen his new genitals, People Magazine reports.

He said: "Nancy hasn't seen the new me yet."

Thomas, bearded and breastless, happily showed off his bulging belly to the press during his three pregnancies.

The former model, who spent the first two decades of his life as Tracy Lagondin, had retained his female reproductive organs despite being legally declared a man in 2002.

During an earlier appearance on The Doctors, Thomas described the strain he suffered while trying to conceive and discussed his plans to have a hysterectomy.

When he was first pregnant, Thomas told the media: "Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am."

Antidote To Drug Overdose Is Put In Addicts' Hands

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WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Steve Wohlen lay on his front lawn, blue, unconscious and barely breathing, overdosing on heroin.

His mother ran outside, frantically assembling a pen-like canister. Her heart pounding, she dropped to her knees and used the device to deliver two squirts up her son's nostrils.

Within minutes, his eyes opened, color returned to his face, and he sat up – brought back from a potentially lethal overdose by a drug commonly known by its old brand name, Narcan.

The drug, widely sold under its generic name, naloxone, counteracts the effects of heroin, OxyContin and other powerful painkillers and has been routinely used by ambulance crews and emergency rooms in the U.S. for decades. But in the past few years, public health officials across the nation have been distributing it free to addicts and their loved ones, as well as to some police and firefighters.

Such giveaways may have saved more than 10,000 lives since the first program was started in 1996 in Chicago, according to a survey by the Harm Reduction Coalition, a national group that works to reduce the consequences of drug use.

Opponents say that making the antidote so easily available is an accommodation to drug use that could make addicts less likely to seek treatment. The objections are not unlike those raised decades ago when addicts were first issued clean needles to curb the spread of AIDS. But Wohlen and his mother see things differently.

"I just didn't want to be that mother standing next to that casket," Linda Wohlen said.

Supporters of the distribution programs say getting naloxone into drug users' homes saves lives that might otherwise be lost waiting for an ambulance.

"The question has always been: How can we get people treated before they die? If an overdose of the drug is taken at home, you won't have enough time to get that patient to the emergency room before respiratory depression leads to death," said Dr. Russell Portenoy, chairman of pain medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York.

The problem has become more urgent: Heroin overdose deaths in the U.S. nearly doubled over the last decade, from 1,725 in 1999 to 3,278 in 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the same period, deadly overdoses from opiate-like drugs, including painkillers, have nearly quadrupled, from 4,030 to 15,597.

Naloxone works by blocking certain drug receptors in the brain. It has no effect on alcohol or cocaine overdoses but can be used against such painkillers as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin.

Normally available only by prescription, it is issued to people like Linda Wohlen through 50 programs in more than 188 locations around the country, including Baltimore, New York and San Francisco, according to the survey, published in February by the CDC. Thousands of people have been trained to use injectable and nasal spray forms of the drug.

Other countries are also distributing the drug to the public, including Britain, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Most of the U.S. programs are run by state or local health departments and addiction support groups.

"If you've ever talked to a parent who watched their kid overdose, you wouldn't wonder why we are doing this," said Hilary Jacobs, deputy director of the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services in Massachusetts, where state officials began a distribution program in 2007 that they say has saved about 1,300 lives. The state has spent about $841,000 issuing free naloxone, each dose costing the Public Health Department $16.

In New Mexico, which has one of the highest drug overdose death rates in the country, health officials estimate the statewide naloxone distribution program that began in 2001 has counteracted 3,000 overdoses.

In Wilkes County, N.C., an Appalachian area with an alarmingly high rate of prescription drug deaths, a nonprofit organization called Project Lazarus has taken a slightly different approach: It persuaded doctors to prescribe naloxone in tandem with painkillers to certain patients. The practice, along with an all-out education campaign, has been credited by the organization with reducing overdose deaths 69 percent between 2009 and 2011.

Fred Wells Brason II, chief executive of Project Lazarus, said he had never heard of naloxone when the group began to develop its overdose prevention plan.

"Then I found out it was used in emergency rooms to reverse opiate overdoses," he recalled. "My first question was, `Well, that's great, but not one person from Wilkes County who overdoses made it that far. They were all found at home dead.'"

William Breault, a neighborhood activist in Worcester, Mass., opposed the distribution site set up in his city.

"I just feel that the focus and our dollars should be getting people off drugs, into recovery and treatment," he said. "This policy is one of accommodation to anti-social behavior. Absolutely, it sends a false message that this is the silver bullet, this will take care of you if you overdose."

Police in Quincy, Mass., began carrying naloxone in late 2010, courtesy of the state, after grappling with one of the highest non-fatal overdose rates in Massachusetts. Since then, officers have used it to reverse 69 overdoses.

Patrolman Michael Brandolini said he once saved two people in a single day: a man whose mother found him unconscious in his bedroom, and a man lying in a snowbank.

"I think it's fine in the hands of first responders – police, fire and paramedics," Brandolini said. "Personally, I have reservations about giving it to the addicts themselves. I think it may give them a false sense of security."

He said he worries addicts will think they can administer naloxone to themselves, when it is almost always given by someone else – a friend or loved one – because the drug user loses consciousness.

The Food and Drug Administration, together with the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the CDC, held a workshop earlier this month to gather public opinion on making naloxone more widely available.

Among those testifying were advocates for distribution programs, those who believe the antidote should be made available over the counter, and those opposed to its use by anyone but doctors and emergency workers.

In Massachusetts, Wohlen said he was angry rather than grateful when he woke up that night two years ago, his high suddenly gone, replaced by withdrawal symptoms that he described as feeling like a terrible case of the flu.

Wohlen was out on bail for robbing a fast-food restaurant when he overdosed, and was sent back to prison because of his drug use. Now serving five to seven years behind bars in Massachusetts, the 28-year-old said in a recent prison interview that he is clean and has signed up for a prison training program to learn the heating and ventilation trade.

He said the naloxone that his mother used made it possible: "I might be dead if she hadn't done it."

Cancer Survivors Urged To Eat Better, Exercise

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ATLANTA — A cancer diagnosis often inspires people to exercise and eat healthier. Now the experts say there's strong evidence that both habits may help prevent the disease from coming back.

New guidelines issued Thursday by the American Cancer Society urge doctors to talk to their cancer patients about eating right, exercising and slimming down if they're too heavy.

That's not something most doctors do, said Dr. Omer Kucuk, an Emory University oncologist who has researched the effect of nutrition on prostate cancer. They're focused on surgery, chemotherapy or other treatments for their patients, he added.

"Usually the last thing on their mind is to talk about diet and exercise," Kucuk said.

Cancer society officials have long encouraged healthy eating and exercise as a way to prevent certain cancers. They and others have tried to spread that gospel to cancer survivors as well. Indeed, the cancer society has a certification program for fitness professionals who work with cancer survivors.

But until now, the group didn't think there was enough research to support a strong statement for cancer survivors.

Hastine Reese, a breast cancer survivor, says she began to exercise because her husband – not her doctor – pushed her. Besides being good for her health, he thought it might help pull her out of the depression that followed her diagnosis and double-mastectomy.

"When you're first diagnosed with cancer, you go into a dark place," said Reese, as she finished a one-hour exercise class this week at DeKalb Medical Center in Decatur, Ga.

Exercise has changed that. "I'm coming into the light, and it's getting brighter and brighter," she said.

Being overweight or obese has long been tied to an increased risk of several types of cancer, including cancers of the colon, esophagus, kidney, pancreas and – in postmenopausal women – breast. But there hadn't been much evidence on the effects of diet and exercise for people who had had cancer.

The last five years saw more than 100 studies involving cancer survivors, many of them showing that exercise and/or a healthy diet was associated with lower cancer recurrence rates and longer survival.

Most of the research was on breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. The evidence is more meager when it comes to other cancers, including the deadliest kind, lung cancer. Also, most of the work involved observational studies, which can't prove a cause and effect. Still, the volume of research was compelling.

"We've got enough data now to make these recommendations," said Colleen Doyle, the organization's director of nutrition and physical activity.

At least two other medical groups have strongly recommended exercise and healthier eating for cancer survivors, but the cancer society's new guidelines are expected to have much greater impact. It's the nation's largest cancer charity in both donations and the number of volunteers, and it funds more cancer research than any other non-governmental agency.

There was a time when cancer patients were thought of as gaunt and dying souls. Many cancers were diagnosed at a late stage, after the disease had ravaged the body and caused weight loss.

But better screening and treatment has made early diagnosis of cancer more common and survival more likely. Today, more than two-thirds of cancer patients live at least five years. The ranks of cancer survivors have grown, with more than 12 million Americans identified as cancer survivors.

Meanwhile, obesity has boomed. More than two-thirds of U.S. adults are now considered overweight or obese.

The guidelines recognize that for some people just eating enough food is a priority, and that diet advice can vary during treatment. The cancer society also notes that some people may be too weak at times for vigorous exercise. But experts say that even modest activities, like lifting soup cans while watching TV, can help.

Women seem to take to exercise and diet recommendations more readily than men, or to push their spouses to follow the advice, some doctors said. Most of Reese's classmates were women.

"I find women to be very, very proactive," said Dr. Allen Lawhead, a gynecologic oncologist at DeKalb Medical Center. "Men, we traditionally go back into our man cave and hide."

Lawrence Genter, a survivor of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, was one of three men in Reese's class of about a dozen. "I'm here because of my wife," he said.

For another cancer survivor, exercise came easy but eating healthy was a challenge. During chemotherapy, nausea is common and food can seem unappetizing.

"The key thing is to eat period – whatever you can get down and keep down," said Bob Falkenberg of Alpharetta, Ga., who was a marathoner and long-distance cyclist before he was diagnosed with leukemia.

What did he eat during chemo? Mexican food. Hamburgers.

"I had people bring in pizza at one point," he laughed.

___

Online:

American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org/

200 Now Sickened From Salmonella Sushi; What Are The Symptoms?

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The sushi-salmonella outbreak just keeps getting worse.

MSNBC reported that now, at least 200 people have become sick from eating salmonella-tainted "tuna-scrape," packaged as "Nakaochi Scrape AA."

"Tuna scrape," which is the name of backmeat from fish bones, is often used in sushi, HuffPost Food reported.

The sicknesses from the sushi have been linked with two different strains of salmonella, including Bareilly and Nchanga; both are considered rare strains, MSNBC reported.

There are more than 2,500 types of salmonella, and some of them have become increasingly drug-resistant over the years because of antimicrobial use in both animals and humans, according to the World Health Organization.

MSNBC reported that there have been no deaths so far linked with this salmonella outbreak, though 28 people have been hospitalized.

The Mayo Clinic reported that symptoms of salmonella infection can last anywhere from four days to a week. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting, abdominal pain, muscle pains, having blood in the stool and fever and chills.

However, complications can occur from salmonella infection, particularly in people like older adults, kids, people who have received organ transplants, pregnant women and people whose immune systems otherwise are weakened, the Mayo Clinic reported. Complications include becoming dehydrated (due to the diarrhea), bacteremia (which is when the salmonella makes its way into the bloodstream and infects tissues and bones), and reactive arthritis (which causes symptoms of pain when urinating, joint pain and eye irritation).

WebMD reported that there are about 40,000 reported cases of salmonellosis each year in the U.S., though not everyone who gets it reports it (so the number may be as much as 30 times higher).

Salmonella doesn't usually have to be treated, as it goes away on its own after a few days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, if a person has been severely affected and is dehydrated because of the infection, intravenous fluids may be necessary for rehydration. Antibiotics might also be necessary if infection spreads elsewhere in the body.

Doctors Diagnose Woman With Lung Cancer (But It Was Actually A Giant Seed..)

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A woman from Florida was wrongly diagnosed with life-threatening lung cancer after doctors failed to spot the real reason behind her breathing problems – a giant fruit seed she had swallowed 28 years ago.

Blanca Riveron, 62, had suffered from debilitating coughing fits and breathing difficulties that baffled doctors.

However, when she began coughing up blood, doctors discovered a dark-coloured shadow on her lungs and diagnosed her with lung cancer.

According to WTSP News, Riveron had two endoscopies to prepare for surgery to remove the unknown ‘mass’ spotted on her lungs.

However, before she had the planned operation, Riveron experienced a violent coughing fit where, to her surprise, a giant fruit seed popped out of her mouth.

To her amazement, it was the same nispero fruit seed she accidentally swallowed in 1984. Nispero seeds are around the same size as a grape.

Since she coughed up the huge seed, she discovered an immediate change in her breathing problems that had blighted her for 28 years. “I can breathe, I can sleep. My life has changed completely,” Blanca told WTSP News.

“She’s even able to blow up a balloon for my son and she had never been able to do that before,” she’s Riveron’s daughter.

Attention Getter: The Shape Of A Mother

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One of the qualities most associated with womanhood is being a mother -- so why don't we know what a mother's body looks like under her clothes?

That's the question being asked by Bonnie Ratliff Crowder, the creator of The Shape of a Mother, a blog dedicated to mother's bodies, loose skin, stretch marks, infertility struggles and all (Ratliff Crowder has another site, This Is A Woman, for ladies in general).

With all the perfect bodies, Photoshopped or not, constantly being shown to women around the world, it's no surprise that self-esteem can take a beating at times, and women who have been through childbirth are not particularly inclined to show off their less-than-toned stomachs and arms.

Campaigns like XOJane's Real Girl Belly Project and Dove's Real Beauty advertisements have put more realistic images in the public eye, but that hasn't stemmed the flood of full-time-job bodies shown everywhere you look.

And when it comes to moms, the pressure can be even worse, with features on Hollywood celebrities showing off newly toned bodies weeks after giving birth -- but without showing how pregnancy truly affected their bodies.

The Shape of a Mother celebrates the changes that are so often seen as flaws, and the site's honestly about women's feelings about their bodies ("My journey from hating myself to, well, not hating myself as much," one contributor wrote to describe her pictures) creates a forum that welcomes every shape and size.

Makeover Your Takeout: 10 Ways To Order Healthier Pizza, Pasta And More

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No matter how often you opt for whole-grain breads, cook whole-wheat pasta at home or make your own loaded-with-veggies pizzas, there are times when only a delivery pie or your favorite restaurant's spaghetti and meatballs will squash a carb craving.

Restaurant foods have taken a lot of flack for the expansion of Americans' waistlines. Takeout dishes can be high in fat and sodium and portion sizes have grown by up to 50 percent in the past 20 years, according to the AP.

But it's not simply whether you eat out, it's what you choose to eat. Having a few savvy tricks up your sleeves can mean you can enjoy your takeout without sabotaging your best healthy eating intentions. Here are a few ways to make your favorite Italian picks a little bit better for you.

For more on diet and nutrition, click here.


How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?

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By Zachary Sniderman

Pick any American at random, and odds are that person had caffeine today. One study found 98 percent of people in North America consume some kind of caffeine every day. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that comes in all shapes and sizes, including coffee, tea, chocolate, soda and energy drinks. Moderate doses -- about 200 mg, or two cups of (strong) coffee -- can increase alertness, fight off headaches and may even help prevent Alzheimer's and other diseases. But more than 500 mg per day can lead to addiction, anxiety, irritability and hallucinations. Get the facts before drinking that eighth cup o’ Joe.

More from Greatist:
Can I Catch Up on Sleep?
Does Alcohol Harm Exercise Recovery?
Is Distance Running Good for You?

Buzzing To Know -- Why It Matters
Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive stimulant in the world. Stimulants (a class of drugs that also includes tobacco and cocaine) target the central nervous system and affect the brain, creating a feeling of alertness. Five cups of coffee can cause a caffeine overdose, but it’s pretty difficult to get too much caffeine from something like soda or chocolate -- to hit 500 mg a day, a person would need to consume 14 cans of Diet Coke or five cups of chocolate chips. But just a little more than two 5-Hour Energy drinks can put someone in the caffeine danger zone.

Consuming too much caffeine in one day can exacerbate or induce psychiatric conditions such as panic attacks, psychosis and mania. And lay off the caffeine benders -- long bouts of caffeine-induced insomnia have even led to acute suicidal thoughts or death in some cases. That fifth vodka Red Bull might not be the best choice either, since certain symptoms of caffeine intoxication -- like vomiting, cardiac arrhythmias and high blood pressure -- can get worse when combined with alcohol.

In the long term, substituting lattes for a regular sleep schedule can have some scary consequences. Consistently consuming too much caffeine over many months can lead to dependence and some rough withdrawal effects like migraines, depression and fatigue. But it’s not all doom and gloom for caffeine connoisseurs.

Them's The Shakes -- Answer/Debate
It’s difficult to say how much caffeine is too much because the substance can have vastly different effects depending on the person consuming it. Veteran caffeinators might laugh in the face of danger (I drink five cups a day and I’m not sick) but they may have a medical reason to do so. People naturally build up a tolerance to the effects of caffeine, meaning they need more to get the same buzz. Other factors like weight and body mass index also come into play; in general, those with a higher BMI can tolerate larger quantities of caffeine.

There’s no need to go cold-turkey on caffeine, since moderate amounts may actually have some big benefits. Five cups of coffee might be overdoing it, but one can help us power through a tough meeting by increasing alertness and improving knowledge retention. Caffeine may even help fight some diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. And studies show that consuming caffeine just before exercise can improve attitude and performance.

But caffeinators worried they’ve overshot their limit can take some simple steps to recuperate, such as drinking water (to help flush the liver), resting if possible and cutting their caffeine intake in the future. Easier said than done? Instead of using caffeine, try getting that energy boost from quick workouts or smelling lemons (really).

For more on diet and nutrition, click here.

Flickr photo by Wil Taylor.

WATCH: 6-Year-Old Piano Man Wows On The Keys

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Ethan Walmark, 6, was diagnosed with autism four years ago.

"It feels like yesterday. Four years. It feels like an eternity," his parents, Michael and Allison, wrote on their Autism Speaks fundraising page.

Ethan has a rare musical gift that also serves as therapy -- Westport Patch reported that he could play the Beatles' "I Will" on the piano by ear when he was 4. At the 2011 Autism Speaks Walk, Ethan wowed an audience of 15,000 with his impressive skills. And now, a new YouTube video of Ethan playing the Billy Joel classic "Piano Man" has gone viral. Commenters agree that he's both amazing and inspirational; Gawker called the video a reason to "wake up smiling."

Watch the video above and see for yourself.

The Week's Best Parenting Tweets

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Every week, we share a selection of our favorite parenting-related tweets. Last Friday, we had a star-studded lineup including Elizabeth Banks, Alyssa Milano and Solange Knowles (not to mention a tweet for the ages by author Susan Orlean); this week, we bring you gems from new Twitterer Molly Ringwald and children's author Sarah Dessen, among others. Enjoy -- and tweet your own favorites to us at @HuffPostParents.

7 Foods With More Vitamin C Than An Orange

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Oranges have some pretty good PR behind them -- for years, we've turned to the citrus as our go-to source for vitamin C.

And while that reputation is well-deserved -- one navel orange packs 82.7 milligrams of vitamin C -- there are tons of other colorful fruits and vegetables with just as much -- or even more. (Orange you glad to hear it? We couldn't resist.)

While the long-held belief that vitamin C can ward off the sniffles has been questioned, the nutrient is still vital to our health, helping to repair body tissue and providing antioxidants. The NIH recommends that adult men over age 19 consume 90 milligrams a day, and adult women 75 milligrams a day. (One word of caution before you eat every item on the list at once: the body can't store any more than 2,000 milligrams a day.)

While the classic apples to oranges comparison doesn't quite pan out (oranges would win), there are some other match-ups that give oranges a real run for their money. Check out our list of other vitamin C-rich food (according to the USDA National Nutritional Database), then tell us which is your fave.

Seizure Wristband Could Predict 'Severe' Epileptic Seizures

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A simple, unobtrusive sensor ‘could gauge the severity of epileptic seizures’, reports Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) in this week’s issue of Neurology.

In a statement, researchers from MIT say early results suggest the wristband could collect clinically useful information about epilepsy patients without them being required to go into hospital, and even alerts sufferers to early signs of severe seizures.

Researchers originally designed the sensor to gauge the emotional states of children with autism, whose outward behaviour can be at odds with what they’re feeling. The sensor measures the electrical conductance of the skin, an indicator of the state of the sympathetic nervous system, which controls the human fight-or-flight response.

As many children with autism also have seizures, when Rosalind Picard, a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT, and her team reviewed their data, they found these were sometimes preceded by huge spikes in skin conductance. And so it appeared their sensors might actually be able to predict the onset of seizures.

“The realization that the wrist sensors might be of use in treating epilepsy was something of a fluke, “ said Picard in a statement.

About one person in 30 in the UK develops epilepsy at some stage, according to patient.co.uk and in people who suffer frequent seizures, it is estimated that about one in 200 dies of SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death In Epilepsy) each year.

Picard’s team went on design their own wristband and test them on patients with severe epilepsy. Since the patients in the hospital-based study were children, student researcher Ming-Zher Poh allowed them to choose their favourite character on their wristband.

In the same statement Stephan Schuele, director of the Epilepsy Center at Northwestern University’s Medical Faculty Foundation, who was not involved in the research, said: “I think the result is very valuable, particularly in this population, because [the wristband] doesn’t respond 20 times a day to any seizures. It only responds if you do have a very, very severe seizure. And it seems to be reliably responding to that.”

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