When Scarmeas' group looked at the individual components of the diet, they found a stronger association between the overall diet and brain damage prevention than with any individual food in the diet, suggesting that the combination all of the elements may be producing the effect, Scarmeas said.

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They motivate each other to stick with the diet, keep junk food out of the house and keep moving.

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She will be pulling a 250lb sledge packed with food for her 5, 000 calorie-a-day diet, survival equipment and a .44 Magnum handgun in case she is attacked by polar bears.

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And tinkering with food oils is no substitute for heart-protecting drugs or sweeping changes in diet.

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Having restarted on solid food with a few mouthfuls of crisps, Blaine is moving onto a diet including fruit salad and bagel and cheese.

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The biggest snacking mistake people make is keeping food that close at hand, says Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian with the ADA and author of The Flexitarian Diet.

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The reason reversing such gains is hard is that servicing this extra flesh means a person's maintenance diet (the food required to keep his body ticking over) creeps up with his weight and so does his appetite.

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