Rabih Dagher

We sometimes throw advices here and there without really knowing if they are true or not. The reason for that is that those advices were fed to us by our parents or friends without us questioning their legitimacy. But now NBC News chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman wrote a book called “Medical Myths That Can Kill You” that busts a lot of those medical myths through medical proof and explanation.

After ruling out some myths, here are examples of correct statements:

• you cannot get the H1N1 virus from the water in the water fountain,
• the HPV vaccine is not only for girls,
• reading in dim light does not ruin your eyesight,
• energy drinks do not give you energy,
• university grads live longer than those who stick only to high school.

An explanation is found in the video below by NBC Today Show:

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The London-based Japanese writer Kimiko Barber has just introduced a new book entitled The Chopsticks Diet, in which she explains that eating with chopsticks will help you lose weight. According to Barber, “Eating with chopsticks slows you down, and so you eat less.”

Eating fast will make the person overeat because it takes 20 minutes for the brain to register what the stomach contains. It’s harder for Westerners to eat with chopsticks; Therefore, when eating with chopsticks, it means taking smaller mouthfuls, which tend to get chewed better, slowing down the meal, and making it easier to digest.

This brings up to my mind a brilliant money making idea! I should introduce to the Japanese a new book entitled “The Knife and Fork Diet”, claiming that eating with a knife and fork will help people lose weight.

The Chopsticks Diet by Kimiko Barber

As I have previously mentioned the willingness of Paulo Coelho to share his work over the internet, he backs up his openness approach by publishing online the chapters of his upcoming book The Winner Stands Alone. The book is scheduled to be released in Lebanon by March 2009, but Paulo started publishing it for free on the internet!

All the chapters are published online on his blog. This post links to all the chapters published so far, and will link to the new chapters as soon as they are out. So keep checking back for new chapters.

Read Chapter 1.
Read Chapter 2.
Read Chapter 3.
Read Chapter 4.
Read Chapter 5.
Read Chapter 6.
Read Chapter 7.
Read Chapter 8.
Read Chapter 9.
Read Chapter 10.
Read Chapter 11.
Read Chapter 12.

Don’t forget to support the author for his work!

The Winner Stands Alone cover