On the eve of the newest season of the Biggest Loser my wife just found a story on the People magazine website that apparently Matt and Suzy from last seasons Biggest Loser just got married this past weekend. Last season I did not remember these guys being together although they were very supportive during the final few months while working out at home and in the studio for the finale.

According to People Magazine:

At the wedding the bride wore a white beach wedding dress by Renée Strauss featuring a sash and a Tacori crystal broach. She also wore her grandmother’s diamond stud earrings and diamond pendant necklace. Hoover dressed in khaki linen pants with a white buttoned-up shirt rolled at the sleeves. Both the bride and groom went barefoot to the ceremony.

The couple, who are both 30, called the wedding’s tropical location “beautiful.” They will also spend their honeymoon in Jamaica. For their reception, instead of a cake, the pair planned to serve homemade cupcakes baked by the bride and a friend.

Matt Hoover, a former wrestling coach from Iowa, popped the question to Seattle-based Suzy Preston, a hairstylist, live on the Today show in March – while both were in their workout gear. (Preston thought they were there for a fitness segment.)

Dropping to his knee in New York City’s Rockefeller Center plaza, Hoover said, “I have gone through a lot of changes in the past year. … I want to keep changing, but I want you to be by my side.”

Taking a ring from Kraiko Diamonds out of his pocket, Matt Hoover continued, “I had this made for you.” Then he told a teary Suzy Preston, “I’d like to ask you to be my wife!”

Suzy Preston answered with an enthusiastic “Yes!”

What a nice story. I am sure that as these two said they have seen each other at their worst and I still remember the two of them last season.

Matt Hoover was really guarded and had problems in his life fighting with the fact that he was a competitive wrestler just a few years ago and let his body go. He wanted to do everything himself and although you felt for him you really wanted to scream at him to lean on everyone else to help support him. Matt ended up winning last season but just barely as he was competing with Suzy Preston who to my wife and I seemed a bit like a whining wimp in the first place. One we got to know Suzy’s character though we did start cheering for her and in the end we cheered for her to win against Matt and Seth..

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: coach, competitive wrestler, Dropping, Hoover, Iowa, Jamaica, Matt, Matt Hoover, New York City, Rockefeller Center plaza, Seattle, Suzy Preston, the People, wrestling, wrestling coach

Child’s death linked to small parts used in popular toy Magnetix.

I only bring this story up because I have two young kids. But there is a company called magnetix that makes a toy that you have probably seen just like the picture above, these are little sticks with magnets on each end. These sticks connect to each other or to a small metal ball and people can make little molecule like shapes with the sticks and balls. The geek in me loves this toy but there is a danger of the little magnets falling out and a child swallowing them. The little magnets are glued into the sticks and with use these magnets will just come loose and stick to another magnet. When a child swallows two or more of these magnets they can get caught in their small intestine and the magnets can stick together blocking the small intestine and causing real health problems including the death of a two year old and the hospitalization of a child in Seattle. Just like any story that makes the mainstream news I hate to be an alarmist and do not know how often this happens but still get very concerned nonetheless.

There was a story about this on ABC News and I have linked the ABC News video here just to make sure that the story gets out clearly.

Tags: ABC, Dangerous Childrens Toy Child, metal ball, Seattle, the ABC News

This study below that I gleaned from the LA Times shows that just altering your diet may not be able to undo a life of bad eating. Maybe if they included exercise in these peoples lives it may have made a bigger difference to their health.

Overturning three decades of conventional wisdom, a new study of low-fat diets in nearly 50,000 healthy older women has shown that reducing fat intake alone does not significantly reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer or colorectal cancer, researchers reported today. Results from the same study reported last month also showed that reducing fats without reducing calories does not lead to significant weight loss.

“Just switching to low-fat foods is not likely to yield much health benefit in most women,” said Marcia Stefanick, a professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, chairwoman of the steering committee for the Women’s Health Initiative study.

“Rather than trying to eat ‘low-fat,’ women should focus on reducing saturated fats and trans fats,” the so-called bad fats, while maintaining their intake of “good” fats, such as vegetable, olive and fish oils.
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Tags: American Medical Assn, atkins diet, biostatistician, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, chairwoman, colorectal cancer, diabetes, director, Elizabeth G. Nabel, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, heart disease, high energy density, LA Times, Los Angeles Biomedical Institute, low fat diet, low fat diets, Lung and Blood Institute, Mara Vitolins, Marcia Stefanick, National Heart, North Carolina, professor of medicine, professor of public health sciences, Ross Prentice, Rowan T. Chlebowski, Seattle, Stanford Prevention Research Center, stroke, study co-author, the LA Times, USD, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem

A couple years ago my wife was considering weight loss surgery as her years off dieting and exercise and the yoyo weight loss/gain nightmare had mad her tired of the whole weight loss industry. Using Weight Watchers and getting the exercise to a more moderate lvel have helped Michelle lose three pounds or so per week and she is quickly dropping the weight that was so stubborn just a couple of years back. Yesterday Michelle got a call for the gastric bypass surgery consultation which here in Alberta Canada takes 19 months, I am happy to say that she turned it down because a healthy lifestyle has maed the difference for her. As you probably know there are a lot of instances where this surgery is really helpful for people but only in cases where there is a risk of imminent death by now doing something as drastic as this surgery is.

I have found an article from Bloomberg that I think really shows the importance of this surgery and the possible implications. Below are some exerpts from that article.
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Tags: American Medical Association, arthritis, associate professor, back surgery, bariatric surgeries, bariatric surgery, Bloomberg, Bruce M. Wolfe, California, David R. Flum, David S. Zingmond, diabetes, food, Gastric bypass, gastric bypass surgery, GBP, health care services, heart surgery, high blood pressure, hip replacement, insurance, John M. Morton, Journal of the American Medical Association, knee surgery, lead researcher, Los Angeles, Medicare, Michelle Fay Cortez, Minneapolis, obesity, obesity surgery, Oregon Health Science University in Portland, plastic surgery, Portland, professor of medicine, professor of surgery, reporter, Seattle, Stanford University in California, surgeries, surgery, UCLA's School of Medicine, United States, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Washington in Seattle, weight loss surgery