Seems the healthy fats from olive oil keeps bellies flat, which is a mighty good thing. You know why? Because excessive amounts of abdominal fat increases your risk for high blood sugar and other health problems. Now olive oil alone won't do the trick -- you've got to eat an overall healthy diet and exercise too. But getting a good amount of your calories from unsaturated fats, like those found in olive oil, can surely help prevent tummy troubles over time. They will also help you maintain better insulin sensitivity.

The Mediterranean diet is one you might want to adopt. About 30 to 40% of calories in this diet come from unsaturated fats. A diet you'll want to avoid: The high-carb diet. It tends to cause body fat to relocate to the belly.

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It's easy to take good health for granted, to skip along happily through life fully intending on never falling prey to a major health issue. Yet, we all are at risk for a health catastrophe. How you handle such a crisis may remain to be seen. How Kelly Corrigan handled her nightmare can be seen, well read, in the pages of her book The Middle Place.

"The Middle Place is about calling home," writes Corrigan. "Instinctively. Even when all the paperwork -- a marriage license, a notarized deed, two birth certificates, and seven years of tax returns -- clearly indicates you're an adult, but all the same, there you are, clutching the phone and thanking God that you're still somebody's daughter."

Corrigan, now surviving stage 3 breast cancer, learned in the midst of treatment that her dad had cancer too, for the third time. Her story is about her own dance with cancer, her dad's repeated encounter with the disease, and how their lives unfold because of it all. It's a touching story and an enlightening one too. It will remind you to never lose sight of the day, for it may be one a few you have remaining.

For more about the woman who writes this tragic and happy book, visit kellycorrigan.com. To view The Middle Place trailer, take a peek here.

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Being a little thick around the middle may do more than just increase your risk for heart disease and diabetes, new research shows that bigger waists are connected to bigger colon cancer risk.

This new data comes from one of those "study of studies" where researchers compiled information from 30 previous and separate sets of research on colon cancer. Obesity in general was already known as a rectal cancer risk factor, but it seems abdominal fat is particularly dangerous. For every 4 inches a man gains around the middle his risk for colon cancer jumps up by 33%, and for women it goes up by 16%.

One more good reason to get your butt on the treadmill!

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For some people fat may be the new norm, but for those of us who still dream of a slim and buff midsection and are doing everything we can to have one some workouts work better than others. There are countless ab exercises available out there but which ones are the best? I don't want to mess around and waste my time -- if I'm gonna workout then I want to see results! eDiets has compiled this list of the ten best moves for your midsection, and here they are (click the links for instructions on how-to):

1. Bicycle Maneuver
2. Ab Crunch
3. Reverse Ab Curl
4. Double Crunch
5. Cable Kneeling Rope Crunch
6. Machine Hanging Knee Raise
7. Fitball Advanced Reverse Crunch
8. Lying Bent Knee Leg Lift
9. Machine Angled Leg Raise
10. Incline Bench Leg Raise

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