Your quick health fix for the New Year

It might not sound like much, but it has the potential to reduce your weight by a kilogram or so a year, without diet or exercise.

Drinking iced tea or coffee offers similar benefits, as long as you do so in moderation and forego cream and sugar.

Back to school

On 17 January 2011, Mr South Africa, Adriaan Bergh, will kickstart a nationwide school tour to motivate pupils to lead healthier and balanced lifestyles. The tour will cover more than 50 schools in nine provinces and will reach about 30 000 children. For more information about the tour, visit http://tour.balanced247.co.za.

Bizarre of the week

During the festive season, a hangover is inevitable after a night of indulgence. To cure the malady, people have come up with remedies ranging from conventional ones, such as having a big fry-up (English breakfast), to more bizarre notions, such as eating a dried bull's penis.

Sicilians believe that gobbling up a dried bull's penis - some pet stores sell these as bully sticks - can cure a hangover.

Another bizarre remedy is rubbing half a lemon under your "drinking arm" before having drinks. Puerto Ricans swear by this.

If you do one thing for your health

Join an outdoor gym near you.

A study conducted by the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry found that exercising outdoors leads to an improvement in mental wellbeing compared to exercising indoors.

Exercising in natural environments is also associated with greater feelings of revitalisation, increased energy and positive engagement, together with decreases in tension, confusion, anger and depression.

To get these benefits, exercise outdoors or join one of the many gyms popping up in parks and on beaches around the country.

Source: The Times