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Belinda Ferguson, shown in Halifax on Thursday, June 30, 2011, shed more than 100 pounds from her five-foot-two frame in a year after undergoing gastroplasty, commonly known as stomach stapling, in 1991. Ferguson's put on some weight since her surgery and now weighs in at about 160 pounds — a mix of womanly curves and muscles that makes her happy. Every day, she makes a conscious decision to eat well and stay active. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan.
Belinda Ferguson, shown in Halifax on Thursday, June 30, 2011, shed more than 100 pounds from her five-foot-two frame in a year after undergoing gastroplasty, commonly known as stomach stapling, in 1991. Ferguson's put on some weight since her surgery and now weighs in at about 160 pounds — a mix of womanly curves and muscles that makes her happy. Every day, she makes a conscious decision to eat well and stay active. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan.

HALIFAX – The stark realization came in a Halifax hospital room, where doctors told Belinda Ferguson that her obesity was likely the reason she had suffered a miscarriage.

In between the confusion and shock, an unsettling question echoed in the then 26-year-old’s head: if I can’t support the life of an unborn child, how can I support my own?

Clapboards, a centre entrance and symmetrically placed shuttered windows give a distinctly Georgian ambience to Plan HMAFAPW00251 from Homeplans.com, until a Greek Revival portico with four soaring columns and a pediment is added. Based on the Roberts-Vaughan House, built in North Carolina in 1790, this design sneaks in some modern features, like a side-entry garage and generous country kitchen.

The historic design features 2,460 square feet on two levels.

WELLAND, Ont. – A C. difficile outbreak that’s killed 15 people in Ontario’s Niagara region is sparking a protest about the area’s health-care system.

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A demonstration is planned for Wednesday in front of the Greater Niagara General Hospital to call attention to the community’s concerns about how the hospital is managed.

WASHINGTON – Heart disease can sneak up on women in ways that standard cardiac tests can miss.

It’s part of a puzzling gender gap: Women tend to have different heart attack symptoms than men. They’re more likely to die in the year after a first heart attack.

TORONTO – Kate’s outfit for the royal couple’s tour of Prince Edward Island is a nautical-inspired look created by the designer who came up with her wedding gown.

The Duchess of Cambridge appeared in Charlottetown today wearing a cream-coloured knit dress from Sarah Burton for the British fashion house of Alexander McQueen.

TORONTO – Few children are meeting guidelines for physical activity in Canada, but walking or riding a bicycle, scooter or skateboard to school could help them get closer to those targets, researchers say.

They decided to analyze the characteristics of youngsters making their way to school under their own steam, described as “active transportation” – as opposed to getting a ride or taking a bus – to see what patterns emerged.

TORONTO – Canadian label Erdem scored a royal tour repeat as Kate opted to wear a second dress from the brand’s Quebec-born designer while attending events in his home province.

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The Duchess of Cambridge wore a vibrant blue lace Jacquenta dress from Erdem Moralioglu, accessorized with nude-coloured heels to kick off Day 4 of her first official visit abroad.

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MONACO, Monaco – At her royal wedding, Britain’s Kate Middleton donned an heirloom tiara charged with historical significance. Princess Charlene of Monaco opted for something much more personal, choosing a bold, asymmetrical creation in diamond and white gold that symbolizes the one-time Olympic swimmer’s love for the sea.

Made by French-German jeweler Lorenz Baumer, the “Diamond Foam” tiara in white gold and nearly 60 karats worth of diamonds evokes the spray thrown off a crashing wave. Thin strips of precision-cut diamonds arch up from behind the left ear and fan out in an almost punk-ish explosion at the temple. Large round cut diamonds, the largest weighing 8 karats, punctuate the ends of the sparkling arcs.

Here is a kid-friendly snack to cool active children on hot summer days. In this recipe, canned peaches are used in place of fresh as Canadians are still awaiting our local peach season.

Peachsicles

ATLANTA – The lead poisoning rate for U.S. adults has fallen by more than half in the last 15 years, but it remains unusually high in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Kansas, federal health officials said Thursday.

About six out of every 100,000 employed adults had lead poisoning in 2009, down from 14 per 100,000 in 1994.

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REGINA – Lucas Jansen will start high school in the fall and he knows his big sister has his back – sort of.

Brianna Jansen is teasing Lucas about an “initiation” because he’s a “freshie,” slang for a Grade 9 student. Brianna, who is going into Grade 12 in Swift Current, Sask., said she doesn’t want to hurt her brother, just have a little fun with him.

Combining bacon with caramel sundae syrup and maple ice cream results in a tantalizing Canadian dessert to serve at parties this summer.

Canadian Bacon Bonanza

For Clark Frasier, salads are no dinner afterthought. They are a staple.

“I grew up in California, and so salad has always been considered a principal thing in our diet,” Frasier said in an email interview. He and partner Mark Gaier run Arrows, a James Beard award-winning restaurant in Ogunquit, Maine, known for its extensive on-site gardens that produce the bulk of what appears on the menu.

LONDON – Health experts warned Thursday there could be more E. coli cases across Europe and elsewhere after finding that recent deadly outbreaks were probably linked to contaminated Egyptian fenugreek seeds.

They say the fenugreek seeds are likely to blame for a massive food poisoning outbreak in Germany beginning in May that killed 49 people and infected over 4,000, as well as a much smaller outbreak in France in June. More than 800 people have developed a life-threatening kidney complication after catching the bug.

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PARIS – An umbrella group representing members of France’s luxury industry opened its doors Thursday for the first time to companies from other European nations in a bid to broaden its lobbying clout with the European Union.

The Comite Colbert added camera-maker Leica, pen-maker Montblanc – both from Germany – Czech glassware company Moser and Hungarian porcelain manufacturer Herend to its ranks of France’s top fashion and jewelry houses, hotels and purveyors of spirits, fine wines and foods.

OTTAWA – The federal government will fund a clinical trial of a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis patients but it could be years before so-called liberation therapy is widely available in Canada.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the move Wednesday in spite of recent studies that have cast doubt on narrowed neck veins as the primary cause of the debilitating illness.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Producers of faith-based movies have a message for Hollywood studios: Make the movies and customers will pay to watch them.

The enormous success of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” in 2004 shocked Tinseltown when it grossed $611 million worldwide. Despite the huge profit, the production of faith-based movies became stagnant, arguably because of low box office numbers.

PARIS – A panel of fashion industry heavyweights has awarded France’s ANDAM prize to young Italo-Belgian designer Anthony Vaccarello.

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Vaccarello unveiled his first collection in 2009, and his lacy cocktail dresses have since generated significant buzz.

Full results of a big study that showed some smokers’ lives could be saved by screening with lung scans now reveal more clearly what the risks are: There’s a good chance of a false alarm.

Of those who got the recommended annual scans for three years, four out of 10 had a suspicious finding on at least one scan and were advised to have a follow-up test or biopsy. And more than 95 per cent of them turned out to have nothing wrong.

WASHINGTON – Nearly a third of Americans experience long-lasting pain – the kind that lingers for weeks to months – and too often feel stigma rather than relief from a health-care system poorly prepared to treat them, the Institute of Medicine said Wednesday.

The staggering tab: Chronic pain is costing the nation at least $558 billion a year in medical bills, sick days and lost productivity, the report found. That’s more than the cost of heart disease, the No. 1 killer.

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