Some recent diet and excercise studies should have you walking on air... if you're still able to walk after all the eating and drinking you're about to do on those tight hamstrings.

Apparently dark chocolate is helpful to the heart -- and arteries -- while actually having some calming properties.

Coffee is good for the heart too, though it causes tension, which is of course shocking to coffee drinkers everywhere. Another study shows that "coffee is America's No. 1 source of antioxidants, an important compound that protects your body from disease."

Still another shows that "people who drink coffee on a regular basis are up to 80 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease."

Even better (for me) is that some researchers have found that Decaf may actually cause heart problems!

Red wine is good for the heart too, we all knew that. But who knew that any alcohol is?

Well break out the ice cream and butter it as this report rolls in: "Overturning three decades of conventional wisdom, a new study of low-fat diets shows that eating less fat does not significantly reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, breast cancer or colorectal cancer..."

Finally, from the debunked exercising myths files, come these three:

• Pre-exercise stretching is a no-no
• Weekend-only exercise doesn't cut it
• For some lucky few, exercise simply doesn't work