Feel Fat? You May Still Be Fit (And Other Surprising Health Facts)

If you've been hiding from the bathroom scale since Thanksgiving, here's some good news: A growing body of evidence now suggests that being overweight has its health benefits and that, in fact, a person's fitness level is far more important than their weight level.

These days it seems the medical community is constantly challenging the conventional wisdom on a number of misguided assumptions and old wives' tales once viewed as irrefutable facts. Indeed, if you're keeping track at home, chocolate, coffee and beer are now all confirmed to have major health benefits.

In the spirit of blowing the lid off popular belief, HP50 decided to bring you our by-no-means-comprehensive list of nine surprising health facts, which may ease your guilt about some old habits.