The joke at our house (at least I think it’s funny) is that when the latest “O” arrives, I exclaim with mock surprise, “Oh, look! Oprah’s on the cover.”

This morning, the February 2010 issue showed up on the kitchen table. I was waiting for the coffee to finish, I didn’t feel like going out in the rain to fetch the Sunday paper, so I started thumbing through. Here’s what I learned:

• The regional Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, 39 miles in two days, will be in Charlotte this year, on Oct. 23-24.
• “Plastic Surgery May Reduce Headaches,” p. 102. A study of 49 migraine sufferers who underwent plastic surgery found that 80 percent reported a significant reduction in subsequent migraine episodes, of whom 50 percent said the headaches disappeared completely. Bahman Guyuron, head of the plastic surgery department at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University, believes the connection may have to do with the removal of muscles that cause the problem by compressing nerves.
• Antiaging? (“Antiaging? Really?” p. 102) Don’t believe it when a shampoo or nail polish makes the claim, says plastic surgeon Dr. Steven H. Dayan. Hair and nails are made of the protein alpha-keratin, not living cells. Basically, so-called “antiaging” products are spackling paste, smoothing over your ridges, ruts and divots.
• Goat’s-milk ice cream (“The Big Scoop,” p. 117) has half the fat of its cow’s-milk based counterpart. It also contains more calcium, magnesium and potassium.
• An 11-year study of 3,000 women by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that those who consumed two or more cans of diet soda a day “doubled their chances of accelerated kidney decline compared with people who drank less than one can a month.” (“Sip Wisely,” p. 118.)
• Eat a Mediterranean diet — one rich in olive oil, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, cereals and fish — and you’re less likely to get depressed, according to a Spanish study of more than 10,000 men and women. (“Eat and Be Merry,” p. 118.)
• “Does eating late at night really make you gain weight?” (p. 126). It’s not a matter of eating late, it’s a matter of how much you’re eating late. A study of 867 people by the University of Texas at El Paso found that people who eat more early in the day tend to eat less, people who eat late in the day tend to eat more.
• Nuts freeze well — as do a number of other healthy foods (“Frozen Assets,” p. 128).

I also learned that bootcut jeans can act as a “push-up bra for your butt.” (“How to Build a Better Butt,” p. 77), which isn’t so much about exercising your glutes as it is about finding the right jeans to mask a deficient derriere.

Not really germane to our discussion here at GGNC. But but good to know all the same.