Heart Disease Prevention - What Cause People To Gain Weight?

Lack of physical activities and unhealthy diet may be the main reasons why people tend to gain weight. There are, however, other causes that can cause one to put on weight. What are they? 

Heart Disease Prevention - What Cause People To Gain Weight?

Heart Disease Prevention - What Is Metabolism And How To Boost It To Lose Weight?

Undoubtedly, the best way to burn fat and speed up metabolism is to carry out more physical activity and exercises like regular aerobic exercise, strength training and lifestyle activities. But there are other ways of boosting the metabolism by just making simple changes to the daily routine. Click the following link to find out more!

Heart Disease Prevention - What Is Metabolism And How To Boost It To Lose Weight?

Heart Disease Prevention - Is Bubble Tea Linked To Diabetes?

Bubble tea, also called pearl tea or Boba, is a drink that is originated from Taiwan. It is made by mixing black tea with non-dairy creamer or milk and adding round pearl tapioca. It is not only high in calories but also high in sugar with about 30 to 40 grams per cup, or about 6 to 9 grams of sugar per 100 ml. So it is certainly a sugary drink. But is it linked to diabetes? Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Is Bubble Tea Linked To Diabetes?

Heart Disease Prevention - Will Weight Loss Surgery Benefit Mildly Obese Diabetics?

Bariatric surgeries have been found to be effective for treating Type-2 diabetes, though most studies were done in people who are morbidly obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or above. Recently, a group of researchers from Taiwan's Min-Sheng General Hospital reported that weight loss surgery can help mildly obese people with Type-2 diabetes as well and the benefits can last for at least 5 years. Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Will Weight Loss Surgery Benefit Mildly Obese Diabetics?

Why Next Generation In Europe May Lead Shorter Lives?

Life expectancy for Europeans has increased from an average of 73.2 years in 1990 to 76.8 years in 2011, and the region’s levels of premature mortality from non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, are reducing by 1.5 percent a year until 2020. However, the rates of obesity, tobacco use and alcohol consumption remain high.

A study published in The European Health Report 2015 showed Europe has the world's highest rates of drinking and smoking, and more than half its people are too fat, putting them at high risk of heart disease, cancer and other deadly diseases. The report is published by the WHO (World Health Organization) and the study was the first of its kind for 3 years covering 39 countries in Europe, including EU member states as well as former Soviet republics.

Differences in health status between European countries, according to the report, are unacceptably high. For instance, there was an 11-year gap between the highest and lowest life expectancy. Average life expectancy for men and women was reported to range from 71 in Belarus, Moldova and Russia to 82 for countries like France, Italy and Spain, according to the latest figures from 2011. The report highlighted that Europeans still smoke and drink more despite the fact that lower rates of smoking and alcohol consumption are seen in many parts of the world.

The total alcohol consumption in Europe was lowered by 10 percent between 2005 and 2010, yet Europe still had the highest rate in the world. Alcohol consumption levels vary greatly ranging from 0.32 to 14.37 liters per person annually. Many EU states have alcohol consumption averages of between 9 and 12 liters per person. Rates are lower in Turkey and former Soviet states, possibly because of a higher number of Muslims living there. On average, 11 liters of pure alcohol are drunk per person each year.

High percentage of male smokers (more than 50 percent of adults) can be found in Russia, Georgia, and Greece, and female smokers can mostly be found in Croatia, Bulgaria, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece (over 30 percent).

Meanwhile obesity is rising, with 59 percent of Europe's population either overweight or obese. Turkey, Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic and Israel were among the nations with the highest rates of overweight and obese adults.

If rates of smoking and alcohol consumption and obesity do not decline, WHO fears that the next generation in Europe may lead shorter lives.

Would People Perceive Themselves Overweight Help Them Lose Weight?

Mounting evidence has linked obesity and overweight to development of chronic diseases including hypertension, high blood cholesterol, heart disease, stroke and Type-2 diabetes. Obviously, overweight or obese people should lose weight to stay healthy.

In the past, it was assumed that if people could correctly identify themselves as being overweight, they would have a greater motivation to change their diet or level of exercise so that successful weight management could be achieved.

However, a study conducted by researchers from University of Liverpool in England revealed that people who perceived themselves to be overweight were at a greater risk of weight gain, irrespective of whether their perceptions were correct. Meanwhile, these people were also more likely to overeat in response to stress. Their findings were published online August 7, 2015 in the ‘International Journal of Obesity’.

By analyzing data from United States National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the United Kingdom’s National Child Development Study, and the Midlife in the United States Study, the researchers found that perceiving oneself as being overweight is associated with a higher risk of future weight gain among United States and United Kingdom adults.

The findings were important since one public health strategy is to ensure people who are overweight are aware of it. But unfortunately, people who believe they are overweight may actually delay their weight loss efforts, according to some clinical psychologists. Many of these people might decide they should begin a diet tomorrow and meanwhile finish the cookies first.

While common belief indicates that people should have strong motivation to lose weight if they really want to do so, many of them feel quite stressful and have difficulty in making healthy choices in their lifestyle. They may just fall into the trap of negative stigmas like inactivity, overeating and depression. Instead of taking the stress, they simply ignore it and just use eating to make them feel better. But once they have finished eating, the stressful feeling is back, and the weight problem has not solved yet.

Some health experts argued that the more a person focuses on weight, rather than health, the more difficult for this person to manage and lose weight and control eating. If people who want to lose weight can let go of the obsessiveness with their weight and instead, relax and focus on health, they can not only lose weight, but also manage their weight relatively mindlessly.

Is Diet Or Exercise More Important For Heart Disease Prevention?

A proper diet and regular exercise should form an indispensable part of a person’s lifestyle should he or she wishes to lower the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. But if he or she has to make only one choice, which of these two should he or she choose? 

Many people have a misconception that they can simply eat whatever they want and they can simply burn off the excess calories by exercising. Sadly, this might be misleading and unscientific.

Regular physical exercise, as shown by research, is no doubt essential for one to live a long, healthy life as physical activity helps prevent heart disease and stroke as well as other diseases including Alzheimer’s. Exercise also protects the joints from arthritis and pain. However, recent report published in the journal “Obesity Reviews” argued that regular exercise alone rarely helps lose weight, and sometimes even results in weight gain.

Numerous studies, on the other hand, have linked diet improvements to weight loss and lower risks of death and disease, regardless of the participants' exercise habits. Several studies tend to show that in terms of weight loss, diet does play a much bigger role than exercise. Nevertheless, people who have lost weight and are able to keep it off do exercise at the same time. In other words, a person’s health goals should include eating a proper diet and have a regular physical activity.

Problem is that for some people, they just do not have the willpower to tackle both at the same time. If this is the case, they should first focus on improving their diet, according to health experts. Imagine this, if a person wishes to reduce, say 500 calories, he or she needs either to walk 5 miles or to just cut a Snickers bar or similar food that is of 500 calories. Obviously, it is much easier for one to watch the diet than to walk 5 miles every day.

Obesity and overweight can lead to many medical disorders including Type-2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer. Hence, maintaining a healthy weight is important! This can be done by balancing what is eaten with physical activity. If a person is sedentary, he or she should try to become more active. If one is already active, he or she should continue the same level of activity as he or she ages. Remember this, more physical activity is better than less, and any is better than none.

How To Eat Less To Prevent Weight Gain?

Data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that 1.9 billion adults are overweight or obese globally. Obesity is a serious health issue as it raises the risk of getting diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer.

The main reason for causing overweight and obesity is a lack of energy balance. People are just taking in more calories (foods and drinks) than their body uses. There are so many reasons that people eat more than their body need. One of them is what a study revealed: adults usually consume more food when it comes in bigger packages or is served on larger plates. 

Researchers from the University of Cambridge analyzed 58 studies that examined how the size of things such as cereal bowls and snack bags influences the number of calories people take in. A total of 6,603 participants were involved.

In the paper published September 14, 2015 in the ‘Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews’, the researchers showed that smaller containers, dishes and cutlery might simply help adults consume up to 16 percent fewer calories (equivalent of up to 279 kilo calories per day) in the United Kingdom and 29 percent less in the United States (equivalent of up to 527 kilo calories per day).

While the effect of smaller sizes for dishes and packages did not vary by gender and was similar for normal-weight, overweight and obese people, children did not appear to be affected by size when deciding how much food or drink to consume.

Most of the studies reviewed, as the researchers acknowledged, did not follow people for long periods and there was a lack of data to assess if sustained changes in container and plate sizes over time might help weight loss or maintain a healthy weight. Data was also lacked on the impact of bottle, can or glass size on alcohol consumption. Nevertheless, the results did highlight the paramount role of environmental influences on food consumption and did suggest that limiting exposure to larger serving sizes might be an effective tool to get people eat less.

Besides small serving sizes, it is also necessary to pay attention to frequency of meals that has to be high. In other words, people have to eat regularly at short intervals in order to keep the basal metabolic rate high and more importantly, to eat healthy and stay away from junk food.

Another thing to note is that, limiting serving sizes alone might not be enough to curb obesity epidemic because obesity epidemic is a result of a number of different and complex influences. Factors like inactive lifestyle, age, lack of sleep, and medicines can all cause people to gain weight.

How Does Mobile App Link Less Sleep To More Eating?

Smartphone has become an indispensable tool for many of us because a smartphone has apps for almost everything. One can use these apps to do many things, for instance, to check weather, to communicate with friends or to take and edit pictures. There are many health and fitness apps, too. One such food-related app called myCircaidianclock was created to collect, analyze, and interpret food data so as to aid research about when humans ate.

In a small study conducted by researchers from the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, more than 150 volunteers were asked to use the app (myCircaidianclock) to snap pictures of everything they ate and drank over a period of 3 weeks. These volunteers were healthy males and females between the ages of 21 and 55 who were not actively managing their diet and who did not go through any weight loss program in the past 6 months.

Most participants consumed food and drinks over about 15 hours of the day, taking in less than 25 percent of their calories before noon and more than 35 percent after 6 p.m. While most people think they just eat 3 meals and a snack or 2 within a 10-12 hour window, the researchers found the majority eat and drink over a very long time.

Eating or drinking over a longer stretch of waking hours and consuming more calories at night could confuse the body’s biological clock and might cause people to be obese and develop diabetes, fatty liver disease, high cholesterol, and even heart disease and stroke.

Based on the snapshots recorded, the researchers discovered what and when the volunteers ate, and under what circumstances. Their analysis showed that coffee was more common in the morning, while alcohol was more likely to appear at night. Tea was drunk throughout the day, and images of chocolate and candy made regular appearances from about 10 a.m. onward.

The app was also tested to see if it might help people eat less by encouraging them to consume food and drink over a shorter period of the day. 8 overweight people who tended to eat over more than 14 hours of the day were asked to cut back to 10 to 11 hours. After 16 weeks, these people lost about 3.5 percent of their excess body weight and reported sleeping better.

Unfortunately, the study was too small to draw any broad conclusions, acknowledged by researchers in their paper published online September 24, 2015 in ‘Cell Metabolism’. Though the study was not designed to prove if mobile apps or other forms of food tracking can actually help weight loss, the findings did build on a large body of research linking self-monitoring of dietary habits to weight loss.

Compared to paper diaries, smartphones can make self-monitoring easy. Mobile apps might also provide more real-time reminders in reaction to pictures or data supplied by dieters. Nevertheless, these tools still rely on people’s own motivation to interact with the technology.

Heart Disease Prevention - Are Diet And Exercise Best For Diabetes Prevention?

Diabetics are at a higher risk of developing many diseases including blindness and kidney failure, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Diabetes can also cause mild to severe nerve damage, and trigger diabetes-related circulation problems that often leads to the loss of a leg or foot. Fortunately, Type-2 diabetes is preventable. More details at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Are Diet And Exercise Best For Diabetes Prevention?

How To Lose Weight Healthily?

Many health issues, including sleep apnea, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, Type-2 diabetes and even certain types of cancer, could just happen to a person who is overweight or obese.

According to 2011-2012 statistics provided by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), there are 69 percent of American adults who age 20 years and over are overweight (including obesity). Meanwhile, the estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the United States was US$147 billion in 2008 and the medical costs for people who are obese were US$1,429 higher than those of normal weight.

Certainly, people should avoid becoming overweight or obese if they want to be healthy. That is why most people will try to get rid of the extra pounds around their waist whenever they know they are overweight. Sadly, not too many overweight people can actually do so, even after spending lots of money in weight loss programs.

One should know that while promising to quick weight loss is often attractive, the effect does not last. More importantly, losing too much weight too quick is not good for the health. Healthy weight loss should not exceed 0.5 kg to 1 kg a week. For most people, the initial weight-loss target should be set to lose 10 percent from the baseline body weight over a period of about 4 to 6 months.

Losing weight requires not only determination but also appropriate plan. The following tips might help one to set up a feasible plan to lose weight healthily.

First of all, all meals and snacks should be planned so as one does not feel hungry most of the time. To do so, he or she should snack on low-calorie drinks, consume fruit and raw vegetables like carrot sticks. Switching to brown rice or eating more servings of vegetables and fruits during meals can help slow down digestion and absorption, which can always feel full for a longer period of time.

Then, drinking enough water is essential because hydration is important in optimizing the body's metabolic rate and its energy expenditure. The average recommended daily water intake should be between 8 and 10 glasses of 250 ml each.

Alcohol should be avoided at all time. Alcoholic drinks are high in calories and the drinks also suppress fatty acid oxidation, the process by which fatty acids are broken down by various tissues to produce energy.

It is important that one should never skip breakfast. When one does not eat breakfast, his or her body goes into starvation mode and tries to protect itself by conserving energy. This will not make the body's metabolism to be at an optimal rate. People will tend to snack before lunch or overeat during the next meal. In fact, all 3 meals of the day should not be missed. Remember this, a successful weight-loss program should minimize hunger and fatigue.

Why One Should Not Eat While Walking?

Overweight and obesity can lead to many chronic diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and Type-2 diabetes. Lack of physical activities and unhealthy diet can of course lead to weight gain and so can overeating. But how can people overeat?

People overeat because of habits, or because they eat too fast or they simply not aware of the calorie intake. Recently, researchers from the University of Surrey found that having meals while walking can also lead to overeat. Their findings were published online August 20, 2015 in the ‘Journal of Health Psychology’.

60 women were each given a cereal bar to eat under 3 different conditions: one group watched a 5-minute clip of the television show "Friends" while eating; the second group ate while walking around the hall; and the final group ate while sitting and talking with a friend. After the experiment, they were then asked to complete a follow-up questionnaires and a taste test involving 4 different bowls of snacks, including chocolate, carrot sticks, grapes and crisps. The researchers measured how many snacks they ate after they left the room.

Eating while walking around were found to trigger more overeating compared to eating during watching TV or having a conversation with a friend. Participants ate more snacks at the taste test if they had eaten the initial cereal bar whilst walking around and specifically they ate 5 times more chocolate. In other words, eating on the go might just make a person overeat later on in the day.

Walking is a powerful form of distraction that disrupts one’s ability to process the impact eating on one’s hunger, according to researchers. Meanwhile, people may regard walking as a form of exercise that justifies overeating later on as a form of reward. Any form of distraction including eating at the desk or in front of a TV can lead to weight gain. This is because people just do not track or recognize the food that has just been consumed when they are not fully concentrate on their meals.

By slowing down and paying attention, people can recognize when they are beginning to get full and stop before overeating. So in order to avoid overeating, it is important to focus on the food and refrain from eating while doing other activity like watching TV, looking at computer or cellphone, and to eat slowly by increasing the number of chews per bite.

Also, planning ahead can help one stick to a healthy diet. Instead of grabbing whatever looks good when hungry, grocery shopping should be done at the beginning of the week with a list to cover meals and snacks for the days ahead.

Heart Disease Prevention - Why Is Dietary Guidelines Important For Heart Disease Prevention?

According to the experts, Americans have very bad food choices and eat too little vitamin D, calcium, potassium and fiber and consume too much fat and salt. And these bad eating habits are making people sick. New recommendations reaffirm the 2010 guidelines: eat more vegetables, less fat and salt and to exercise more with some key differences. Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - Why Is Dietary Guidelines Important For Heart Disease Prevention?

Heart Disease Prevention - How Could Unhealthy Diet Affect Children’s Health?

According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years. Health experts attributed the obesity epidemic to sedentary lifestyle and especially unhealthy diet. A recent study revealed that American kids eat excessive amount of salt and sugar and do not eat sufficient amount of fruits and vegetables. Find out more at:

Heart Disease Prevention - How Could Unhealthy Diet Affect Children’s Health?

How Does Sleep Deprivation Affect Weight And Health?

When one has insufficient sleep during the night, he or she might feel sleepiness the next morning that might cause accidents either on the road or at work. Lack of sleep might also impair judgment and make one forgetful.

During the EPI/Lifestyle 2015 Scientific Sessions organized by the American Heart Association (AHA) held between March 3 and 6 in San Diego, researchers from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar reported that people who lose as little as 30 minutes of sleep on a weekday have changes in their metabolism that might make them gain weight and put them at risk of getting diabetes.

522 patients who had just been diagnosed with Type-2 diabetes were studied. They were taking part in a different study meant to determine whether exercise and diet would help and as part of the study, the volunteers also filled out a sleep diary.

Patients who had 30 minutes less than the recommended 8 hours a night were more likely to be obese and also had insulin resistance that could lead to diabetes. After a year, for every 30 minutes under 8 hours, the rate of obesity went up by 17 percent and the rate of insulin resistance, a key problem of diabetes, went up 39 percent.

In another study that was published online February 19, 2015 in the journal ‘Diabetologia’, researchers from the University of Chicago revealed the reasons why getting too little sleep might raise the risk of diabetes. According to them, lack of sleep could lead to increased levels of substances known as fatty acids in the blood. As long as fatty acid levels remained high, the ability of insulin to regulate blood sugar levels was impaired.

The study was small and involved only 19 healthy men who aged between 18 and 30. They participated in 2 sleep scenarios. In one, they got a full night's sleep (about 8 hours a night) for 4 nights. In the other, they only got slightly more than 4 hours of sleep a night. After a few consecutive nights of getting too little sleep, the men's blood levels of fatty acids increased and stayed high for about 5 hours in the early morning hours. These levels usually peak and then drop overnight.

Overweight is undesirable as it is one of the key risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and so is diabetes. Fortunately, as the researchers suggested, high rates of obesity and diabetes could be reduced by something as simple as getting more sleep.

Heart Disease Prevention - How Can A Simple Dietary Change Help Lose Weight?

In theory, losing weight is just a matter of controlling the intake of calories so that the body gets all it needs without gaining weight. But in reality, this is hardly an easy task. Good news for these people is that a new study revealed that a simpler approach might work: eat more of certain foods and do not worry so much about calorie counting.

Heart Disease Prevention - How Can A Simple Dietary Change Help Lose Weight?

Heart Disease Prevention - Is Fat But Fit Theory Valid?

While people want to have some sort of confirmation on the fact that being obese is not that bad at all time and there might actually be a very small number of obese people who can maintain good health, the majority would not be able to achieve over the long term. Find out why @Heart Disease Prevention - Is Fat But Fit Theory Valid?

Would Low-Carb Diet Outperform Low-Fat Diet Plan?

More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and heart disease and cancer are the top two killers that are linked to obesity. It is obvious that people who are overweight or obese should try their best to get rid of the extra weight they have to lower the risk of getting heart disease or cancer.

Basically, there are 3 kinds of diet plan, namely low-fat, low-carbohydrate and calories-counting plan. For years, health experts are divided on their views about which diet plan is the most effective. 

Researchers from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine

in New Orleans reported recently that a low-carbohydrate diet is better for losing weight and might also be better to reduce the risk of heart disease than a low-fat diet.

When it comes to weight loss, it is the low-carbohydrate diets that have outperformed other diets, but some researchers feared that they might not be good for heart health because they tend to be high in fat. The new study, findings of which were published September 2, 2014 in journal ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’, showed that with proper nutritional counseling, people could lose more weight and lower their risk factors for heart disease on a low-carbohydrate diet.

148 obese men and women aged between 22 and 75 were enrolled. For a year, half were randomly assigned to follow a low-carbohydrate diet, and the other half were assigned to a low-fat diet. Participants on the low-carbohydrate diet were found to lose more weight, by 8 additional pounds, and more body fat than those on the low-fat diet.

Meanwhile, there was no increase in total cholesterol or bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein) for both groups of dieters. Previously, it has been thought that low-carbohydrate diet would raise cholesterol levels.

Participants in the low-carbohydrate group had lower levels of fat circulating in their blood and had lower scores on a measure used to predict the risk of heart attack or stroke within the next 10 years.

Some experts not involved in the study do not agree entirely on the findings. They warned people that they should not just eat all the meat they want to lower their carbohydrates. In fact, low-carbohydrate diet plan is just one way to reduce weight. According to their observations, participants in the study appeared to improve their overall diets. For instance, they were eating foods with healthier fats like nuts and beans. They also ate more fiber and reduce the intake of processed foods with more carbohydrates.

The researchers of the study admitted that they were unsure why participants on the low-carbohydrate diets lost more weight and had lower risk factors for heart disease after one year. They were also not certain if the results would still hold after a longer period.

What We Eat Are Influenced By What Friends Eat

Overweight or obese is a major health issue many nations are facing for years. Besides lack of physical activities, many health experts also blame unhealthy foods as the main culprit.

Why do the experts so concern about overweight and obesity? A person who is overweight or obese is more likely to develop various medical disorders including Type-2 diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and stroke. Some studies also linked obesity to certain kinds of cancer.

Many diet plans are available. But to get rid of the extra weight one has is never easy. One has to be very determined and discipline as well. As a new study suggested, one has also have to stay away from the influence from the peers.

According to a paper published online September 16, 2014 in the journal ‘Appetite’, researchers from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Cornell University revealed that when people share a meal with an overweight person, they are more likely to eat terribly.

82 undergraduate students were asked to eat lunch that included spaghetti and a salad, with an actress. The researchers randomly assigned the students to 1 of 4 conditions: the actress wore a fat suit but served herself more salad than pasta; she wore a fat suit and served herself more pasta than salad; she appeared without the fat suit and served herself more salad than pasta; and she appeared without the fat suit and served herself more pasta than salad.

It is observed that when they are eating with overweight eating companions, regardless of what the actress serves herself, participants ate more pasta. They ate less salad even if the overweight person ate more salad. Why did this happen? It is possible that people feel less motivated to be healthy with someone who is overweight, as posited by the researchers.

The study was neither intended to fat-shame nor to pass the blame for the act of overeating. It, however, provided evidence that the body type of an eating companion and whether she served herself healthily or unhealthily, affected the quantity of food intake. Meanwhile, the findings could also remind people to be more mindful of how much they are consuming by understanding how environment and people around could actually affect the eating habits.

Peer pressure could influence people’s eating behaviors. People tend to eat and exercise to look like their friends and family members. They change their habits to mirror those of their friends without necessarily thinking or talking about an ideal body weight.

In 2011, a study published on May 9 in ‘the American Journal of Public Health’ confirmed that if people have heavier friends, family members, and colleagues, it is more likely that they will be heavier, too. The stronger the relationship between the 2 people, the stronger the link between their weights.

Most Americans Do Not Think They Are Fat!

A recent study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle found that two-thirds of Americans (an estimated 160 million people) are overweight or obese. Meanwhile, another recent Gallup poll also found that 35.3 percent of Americans were overweight and 27.7 percent were obese.

Obesity is a global health issues facing many countries because of the modern lifestyle: unhealthy diet and lack of physical activities. When a person is overweight or obese, the risk of developing certain chronic diseases including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and even cancer is getting higher.

Health authorities and governments around the world including United States are of course working really hard to curb the obesity epidemic. Yet most Americans do not think that they are fat. According to a new Gallup poll, more than half of Americans adults said they do not think they are overweight and are not making an effort to reduce weight.

Although men are more likely to be overweight than women, 60 percent of men reported that they were not overweight and they were not trying to lose weight, compared with 50 percent of women who said the same.

Only about 36 percent of those surveyed described themselves as overweight. Among those people, 18 percent said they were trying to lose weight and another 18 percent said they were not. 

21 percent of women said they were overweight and trying to lose weight, compared with 15 percent of men who said the same. Meanwhile, 10 percent of women said they were trying to lose weight even though they did not consider themselves overweight, comparing to 6 percent of men who said the same. 

Younger adults tended to be more content with their weights. Among those ages 18 to 34, Gallup found that 68 percent reported that they were neither overweight nor trying to lose weight, compared with 47 percent of adults 55 and older who said the same.

The new survey was done via phone interviews with a random sample of 3,066 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 States and the District of Columbia, as part of Gallup's Health and Healthcare surveys from 2011 through 2013.

Obviously, the surveyed results highlighted that importance of perception. In the midst of addressing the obesity crisis in America, it is paramount for the authorities to start first by convincing the overweight Americans that they are indeed overweight before persuading them to lose weight.