Americans should buy full-length mirrors. It seems we don't know we're fat. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say 68% of Americans are overweight or obese, a 2010 Consumer Reports survey found 90% of us say our diet is healthy. Many Americans don't know "a serving" is the size of their fist. Because there's no "daily recommended" amount of sugar and because sugar content is listed in grams, many Americans don't know how much sugar they're eating. Women should limit daily intake to 40 grams and men to 50-60 grams. Instead of becoming informed eaters, many Americans just "chew the fat".
We shouldn't sit more than 4 hours a day in front of a television or computer for recreation. In a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers studied questionnaires from 4,512 adults age 35 and older, who were part of the 4-year Scottish Health Survey in 2003. People who had more than 4 hours of recreational "screen time" were 48% likelier to die and 125% likelier to have heart problems. It seems the body needs movement to break down sugars and triglycerides, thus preventing inflammation. This may mean "movers and shakers" are healthier.
If you are a woman, you should drink 4 cups of coffee a day. According to a study in the journal Diabetes, drinking 4 cups of coffee daily decreases a woman's risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by more than 50%. It seems that a still-undetermined something in coffee increases the amount of the sex hormone-binding globulin in women's blood and increased levels of SHBG lower the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, drinking 4 cups of coffee doesn't lower the risk for men. Regarding Type 2 diabetes, men don't get a "coffee break".
However, if you are a man, exercise as if your life depended on it because in many cases it does. A study conducted by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of California/San Francisco examined the records of 2,705 men over an 18-year period. They found that men with prostate cancer who ran, biked, walked or engaged in some other type of vigorous activity for 3 hours a week had a 61% lower risk of dying from the disease than men who exercised less than 1 hour a week. Of course, we'd all live longer if we exercised - good judgment.
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