Almost 108 million Americans were overweight or obese in 1999. Until now, obesity continues to be a serious problem and is predicted to reach epidemic levels by the year 2020.

One way to prevent this scenario is to make people aware of the risks of being overweight or obese.

Here are some diseases that you are putting yourself in risk of if you are carrying a lot of extra pounds:

1. heart disease
2. stroke
3. diabetes
4. cancer
5. arthritis
6. hypertension

Losing weight helps to prevent and control these diseases.

The quick weight loss methods which have spread like fire these days do not provide lasting results. More often than not, dieting methods which involve dietary drinks, foods and supplement or pills do not work. If they do, the results are just temporary.

It is better to rely on a healthy weight loss option which will provide lifetime results. You have to set realistic goals and not expect to lose a lot of pounds in a short span of time.

Here are some tips on how you can lose those unwanted pounds the healthy way:

1. Do not starve your self.

The key to a healthier way of losing weight is: Do not diet.

You may seem happy and feel that you are losing those unwanted flabs on your belly and thighs by skipping meals. But remember that this would not last long. Your body cannot tolerate having insufficient food to fuel the energy that you use up everyday.

If you get used to skipping one or two meals a day, your stored calories will be used up instead of the energy that should have been provided by your meals. So if you just eat one huge sandwich in one day, it will end up straight to your problem area (i.e. highs, buttocks, hips).

2. Start your day right.

Mothers always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Have a healthy meal in the morning to jump-start your metabolism.

Your food intake after you wake up will be used to burn fat all day long.

3. Eat small, healthy meals frequently.

Five small-serving snacks per day is better than three hearty meals. Eating more frequently, and in small servings, can prevent over-eating. This will also increase your metabolism and make calories burn faster.

4. Decide on how much weight you want to lose.

Keep your goals realistic. In the long run, it is virtually impossible for you to lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks. Have a mindset that you want to eat healthy to stay healthy for the rest of your life.

Once you have decided on a weight loss plan or program, stick to it and make sure that you follow your own set of dieting rules.

5. Drink lots of water.

Your body needs sufficient water to burn fat and keep your cells hydrated and healthy.

6. Avoid too much sugar.

Plan your meals around lots of fruits and vegetables, some bread, rice or pasta for that carbo fix that you need, plus lean meat and protein rich-foods. Sweets, sodas and pastries should be once-in-a-while indulgences only.

7. Watch your fat intake.

Fat is not the culprit to being overweight. You need this to keep your weight at the proper level.

There is such a thing as healthy fats. Olive, peanuts and canola oil have them. Tuna, salmon and mackerel have omega-3 fats which is good for the heart.

8. Exercise.

Leave your car if you are only going a few blocks from home, take the stairs instead of the elevator, jog, cycle or skate. Use these activites and other home chores if you are too lazy to go to the gym and take exercise classes. Make sure that you do this regularly and you will not even notice that you are already shedding pounds with these mundane activities.

It does not matter how much weight you plan or need to lose. What is important is that you set realistic goals for yourself.

Go slow. If you have already lost 5 or 6 pounds, give yourself a break then try to lose the next 5 pounds.

Eat healthy, drink lots of water, have enough sleep and exercise. This will give you a higher chance of losing weight and improving your health, which would result to a new, healthier you.

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Carb Pills How to Have Carbohydrates On the Adkins or South Beach Diet

If you are trying to go on a low carbohydrate diet such as the Adkins Weight Loss Plan or the South Beach Diet and find that you have trouble reducing your carbs, you may want to try anti carb pills. These are not actually medicinal products but rather dietary supplements made from all natural ingredients not chemical blends.

The reason carb smart diets such as Adkins and South Beach stay alive despite all of the negative media publicity is that they work. But, too many people find that they have trouble minimizing the amount of carbohydrates they consume for a long period of time. That is where the carb pills come in.

While more recent variations of the low carb diets have allowed more carbohydrates in the form of whole grains, it is still tempting to have a cookie from time to time. The carb pills absorb excess carbohydrates in the diet by blocking the carbohydrates consumed from being absorbed in the body.

One of the carb blocking ingredients in the pills is made from white bean extract. They are 100 percent natural and safe to consume.

It is best to take a carb blocking pill right before eating a carb heavy food or meal. They can also be taken during or after the meal, but this has a reduced effectiveness.

Here is how the carb pills work on the body. Fat accumulates in the body when carbohydrates are broken down by alpha amylase, which is an enzyme produced in the pancreas. When you exert yourself through exercise or daily energy, these carbs are burned off. However, if you take in more carbs than you burn, you will store the excess as fat.

Carb pills prevent the fat by preventing the excess calories from being converted through blocking the digestive enzymes from acting on them. This means that the major portion of the carbs are passed through the system without being absorbed.

So, do carb pills work? The scientific community has not really taken up this question because the major pharmaceutical companies fund most of the research. As the carb pills are not produced by these pharmaceutical firms, researchers have not found it worth their while to independently evaluate the pills.

However, the companies which produce carb pills have produced their own studies. They have shown that in the short term at least, the carb blocking pills do in fact keep up to 45 grams of carbohydrates from being absorbed in the system.

There may be some side effects from using the carb blocking pill. These include gastrointestinal distress, heartburn, excessive gas and diarrhea.

The two most common brands of carb pills are Carbo Lock and Ultra Carb. These pills can be expensive a 30 day supply typically retails for $30. If you buy the products in larger quantities, you can often bring the daily cost down.

If you want to have the benefits of a low carb diet but occasionally indulge in carbohydrate rich foods or meals, you might want to consider investing in carb pills which block the carbohydrates in a pasta dinner or piece of chocolate cake from turning into fat.