This survey showed that 85 percent of Americans believe they have a healthy lifestyle. How coudl this be when two-thirds of them are overweight?  Obviously, more than half are living in fantasyland, according to an annual report funded by ARAMARK, the well-known seller of processed foods and drinks at stadium sporting events and concerts.

American adults gained 2.5 pounds more in comparison to last year's numbers and the average body mass index was 29, approaching full-blown obesity. But that's not the worst of it folks: Only 14 percent of women and 6 percent of men see themselves as obese. And, when it came to changes in weight, patients were equally clueless:

• Almost a third believed they gained more than 5 pounds.
• Close to half said their weight stayed the same.
• Twenty-one percent though they had lost more than 5 pounds.

One of the easiest and most important things you could do for your health -- devoting some time every day to an exercise program -- is a must. The trick about exercise: Maintaining the mindset that exercise is very much like a drug, in that it needs to be prescribed precisely to achieve the maximum benefit.

That said, eating the proper diet -- ideally to your body's unique nutritional type -- is an equally important factor in optimizing your health.

Food Ingredients First.com May 23, 2006