As a result of the diet and lifestyle of millions of Americans ninety percent have a minimum of at least one risk factor for heart disease. Nearly all Americans have at least one risk factor such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, being overweight, or working out too little.

Since the 1990s Americans have continuously packed on the pounds. As a result more people are getting heart disease and diabetes. Thousands of Americans between the ages of 25 and 74 participated in the study. The outcome showed that only one-tenth of Americans had low risk scores in all five groupings. These totals are extremely valuable because the No. 1 killer in the U.S. and many other countries is heart disease.

It appears that this isn’t just an obstacle for Americans. Obesity rates are also rising in many other parts of the world. And this is causing diabetes, high blood pressure, and Body Mass Index (BMI) to rise in the wrong direction. Even though it seems like every person is on a diet and trying to eat healthier but there hasn’t been much of a a transformation.

However, now more than ever people are either exercising, getting surgery, or going on far fetched diets to shed those pounds. In spite of these efforts, the waistlines don’t seem to be shrinking but gradually growing.

There are so many temptations when it comes to the world of food. Especially, since we live in such a busy world. We are on the run 24/7 and sometimes the only thing we can get to eat is a fast food combo meal that has as many calories jam-packed into one greasy sack as we should consume all day. Plus there are always those little snacks and soft drinks that sneak past our lips.

It really is true “what you consume in private shows in public.” What makes this even more hard is that it’s so easy and inexpensive to buy the fattening food that tastes good but it’s pricey and time consuming to cook your own meals, although this radically cuts down on your daily fat intake. Here are 5 easy ways to cut down, trim your waistline, and stay healthy.

1. Drink Water
Drink at least 64 ounces of water. Water helps clean out your system, keeps your body hydrated, and also helps you rein in you’re eating.

2. Munch on Fat Burning Foods
When you’re snacking eat healthy foods. Experiment with fat burning foods like almonds, grapefruits, oranges, and berries. And vegetables are generally pretty filling, have very little fat, and put you on the pathway to healthy eating.

3. Take Extra Steps
Work out when you can. You don’t have to spend hours at the aerobics studio. Try parking further away from the building, walking to get lunch, or even working out on your lunchtime break. A few extra steps you take will end up saving you calories.

4. Record What You Eat
By recording what you eat, you are going to eat a smaller amount. It is a proven fact that if you write down all the stuff you eat, you will eat less. For the reason that when you see what you have consumed in writing, it’s easy to count up the calories, make some changes, and know when to stop eating.

5. Scratch out the Soda
I myself am a huge sodaholic but if you can make some minor adjustments you are bound to see results. Just by altering to a diet version of Pepsi, Cola, Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper or others will cut out a lot of calories. Also if you cut out soda completely, you can shake off 15 pounds. It may be hard, but you will see results.

Ninety percent of Americans have no less than one factor leading to heart disease. Even though the statistics aren’t good there are steps that Americans can take to become healthier. These 5 tips can help you drop pounds and decrease your risk factors for heart disease.

Diane Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Utah. She likes to write about the news, politics, college degrees, online education, and the college experience

Through the last year a small number of campus’ were closed. Although much of the fear is gone, swine flu still continues to strike. In the past month since school began there have been over 187 school closings across the country and over 79,678 students have been affected.

Government officials expect that closing schools and Child Care centers because of swine flu could carry a price tag between $10 billion and $47 billion. Obviously, the severity of the flu and the
that schools stay closed, accounts for the stark difference between the cash amounts.

Recommendations for the government recommend schools to close only as a last resort. This means that they ought to only close when large numbers of students or educators become laid up with H1N1. If schools closed that would not only affect students but also parents. Many guardians would have to miss work in order to care for their children.

Just closing D.C. schools, would carry a price tag of $65 million while Los Angeles County would cost $1.1 billion. School closures are a huge deal, particularly because school closures would affect children with parents in health care jobs. So hospital personnel would also be hurt. They would have more patients entering in with swine flu and a smaller number of workers. Doctors have recommended 5 suggestions that make it more difficult to contract H1N1.

1. Sanitize Your Hands
Continuously wash you hands. There are microorganisms all around so make sure that you are scrubbing or using hand sanitizer fairly often.

2. Stay Home
Stay home when you have any flu-like symptoms. Don’t go to school or work, otherwise you’re just spreading germs them and infecting more individuals.

3. Cover Your Mouth
Cough or sneeze inside your clothes, in a handkerchief, or in the crook of your arm. This makes it more difficult to transmit germs. Swine flu is unfortunately very infectious, so be cautious and try to keep it to yourself.

4. Stay away from Crowds
Avoid small cramped quarters with lots of people. The more people you’re around and the nearer the proximity; the more likely you are to catch swine flu.

5. See a Doctor
If you think you have swine flu get to the doctor immediately. The symptoms include high fever, body aches, coughing and sneezing. Get to a doctor if you think you’ve contracted the virus because certain types of medicines are effective against some strains of Swine Flu if taken within 36 hours of swine flu infection.

Hopefully the Swine Flu won’t get out of control and everyone can carry on with their daily activities. Even though there are vaccines for H1N1 many guardians are choosing not to have their children vaccinated. The vaccine hasn’t been out long and Americans are uneasy about it’s safety. As a result, millions of children, teenagers, adults, babies, and even older Americans may get the virus. This virus will not only cause everybody to get sick but also cost the economy billions of dollars in lost pay and time.