What's the deal with being fit but fat? Is it OK to be a little plump around the middle but generally in good physical condition? Will the ability to run a 5k balance out a brownie habit that has made itself a permanent home on your hips? Well, there's good news and bad news.

The good news? Being fit but fat is better for you than being out of shape and overweight.

But the bad news has to do with your heart health: When it comes to your blood pressure, new research shows that your weight is more important than your overall fitness. Health-wise, "it's not realistic to be fit and fat," said study author Dr. Susan Lakoski, a cardiologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

First, in terms of health benefits, walking has been associated with improvements in both physical and mental health. For example, a US study conducted at Arizona State University found that women who accumulated more steps per day (on average more than 10,669 steps per day) had a lower body mass index (BMI), a lower percentage of body fat, smaller waist circumferences, lower levels of serum leptin, C reactive protein, and insulin, suggesting less risk of chronic disease, such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.

It's often touted by the holistic nutrition pundits that North America is a starving continent. It seems paradoxical that nations that have an out-of-control obesity problem could be said to be suffering from starvation, but there is logic behind the statement. With our nutrient-depleted foods coming from mineral-depleted soils, the over-processing of our foods and the artificial ingredients that replace real ingredients, the Western world is suffering from a starvation of nutrients!

In fact, it's reasonable to assume that this starvation is partially to blame for the obesity epidemic. People who eat nutrient-depleted food need to eat an excessive amount of it in order to satisfy the body's needs (although, it's usually a distended abdomen that stops a person from eating, not a true feeling of satiety). Ultimately, we eat excessive amounts of poor quality food in an effort to compensate for our cravings for nutrients and thus are gaining weight as a result.

Dear Sarah,
My regular exercise routine includes spinning, yoga, and weight lifting. On average I spend about eight hours a week working out ( I love to exercise!), and I eat a fairly clean diet full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. I am 32 years old, 5'6 and 150 pounds, and I when I look in the mirror I always feel like I could lose 5- 10 pounds. How do I know if I really do or if this is just a body obsession?

Thanks,
Ellen

Dear Ellen,

It's sad but it sometimes seems as though our culture is raised to look in the mirror and pick out our flaws, and for many of us, that means thinking we need to lose weight. Of course, excess weight does put one at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, so if you're wondering whether or not you're risk and need to shed a few pounds, ask yourself the following three questions:

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While many of us worry unnecessarily about extra inches or a few extra pounds, we also know the real signs of being overweight or obese. Or do we? It turns out that numbers on a scale can lie when it comes to carrying too much fat, and that you can be of normal weight and fat at the same time. A recent report from the Mayo Clinic, reported by Ron Winslow in the Wall Street Journal (The Scales Can Lie), calls this phenomenon "normal weight obesity" - and it brings into question one of our most commonly assumed signs of health.

Keep reading for all of the details - and to figure out if you're fat or fit.

While it may seen counter-intuitive to many, the idea that people can be both healthy and overweight - and sometimes even more healthy than people who are thinner - is gaining both traction and attention. Several years ago, a number of studies demonstrated that people who are slightly overweight but who exercise have less risk of developing cardiac disease than people of normal weight but who are sedentary. This led to a recommendation that overweight individuals spend more time focused on their blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels than on the numbers on some scale.

Well, that idea is now being revised. The New York Times' Well blog recently took on the issue, reported by Gretchen Reynolds, weighing the scientific evidence and giving voice to a number of experts. The details and final assessment?

Natasha Turner, N.D. is a Toronto-based naturopathic doctor. She is the founder of the Clear Medicine wellness boutique and author of the bestselling book The Hormone Diet. Each week in her column for That's Fit.ca, Dr. Turner advises readers on how to remedy common health issues as well as improve their overall health.

Don't you just love all those supermodels that say they never work out and eat whatever they want, yet still manage to look fabulous? It almost makes you want to adopt their diet of caffeine, nicotine and burgers. Would it surprise you to know that many of these beautiful women may actually have high percentage of body fat? They may unknowingly be laying the groundwork for many chronic diseases associated with aging. There is a difference between being thin and being healthy and it lies in body composition.

What is Body Composition?

Body composition is a measure of the lean tissue and of the fatty tissue that make up your body weight. Your body is comprised of many tissues -- fat, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, organs and lots of water. A healthy body composition is determined by the percentage of fat versus lean muscle mass. Ideally, it is best to keep fat lower and lean muscle mass higher. An altered body composition arises when the percentage of body fat is too high. The most common cause of a high percentage of body fat is excess fat, although a loss of bone, as in osteoporosis, or a loss of muscle are also forms of altered body composition.

More on body composition after the jump...

Dr. Richard Beliveau and Dr. Denis Gingras are the authors of Eating Well, Living Well, translated by Valentina Baslyk along with their bestselling books Foods That Fight Cancer and Cooking With Foods That Fight Cancer.

It is always amusing to look at photos from the 1980s or earlier to see just how clothing, hairstyles, or even the design of cars has changed over the years. But what is less fun is seeing just how much slimmer people were back then! The phenomena of overweight and obesity, at one time quite rare, have increased considerably over the last 25 years, such that today two-thirds of Western populations are overweight.

Excess weight and obesity associated with excessive consumption of calories best illustrate the dangers of today's mass-produced diet. We still dwell too often on the external aspects of fat gain and fail to take into account the number of works or articles discussing the physical or psychological aspects related to excess weight.

However, scientific data gathered over the last few years about the consequences of excess fat on how the body functions show it is high time we became concerned about the internal effects and their repercussions on health. Being overweight is a major factor in the onset of all chronic diseases affecting the population: Type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, many types of cancer, and Alzheimer's.

Like quitting smoking, the maintenance of a normal body weight (a BMI of about 23) should be a key objective in chronic disease prevention.

Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life. Click here to check out his website.

Retailers would like to help us remain in a state of denial about our ever-expanding waistlines. They'd like us not to notice how fat we're actually getting.

We don't like facing up to the fact that we're becoming fatter by the minute, and most of us don't particularly like buying "fat clothes." We'd prefer not to notice that those size 8 dresses that used to fit no longer do, or that when we try on those 32-inch waist jeans that used to fit so well, they now feel like they were made for just one of our legs. When that happens, we just don't buy as much. Retailers noticed -- and they have a solution. They changed the sizes.

"In recent years," writes Elizabeth Landau on CNN.com, "brands from the luxury names to the mass retail chains have scaled down the size labels on their clothing," which means "you may actually be a size 14, and, according to whatever particular store you're in, you come out a size 10," says Natalie Nixon, associate professor of fashion industry management at Philadelphia University. Why? Simple. It makes the consumer -- you and me -- feel good.

Each morning, we weigh in on the day's hottest headlines.

Victoria Beckham recently celebrated her 35th birthday with pals Katie Holmes, Jennifer Lopez and Eva Longoria -- but she couldn't even muster up a smile. Katie, J-Lo, Eva, come to my birthday -- I promise I will be happy to see you.

It's nice being mistaken for your daughter, but would you spend nearly $20,000 on plastic surgery to look like her identical twin? One mother did, and the results are, um, pretty effing creepy.

Forget weight -- these days, everyone is going on about whether or not your BMI is within the healthy range. But apparently, BMI is racist -- it's only a good health indicator for white folks.

Sorry guys, I know you love your steaks and cheese, but new studies found that dairy and meat can seriously affect your swimmers. Bummer.

Are Heidi and Seal expecting adorable little tyke number four? That's the word on the street.

We all know that calculating body mass index (BMI) can give a good indication of weight range (underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese), but just how good is that indication?

It turns out, depending on your race, it may not be so great.

Consistent with earlier findings that have shown BMI to be inexact, authors from a recent study in the British Medical Journal of Nutrition found "that the number used to indicate weight category does not reflect the same amount of body fat for some races compared to others."

There's a new weapon in the battle of the bulge and it doesn't require sweating it out or having surgery. Intrigued? You're not alone. Interest levels are so high that already more than 100,000 UltraShape treatments have been performed worldwide. The procedure uses a noninvasive ultrasound device designed to target and destroy fat cells, leaving surrounding tissue unaffected. Studies have found the patient's body then naturally metabolizes the fat released from the cells. Lucky for us, Canada is one of the 57 countries that performs the treatment.