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.

After shedding over 60 pounds to reinvent herself and her health, Carole Carson inspired a weight loss mass movement in her hometown. Now, she's trying to encourage women around the world to lose weight and reduce their risk of breast cancer and other diseases. Here, she explains the link between breast cancer and excess weight, and the weight loss tips that finally helped her go from "fat to fit" after 40 years of failed attempts.

Q: What was your motivation for getting in shape and how did you accomplish it?

A: I stepped on the scale and it broke, taking with it my elaborate system of denial. My 5-foot-2-inch frame had reached 183 pounds. When the scale broke, I was forced to acknowledge that I wasn't simply pudgy or stocky as I'd told myself -- I was fat. In that moment of epiphany, I decided to get fit and lose weight. Equally important, I decided I wasn't going to diet but rather adopt a new lifestyle -- one I could sustain indefinitely.

I wrote about my makeover -- from butterball to butterfly -- in the local newspaper of my small town in northern California. Later, I invited friends and neighbours to join me in getting fit. Over 1,000 people showed up for the Nevada County Meltdown. During the next eight weeks, over 206 teams lost nearly four tons of excess weight. To encourage others to follow our example, I condensed what I had learned on this remarkable journey in a book, From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction.

Q: What is the connection between weight and breast cancer risk?

People often avoid physical activity because it seems like a huge time commitment: running five miles, getting to the gym and then working the circuit or committing to an hour-long yoga class. It seems like a lot to cram in, several times a week, on top of work and family and friends and all of the other things in your life. But being active doesn't necessarily have to mean running a marathon. Research increasingly demonstrates that even little workouts can make a big difference when it comes to both your weight and your overall fitness level.

A recent story over at RealAge says that mini workouts such as sprinting on exercise bikes can help lower blood sugar and improve insulin function - even if the total exercise time topped out at less than 10 minutes a week - which can ultimately lowers your risk of diabetes. And a recent Globe & Mail story focused on high-intensity, four-minute interval training (originally developed for Japan's Olympic speed-skating team) geared at new moms trying to shed postpartum weight.

The point?

Like most healthy-minded office dwellers, you probably do your best to make up for long days spent sitting at your desk by getting active on your own time -- you go for walk, head to the gym on a regular basis and even try to take the stairs when you're feeling energetic. You put in a good effort to work against your sedentary lifestyle ... but is it enough?

Probably not, according to recent research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. While exercise plays an important role in improving and prolonging your health, the dangers associated with sitting for long periods still exist independently of your exercise habits. In fact, studies found that a woman's chances of developing metabolic syndrome -- a condition that can lead to diabetes -- rises by 26 percent for every hour she spends watching TV, regardless of how much exercise she gets when she's off the couch. Ouch!

So what can you do to protect your health? If packing in your desk job to go work as a labourer on a farm isn't an option, researchers recommend lessening the amount of time you spend sitting in one spot. Consider breaking up your day with several five-minute bursts of activity. Take a walk, take the stairs -- as long as you do something, anything, that gets your heart pumping just a little bit.

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.

It's that time of day again or maybe that time of the month, when your craving for chocolate arises and nothing else will do. But with your New Year's resolution fresh in the works - what can you do about it?

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?

Shaped like a pear? While you're probably not overjoyed by the fact that you have a bit of extra padding in your tush and thighs, new evidence shows that you should actually be grateful for your build. Research from Oxford University in England states that those who carry a little extra weight in their backside and thighs might be healthier than those who carry their extra weight in their gut.

The reason? Fat carried in your belly is different from the fat you carry in your butt and thighs. Stomach fat is easier to break down than than the other kind of fat, but this process results in a build-up of cytokines, which can lead to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The fat on your backside, on the other hand, actually produces hormones that can protect against these kind of diseases. While you should still make sure you're maintaining a healthy weight, the researchers also concluded that carrying some fat in this region is very important for your health because it gives the body a place to store essential fatty acids -- and if these acids are stored in organs, it can lead to heart disease.

The bottom line? Like J-Lo, don't be afraid to show off your shapely backside, it tells the world of your potential for a long and healthy life.

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Here's something that's not exactly surprising: Research shows that if you watch less TV, you'll probably lose weight.

Recent studies have found that marriage is good for you. However, divorce definitely is not.

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Nutritionist Elisa Zied, author of Nutrition at Your Fingertips, says that certain diseases can be prevented by consuming certain foods on a regular basis. To find out which diseases you can prevent and what to eat, keep reading.

Q: What kinds of diseases can be prevented through diet?

A: There's evidence that making dietary and lifestyle changes can play a role in the prevention of a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and osteoporosis.

Q: What are your top disease-fighting foods and why?

A: There's no one food that can prevent disease, but consuming a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods in the context of a healthful dietary pattern can add to the disease-fighting arsenal of the diet.

Here are four foods/classes of foods that may play a role in preventing several diet-related diseases.

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...

Do you have a list of nagging symptoms that don't really seem to be helped by the over-the-counter (OTC) medications that are meant to clear them up? Is that list seemingly getting bigger by the day? Heartburn, indigestion, nausea, gas and bloating, frequent loose or watery stools -- these are all signs that our system is not as healthy as it could be. Yet we tend to overlook these symptoms as more nuisances than anything else -- certainly not an indication that something requires attention. But really these nagging symptoms aren't just something we need to live with. They point to a wearing down of the body and could all be the result of chronic exposure to food allergens.

What are the symptoms?
Headaches and migraines, chronic blood sugar imbalance, stuffy-nose or post nasal drip, asthma, skin rashes and joint pain are all common food allergy symptoms. Even more serious conditions like irritable bowel, ulcerative colitis or Crohn's Disease can be traced back to unknowingly ingesting foods you are allergic to on a regular basis.

When people think of food allergies, they generally tend to think of the acute response. Acute responses include deadly reactions to foods -- like peanuts, shellfish or eggs for example -- where immediate medical attention is vitally necessary. These reactions, called anaphylactic reactions, are often life-and-death situations which can cause inflammation of the breathing passage and cut off air supply.