That could be an unhealthy attitude as these same people tend not to exercise and have many risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

The study, based on survey data collected in Dallas, found that one in 10 participants – all of whom were classified as obese – were satisfied with their body size and didn’t think they needed to lose a few pounds.

“That is a sizeable percentage who don’t understand they are overweight and believe they are healthy,” said lead researcher Tiffany Powell, a cardiology fellow at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Either way, obesity packs many negative health effects, including increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

In the study, Powell and her colleagues focused on 2,056 individuals who were obese and took part in the Dallas Heart Study. They had an average age of about 40.

Participants looked at nine sex-specific figures (outlines of bodies, with the first showing the slimmest figure and increasing up to the ninth and largest) and chose what they thought they looked like and their ideal figure.

Studies on Caucasians have shown a score of 4 is lean, while a 6 indicates a body mass index, or BMI, of 30.

BMI is calculated from a person’s weight and height and indicates body fatness and weight categories that may lead to health problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A score of 30 or above is considered obese; 25 to 29.9 overweight; 18.5 to 24.9 normal; and below 18.5 is considered underweight.

About 8 percent of the obese participants indicated they thought their body size was smaller than reality.

Such individuals, considered to have body-size misperceptions, said they thought their bodies looked like a 4 on the figure scale on average, with an ideal body size of about 5.

Other participants were more on target, choosing an average of 6 for current body size and just under a 4 for ideal.

In reality, participants who were unaware they were obese had an average BMI of nearly 35, while the others had a BMI of nearly 37.

Those with a misperception of body size believed they were healthy. But 35 percent of them had high blood pressure, 15 percent had high cholesterol, 14 percent had diabetes and 27 percent were current smokers.

If both groups of obese participants have health risks, why does it matter whether they know it or not? Isn’t ignorance bliss?

Other unhealthy behaviors researchers found include:

Participants who didn’t think they were obese were less likely to go to a physician, with 44 percent saying they hadn’t visited a doctor in the past year, compared with 26 percent of those without body misperceptions saying the same.

Among those who had a doctor visit, nearly 40 percent of the people with misperceptions about body size said their doctor mentioned they needed to lose weight. That’s compared with about 70 percent of those in the know about their obesity.

Obese people who were satisfied with their body size didn’t exercise on average, while others who recognized they had a weight problem exercised regularly.

And that’s the latest on fat people don’t think they are fat.

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Enter once per day with www.Parade.com/cake to increase your chances of winning the grand prize including round trip airfare for two, a two night stay at the luxurious Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, a baking lesson with Anne Byrn, and signed copies of all six of her books.

The Winner Bakes the Cake sweepstakes ends on November 2, 2009 so hurry to start entering once per day for your chance to win this fabulous grand prize with bestselling author Anne Byrn and her newest book, The Cake Mix Doctor Returns.

One lucky grand prize winner will also receive $300 to spend on your trip to Nashville and two tickets to The Country Music Hall of Fame. Entrants must be 13 years or older at the time of entry and the winner will be selected by random drawing.

Be sure to enter once per day to increase your chances of winnng the grand prize from Parade.com/cake.

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The Fledgling wine by Twitter idea was inspired by a team-building activity for Twitter employees, but then became an idea for a literacy cause, Room to Read.

Wine by Twitter does not mean that the social networking giant will be entering the vineyard or bottling business. They will be using a company called Crushpad.

Crushpad is also based in San Francisco and provides customers with the grapes, equipment, and storage facilities to make their own unique wines.

Twitter wine will be called Fledgling and will come in two varieties: a chardonnay and a pinot noir. The grapes have already begun the process of becoming Fledgling wine and a barrel taste test will be conducted in San Francisco in early 2010 along with some remote locations sampling shipped wine. Tasters will then tweet their opinions.

Bottles of Fledgling, wine made by Twitter, will sell for about $20 per bottle and $5 of that will be donated toward their chosen literacy charity, Room to Read, who establishes schools and libraries in developing countries.

We like another suggested name, Twine, instead of Fledgling. What would you have named the new Fledgling Wine by Twitter?

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The Cleavage Creek winery is owned by Budge Brown who lost his wife, Arlene, to breast cancer in 2005.

“I got a creek running through the middle of two rounded hillsides. So, Cleavage Creek Wine. You know, it just really fit my ranch,” Brown said.

Don’t buy a bottle of Cleavage Creek wine just because it’s for a good cause. Cleavage Creek 2006 Napa Valley Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 Reserve Petite Sirah and 2006 Tracy Hills Reserve Cabernet-Syrah are all award-winners so you can expect a good wine with a good cause. Prices range from $12.00 to $60 per bottle.

Each breast cancer survivor featured on these wine bottles have a story behind their fight. Their stories are told on the Cleavage Creek Winery website. Brown said he wanted to put survivors on the labels because he wants them to know “that they are beautiful and loved.”

At your next gathering, support a good cause and serve a few bottles from the Cleavage Creek Winery.

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The Maple Syrup Diet recipe seems to work quickly though has been critisized by nutritionists because it is recommended to work only if used for 10 days or more and could be unhealthy.

Some supporters of the Maple Syrup Diet say that it helps people lose weight, eliminate tummy fat, and increase energy.

Maple Syrup Diet Recipe

2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice (approx. 1/2 lemon)
2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) organic Grade B maple syrup
1/10 Teaspoon or more cayenne pepper – as much as you can comfortable cope with
1 Cup (8 fluid ounces) purified or spring water

Coming off of  this kind of diet plan should be slow; beginning with full strength juices, adding soups, fruit, veggies, and nuts before resuming your regular diet.

That’s the latest news about the Maple Syrup Diet Recipe.

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The Cykle bottle is a hybrid cardboard-plastic bottle designed to help control the growing numbers of plastic water bottles failing to make it into the recycling bin.

Jordan Steeves, 18, got the idea for the Cykle bottle from a comment made by his father about about how beautiful Miami beach was but that it was littered with plastic water bottles.

After failing with three prototypes, his fourth try resulted in the hybrid Cykle bottle that is made of 70% renewable cardboard, with the remaining 30% made of plastic lining inside and outside of the water bottle to keep the water in.

Jordan Steeves won a science project contest at WSU. He and his school were each awarded $5000. Steeves plans to use the money for college tuition where he plans to major in environmental science.

Action-News believes that one of the big bottling companies (Coca Cola, Pepsi, etc) will pick up the tuition tab for rights to a water bottle that is less harmful to the environment and is just one more step to decreasing US dependence on petroleum products from which plastic is derived.

And that’s the latest chatter about the hybrid Cykle Bottle.

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Bacon vodka brings a whole new meaning to ‘the hair of the dog that bit you’ first thing in the morning since now you can have a bacon vodka Bloody Mary.

For drinks before dinner, serve bacon flavored vodka martinis using this recipe, but Irish Boor recipe, that’s sounds horrific.

Right now, Bakon vodka is only sold in Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon but given our love of anything bacon flavored, it should spread to other states soon.

And that’s the latest chatter about Bacon Vodka.

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Home Made Ginger Ale Recipe

2 cups rough chopped fresh ginger
1.5 cup sugar
2 cups water
large bottle of sparkling water
fresh limes

First, make the Ginger Syrup Mix: In saucepan, heat the water and ginger pieces to simmering. Simmer for five minutes, turn off heat, cover and let steep for one hour. Drain the ginger water over a fine mesh strainer. Toss out the ginger pieces. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan, and add sugar. Heat mixture until sugar dissolves. Cool Ginger Syrup in the fridge.

In each tall glass, add ice, 2 parts ginger syrup, 1 part fresh-squeezed lime juice, 3 parts sparkling water.

And that’s our Home Made Ginger Ale Recipe.

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The 50 Million Pound Challenge contest begins on March 2, 2009 and ends on June 1, 2009 so hurry to enter with your success story.

Your 500 word essay for the 50 million pound challenge 4 day diet contest should include:

• what were the circumstances leading up to the formation of your Team
• how do you and your Team members embody the principles of The 4 Day Diet
• how has The 4 Day Diet changed you and your Team members
• what advice would you and your Team members offer others facing similar situations

To participate in the 4 day diet contest, you must join or form a challenge team of at least 10 people and write your essay.

Dr. Ian Smith and a panel of judges will select the best story so when you write it, keep these rules in mind:

Submission Guidelines:

The Submission must be in text format;
The Submission must not exceed 5 MB in size;
The Submission must be five hundred (500) words or fewer in length;
The Submission must be in English; and
The Submission cannot have been submitted previously in a promotion of any kind or exhibited or displayed publicly through any means.

Content Restrictions:

The Submission must not contain material that violates or infringes another’s rights, including but not limited to privacy, publicity or intellectual property rights, or that constitutes copyright infringement;
The Submission must not disparage Sponsor, Administrator or any other person or party affiliated with the promotion and administration of this Contest;
The Submission must not feature brand names or trademarks other than the 50 Million Pound Challenge and/or The 4 Day Diet&trade mark, which entrant has a limited license to use for the sole purpose of creating and uploading a Submission in this Contest;
The Submission must not contain text not created by entrant;
The Submission must not contain text that is inappropriate, indecent, obscene hateful, tortious, defamatory, slanderous or libelous;
The Submission must not contain text that promotes bigotry, racism, hatred or harm against any group or individual or promotes discrimination based on race, gender, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age; and
The Submission must not contain material that is unlawful, in violation of or contrary to the laws or regulations in any jurisdiction where Submission is created.

Hurry to enter the 50 Million Pound Challenge Contest.

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The Sassy Water diet is named for it’s creator, Cynthia Sass, and can really accelerate the loss of that belly fat as part of a Flat Belly Diet.

Sassy Water Diet

Ingredients:

2 Quarts of water
12 Mint leaves
1 Cucumber peeled and sliced thin
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1 Lemon sliced thin

Fill up a container with 2 quarts of water.
Break off 12 mint leaves and place into the water.
Thoroughly wash the lemon rind. Slice very thin and add to water.
Peel the cucumber, slice really thin, and add it to the water.
Grate the ginger root on the fine section of your grater. Add to the water.
Put the water in the refrigerator until cold.

And that’s the latest news about the Sassy Water Diet.

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