Because of the diet and lifestyle of millions of Americans ninety percent have at least one risk factor for heart disease. Almost all Americans have at least one risk factor including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, being overweight, or exercising too little.

Since the 1990s Americans have continued to pack 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 results showed that only 10 percent of Americans had low risk scores in all five categories. These results are extremely important because the No. 1 killer in the U.S. and many other countries is Heart disease.

Apparently this isn’t just a problem for Americans. Obesity rates are also climbing 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 everyone is on a diet and trying to eat healthier there hasn’t been much of a change.

However, now more than ever people are either working out, getting surgery, or going on extreme diets to shed those pounds. Despite 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 packed into one greasy sack as we should consume all day. Plus there are always those little snacks and soda drinks that sneak past our lips.

It really is true "what you eat in private shows in public." What makes this even more difficult is that it’s so easy and cheap to buy the fattening food that tastes good but it’s expensive and time consuming to cook your own meals, although this drastically cuts down on your daily fat consumption.  Here are 5 other simple 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 control you’re eating.

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

3. Take Extra Steps
Exercise when you can. You don’t have to spend hours at the gym.  Try parking further away from the building, walking to get lunch, or even exercising on your lunchtime break.  Any extra steps you take will end up saving you calories.

4. Write Down What You Eat
By recording what you eat, you are going to eat less. It is a proven fact that if you write down all the stuff you eat, you will eat less. Because when you see what you have consumed in writing, it’s easy to add up the calories and make some changes.

5. Cut 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 changing 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 all together, you can lose 15 pounds.  It may be hard, but you will see results.

Ninety percent of Americans have at least 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 shed weight and lower your risk factors for heart disease.

So, the ‘recession-proof’ label has become sickeningly overused. A year ago, Yahoo HotJobs! published an article featuring outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. They named Education, Energy, Healthcare, International Business, Environmental Sector, and Security as recession-proof careers. So how recession-proof were these careers?

Check out the list below and see which ones are actually doing as well as predicted:

1. Education With dozens of states in dire financial straits, education budgets are getting slashed and burned faster than the rainforest. As if public schoolteachers weren’t already getting ripped off on their salaries…

2. Energy The folks in this industry must have freaked last summer when people started seriously limiting their gas usage. Lucky for them, the price of gas plummeted and got everyone back to the good ol’ American tradition of burning petroleum like there’s no tomorrow. Keep in mind, however, that with a recession gnawing away at pocketbooks, Americans will cut back significantly on gasoline usage this year- guaranteed.

3. Health Care  While doctors and hospitals have seen a drop in non-urgent health care, this industry is holding relatively strong. People still need emergency care, and life-threatening injuries and diseases have not taken a holiday.

4. International Business What a lot of people didn’t realize last year is how quickly a financial crisis in the U.S. would spread to the rest of the world in a serious way. They thought that American businesses would simply migrate to more plentiful hunting grounds overseas. Well, a year later, everybody is pulling back, from Beijing to New Delhi to New York to Paris. This year, the grass is not greener on the other side… on any side, for that matter.

5. Environmental Sector In the grand scheme of things, in the history of business and commerce, let’s face it: the green movement is just a fad. When corporations are trying to figure out how to just stay alive for the next three years, the last thing on their minds is going to be buying chairs made of recycled bamboo shoots just because their existing furniture is non-biodegradable. The only hope for this industry is to create green solutions that also dramatically help cut costs. With any given corporation, it’s Company first, Earth second.

6. Security They said, "No matter what happens to the economy, the public has to be protected." Police careers are stable, they said. I say, NOT ANYMORE, for the same reason education is no longer safe. Our states are bankrupt and are looking for every way they can to trim down costs. As long as our state governments are neck-deep in debt, don’t count on them paying for one police officer after another. They are already having to say, "We just can’t afford any more."

So, look at the results: 2 out of 6 of their so-called "recession-proof" jobs actually were. One of those is at risk. That’s a 33 percent batting average at best. Not good odds. Funny thing? I haven’t been able to find any "recession-proof" job lists for 2009.

Studying to be a physical therapist seems to be a good choice for those interested in health care and helping people but wanting to avoid the craziness of the emergency room and hospitals. Physical therapy is a lucrative career and a positive contribution to society. However, it is very competitive and one must complete the necessary requirements before applying to a specific program. Part of these requirements is learning how to use all the physical therapy products available for patients.

One of my friends is studying PT and finds it exhausting, but she knows it will all be worth it in the end. She enjoys learning about the different physical therapy products she can use to help people. Physical therapy products help people regain muscle strength, maintain mobility, and learn to walk, talk and perform simple daily functions again. My friend injured her shoulder a few years ago and had to go to a physical therapist every week for a year to get it back to full function. The therapist she saw helped her so much that she also wanted to give back in the same way.