by Currie Jean

Created on: March 05, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

In a convenience-infused world, it's all too easy for most of us to spend whole days only attending to the television, the Internet, our desk jobs, and our video game addictions. Most of us are aware of the statistics: North Americans are among the fattest people in the world, plagued with obesity, heart disease, and type two diabetes.

Studies prove that overindulgence in food and laziness is almost as detrimental to health as starvation and overwork. What follow are the top ten ways to get yourself practicing healthy moderation.

10) Allow yourself the occasional "bad" treat. Just as an unchecked sweet tooth can destroy a healthy eating plan, taking the totalitarian route with your diet and exercise can stress you out, leading you to snap and overindulge. Give yourself a lazy no-exercise day, or have an extra helping of your mom-in-law's delicious but fattening cooking, every other week.

9) Have sex! Many voices publicly shout about the dangers of sex, but, especially in monogamous relationships, sex is a wonderful workout for our bodies and our minds. Using the necessary protection, spice up your and your partner's nights with marathons of experimental positions.

8) Don't eat close to bedtime. Not only does going to bed with food in your stomach raise your risk of bad dreams, but it makes digestion difficult and prevents you from burning the calories you just consumed.

7) Check out fitness and workout videos. Record them from TV, rent them from the video store, borrow them from friends, or search for them at video websites. A great variety is available with or without equipment. Once you learn a routine, add your favorite music. Yoga, martial arts, and kick boxing are some additional options.

6) Take regular time-outs. Watch the sun rise or, if you're not a morning person, watch it set with a cup of your favorite drink in hand. Try taking up meditation, if you like. The point is to give yourself some calm, peaceful time each day, which will help your mood as well as give you motivation to follow what fitness rules you decide upon.

5) Avoid fads and extremism. Soup-only diets, starvation-diets, grapefruit-only diets, three-day-diets, and the Atkins diet are a few examples of fads, which should be viewed with caution. A fad diet is usually short term, dooming you to regain whatever weight you lost as soon as you return to your regular habits.

4) Have fun. Exercise doesn't have to be regimental or painful. Remember your favorite childhood games and sports, and try to

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