Stay Hourglass Healthy

The hourglass shape men admire and women long for is more than pleasing on the eye -- it is also quite healthy, says nutritionist Dr. Margaret Ashwell, even if the bottom half of the hour glass is, well, a somewhat larger derriere.

Ashwell has developed a chart based on waist measurements which she says shows some women who think they are overweight are, in fact, pear-shaped and healthy. And the bottom is the part of the body where fat is laid down, which is an indicator of health.

"It is a healthy shape to be," she says. Good is the figure cut by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, bad is that by so-called "stick insect" models who appear to border on the anorexic.

If pear shape is healthy, apple shape is exactly the opposite, says Dr. Ashwell -- and that spells bad news for middle-age men. Their apple shapes are often described as beer-bellied (although overeating is often more to blame), and she says these men are more likely to die prematurely as a result.

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