Body Mass Index

Body mass index,or BMI, is a standard used to judge degree of fat. it is determined by dividing an individual's weight in kilogram's by an individual's height in meter squared.

Information
BMI tables are taking the place of the standard height-weight tables. BMI, along with waist measurement, can be used to check if an individual is at increased risk for developing a number of chronic diseases. Unlike height-weight tables, BMI takes into account body composition. Body composition is the ratio of lean tissue to fat tissue that makes up an individual's overall weight.

A BMI between 20 and 25 is desirable for most adults. People with a BMI between 25 and 29 are considered overweight. Those between the ranges of 27 and 29 may be at greater risk for other diseases if they have two or more risk factors. Risk factors are as follows: · high blood pressure · high cholesterol · sleep apnea · type 2 diabetes

A BMI of more than 30 indicates obesity

Top Ten Fitnes Tips

Certified personal trainer, Eleni Calevas, shares her top ten fitness tips:

1.Focus on fat loss rather that weight loss. Your body is made up of lean muscle tissue and fat. Lean muscle tissue consists of your bones, organs and muscle tissue and is good weight. Always try to maintain or increase your lean muscle tissue.

2.Do not consume "energy" drinks or bars prior to exercise if you are trying to lose weight (fat). These products will spike your blood sugar levels, which causes insulin to be released into your bloodstream. Insulin halts your body's fat-burning process and encourages fat storage. You have plenty of sugar stored in your muscles to complete at least three hours of exercise.

3.Do not weigh yourself every day. Use a tape measure, the mirror and how your clothes fit to monitor your progress. Weight is not the enemy ... fat is. Surround yourself with people who have the same health and fitness goals. You will support each other during times of low motivation and high stress.

4.Try to make some form of exercise a daily habit. The best time to do this is first thing in the morning — this will maximize fat loss results and minimize the chance you will not do it later in the day.

5.Include some weight training in your exercise routine. This will help increase your strength, tone your body, boost your metabolism and help prevent osteoporosis.

6.Keep a set of dumbbells nearby if you do not have time for a formal workout. You can take a quick break and sneak in a quick set of arm raises, shoulder presses or squats.

7.Try to do your exercises during these quick breaks. It all adds up.

8.Keep an exercise journal so you can monitor your progress and reward yourself when you reach a goal.

9.All exercise (physical activity) burns calories. Keep moving. Take the stairs. Walk. Run. Stretch. It all helps.

10.Start today! There are hundreds of reason not to exercise, and for many of us tomorrow never comes. Break some old habits and start some new ones. The rewards of looking and feeling your best are priceless. Go now!

Balanced diet

A balanced diet is one that includes the Recommended Dietary Allowances, also called RDA, for all the essential nutrients. These include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals. A balanced diet supports normal growth and development. It also contributes to good health and quality of life.


What is the information for this topic?

All foods, when chosen wisely, can be part of a balanced diet. For example, some fat is needed in the diet to support life. But too much fat can increase the risk of heart disease. A balanced diet provides an adequate amount of calories, protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. A balanced diet avoids an excess of calories, saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar.

In October 2000, the American Heart Association, or AHA, issued new dietary guidelines for the general population to help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. The revised guidelines focus on food, overall eating pattern, and achieving or maintaining a healthy weight.

Achieve an overall healthy eating pattern. · Choose an overall balanced diet with foods from all major food groups, emphasizing fruits, vegetables, and grains. · Consume a variety of fruits and vegetables. Choose 5 or more servings per day. · Consume a variety of grain products, including whole grains. Choose 6 or more servings per day. · Include fat-free and low-fat dairy products, fish, legumes, skinless poultry, and lean meats. · Eat at least 2 servings of fish per week.

Achieve a healthy body weight. · Avoid excess intake of calories. · Maintain a level of physical activity that achieves fitness and balances energy expenditure with calorie intake. For weight reduction, calories burned should exceed calories consumed. · Limit foods that are high in calories or low in nutritional quality, including those with a high amount of added sugar.

Achieve a desirable cholesterol level. · Limit foods with a high content of saturated fat and cholesterol. Substitute grains and unsaturated fat from vegetables, fish, legumes, and nuts. · Limit cholesterol to 300 milligrams (mg) a day. · Limit trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are found in foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. These include packaged cookies, crackers, and other baked goods. Commercially prepared fried foods and some margarines are also high in trans fats.

Achieve a desirable blood pressure level. · Limit salt intake to less than 6 grams or 2,400 mg of sodium per day. · Maintain a healthy weight and emphasize vegetables, fruits, and dairy products low in fat when planning meals. · If you drink, limit alcohol consumption to no more than 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men.



Food Guide Pyramid

Information

The Food Guide Pyramid is an outline of what to eat each day for good health. The Pyramid is not a rigid prescription, but a general guide that lets people choose a healthy diet that fits their lifestyle. The Pyramid is flexible, practical, and visual. It is meant for healthy males and females, age two and older. The Pyramid provides a range of servings from each food group. This makes it flexible to fit all types and sizes of people.

The Pyramid calls for eating a variety of foods. In this way, a person will get the nutrients needed for health and the right amount of calories to maintain and improve weight. The Food Guide Pyramid conveys three main messages. These are: · Eat a variety of foods in each group. · Balance food intake. · Eat in moderation by choosing foods that meet needs for calories, total fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugar.

The Pyramid also focuses on fat and sugar. This is because most American diets are too high in fat, especially saturated fat and sugar. Foods in each food group have different amounts of fat and sugar. Symbols in the Pyramid show the groups that have more fat and sugar. This includes naturally occurring sugars, such as those found in fruit, like fructose, and those found in dairy, like lactose, as well as added sugars. The tip of the Pyramid shows foods that are made mostly of fat and/or sugar.

Foods at the bottom of the Pyramid, where it is the largest, are foods that should be eaten most often. Foods at the top of the Pyramid, where it is the smallest, are foods that should be eaten in small amounts. All of the food groups are needed for good health. Nutrients in each food group differ so one group cannot be substituted for another.

Following the Food Guide Pyramid is an easy way to eat a healthy diet. By eating a healthier diet a person can help maintain a healthy weight. This can help protect against health problems such as heart disease and cancer.

Sneaky Sugars

Even if you don't have a sweet tooth, chances are you take in more than your fair share of sugar each day. Added sugars can be found in everything from soda to salad dressing and even in otherwise healthy foods like yogurt.

The World Health Association recommends cutting back on refined sugar to reduce your risk of obesity. The added sugar in our diets seems to be adding up to extra pounds on American waistlines. The amount of added sugars in products is on the rise. According to the American Dietetic Association, the average American consumed about 123 pounds of added sugar per year in 1980. By 1999, that number had risen to 158 pounds. Why? We eat out more often, and we're eating more and more packaged foods and drinking more and more beverage.


The Sugar Bowl

You don't need to have a sugar-free diet, but reducing the amount of sugar you consume is a wise decision. Look for the following items on the ingredients label — they're all forms of sugar:

Corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup
Molasses
Honey
Fruit juice concentrate or fructose
Sugar—ite, brown, raw or cane


Look for the amount of sugar listed on the "Nutrition Facts" Panel of the foods you buy. It will be listed in grams. Because that doesn't mean much to most of us, use this simple equation to determine how much sugar is in the foods you eat: 7 grams of sugar = 1 tablespoon of sugar

For example, if the label on your strawberry yogurt says it has 21 grams of sugar, that's the equivalent of 3 tablespoons. And the 20-ounce frozen coffee drink you had as an afternoon snack not only had 400 calories, but also 18 teaspoons of sugar. Now that's a little hard to swallow.

Remember: No matter what the source is, be it the natural fructose in strawberries or the added sweetness of corn syrup, it all winds up in the same place on the nutrition facts label. If a product only lists fresh or dried fruit in the ingredients list, you know that the sugar is derived from these sources. However, if cane sugar and corn syrup are listed in addition to the strawberries, you know that sugars have been added.


Cutting down on sugar:

Avoid heavily sweetened breakfast cereals. Go for ones that have 10 grams of sugar or less per serving.

Energy bars and drinks are a common source of hidden sugar. Look for ones that have less than 12-15 grams of sugar per serving.

Watch out for reduced fat and fat-free products. Sugars are often added to mask the loss of flavor when fat is removed. You may be cutting out fat, but not necessarily calories.

Limit sweetened beverages like milkshakes and coffee drinks, which are deceptively full of sugar and calories.

Buy juices that are 100 percent fruit juice. Be careful about products that say "100 percent natural." That doesn't mean they're not loaded with added sugars. Avoid products that call themselves "juice cocktails" and "juice beverages."

Mix fresh or dried fruit into plain yogurt. Many fruity yogurts are loaded with added sugar.

Learn to appreciate the natural tartness of fruits like grapefruit, strawberries and other berries. Choose fruit when it's in season and it shouldn't need any added sweetness.

The Facts on Fats

Saturated, monounsaturated, trans and poly. Are you confused yet? You may be even if you've been keeping up on what types of fat to eat and which to shun. By now you've probably heard of stealthy trans-fats. Though they're not on the "Nutrition Facts" panel yet, they're soon to arrive. The Food and Drug Administration will be revising the nutrition guidelines by 2005 and the panel may include trans-fats even before then.

Trans-fats are sinister because like saturated fat, they raise total cholesterol and LDL, the "bad" cholesterol levels. Trans-fats lower levels of beneficial, HDL cholesterol in the body. Also, consumption of trans-fats may inhibit the absorption of healthy fats that are necessary for the growth and functioning of vital organs. Though much has been made about the dangers of trans-fats, experts caution that those warnings shouldn't overshadow the potentially disastrous effects of saturated fats. Discovery Health medical expert Dr. Andrea Pennington states that saturated fats "...increase your cholesterol levels, which can lead to clogged arteries, heart attacks, strokes and obesity."

Before we go any further, let's take a closer look at the different types of fats:


Monounsaturated:

These "good" fats are found mainly in plant sources, like nuts, avocados and olive, peanut and canola oils. They are liquid at room temperature.


Polyunsaturated:

These fats, which include the healthy omega-3 fatty acids, are also found in plant oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn, flaxseed and canola oils, as well as in seafood. Polyunsaturated fats are either liquid or soft at room temperature. Essential fatty acids — alpha-linolenic and linoleic acid — are also in the polyunsaturated group. These fats, which we need to get from the foods we eat, are necessary for the creation of cell walls and hormones in the body.


Saturated:

These fats are found mostly in animal products. Red meat, poultry, cheese, butter and other dairy products are the main sources. Some plant products like palm, coconut and palm kernel oil are also saturated. These fats are solid at room temperature.


Trans-:

This type of fat is formed when unsaturated vegetable oils are hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) to form solid, more stable fats. Hydrogen atoms are actually added to the oils. Trans-fats include margarine and shortening and are found in everything from crackers, cookies, doughnuts, frozen pie crusts, deep-fried foods, and foods with chocolate coatings.


Butter vs. Margarine

This debate has raged on for years. If you're looking for a healthy morning spread, avoid stick margarine. Choose a light, soft margarine or butter substitute that says "trans-fat free" on the package. Butter lovers should use it sparingly to cut down on saturated fat.


Trimming the Fat

Keep your total fat intake to around 30 percent of your total calorie intake
Limit saturated fat intake to no more than 7 to 10 percent of your intake
Get about 10 to 15 percent of total calories from monounsaturated fats
About 10 percent of calories should come from polyunsaturated fats


For an individual eating 2,000 calories a day this translates to 66 grams of total fat and no more than 16 to 22 grams of saturated fat per day. There is no official recommendation for trans-fats yet, but they should be kept to a minimum.

What's the bottom line? At 9 calories per gram, fats are our most caloric energy source, so we need to keep track of how much we're eating, no matter what type. Still, you'll improve your health greatly by eating more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, including omega-3 fatty acids. Make an effort to cut back on saturated fats and try to avoid trans-fats.

How can you scout the supermarket aisles for products with trans-fats since they're not yet on food labels? Look for the words "hydrogenated" and "partially hydrogenated" and steer clear of these products.

Six Ways to Eating Healthier — One Meal at a Time

For many of us, learning to develop healthy eating habits takes a little more discipline than it does for others. But by making small changes with every meal, you can start developing healthier eating habits in no time. Here are a few small steps that can lead to giant leaps for you and your family's daily diet.

The Power of Choice
Begin with the types of foods that you choose to buy. In most cases, you'll eat what you buy — if the cookies or chips are in the house, trust me, you'll have more of a tendency to snack on them than on a piece of fruit.


Tip No. 1

Start by changing the "snack ratio" in the house. Slowly and gradually have more fruit and healthier snack choices around, rather than the typical, higher-calorie junk food. For instance, have three types of fruit (apples, oranges, grapes) to replace some of the small bags of chips or candy bars. Or simply start replacing unhealthy snacks with alternative choices, such as oatmeal bars, granola bars, or peanuts and yogurt.


Tip No. 2

When shopping at the grocery store, spend more of your time in the outer aisles. That's where you'll find the healthier foods, such as fresh fruits, fish and vegetables, which are naturally lower in fat and cholesterol and have not been filled with sugar, salt and other preservatives that add on the pounds.


Tip No. 3

Begin reading the labels of the foods that you eat. Foods that are labeled "low in fat," or "light," are not always the healthiest choice. Many times, if a product is lower in fat, it may be higher in sodium, or, if it's lower in sugar, it may be high in fat. Start reading the "Nutrition Facts" chart on the back of the box, can or bag.

I will admit, it's hard to read the label of every food item while you're shopping. A better way to start is with your favorite packaged foods and snacks at home. Soon you'll start to notice the differences in the amounts of sodium, carbohydrates, sugar and calories per serving between the different foods that you've chosen. The next step is to slowly begin making adjustments in your shopping choices, and to look for alternatives with fewer calories, sodium, and fats.

Don't get caught up in the calories
"Everyone zeroes in on the calories," says registered dietitian Claire LeBrun. "I even catch myself sometimes doing it; you gotta look at the portions and calories per serving size." The gotcha that gets a lot of consumers with the nutritional facts charts is the number of calories per serving size. Most consumers read the number of calories and assume that's the number of calories for the entire package, rather than the number of calories per serving — buyer beware.


Tip No. 4

Develop a healthy habit of selecting sensible-sized food portions. If your plate has a serving of rice that can't fit into the cupped palm of your hand, then, in most cases, the amount of food you've chosen is too much. Using this "cup of your hand" technique is a good way to mentally measure the amounts of foods that go onto your plate. Some people use the size of their fist as a measurement. The size of your fist, or a cupped hand, is about the same size of one measuring cup.


Tip No. 5

Retrain your taste buds and retrain your brain and attitude toward good food choices. The natural sweetness of an orange or apple can't compete with the sugary taste of a candy bar, but you must retrain, and relearn, the goodness of what's good for you. Start choosing to eat more fruits and vegetables as snacks or as replacements for some of the fats that you would tend to add onto your lunch tray or dinner plate — you and your taste buds will get used to it.


Tip No. 6

Learn basic alternatives to fattening foods. Learn to speak the second language of food — the language of healthy food :

Choose mustard over mayo (mustard naturally has less calories/fat)

Choose brown rice, whole wheat, rye or oat bread over white bread (brown foods don't have extra fats added to them to change their color)

Choose the white meat of turkey or chicken over dark meat, red meat or pork (most of our fat intake comes from animal fat; white meat contains less fat)

Choose baked or broiled over fried, battered or breaded.

Choose water over juice and soda. Some juices contain just as many carbs and calories as a small bag of potato chips. Try slowly weaning yourself off caffeinated soda with [herbal] tea or water — have two glasses of water, or cups of tea, per every can of soda. (Also, don't drink your calories — that those100 calories of juice could be two pieces of fruit or a cereal bar, a more filling feeling for you and your stomach.)

Choose low-calorie sauces and ask to have sauces and dressings served on the side. (Usually more sauce is poured on than is needed. Dip your fork into the sauce, then dip your fork into the food. This will give you the flavor with every bite, but without the extra, unnecessary fat.)

Choose fat-free milk and cheese made with skim milk, as opposed to whole milk (again, most of our fat intake comes from animal fat). Choose vegetables as side orders over fries and chips. Steamed veggies are preferable over creamed veggies (vegetables naturally carry less fat).

Choose to pack fruit and nuts to hold you over to the next meal, rather than opting for fast food or snacks from a vending machine. Fruit snacks will help you get to the next meal, as they allow you to eat more, more often and without the extra fat intake). Fruits like bananas and oranges are convenient and have their own protective packaging.

Eating Smart

Most of us start off the day with the best intentions for eating healthy. Unfortunately, a missed alarm, getting stuck in traffic or working through lunch can botch the best plans for eating right. With today's hectic schedules and an abundance of convenience foods, it's easy to get off track even when you want to stay on course.
Whether you're trying to lose weight or just eat right, the smartest thing to do is create a healthy eating plan. With these simple steps you'll be able to fit in nutritious meals and snacks, even when you're squeezed for time.


Rise and Shine
Just like with most things, mom was right about breakfast — it is the most important meal of the day. Trouble is, it's probably the easiest meal to skip since we're the most rushed. Even if you don't have time to sit down and eat a bowl of multi-grain cereal with fresh fruit, don't fret — there are plenty of grab-and-go ways to start your day. A low-fat yogurt is a great choice, but don't forget to pair it with a handful of unsalted nuts (for extra protein and a dose of "good" fat) or granola. Take a banana or other easy-to-grab fruit and add an energy bar that has no more than 200 calories.

Your best bet : Keep a box of instant oatmeal at work. All you need is a microwave and you're all set for an energized morning.

Midday
It's easy to get off track at lunch, especially if you've skipped breakfast. Your stomach is growling; your boss is on your nerves; you can't focus; and you're likely to grab the closest comfort food you can find. If you haven't thought about lunch until you're starving, you're more apt to grab a greasy cheeseburger and fries than a grilled chicken salad.

Your best bet: Bringing your lunch — whether it's leftover soup or pasta from the night before, or a turkey sandwich on whole wheat — is nearly always a better choice than trying to navigate your local deli for a healthy meal. Still, it is possible to find good food that's fast.

Dinner
Another crunch time for working people, especially if you have a family. It's easy to dial the number for pizza or Chinese takeout, but try to keep it to a minimum. Keep salad fixings, frozen vegetables, chicken breasts and, yes, frozen pizza dough on hand. You'll always be able to whip up a quick stir-fry or make a veggie pizza.

Your best bet: Try to eat dinner at a reasonable time — like before 9 p.m. The earlier you eat dinner, the more likely you'll be to burn it off. Try to cook or "assemble" at least four nights a week. If you haven't gotten in your five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables for the day, make an extra effort to include them now.

The best way to eat smart throughout the day is to plan, plan, plan. Even if you're not a super-organized person, just taking 10 minutes to make a weekly shopping list full of healthy foods is guaranteed to keep you on the healthy eating track.