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What’s Your BMI?

The body mass index, or BMI, helps clarify an important distinction between being overweight or being obese. If you weigh too much, you’re obviously overweight. But if you have a very high proportion of body fat, you’re obese. Based on your body mass index, your doctor or other health professional will classify your weight as healthy, overweight, or obese.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the BMI “describes body weight relative to height and is correlated with total body fat content in most adults”. In almost all cases, this means that the BMI will accurately reflect your weight and proportion of body fat as a function of your height and weight when categorizing you as healthy, overweight or obese.

Calculating your approximate body mass index is relatively straightforward, although you’ll probably need a calculator just to save time. To get your BMI, multiply your weight in pounds by 703. Next, divide that result by your height in inches. Then divide that result by your height in inches one more time.

As an example, let’s say you weigh 180 pounds and are 5 feet 10 inches tall.

Multiply 180 by 703 to get 126,540. Next, divide this by 70 (70 inches is the same as 5′ 10″) to get 1807.7. Now, divide 1807.7 by 70 one more time. The result — 25.8– is your approximate BMI or body mass index. If you don’t have a calculator handy, you can get the same result using the free interactive BMI calculator at www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm.

If the above example sounds you, you might be surprised to learn that you’re ever so slightly heavier than your doctor might like. A BMI from 18.5 up to 25 is considered healthy, from 25 up to 30 is classified as overweight, and 30 or higher is obese.

Generally, says the NHLBI, the higher a person’s BMI, the greater the risk for health problems. In addition to causing your BMI to skyrocket, excess body fat is a well recognized health risk. Men and women with waist lines in excess of 40 and 35 inches, respectively, are much more at risk for health problems like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Like every rule of thumb, this one also has it exception. Body builders, for example, often have a body mass index above 25 and sometimes even above 30. In this case, however, the higher BMI reflects the fact that body builders have more muscle mass without having more fat.

Finally, there’s still only one sure way to lower your BMI if you’re overweight or obese: Eat less and exercise more. Your body will burn more calories than you eat and your body mass index will go down over time.

Are Meal Replacements A Good Idea?

Think about the number one reasons why people are overweight nowadays. Overweight people fall into one of two different categories.

Either they have an unhealthy lifestyle – working long hours, eating out all the time, not getting enough exercise – or they simply eat too much, often in a compulsive way.

This type of eating – eating when one isn’t hungry, for example, or eating for emotional reasons rather than physical hunger – is really a type of addiction. It should be understood as an addiction, and it often is.

For example, the group Overeaters Anonymous functions on many of the same principles as AA or other twelve step programs. Excessive eating is treated like an addiction because that’s exactly what it is.

But if that’s the case, it’s easy to see why this addiction might be harder to treat than some others. The way to deal with an addiction is to stay away from the behaviour that’s out of control – alcoholics can’t touch alcohol, for example. The idea is to not do it at all until the addiction becomes a thing of the past – in fact, for many addicts, they can never indulge in their addictive behavior again, not even once.

With food addiction, though, that’s obviously impossible. People have to eat – there’s no getting away from it. That’s why food addiction, though it’s an addiction to a non-lethal substance, may be the hardest of all to deal with. And that’s also why companies such as Slim-fast, who produce and market meal replacements for people to use while dieting to lose weight, actually do succeed in helping some people.

The idea behind meal replacements is that you don’t really eat at all for a good part of the day – instead, you have a special shake or other product that gives you all the nutrients you need, and stops you from feeling hungry. This works in two ways: first, it controls the calories you take in, because the meal replacements are quite low calorie. Second, it breaks the cycle of addictive behavior because you’re not really eating. You can get away from the behavior much as an alcoholic can (and must) get away from alcohol, and that gives you a better chance of breaking the addictive process.

Though most meal replacement plans do recommend that you eat one ‘normal’ meal per day, some people who are serious about losing weight don’t do even that. That’s precisely how Oprah Winfrey once lost a lot of weight – about fifty pounds. She said that she found it easier not to eat at all (subsisting on meal replacement shakes and bars) than to control her eating. When you know that you won’t be eating ‘real food’ at all for a while, it takes the guesswork out of it. Everything becomes very straightforward, and it’s a fact that many people have lost weight using this method of weight loss.

There are drawbacks, though. For one thing, while a weight loss program is supposed to teach you about how to eat for the rest of your life – to establish healthy habits, in other words – using meal replacements clearly doesn’t do so. Once you go back to eating real food, you might find that your problems with controlling your food intake are still there. Though you will have lost weight, you are more likely to gain it back if you haven’t learned healthy eating habits.

Also, there’s a danger that some people will keep on using the meal replacements for extended periods of time, just because it’s easier and more convenient. Thought they re designed to give you a minimum level of calories and nutrition, meal replacement bars cannot substitute for real food over an extended period.

However, if you know or suspect that your problem with food resembles an addiction or compulsion, it may be worth your while to think about using meal replacements for a while in order to lose some weight. Try to make the time you spend using them as productive as possible, though. Really come to terms with your past behaviour, and learn what it feels like to be full but not stuffed. Figuring out the answer to these and other aspects of healthy eating will help make your weight loss permanent.

A Vegetarian Diet

Our society is set up to regard meat eating as the ‘norm’. Those people who choose a vegetarian diet are often thought of as difficut, ‘trying to be different’ or just odd. A common nutritional fallacy is that meat and animal products must be consumed in order to maintain a well-balanced, healthy diet.

Many people these days are finding out the many health benefits of a vegetarian diet. Additionally, many physicians and nutritionalists are prescribing and endorsing plant-based meals in order to promote health, prevent and treat certain diseases, and even to reduce weight. There are many products now becoming available in shops and supermarkets that contain health enhancing plant extracts.These are mixed in yoghurts,spreads and cheeses, to specifically lower cholesterol levels, reduce blood pressure, enhance energy levels and boost immune systems. Who knows what other benefits are just around the corner in plant extracts.

Although vegetarianism may seem like a modern idea, in reality, its health benefits have been known for many years in cultures around the world. India and the far east make up the largest percentage of the world’s vegetarians, both for health and spiritual reasons. One group of people, the Hunza, who live near the Himalaya’s have a diet which is exclusively vegetarian. Members of their community reportedly often live to be over 100 years of age.

The American Dietetic Association say that the benefits of a vegetarian diet can include;

Lower cholesterol levels
Lower levels of saturated fats
Lower body fat
Reduced rates of heart disease
Lower blood pressure
Lower incidence of type-2 diabetes
Lower instances of certain cancers
Higher levels of important minerals and antioxidant vitamins

Obesity is one of the major health concerns in the western world. It can be addressed with a vegetarian diet, one that eliminates excess protein and animal fat consumption, and increases fiber in the form of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Those who consume a vegetarian diet tend to maintain a lower body mass index (BMI), which significantly aids in the treatment and management of other chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. A lower BMI is an aim of anyone looking to improve their general health, whether by diet, exercise, or preferably both.

One question often asked by those considering a vegetarian diet is; “Will I get enough protein? This is certainly a valid question, as protein is necessary for the building, maintenance and function of all body cells. In fact, a varied and well-balanced vegetarian diet actually provides all the protein the body needs, obtained by eating such things as whole grains, beans, nuts and soy products.
In fact, meat-based diets typically provide an excess of protein, which may actually be harmful. High protein levels can put more strain on the kidneys. A leading gerontological journal reports that too much protein can cause a person to lose about 30% of their kidney function by the time they reach old age. It can also cause systemic acidity, which the body attempts to counter by leeching calcium out of the bones, which can lead to osteoporosis.

Becoming a vegetarian does not mean you are limited to eating carrots, fruit and nuts. There are many types of vegetarians that eat meatless diets in a variety of combinations. Some of the more common types include;

Lacto vegetarians, who do not eat meat or eggs, but do eat dairy products such as milk and cheese.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians do not eat meat, but will eat dairy products and eggs.

Ovo vegetarians do not eat meat or dairy products, but will eat eggs.

Vegans do not eat meat, dairy products, eggs, or any animal products at all.

There are many medical and health organizations that promote, endorse, and support people on a path toward changing their dietary lifestyle to one that includes more plant-based foods. There is a lot of information on the internet, as well as through medical providers and vegetarian organizations. Numerous books and articles are easily found.

Many restaurants, grocery stores and supermarkets now provide meals and products to vegetarians, making it simpler to choose this healthy lifestyle.

Remember that at the end of the day it is your decision. If you want to simply keep eating a little meat, while exploring deeper into the vegetarian side, then do that. Don’t worry about the ‘purists’. There is no law to say you cannot eat a little meat, fish or chicken along the way – it’s your life and your choice. Once you start eating more vegetarian food though, many people find they start to lose their taste for meat. The main thing is to enjoy the food and feel healthier by doing so.

On a final note, consider using either all organic vegetables and fruit, or at least as much as you can source. Organic produce really makes a great deal of difference to the taste and texture, and you have the security of mind that what you are eating is free of pesticides and other chemicals. More information on this will be found in the next article, or on our web site.

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