Showing posts with label BMI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BMI. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A Guide to the Atkins Nutritional Approach

The Atkins Nutritional Approach or Atkins diet is a low-carb diet that restricts the amount of carbohydrates as to covert stored fat to energy. This diet restricts digestible carbohydrates or net carbs that impact blood sugar levels. Preferred foods on the atkins low carb diet are unprocessed foods with a low GI. Some foods with a low glycemic index such as black rice should be avoided. The same goes for white bread, sugar, and other high GI products. The list of allowed foods includes most protein-rich foods such as eggs, seafood, and meats. They have no or little carbohydrates. Most types of cheese contain less than 1 gram of carbs per ounce, but it is important to check labels. Some cheeses have more. You can have cream cheese but avoid farmer’s cheese, cottage cheese, and other fresh cheeses. Adequate fat content is important, and Atkins recommends consuming foods that are rich in natural fats. Trans fats should be avoided. Eat plenty of foods such as cold-water fish and other fish meats that contain omega-3 fatty acids.
You can use grapeseed oil, peanut oil, or canola oil for stir-frying, especially those that are expeller-pressed or cold-pressed. Avoid sunflower, safflower, soy, and corn oil or consume in small amounts. Opt for regular full-fat mayonnaise when choosing mayonnaise. Australian mayonnaise, for example, contains thickening agents, citric acid, flavor enhancers, and sugar. It has macadamia nut oil or other healthy oils, but it is low in fat and high in carbohydrates.  The same rules apply when choosing salad dressings. Check labels and watch for added sugars.

Small amounts of lime or lemon juice (2 – 3 tablespoons) are allowed on the Atkins diet. You can have 10 to 20 olives, 1 ounce of sour cream, or 2 – 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. You can also have low-carb snack bars and other controlled-carb convenience foods and half a small avocado.
Finally, you should avoid anything made with grains, including pastries, cakes, and bread. To find the types of foods on the acceptable food list, look for a low carb diet guide with examples of foods, recipes, and meals.

One important question involves the type of diet that is best for you. One way to find out is to use a bmi formula to calculate your body mass index. People with a body mass index over 40 are considered very severely obese, and those with a BMI between 35 and 40 are severely obese.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

How To Stick To A Low Carb Diet FAQ

Sticking to a low carb diet is not as difficult if you can deal with cravings and are familiar with the basics of the plan.

Foods that are high in carbohydrates should be avoided as well as products which break down to sugars. This group contains white rice, noodles, and pasta. It will not be difficult to stick to your diet of choice if your menu includes products such as poultry, meat, fish, and eggs. Some foods contain carbohydrates but the amount is low enough, and you can safely include them in your diet. Nuts, seeds, tofu, and cheeses are in this group. You can also consume low-carb vegetables such as broccoli, celery, eggplant, green beans, eggplant, and others.

Despite the wide variety of foods to consume, some dieters still find it hard to stick to a low carb diet. To do that, you may want to remove all carbohydrate-rich foods from your kitchen cabinets. Throw or give away all snacks, pretzels, sugar, potato chips, and pasta. Substitute them with low carb vegetables from the above list. Keep fresh greens and lettuce in your fridge and consume them any time you feel hungry. Buy cheeses and prepare cheese platters and cheeseburgers. Try new recipes and cook meals in different ways so that you have a balanced diet. When you are on a low carb diet, you can use grilling and broiling techniques. Prepare some snacks to have on hand. You can boil a couple of eggs or fry some bacon.

If you are worried that a low carb diet means having no carbohydrates, this is not the case. Your dietary plan should be individual. Some argue that dieters on a low carbohydrate diet are at risk of heart disease. Many studies suggest that cholesterol, blood pressure, triglycerides, and other markers of increased risk of heart disease improve with low carb diets. If you have kidney problems, you may also be concerned about sticking to a low carb diet. It has not been shown that high protein diets damage the kidneys, but you can consult your doctor to be on the safe side.

In order to stick to your no carb diet, think of making some small changes at first. Choose 1 or 2 products to exclude from your diet at a time. It is unwise to make rapid changes. This gradual approach can bring good results. You can choose from a number of low carb diets as well. Choose a diet you are comfortable with. If you don't want to search around, you can try the 'no white diet', which many report to work. Basically, you need to avoid products containing sugar, potatoes, white rice, and flour, including cakes, bread, pasta, and donuts. Remember that foods like tofu, cauliflower, and onions are white-colored, but they are a good addition to a low carb diet.

Finding information about low carbs can be as breeze, just visit lose weight fast website.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

How to lose weight fast and eat healthy

For about four decades, the Atkins low carb diet has stood for an effective program to reduce their weight rapidly and healthily. It is based on the principle that the consumption of too many carbohydrates results in getting overweight. The simple reason behind that is that the human body uses carbs and fats to secure the supply of energy but carbs come first. If the body cannot burn all the carbohydrates, it stores them in the form of fat that results in weight gain. Excessive weight usually causes sleepiness, fatigue, poor memory, inability to concentrate, etc. So, in order to avoid or prevent such problems, you should limit the carb intake to less than 40 grams of carbohydrates per day.

Low Carb Foods

* The list of the most popular low carb vegetables includes: asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cabbage, celery, cucumber, kale, lettuce, onions, pepper, parsley, pumpkin, spinach, tomatoes, and turnip.

* Fruits that are best for the Atkins diet include: apples, bananas, berries, grapefruits, lemons, kiwis, melons, oranges, pears, pineapples, plums, and tangerines.

* Your diet may also include dairy products (butter, cheese and cream), meat (pork, beef, and lamb), poultry (chicken, turkey, etc.), fishes (salmon, sardines, trout, anchovies, etc.) and eggs.

Keep in mind that some of these foods are rich in fats, cholesterol and calories.

* Some herbs, spices, and oils have no carbohydrates. You may consume pepper, oregano, thyme, dill, sage and turmeric aw well as olive oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil, corn oil and canola.

* Water, tea and coffee are totally free of carbohydrates.

Remember that you have to exclude all kinds of soft drinks, beer, wine, vodka, etc. when you are on a diet. Some of these drinks contain no carbohydrates but are high in calories. And one more fact: all alcoholic drinks provoke a healthy appetite.

How to Carry out the Atkins Diet Program

The program of the Atkins diet is based on four phases. During the first phase, your carb intake is limited to 20 grams per day, so consuming more salads and other non-starchy vegetables is recommended. During the next phase, you have to add some carbohydrates in the form of fibre-rich foods and increase the carb intake to 25 grams a day the first week. Increase to 30 grams per day during the second week and keep on in the same fashion until you stop losing weight. Then, reduce your daily carb intake with 5 grams so that you start loosing weight again.

The important transition from weight loss to maintaining healthy weight is made during the third phase. You should increase the carb intake in 10-gram increments each week until the moment when the daily weight loss becomes minimal. The final fourth phase builds the foundation for a lifetime of good health. Now, you can choose between various foods while at the same time, you control the carb intake to ensure that you keep your new weight and say healthy.

Monday, November 15, 2010

How much should I weigh

The weight which is just right for your body is determined by several factors, such as sex, age, height, muscle-fat ratio, bone density, etc. However, the ideal body weight depends on ethno-historical, cultural and professional factors, as well. So, if you are neither a fashion model nor a sumo-wrestler, you could use one of the following ways to calculate your ideal body weight: Body Mass Index, Waist-hip Ratio and Body Fat Percentage.

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure that relates your weight to your height. You can calculate it by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. For example: if you are a woman who is 1.60 meters tall and weighs 60 kilograms, your BMI is 23.44 (1.60 x 1.60 = 2.56; next: 60 divided by 2.56 =23.44).
If you use imperial units instead of metric ones, you should time (703) your weight in pounds and divide it by the square of your height in inches. For example: if your weight is 150 pounds and your height is 65 inches, your BMI is 24.95 (65 x 65 = 4225; 150 x 703 divided by 4225 =24.95).

Your weight is ideal if your BMI ranges between 18.5 and 25. You are underweight if your BMI is less than 18.5, and overweight with a BMI between 25 and 30. People with a BMI over 30 are classified as obese. However, the biggest problem with the BMI is the fact that BMI ignores some factors of great importance, such as bone density, muscle-fat ratio, waist-hip ratio, etc. For instance, people suffering from severe osteoporosis have very low levels of bone density. So, they would have a lower BMI than others of the same height who are healthy. The trained athletes have more muscle tissue and less body fat than will have couch potatoes of the same height. For this reason, athletes have a higher BMI.

Waist-hip Ratio (WHR) is the ratio of your waist's circumference to that of your hips. To calculate your WHR, you need to measure the circumference of your waist (just above the belly button) and the circumference of your hips (at their widest part). Then, you have to divide the first result by the second one. For instance: if your waist is 60 centimeters and your hips are 90 centimeters, your WHR is 0.67.
The WHR determines the ideal weight of a person and the risk of cardiovascular health problems, as well:

For females:* WHR less than 0.8 - low risk
* WHR between 0.8 and 0.89 - moderate risk
* WHR over 0.89 - high risk

For males:* WHR less than 0.9 - low risk
* WHR between 0.9 and 0.99 - moderate risk
* WHR over 0.99 - high risk

The problem with the WHR is the lack of measurement on the muscle-fat ratio, but the WHR is a more effective predictor of the ideal body weight than the BMI.
The Body Fat Percentage (BFP) is the ratio of your body fat divided by your total weight. BFP also indicates the person's storage of fat. The most popular ways of calculating the BFP are: dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, near-infrared interactance, and bioelectrical impendance analysis.