Strength for Her

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measurement of body fat calculated using height and weight. It is used as an indicator of body “fatness”, or the amount of body fat versus lean mass. People are advised to keep their BMI within the normal range for maximum health.

Over recent years, the BMI concept has been criticized for being oversimplified. Because it only takes two factors into consideration – weight and height – it can be highly inaccurate in certain individuals. It allows no variations for different builds or body compositions.

For example, Continue reading…

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This is the first post in a new series, Super Foods. This series will highlight great nutrient-dense foods that should be incoroporated into a healthy diet.

 Avocaodos used to get a bad rap because of their high fat and calorie content. Yes, they are calorie-dense and contain lots of fat. But these delicious green fruits contain heart-healthy monostaurated fats, along with many other beneficial nutrients. They do provide a lot of calories, so weight-watches need to watch portion sizes. But rest assured that your calories will be put to good use and your taste buds will rejoice!

 Along with heart-healthy monosaturated fats, avocados provide a good dose of folate, potassium, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, and fiber. Avocados may be beneficial in lowering bad cholesterol, improving blood pressure, promoting hearth health, and possibly fighting cancer. All this, and they taste great too!

Suggested Uses:

• Toss sliced or cubed avocado in green salads
• Mix with olive oil, red onion, cilantro, and mango to make a salsa to put over baked fish or chicken
• Mash with garlic, onion, jalapeno, and a dash of lime juice to make guacamole dip for carrot and celery sticks
• Top wheat bread with jam, cheese, and avocado slices
• Mix avocado cubes with diced fresh tomotoes, olive oil, and fresh basil and serve as bruchetta on top of toasted baguettes
• Add slices to lean turkey and roast beef sandwiches for an extra flavor boost

For more information about avocados, click here.

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One reason that so many Americans struggle with their weight is that serving sizes have dramatically increased over the years. It’s easy overestimate what makes an individual serving. You may be surprised to see that many times it’s only a fraction of what we typically allow ourselves to eat. It can be easy to overindulge when we don’t look at this information carefully.

For example, some larger soda and juice bottles have 1.5 or 2 serving in a single bottle. Many people would assume that a bottle is a single serving. If you only glance at the calorie content, you’ll only see half or ¾ of what the total calories are for the entire bottle. This is why it’s so important to take this information into consideration. There’s no reason you can’t have two servings, but you should know that you’re then taking in twice the calories as listed in the nutritional info, and plan the rest of your food intake accordingly (check out How to Read Nutritional Information for more info).

It can be harder figure out portion size for cooked foods, especially those that don’t have nutritional information readily available, like fresh meats and produce. This is when a site like fitday.com can be very useful.

Even so, it can be hard to approximate what a cup of pasta or rice looks like when cooked. The chart below can be helpful. Don’t worry – although this information can be overwhelming at first, after practicing it for awhile it will become second nature. You won’t have to look up calorie content forever.

Food Group:	Serving Size:	Imagine size as:
Meat, Poultry, or Fish	3-4 ounces	Deck of cards
Pasta, Rice, Potatoes	½ cup	Tennis ball
Cheese	1.5 ounce	4 dice
Nuts	1/3 cup	2 C batteries
Fruit	1 medium fruit	Tennis ball
Leafy Vegetables	1 cup	Tennis Ball
Chopped Vegetables	½ cup	Ice Cream scoop
Peanut Butter	1 Tablespoon	Ping Pong Ball

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One of the first steps in learning to eat healthy is to understand which foods are good choices and which aren’t. We’ve already learned about Carbohydrates, Protein, and Fat in the Nutrition 101 series. Most foods have more than one, or all three components present in some amount. So how do you know exactly what makes up your food?

This is where nutritional information comes in handy. You can find nutritional information on practically every packaged food. For those foods that aren’t packaged, like vegetables and meats, you can use a resource like Fitday.com to look up the nutritional info. Many chain restaurants also have nutritional information available on their websites. It can be a dose of reality to see how many calories what you thought was a healthy sandwich from Panara contains! But denial won’t get us to our healthy eating goals.

When you’re first learning how to eat healthy, it’s a good idea to look at the nutritional information of everything you eat. You may be surprised at the calorie or fat content of some foods! After awhile, you’ll begin to understand which foods are very calorie-dense, high in fat, or loaded with fiber. By knowing what’s in your food, you can make smart choices about food for your healthy eating goals.

Before you can utilize the nutritional information on the chart, you have to understand how to read it. Some charts will be much more extensive than others, but all American foods are required to have at least a minimum of some information included. Take a look at the picture of the nutritional information of a banana for an example.

How to read nutritional information:

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In a previous article, Estimating Daily Calorie Needs, we learned that our most of the calories we eat are used by our bodies to perform everyday internal cellular processes. This amount of calories, or energy, needed just to keep our organs functioning is refered to as Basal Metabolic Rate. It varies based on factors such as age, gender, metabolism, and weight. Although there's no way to figure out an exact BMR, you can get an idea of your approximate BMR with the calculator below:

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An article in CNN suggests that snacking can help with moods, energy levels, appetite, and weight control.  

“There’s even evidence that spreading calories out in frequent mini-meals and snacks requires less insulin, which can reduce your risk of developing diabetes,” says David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Yale Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Connecticut. “Snacking helps you avoid the waning of energy that comes with consuming large meals.”

 My thoughts: Snacking is a very individual thing. For me, I control my weight better when I stick to only eating during planned meals. At times, I feel snacking simply whets my appetite and makes me hungry for more, whereas if I wait, the urge for food doesn’t sneak up until mealtime. But for some, snacks provide a needed energy boost and a way to control appetite and avoid overeating at mealtimes.

The most important thing is choosing the right snacks. The article mentions how most ’snack foods’ tend to be things that are high in calories and easy to overeat, like chips, pretzels, popcorn, etc. By avoiding these for better quality snacks, like fruits, vegetables, nuts, or other protein, snacking can be part of a healthy and balanced diet.

“The danger in snacking is that it can add extra calories to your day,” Katz says. “By consuming 100 calories per day above what your body needs to maintain its weight, you can gain 10 pounds in a year.” That’s why it’s important to budget calories for snacks, perhaps by shaving some calories from your meals. If you normally consume 1,800 calories per day, you might divide that into 500 calories for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then allow yourself two 150-calorie snacks.

Read the whole article here.

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In a previous article, Estimating Daily Calorie Needs, we discussed what factors go into figuring out how many calories your body needs each day. Here's a handy tool to help you calculate your daily caloric needs. This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which is more recent and supposedly more accurate than some older calculators based on the Harris-Benedict equation. Still, no calculation can give you an exact number for your caloric needs. Use this calculator as a starting point to figuring out how much food your body needs to operate.

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1. Choose whole complex carbs like brown rice, whole wheat bread, and whole wheat pastas over refined complex ‘white’ carbs like white rice, white bread, and white pasta.

2. Choose unsaturated fats, like olives, olive oils, avocados, and fatty fish.

3. Avoid trans fats and limit saturated fats.

4. The more processed a food is, the less healthy. Choose foods that are as close to the source as they come – whole vegetables from the produce section, raw meats and fish. Avoid foods that come in complex packaging – usually they’re more processed.

5. Choose leaner meats. Meat is a good source of protein, but meat can be full of heart clogging saturated fat. Choose leaner cuts of beef and pork. Choose white poultry meat over dark, which has more fat, and avoid eating the skin.

6. Choose olive oil or other heart-healthy oils over butter or margarine.

7. Eat dark and colorful fruits and vegetables. Dark green foods like spinach and other greens, and rich, colorful fruits are full of antioxidants which improve health.

8. Choose foods that are grilled, broiled, baked, or poached. These cooking processes usually don’t add much fat. Avoid fried foods.

9. Incorporate fiber-rich foods like legumes into your diet.

10. Cut back on foods that offer no nutritional value, like sweets, sodas, and alcohol.

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Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulemia have long been considered a problem for young women. However, a new article suggests that a growing number of women in their 30s, 40s, and 50s are seeking treatment for disordered eating.

Women over 30 who seek treatment tend to fall into three categories, said Holly Grishkat, who directs outpatient programs at Renfrew. Some have had an eating disorder for years. Others had a disorder in remission that resurfaced because of new stress in life, such as a divorce or loss of a parent. A third group, the smallest of the three, includes women who develop an eating disorder late in life.

Read the whole article here.

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