How to Calculate Your Body Mass Index

The Body Mass Index or BMI as it is known in it short form is a calculation that estimates whether or not you are at a healthy weight.  This is important as being overweight puts a strain on your heart and can lead to health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, varicose veins, sleep apnea, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

How Does It Work?

Your BMI estimates how much you should weigh, based on your height. Here are the steps that are used to  calculate this formula:

• Multiply your weight in pounds by 703.
• Divide that answer by your height in inches.
• Divide that answer by your height in inches again.
• For example, a woman who weighs 270 pounds and is 68 inches tall has a BMI of 41.0.

The BMI is a set of standards known as the Body Mass Index Categories. The standards are stated as below.

BMI CATEGORY 

• Below 18.5    Underweight
• 18.5 - 24.9     Healthy
• 25.0 - 29.9     Overweight
• 30.0 - 39.9     Obese
• Over 40          Morbidly obese

Most experts conclude that a BMI greater than 30 (obesity) is unhealthy. The greater it is the more likely you are to develop a health production.

BMI may become important when it comes time to apply for health insurance. You can be denied health insurance if you have a BMI over 30.

Results or Effects

Calculating your BMI is usually an accurate way to determine whether or not you can lose weight. This is true unless you are very old, a child or a body builder.

The reason that the standard BMI calculations may not apply to body builders is because they usually have more muscle and muscle weighs more than fat. This throws the calculation off. Fitness experts and trainers have other ways of calculating body index mass for body builders.

The elderly are expected to have a BMI that is between 25 and 27 and not under 25. This is because being too thin is not a sign of health in the elderly. Having more BMI is an indication that their bones are not developing osteoporosis.

The BMI is not an appropriate tool to use estimate a child’s fitness. To make a correct assessment of a child’s BMI there are numerous factors to consider. That is why it is best to have a doctor decide whether or not your child has a health body mass index.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

 

Take Control of Your Life By Eating Alkaline Food

You have probably heard the saying that if you don’t have your health, then you don’t have anything in life.  Embarking on a Health & Active program is all about regaining your health in total so that you are back in the “driver seat” when it comes to how well you feel on a daily basis.   

How well we feel on a daily basis depends on what kind of fuel we put in our body.  In many ways, we become what we eat.

Another metaphor that applies here is exercise.  Running your body without exercise is like running a car without a tune-up. Sooner or later your health just breaks down.

Feeling Unwell is a Call to “Go Alkaline”

Whenever your body sends you a symptom, such as weight gain, fatigue and high blood pressure, it is a sign that all is not well and that is time to make some lifestyle changes. It is a biochemical “flag” that is waving wildly to warn you that it is time to change your diet and eat alkaline to prevent your body’s pH from becoming so acidic that your cells begin to suffer from free radical damage. 

An acidic blood pH level causes most disease. This is corrected by eating foods that are considered to be alkaline.  Do not take this idea literally. Just because something is sour, does not mean it is acidic.  This way of looking at food is about biochemistry.  Some foods are simply more alkaline than others and when you embark on a Healthy & Active Program you will begin to learn which foods are acidic and which are alkaline.

For instance, smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and colas, and eating refined sugars and starches and lots of fatty red meat creates an acidic amino acid profile in your blood. Eating raw, vegan and fresh as much as is possible for you helps to create an alkaline condition in your body that is repellent to free radical damage to your cells. Disease cannot find a foothold in a body that is mostly alkaline.

Healthy & Active Living Prevents Acidosis

Healthy and active living means getting enough exercise and eating alkaline foods so that you can prevent your body from going into a state of acidosis.  Once the body enters acidosis, you begin to experience issues such as phlegm, inflammation, lowered immunity and joint pain. If a state of acidosis is left to fester than you are at risk of cellular degeneration, premature aging and disease.

Acidosis is a problem that is easily solved because preventing it is all about diligence and making the right choices when it comes to your diet. Many people experience relief from symptoms almost immediately when they switch their diet to alkaline foods. Some people go through what is called a “healing crisis” caused by the body throwing off the poisons and toxins it was storing in the liver, blood and the fat as the result of being in a state of acidosis.

For many individuals all that this entails is cutting sugar, junk food and refined foods and trading them in for fresh raw foods, juices, smoothies, salads and homemade meals.

The good news is that you do not have to embark on this type of program without guidance.  For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

Too Much Salt Equals Bloat and Weight Gain!

If you are experiencing bloating, puffiness and high blood pressure then it might be time for you to reduce your salt intake. This is difficult for some people, who crave salty snacks so badly that you could describe them as having a “salt tooth.”  Salt can be as bad as sugar when it comes to preventing you from shedding the pounds.  That is because if you consume too much salt your cells with overdose on sodium. Foods high in sodium have a way of expanding fat cells and making them impervious to the release of fat or water content.

Balancing the Body’s Electrolytes

Consuming too much sodium can have a terrible effect on your body’s electrolytes. The two most significant electrolytes that our bodies use are sodium and potassium. They “spark” off of each other to create energy and if we have too much of one element or then we short-circuit our systems and feel lousy. It is easy to consume too much sodium on a daily basis and a lot harder to overdose on potassium. The body become acid and without sufficient potassium levels, it becomes harder for the body to pump fluids through the tissues.

Symptoms of Sodium Overload

One of the main symptoms of sodium overload is belly bloating along with fatigue and a general feeling of malaise. In serious cases, you might also experience ringing in the ears.

Most people become puffy looking. Their hands and fingers swell and there may be enhanced bags under the eyes. This is because the when water cannot be moved easily through out tissues, it builds up just below the skin causing all kinds of swelling. This condition can become so severe over time that women cannot pull their wedding rings off or fit into their jeans or their shoes.

Yet another symptom of a sodium/potassium imbalance is “feeling hot” all of the time. That is because too much salt in the body might actually cause a real rise in body temperature.

Hidden Sources of Sodium in Our Diets

Sodium hides in many different forms and is often present in high amounts in the following foods

• Anchovies
• Artificial creamers in liquid and powdered form
• Asian food including Chinese, Thai and Korean
• Breads
• Cheeses, especially blue cheese, cheddar, feta, Parmesan and cottage cheese
• Commercial breakfast cereals and instant hot breakfast cereals
• Canned Fish like tuna, salmon, kippers or sardineCanned soups and chillies
• Cola
• Fish sauce
• Frozen diet entrees                                      
• Hot sauces
• Olives
• Powdered drink mixes
• Pickles of any kind!
• Ramen noodles
• Soya Sauce

Needless to say is that all junk foods tend to have high sodium contents and so do many low-fat foods.  In low-fat foods sodium is added to compensate for the absence of sugar and fats.

The best way to avoid salt is to carefully read ingredient labels before you buy a product to make sure that it is not a hidden source of salt.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41)440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

Understanding Calorie Afterburn

For years, people were taught that the more sweat, the more calories you will lose. This is not exactly true, especially if the exercises you are doing are not effective at raising your basal metabolism. Your basal metabolism is a measure of how many calories you are burning when your body is at rest or just doing ordinary things such as sitting at a computer or watching television.

The truth is that when it comes to overall calorie burning, aerobic exercise is a little bit overrated. This is because aerobic exercise builds very little muscle.  Muscle is a key component of burning calories. That is because muscle burns up to an additional fifty calories a day just to keep that muscle in operation. Even if you can manage to add six pounds of muscles, you will find yourself burning an additional 300 calories a day even when your body is at rest.

Low Intensity Aerobics Can Rob The Body of Protein

Most people prefer to do low intensity aerobics rather than anaerobic exercises such as Pilates or weight –lifting. However, it is not that great of an ideal to do a long stint of low intensity aerobic exercise simply because aerobic exercises like biking, running and jogging require a great deal breath and cell respiration. As you continue to do the low-intensity exercise, your body calls upon glycogen (the stored form of carbohydrate in your muscles and the liver) to operate.  It only takes about twenty minutes of low intensity exercise to deplete your glycogen store. To keep going your body turns to the next readily available source of energy in your body, which is the protein in your muscles.  Your body will then burn about 5 to 6 grams of protein for every half hour of ongoing aerobic exercise.

The problem with this approach to exercise is that you are losing protein, rather than fat as you exercise and also diminishing your muscle mass.  This will ultimately slow you down, make you hungry and make it harder for you to lose weight.

The Principle of  Calorie Afterburn

Although it is true that you lose more calories while doing aerobic exercise then you do lifting weights but only during the exercise period, you need to take the calorie afterburn that is possible after each.  The metabolic effect of aerobics only lasts about thirty to sixty minutes whereas the effects of weight training lasts as long as 48 hours. That is two days more of an opportunity for your body to burn off additional fat.

The message here is that aerobic exercise essentially only really burns calories at the time of the workout while strength training is the “gift that keeps on giving”. You will continue to burn calories after you leave the gym, while you eat dinner, while you watch television, while you are in bed and all the next day.  This is why it is recommended that you do circuit training that involves a bit of both styles of exercise in order to lose as much weight as possible.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41)440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

Understanding The Role of Basal Metabolism in a Healthy and Active Lifestyle

In general, the metabolism can be understood as being the rate at which your body burns calories just to keep itself alive.  You need calories to keep your heart beating and the blood pumping through your arteries. It is a fallacy to think you are not burning calories when you are at rest.

Your body is burning calories all of the time, even when you sitting as still as possible or asleep. In fact, you body burns a certain amount of calories per pound just to maintain body weight every day. The average woman burns about 10 calories per pound every day and the average man, about 11 calories per pound.

You Burn Calories When You Eat

Not many people realize this but you actually burn calories when you eat. About 30% of the calories that you burn each day are actually burned by the act of digestion. However, your body uses far more calories to digest a protein then it does a carbohydrate. You burn about 25 calories for every 100 calories of protein consumed and only about ten for every fat and carbohydrate you burn. This is why it is recommended that you eat lean healthy proteins to lose weight.

You Burn Calories Through Exercise

Every day you burn ten to fifteen percent of your calories as the result of moving your muscles. It does not matter what activity you do, you are burning carbohydrates every time you run, walk, lean over, flip a page in a book or press a key on the remote.  It is not really possible to burn more calories than fifteen percent a day, which is why it is important to lead a happy and healthy lifestyle and exercise as much as possible on a regular basis.

The Importance of Basal Metabolism

When fitness experts talk about the basal metabolism, they are referring to the calories that you burn per day when you are doing nothing at all.  Sleeping, watching television and sitting at you desk burn up between sixty and eighty percent of your available calories. That is because your body is at work all of the time, dividing cells, engaging in cell respiration and disposing of toxins.

The basal metabolism rate refers to the calorie burn that comes from the physiological functions that we don’t even think about or are not aware of it. That is why it is so important to eat foods and adopt a lifestyle that raises the basal rate of your metabolism so that all of your downtime is actually fat-burning time.  This is also why restricting calories works better than trying work off calories through constant exercise. Constant exercise works in shedding off the pounds to some extent but if you really want to lose weight it comes down to consuming less calories.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41)440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.