Diet and healthy weight loss
 The term ‘diet’ has become a casualty of a living language. Although, the recently-updated Affordable Care Act has more folks paying attention to their overall health and wellbeing. The original definition referred to a person’s whole mode of life - the food they consumed each and every day which was affected by geography, climate, food availability, culture, religion, personal preference, socio-economic, convenience and hopefully health.
In the wake of the massive number of weight reduction plans and restrictive eating plans for a variety of outcomes and reasons that are on the market ‘diet’ now generally refers most to weight loss programmes.
When looking at our diets (regular intake of food and beverages) we need to consider the intake of appropriate levels of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fibre, calories, vitamins, minerals, etc, take into account our daily levels of exercise and physical excursion and any medical factors that will influence choices such as diabetes and high cholesterol. We need to be especially aware of the contents of processed foods and drinks as they often contain high levels of sugar, sodium, fats, calories and chemical preservatives and artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners which are used in sugar free products and ‘diet’ drinks - especially in cases of high levels of aspartame are poisonous to the body for those who ingest these products in high quantities.
 If one of your personal issues is that you are overweight and wish to lose some poundage, it becomes very daunting when looking for advice on the subject that will help you reduce your weight in a manner that will be healthy, not an overwhelming stress on you and be a lifestyle change you can adapt to and maintain.
The quickest methods of determining if you are overweight are:
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Check on a weight/height chart.
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/healthy-living/Pages/height-weight-chart.aspx
2. Check on the BMI calculator - Body Mass Index (BMI) Calculator
http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyweightcalculator.aspx
Overweight is classed as 25kg/m squared
Another method would be to measure your waist circumference (measured at the top of the hip bone in line with the naval) which to calculate the levels of fat tissue at the abdomen level. A waist circumference over 88cm for women and 102cm for men (of regular muscular makeup) is an indicator of abdominal obesity.
© Kayt Cooper - Diet and Nutrition Advisor |
