What Is BMI (Body Mass Index) Used For?

What is BMI? Your body mass index is a number used to find how close you are to a healthy weight.  The categories range from “underweight” to “normal” to “overweight” and up to “obese” based on long term health risks seen over years of research.  Basically if you are in a category that is not marked as “normal” you have a greater chance of ending up with a chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes, or even some forms of cancer.

You Call That A Serving?

If you are calorie-conscious and care at all about what you’re eating, you’re probably an avid label reader.  Whenever you pick up a new item at the store you check to see the calorie content, maybe the fat or sugar content, and perhaps  you peruse the ingredients to see if there are any trans fats or high-fructose corn syrup.  But if you don’t check the portion size that the label declares is “a serving”, the rest of the information is null and void!

Focusing On Health, Not Thinness

If you’re reading this, chances are you’re either on a diet or you’re maintaining weight that you lost whilst dieting. Are your diets just about being healthier? Or are you focused on becoming thin?

Of course, the two aren’t inseparable: if you’re obese, you do need to lose weight (and get thinner) to be healthy. But too many dieters, especially women, prize “thinness” above everything else – including their health.

The Monster Iced Honey Bun

Fridays I work in our local food pantry to aid in dispensing food assistance and nutritional information to folks who could use a little help.  We have a number of staple items we purchase from monetary donations, and we dispense eggs, milk, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta and rice and other grain products.  We get all sorts of food donations, too, and you never know what a group, a church, or a store will send over.  Sometimes we’re lucky enough to get  loads of noodle soups,  boxes of cereal, or cans of sweet potatoes just when we’ve run out.

Spray Away the Calories

If you haven’t tried some of the products you can spray on your food to save calories, I am here to tell you about two I use faithfully, and one I just found out about.

First, my favorite:  spray butter.  It is a fantastic idea!  It’s not necessarily all that different in composition than other spreads you might use for your bread, potatoes, or pancakes.  But the fact that you spritz out droplets that cover a large area without having to melt gobs of a more solid product onto your food—that’s calorie saving.  Just one teaspoon of butter has 45 calories.  It’s hard to melt that into an English muffin full of nooks and crannies, or spread it alll over a soft roll without tearing the bread.  “I can’t believe it’s not butter” spray has less than one calorie in five sprays.   Even if takes you 20 or 30 sprays to cover your entire bagel in the morning, it’s not more than 5 or 6 calories.

Finding a Balance Between “Hungry” and “Stuffed”

One of the challenges for many dieters is retraining their stomach and brain to understand hunger cues and appropriate levels of fullness.

If you’ve been overeating for years, you may be habitually carrying on past the point of fullness. Rediscovering a “normal” portion size is a shock to many people, but you might also be surprised how easily you’re satisfied with less. You’ll also find that you appreciate food much more when you have an appetite for it, rather than when you’re eating simply because food is there.

Five Higher-Calorie Healthy Foods That You Should Be Eating

When you’re on a diet, it’s easy to fall into the trap of fretting over every last calorie. Many dieters avoid some super-healthy foods just because they have a few more calories than alternatives. Here are five high-calorie but high-nutrition foods that you should work into your diet (just be careful about portion sizes.)

1. Avocado

A great addition to salads (and the main ingredient in guacamole), the avocado is one of the best fruits you can eat. Yes, half a medium-sized avocado contains 140 calories – but it also contains 8g of fiber, 430mg of potassium and a dose of healthy mono-unsaturated fat.

All You Can Eat? Uh Oh!

As you are reading this, I will be on a beach in sunny Jamaica.  I am not telling you this to make you jealous (well, maybe I am a little!) but to share with you the experience of spending five days in an all-inclusive resort which includes “All You Can Eat”.  It sounds dangerous to me, finding out exactly how much I can eat.  It implies that to get my money’s worth and enjoy myself fully, I should be trying every single food there is available and stuffing in as much as I can.   Well, you should know that one of my favorite sayings is “Cleaning your plate makes your food go to waist!”  Eating all I can stuff in is definitely not good for the waistline, let alone the heart, pancreas, and other body functions.

What to Look For on Food Labels

Food labels were designed both to inform and to protect the consumer.  The FDA closely monitors the contents and claims about foods so you can be assured you are getting what the label says you are!  However, you do have to be an informed consumer and know what to look for.  Here are a few tips so you aren’t mislead:

1.  Read the ingredient panel to clarify the label claims. When a juice carton says “contains 100% real juice” it means simply that there is juice in the product (read: ‘contains’); not that you are getting only juice.  In other words, there can be water, sugar, and other additives as well in addition to the juice. So look at the ingredients to see exactly what you are getting.  This is not illegal, but it’s certainly misleading.

Lose Twenty Five Pounds Without Dieting

photo credit: VirtualErn

Do you ever think what you eat today doesn’t matter in the long run? Do you believe you’ll just ‘work it off’ tomorrow? Do you hate depriving yourself of a side of fries or a quick candy bar pick-me-up?

Newsflash! All it takes is cutting 250 calories a day to lose half a pound a week. Certainly nothing you’ll notice at the end of the week, but by New Year’s Eve you can lose six pounds, and by this time next year, a whopping 25! You don’t need to go on a diet or start jogging every morning for this to happen. Just start paying attention to those very-high-calorie items and either skip them or replace them with something less fattening.

The Rice and Beans Diet – Inspiried by Dave Ramsey

For the millions of you that are familiar with FPU (Financial Peace University) Dave Ramsey’s rice and beans diet is old news.  With his principles of getting out of debt, this “rice and beans” diet represents exercising self control on several different levels.

Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio host and author of the best selling book: The Total Money Makeover that has helped millions eliminate debt, and change the financial future for many families.  If you have the book or listened to the radio show, you have heard both callers and Dave talk about living off of beans and rice. Let’s pretend for a moment that Dave literally meant to eat rice and beans at every meal.

Are These Calories Worth It?

Taking a moment to think before you eat can save you lots of calories! Becoming aware is the first step to making changes. Try starting a new habit of asking yourself a few questions before you indulge in a treat. The answers may lead you to some relatively easy weight loss!