Tag: Health Canada

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Weight Loss Exercise

How to measure your body shape

There are many ways to calculate your size and weight. Weight is easy with a scale but the way to measure your size is usually done using the Body Mass Index, a measurement I have never been a big fan of. Here is that and more. This info is from Health Canada but even if you are not a Canadian I think it is still relelvent.

Body Mass Index
The body mass index (BMI) assesses body weight relative to height. You can calculate your BMI by taking your weight in kilograms and dividing

it by your height in metres squared (BMI = kg/m2) or your weight in pounds divided by the square of your height in inches and multiplying that number by 704.5 (BMI = Ib/in2 x 704.5). But you don’t need to do the math yourself. You can check your BMI on a standard BMI table found in many pharmacies and medical offices. If you have access to the Internet, there are many interactive BMI calculators that will do the math for you after you enter your height and weight.

How to measure your body shape

Once you know your BMI, you can use it to help determine how healthy your weight is in relation to your height.

  • BMI below 18.5 is considered underweight.
  • BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered the normal, healthy range.
  • BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered over­weight.
  • BMI over 30 is considered obese.

The BMI is only one indicator of a healthy weight. It has limitations and does not apply to children, pregnant women, or people with very muscular bodies. If your BMI falls outside what is generally considered healthy, ask your doctor what would be a healthy range for you.

Hip-to-Waist Ratio

Fat stored around the abdomen (the “apple­shaped” body) raises the risk of cardiovascular disease more than fat stored in the hip area (the”pear-shaped” body), so the hip-to-waist ratio (HWR) can be a useful tool in determining your risk of weight-related health problems.

To calculate your HWR, measure your waist at the smallest part-generally a few centimetres above your navel-then measure your hips at the widest point, including your buttocks. Now divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement to determine your hip-to-waist ratio.

Women with an HWR greater than 0.8 and men with an HWR greater than 1 .0 have a higher risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes and should try to reduce their abdominal body fat.

Waist Circumference

Another easy tool for determining if your weight is in the healthy range is the waist circumference (WC). A WC of 88 cm (35 in.) or more in women or 102 cm (40 in.) or more in men carries a higher risk for health problems.

Achieving a Healthy Weight

To encourage healthy eating, Health Canada has developed Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating, which outlines the four main food groups and explains which foods fall into which group and how many servings we should choose from each group every day. A copy of this guide is available at www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide­alimenVindex_e.html. Recently, the Food Guide was expanded to include a variety of multicultural variations. They are available in a number of languages at www.nutritionrc.ca/guide.html.

One of the keys to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is portion control. A number of studies have shown that many people under­estimate the number of calories they consume daily, primarily because they don’t understand how much is in “a portion.” Here is a practical way of estimating the size of a portion of some common foods.

  • Vegetables fruit: about the size of your fist
  • Pasta or rice: about the size of one scoop of ice cream
  • Meat, fish, or poultry: about the size of a deck of cards or the size of your palm (without the fingers)
  • Cheese: about the size of a pair of dice or the size of your thumb from the tip to the base

Physical Activity

Although dieting alone can help you lose weight, adding exercise into your daily schedule can speed up the process. The goal of exercise in a weight loss program is to help burn more calories. Exercise itself, apart from its role in weight loss, has many health benefits-even for people whose weight is in the healthy range. But before you start any exercise program, check with your doctor to make sure that the activity you are planning is appropriate in terms of your age, overall health, and state of physical fitness.

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Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

A new type of Canada Food Guide?


Earlier I mentioned how I like the idea of the Canada Food Guide but I really do not like the ratios of foods. Here is how I would change things if I had the choice.

I am not sure how much you know about the Canada Food Guide but the idea is that the Canadian government has come up with a list a lot like the US food pyramid that list a type of guidline of what you should eat every day. There has always been arguments from people that the meat, milk, and grain lobby all have too much influence as well as the fact that a lot of people that have problems with lactose or gluten intolerance, as well as vegetarians are not really recognized in the Canada Food Guide.

Last year Health Canada radically revamped the Canada Food Guide and it is much better as it looks at age, sex, and other factors. Anyway I have my own ideas of what I would like to see as basics of the Canada Food Guide even though they have done a great job at Health Canada I think lots of people will not follow the more complex guidelines and are instead looking for a set of simple rules.

My Canada Food Guide

A new type of Canada Food Guide?8 glasses of water a day
I don’t care that water is not food. Water is still a nutrient that people need for a healthy diet and most people do not drink any water let alone a little bit. Adding water to the food guide would be a great addition

3-5 small servings of meat or fish
I know that meat and fish are not th only place to get protein but at least mentioning fish again would add to the options. Also most people think that a serving of meat is an 8 ounce steak, not a can of tuna but the can of tuna is just as good. Your body just can not metabolize a big steak.

3-5 servings of vegetables

3-5 servings of fruit
Why is it that fruits and vegetables have always been lumped together? Fruits are great for their high water content and antioxidants and Vegetables are great for minerals including iron and Calcium. I know that this is a generalization but it would be nice to see people eating more of both fruits and vegetables. Oh, and tater tots and french fries are not a vegetable no matter what my brother in law thinks.

2-3 servings of high fiber grains
The idea of lots of breads I believe is outdated as a nitritous food group, instead I beleive it would be good to have reference to high fiber foods and to have examples.

Serving sizes for My Canada Food Guide
Come on governments on both sides of the border, it would be nice to have a better idea, not just in print but in news papers and TV, of what a serving size really is. The biggest poblem facing most people is not the junk and misplaced nutrients but instead it is a lack of idea of what serving sizes really are. A bowl of food or cup of coffee is a great sized breakfast but a giant plate of food is not quite enough for dinner? We need to get the word out about what is a good meal morning, noon, and night.

I know that there is a lot more to a good diet than these few things but I look at this as a guide, a way to look at a days food, not the everything that we eat in a day.

Do you have better ideas? Let me know. I would love to add a few more things to this list of my Canada Food Guide in a follow up.


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