Make Better Diet Choices

The New Year is the time for celebration, reminiscing, and change. Anything from watching less television or working on a promotion can be considered a positive change. Many people mark the new year as a way to a analyze these changes. Weight loss and health are also very popular new years resolutions. A solution to health is simple, a healthier diet and plenty of exercise.

Best Wishes and Good Luck for 2009!

Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You is a mostly vegan cookbook that provides a simple approach to healthier cooking. Containing more than 230 recipes, Clean Food allows you to prepare amazing foods using local, seasonal...

As the first female winner of TV’s "Biggest Loser," Ali Vincent lost 112 pounds, about 47 percent of her body weight, during the show's fifth season. Her debut memoir, Believe It, Be It: How Being the Biggest Loser Won Me Back My Life, is a look at how this once 234-pound Biggest Loser contestant not only...

The most important reasons to start a weight-loss program are to look and feel great and to reduce the risk of health complications, such as heart disease and diabetes. Before you start, however, it is important to assess your current starting point as it is to set your final goal. It is just as important to define your current starting point, yuo must assess how much you weigh now and how much weight you need to lose. The are three things you need in order to determine your overall physical condition: your height and weight measurements along with your Body Mass Index (BMI). A final piece of information that you need to determine your weight-loss goals is your family history.

Your Body Mass Index (BMI) is a measure of body fat based on height and weight that applies to all adult men and women. It allows people to assess their current physical status using a standard to compare it to. We need a standard because body composition can vary greatly from individual to individual. Two people who possess the same height and weight can have different bone structure and varying percentages of muscle and fat. Therefore, your weight alone is not the only factor in assessing your risk for weight-related health issues. Your BMI also can help indicate whether or not your health is at risk.

For adults 18 years and older, the first step is to measure your height and weight. Then, plug those two numbers in the the follow formula to find your BMI. BMI = Weight in Pounds divided by (Height in inches) x (Height in inches). Then multiply that by 703 and you have your BMI.

If your BMI falls within the range of 19 to 24.9, you are considered healthy. If you BMI is less than 18.5, you are considered underweight. If you BMI lands from 25 to 29.9, you are considered overweight and have an increased risk of developing health problems. Finally, if your BMI is 30 or above, you are considered obese. If you fall into the last two categories, it is essential to start or manage your weight loss program.