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Childhood Obesity
Not long ago, my neighbor took her 6 year old son to his pediatrician for a routine examination. After which she was shocked to learn that the twenty pounds he had gained in the past year placed him on the charts as obese. Her son had always been...
Crave Sweets? On the Weight & Mood Roller Coaster? Perhaps It's More Than You Think!
The sugar industry and the food manufacturers are capitalizing BIG TIME on the addictive nature of carbohydrates (sweets, breads, deserts) in the human body. Blood sugar-handling problems promote arteriosclerosis (plaque in the arteries),...
Cybill Shepherd and the Irritable Bowel
Cybill Shepherd has revealed that she suffers from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The star of Moonlighting and Taxi Driver says that she has struggled with her symptoms for many years, and is now hoping to raise awareness of IBS and encourage...
Diabetes: Breast-feeding May Help Babies and Women Against Diabetes
Babies and women may be protected against developing diabetes
disease through breast feeding, according to new research. This
current study states that the longer women nursed, the lower
their risks of developing diabetes.
Diabetes as a...
Ditch The Fizz - Sugar-free Creates Obesity In Children
From Dr. Janet Starr Hull's website Splenda Exposed:
http://www.splendaexposed.com/
The percentage of overweight children has tripled in the past two
decades, and the percentage of obese adults has doubled. Even when we factor
in bad...
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Complete Your Own Fitness Assessment At Home!
To get anywhere, you need to know where you’re starting from and when it comes to weight loss that means giving yourself a basic fitness assessment.
This can be depressing for most people because the results confirm what they have been avoiding: they’re overweight, unfit, and at high risk of heart disease!
But these people a looking at it all wrong. Don’t get depressed, get focused!
This could be one of the biggest turning points in your life. You can get fitter, you can rid yourself of fat, and you can reduce your risk of heart disease. And it doesn’t take much work.
Just commitment!
Ok. Let’s get into the Fitness Assessment. You will need a pen and some paper to write down your measurements, and a cloth measuring tape (like the ones used for sewing). Remember, you should use these results to measure yourself against every 6-8 weeks.
Height
Process:
• Take shoes and socks off.
• Stand against wall with feet together.
• Pull shoulders back and look straight ahead.
• Place a book on top of your head (make sure that it touches the wall and is level).
• Measure from bottom of book to floor.
Weight
This is the one everyone hates. Too much emphasis is placed on weight and it isn't an accurate measure of how much excess fat you carry. You can burn 10kg of fat but the scales only show you as 5kg lighter. It happens all the time. When you haven’t exercised much and you start a regular program, it can be quite easy to put on a bit of muscle. So remember, your weight is only a measure of gravity (and gravity sucks!).
You should only weigh yourself every couple of weeks. You can measure your progress more accurately with the measuring tape.
Process:
• Take shoes and socks off.
• Stand on the scales with feet evenly spaced and weight evenly distributed over both feet.
Resting Heart Rate
This is the number of times that your heart beats, per minute, when totally rested.
It’s best to measure this when you first wake up.
Process:
• Sit on a chair and use the first two fingers on your left hand to feel for your pulse on your right wrist. Your palm should be turned up, and you will feel it on the right side of
the wrist.
• Count how many beats you have in 60 seconds.
If your heart is healthy, it will be below 80 beats per minute. As you get fitter, your resting heart rate drops, which means that your heart doesn’t have to work as hard. Your goal should be to reach 50-60 beats.
Girth Measurements
Measure your waist, stomach, and hips. Keep the tape measure firm. This is what you will measure your improvements against.
The measuring points can be found at these locations:
Waist: This is the smallest place between your hips and your chest
Stomach: In line with your navel.
Hips: This is the biggest measurement at the pelvis.
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Body Mass Index basically measures your level of fatness (I know, I just made that word up!).
It’s calculated using the formula: BMI = ( Weight in Kilograms / ( Height in Meters ) x ( Height in Meters ) ).
So if your height is 1.73 meters (173cm) and your weight is 90 kilograms, you would start by multiplying 1.73 * 1.73. This equals 2.99. Next you would divide that number into your weight (90).
Therefore, the formula would look like: 90 divided by 2.99 = 30.1!
If you don’t use the metric system, use this formula: BMI = ( Weight in Pounds / ( Height in inches ) x ( Height in inches ) ) x 703
Although a small amount of excess body fat (26-27) is not likely to be very harmful to the health of most people, having a BMI above 30 (obese) significantly increases the risks of a wide range of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis, and gall bladder disease. This is especially true for people who have excess fat in the abdominal area.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio
This measures your risk of heart attack. It does this by assessing body fat distribution. The closer the score is to 1.00, the higher the risk of heart disease.
About the Author: This is only a part of the range of fitness tests you can do from your own home. For more, go to: http://www.free-online-health.com
Source: www.isnare.com
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