Hey guys! I've decided to start off my first post with something I've really been focusing on a lot lately, Nutrition and wellness. Tons of people are dieting right now, using all sorts of crazy fad diets. I've decided to do a bit more research and focus more on the nutritional and health aspect of dieting. Here is some acquired information on food and nutrition. Later to come will be an added post on health and exercise. I hope this provides you with some valuble information. Enjoy!
--LS
Daily Nutrition, Weight Loss and Maintenance:
We’ve all heard that dreaded word “diet” before. For many of us, “diet” is associated with giving up sweets and many foods you enjoy, feeling hungry and deprived and sweating and gruelling as you attempt a vigorous workout plan. It doesn’t sound too appealing but according to surveys from Consumer Reports, approximately 43% of all Americans are willing to go that route to appease themselves in a mirror. Many people do diet for the right health reasons, but many dieters whose sole purpose is weight loss, may not even need to lose the weight. The 43% of all Americans on a diet average a weight loss goal of almost 37 pounds and 23% of female dieters and 15% of male dieters have a weight loss goal of 50 pounds or more! So first of all, what is the exact definition of a diet? There are many definitions associated with this word, and there are many types of diets.
Wikipedia defines diet as the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. So essentially a diet is any food we consume on a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or even lifelong basis. There are many types of specific diets we may have heard of before, including the ever-popular, weight management diet. Other types of diets may include:
-weight management (gain, loss or maintain) diet
-vegetarian diet
-vegan diet
-cultural diets (e.g. Muslim diet)
So how do you know which type of diet you need to be on? Do you need to be on a diet at all? Do you need to lose weight, maintain it, or even gain it? A very simple way is to use a BMI(Body Mass Index.) The BMI, invented between 1830 -1850 by Adolphe Quetelet, is the most widely used diagnostic tool used to identify an underweight, healthy, overweight, or obese individual. A BMI measures a person’s body weight based on their height. The simplest way to determine your BMI is to use a chart, or a calculator. How does the BMI help you?
Not only does it tell you what class of weight you are, it will also show you what your healthy weight range should be, allowing you to set a healthy target weight loss or gain.
Depending on your weight based on your height, your BMI results could be as follows:
A BMI of:
Less than 18.5 = underweight
18.5-25 = normal healthy range weight
25-30 = overweight
Over 25 = obese
So for example, a female who is 5ft 5in and weighs 150lbs would be classified as overweight, but a female weighing 150lbs with a height of 5ft 7in would be classified as a healthy weight. The BMI chart accounts for the fact that taller people have more bone and mass, etc. So generally speaking, the taller you are, the more you can weigh and still be within a healthy range. It also goes the opposite way though. If you are 5ft 7in tall and weigh 110lbs, you will be underweight, but someone as short as 5ft 3in weighing 110lbs would be a perfectly normal weight.
How Weight Loss Works:
In order to lose weight, you need to understand what weight loss actually is. Your body uses energy for all of it functions. Energy is burned during physical activity, every day activities, and even while you sleep and breathe. Food we consume is burned into energy for our bodies. This energy process is measured in calories.
Your body burns a certain amount of calories each day. When the amount of food we consume contains more calories than we burn during the day, we gain weight. If the calories consumed are equal to the calories burned, then your weight will stay constant and weight loss will occur if the calories burned are more than the calories consumed in one day.
So how many calories do we need to burn in order to lose weight? Well, one pound of fat equals approximately 3,500 calories. In order to lose weight safely and keep it off, you must burn 500 less calories than your body needs per day. 500 less calories per day will equal 3,500 calories less per week, which will equal a weight loss of one pound per week.
How Can You Reduce Your Calorie Intake?
There are many ways you can reduce your calorie intake.
1. Consume 500 less calories per day
2. Burn 500 calories per day with exercise
3. Consume 250 less calories per day and burn 250 calories with exercise
How Do You Know How Many Calories Your Body Needs Per Day?
In order to reduce your caloric intake, you need to know how many calories your body needs per day. Everyone’s caloric intake is different. A good way to find your intake value is to use a calculator. Enter your current weight, goal weight, gender, age and activity level (see below)
Activity Level:
Sedentary
At work - you work in an office
At home - you're usually sitting, reading, typing or working at a computer
Exercise - you don't exercise regularly
Light Activity
At work - you walk a lot
At home - you keep yourself busy and move a lot
Exercise - you participate in light exercise or take long walks
Moderate Activity
At work - you are very active much of the day
At home - you rarely sit and do heavy housework or gardening
Exercise - you exercise several times a week and push yourself pretty hard
Very Active
At work - you hold a labor-intensive job such as construction worker or bicycle messenger
At home - you are very active with heavy lifting and other rigorous activities
Exercise - you participate in physical sports such as jogging or mountain-biking each day
Generally speaking, females should never consume less than 1200 calories per day and males should never consume less than 1500 calories per day.
How Do You Know How Many Calories You Are Consuming?
Every packaged store bought food contains a nutrition information label
The nutrition facts chart tells you how many calories are in the food you are consuming based on the serving size. Some foods do not have nutritional information such as fresh fruits and vegetables. There are many websites that offer this sort of information online. One website I recommend is calorie count from about.com. It has an extensive food browser which even includes many fast food places It allows you to add all your daily food intakes and even to record your daily exercise outtakes. It will record your caloric intake and outtake and tell your net calories. Along with your daily calories, it also records your daily nutritional values. How Does Nutrition Fit Into My Diet?
Different nutrients each contribute an essential part to for your body to function. When dieting for any reason, the main nutrients that are looked at are macronutrients.
There are three classes of macronutrients:
Proteins
Carbohydrates
Fats
How Do Macronutrients Work With My Diet?
According to diet.com, the main function of macronutrients is to provide energy, counted as calories. While each of the macronutrients provides calories, the amount provided by each varies. Carbohydrate provides four calories per gram, protein also four while fat provides nine. For example, if the Nutrition Facts label of a given food indicates 12 g of carbohydrate, 2 g of fat, and 0 g of protein per serving, the food then has 12g carbohydrate x 4 calories = 48 calories þ 2 g fat x 4 calories = 8 calories for a total of 48 þ 8 calories = 56 calories per serving). Macronutrients also have specific roles in maintaining the body and contribute to the taste, texture and appearance of foods, which helps to make the diet more varied and enjoyable. Proteins: (Article from diet.com)
They are present in every living cell. In the skin, hair, callus, cartilage, muscles, tendons and ligaments, proteins hold together, protect, and provide structure to the body. As enzymes, hormones, antibodies, and globulins, they catalyze, regulate, and protect the body chemistry. Important biomolecules like hemoglobin, myoglobin and various lipoproteins, that carry oxygen and other substances within the body are also proteins.
Besides providing energy to the body, dietary protein is also required for growth—especially by children, teenagers, and pregnant women, tissue repair, immune system function, hormone and enzyme production, and for lean muscle mass and tone maintenance.
Proteins are complex molecules and the body needs time to break them down. This is why they are a slower and longer-lasting source of energy than carbohydrates. According to the Dietary Reference Intakes (RDI) published by the Unites States Department of Agriculture (USDA), adults need to eat about 60 grams of protein per day (0.8 g per kg of weight). Adults who are physically very active or trying to build muscle need slightly more. Children also need more.
According to RDI, between 10 and 35% of calories should come from protein.
Foods that are a source of protein include:
- Animal protein: Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, cheese and yogurt provide high biological value proteins, because they contains all the essential amino acids.
- Plant proteins: Plants, legumes, grains, nuts, seeds and vegetables provide low biological value proteins. However, combining proteins from different plant sources in the same meal often results in a mixture of higher biological value. Examples of such combinations are: beans with rice, pasta or manioc, chickpeas with bread, lentils with potatoes, vegetables with cereals.
Carbohydrates: (Article from diet.com)
Carbohydrates have two major roles: they are the primary energy source for the brain and they are a source of calories to maintain body weight. A diet containing an optimum level of carbohydrates may help prevent body fat accumulation. They are also involved in the construction of the body organs and nerve cells, and in the definition of a person’s biological identity such as their blood group. Dietary fiber, which is a carbohydrate, also helps keep the bowel functioning properly. Because they are smaller, simple carbohydrates can be broken down by the body more quickly and they are the fastest source of energy. Fruits, dairy products, honey, and maple syrup contain large amounts of simple carbohydrates, which provide the sweet taste in most candies and cakes.
According to the RDI, between 50 and 55% of calories should come from carbohydrates and 20-35 g dietary fiber per day should be taken by all those over two years of age.
Sources of dietary carbohydrates include:
· Monosaccharides: fruits, berries, vegetables and honey.
· Disaccharides: table sugar, sugar beet, sugar cane and fruits.
· Polyols: Isomalt
· Oligosaccharides: grains and vegetables
· Starch polysaccharides: cereals, whole grains, rice, pasta, potatoes, peas, corn and legumes.
· Non-starch polysaccharides: dietary fiber such as cellulose, hemicelluloses, pectins and gums.
Fats (Article from diet.com)
Besides being a source of energy, fat stores protect the internal organs of the body. Some essential fats are also required for the formation of hormones. Fats are the slowest source of energy but the most energy-efficient form of food. Each gram of fat supplies the body with about 9 calories, more than twice
that supplied by the two other macronutrients. Because fats are such an efficient form of energy, they are stored by the body either in the abdomen (omental fat) or under the skin (subcutaneous fat) for use when the body needs more energy. Fats that are in foods are combinations of four main types:
Saturated Fats:
These fats provide a concentrated source of energy in the diet and building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone-like substances. An excess of these fats in the diet however, is believed to raise the cholesterol level in the bloodstream. They are solid at room temperature and are most often of animal origin. Examples are butter, cheese, and lard.
Monounsaturated Fats:
They appear to protect against heart disease, in that they reduce blood cholesterol levels. They are liquid at room temperature. Examples are olive, peanut and canola oil.
Polyunsaturated Fats:
These can be further divided into the omega-6 and the omega-3 families. Polyunsaturated fats are thought to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. The omega-3 forms are believed to have a positive impact on heart health and to play an important role in brain and eye function. Oily fish such as salmon, herring and mackerel are examples of omega-3s, and they are also found in walnuts and some oils like soybean and rapeseed. They are also liquid at room temperature, for example corn oil and safflower oil.
Trans Fatty Acids:
An excess of these fats in the diet is thought to increase the risk of heart disease. They are produced by the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils and present in hardened vegetable oils, most margarines, commercial baked foods, and many fried foods.
What Other Nutrients Do I Need?
Other nutrients- micronutrients:
Please visit here for a detailed list of DRI tables including micronutrients Many diet help websites can also help you determine your daily recommended nutrient intakes such as caloriecount.about.com. Here is an example of a 22 year old female (140lbs, 5ft 5in) recommended daily nutrient intake.
Nutrient | Recommended |
Carbohydrates
Protein
Fat
Saturated Fat
Sugar
Cholesterol
Sodium
Fiber
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Calcium
Iron
Potassium
| 50% target cals (150g) 20% target cals (60g) 30% target cals (40g) 10% target cals (13g) 10% target cals (30g) 300 mg 1,500 mg 25 g 5,000 IU 75 mg 1,000 mg 18 mg 4,700 mg |
So with the knowledge of what your body needs to function and be healthy, you should be able to make good decisions to ensure your body's health. My recommendation is to use www.caloriecount.about.com . Its a fantastic website with tons of usefull information about health, fitness and nutrition. It has a daily food log that enables you to track not only the food you eat, but its calories and all nutritional values. It will help you see what your current diet is giving you in nutrition, and what foods will provide you with the proper nutrition. I hope you've found this useful. :)
Love, LS <3
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