BMI: Obesity-Detecting Bullet or Bunk? The Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a crude measure of fatness in individuals. Calculated by dividing one’s weight in kilograms by the square of one’s height in meters, it has been the standard determination of fatness and fitness in doctor’s offices, insurance companies and for governmental statisticians since the 1970s. It has been touted as a measure not just of one’s fatness, but also their health. But is this really true? BMI: Never meant for individuals The BMI was created in the 19th century by a Belgian statistician who was trying to assess the collective weight of a population. It was never created for, nor intended to be used, on individuals. However, the ease...
Caution: This could change your life by Heather Grigoratos I have tried every diet on the market that you could think of. (More than 10 of them!) I was proud of the fact that I didn't eat big meals, that I was a grazer eating 5-6 small meals a day. I was just sick & tired of yoyo dieting watching my weight come down & being totally elated & happy with myself, only to watch it climb again after I had finally reached my goal weight! I was tired of feeling tired and lethargic, I was tired of hobbling out of bed because my joints ached in the morning. I didn't realise how sick I really was, my cholesterol was...
Balance digestive flora The main benefit of probiotics is in keeping the population of good bacterias in balance so that the bad bacterias and yeasts don’t take over. Your levels of good flora can be decreased because of antibiotics, stress, antibacterial soaps or hand washes, chlorinated drinking water, foods treated with pesticides and herbicides, colonoscopies or colonics (colon hydrotherapy), or having surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Those are times when it’s important to take a probiotic supplement to repopulate your digestive tract with the good bacteria that keep you healthy. Help relieve infectious diarrhea If you find yourself with a sudden onset of diarrhea (any time it’s brought on by a virus, bacteria or parasite), get...
Most people who convert to low carb experience fantastic health and weight correction. There are however those that find weight correction difficult even when approaching low carb correctly. Then there are people who do all that and still cannot lose weight. This is when it’s time to give serious consideration to thyroid dysfunction. By “thyroid dysfunction” I am referring to various degrees of hypothyroidism, i.e., low thyroid hormone levels. (I’m going to ignore hyperthyroidism, since this is much less common and does not impose any limitation on weight loss.) This is a big issue, so I’m going to cover it as a check list, a series of bullet points that you can run down to cover as much territory as...
While some perceptions of the LCHF diet include large amounts of added cream, butter, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil, this is not always the case, because many wholefoods that are suitable for LCHF diets are intrinsically high in fat, e.g. nuts, salmon, avocado, coconut, lamb and other meats, eggs, cheeses, olives. These foods are rich sources of protein, vitamins, and minerals and it is possible for many people – those with low bodyweight or low energy requirements - to be well nourished without ever eating added fats in amounts greater than the relatively small amounts needed in cooking, or to dress vegetables. Added fats provide what are called discretionary calories – the extra energy that someone needs after...
