Check Waist-Hip Ratio

We cannot change some risk factors even with our best efforts like our time and place of birth. Lifestyle subjects like diet and work out are the factors, which we have the most control over, and a solution to understanding our risk is not just, what our weight is. One indirect measure that is extensively used is the Body Mass Index (BMI). This formula is extensively used in research and also in the practical field and has proven a quite precise predictor of risk of illness.

Another indicator is Waist hip ratio.

This is a particular type of calculator for the human being to facilitate them find their risk of heart disease, based on waist-hip ratio and waist measurement.

To establish the fact that whether you have a healthy waist to hip ratio, use a measuring tape to scale the circumference of your hips at the visible widest part of your buttocks. Deep breathe and relax. Then measure your waist at the smaller circumference of your natural waist, usually just above the belly button. The exact point to measure waist circumference is the middle point between the upper hipbone and the uppermost border of the right iliac crest. A tape of precise measurements should be placed in the region of the abdomen at the level of this middle point and a reading taken when the tape is comfortably placed but does not compress the skin. In practice, it may be tricky for extremely overweight persons precisely palpating those bony landmarks. In that case placing the tape at the level of the belly button (Umbilicus) is recommended.

To determine the ratio, divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. Both the measures should be noted in the same parameter (like both in centimeters or inches).

If the result is more than 1.0, you are considered to be at higher risk for high blood pressure, other cardiovascular disease including coronary artery disease and other health problems.

These include metabolic health problems like diabetes and pancreatitis.

The WHO (World Health Organization) definition for metabolic syndrome is -

Type II diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance or normal glucose tolerance with insulin resistance, together with two or more of the following:

Elevated blood pressure

Abdominal obesity and/or BMI >30kg/m²

Low HDL cholesterol

High triglycerides

Microalbuminuria

People with metabolic syndrome are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease equivalent to people with frank Type-II diabetes (Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus).

Scientists have shown that people with "pear-shaped" bodies (who carry more weight around the hips) face less health risks than those with "orange-shaped" bodies (with more weight around the waist).

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) considers the following waist to hip ratio to be safe-

For men- <0.90

For women- <0.80

It is possible to have a Body Mass Index that is high enough but being muscular and athletic, using the waist hip ratio can help make clear whether the extra weight may cause any health problem or not.

Waist hip ratio is not evaluated to as useful for children, people who are less than five feet tall or who possesses a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 35 or above.

Waist Circumference

Waist circumference is an indirect marker of intra abdominal fatty tissues, usually called visceral fat.

Scientifically, Waist circumference is measured by a tape placing it over the Iliac crest (the upper most part of your both the hip bones) along with your naval.

The accurate point to measure waist circumference is midway between the upper hipbone and the uppermost border of the right iliac crest. A tape of accurate measurement should be placed in the region of the abdomen at the level of this middle point and a reading taken when the tape is comfortably placed but does not compress the skin. In practice, it may be tricky for extremely overweight persons precisely palpating those bony landmarks. In that case placing the tape at the level of the belly button (Umbilicus) is recommended.

The measurement of waist circumference gives us useful information regarding the distribution of body fat and is a tool to evaluate the risks for conditions such as high blood pressure, different cardiovascular diseases including coronary heart disease (CHD). It is now acclaimed that people who mainly carry their excess fat in the central part of the body (within the abdominal cavity) are at increased risk to suffer the consequences of being overweight. It is also associated with the metabolic syndrome like diabetes and pancreatitis.

You have a potential risk factor for various health problems if you are-

A man with a waist circumference more than 40 inches (101.6 cm)

Or

A woman with a waist circumference more than 35 inches (88.9 cm)

The WHO (World Health Organization) definition for metabolic syndrome is -

Type 2 diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance or normal glucose tolerance with insulin resistance, together with two or more of the following:

Elevated blood pressure

Abdominal obesity and/or BMI >30kg/m²

Low HDL cholesterol

High triglycerides

Microalbuminuria

People with metabolic syndrome are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease equivalent to people with frank Type-II diabetes (Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus).

Doctors are likely to diagnose a case of metabolic syndrome on a regular basis. It is estimated in America that 47 million people - about 1 in 4 adults (23%) - have metabolic syndrome. The incidence of metabolic syndrome in adults is comparable to that of hypertension (24%).

Aims of treating metabolic syndrome are averting of development to overt Type-II Diabetes and averting of premature death due to cardiovascular disease achieved through lifestyle adjustment and the sensible use of drugs and in extreme cases surgery.

The reference waist circumference measurement for men and women population at which there is an increased relative risk is defined as follows.

	Increased Risk	Substantially increased risk
Men	≥ 94 cm	≥ 102 cm
Women	≥ 80 cm	≥ 88 cm

In some populations, waist circumference may be a better marker of risk factor than Body Mass Index (BMI) e.g. in persons of Asian descent.

In patients with a BMI in the range of 25–35 kg/m² extra measurements of waist circumference may provide supplementary information about risk and can be used an added measure of progress with weight loss.

Body Mass Index Guide

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standardized, universally acclaimed method of determining weight. To determine whether a person is obese, overweight, having normal weight or less than normal is determined not only by the weight of that person, but that also requires the height of that subject. It is likely for a strong, well-built person with minimal body fat to be recognized as obese using the Body Mass Index guide. On the contrary, a lean and thin person would be classified as normal or overweight, considering his height.

An organization in Belgium “Belgian Polymath Adolphe Quetelet” formulated the Body Mass Index equation incidentally when they were preparing some articles regarding “Social Physics” in between 1830 and 1850.

The Body Mass Index formula utilizes your body weight and height. It is estimated by dividing your weight in kilograms by the square of your height in meters. The BMI metric formula is:

- your weight (in kilograms) divided by your height (in meters) squared, OR
- your weight / (Your Height)²

The British formula of BMI is-

your weight (in Pounds) multiplied by 704.50 divided by your height (in inches).

BMI started getting popularity during the early 1950. It was on heavy demand since 1960 as obesity started to become noticeable concern in the affluent Western society. BMI became an easy tool to measure whether a person is fat or thin. This let the health care personals to talk about diseases arising out over and under-weight problems more clearly with their patients.

Later, the craze of BMI had reduced, as doctors were not agreed to rely on the pure mathematical approach of the calculation. They were commenting that a person is always varied to his counterpart in every respect, even when their height and weight remain the same. So they were not relying up on BMI while diagnose a case.

However, the purpose of inventing BMI was never the same. It was a simple tool of categorizing physically less active (sedentary) persons having an ideal body weight and height.

To calculate BMI in children, the process is slightly different. It is, although just the same calculations like the adult’s, considers the ideal values for other children of same age. Instead of defining the BMI accurately, it defines the range or Percentile. It helps to compare with the other children of same age and sex. A BMI, which is more than 95^th percentile, is considered as overweight and less than 5^th percentile is considered underweight.

To determine whether your BMI is healthy or not, please refer to the following guideline-

If your BMI is less than 19, you are considered as underweight.

If your BMI is in between 19 to 24.9, you have a healthy, acceptable weight.

If your BMI is more than 25 but less than 29.9, you are judged as overweight. You are at a potential risk for developing health hazards like many cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and hypertension. You should consider losing some weight to avoid future health problems.

If the BMI crosses 30, you are stamped as obese. Obesity is related with increased risk of hypertension, Coronary Artery Disease, Heart attack, Cerebral thrombosis, Diabetes and several other diseases. Obese persons have a greater risk of having those said problem as high as 50-150 percent. Obese persons must lose weight to maintain a healthy life.

USING A MULTI GYM TO LOSE WEIGHT

It is not necessary to be a bodybuilder or professional athlete to collect the benefits of using a multi gym to lose weight. When done correctly, weight training in a multi gym can help you lose fat, increase your strength and muscle tone, and increase in the bone density of your body. However, if it was done in an improper way, weight training in a multi gym would not give you these benefits — and may even lead to damage to the physique.

You may learn weight-training techniques to lose weight by watching friends or from a part time instructor in a multi gym. However, sometimes what you see is not entirely safe. Erroneous weight training technique can lead to sprains, strains, fractures and other painful musculoskeletal injuries that may impede your weight training efforts and more worst, can defy your initiation towards weight training and losing weight. If you are starting the work out procedure now, go to a multi gym that pays to a knowledgeable weight-training specialist who is having proper familiarity to all of the equipments and having some knowledge regarding sports’ medicine-a physical counselor, athletic trainer or other fitness specialist who is familiar with apt weight training technique. If you have been using a multi gym to lose weight for quite some time, consider arranging your time with an instructor to demonstrate and rectify your performance and identify any changes you may need to compose.

Here are some Dos and Don’ts while at a multi gym-

Dos-

a) Lift a suitable amount of weight. Do not overburden yourself.

b) Learn and use proper form of technique while using the equipments.

c) Breathe systematically. Do not wash out yourself.

d) Seek and carry on with proper balance. Otherwise, you may jeopardize your body parts.

e) Proper and adequate rest is essential.

f) Using a multi gym to lose weight may be full of fun. Do not make the workout boring by concentrating excessively towards your performance. Tune in with the music that might be playing there.

Don’ts-

a) Never skip your worm up even you are rushing to the gym from your workplace. It is mandatory to worm up your body before going to hard work.

b) Never be hurry to change the weights while using any equipment in the gym.

c) Never take extra load. Concentrate on a single area of you body at a time to develop. You can carry on working with the other parts later on.

d) If you are experiencing pain that is more than normal than you expect, stop doing any training. It may put you at risk.

e) Always wear proper uniform and shoes. It will help you to carry out different techniques easily.

f) Last, but not the least- Do not forget to cool down your self after the exercise is complete even if you have a night out planning.

Using a multi gym to lose weight can be real fun trying different equipments. There are hundreds of different equipments available in the market. Some of them focus on a specific part of your body, or there may be on machine that takes care of all the needs. Your fitness instructor will guide you properly how to use them.

Body Mass Index Calculator

Ideal body weight is everybody’s dream. But practically we can maintain our weight in a healthy weight range. To determine this range, we need to have our weight, height be ready. And the tool for this is Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a measure, which considers a person’s weight and height to judge the person in particular weight grade of either gender.

Body Mass Index is defined as the person’s body weight divided by the square of his height. Doctors universally use this calculation. This will yield as unit of measure of Kilogram/ m²

BMI can be obtained from a BMI chart also, which presents BMI as a fraction of weight (horizontal axis) and height (vertical axis) using curvilinear markings for different values of BMI or colors for different BMI grouping.

Body Mass Index does not consider only body mass. It is quite likely that a healthy, well-built adult may be considered underweight using the BMI formula due to presence of less or minimal fat. Alternatively, a lean person will be considered as overweight if he is tall and having enough fat distributed in his body.

For a definite height, the BMI is directly proportional to weight; for example, if body weight increases by 10%, BMI increases by 10%.

Body Mass Index can be calculated by the dividing the body weight in Kilograms by the square of the height in meters. The BMI metric for is given below-

your weight (in Kilograms) divided by your height (in Meters) squared, or

your weight/ (your height)²

The British formula of BMI is-

your weight (in Pounds) multiplied by 704.5 divided by your height (in inches) multiplied by your height (in inches).

Another mode of calculation that is in Imperial units is your weight (in stone) multiplied by 6.35 and divided by square of your height (in meter)

The BMI chart is as follows-

For a typical Western population the following measurement of BMI is regarded as standard

BMI Status

Less than 18.5 Underweight

18.5-25 Normal for the standard

25-30 Overweight

Above 30 Obese

Above 35 Severely obese

Above 40 Morbidly obese

Above 50 Superobese

In the first group, one is required to gain some weight.

If the Body Mass Index is denoting normal to somebody, he should be conscious about his weight to maintain the same.

Overweight people are at a risk to develop some weight related disorder like Diabetes, High blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. They should start reduction of weight.

Obese and the other high range people are at extremely high risked. They have every chance to develop cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease(CAD), coronary thrombosis (heart attack), cerebral thrombosis (CVA- Cerebrovascular accidents), Diabetes, Kidney diseases, eye problems etc. Obese patient possesses a higher risk of having those said problem as high as 50-150 percent. In fact, if the BMI is more than 25, the chance of developing complication is raised by 10 to 15 percent.

“Underweight” classification is again subdivided into “severe,” “moderate,” and “mild” subclasses.

WORKOUT TO BOOST METABOLISM

Sometimes we are in a dilemma that whether it is necessary to go for workout to boost metabolism. When we are doing exercises and gradually increasing the level, the process compels our body to adopt higher stages of athleticism and there is increased demand in energy requirement and expenditure. At higher levels of physical fitness, the process of metabolism is extensive. The calorie expenditure definitely increases beyond the resting rate when we do the workouts. The amount of this increase is dependent upon the duration and the toughness of the exercise.

Now, the idea is whether this increase level of metabolism remains even after the finishing the exercise. In other words, does our energy outflow remain elevated above the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) for a longer period after we stop doing the exercise, and if it is correct, does it contribute significantly to our total energy expenditure on the day we exercise.

Scientists have clearly proved that energy expenditure does not come back to pre exercise resting baselines straight away following exercise. The magnitude of this post exercise elevation of energy expenditure depends chiefly on how hard is your workout and to a lesser amount the duration of the same.

Sluggish metabolism is primarily dependent to our genes. It gets worse if a person with sluggish metabolism is lazy and does not go for any sort of physical activity on an accepted basis.

Let us have some basic idea, how does workout boosts metabolism. Blood carries all the vitamins, nutrients and oxygen in our body after assimilation by the digestive system. Every cell of blood has mitochondrion (an organelle- where the action of metabolism occurs). When we do exercise, the oxygen and energy stored in the mitochondria is becomes used up and it is expressed as heat and extra amount of energy that is required to continue the levels of workout. Then the mitochondrion triggers some action to generate more energy from different available sources. This is the stage when the process of metabolism is increased. Even when we finish the workout for time being, the process of increased metabolism continues until all the mitochondrion regains their pre exercise energy and oxygen level.

Exercise of the endurance and length usually carried out by recreational doers (e.g., evening time slow walking for 30 minutes or jogging at a speed of 10-15 minutes to cover a mile for 20-30 minutes) essentially results in a come back to baseline of energy expenditure well within the first hour after completion. The idea of workout to boost metabolism of this type of exercises probably accepted for only about 20-40 additional calories burnt further than the exercise requires itself. In bodybuilders and athletes who perform high strength, longer duration exercises, the post-exercise energy expenditure usually remains elevated for prolonged period and contribute drastically towards the total amount of calorie expenditure. The standard person who does considerably less strenuous exercise will likely experience little meaningful contribution of this post-exercise bonus to their total daily calorie expenditure.

How does exercise help chronic fatigue?

Chronic fatigue makes us feel distressed all the time. We do not feel like make lunch or dinner, washing clothes or even going to the departmental stores for some daily need stuff. All in all, chronic fatigue makes us feel like a vegetative animal.

Researchers have confirmed that regular workout can enhance our energy levels even the people are suffering from chronic debilitating medical diseases, which are associated with fatigue like amputation of body part, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and AIDS.

However, there is a paradox. It is seen that when people are tired, the last thing they would likely to do is exercise. Actually, if you are feeling sleepy when it is not the time and physically exhausted, being just a bit more active will help to gain your vigor.

Exercises are of two types- static (it is named as anaerobic or isometric exercise also) and dynamic (also referred as aerobic or isotonic exercise).

One cause for the increase in the vitality is that aerobic exercise makes our heart stronger and more proficient. A healthy cardiovascular system delivers about 25 percent more oxygen and nutrition per minute at rest and 50 percent more oxygen and nutrition during physical work than an unfit one does. In addition, stronger muscles give us the stamina to sail through the day with some energy to spare. Exercise can also makes the quality of our sleep better, so we feel more rejuvenated even after sleeping the same amount of time in bed.

Exercise helps in the formation of RBC as it facilitates releasing of some hormones. More RBC means there is more oxygen and nutrition available to be delivered in the tissues to help fighting chronic fatigue.

Here are some tips what you can follow-

Spend more time in-

a) Doing extra amount of activities around house and garden. Just spend half an hour more than your usual routine.

b) Avoid using cars or bikes for going to nearest destinations like markets, departmental stores etc. Try to walk if it is nearer or use bicycle instead.

c) Employ yourself in some of your hobbies that requires extra effort like frequent sitting ups.

d) Take part in more activities in family and social gathering.

e) Preparing foods form natural ingredients helps to boost energy. Also, it will require extra amount of working.

f) Take the pet for regular walks in the morning and evening.

g) If you are watching television, a static bicycle exercise can still be done.

h) If you have to be on a night out, try some dancing in a disco.

Raw food to combat aging

Our mind is continuously thinking that what, how and where to eat? Modern advertising campaigns are directing us towards the same fate. It can be easily told that a bulk of this food is unhealthy but as the taste is so good, we can’t but have to go for them. What is sure to eventually happen is a downward curve of your physical health if you continue with your diet habit.
Researchers have found out that good food encourages maintaining a strong and energetic body. Now-a-days, it is becoming obvious that many of the diseases, which are connected to aging, are the outcome of poor diet. Eating a diet which includes raw vegetables and fruit would lower the risk of most of these said diseases. It is also fact that we often fail to notice as refined sugar and starches are the preferred food of the modern societies. A diet rich in raw food everyday will cleanse your body and start to normalize your body fat levels. By spending less energy on digestion, your body can detoxify properly and had enough time repairing damaged cells.
The most significant of the anti aging foods are the ones that are high in antioxidants. Free radicals are causing damage to our health always being produced as a result of metabolism. So, antioxidants are essential to remove the free radicals from the body before the elements can damage the body cells. You should eat as much raw plant life as possible, especially raw fruits, vegetables and whole grains which contain plenty of antioxidants. Eating raw nuts will inject unheated vegetable oil to your body, which supplies lots of enzymes and antioxidants.
Eating 100 percent whole grains should be your focus because the body converts the sugar in these carbohydrates sources at a slow rate. The fiber from these grains can help you to eliminate toxic wastes from the body quickly and the grains themselves are full of antioxidants much needed by the body.
This is the type of diet consumed by our ancient ancestors, who stayed youthful and hard working into their senior years.
Health food experts have claimed for decades about the advantage of a diet rich in whole grains and the evidence is now awesome. Whole grains are the best way to get your daily supply of complex carbohydrates. Protein should come from beans, pulses and seafood. Healthy food include olive oil and to a lesser extent other vegetable oils. Try to avoid fat from land animals.
Most people come to enjoy eating these wholesome foods. And they are able to enjoy good health longer into their old age. An anti aging would really go a long way toward feeling the way a person should as they grow older.