Easy Health Tips

BMI is short for Body Mass Index and it helps tell you if you have too much fat in your body.  While there are a lot of methods for calculating body fat, BMI is a quick and easy method for determining if you are underweight, overweight, obese, or in a healthy weight range.

To calculate your BMI, you simply use your weight in kilograms and your height in meters.  If you don’t know how to do the math, or just don’t want to, there are calculators online that will figure it out for you.  Just input your height and weight.  Many of them will also let you know if you’re in a healthy weight range.

For adults, the healthy BMI range is between 18.5 and 25.  If your score is below 18.5, you are considered underweight.  Above 25 is considered overweight, and above 30 is considered obese.  This range is used for men and women aged twenty and over.  For those under eighteen, healthy BMI levels vary by age and sex.  BMI range can be determined for children by using height/weight charts.

The problem with BMI is that it’s not terribly accurate for determining the overall percentage of fat in the body.  It was developed as a simple way to determine body fat in large groups of people for various studies.  However, we are all different shapes and sizes and some have more muscle that others, which adds quite a bit of weight to our bodies.  This is a quick reference, but for an accurate reading there is another method.

If your BMI is high, the easiest way to verify that you need to lose a few pounds is by measuring your waist.  A waist of greater than 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women is seen as overweight.  Other methods for determining body fat percentages include underwater weight, fat fold thickness, and several other tests that require advanced technology.  Many of these methods are expensive or difficult, so your doctor probably won’t perform them unless they’re absolutely necessary.

If your BMI is above or below the healthy range, your first step should be to visit a doctor.  They can not only perform more accurate tests to determine your exact fat percentages, they will also ask about your current lifestyle, eating, and exercise plan.  If your BMI is high, but you eat right, exercise regularly, and don’t practice many bad habits, you may not be at an increased risk for health problems.  If you do need to lose or gain weight, they can get you started on a plan to achieve a more healthy weight.

While it may not be perfect, BMI is a fantastic tool to quickly figure out if you are in a healthy age range, or should be concerned about your percentage of body fat.

The vitamin industry is a thriving business. Many adults take vitamins in an effort to improve their health, and they often give them to their children as well. But there is much debate as to whether multivitamins or single ingredient vitamins are best.

For many, a multivitamin is the most convenient choice. It seems to take the guesswork out of getting enough of each vitamin and mineral. Others, however, believe that taking single ingredient vitamins gives them more control over what goes into their bodies. So which is best? It depends on your individual needs and diet.

Getting Your Vitamins from Food

Ideally, all of our vitamins and minerals should come from dietary sources. Unfortunately, few of us eat a diet that gives us everything we need each day. In fact, it would take very careful planning to get in the recommended daily allowance of every vitamin each day. Add to that the fact that certain health problems lead to an increased importance of specific vitamins, and you can see why taking supplements makes things much easier.

Some health food companies have recognized this problem and come up with whole food supplements. These are supplements that use foods in their natural state rather than extracting or synthesizing the vitamins in a lab. They have fewer preservatives and fillers, and they are purported to be more effective than vitamins that are produced in a lab. Yet they provide the vitamins we need in a convenient and easy to use form.

When Is a Multivitamin Best?

For those who do not eat a healthy diet, a daily multivitamin may be the best bet. It ensures that we do not completely miss out on any single vitamin. But for those who are health conscious, single ingredient vitamins may be a better option.

It is possible to get too much of a good thing. Your body can only use so much of each vitamin each day. And some vitamins can produce side effects if we take too much of them. Too much Vitamin C, for example, can cause nosebleeds and other undesirable effects. So if you keep close tabs on your diet and know how much of each vitamin you’re getting, single ingredient supplements might be a more sensible way to make up the difference on those you do not get enough of.

When we can’t or don’t get enough of the vitamins we need from food sources, vitamin supplements can help us get the things we need to stay healthy. But it is important to try to keep tabs on the amounts of vitamins we are getting in our diets so that we can make the best supplement choice. Getting the right amount of each vitamin every day will help our bodies work more efficiently.