Friday, October 24, 2008

Health Assessment: Get Healthy for LIFE!!


Section 1 - Medical and Family History

My Physical Parameters-

  • Height: 68 inches

  • Weight: 177 pounds

  • Body Mass Index (BMI) - My BMI: 26.9


The BMI has become the standard in medicine for determining whether or not you have a weight problem. This has now replaced the traditional height/weight charts. The following is a breakdown of the various ranges of BMI: (This is the same for both men and women)

  • Less than 18.9 -Underweight

  • 19 to 24.9 - Normal Ranges

  • 25 to 29.9 - Overweight (Pre-Obese)

  • 30 to 34.9 - Obesity Class I (Obese)

  • 35 to 39.9 - Obesity Class II (Moderately Obese)

  • Over 40 - Obesity Class III (Severely Obese)
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Another Standard of Measurement has become the waist circumference....which best determines what is now referred to as abdominal fat (Central Fat).

My waist measurement is given as: "Females: greater than 34 inches" - I have a 34'' waist measurement.

Fat that collects in the abdomen is more metabolically active and has serious health consequences. This is why the mainstream media and the health care community are now referring to this central fat as “killer fat”. You can easily determine the amount of abdominal fat by simply measuring your waist (approximately one inch below your umbilicus—belly button).

When this waist measurement gets over 28 inches for women and over 34 inches for men, there is concern that you have already “tipped over” into this abnormal metabolic state known as insulin resistance. When this becomes greater than 34.5 inches in females or greater than 40 inches in males, you most likely have already developed the full-blown Metabolic Syndrome due to insulin resistance.

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Many programs strongly recommend that you do not weigh yourself. When the scale becomes a motivator, it will soon become the reason you quit most programs....

For me, I've had to start thinking differently about my Health and Wellness...not as a "DIET" or a weight loss program but instead - the development of healthy lifestyles - it is simply developing healthy lifestyles that have a side effect of permanent weight loss. It is so much better to simply enjoy your clothes becoming looser or your waist measurement decreasing.
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Section 2 - Lifestyle HistoryStress is a great enemy to your overall health and desire to achieve your ideal body weight. Your body can handle a mild to moderate amount of stress without any major health consequences; however, a high amount or prolonged amount of stress is dangerous to your health. It stimulates the release of an excessive amount of stress hormones that not only increase your appetite but also increase the amount of free radical production and inflammation in your body.


Over time this can lead to a depleted immune system, antioxidant system, and eventually to a serious chronic degenerative disease. Developing healthy lifestyles can significantly decrease the amount of stress your body must endure while at the same time protecting against the damaging effects of stress.


The only thing that the body cannot handle is inactivity.


Along with our poor eating habits, lack of exercise is one of the main reasons we are facing the obesity and diabetes epidemic today. When the body is not physically active, we become much less sensitive to our insulin. However, different medical research studies have shown that simply walking briskly or the equivalent physical activity for 30 minutes five times a week will significantly increase the sensitivity to our insulin. This is why exercise is such a critical aspect of developing a healthy life! It doesn’t matter whether you are involved in hiking, swimming, racquetball, tennis, basketball, or biking - what matters is the fact that you are involved in a consistent, modest exercise program that gets the body moving.


Now working out one or two days a week is really not an exercise program. Ideally you want to be involved in an aerobic activity 4 to 5 times per week for around 30 minutes. Having a weight resistance program along with your aerobic activity is even better.


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Less than 10% of the adult population gets the recommended 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. This is one of the most important recommendations when it comes to your health. Fruits and vegetables contain the vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that our bodies so desperately need. This is the reason that individuals who eat 8 to 12 servings of fruits and vegetables each day decrease their risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s dementia by 2 to 3 fold. This is why if you are a WLS (weight-loss surgery) patient it is imperative that you maintain your nutritional supplements, not to mention that you are taking a nutritional supplement that you can trust.


White bread, wheat flour bread, white flour, rice, pasta, cereals, and potatoes spike your blood sugar faster than if you were slapping table sugar onto your tongue. The health consequences of consuming these foods are not only just as bad as sugar—they can be much, much worse. They lead to what is called glycemic stress, carbohydrate addiction, and can eventually lead to diabetes and heart disease.


Not all carbohydrates are bad. Only these highly processed carbohydrates and potatoes. Eating whole grain breads, cereals, and certain rice and potatoes is critical in protecting your health.
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If you truly start thinking differently about Health and Wellness- living a healthy lifestyle & not as a "DIET" or a weight loss program but instead - you will begin to develop a healthy lifestyles pattern. After reading Dr Ray D. Strand's "Healthy for Life" website...and he states, "[Healthy for Life] is a 15 month program. I have learned over the past 10 years of helping my patients with this program that it takes this long for these new, healthier lifestyles to simply become a way of life." I can attest to this...I'm now 16 months post op...and now after these many months...I see that I've been learning to look at things differently...and am beginning new healthy lifestyle changes.
I've found that a great jump start to getting back on track and helping my body off of a weight-loss stall is thru ISAGENIX....

http://deborahcoates.isagenix.com
- See more at: http://deborahcoates.isagenix.com/us/en/home.dhtml#sthash.zqNMTuIP.dpuf