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Weighty Issues
by author Sandi Gauvin

It’s the New Year and time for New Year’s resolutions. Or is it? Many people consider January an optimum time for renewal and new beginnings yet often find themselves weighed down by unreasonable expectations.

Weight loss is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions. The holiday season is full of wonderful tastes and traditions, but come January we feel pressured by forces everywhere, including the media, to try the latest fad diet in an effort to lose extra pounds. Should we succumb to the pressure or should we consider our body weight from a different perspective?

Healthy Weight: Basic Supply and Demand

Our society has become preoccupied with weight and body image. Ironically, while North Americans as a whole spend billions each year on losing weight, we are also becoming increasingly overweight and sedentary. As even the most casual observer of current events knows, obesity rates among children and adults have increased substantially during the past 25 years, prompting concerns for impending health crises.

As Socrates succinctly pronounced, “Thou shouldst eat to live, not live to eat.” Although it seems obvious, it may be wise to remind ourselves occasionally that food is fuel. We need the nutrients in the food we eat to supply the energy that we expend in our daily routines. So to maintain a stable weight, our energy intake needs to equal the energy we use. If we use more energy than we consume, we will lose weight. On the other hand, if we eat more than we use, we will gain weight while the surplus is stored as body fat.

Just as low-grade gasoline in a car fouls the engine and wreaks havoc with performance, food loaded with calories and fat, but short on nutrients, inhibits energy and increases our risk for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and some cancers.

What is Healthy Weight Management?

We know why we gain weight, now what do we do about the excess? The Canadian Inventory of Nutrition and Dietetic Associated Research, in a survey of Canadian dietitians, found that professionals in the industry promote effective weight management with a simple recipe: healthy eating and increased physical activity.

The goal of healthy weight management is to feel good about ourselves. When we feel good we are more likely to enjoy being more active and to find pleasure in nutritious food and healthy eating. We are also more likely to define ourselves in terms of our overall good health rather than by the numbers on our bathroom scales or by an unrealistic media model of thinness.

A Ratio of Weight to Height

The first step in achieving a healthy weight is to determine what our weight should be in terms of our height. The body mass index (BMI) is a mathematical formula that describes relative weight for height. While the BMI is useful as a general guideline, it does not distinguish excess fat from muscle. Another caveat about the BMI: since children’s body fatness changes over the years as they grow and girls and boys differ in their body fatness as they mature, BMI for children is gender- and age-specific. The Heart and Stroke Foundation website (www.heartandstroke.ca.) provides an easy-to-use BMI calculator.

Do Diets Equal Healthy Weight Management?

We know that dietitians agree the best way to reach a healthy weight is to follow a sensible eating plan and engage in regular physical activity. When choosing a weight-loss program, look for one that encourages healthy behaviours that help you lose weight and that you can maintain over time.

Often, diet trends focus on one food or nutrient, either emphasizing that we avoid a particular food group or that we consume it to excess. Although many of these diets claim short-term success, diets that strictly limit calories or food choices are hard to follow and long-term success rates are low.

Sandi Gauvin is a writer and editor for alive Magazine.

Source: alive #279, January 2006