What is Malnutrition?

Malnutrition is poor health or illness caused by an inadequate diet, so both semi starvation and overeating can be to blame. While two thirds of the world’s population has too little food, obesity is a major health hazard in richer countries.

Food intake must be correct in both quantity and quality, and in developing countries both are generally insufficient. The average calorie intake for populations may be only half the minimum required to stay healthy, and the food available often lacks proteins. This deficiency is so serious for children that in many countries half the population dies before age five.

Malnutrition is by no means restricted to developing countries, however. Poor people everywhere go hungry or have to buy cheap, starchy food to feel full—thus obesity is not the privilege of the very rich. Obesity is caused by taking in more calories than needed and storing them as fat. Children, especially those of preschool age, and old people are the most frequent victims of poverty based malnutrition. (David B. Jacoby, R. M. Youngson :Encyclopedia of Family Health; 2004 ; 1127-28)

 Malnutrition and WHO

World Health Organization (WHO) defines malnutrition as:

Malnutrition essentially means “bad nourishment”. It concerns not enough as well as too much food, the wrong types of food, and the body’s response to a wide range of infections that result in malabsorption of nutrients or the inability to use nutrients properly to maintain health. Clinically, malnutrition is characterized by inadequate or excess intake of protein, energy, and micronutrients such as vitamins, and the frequent infections and disorders that result.

People are malnourished if they are unable to utilize fully the food they eat, for example due to diarrhoea or other illnesses (secondary malnutrition), if they consume too many calories (overnutrition), or if their diet does not provide adequate calories and protein for growth and maintenance (undernutrition or protein-energy malnutrition).

WHO also gives an outline about the extent f manutrition as:

Chronic food deficits affect about 792 million people in the world (2000), including 20% of the population in developing countries. Worldwide, malnutrition affects one in three people and each of its major forms dwarfs most other diseases globally (WHO, 2000). Malnutrition affects all age groups, but it is especially common among the poor and those with inadequate access to health education and to clean water and good sanitation. More than 70% of children with protein-energy malnutrition live in Asia, 26% live in Africa, and 4% in Latin America and the Caribbean (WHO 2000).

Aetiology and Pathophysiology of Malnutrition

Children may become malnourished simply because there is not enough food available, but sick malnourished individuals have no appetite for food. It seems paradoxical that a child who has obviously lost weight and needs to eat may refuse food even when it is readily available.

If food is forced there is the possibility that the child will become worse, or even die. In managing severe malnutrition appetite is one of the most important symptoms. A loss of appetite is an important protective mechanism against consuming food which is likely to stress the systems of the body.

In experimental studies there are to two major biological reasons why appetite is lost: a deficiency of a specific nutrient and infection. Severe malnutrition is a disorder which results from the interaction of three distinct but related processes, each of which appears to be related to the food consumed, but none of which can be easily understood simply by a consideration of food:

• Reactive adaptation
• Inflammatory and immune responses
• Specific nutrient deficiencies

Food helps meet the many needs for normal function, growth, and development in childhood, but also the ability to cope with environmental challenge. A diet which is adequate but marginal under normal circumstances is inadequate for the increased demands during recovery from frequent inter-current illness with the double burden of the need for catch up growth and to make good the unusual losses of nutrients during the infective episode itself. The time available for successful convalescence, before the next bout of infection, is too short to adequately make up the deficit.

                    Diseases  caused by Malnutrition

Malnutrition increases the risk of disease and early death. Protein-energy malnutrition, for example, plays a major role in half of all under-five deaths each year in developing countries (WHO 2000). Severe forms of malnutrition include marasmus (chronic wasting of fat, muscle and other tissues); cretinism and irreversible brain damage due to iodine deficiency; and blindness and increased risk of infection and death from vitamin A deficiency.

Some other nutritional deficiency related diseases include:

Symptoms of Malnutrition

Malnutrition has general effects and also causes specific conditions that result from a lack of essential vitamins or minerals.

A malnourished child appears pale from anemia, and dull, small, and thin. The lack of protein can cause deficiency in antibodies. Starvation brings additional symptoms; dry, inelastic, cold skin and sparse hair. Adults who are semi starved can lose up to 70% of their body weight; some of this will be water but much of the weight will consist of protein that has been shed from the muscles, liver, intestines, and heart. A lack of calories can cause anemia, low blood pressure, apathy, irritability, and bouts of debilitating diarrhea.

Dangers

Unfortunately, malnutrition is usually the forerunner of starvation, and it leaves the body unable to cope for long periods without food. The sufferer’s resistance to bacterial and parasitic infection is lowered, and damage from vitamin deficiency can be permanent, such as blindness caused by a lack of vitamin A.

Malnutrition during pregnancy quickly leads to anemia in the expectant mother. Complications at birth are more likely, and the quality of breast milk depends on the mother’s diet.

People who are obese are more likely to develop high blood pressure, to have coronary heart disease and arthritis of the hips, and to be at higher risk during surgical operations.

Screening: identification and prevention of malnutrition

Malnutrition is preventable condition and the early identification of those at risk and the implementation of interventions which correct underlying problems and prevent further deterioration is central to strategies for effective care.

Early growth failure can be detected by regular weighing, as an integral part of immunization and other health programmes. A series of plotted weights is most valuable and intervention is required for those whose weight crosses two growth centiles on successive measurements.

If measurements are only available for a single time point, then height for age and weight for height provide an indication of any past or ongoing growth failure. Advice and demonstration of best practice in child care and feeding may be sufficient to correct a mild degree of growth failure, but persistent or more severe growth failure requires closer investigation to exclude underlying problems. Poor anthropometry, with a history of poor appetite and weight loss, should always be taken very seriously and pursued until a cause has been identified and corrected. Severe malnutrition is a medical emergency.

Childhood malnutrition is a clinical problem for the individual, but is also a symptom of ineffective public health policy. Targeted interventions should address the immediate needs of the child, but should also embrace broader consideration. For the child, there is the need to effectively immunize against infection, recognize and treat infection in a timely way, and ensure an effective period of nutritional support following infection.

For the family, there is the need to enhance the child rearing skills of the parents, create a stimulating environment, acquire and practice simple skills in the hygiene and food preparation, and strengthen family dynamics and coping strategies. For the community, there is the need to improve the economic base of households, increase food purchasing power, increase food security or household food availability, and to treat specific nutrient deficiencies. Sound hygienic practices have to be strengthened at the group or household level, and where necessary the amount the quality of water and the safe and effective removal of solid waste improved.

Each activity can exert a beneficial effect on growth and development. Any one might be relatively easy to introduce, but the real difficulty is to ensure that all are sustained. The need is for a fundamental change in the health culture and the creation of a framework of behavior in which development activities become rooted and take place as a matter of course. A failure to establish and maintain an effective system of health care leads to a progressive deterioration in the clinical state of the most vulnerable infants leading eventually to severe malnutrition. (D. A. Warrell, Timothy M. Cox, John D. Firth; Oxford textbook of medicine, Volume 1; 2003; 1056).

What is a Low Carb Diet?

Low Carb Diets are dietary programs that restrict carbohydrate intake. Low carb diets are usually followed for weight control or for the treatment of obesity. Foods high in digestible carbohydrates such as bread and pasta (or things made from white flour)) are limited or replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of proteins and fats like meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, nuts, seeds and peanuts, salads and vegetables. The amount of carbohydrate allowed varies with different low carb diets.

Low Carb Diet Plan

Low-Carb cooking used to be mostly a matter of deprivation and restrictions. That was its main impact on the low-carb kitchen. You could not eat this; you could not eat that. It made cooking and eating boring but also fairly simple. Foods with high-carbohydrate concentrations were largely out. It is one thing to understand that you do not really need to eat much, if any, carbohydrate laden foods to be healthy and quite another to live by that rule. No hearty sandwiches, no dinner rolls, no hamburger buns, no muffins, not to mention pasta, pizza, and tortillas. Well, now you are released from these restrictions. With the recipes you will find here, you can eat almost anything you have been missing (at least within reasonable quantity) and still control your weight and maintain a great lipid profile.

How do we do it? By eliminating the worst offenders, which are the starchy, high-carb grain (and all products made from them) along with that pure carbohydrate, sugar. Both must be exiled, except for small amounts. And that is all there is to it. Less simple, of course, is what to do about it. It has taken years to find substitutes for flour and sugar to create these workable recipes. Of the two, the sugar problem has been the easier one to deal with. Today, some acceptable artificial sweeteners that can also be used in baking are available and generally work fine. On occasion— when texture truly demands it— limited amounts of real sugar can be added to a recipe as well.

The chief difficulty is finding a replacement for flour. What breads, cookies, rolls, crackers, cereal, pancakes, muffins, pizza, or pasta can you make without it? None, obviously. Flour supplies the bulk in all of these beloved foods. But at 92.0 grams of carb in a single cup of white flour and only slightly fewer in a cup of whole wheat flour, flour is the number one enemy of the low Carb dieter. So the principal change in your new low Carb kitchen will revolve around what can be used in its place. Everything else remains pretty much the same.

Flour— that powdery tasteless, valuable stuff— has no perfect match for baking. Impostors are hard to find. There are, however, substances that collectively can do a pretty good job of imitating the texture that comes from flour, and that’s what we are after. So instead of using flour, you will be using one or more of these different ingredients. Piling these items into to mixing bowl to make a batch of bread, muffins, or rolls will quickly become routine.

Some of these new flour substitutes may already be familiar to you. The main ones are:

(1) almonds— usually ground into a meal or flour;

(2) vital wheat gluten flour—-a flour with most of the starch removed;

(3) wheat bran—known to most of us as a good sources of fiber, a flaky meal made from the outer layer or husk of the wheat kernel;

(4) whey protein powder— a powdery substance made from the watery part of milk;

(5) soy protein powder—a powdery substance like whey protein but extracted from the soybean. (use organic soy )

These ingredients will help to make you believe that you are eating flour. You can usually find them in the health food section of your supermarket or in most health food stores.

(Mary Dan Eades, Michael R. Eades, Ursula Solom; The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook; 06)

LOW-CARB SUBSTITUTES

Keeping carbs in check doesn’t mean eliminating your favorite food groups. A simple switch within the same group may be all it takes. You can dodge nearly 40 grams of carbohydrate by snacking on a cup of popcorn instead of a handful of pretzels. Or skip 25 grams by opting for whole wheat bread instead of bagel. Try these substitutions in the kitchen and when you eat out.

(Bettina Newman, David; Lose Weight the Smart Low Carb Way: 200 High-favor Recipes and a 7 step; 62 -63)

Please remember that Low carb diets that severely restrict carbohydrate consumption can prove ketogenic and can have several negative effects on your health. Please consult a physician or dietecian before starting any low carb diet plan.

What is Cholesterol?

Cholesterol is fat, or lipid. It is also a sterol, from which steroid hormones are made. If you held cholesterol in your hand, you would see a waxy substance that resembles the very fine scrapings of a whitish-yellow candle. Cholesterol flows through your body via your bloodstream, but this is not a simple process. Because lipids are oil-based and blood is water-based, they don’t mix. If cholesterol were simply dumped into your bloodstream, it would congeal into unusable globs. To get around this problem, the body packages cholesterol and other fats into minuscule protein-covered particles called lipoproteins (lipid protein) that do mix easily with blood. The proteins used are known as apolipoproteins.

The fat in these particles is made up of cholesterol and triglycerides and a third material, phospholipids, which helps make the whole particle stick together. Triglycerides are a particular type of fat that have three fatty acids attached to an alcohol called glycerol —–hence the name. They compose about 90 % of the fat in the food you eat. The body needs triglycerides for energy, but as with cholesterol, too much is bad for the arteries and the heart.

(Mason W. Freeman, Christine E. Junge; The Harvard Medical School Guide to lowering your cholesterol; 2005; 2.)

Cholesterol’s High Points

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol is known as the good cholesterol. This is the compact, or high-density, form of cholesterol. When you understand how the liver’s manufacturing and transport system works, it’s easy to see why the HDL are considered good—because HDLs help transport the excess LDL cholesterol form you arteries to the liver where it can be metabolized. That is why HDL is called the good cholesterol. For a healthy heart and circulatory system, you should have HDL cholesterol levels higher that 40mg/dl. The higher the level of your HDLs, the better it is for your health. People who have low levels of HDL cholesterol are at higher risk for heart disease.

According to the NCEP guidelines, an HDL level of 60 mg/dl is considered a negative risk factor. A negative risk factor is like a bonus point that can decrease your heart attack or stroke risk. Since knowing the amount of your HDL cholesterol is an important aspect of assessing your overall risk of heart disease, it’s a good idea to have your HDL cholesterol levels measured – not just your total cholesterol checked.

Cholesterol’s Low Points

Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol is known as the “bad” cholesterol; however, LDL cholesterol is bad for your body only if you have too much in your bloodstream or your have too much of the particularly harmful type. LDL cholesterol is an essential building block for cell membranes and the substance from which hormones, including cortisol and testosterone, are manufactured. The amount of LDL cholesterol that exceeds what your body needs, however, flows through your bloodstream and increases the likelihood of the formation of plaque that can block blood flow.

NCEP guidelines focus more on your types of cholesterol than your total cholesterol. For example, if you have high total cholesterol but is mostly HDL, then that’s good things! Unfortunately, most people’s total cholesterol is composed mainly of LDL cholesterol, which is why having high cholesterol is generally considered bad for health.

Why is high cholesterol a problem, when cholestrol is essential for us?

Too much cholesterol in the blood can lead to blockage of the arteries. Fatlike deposits may build up inside arteries that provide blood to the legs, blood to the brain, or blood to the heart.

When blood flow through a coronary artery (blood to the heart is completely blocked, an area of the heart muscle does not receive the blood and therefore the oxygen blood carries that the heart needs to survive. When this happens, a heart attack occurs. Plaque can also build up in the carotid arteries that supply blood to the brain. If this breaks free and a clot of it goes to the brain. It can cause a stroke. When plaque builds up in the blood vessels of the legs, it can cause leg pain, fatigue, cramping, or feelings of heaviness. This condition is known as peripheral arterial disease. When plaque builds up in the arteries that supply blood to the male sex organs, erectile dysfunction or impotence can result.

How can I increase my HDL cholesterol levels?

HDL cholesterol responds well to lifestyle changes. If you increase your physical activity each day or exercise regularly, it will stimulate the liver’s production of HDLs Losing excess weight can also improve your HDL profile. If your smoke cigarettes, you will increase your HDL levels simply by quitting your habit. If your HDLs are less that 35mg/dl, you may need drug therapy. Ask your health care provider what strategies are most suitable for you.

Research has shown that identifying your cholesterol profile is far more important than knowing your total cholesterol. Levels of HDL and LDL provide an even more accurate assessment of the risk of coronary artery disease.

How can I lower cholesterol?

Regular physical activity can increase your HDL cholesterol, reduce LDL cholesterol, and reduce triglycerides. Since triglycerides are a blood fat, they are available to the body as a source of fuel for muscular activity. Therefore, people who are active can use up the triglycerides in their bloodstream s a source of energy.

Evidence from numerous research studies shows that moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, that adds up to a total of thirty minutes on most days of the week can improve your health.

In addition to burning up excess fats, moderate exercise also helps to reduce stress, which further enhances your well-being.

Avoiding unhealthy fats like saturated fats and trans fats and using healthy fats like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can also help lower your cholesterol levels.

Body fat

Body fat is often expressed as our “Body Fat Percentage” or “Body Fat Percent.” Body fat percentage is the amount of body-fat-tissue as a percentage of total body weight. If your total body weight is 200 pounds and you have 40 pounds of fat, your body fat percentage is 20 percent

Classification

Methods similar to those used to diagnose overly fat clients can be used to diagnose clients with reduced body mass. A person whose weight is more than 15% below a reasonable body weight (RBW) may be classified as underweight. A man with a body fat content less that 15% and a woman with a body fat content less than 18% may be classified as having a reduced body mass. A BMI less than 20% may indicate that the client has a reduced body mass.

Consequences of being underweight

Long-term follow-up of studies indicates that excessive leanness is associated with increased mortality and decreased life expectancy. However, the causes of mortality are different from those associated with excess weight. An excessively lean person is almost twice as likely to succumb to respiratory disease such as tuberculosis. In addition, these clients have greater difficulty maintaining body temperature during cold weather. Infections and disturbances of the gastrointestinal tract are more likely in an underweight person, as is fragile bone structure and osteoporotic changes.

Do you have ideal body fat?

To find if you have ideal body fat percentage, you can use our body fat calculator

Here are some tips to reduce your body fat and get an ideal body fat percentage.

We know it takes more kilocalories to support body protein content than body fat pecentage. Health-care worker should first encourage patients to exercise more to increase their body protein content. Many experts believe that our society’s increasingly sedentary lifestyle may be responsible for the increasing prevalence of obesity.

Second, eating fat is fattening. Here are some reasons to avoid dietary fat:

1. Teaspoon for teaspoon, fat contain more kilocalories that either carbohydrate or protein.
2. There is very little energy cost to convert fat in food to body fat. Carbohydrates in food must be converted to fat before carbohydrate can be stored in fat cells. This conversion requires an expenditure of kilocalories. Kilocalories used to convert carbohydrate in food to body fat are not stored as body fat.
3. Once a fat cell has been manufactured, there is no evidence that it can ever be broken down; it exists until death. When dieting, a person can reduce the amount of fat in each fat cell but not break down the cell completely. Some researches believe that an empty fat cell sends a message to the reduced-obese person’s brain to eat. The reduce-obese/over weight person must learn to cope with a message constantly coming from the brain to eat. This is another reason why it is very difficult for a client to keep weight off permanently. Prevention if weight gain is the easiest way to maintain a reasonable body weight.

Third, a low-fiber intake may predispose a client to obesity. Fiber has a high satiety value. Obesity is uncommon amount the populations of countries where a high proportion of dietary kilocalories are consumed as starchy vegetables. Educating clients to eat at least the recommended six servings of starch (preferably whole gain) and five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables may help clients achieve satiety. Many starches, fruits, and vegetables contain appreciable amounts of fiber.

There is some evidence that fiber consumption may predict weight gain more strongly than total or saturated fat consumption (Ludwig et al, 1999).

Adherence to a low-fat and low fiber diet will not always result in a permanent weight loss. An individual can still gain weight on a low-fat diet if he or she overeats foods high in carbohydrates (especially sugary drinks). Portion control is important. For some people, that most valuable information on the food label is the serving size.

To summarize, the health-care worker can educate clients to (1) exercise more, (2) eat less fat, (3) eat more fiber, (4) use portion control, and (5) Avoid sweetened soda.

Why you are underweight?

A person may be underweight because of genetic factors or because of a long-term or recent weight loss. As part of the nutrition screening process, the health care worker should ask the client about any change in body weight. A good question is, “Have you experienced any undesired weight loss?” If the client responds yes, it is important to determine the time frame of the weight loss. However, a responsible such as “I have always been lean” indicates a life-time pattern and may reveal that the client‘s leanness is genetic. A response of, “No, I intentionally lost weight” may reveal an anorexic client.

Rapid Fat Loss Increases Risk

The greater the rat of body fat or weight loss, the more that client is at nutritional risk. Rate means loss per unit of time. For example, a 20-pound weight loss in 2 weeks is an excessive weight loss. Such a client has lost a large amount of lean body mass. However, a 20- pound weight loss during a 20 week period could be attributed mostly to a loss of body fat with a minimal loss of lean body mass. If the client began with surplus body fat stores, a los of 20 pounds may not place this client at a high nutritional risk. If the client had a reduced body mass, even a slow weight loss may place him or her at a nutritional risk.

Not all changes in body weight are caused by insufficient kilocalories intake. For example, a client may lose several pounds of body weight over the course of a single day as a result of diuretic therapy. The weight loss in this instance would be due to water loss and not to body fat or protein loss.

One method to determine whether a client is eating enough food is to monitor his or her food intake. Kilocalorie and calculating the kilocalories eaten.

This can be done using several software programs, such as Food Processor or Diet Analysis.(Carroll Lutz & Karen Przytulski; Nutrition and diet therapy; evidence based applications; 4^th edition; 389-390)

To calculate your body fat percentage, use our body fat calculator

Body Fat Percentage Calculation

Obesity has become one of the major medical problems now days in the whole world. Obesity implies the deposition of too much fat in the body. Obesity results when a person ingests more calories than he or she can burn off. If this process happens regularly over a period of time it results in to extra body fat leads to weight gain. Weight gain is often caused by an unhealthy poor dietary intake and lack of work out or exercise. While gaining weight is relatively easy, losing it is often difficult. Mean and women often look for quick weight loss tips. But it must be understood that tips alone cannot help anyone lose weight. It is a combination of balanced diet, exercise and perseverance that can help you lose weight. That is the best weight loss tip for women and men.

Obesity and Weight loss

Obesity is a complex multifactorial disease chronic disease that develops from an interaction of social, behavioral, cultural, physiological, and genetic factors. The condition of obesity is chronic, relapsing and neurochemical and involves interaction between host and environment. Overweight and obesity increase the risk of chronic diseases, and impaired quality of life. According to the summery of the NHLBI(2005), the to evidence based recommendations suggests that weight loss is recommended (A) to lower elevated blood pressure in overweight and obese persons with height blood pressure: (B) to lower elevated levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, and raise low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol in overweight and obese men and women with dyslipidemia: and (C) to lower elevated  blood glucose levels in overweight and obese persons with type 2 diabetes.

Obesity increases the risk of following conditions like:

• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Asthma
• Heart diseases and stroke
• Sleep apnea
• Blount’s disease etc

To avoid all such complications and to be healthy a person has to be cautious about his or her unusual weight gain.

Some important weight loss tips for women and men

• Think of food as fuel that is consumed through out the day

• Follow healthful eating from all food groups

• Plan your meals because planning your meals helps you to get a balanced diet

• Have a nutrient-dense snakes readily available, such as chopped vegetables, fresh fruits, reduced fat yogurt or cheese, and whole-grain crackers

• Often bake, boil, and grill lean protein foods, such as chicken, fish, and seafood

• Take more fibre rich diet because fibre keeps the right or appropriate amount of water in your lower gastrointestinal tract which makes your digestive system proper and efficient

• Eat together as a family without the TV

• Prepare one dinner for everyone in the family containing a nonstarchy vegetable, lean protein, and whole grain.

• Require that breakfast be consumed within 1 hour of waking. For nonbreakfast eaters, encourage starting the day with light choices, such as fruit or reduced-fat yogurt

• Consider fast food for special meals only

• Do 30-60 minutes of physical activity most days

• Make physical activity fun by encouraging team sports, active plays, dancing, move your body by doing such activities in order to burn more and more calories.

• Be physically active as a family

• Plan active weekends, such as going in to the park, playing sports, walking, biking, in-line skating, yard work etc.

• Limit TV/video time to two hours per day

• Don’t think of food as “good” or “bad”

• Don’t allow the skipping of meals

• Don’t eliminate any one food group

• Don’t stock the refrigerator with caloric beverages, including soda, punch, or juice drinks. In addition, don’t allow excessive 100% juice consumption.

• Don’t give only one snack food choice

• Don’t fill cabinets with height fat foods (for example, sugar crackers, cookies, candy, cakes, muffins, cereals, etc.

• Don’t take individual food orders from the family members

• Don’t eat in front of TV

• Take proper breakfast

• Don’t follow sedentary life or activity, such as television viewing or video game use

• Don’t make physical activity about winning, exercise, or redundant activities.

• Don’t plan weekend activities that involve food and/or inactivity, such as movies, video games, watching television sporting events, etc.

• Don’t allow yourself with TV use. Don’t keep the T.V in the bedroom.

• Don’t take much stress about routine affairs

• Drink plenty of water because adequate water intake is very essential for the maintenance of the health. One should take one glass of water before meal; it will help digestion and also give you the feeling of fullness which prevents you from overeating.

• Drink low fat milk

• Do not follow deprivation diet because it cause your metabolic rate slow and being on deprivation diet for a long time period once you stop diet, your body burns calories more slowly and you will gain wait faster than ever before.

• Drink green tea because green tea polyphenols and katechines play a very important role to increase the BMR and as a result helps to reduce your weight

• Avoid drinks containing sugar and alcohol, because they contain high calories and increase your weight.

• Citrus fruits are quite helpful to reduce to reduce your weight fast, drinking a small glass of orange or grapefruit before each meal is a great way to loose weight fast.

• Keep a food dairy and record all food intake

• Keep a weekly graph of weight change

• Keep an exercise diary

Some other general weight loss tips for mean and women

• At home, limit all food intake in one specific place

• Plan food intake for each day

• Rearrange your schedule to avoid inappropriate eating

• Sit down at a table while eating

• At a party, sit a distance from snake foods, eat before you go, and substitute lower kilocalorie drinks for alcohol.

• Decide beforehand what you will order at a restaurant

• Save or reschedule everyday activities for times when you are hungry

• Avoid boredom; keep a list of activities on the refrigerator

• Drink a glass of water before each meal. Drink sips of water between bites of food.

• Swallow food before putting more food on the utensil

• Try to be the last one to finish eating

• Pause for a minute during your meal and attempt to increase the number of pause.

• View exercise as a means of controlling hunger

• Practice relaxation techniques

• Imagine yourself ordering a side salad, diet dressing, low fat milk, and a small hamburger at a fast food restaurant.

Once again, it needs to be remembered that any weight loss tips in isolation cannot help anyone lose weight. The best weight loss tip is Persist and Persevere. Most people fail to lose weight because they want quick results. Quick weight loss has many side effects and is not good for health. Systematic and gradual weight loss through the combination is balanced diet and exercise is the best weight loss tip you will ever receive!

Obesity has become one of the major medical problems now days in the whole world. Obesity implies the deposition of too much fat in the body. Obesity results when a person ingests more calories than he or she can burn off. If this process happens regularly over a period of time it results in to extra body fat leads to weight gain. Weight gain is often caused by an unhealthy poor dietary intake and lack of work out or exercise. Increased obesity levels have given rise to a booming weight loss industry. The weight loss market is filled with weight loss management gurus and weight loss diet plans. But to lose weight, we must understand the scientific basis for healthy and fast weight loss.

Weight loss

Obesity is a complex multifactorial disease chronic disease that develops from an interaction of social, behavioral, cultural, physiological, and genetic factors. The condition of obesity is chronic, relapsing and neurochemical and involves interaction between host and environment. Overweight and obesity increase the risk of chronic diseases, and impaired quality of life. According to the summery of the NHLBI(2005), the to evidence based recommendations suggests that weight loss is recommended (A) to lower elevated blood pressure in overweight and obese persons with height blood pressure: (B) to lower elevated levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides, and raise low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol in overweight and obese persons with dyslipidemia: and (C) to lower elevated  blood glucose levels in overweight and obese persons with type 2 diabetes.

Obesity increases the risk of following conditions like:

• Arthritis
• Diabetes
• Asthma
• Heart diseases and stroke
• Sleep apnea
• Blount’s disease etc

To avoid all such complications and to be healthy a person has to be cautious about his or her unusual weight gain.

What is calorie?

Calorie refers to a unit of energy or calorie is a measure of energy. The amount of energy supplied by a nutrient is measured in calories. The calorie measures used commonly to discuss the energy content of food is a kilocalorie. Our calorie needs depends on various factors like weight, height, age gender, routine activities etc.

Role of calorie intake in weight loss

As we have discussed earlier that the body saves body saves excess energy in the form of fat. When we see this practically if a person requires 2,500 calories per day and eats food worth 300 calories per day then he or she has 500 extra calories per day and this extra intake of calorie are responsible for unusual weight gain. So in order to lose weight you must consume fewer calories that you burn.

Goals for fast weight loss

The general goals of weight loss and management are to reduce body weight, to maintain a lower body weight over the long term, and to prevent further weight gain. Evidence indicates that a moderate weight loss can be maintained over time if some form of therapy continues. It is better to maintain a moderate weight loss over a prolonged period than to regain from a marked weight loss.

Initial goal of weight loss from base line

The initial goal of weight loss should be to reduce body weight by approximately 10% from baseline. With success, further weight loss can be attempted if indicated through further assessment.

Amount of weight loss

Weight loss should be about 1-2 lb/Week for a period of six months, with the subsequent strategy based on the amount of weight loss.

Goals for weight loss management

After successful weight loss, the likelihood of weight loss maintenance is enhanced by a programme consisting of dietary therapy, physical activity and behavior therapy, which should be continued indefinitely. A weight maintenance programme should be a priority after the initial six months of weight loss.

Role of BMR in weight loss

Before discussing role of BMR in weight loss first we need to understand what exactly BMR is?

BMR or basal metabolic rate is the amount of energy expended while at rest or BMR is the minimum amount of calories required to sustain the body’s functions and processes.  BMR is responsible for approximately 60-70 percent of total calories.

If BMR is increased then there would be a constant calorie consumption results in burning excess fats and significant weight loss.

General instructions for weight loss

• Incorporate physical activity and healthy eating habits daily and routine physical activities are strongly recommended to achieve adequate weight loss

• Take adequate portion sizes of food, including grains, protein, vegetables, dairy, and fruits.

• Advocate three balanced meals a day, and keep healthy snakes available.

• Allow readily available healthy food choices

• Encourage eating at home and less fast food

• Encourage eating in one place without distraction

Weight Loss Calculator

Diabetes mellitus is a condition when a patient complaints of symptoms like gradual development of polyuria (frequent urination), intense thirst, with perhaps nocturia (frequent urination at night), weight loss, weakness and lassitude (weakness), pruritis (itching), cramps in legs, crops of boils and loss of libido (sexual desire).

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia resulting from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both.

Diet plays a very important role in order to manage diabetes such as:

• Restoration of normal blood glucose and optimal lipid levels.

• Maintenance of blood glucose level as near to physiologic levels to prevent onset or progression of complication.

• Maintenance of normal growth rate in children and adolescents as well as attainment and maintenance of reasonable body weight in adolescent and adults.

• Management of weight reduction for obese individuals with NIDDM.

• Improvement in overall health of patients with diabetes through optimal nutrition.

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Diabetes diet plan for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Patients

Carbohydrates

Should comprise 55-60% of the calories, with a form of amount of amount to be determined by individual eating habits and blood glucose and lipid responses. Unrefined carbohydrates should be substituted by refined carbohydrates to the extent possible.

Proteins

Recommended dietary allowance of 0.85 gm per kg body weight for adult is an appropriate guide. If renal dysfunction, reduce intake to 0.6 g per kg.

Fat

Fat comprise approximately 30% of total calories and all components should be reduced proportionately. Replacement of saturated fat is desirable to reduce cardiovascular risk. Cholesterol intake should be <300mg per day.

Fibre

Increased consumption of dietary fibre especially soluble fibre are associated with lower levels of blood glucose and serum lipids. The water insoluble fibres and most hemicelluloses found in whole grain breads, cereals and wheat bran affect gastrointestinal transit time and fecal bulk with little impact on plasma glucose. However highly viscous water soluble fibres such as pectins, gums and storage polysaccharide found in fruits, tubers, oat and oat bran, when eaten in purified form, reduce serum levels of glucose and insulin. Ideal recommended amount of fibre in patient’s diet is 35-40 gm per day.

Alternative sweeteners

Both nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners are acceptable in diabetes management.

Sodium

Should be restricted to 1000mg/1000Kcal, not to exceed 3000 mg/ d to minimize symptoms of hypertension

Alcohol

In moderation and may need to be restricted entirely by person with diabetes and insulin- induced hypoglycemia, neuropathy, poor control of glucose and lipid or obesity.

Vitamins, minerals and antioxidants intake should be encouraged.

Forbidden foods

Jam, jellies, honey, jaggary, tinned foods, sweets, chocolates, ice creams, pastries, glucose, drinks, foods made with lot of sugar, pudding, sauces.

Food allowed in moderation

Bread of all kinds and chapatis made from wheat or millets, plain biscuits, all fresh fruits, baked beans, breakfast cereals, sugar in very moderate quantity.

Saccharine for sweetening is often recommended but people often end up taking too many calories because any food contains calories not just because of the sugar but even carbohydrates and proteins are rich energy source. It is often better to take some sugar in moderation rather then binging on saccharine laden foods.

Free foods

All meat, fish, eggs (not fried), clear soup or meat extracts; tea or coffee; vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, pumpkin, brinjal, lady’s finger, turnip, French beans, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, spring onions, radish, asparagus. Spices, salt, pepper and mustered; natural butter in small quantity.