Fiber, What For?

Most of us know fiber is very useful to prevent constipation. But, do you know that fiber is very good for our heart, too? Yes, fiber may lower bad LDL cholesterol, thereby lowering the risks of heart disease. Not only that, fiber can also reduce the risks of colon and breast cancer on women. People with diabetes also need enough fiber to help lower the blood sugar.

So, how much we need fiber daily? Women, depending on age, need 21-25 grams of fiber daily, while men need approximately 30-38 grams. Eating too much fiber won't do any harm, so you can eat all those fiber freely. It's good for our health!

Proteins, How Much Do We Really Need Daily?

Protein is very useful in growth and repair. But too much protein is not good for health. Excess protein will accelerate calcium loss in urine, so that women who have high risks of osteoporosis should not take too much protein. For men, beside the danger of osteoporosis, they also face bigger risks of having kidney stone if take too much protein.

So, how much ideally? As a rule of thumb, we need protein about 0.8 grams per kg of body weight. So, if we weight 165 lbs (75 kg), we'll need about 60 grams protein daily, or roughly about eight ounces of meat.

Calcium Needs

Do we really need calcium? Yes, of course! Calcium is very useful to lower the risks of osteoporosis. But how much do we need that daily? Is too much calcium can harm us?

Calcium is really very necessary for us. Research shows that a high diet of calcium can reduce the risks of bone fractures. Calcium also plays an important role in blood pressure regulation. But how much do we need calcium daily? The answer is different for women and for men.

Women below age of 50 need approximately 1,000 mg of calcium while those over 50 need about 1,200 mg. Men must consume lower than that, because to much calcium is not good for them. Too much calcium will increase the risks of prostate cancer to men. Men of all ages need not more than 800 mg of calcium daily.

Weight Loss. What to Eat - Part 2

You might wonder, how to know how much calories in certain foods so that we can have proper diet in our weight loss program. There are many books for that. You can search and buy them from amazon.com for instance. Or, if you prefer to get the information online, I recommend this link.

Okay, calorie is the most important thing to consider in our weight loss program. But once again, we should plan our diet/food well so that our body will still get all the vitamins and nutrients it needs.

Our body needs about 0.5-1 gram protein per pound of body weight daily, depending on our level of activity. 1 gram of protein roughly contains 4 calories. So if we eat 100 grams of proteins, our body will get about 400 calories.

We need also to consume fats, much preferably good fat (unsaturated fat). There is also bad fat (saturated fat) that we should avoid because it is very bad for our health. This bad fat can be found on all junk foods while good fat are from fish, olive oil, nuts, etc. About 30% of the calories we need should be supplied by these good fats. A gram of fat contains about 9 calories.

The rest of the calories can be obtained through carbs containing foods such as
beans, brown rice, oatmeal, fruit and vegetables, etc. One gram of carbs contains roughly 4 calories. But also remember that like fat, there is also good (complex carbs) and bad carbs (simple carbs). Bad carbs are often found in typical junk foods and candies. White bread is also full of bad carbs, so it is much better to eat whole grain bread instead. Cookies, chips, pretzels, and sugary drinks are also sources of these bad carbs.

Weight Loss. What to Eat

To have a success in weight loss, we should control what we eat. Avoid eating foods that contain much fat like dairy products. We should eat foods that contain more proteins instead like fish. Reduce your consumptions for carbohydrates, too, because our body will process carbohydrates into sugar and in turn it will be converted into fat if our total energy expenditures is less then total energy intake.

Many failed in their weight loss plans although they had tried to reduce consumptions of the high-fat foods significantly. Yes, they managed to avoid high fat foods, but they compensate it by eating more high-protein foods. Remember, protein too have calories in it. Eating too much proteins will not help you either in losing your weight.

Eat more unprocessed foods such as vegetables, fruits, legumes. Those foods will supply the needs of vitamins and minerals of your body. Eating foods with plenty of fiber will also be very good because fiber will make us full sooner and stay longer in our stomach. That way, fiber will slow down our digestion rate and make us feel full longer. Fiber will also move fat faster through our digestive system so that less fat can be absorbed.

Whole grain for example, is much better for losing weight than white bread because of its greater fiber contents. Refined grains such as white rice and those used to make white bread, as well as sugary breakfast cereals have had lost most of its fiber and nutrients. Those refined grains will be turned into glucose very fast, causing spike in our insulin level, and in turn makes the body thinks that too much energy is available. Our body will stop burning fat then and store the the excess of energy into fat instead.

Weight Loss. One Simple Tip Before Diet

To have successful weight loss, calculate the calories of the foods & drinks you consume everyday. Eat less calories than what you need every day. Roughly, if you eat 500 calories less than what you need everyday, you will loose about 1 pound in a week. If you eat 1,000 calories less, you'll loose about 2 pounds in a week. By eating less calories, your body will have to convert its fat stores into energy to make up the deficit of the calories you need. It is recommended to combine this eating pattern with exercise to burn more calories and to have healthier body.

Some people will extremely limit themselves by taking very small portions of food or by not taking certain food completely (although they like it very much). It might be good for short period of time, but in the longterm usually this kind of diet will not be effective. The person who does this kind of diet program will feel too heavy burden overtime. It is always best to take into account the foods you like and dislike while also include combinations of foods with enough calories and nutrients for good health.

Weight Loss. Finding Out Daily Calories Need

So, how to find out how much calories we need daily? There is another formula that is very useful for us to do that: BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) Formula. But first, what is BMR? Roughly, BMR is the number of calories you burn if you stay in bed all day long . In other words, BMR is the calories we need to maintain our body weight.

Our BMR gradually decreasing over years as we age. That's why when we get older, we tend to get fatter and fatter if we still use the same eating pattern of our happy younger era. Not only that, our BMR will also decrease if we depriving our food in order to get weight loss.... a real foil to our intentions. But, thank goodness we can increase our BMR via regular routine of exercises to improve our health and fitness.

BMR formula for men:

• 66 + (6.23 * weight in pounds)+ (12.7 * height in inches) - (6.8 * age in year), or
• 66 + ( 13.7 * weight in kilos ) + ( 5 * height in cm ) - ( 6.8 x age in years )

BMR for women:

• 655 + ( 4.35 * weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 * height in inches ) - ( 4.7 * age in years ), or
• 655 + ( 9.6 * weight in kilos ) + ( 1.8 * height in cm ) - ( 4.7 * age in years )

For a more precise result of calories needed to maintain your body weight, consider your activity level, too:

1. Sedentary (little or no exercise):

    Calories = BMR * 1.2

2. Lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week):

    Calories = BMR * 1.375

3. Moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week):

    Calories = BMR * 1.55

4. Very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week):

    Calories = BMR * 1.725

5. Extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job) :

    Calories =  BMR * 1.9

To lose fat, generally you can at least deduct 500 calories from that result for your daily calories intake. You can deduct more than 500 calories but never more than 1,000, especially if you have only small amount of weight to lose.