BMI, or Body Mass Index, is simply a number reflecting the relationship between your height and weight.  You’ll want to aim for a BMI between 19-25, which means your body weight relative to your height is within a healthy range.  Click here to check yours.

If your BMI is higher than 25, start with two things:

1. Eat more non-starchy vegetables, up to 11 servings every day.
2. Move more.

If your BMI is over 30, call me.  (808) 537-1333.

I often hear my clients wonder about certain nutrients and where they can find them in foods.  Here’s a tool you can use to find foods high in any nutrient you desire.  Want to know which foods are high in iodine?  Vitamin C?  Potassium?

Get Yourself an Oil Change

Learn the difference between saturated and unsaturated fats, trans fats, unsaturated and polyunsaturated oils, and why these differences are important to your health.

Decrease These:

Saturated Fats

Any oils or fats from animals (except fish):  Butter, lard, whole-milk dairy products, butter, cheese, fats from chicken, turkey, pork, beef and lamb.  Saturated fats clog arteries and can lead to cardiovascular disease.

Hydrogenated Oils

Hydrogenated oils occur mainly in anything involving oil and fat that is processed, such as margarines, crackers, cookies, frozen foods, salad dressings and pizza.  Read your labels as you’ll even find hydrogenated oil in popular sports drinks!  Hydrogenated oils act like saturated fats in the body.

Omega 6 Fats

The typical American diet contains a large amount of omega-6 fats.  These fats promote inflammation in the body which can lead to headaches, heart disease, suppressed immunity, and some cancers.  Omega-6 fats are found in corn oil, safflower oil and sunflower oil.  Look out for “healthy blends” in the cooking oil section; you’d do much better with olive, walnut or peanut oils (see below).

Increase These

Unsaturated Fats

These “good” fats reduce inflammation in the body and don’t generally aggregate (create clogs) in arteries.  An easy way to tell them apart from the “bad” fats is how they behave at room temperature: saturated fats are solid or semi-solid, while unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature.  These “good,” unsaturated fats include olives & olive oil, macadamia nuts, and canola oil.

Omega 3 Fats

These healthy unsaturated fats are found in fish oil, walnuts and flax.  Omega-3 fats can reduce inflammation in the body, thereby protecting against heart disease, enhancing immunity, and promoting a general sense of overall health. Eat more foods containing these omega-3 fats; eat fewer foods containing omega-6 fats.

You may have heard about fish oil being good for you.  It’s actually what’s in fish oil that’s good for you, and that includes fatty acids.  Fatty acids are essential for good health, and there is one in particular that I recommend supplementing on a daily basis, called DHA.

Research shows that DHA supports memory, cognition, and emotional well-being, in addition to promoting healthy eyes.  DHA is found in good amounts in fish with a high oil content, which is why “fish oil” is used as the basis of these types of supplements.  However, we must be careful about purity, as many fish (and thus their oils) are contaminated with mercury or other heavy metals which are harmful to health.

Since government fish oil quality standards do not exist in the United States, it’s important to research the supplements you are taking.  I endorse this product because it adheres to and exceeds the stringent Norwegian Medicinal Standard (NMS) and the European Pharmacopoeia Standard (EPS) as well as the voluntary standards set by the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) and the Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3 (GOED). These standards guarantee quality products by setting maximum allowances on peroxides, heavy metals, dioxins, and PCBs.  For more information on this, click here.

You may order directly from the manufacturer or through me.  If ordering through me, I offer this and all Nordic Naturals products at 20% less than manufacturer pricing.  Click here to contact me.