Diet

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On this page you can learn the facts about diet, Body Mass Index and Dieting; you should be aware that itscooking.com does NOT recommend any particular form of dieting and advises you to seek medical advice before commencing upon any diet plan of your choice. In this section;

Dieting
Body Weight & Metabolism
Altering food intake
Body Mass Index (BMI)
Obesity & dieting

Dieting

Dieting is a planned restriction of food, or of particular types of foods, in order to control weight. A slimming diet provides less energy than the amount utilized by an individual, and therefore results in weight loss. Thus dieting to lose weight involves planned restriction of energy intake (preferably in combination with increased energy output in the form of exercise) in order to reduce weight.

There are cultural pressures in Western society for people, especially women, to be slim, particularly in recent decades. The media and fashion and advertising industries commonly use thin (seemingly underweight) models, and there is a vast amount of literature, including newspaper articles, slimming magazines, and a plethora of diet books, available on methods of weight reduction. Slimness is often associated with being successful, attractive, and healthy. However, in Victorian Britain, plump women were fashionable; today, in certain cultures, fatness in women is still regarded as attractive and also as a sign of fertility.

Body Weight & Metabolism

Body weight is affected by energy intake in the form of calories from food. The calories equal energy by output, which is the amount actually used up. When the diet contains more energy than is needed, the excess is stored as fat. Around three quarters of energy output is for basic body functions such as respiration. This is called the basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR varies between individuals, especially between young people (who have a higher BMR) and older people. Average energy requirements depend on BMR and the level of physical activity a person undertakes. The more active a person is, the more energy (calories) he or she uses, and so the more likely that person is to maintain a healthy body weight. Current research on obesity is focusing on endocrinological effects, on body metabolism, and on genetic influences, once thought unlikely causes. It is no longer thought that the reduction of the number of calories in a person’s diet will automatically lead to a reduction in weight.

Altering Food Intake

Fat provides more than twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrate or protein

For most people, eating less fat and filling up on starchy and high-fibre foods, fruit, and vegetables will help them to lose weight. Fat provides more than twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrate or protein. As a result, reducing the amount of fat in a diet can drastically reduce the number of calories. Furthermore, excess fat in the diet may be stored as body fat more readily than carbohydrate or protein.

Comparing a person’s weight to his or her height is one way of checking whether that person is a healthy weight. Charts that show this are often used by doctors to assess their patients’ weight. The charts show that for all heights there is a range of weights that are considered healthy, underweight, or overweight. This is because different people have varying amounts of muscle and bone.

Body Mass Index

One useful way to judge body weight is to work out the body mass index (BMI):

weight (kg)

height (m²)

= BMI (kg/m²)

Anyone's BMI calculation can be compared against the following ranges:

Less than 20 = underweight
20-25 = normal weight (the desirable range)
25-30 = overweight
More than 30 = obese
More than 35 = very obese

Obesity & Dieting

Despite continuing pressures to be slim, the level of obesity has been increasing in the United Kingdom over the past 50 years. In 1994, 44 per cent of men and 31 per cent of women in England were overweight. A further 14 per cent of men and 17 per cent of women were obese. By 2000 it was estimated that 50 per cent of all adults in the United Kingdom were overweight and 20 per cent obese.

People with a BMI of 20 to 25 are not advised by doctors to lose weight, although they can benefit from a healthy balanced diet and regular exercise. Those who are overweight but not obese (BMI 25-30) are encouraged to make sensible dietary choices and exercise regularly in order to prevent any further weight gain.

Crash diets or fad diets are NOT recommended!

For those people who need to lose weight, current opinion suggests a slow, gradual weight loss of 0.45 to 2 kg (1 to 2 lbs) per week, achieved by a combination of a reduced-energy balanced diet, together with regular activity or exercise, such as walking. Exercise is crucial to sustained weight loss, as dieting alone only works temporarily until the body recognizes its new intake and adjusts accordingly—resisting further weight loss. Crash diets or fad diets are not recommended, and while meal replacements may result in weight loss, they do not address the problem of poor dietary habits in the long term. It can be difficult to maintain weight loss when the products are no longer used. Furthermore, they lack bulk and can therefore cause constipation.

Very low-calorie diets (fewer than 600 kcals a day) are not recommended for use in mildly obese or plump people and if used in obese people are only recommended for short-term use, under medical supervision.

Pregnant women or those with certain dietary requirements (such as people with diabetes) are advised to consult their general practitioners before trying to lose weight. Overweight children should not be put on a strict slimming diet, but should be helped and encouraged to remain at a constant weight or increase weight slowly while their height increases, so that they grow to be an acceptable weight for their height.