Height to Weight Ratio Chart

Calculate your ideal weight to height ratio using the handy height to weight guide chart to help you avoid obesity related illness or even future disability later in life.

Height to Weight Ratio Chart:

Health experts worldwide agree that adults who are overweight and have weight related medical problems or a family history of such problems can benefit from weight loss. Even a small weight loss of 10 to 20 pounds can improve your overall general health by lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol levels.



Maintaining a healthy weight is very important for protection against obesity related illness or disability. If your weight is currently over the healthy range for your height, losing weight will certainly be beneficial to your health, your looks and how you feel. Check your height to weight ratio using the approximate height to weight chart guide below.

If you're underweight you may need to gain some weight, this should always be done as part of a balanced and nutritious diet, see the New Food Pyramid. In addition you should also be sure to Calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI)

If your weight is in the ok range then you're eating the correct amount of food to keep your weight in the desirable range for health. However, if you are overweight for your height, try to cut down on the amount you're eating, especially food and drinks high in fat or sugar, and try to do more physical activity, exercises, workouts, etc., as being over weight can increase your risk of heart disease, type II diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoarthritis. Be sure to check with your doctor if you need to lose weight and had problems losing it in the past.

So What is the right weight for my height?

How much should you weigh according to your height? This height to weight chart is a guideline to an Adults ideal bodyweight:

Female Height to Weight Ratio					Male Height to Weight Ratio
Height	Low	Target	High		Height	Low	Target	High
4' 10"	100	115	131		5' 1"	123	134	145
4' 11"	101	117	134		5' 2"	125	137	148
5' 0"	103	120	137		5' 3"	127	139	151
5' 1"	105	122	140		5' 4"	129	142	155
5' 2"	108	125	144		5' 5"	131	145	159
5' 3"	111	128	148		5' 6"	133	148	163
5' 4"	114	133	152		5" 7"	135	151	167
5' 5"	117	136	156		5' 8"	137	154	171
5' 6"	120	140	160		5' 9"	139	157	175
5' 7"	123	143	164		5' 10"	141	160	179
5 '8"	126	146	167		5' 11"	144	164	183
5' 9"	129	150	170		6' 0"	147	167	187
5' 10"	132	153	173		6' 1"	150	171	192
5' 11"	135	156	176		6' 2"	153	175	197
6' 0"	138	159	179		6' 3"	157	179	202

Height to weight chart you can print:

Right click the chart below and save it to your computer. You can then print the height to weight chart for future reference.

Ban Trans Fats!

LONDON - Banning trans fats from all foods would prevent thousands of heart attacks and deaths every year and would be a simple way to protect the public and save lives, say senior doctors from the Harvard School of Public Health.

The authors say in their report that bans in Denmark and New York City effectively eliminated trans fats without reducing food availability, taste or affordability.

There is also no evidence that such legislation leads to harm from increased use of saturated fats. Their view follows calls by public health specialists to eliminate the consumption of industrially-produced trans fats by next year.

Trans fats (also known as trans fatty acids) are solid fats found in margarines, biscuits, cakes and fast food. Many studies demonstrate harmful effects of trans fats on cardiovascular risk factors.

For example, trans fats increase the amount of low density lipoprotein (LDL) or ‘bad cholesterol’ in the blood and reduce the amount of high density lipoprotein (HDL) or ‘good cholesterol’.

People with high levels of LDL cholesterol tend to have a higher risk of getting heart disease, while people with high levels of HDL cholesterol tend to have a lower risk.

A recent analysis of all the evidence recommends that people should reduce or stop their dietary intake of trans fatty acids to minimise the related risk of coronary heart disease.

Removing industrial trans fats is one of the most straightforward public health strategies for rapid improvements in health, the authors say in a British Medical Journal (BMJ) release.

Based on current disease rates, a strategy to reduce consumption of trans fats by even one percent of total energy intake would be expected to prevent 11,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths annually in Britain alone.

These findings were published in bmj.com.

What is GLYCEMIC INDEX?

By now, most people have heard of the glycemic index, but I’ll take a moment to explain it.

• The way the glycemic index works is that a scientist will measure the blood sugar of a volunteer and then feed that volunteer a single food. After two or three hours, the volunteer’s blood sugar is measured again. What scientists have discovered through this kind of testing is that certain foods increase blood sugar a little, others increase blood sugar moderately, and still other foods increase blood sugar dramatically.

  While there are complicated glycemic index charts that show hundreds of foods, here is a typical one:

  

  What you want to notice about this list is that sugars (left-hand column) are mostly in the high top part of the chart. Sucrose (table sugar) and glucose are always found near the top, but, here is the kicker: so are white rice, pancakes, bread, corn flakes, crackers, parsnips, potatoes and many other foods. These are the Foods That Act Like Sugar in your body.

  A Sugar is a Sugar

  The take home message from the studies done on glycemic index is that a sugar is a sugar, no matter what the source. To your body, it doesn’t matter if you pick up a table spoon of sugar and put it in your mouth, or if you pick up a baguette and start munching on it: the results are the same. Up up up goes your blood sugar every time you eat these foods.

  If you want to maintain good blood sugar control, I always recommend eating low or below the glycemic index.

  Below the Glycemic Index

• 
  

  You may have heard of high and low glycemic index foods and that you should eat as many low glycemic foods as you can if you want to keep your blood sugar low or if you are diabetic, but you may not have heard of the concept of Eating Below the Glycemic Index.

  A typical glycemic index chart looks something like this:What you should notice about this chart, or any glycemic index chart, is that there are a number of foods that are missing. The reason why these missing foods are not on the chart is that they don’t have any effect on your blood sugar at all. But just because these foods are not on the glycemic index doesn’t mean they are not important, in fact the opposite is true.

  Below the Glycemic Index Foods:

  Here are the foods that are below the glycemic index. You can safely eat as much as you want of them and they will have no impact on your blood sugar:

  • Onions and garlic
  • Cruciferous vegetables: Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, chard, kale, and cabbage
  • Lettuce of all kinds: red leaf, green leaf, iceberg…
  • Mixed greens: spinach, arugula, endive, dandelion greens, escarole, radicchio, red mustard and various lettuces: red leaf, green leaf, romaine
  • Avocados
  • Meats: fish, chicken, beef, pork, wild game
  • Eggs
  • Mushrooms: Shitake, Maitake, Reishi and others

  What is amazing about all these foods is that they are not only low on the glycemic index, but many of them are what I call Disease Busing Power Foodsbecause they pack that additional nutritional punch that makes them not only good for you, but can actually prevent (and maybe even treat) many common diseases (such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and others).

  By choosing foods from below the glycemic index, you are picking the very best nutrition you can find. You are not only keeping your blood sugar low, but you are also giving your body that extra boost it needs to navigate our stressed-out over-processed and sometimes toxic world.

  Cannot Live on “Below” Alone?

  You may look at the Below the Glycemic Index foods and think that you cannot live on those foods alone. Fair enough. The next best place to choose your foods from is the low glycemic index foods, the best of these include:

  • Nuts: peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts…
  • Fruits: apples, kiwi, cherries, berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries…)
  • Beans: pinto, chickpea, butter beans, lima bean, black beans, lentils…
  • Grains: while I’m not a big fan of grains, if you want to include them in your diet try to prepare them as most people make rice: boil and eat them. The whole grain with the lowest glycemic index is barley. You should also choose the whole-grain versions and not the “white” versions. If you simply must have your grains ground and processed, choose pasta as it generally is very low on the glycemic index.

  Below or Low

  As you can see, the best way to eat is to choose foods low or below the glycemic index. While it can be difficult at times, these foods are what your body need to thrive.

Aspartame linked to Mental Disorders

High intake of the artificial sweetener aspartame may lead to the degeneration of brain cells and various mental disorders, according to a research review conducted by South African scientists from the University of Pretoria and the University of Limpopo and published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Aspartame is a widely used artificial sweetener, particularly in food and beverage products marketed as low calorie or "diet." It is used in more than 6,000 products around the world.

"We propose that excessive aspartame ingestion might be involved in the pathogenesis of certain mental disorders, and also in compromised learning and emotional functioning," the researchers concluded.

The review of prior research found that aspartame, marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, Canderal and Tropicana Slim, leads to both direct and indirect changes in the brain when consumed in high quantities. Among these effects, the chemical can disrupt amino acid metabolism and structure, degrade nucleic acids, and interfere with the function of nerve cells and hormonal systems. It also appears to change the concentration of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.

The researchers also noted that aspartame appears to cause excessive signaling of nerve cells, and nerve cell damage or even death. By disrupting the functioning of the cells' mitochondria, or energy source, aspartame leads to a cascade of effects on the whole system."The energy systems for certain required enzyme reactions become compromised, thus indirectly leading to the inability of enzymes to function optimally," the researchers wrote.

This directly contradicts a review published in 2007, which concluded that "aspartame is safe at current levels of consumption … no credible evidence was found that aspartame is carcinogenic, neurotoxic, or has any other adverse effect on health."

The chemical has been controversial since its introduction, with a number of studies linking it to cancer and neurological and behavioral disorders. People have reported experiencing headaches, insomnia and even seizures from aspartame consumption.

The FDA and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), however, continue to insist that the sweetener is safe.

Obese more likely to develop Cancer

Here's yet another reason why you should cut the flab -obesity could give you cancer. A new research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, has found that overweight people are at a significantly higher risk of developing a range of common cancers. In fact, according to researchers, an individual's risk of contracting at least seven types of cancer rises with every pound of weight put on - however, those who lose weight can reduce their chance of developing the disease.

"People associate high body weight with conditions like diabetes and heart disease, and a lot of people are not aware of the links between body weight and cancer. "If you look at these cancers, they include two of the most common, breast and colon, and some of which have very low survival rates, pancreatic and oesophagus.

So body weight has a substantial impact on cancers that are common and those that are difficult to treat. "This is a very important issue. Maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the most important things you can do to prevent cancer after not smoking,"Ed Yong of Cancer Research United Kingdom was quoted by the Sunday Telegraph as saying.

The researchers have based their findings on an analysis of data from around the world on obesity, weight gain and weight loss in relation to cancers of the breast, kidney, pancreas, colon, prostate, oesophagus and endometrium, which is actually the lining of the womb.

The study, carried out at the Washington University School of Medicine in the US, found clear links between cancer rates and increases in body mass index (BMI), the measurement of obesity which is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilogrammes by their height in metres.

And, the cancer which emerged as having the clearest link to weight gain was breast cancer in postmenopausal women. The risk of catching the disease increased by 5% with every 5kg of weight gained. Weight gain in adulthood accounts for almost a quarter of cases of the disease in older women. On the contrary, the study found that those who lost weight were at a significantly lower risk of the disease.

Research into colon cancer found that men who put on 6kg or more in weight ran twice the risk of getting the disease as men who lost two kilogrammes or more. Those who gained 21kg or more after reaching the age of 20 had a 60% increased risk compared to men who have gained less than five kilogrammes, the researchers found in their study.

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Courtesy: Press Trust of India, Sept. 8, 2008

Obesity leads to Liver damage in Teens

In a new and disturbing twist on the obesity epidemic, some overweight teenagers have severe liver damage caused by too much body fat, and a handful have needed liver transplants. Many more may need a new liver by their 30s or 40s, say experts warning that pediatricians need to be more vigilant.

The condition, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver failure or liver cancer, is being seen in kids in the United States, Europe, Australia and even some developing countries, according to a surge of recent medical studies and doctors.

The American Liver Foundation and other experts estimate 2%to 5% of American children over age 5, nearly all of them obese or overweight, have the condition, called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. "It's clearly the most common cause of liver disease," said Dr Ronald Sokol, head of public policy at the liver foundation and a liver specialist at Children's Hospital and University of Colorado Denver.

Some experts think as many as 10% of all children and half of those who are obese may suffer from it, but note that few are given the simple blood test that can signal its presence. A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnose this disease.

As fat builds up, the liver can become inflamed and then scarred over time, leading to cirrhosis, a serious condition, which in years past was mostly caused by hepatitis or drinking too much alcohol. The disease is most common in overweight children with belly fat and certain warning signs, such as diabetes or cholesterol or heart problems.

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Courtesy: Associated Press, Sept. 10, 2008

Obesity? Don't just blame it on your Genes!

Vigorous physical activity can help even people genetically prone to obesity keep the weight off, US researchers said on Monday. A study among a group of Amish people found those who had an obesity-related gene called FTO but were very physically active weighed about the same as others who did not carry the gene.

"When we looked at the Amish who were the most active, there is suddenly no effect of that gene," said Dr Soren Snitker of the University of Maryland. The findings may help inform the debate over whether changes in diet or physical activity will make the biggest difference in fighting obesity.

Consumer groups have pushed for laws such as a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in certain Los Angeles neighbourhoods, while the food industry often maintains that a lack of exercise is more to blame.

Snitker and Evadnie Rampersaud of the University of Miami were looking to see if physical activity might offset the effects of obesity associated with the FTO gene, found in more than half of all people of European descent. People with two copies of the FTO gene on average weigh nearly 3kg more.

The researchers found those who were less active and had the FTO gene variant were significantly more likely to be overweight or obese. But among the most physically active, the FTO gene made no difference.

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Courtesy: Reuters, Sept. 10, 2008

Scientific Weight Loss Program

Why conventional Weight Loss Programs fail?

Most weight loss programs fail because they do not remove the underlying causes of obesity, and because the program is not individualized to the person's unique needs.

Naturopathic physicians specialize in treatment of factors which inhibit weight loss including: specific dietary counseling, promoting proper digestion, restoring compromised liver function, promoting proper thyroid metabolism, identifying nutrient deficiencies, treating food allergies, treating insulin resistance, detoxification, and treatment of intestinal imbalances.

Conventional Weight Loss Treatment for Obesity/ Overweight:

. Diet usually consisting of a decrease in calories and change in dietary habits.
. Exercise.

. Behavioral therapy (includes many commercial weight loss programs).
. Drugs including appetite suppressants and stimulants.
. Surgery. The most common operations- vertical banded gastroplasty and gastric bypass, radically reduce stomach volume. There are a variety of nutrient deficiencies that may occur as a result of these procedures.

Why Some Weight Loss Programs Fail?

. Not being realistic about the time that it takes for permanent healthy weight loss. Expect your dietary and exercise changes to be lifelong habits. Plan to take 24-36 months to attain your ideal weight.
. Failure to identify contributing factors in weight gain
. Wrong dietary plan
. Inability to burn total calories being consumed
. Water retention
. Constipation
. Poor digestion
. Poor liver function
. Poor carbohydrate metabolism
. Deficiency of essential nutrients needed for normal metabolism
. Food sensitivities
. Toxicity stored in fat tissue
. Mental/emotional issues. Mental and emotional issues in our lives affect our eating habits and our relationship with food. For many people, it is necessary to address this component of health in order to attain permanent weight loss.

Natural Approaches for Permanent Weight Loss

Naturopathic medicine provides natural, safe, and effective options for a healthy diet and lifestyle which promotes permanent weight loss.

Change your approach to Weight-Loss
. Throw your scale out. Do not weigh yourself. Gauge your weight loss by the change in your clothes, your body and your feeling.
. Make the goal be achieving and maintaining balance in your life. Balance your food, work, home, self, exercise, reactions to life and emotions.
. Work the program diligently for 24-36 months and expect consistent small results. A monthly 2 lb. weight loss equals 72 pounds in 36 months. This is a slow evolving experience, not a crash program. Have patience.
. Never give up. Successfully living a healthy lifestyle requires persistence over a long period of time. It gets easier but you’ll be working at it for the rest of your life. You don’t just arrive and that is it. It is like brushing your teeth; it calls for attention on a daily basis.
. Surround yourself with people who support you and your goals rather than undermine you.
. Regularly do something in your life that you love.

Dietary plan/ Nutritional Considerations
Never use a low calorie diet again. This is not a diet. Banish the word from your vocabulary. Choose to live a particular way that includes a moderate amount of good clean food, regular exercise, relaxation, fun, time for yourself and caring for yourself and others.

Atkins Diet...Zone Diet…Low Fat Diet… They all share a common flaw: a "one size fits all" approach. Naturopathic physicians can work with you to determine the lifetime eating plan that is right for you which will promote overall health as well as permanent weight loss.

Difficulties losing weight are often related to deficiencies in nutrients which are necessary for proper metabolism. If fats can’t be broken down properly, weight loss is difficult or impossible.

. Nutrients such as B-vitamins, lipoic acid, iron, magnesium, manganese, chromium, L-carnitine and Co-enzyme Q-10 are essential for proper metabolism of fats and carbohydrates.
. Nutrients necessary for proper thyroid function include tyrosine, iodine, selenium, zinc, and copper.
. Food cravings and insulin resistance can also be due to nutrient deficiencies.

Exercise
Exercise helps reduce weight. Research shows that frequency of exercise is the most important factor in weight loss. Duration of exercise is the second most important factor.

Exercise has important benefits:
Increases lean body mass, which automatically increases your metabolism - muscle tissue has a higher metabolic rate (burns more calories) than adipose (fat) tissue.Improves mood, improves sleep, improves balance and coordination, lowers blood sugar, improves insulin sensitivity, improves immune system function, improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, raises HDL (“good”) cholesterol and overall significantly reduces the risk of heart disease. Consult an expert before starting any exercise program who will advise you what based on your physiological condition what kind of exercise would be best for you.

Stress Management
If you have hormonal imbalances that are caused by chronic stress, stress management will help with weight loss. It is often necessary to take a hard look at how one reacts to stress from mental/emotional issues in one’s life and how to resolve/manage/change these responses to be more healthy.