what is Calorie?

Calorie:

A calorie (cal) is the amount of heat energy required to raise the 

temperature of 1g of water 1°C from 14° to 15°C. A kilocalorie (kcal) is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1000g of water 1°C.

When broken down one gram of each carbohydrates ,protein and fat releases 4, 4, 9 kcal of energy respectively.

To calculate the energy available from a food, multiply the number of grams of carbohydrate, protein, and fat by 4,4, and 9, respectively. Then add the results together.

For example, 1 slice of bread with a tablespoon of peanut butter on it contains 16 grams carbohydrate, 7 grams protein, and 9 grams fat :

16g carbohydrate x 4 kcal/g = 64 kcal
7g protein x 4 kcal/g                 = 28 kcal
9g fat x 9kcal/g                           = 81 kcal
Total                                                = 173 kcal

From this information, we can calculate the percentage of kcalories each of the energy nutrients contributes to the total. To determine the percentage of kcalories from fat, for example, divide the 81 fat calories by the total of 173 kcalories:

81 ÷ 173 = 0.468 (rounded to 0.47)
Then multiply by 100 to get the percentage:
0.47 x 100 = 47%

(Reference: Understanding Nutrition 7th Edition by Eleanor Noss Whitney and Sharon Rady Rolfes )

The general guide line is that approximately 57%, 30%, 13% of energy should come from Carbohydrates, Fats and Protein respectively.

What is energy in foods?

Energy :

Our body needs a balance in energy. Energy balance in an individual depends on his or her dietary energy intake and energy expenditure. Imbalance in energy intake and expenditure results in gain or loss of body components resulting in changes in body weight. Excess energy cannot be eliminated, and is eventually deposited in the form of body fat which results in obesity.

Energy is calculated in Calories and calories are obtained from food. We calculate the energy (calories ) given by one food using the contents of the food.

The Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) is the average dietary energy intake that is predicted to maintain energy balance in a healthy, adult of a defined age, gender, weight, height, and level of physical activity consistent with good health.

So energy requirements vary by each individual and so average energy estimation helps to set a normal standard for people. Energy requirements also depends on each persons' Basal metabolic rate (BMR).

To calculate ones energy requirements we need to know Basal Energy Expenditure (BEE) ,Diet induced Energy Expenditure (DEE) and Activity-induced Energy Expenditure (AEE)
BEE refers to the metabolic activity necessary to sustain life (i.e., respiration, pulse, body temperature) or the energy needed in resting condition and can be estimated using the following equation:
Harris-Benedict equation:
BEE(kcal/day):Males = 66.5 + (13.7 X W) + (5.0 X H) - (6.8 X A)
Females = 655 + (9.6 X W ) + (1.7 X H) - (4.7 X A)
where:
W = usual or adjusted weight in kilograms
H = height in centimeters
A = age in years

Diet -induced Energy Expenditure includes energy costs of food absorption, metabolism and storage. DEE in individuals is relatively small and doesnot make important contirbution in energy balance.
Total energy Expenditure (TEE) = BEE + Activity-induced Energy Expenditure (Physical activity,PA )

Or the total energy expenditure is calculated by multiplying BEE with PA factor.

The physical activity factor varies between individuals depending on the duration and intensity of activities they perform. The PA factor vaires from 1.2 - 2.2 between individuals 18 and 64 year old healthy adults. On an average it is estimated the people having western life style ,regular ,relatively sedentary lifestyle have PA between 1.2-1.6 and that of elite athelets can be greater than 2.5

On an average the energy needed by individual is given below.
Men ~2300-2600 kcal
Women ~1900-2200 kcal
Pregnant +500 kcal

Lactating +600 kcal

Making good use of basic nutrition Information

We all know that we need energy to sustain the body’s various functions, including respiration, circulation, physical work, and maintenance of core body temperature.

And we also know that

- we get that energy from food which is broken down by various metabolic activities inside our body to release energy.
- Macronutrients include carbohydrate, fat and protein, micro nutrients are vitamins and minerals.
- Water is an essential nutrient, is needed to carry other nutrients throughout the body and 60% of our body is water.
- Too much of food gets stored as fat and leads to obesity and other diseases.

But we do get confused when it comes to eating right. We get questions like, how much of what I need to eat? How much is enough? Am I getting enough if I eat this? And how much calorie I need per day? What if I take too much calorie?

To answer all these questions we need to know the basic of nutrition. That is to know about energy, calorie, RDA ( recommended Daily allowance ) ,DRI (Dietary reference intake ), AI (Adequate intake) and BMI (body mass index)

In the next few blogs I want to put all the information together which is the key that will unlock the door to better diets and in turn better health and longer lives.

What is relation between nutrition and killer diseases?

What is Nutrition and what is a proper diet?

In all the previous posts I talked about the killer diseases and as a remedy for each diseases it is said that proper diet and physical activity is important. But what is proper diet? Everyone talks about proper diet and nutrition. But if we know the basics of this so called “nutrition” then wont it be easy to understand the word “Diet”? But nutrition is a vast subject and it can never be written in few paragraphs. So I decided to compile few and highlight the importance of nutrition in this blog.

We all have heard the old tamil sayings about nutrition here. That is “உணவே மருந்து” , அளவுக்கு மீறினால் அமுதமும் நஞ்சு” That is to say that "Food is medicine for all diseases and food can prevent any diseases too". Also "Nutrition is food but all foods are not nutrition" and if the food intake is excess or deficient in some nutrients then definitely it will bring troubles.

Good Nutrition is vital for health , disease prevention and is important for growth and development for small children and adults. Good nutrition is important to maintain our health. It is like fuel for cars. Without the fuel, cars can never run. Similarly without good nutrition our body cannot function well.So just like gasoline gives energy for car to run ,good nutriton gives energy for our body to run. This energy is measured in kilocalories or calories.

The nutrional requirements for each person varies depending upon age, sex, body height , body weight ,status of work and rate of growth. But average requirements for each nutrient for a person based on calorie is fixed by scientific community.

What is in food?

According to our body, the food is composed of many nutrients. Some nutrients are used for energy ( carbohydrates and fats) some are mainly for building materials ( proteins and minerals) and some other are for using or making the energy by process called metabolism and managing the chemical reactions in the body ( vitamins and fatty acids). Each body functions requires some energy to perform the actions and it is provided in calories by these nutrients. Thus the energy intake of food is burned off for bodily functions.

To operate at its best, the body needs these nutrients in the right amounts. So whether it is carbohydrate or protein or fat anything taken in excess than required and if not burned they get stored for later use. This will lead to weight gain and all health problems. Also if the food is deficient in some nutirents then the dysfuncitoning of body will occur. That is too much or too little can—and often does—result in the body dysfunctioning. That's what we know as disease. there are many numbers of researches done to support this relation of diet and killer diseases by scietific community.

How is obesity treated?

How is Obesity treated?

Losing weight is simple, not to say that it is necessarily easy. Proper nutrition can cure all diseases and can prevent diseases too.But all Nutrition is food and not all food is nutritious. This simple concept is very much important while loosing weight.The food can be compared to a fuel for functioning of car. Any excess fuel poured in the fuel tank of the car gets wasted in the car. ( a 5 lr fuel tank never can hold 1000 lr fuel) . But in our body the excess food (fuel) gets stored as fat for future use. It is definately not needed to store it if we continue to give the food regularly needed by the body.The storage capacity is just the nature of our body, to prevent us from drought or starvation conditions which existed in the old days. But now a days food is abundant and it is the cause for obesity in delveloping countries. It is definately much harder to carry this stored fat and our body needs more fuel just to perform this storage function by the body. so we put more strain to the body by eating excess.
So Proper planned nutrition and diet plays major role in effective weight loss.

· Life style change
The first step in weight loss is to achieve a reasonable goal, which is to begin making lifestyle changes by increasing physical activity and limiting calories. A reduction of 6-10 lbs can significantly decrease the cardiovascular health risks of overweight or obese people.
Loosing 10% of the weight at a rate of 1-2 lbs per week improves health and sets a good starting in the journey of weight loss.

· Food

Proper diet and nutrition is a very important part of staying healthy—for everyone—and especially for a obese/overweight person. By decreasing daily calorie intake by 500 calories calories you will lose about 1 pound per week. Approximately if the target weight (Normal weight range of BMI) is say 110 lbs then the calorie intake per day should be aimed to 1100 per day with nutritious foods and healthy foods.
The healthy foods include good carbohydrates (complex carbohydrates), proteins, vegetables, fruits, minerals, fiber and good fats. Each body needs 1-2 grams of protein per kg body weight. By reaching the daily allowance of protein each each day, the metabolism can be increased and that can help to burn the stored fat. Consumption of excess carbohydrates and fats can result in storage of fats and
not burning of fats. So care should be taken in consuming carbohydrates and fats.
The easiest and best way is to start herba life products. Herbalife shakes has no cholesterol, low carbohydrate, no transfat and low salt. It is rich in protein and full of essential nutrients and fiber. Also Herbalife is the only food, which provides enzymes, and ginger and other nutrients that facilitate assimilation of the nutrients in to our body effectively .That makes herbalife the ideal food for every nutritional need and for effective weight loss.

Exercise:

Another factor helping weight loss includes exercise. It helps to increase metabolism and is one less opportunity to eat during the day. You should exercise for at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week. Regular exercise helps to burn calories. But even if lot of calories are burned by exercise, if the calorie intake by consuming foods are more, then weight loss will not be effective.