Easy Tips for Watching Your Calories and Living Healthier

Now that we understand how much energy (calories) we need to get through our day, we can begin to look at what we are eating and doing that is inhibiting us from living a healthier life. Below I will discuss a few thoughts that can help with watching your calorie intake helping you get healthier one day at a time.

1. Start a Journal.

Grab a journal, calendar, excel spreadsheet or just a plain old notebook and start keeping track of all of your meals AND snacks. Key part here being SNACKS. I know that this seems extremely tedious, and for the first week or two, it is! After that, unless you have a different meal, you will already have the calories and fat, carbohydrate and protein grams so it becomes as easy as copying it from one day to the next.

If you can keep up with this, I am willing to bet that you will become more aware of those needless, grazing snacks and will start to incorporate more healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables into a more structured meal plan. It really starts to come into focus how much of an impact that little pack of m&m's, bag of chips or handful of cookies has when you are looking at the nutrition labels and realizing that those cookies may only have 150 calories per serving but a serving size is ONLY 2 cookies!
Again, this is a tedious process but post it where your family and friends can see and you will be less likely to grab that needless, unhealthy snack, especially if you have to put up another 400-500 calories for all to see....in more ways than one.

2. Look at the Nutrition labels.

Not only do you need to look at them to get the information to keep up with a nutrition journal but there are a few items specifically that I want to bring attention to so that next time you are at the market, you can look for these to help you choose healthier foods.

Fats:      Most people think that to lose fat, you need to avoid fat. Not only is this just an ignorant way to look at fat lose but it can also be dangerous to yourself if you try to cut fat out of your diet completely, this will be a later topic of discussion.

To keep it simple: Saturated and Trans fat - BAD, Mono and Polyunsaturated fat - much better for you.

Saturated fats are usually solid at room temperature and along with Trans fat are usually from animal sources. Diets high in these fats lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, higher LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.

Unsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature and polyunsaturated fats are plant based. Unsaturated fats improve blood-cholesterol levels which decrease your risk of heart disease and can also help with or help prevent type 2 diabetes. Omega 3's are a popular polyunsaturated fat found in fish and produced by many nutritional supplements companies.

Lesson on Fats - Avoid Saturated fats, eat vegetables, some fish here and there and take an Omega 3 supplement!

Sugars:      The only part I am going to put on sugar here is that as Americans, we consume way too much sugar and for most, it is not even real sugar, it is a processed form such as high fructose corn syrup. If you need sugar, use a real sugar such as sugar in the raw and avoid the processed sugars like sweet n low, equal or splenda. Also, when looking at your foods nutritional information, try to pick foods that offer more fiber than sugar or at least contain a good amount of fiber.

Drinks:      1st - Drink water. It's good for you, delicious and a thirst quencher. 2nd - Look at the nutritional information on your soda's, fruit juices and sports drinks. Most Americans drink over half of the amount of calories they should consumer in an entire day. 3rd - drink more water!

3. Exercise

Let me just clarify that I am not saying to go out and hire a personal trainer or to start running 5 miles a day. What I'm saying is to just get out and do something. That something can be walking, playing golf, tennis, walk the dog, play with your kids, ride a bike, go fishing, go to the zoo, go to a shopping mall, participate in volunteer work, just do something! Fresh air and a long walk can ease most stresses.

Daily Calorie Intake - How much do we really need?

A lot of us here in the U.S. (better than half) battle with being overweight, whether due to diet, exercise, or the lack thereof.  On the opposite side of this national epidemic are those who battle with being underweight.

While there are many factors that aid in our weight issues, our diet is at the top of the list.  A lot of us are confused about what to eat and what not to eat while some of us just don't really care or choose convenience (fast food) over quality (fruits, vegetables, lean meats, etc.).

I feel that it would be very beneficial for us to just take a step back from WHAT we should eat and lets take a look at how MUCH we should eat.  How much energy (calories) does our body actually need to function and to keep up with our everyday activities?

To determine this we look to what is called our Basal Metabolic Rate, or our BMR.  Our BMR is calculated by looking at ones gender, height, weight and age.  Although the formula used is fairly accurate, it does not take into account body composition, meaning those with more than the normal amount of muscle mass or those with more than the normal amount of fat, will have numbers that are slightly skewed due to the fact that muscle mass burns more calories than fat (about 30-35 more per pound of muscle vs. fat).

BMR FORMULA

MALE     66 + (Body Weight X 6.23) + (Height in inches X 12.7) - (Age X 6.8)

  Example:  66 + (185 X 6.23) + (73 (6'1) X 12.7) - (27 X 6.8) = 1962 calories

FEMALE   665 + (Body Weight X 4.35) + (Height in inches X 4.7) - (Age X 4.7)

  Example:  665 + (145 X 4.35) + (66 (5'6) X 4.7) - (26 X 4.7) = 1462 calories

If you are the example above, this is your BMR.  This is how much energy your body needs to function properly through a normal, relaxed day.  But what about if you exercise or just are constantly on the go from all that life and work throws at you? 

Well, we simply take our BMR and plug it into the Harris Benedict Equations.  Which equation you use depends on your perceived level of exertion during work or exercise. 

Chose one of the following:

- Sedentary (Very little or no physical activity)     BMR X 1.2 = Calories Needed
- Light Activity (Walking or sport 1-3 times/week)     BMR X 1.375 = Calories Needed
- Moderate Activity (Moderate exercise/sports 3-5 times/week)     BMR X 1.55 = Calories Needed
- Heavy Activity (Intense exercise/sports 5-7 times/week)     BMR X 1.725 = Calories Needed
- Extreme Activity (Intense exercise & hard job/Training Twice)     BMR X 1.9 = Calories Needed

This may seem easy to calculate but we all know that that hard part is the follow through once we know what are needs are, to not exceed our limits which ultimately leads to weight gain in the form of fat. 

The next post will focus more on the easy ways to watch your diet with some simple tips to help with the fight against fat so that we can all live a happier healthier life.  

Getting Started!

Welcome to 'A Daily Dose of Nutrition and Heath'; a blog dedicated to general wellness, preventative health and improving ones quality of life. This blog is my service to those who are looking to increase their knowledge of how to better take care of themselves and those around them without all of the high expenses that usually comes from healthcare and nutritional advice/supplementation. 


Who am I? I'm a student currently earning a Doctorate in Chiropractic and a Masters in Nutrition and Human Performance. 


This blog is for those who want a more natural approach to being healthier. However, this blog is NOT the say all, end all of your healthcare advice, nor am I an expert. The items, advice, suggestions, information, links and products are of my own thoughts and views and do not, in any way, supplement or replace the advice of any licensed physician.


Again, the information posted on this blog, 'A Daily Dose of Nutrition and Health', is of my own personal views and should NOT replace the directions and advice give by ones primary physician or any other licensed physician.