Canada Food Guide

Just over a year ago, Feb 2007, Canada's Food Guide was updated. This was the first update in more than 14 years and there are many advantages in this new rendition. Among the most significant change to the new guide was sex and age specific recommendations. Portion size is also addressed. Grains, which had held the top position in the pyramid have now taken second place to fruits and vegetables. As well they recommend eating a variety of foods. The guide is based on a rainbow where green represents fruits and vegetables, yellow is for grains, blue is for milk products and red is for meat and alternatives. The recommendation is that you eat foods from a variety of the different colors at each meal to make the meal complete. Another advantage of the new guide is the inclusion of what constitutes portion size. For many people eating a relatively healthy diet but still unable to loose weight, portion control is often the missing element. The guide gives you a range of how many servings for each food group as well it defines exactly how large a serving is for many popular foods.

Some the tips in the new Guide are:

• Eat at least one dark green and one orange vegetable each day
• Have vegetables and fruit more often than juices
• Enjoy vegetables and fruit prepared with little or no added fat, sugar or salt
• Have vegetables steamed, baked or stir-fried instead of deep fried
• Have meat alternatives such as beans, lentils and tofu often
• Eat at least two servings of fish each week
• Select lean meat and alternatives prepared with little or no added fat or salt
• Include a small amount - 30 to 45 mL (2 to 3 Tbsp) of unsaturated fat each day.

A personalized guide can be accessed online at: http://27099.vws.magma.ca/mfg_p01_e.php?javascript_enabled=0.
it takes about 5 minutes to work through the program. You choose a variety of foods that you like to eat from each of the different food groups, as well you pick from selected physical activities and the program will produce a printout of Canada's Food Guide customized for you. Print out the pdf and put a copy on the fridge to remind you each day to make healthy, balanced choices.

While many tend to think of Canada's food guide as something taught to children in elementary school, the updated guide in particular provides good information for all of us needing a review of how to eat healthy.

Bodycomp helps you manage your health risks

It seems that barely a week goes by without seeing a new article on the front page of the paper associating too much fat with a host of nasty diseases. It is not a new concept that carrying excess fat is not beneficial to ones health, but what is shocking is the sheer number of types of cancer being associated with too much fat, specifically in the abdominal region. Unfortunately, the mechanism behind the link of too much fat and increased cancer risk is not entirely understood. However, as Dr. David Lau, professor of medicine at the University of Calgary and president of Obesity Canada says, "the leaner we are, the better off we are in terms of health status".

That is a pretty convincing statement that the scientific community associates reduced body fat with reduced risk. Of course, there are lower limits in the healthy range of percent body fat, but a very small number of our clients have a percent fat that approaches this lower level of safety. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that men maintain a minimum of five percent body fat and that women maintain a minimum of fourteen percent body fat. Although we do on occasion scan individuals that are close to these lower limits, the bulk majority of our clients are trying to reduce their fat mass for reasons of health, performance and aesthetics and they do not have immediate concerns regarding this lower limit.

So we have a clear understanding that too much fat is dangerous for our health despite a lack of a clear understanding on why this is. The good news is that a bodycomp scan is one of the most accurate and easy methods of measuring the amount of fat on your body. We have a saying at Bodycomp "What gets measured gets managed". It is a simple concept - to assess change and reduction, we need an accurate tool to provide the measurement. Traditionally, people have been hopping on weigh scales to measure their weight - the pull of gravity upon an individual's fat mass, but also upon their muscle and bone tissue. This is not the best way to measure risk as it doesn't differentiate between the weight of the healthy tissue versus the unhealthy tissues.

A bodycomp scan measures the grams (or pounds) of fat, lean tissue and bone individually. A follow-up scan several months after beginning a new fitness regime or making some some sensible changes to your diet can provide the required measurements that lets you see what is helping to reduce your health risks and what is not. So come and get bodycomp'd - it's a great measure of your personal risk, and an even better measure of your personal change and successes.

Statisticians rely on BMI, why YOU should not!

It is not uncommon for your doctor to do a little simple math with your height and weight and come up with a risk factor or recommendation for you. The equation behind the BMI is straightforward:

BMI = Weight in Kilograms
(Height in Meters) x (Height in Meters)

The results are interpreted based on the table below:

BMI	Weight Classification
Less than 18.5	under weight
18.5 – 24.9	normal
25 – 29.9	overweight
30 and above	obese

There are some positive features of BMI: it is cheap, easy to perform and used in many large studies. But it doesn’t always tell the real story. BMI is used in large research trials which deal with populations – but you are an individual. What applies to a group may not apply to a single entity. An example of this is to look at the BMI of two very different males. They are both 5’10 and 190lbs with a BMI of 27.3 –overweight based on their BMI. One of these guys lifts weights on a regular basis; the other’s idea of exercise is to hoist a beer. In short, one is muscular while the other carries more fat. BMI does not take lean muscle mass into account. Having a higher than average muscle mass results in a BMI that suggests overweight or even obese in healthy active people. BMI can also classify a slim, inactive person as being healthy when in fact they have very low muscle mass and a higher than average fat mass.

So, if BMI doesn’t tell the story, how do we assess health risks? Answer: Get your body fat measured directly. A DXA total body scan provides not only a value for the % body fat, but provides the actual number of grams of lean mass, fat mass and bone mass in the body and in select areas within the body. If you want to know how you as an individual measure up get tested – if you’re just wondering where you fit relative to a population of thousands, then BMI is the tool for you.

To read more about why we should not rely on BMI read: "When Determining Who's Fat: Is BMI bunk?

To learn more about Bodycomp's DXA total body scan visit our website: www.bodycomp.ca

Who gets Bodycomp'd?

Our clients come from a variety of backgrounds and a very diverse set of reasons for wanting a scan. The serious weekend athletes are usually quite aware they are in a fit healthy range for their body fat values but they like to know how they measure up against others in their sports, or sometimes they just want assurances that their body fat hasn't gone up too much from their more youthful days. Clients that come to us through personal trainers or gyms often use the DXA scan as a tool with which to monitor their progress. Along with feeling better, running longer or faster, lifting heavier weights, and recovering quicker - all very admirable changes from a new workout routine - clients often want a number of how things have changed. A Bodycomp scan provides numbers. There is the percent fat number, there is the grams of lean, fat and bone mass numbers, there are the ratios of fat in the different area numbers. Some people are very analytical and like numbers. It is very encouraging to have a set of numbers showing exactly where the changes have occurred. The scale might tell you that you've lost 3 kg of "weight" - the Bodycomp scan could show you that you've lost 5 kg of fat and gained 2 kg of lean mass! These are much more encouraging numbers. It is for this reason that another group of people come to us to get scanned. They are actively working on weight loss. Many diet programs make claims of how much and how fast you can lose weight. For many of us who have done the yo-yo dieting for too many years have come to realize just getting the number on the scale to drop is not always enough. We want assurances that we are actually loosing fat mass and not lean muscle tissue. With significant weight loss it can be expected that there will be some lean tissue loss, but the majority of the weight loss needs to be from fat. Maintaining lean muscle mass while loosing weight keeps your resting metabolic rate high and allows you to consume more calories per day, but more importantly it helps you feel healthier and more energetic.

So our clients come in all ages and sizes, but with a common desire which is to get their numbers. What would motivate you to get scanned? and what could it motivate you to do?

My first post

Welcome to the Bodycomp Imaging blog - a little outlet for Ruth and I to share some of what is going on with us and our company. We are happily expanding into new gyms, community centres and private bookings so this is a way to keep tabs on us and find out what we've been up to.

We are also looking forward to sharing interesting papers, video and links that have to do with fitness, nutrition, body composition techniques as well as bone health and other medical and fitness issues. Please jump in and participate in the discussion via the comments field for each post. Talk to you soon,

-peter