The most common way to calculate a healthy weight has been using the Body Mass Indicator for many years. The BMI adjusts its health weight range depending on height and gender, so a tall man would need to weigh more than a shorter woman before he was considered to be overweight.

But a professor of applied statistics in Nevada, George Fernandez believe he’s come up with a better and even simpler way of finding out how much they should weigh, saying that the BMI calculation doesn’t often stick in people’s minds.

He said: “We need a Maximum Weight Limit, or MWL, one number that we know we can’t go over, just like a speed limit.”

Fernandez’s way of calculating his MWL comes up with similar results to the BMI but can be figured out without doing any maths, using an online calculator or having to already know what your BMI is.

There a baseline height and weights for women and men, using the new system. For men the baseline is 5 feet 9 with a maximum of 175 pounds, while for women its 5 feet tall and a maximum of 125 pounds.

The professor believes that from such a starting point people can easily work out their maximum weight limit. A man should add 5 pounds for each inch taller he is over the baseline, while a woman must add 4.5. If you’re less than the baseline, you simply take away the same amount.

Fernandez’s believes his easy to work out formula could be of particular use to people in third world countries who don’t have access to the technology to work out what their weight should be. Of course, the whole system relies on you already knowing exactly how tall you are in feet and inches.

If you’re in a country that doesn’t use that system you could find yourself needing to go online to find out the conversion to centimetres which certainly defeats the point!

Fernandez said: “Now people can calculate their own Maximum Weight Limit, based on the BMI index, but without any calculators or charts. And, all they have to remember is that one number, 185 pounds for example, which is easier for most people than retaining a weight range, such as 155 to 185 pounds.”

Most of us might be used to doing our exercise in our homes or in a gym with the air conditioning keeping the place cool, but if you’re looking to cut down on your calorie intake a change your diet, a run in the heat could help you out more.

The study was conducted in Australia and consisted of 11 physically active men. It found that people ate less after working out if they did their workout in hot conditions of around 36 Celsius than in more moderate 25 Celsius temperatures. There was an average difference of around 300 calories, which can make all the difference if you’re trying to lose weight.

During the study, the men ran on a treadmill for 40 minutes in 97 degree heat, and then again on a separate visit at 77 degrees. On a final visit, they simply rested in a reasonably warm room.

An all you can eat breakfast buffet was then offered to the men, who ate much more after the moderate conditions. The science behind the study? Hot workouts produce higher blood levels of peptide YY, which is a hormone that is produced by the digestive system that gives the brain the signal of the body being ‘full’.

An increase in overall body temperature due to both the room and the workout also meant that the men were less likely to eat. Some researchers have suggested that food intake is a natural mechanism for controlling body temperature as eating produces heat, so it’s the body’s way of trying to keep cool.

Researcher Dr. Kym Guelfi said:

Our findings suggest that if you exercise in a warmer environment you will eat less in the subsequent meal,” She was quick to note however that “exercise should not be performed in overly hot environments due to the risk of dehydration and heat illness”.

According to a recent flurry of over 18 separate studies, people who regularly drink tea and coffee are at a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Even better news for those that drink coffee but stick to the decaf is that it’s not likely that caffeine has the greatest effect, according to the Archives of Internal Medicine researchers.

If you want to see the benefits though you’ll need more than just a single cup of tea in the morning, unfortunately. You’ll need to be drinking at least three cups of coffee or tea a day before you start seeing any major benefits, but doing so could cut the risk of diabetes by as much as 20%.

Drinking decaf coffee instead of regular coffee or tea reduces that risk even further as much as a third.

Type 2 diabetes is normally something that starts after the age of 40 and begins when the body is developing some of its own insulin, but not enough, or producing plenty that isn’t working the way that it should. Medication or insulin is often required to treat the illness, although it can be solved simply by increased exercise and a healthy diet.

Researchers found the each additional cup of coffee consumed in a day reduces the risk of getting diabetes by 7%. Compounds such as magnesium and antioxidants may well be involved.

Authors of the study stated: “”If such beneficial effects were observed in interventional trials to be real, the implications for the millions of individuals who have diabetes mellitus, or who are at future risk of developing it, would be substantial.”

While Dr. Victoria King from Diabetes UK pointed out a balanced diet can also prevent diabetes: “What we can be sure of is that the development of type 2 diabetes is strongly linked to lifestyle, which means that many cases could be prevented by keeping active and eating a healthy balanced diet that is low in fat, salt and sugar with plenty of fruit and vegetables.”

The debate about how parents should approach the eating habits of their children has been raging for some time, with various studies and tests offering up consumers a mix of different opinions ranging from their crucial involvement in picking their child?s diet to studies that show that controlling what children eat can actually lead to fatter adults in the long term.

A new study by researchers at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is one of those that are challenging the long held assumptions by claiming that whatever parents do or don?t do in regards to their children?s eating habits actually has very little effect. The study concludes that traditional methods of instilling nutritional behaviour in kids may need some rethinking.

Youfa Wang, MD, PhD and senior author of the study explained: ?Child-parent dietary resemblance in the U.S. is relatively weak, and varies by nutrients and food groups and by the types of parent-child dyads and social demographic characteristics such as age, gender and family income?

The study included data from over 16,000 people which contained information such as their demographic, economic and health backgrounds as well as their diet. The studies took place between 1994 and 1996. The research found only weak links between the diet of parents and children across the board. It suggested that the reasoning for this may include a mixture of outside family influences such as a child?s school and friends — and in older years — the child?s own self esteem and body image.

Results differed slightly by children?s age and family income, but generally kept to similar results and didn?t highlight any particular need for dedicated education or concern in any one area.

Wang concluded: ?Our findings have a number of important public health implications. In particular, the overall weak to moderate parent-child resemblance in food groups, nutrients and healthy eating index scores suggest that interventions targeting parents could have only a moderate effect on improving their children’s diet.?

Coffee might not exactly be known as a common health drink and it doesn?t share the status of being great for diets like Green Tea, but it could be just the thing you need if you?re planning on a doing some exercise, as a study shows that a cup of coffee before your workout really can help your progress.

Robert Motl is a professor of Kinesiology and Community Health the University of Illinois in the United States. He?s also a former cyclist and used to drink coffee every morning before his regular training sessions, believing that it helped in push harder, but never quite understanding why. Motl began a series of tests in order to discover why this happens.

Early results found that caffeine works to block the adenosine system in the brain. Adenosine is directly involved with pain processing. This led to Motl speculating that coffee could reduce pain during exercise, which further studies have confirmed. Motl wants to do more tests to see how far this pain reduction can go in improving performance in sport.

Interestingly, further studies by the professor have shown that your level of caffeine intake has little effect on the ability of the drug to reduce pain. People who regularly drink caffeine in quantities as high as four cups per day saw the same amount of effects from the drug as people with low or zero normal caffeine intake. As of yet, nobody knows exactly why.

Despite further questions being asked, Motl was excited about the progress of his research: ?One of the things that may be a practical application, is if you go to the gym and you exercise and it hurts, you may be prone to stop doing that because pain is an aversive stimulus that tells you to withdraw. So if we could give people a little caffeine and reduce the amount of pain they’re experiencing, maybe that would help them stick with that exercise.?

Athletes have already been taking caffeine before exercise along with other substances because they believe that it helps metabolise fat quicker, but now there might be an all new reason to enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning.

Losing weight is easy, you know. At least, it is easy providing you?ve got the cash to pay for expensive diet food and medication, gym membership, a personal trainer, a dietician? But what if you?re one of the normal every day people that actually can?t afford the extra cost of gym membership in a recession, or someone who balks at the idea of having to nearly double their food bill because healthy options don?t come cheap.

Here are a few tips in order to combat that. They?re all simple little changes you can make to your lifestyle that cost either nothing or very little and can make a huge impact on the effectiveness of your diet if followed correctly.

Out

When at the supermarket, don?t be drawn in by special offers and deals until you?ve done the math, and be aware about the way supermarkets draw in customers by using special marketing techniques. Even the layout of the store is designed to make you buy more, but don?t relent ? stick to buying only what you need. The two key things to do before going shopping are to eat before your trip and to make a list of everything you need. The list will keep you focused on what you require rather than what you want, and it?s a well researched fact that people who shop when hungry are far more likely to buy excess food.

Consider buying canned food instead of frozen. Canned vegetables may taste a little different but they are still very nutritious and if you use them in recipe combined with other food, there?s a good chance you won?t notice the difference. Your wallet will though, with canned vegetables considerably cheaper than their frozen counterparts.
Shopping at the same store will help you quickly plan your way around, but it has another bonus in that you?ll get to know which store brands are worth buying. Try to avoid totally budget and basic brands and instead opt for the supermarket own brand products which are likely to remain rich in nutrients while being much cheaper than branded products. Which products you buy branded and which you don?t will be a matter of personal taste, but try to buy as little as possible from big name companies.

Outside the supermarket, don?t forget the power of walking and jogging. You might need to invest in some decent shoes but after that, they the activity is totally free. Many people buy expensive gym memberships only to then drive all the way to the Gym. If these people had instead jogged the same distance, they could often have lost a similar amount of calories.

At home

You can exercise at home using DVDs and exercise videos. Although these might look expensive you?ll find a vast amount of budget copies of exercise videos in your local charity and second hand stores. You can also visit your local library which is likely to have quite a large amount of its DVD collection dedicated to health and fitness.

Before going out, be realistic about any food you might need. There?s no use saving money at the supermarket if you then don?t pack enough for lunch and then end up using expensive vending machines to make up the difference.

While at home, consider buying a water filter for your tap or fridge and then drink tap water instead of bottled water. They may look nice and talk about spring water coming all the way from Italy or somewhere, but in reality they are incredibly expensive diversions and often don?t taste any different to filtered tap water. If you absolutely have to buy bottled water, buy supermarket brands and try to buy it in bulk as much as possible.

A little sugar is nothing to be ashamed of, and although it can be replaced by sweeteners in your tea and coffee, sometimes there?s nothing quite like sprinkling a little on your cereal in the morning, or indulging with luxury chocolate. Indeed, even if you?re dieting, it can be difficult to avoid sugar which is used not only to sweeten food but add texture, mass, pliability and crispiness. It?s an easy assumption to think we have a good idea what foods have a high amount of sugar in them. Show anyone a can of full fat soft drink and they?ll tell you it?s full of sugar, but will they do the same for a healthy looking chicken meal or a load of bread?

Considering how much attention has been weighed on the amount of salt in your food ? the government ran a series of adverts warning of the dangers of salt a few years ago – sugar has remained largely out of the spotlight. This is the despite the fact that it can cause a variety of problems in high consumption including diabetes and tooth decay. It is also one of the leading contributors of obesity in adults today.

Sales of health food have rocketed in the last decade as we are continuously told that modern unchecked diets are making more people unhealthier and obese than ever before. It?s easy to assume that supermarkets will have played to this fact, offering foods that are lower in sugar, salt and fat than they did years ago. This isn?t the case however, especially in the case of sugar, whose usage has doubled since the 1970s. In some cases such as bread and cereal, the amount of sugar has actually doubled in thirty years.

A survey conducted by ?Which?? Magazine found that certain chicken ready meals from the leading supermarkets contained more sugar than a standard service of ice cream. In some cases healthier items labelled with brands like Weight Watchers actually had more sugar in them than their standard counterparts, added to compensate for the lack of salt and fat.

So how can you cut down on your intake of sugar? Here are a few tips:

? Chocolate and sweets are well known for their sugar quantity and although healthier foods might include more than we expect, it?s still chocolate that is one of the main offenders when it comes to sugar consumption. If you don?t want to give up on chocolate completely, consider forcing yourself to cut back by buying smaller ?fun size? bars.

? Switch drinks like coke to diet, but be aware that ingredients like aspartame (which replaces sugar in many soft drinks) have also been claimed to be detrimental in large amounts. Less well known is that fruit juice is also high in sugar, so be wary when buying and dilute them first.

? Foods such as cheese, meat and fish are generally much lower in sugar content than other foods but the sauces and condiments like ketchup can contain a high amount, so watch out what you?re putting on your food.