Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: In Focus

Media Credit: Tyler Grube One serving of high cholestrol and later, potential heart disease coming right up.

Three hundred twenty- seven plus 110 plus 166 equals 603. That's how many calories are in a hamburger with American cheese and about 15 French fries. (www.caloriescount.org)

Compare that to a premium Alaskan fish burger, also offered, in the cafeteria, which has only 182 calories and1,000 mg of Omega-3. Omega-3 has been found by the FDA to help prevent heart disease.

Most of the time, though, people don't think about what they are putting in their bodies, but rather how it tastes.

This plays a huge role in why Americans continue to get bigger.
According to obesityinamerica.org, 62 percent of female Americans are considered overweight, while 67 percent of male Americans are considered overweight.

People are calculated in a weight class according to their Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI measures weight in proportion to height.

One can calculate his or her own BMI by multiplying weight in pounds by 703 then dividing it by height in inches squared. An example would be if someone were 5 foot 2 inches and 130 pounds. They would multiply weight (130 lbs.) by 703 to get 91,390.

Then they would take height in inches (62 inches) and square it (multiply it by itself ) to get 3,844. Then, divide the first answer by the second answer (91,390/3,844) to get the BMI of 23.7 which is a normal BMI.


A BMI below 18.5 is underweight. A BMI between 18.5 and 24.9 is considered normal weight.

BMI between 25 and 29.9 is overweight and a BMI over 30 is obese. According to ObesityinAmerica.org.
Students can use this as a guide to find where they fit in and where they need to go with their health.

There is no picture of what someone should strive for when it comes to weight, but it comes down to how someone wants to live life down the road.

Ken Grace, an instructor of physical education and health at Chabot College discusses what he considers a healthy lifestyle "being able to perform at your optimum level throughout your life. "

Then he explains the problem, "People eat what tastes good with little consideration of the long term consequences of their actions.

The long term effects (of not eating right) are obesity, adult 2 diabetes, cancer, depression, joint problems, an inability to handle normal life stressors."

Continued...

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