Basic Pursuits

Many people rightly see constantly weighing oneself as a measure of health progress as counter-productive.

Researchers from the Dallas Heart Study have supplied us with a much more practical and objective metric to work with.

Our study shows that people who develop fat around the middle have more atherosclerotic plaque than those who have smaller waist-to-hip ratios,” said Dr. James de Lemos, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study. The risk was the same for both men and women who develop abdominal fat.

Translation: measure your waist and hips and calculate the waist/hip ratio (divide your waist circumference by your hip circumference).

As that number gets smaller, you are getting better.

The study showed that pot belly fat in both men and women is a greater predictor of artery plaque than weight alone.

Pick a reasonable time period to measure. Once a month should do it. That gives you plenty of time to monitor, measure and design your eating to achieve maximum nutrition with the fewest calories.

What a deal. You're looking better and getting better at the same time.