Submitted by LT Suzanne M. Wolcoff, USPHS
Why Not Try the Internet to Help Get You Started?
The Wellness and Healthy Lifestyle Subcommittee of the USPHS Dietitian/Nutritionist Professional Advisory Committee (D/N-PAC) has explored several Web sites and will be reporting on them over the next 5 months. The D/N-PAC’s evaluations of these Web-based programs do not constitute any endorsements. These articles will inform officers about the various tools available online to manage their weight and make healthier lifestyle choices.
The site is divided into two parts.
Part 2, Controlling Your Weight (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/control.htm#part2) provides tools to help you get started for weight loss or weight maintenance and answers the following questions:
- What constitutes moderate physical activity? Examples of common chores and sports activities are provided.
- What behaviors will help you lose and maintain your weight? You need to set the right goals.
- Do you know over the past 20 years how food portions have changed? Get an eye opening experience with the downloadable portion distortion slide sets.
- What about shopping for food? Learn how to read labels and interpret the information, such as “fat-free” does not equate to “calorie-free.”
- Now that you have the food, what about some recipe ideas for your weight loss plan? The site provides heart-healthy recipes in downloadable PDF (portable document format) form with added recipes for African American and Latino tastes, as well as, the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Eating Plan for lowering your blood pressure. The reduced-calorie sample menus provide menu examples for traditional American, Asian-American, Southern, Mexican-American, and lacto-ovo vegetarian cuisines as well as a link to food exchange lists.
- What about when you go out to eat? The tip sheets provide help with eating out, like how to order your food (order steamed with no sauce, etc.) and what to order when eating Chinese, Italian, and Mexican food. Additional tips look at calories versus fat and making healthy food choices when shopping.
- What is one of the best behavioral techniques you can use for weight loss and maintenance? To record your consumption of food and physical activity in a daily diary that is provided in HTML (hypertext markup language) or PDF form.
- And last, but not least, how do you know what to eat every day? The interactive menu planner allows you to set the amount of calories allowed for the day, enter in the portions that you consumed, and then it calculates the calories for you. So if you have entered all that you have eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you can see how many calories you have left for a snack.
The skimpy meals and skimpy clothing may be put away now that fall has arrived, but why skimp on your health? Develop a personalized wellness program using the Internet to help you get started. The NHLBI: Aim for a Healthy Weight interactive, Web-based program is very user friendly. The links are easy to open and it only requires placing numbers into a calculator, choosing from a drop down menu, or just looking at tables to achieve instant calculations. There is an abundance of reputable information that takes time to read through, so you may want to explore the site several times before deciding if it has everything that is needed to achieve your goals. Be sure to look at next month’s Commissioned Corps Bulletin for another evaluation of a Web-based, weight management program.