Bodycomp News & Views Issue#6 July 2010

In this issue:

  1. Healthy Body Fat Ranges
  2. Almonds:
Almonds:

Almonds are a great portable snack or meal component that contain healthy fats, a bit of protein, lots of fibre and Vit E.

They are native to the Middle East and Mediterranean, but are found all over the world due to their great taste and nutritional profile. Just remember to watch the portion size - 28g (162 cal) is just 23 almonds. When shopping try and get unroasted unsalted - they are surprisingly tasty, despite not being covered in salt and unhealthy oil.

almonds nutrition

Healthy Body Fat Ranges:

The American College of Sport’s Medicine developed the following reference ranges based on research:

By maintaining a percent fat that is below the upper limit for your age and gender, you can reduce the risks of heart disease, many types of cancer, type II diabetes and many other chronic, not fun conditions.

Having a percent fat that is lower than that limit doesn't seem to make you more healthy, but it will sure let you run/climb/swim faster. Think of reducing your body fat as a way of increasing the percentage of your tissue that can generate power. As long as you keep enough fat for hormonal and structural needs, a low percent fat will increase athletic performance and reduce chronic disease.

It is quite rare for male athletes to reduce their body fat to dangerous levels, but women should be careful not to drop below 15% unless under close medical supervision.

Percent fat is calculated by dividing the total fat mass my the total body weight. It is a better indicator of health than Body Mass Index (BMI) as percent fat allows up to look at the ratio of fat to muscle, rather than just total weight compared to your height. If an individual is heavy due to being more muscular than normal, the BMI might be high, but the percent fat will be in a healthy normal range.