Making friends with your tape measure

We've all got our sights set on good health and fitness in our mature years and one of the easiest ways to begin is to make friends with that old enemy the tape measure.

We’ve all got our sights set on good health and fitness in our mature years and one of the easiest ways to begin is to make friends with that old enemy the tape measure.

Here’s how. Measure your height against a wall. Next measure your bare tummy around your belly button. Go ahead and suck in your tummy. It’s a good measure of abdominal strength.

Now dust off your arithmetic skills by dividing your height measurement by ‘2’ to see how close your answer is to your actual waist measurement. Ideally your waist should be half your height measurement.

“If you want to be in great shape when you’re older that needs to be your goal,” says Jacquie Dale of Real Nutrition. Industry professionals recommend a waist measurement of 90 to 94cm for men and around 80cm for women.

“It’s an ideal figure and a simple goal that becomes a really good health marker to aim for as we age,” she explains.

Health experts agree that extra belly fat as an indicator of internal fat around your heart and lungs puts you at much greater risk of heart disease than fat on your hips.

Carrying extra weight also puts greater strain on your heart, lungs, joints and muscles while exercising and Jacquie questions the notion that being “fit and overweight is better than being lean and lazy”.

This concept was mooted in a fairly recent study published in the American Medical Association Journal, which suggested that someone who is overweight but fit has a better chance of living longer than someone who has a normal weight but is unfit.

Jacqui Dale says “Good health and fitness is about strength, flexibility and cardiac fitness, which is why maintaining your weight in a healthy range for your frame must be your number one health priority”.

For anyone over 50, those health markers also need to include nutritional screening and a relevant exercise regime as well as annual checks for cholesterol levels, blood pressure and diabetes. “It’s about maintaining that good quality of life right into old age and the tape measure is a great place to start,” she adds.

Real Nutrition www.realnutrition.co.nz