American Birkebeiner

Want to know the weather prediction for February 21? Need to know driving directions from Lake Wobegon to Hayward? Do you want to register online for the Birkie? Check the Web.

Want to calculate your BMI and find out what that means? Are you interested in knowing your nutritional intake for a day? How about help with planning healthful menus? Check the Web.

The Internet offers endless opportunities to find reputable information, but it also delivers an abundance of misleading, incomplete and inaccurate information. Anyone, anywhere can publish anything. For information related to the Birkebeiner, you probably have www.birkie.com bookmarked as the most reliable source for complete, updated race and activity information.

Getting credible nutrition information may take a bit more investigation to click you into a reliable site. Tips on what to look for in a reputable site:

• Who is responsible for the site? Check the three-letter tag at the end of the site’s name. “.gov” and “.edu” refer to government and university sites. These would generally be considered as reliable sites.
• Is the site selling a product or service? Although there may be good information here, the primary motive is to sell or profit – often through banner and sidebar ads and pop-ups. The three-letter tag here would be “.com” meaning commercial.
• Is the site updated regularly? Nutrition is a science meaning that information or our understanding of a concept changes. A reputable site would feature the most current information.
• Is there a fee for you to access the site? Academic and government sites are free. Check before you plunk down your credit card.

Linking to Nutrition Resources

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a calculated measure of your weight to your height. This measure predicts if you are at risk of chronic disease because of your weight. Because it only uses height and weight, someone who is quite muscular may be calculated incorrectly to be obese.

The formula for BMI is weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared. If you don’t have a scrap of paper (and possibly, a hand-held calculator) check out these web sites for easy calculation and analysis:

All Web Site ratings are the opinion of the author.
**** Bookmark this site.
*** Worth a click.
** Might be fun.
* Buyer beware.

Department of Health and Human Services - National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
Easy to use calculator. Government site. Helpful tables and information for comparison. Discusses limitations of this measure.
Rating: **** (Bookmark this site.)

What Health
Easy to use calculator.
Commercial site. Helpful tables and information for comparison. Based on the NHLBI site.
Rating: *** (Worth a click.)

Health Discovery
The by-line of the site says that it is part of the Weight Watcher support network. However, a disclaimer at the end says that it is not affiliated with Weight Watchers or the Discovery Health Channel.
Rating: * (Buyer beware.)

Predicting Your Daily Nutritional Needs and Analyzing Your Intake

Most sites that predict nutrient needs for a day will start by asking: height, weight, gender, age and estimated level of activity. All of the sites reviewed also asked users to create a user name and password. This can help a user return to the site and add more days at a later time. In the case of commercial entities, it also can leave an e-mail address open to advertising or SPAM type e-mails.

USDA - MyPyramid
Government site.
Large data base of food items to search. Links to an Activity Tracker.
Rating: **** (Bookmark this site.)

Nutrition Analysis Tool
Developed at the University of Illinois.
Large data base of items to search.
Rating: *** (Worth a click.)

EatingWell ®
Commercial site. Multiple links to newsletters, recipes, menu planners.
Looks fun.
Rating: ** (Might be fun.)

The Daily Plate at Livestrong.com
Commercial site. Lots of ads. Allows food journal, calorie calculator and fitness log. Motivational.
Rating: * (Buyer beware.)

Menu Planning Help

Help in designing healthful meals is just a click away. Again, based off of height, weight, gender, age and activity level, many sites will provide recommendations on food group servings for a day and menu ideas.

These sites are mainly geared toward the average (inactive and overweight) American. An active Birkie skier may find that a training diet requires double some of these recommendations! There appears to be a paucity of web-based sites geared toward elite athletes and their nutritional needs.

National Heart Lung and Blood Institute – Obesity Initiative
Limited to five calorie levels between 1200 – 2000 calories. Provides servings and calories.
Weight reduction plans.
Rating: *** (Worth a click.)

USDA MyPyramid
Twelve calorie levels between 1000-3200 calories.
Provides servings.
Sample menus.
Rating: *** (Worth a click.)

EatingWell ®
Search and drop selections into menu, creates shopping list, calorie and weight tracker, journal option. Includes many low calorie options.
Fun, interactive site.
Rating: ** (Might be fun.)

Credible sources of Information

Link to credible sources of nutrition information including professional health organizations, government agencies and volunteer health agencies.

American Dietetic Association
Society for Nutrition Education
American Medical Association
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
American Heart Association
American Cancer Society
American Diabetes Association

And ask me! I will at least tell you my opinion!