healthierme - let's take control of our health

about & faq

Your health is the most valuable asset you own. With a small amount of consistent investment, it can yield the highest benefits. Yet, no tools are available to help you pro actively make the right decisions regarding YOUR health. No two people are the same. No two people have the same lifestyle or family history. So why turn to generic health products or programs without knowing what's best for YOUR health? Put another way, if you had a large amount of money to invest, would you invest it based on someone else's goals and expectations? Or, would you invest it based on what is best for YOUR future?

healthierme gives you the power to take control of your health and to make the most of this precious asset. It does this by taking into account YOUR lifestyle, family history, current health profile, and more. And just like any other investment, it allows you to see how your health investments today will impact your future. healthierme will show you how changing health factors that are in your control impact your life, not just today, but well into the future.

Wondering what you will be at risk for 10 years from now? healthierme can tell you. Wondering what impact a new diet or new exercise regimen will have on your life? healthierme will tell you. Not sure what you should be doing to improve your health? healthierme will give you suggestions based on YOUR health profile. Want to set goals that have a positive impact on your health? healthierme lets your set personal health goals and provides simple ways for you to track how you are doing towards those goals.

At healthierme, we believe that your journey to better health need not be a solitary experience. As you embark on your journey towards a healthier you, use healthierme to invite your family, friends and even your physician to be part of your health team. Your health team will receive updates on your progress and provide you the encouragement you need to achieve your goals.

Remember, your health is your most precious asset. Invest in it today, TAKE CONTROL, join healthierme.

healthierme glossary

Daily eating and activity update: asks you to define your health goals and keep a daily log of what you did every day to meet these health goals.

Your health team: is your friends and family that help you with your health goals. It is your personal health social network!

Our daily health stories: is an update on the activities and messages from your friends on your health team.

Your baseline health information: is your current personal health information. It includes your demographics, present weight, smoking, alcohol, diet and exercise histories as well as your previous medical diagnoses and family history of diseases such as diabetes and heart attacks. All these parameters play an important role in how healthy you are at any particular point in time. However, you can change your baseline information if you lose weight, decrease alcohol intake, stop smoking, change your diet or increase your physical activity. Therefore your baseline health information can change weekly or monthly. Your baseline health information is an important contributor to your fitness score as described below.

Lifestyles:

Activity	Levels of exercise² have been defined as those used in the USDA My Pyramid. sedentary:<30 mins physical activity per day in addition to daily activities some activity/moderately active: at least 30-60 mins per day active: 60 or more minutes per day very active: healthiermee has added very active for those who exercise vigorously for serveral hours a day

Alcohol³	Though moderate alcohol use seems to have some health benefits, anything more than moderate drinking can negate any potential benefits. Moderate drinking is defined as two drinks a day if you're a male under 65, or one drink a day if you're a female or a male over 65. Healthiermee has used the above criteria in its algorithms. What counts as a drink? A drink is defined as 12 ounces (oz.) of beer, 5 oz. of wine or 1.5 oz. of 80-proof distilled spirits.

Smoking⁴	A person's increased risk of contracting disease is directly proportional to the length of time that a person continues to smoke as well as the amount smoked. However, if someone stops smoking, then these chances gradually decrease as the damage to their body is repaired. The data regarding smoking to date focuses primarily on cigarette smoking, which increases mortality rates by 40% in those who smoke less than 10 cigarettes a day, by 70% in those who smoke 10 to 19 a day, by 90% in those who smoke 20 to 39 a day, and by 120% in those smoking two packs a day or more. One pack of cigarettes contains 10 cigarettes. Healthiermee has taken these probabilities into account in calculating the algorithms.

Low fat diet⁵	A low fat diet is one that provides no more than 30 percent of total calories from fat. Cutting back on fat can help you consume fewer calories. Fats contain both saturated and unsaturated (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) fatty acids. Saturated fat raises blood cholesterol more than other forms of fat. Reducing saturated fat to less than 10 percent of calories will help you lower your blood cholesterol level.

Fit score: Your fitness score is a function of your baseline health information, and the changes you make in your lifestyle (diet and exercise) on a daily basis (daily eating and activity update). The fitness score (maximum 1000) therefore can change daily. The best way to view your fitness score is on a weekly or monthly timeline, with the aim of increasing the score over time.

Optimal improvement areas: Based on your baseline health information and your change in daily lifestyle parameters such as diet and exercise, healthierme calculates the top two improvement areas giving you greatest return for your efforts. These two improvement areas will provide the maximum increase in your fit score. The algorithms are computer generated. Note: it's best to consult your health care provider before changing your diet or beginning an exercise regimen.

A well balanced diet² is synonymous with a healthy diet. What is a "Healthy Diet"? The USDA Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid describe a healthy diet for the general public over 2 years of age as one that

Emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products;
Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts; and
Is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars.

This is not a therapeutic diet for any specific health condition. Individuals with a chronic health condition should consult with a health care provider to determine what dietary pattern is appropriate for them.

BMI¹: Body Mass Index is a ratio calculated from a person's weight and height. BMI is a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people. In adults, BMI is used as a screening tool to identify possible weight problems. Since BMI is not a diagnostic tool, you need to contact your health care provider to determine if excess weight is a health risk for you. You are underweight if your BMI is below 18.5; you are of normal weight if your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9; you are considered overweight if your BMI is between 25 and 29.9, and you are obese (or very overweight) if your BMI is 30 or above.

The closer you are to being overweight or obese on the BMI scale (red area on right of bar), the greater is your risk of getting diseases that are related to excess weight.

BMI number is calculated the same way for children, teens and adults, but the criteria used to interpret the meaning of BMI is different. For children and teens, BMI age- and sex-specific percentiles are used. The BMI percentile is calculated from age and sex specific graphs from the CDC.

In children underweight is a BMI percentile of less than the 5th percentile. A healthy weight is a BMI percentile range of the 5th to less than the 85th percentile. At risk for overweight is a BMI percentile range between the 85th and less than the 95th percentile. Overweight children have BMI percentiles at the 95th percentile or greater.

Average weight for height: For adults, this is the weight for height that occurs at the midpoint of the normal BMI range (18.5-24.9), or 21.7. Ethnic or gender differences are not factored in. Ethnic differences are not factored in for children or adults.

Weight for age & gender at 84^th percentile BMI: For children and teens the calculation is different since children are growing. Since a child's BMI percentile should be below the 85th for age and gender, the child's weight should be at least below that weight at which the BMI percentile would calculate out to be the 85th percentile for age and sex. A weight over this number would put the child in the "at risk for overweight" category.

Calories per day: indicates the calories you need to stay at your present weight.

What could you be at risk for: indicates the diseases that you could potentially get depending on your baseline health information. These diseases could change if your personal health information changes. You could play with the balls on the lifestyle parameter bars in the personal health information section and get an idea of the change in your disease risk with changes in your personal health information. "What could you be at risk for" is a risk of disease estimates based on healthierme's search algorithms. It does not indicate what disease you have now. Only your doctor can give you that information. It only indicates what you are at risk for if you continue on the same lifestyle parameters as the present.

Daily fit score: is a graphical representation of how your fit score has changed over the preceding two weeks. It indicates how well you have been doing in following your goals in the daily eating and activity update.

Age forecast: tells you what your disease risk would be as you age if your baseline health information does not change, viz if your weight, smoking, exercise, alcohol and diet information remains the same as now. Essentially, given your current health profile and lifestyle, this graph gives you a glimpse of how your fit score and health risks will change in the future. It shows you how the choices you make today directly impact your future health.

Weight effect: This graph gives you a glimpse of how your fit score will change based on changes in your current weight. It shows how your weight directly impacts your overall health.

Increased risk areas: is a pie diagram which gives you a snapshot of what areas or systems in your body (e.g pulmonary, cardiovascular,etc.) are at increased risk for damage with your current personal information and lifestyle options.

References

¹	Center for Disease Control (CDC)
²	http://www.mypyramid.gov/
³	Alcohol Consumpation \| Medlineplus
⁴	Smoking \| NIH
⁵	Low fat diet \| USDA


	Remember: fill out your health baseline and save it! Best healthiermee