Scales For You

Food that we eat can make us either thin or fat.  We get fat because we don’t eat the right foods at the right intervals each day.  Our body is like an engine in a car, and it needs certain foods at certain times each day.  If we put gas in our car when it is already full, the tank overflows, but the car doesn’t run one mile further on that tank of gas.  If we don’t put gas in our car when the tank is empty, it will not take us anywhere.  If we don’t eat the right foods at the right times, our body won’t burn our calories and it stores the calories as fat tissue.  Too bad it doesn’t just get rid of the extra food we eat like the car gas tank that overflows.

Eating the right foods takes some study to determine which foods our body really needs.   Of course, exercise and sleep are also necessary for a healthy body.  If we change our lifestyle to include good eating and exercise habits, we’ll see a gradual improvement when we step on our weight scale.  We try to take care of our car; we need to also take care of our body.  We can buy a new car, but we can’t buy another body. 

Weight is a measurement of the gravitational force acting on an object.  A degree of reduction of apparent weight can occur in an elevator.  When the elevator starts to accelerate downwards, the opposing force of the elevator’s floor decreases as it accelerates away underneath one’s feet.

Wow!  I’m taking my weighing scales to an elevator and weighing on my way down!  Or, maybe I’ll go to the moon on the next space mission and weigh while I’m there.  No, once again, I’m just fooling myself.  If I want to weigh less, I have to eat less and exercise more.  That sounds simple, but old habits die hard. 

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Does anyone in your family have diabetes?  My father had many family members with borderline or full-scale diabetes.  People who have this tendency don’t produce enough insulin to process the sugar in their blood.  Studying food and the effects of certain foods on the body can often help control the problem with diet, rather than medicine or insulin shots. The Glycemic index (GI) is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels.  Some carbohydrates break down rapidly during digesstion and, therefore, release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream; they have a high GI.  Carbohydrates that break down slowly and release glucose gradually into the bloodstream have a low GI.  A lower glycemic response is often thought to mean a lower insulin demand and better long-term blood glucose control. 

Moderation is often the key to good health habits.  Portion control becomes an important factor in any diet, but especially for a diabetic.  A good set of nutritional scales can help you determine how much of each food you are actually putting on your plate.  You know you were always taught to “clean your plate.”   Therefore, if you carefully measure your portions before placing the food on your plate, you can still “clean your plate” and yet, not overeat the food that is causing the health problem.   

Almost every business in this country either has a laboratory on site or receives lab reports from another site.  There are medical labs, research labs of many varied types, photo labs, etc.  Many people work in labs all over the country doing various types of experiments, procedures, tests, etc.  Every lab has to have a high-quality lab scale in order to perform its necessary activities.

The Escali L-Series digital scales were designed especially for laboratories.  These scales are highly accurate and can measure in grams, ounces, grains, carats, pennyweights and troy-ounces.  The hold feature displays the weight of an item after removal from the scale and the Tare feature subtracts the container’s weight to obtain the weight of its contents.  The stainless steel removable top makes clean-up fast and easy.  If your home or business is in need of a high-quality efficient lab scale, check these out.  You’ll be glad you did!

The original meaning of the word “dial” was “sundial” or “clock dial” from a latin word meaning “daily” or “concerning the day” because of its use in telling the time of day.  A dial is a device for inputting numbers in telephones, etc., and it can also be a display device in radio, measuring instruments, etc. 

Dial scales don’t give us the time of day and they don’t input numbers into telephones, etc.  However, they do display the weight of the items or ingredients you place on the scales.  They are useful in an environment where electronic scales are not necessary.  These economical scales can weigh in ounces or grams and come in varied sizes, styles and colors.  Many models bring a nostalgic look to your home or workplace. 

Obesity doesn’t necessarily mean being big; it means a high fat ratio to your total weight.  An obese person carries more inflammatory burden in his/her body, and inflammation is a contributor to cancer and heart disease.  Women need at least a body fat of 10 to 12% while anything above 32% is considered obese.  Men only need 2 to 4% body fat and anything above 26% is considered obese.   The body mass index (BMI) compares a person’s weight and height to determine if he/she has an appropriate weight for a healthy body.  

So, how can you find out what your body mass index (BMI) is?   The simplest way is to purchase a body mass index scale.  Check out the features on the scale before you buy.  You will love the hold feature that allows you to step off the scale and still be able to see your results.  Also, these scales can record results for several people allowing you to know your progress by simply pushing the right buttons.   
 

Protein is needed to make hemoglobin, the part of the red blood cells that carries oxygen to every part of the human body.  It builds up, maintains, and replaces the tissues that make up the muscles (including cardiac muscle), organs and the immune system in our bodies.  It also helps to control cravings.  The best sources of protein are beef, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, and legumes like black beans and lentils.   

To avoid protein deficiency you need from 10 to 30 percent of your calories from protein.  A 6-ounce broiled porterhouse steak is a great source of protein, but it also contains 44 grams of fat, 16 of them saturated.  So when choosing protein-rich foods, determine what else is included with the protein.  Portion control is essential when watching our diet for a healthy body.  A portable scale can be carried in your pocket or purse to measure portions, whether in a restaurant or a workplace cafeteria.  A diet does not have to end at home.  It can travel anywhere, anytime, with just a little planning.

The word digital comes from the Latin word for finger, “digitus”, since fingers are used for discrete counting.   Discrete means discontinuous, therefore, a digital system uses discrete or discontinuous values to represent information.  

Even though we probably associate ”digital” with electronic digital systems used in modern electronics and computing, digital systems are actually ancient and may not necessarily be binary nor electronic.  Smoke signals are one of the oldest examples of a digital signal (puffs) that conveys information.  An abacus was created between 1,000 BC and 500 BC and became a form of calculation frequency using beads.  A beacon is a very simple non-electronic digital signal, with just two states (on and off).   Morse code uses six digital states and the Braille system uses a six-bit code rendered as dot patterns.

Many scales in the home and/or workplace have been updated from analog to digital.  A digital scale, whether suitable for the bathroom, kitchen, lab or post office, gives precise information in an easy-to-read format.  Most of us now have a digital watch that tells the exact time in hours, minutes and seconds.  Why not invest in a digital scale that meets our weighing needs?

Obesity is becoming a major problem for many Americans.  I’m sure no one has made it their life’s goal to become obese, but the American lifestyle of being on the run, sitting at a desk or computer, and eating fast food has led us to this point.  When we think about cutting back on food or dieting, it seems our body craves more and more fatty foods.  I guess we just get food on our brain and can’t think logically about anything else.  Then it becomes a major embarrassment to allow anyone else to know our weight.  I have often said, “I’ll tell you my age, but don’t ask my weight.”  In order to really get serious about watching my weight, I need to be able to record my progress weekly.

A large capacity bathroom scale can weigh up to 400 or 450 pounds, and has the hold feature that allows me to step off the scale and see my weight.  I don’t have to go to a doctor’s office anymore to find out how much I weigh, and I don’t have to get my husband to read the scale for me.  This takes a lot of pressure away and I can concentrate on changing my lifestyle and eating habits to gradually get rid of my excess weight.  I still have a lot of things I want to do in this life, and good health is essential. 

There’s so much information on the internet, in books and magazines, and on radio and television about different foods and their effects on our bodies.  It literally boggles the mind!  Not only that, about the time we decide a food is unhealthy, the “research” starts proving we need a certain amount of it for our own good health.  Or, the reverse, we’re told it is healthy and alright to eat when suddenly the research says, “beware”.  Moderation is probably the key to all of this information.

When we really get serious about watching our diet to improve our health, we have to realize that servings are very small.  A cup of raw vegetables or 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables is considered a serving.  Maybe restaurants have not heard that information, because most servings in a restaurant (especially truck stops) are at least twice or three times that amount.  A kitchen scale used daily can gradually orient our minds to the actual size of a serving.  Then, regardless of where we are, we can visualize a serving and know how much we should eat.