Links: weight on the web

The best starting point whatever your search is this site, malehealth.co.uk. Weight-links on this site are listed here. Below are some other starting points.

Beware: there is a lot of money to be made out of weight and weight-loss. And there are a lot of fat cats out there on the web hoping to profit. Check out our tips on using the web for information on diet, nutrition and weight.

Starting points

Food Standards Agency - This government's independent food safety watchdog runs Eat Well, its own site for the general public including all the official advice on healthy eating.

BBC - Whatever you think about their TV and radio programmes, the BBC actually run some of the best websites in the country including one on weight.

Voluntary organisations and professional bodies

British Dietetic Association -

Professional body for dieticians who also run their own Weight Wise healthy-eating site aimed at the general public. For details on how to contact a state-registered dietician either via the NHS or privately, visit the organisation's general site: www.bda.uk.com

Eating Disorders Association

 - Charity founded in 1989 offering fact sheets, a helpline and advice on specialists and counsellors in your area on anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and related eating disorders.

Overeaters Anonymous -

OA offers a programme of recovery from compulsive overeating based on the meetings and twelve steps approach often followed successfully for other addictions.

Weight Concern -

A recently registered charity which won the Best New Charity of the Year Award in 2002 and works to address both the physical and psychological health needs of overweight people.

British Heart Foundation

 - The site of one of the UK's best-known voluntary organisations includes well-presented information on diet and heart problems

British Nutrition Foundation -

The BNF is a scientific and educational charity which seeks to promote 'evidence-based nutritional knowledge and advice'.

National Obesity Forum -

The NOF is an organisation of health professionals founded in 2000 to raise awareness of obesity and the risks of being over-weight. It runs its own 'Waist Watch Action' aimed at the general public which can be accessed through the Public Info link on the main site.

American Obesity Association

 - The site of a leading US organisation in the field. They reckon it's the 'most comprehensive site on obesity and overweight on the Internet'.

Weight Control Information Network  -

Another American site run by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Other useful NGO links include an easy-to-print one pager from the American Heart Association on what constitutes a good basic diet and the World Health Organisation's independent expert report on diet and chronic disease.

Commercial weight-loss sites

Fatmanslim -

Fatmanslim is not a diet and was designed especially for men by Dr Ian Campbell, a family doctor with a special interest in helping people lose weight and chair of the National Obesity Forum.

Weight Watchers

 - For those looking for a group to lose those excess pounds with, Weight-Watchers are probably the best known and biggest.

Other commercial sites include weightlossresources.co.uk, a commercial website operating a little like an online group but there are free resources and you can try out the paid-for 'tools' too; weightlossforgood.co.uk, a similar commercial site with adverts and a sales arm but with useful information and free tools; and diet-i.com, another commercial site with reviews of the various diets.

Other interesting links

If your diet is such that you're primarily interested in the facts about fast food and health, try this link from the office of the Attorney General for Minnesota in the USA (http://www.olen.com/food/book.html). Another good UK briefing on the same subject, but a bit more difficult to type in, is http://www.mrc.ac.uk/index/public-interest/public-news-4/public-news_archive/public-news-archive_oct_03/public-fast_food.htm.

Meanwhile, the interactive questionnaire run by the Center for Science in the Public Interest in the US will tell you exactly how healthy your restaurant food choices are.

If you're after greater details on the value or otherwise of your entire daily diet, you'll want this site, run by the US Department of Agriculture Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. It lets users analyse their personal daily food intake, including total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium.

For recipes that might help, try http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/

It can be harder to eat a healthy diet on a low income. The Food for Thought section of the Oxford Brookes University site is aimed at students but contains healthy eating tips for anyone on budget.

For boys, the Health Development Agency set up some excellent sites. Welltown is for teachers and children at key stage 1 (ages 5-7). Galaxy H  is for key stage 2 (ages 7-11). LifeBytes for key stage 3 (ages 11-14) includes a good section on healthy eating. As does Mind, Body & Soul which is for key stage 4 (ages 14-16).

A good introduction to the glycemic index which is a system of ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels is at http://www.glycemicindex.com/. The link http://diabetes.about.com/library/mendosagi/ngilists.htm provides a straight-forward glycemic table of 750 foods.

Need more links?

• More related organisations A-G
• More related organisations H-Z
• Still more diet links are at http://www.diet-links.com/.

 

• All these websites are listed for information only and MHF cannot accept any responsibility for their content.
• A version of this article first appeared in the HGV Manual prepared by Dr ian Banks and the MHF for Men's Health Week.