A Good Outlook Towards Weight
From the naturopathic point of view, the ideal weight of a person should be the weight that allows him/he to enjoy good health as well as maximum of physical activity. Therefore, your ideal weight should not be based on the standards dictated by fashion or on purely aesthetic criteria. These standards do not take into account the health, well-being, individual characteristics and the unique metabolism of each one of us.
The Benefits of Healthy Weight
It is important to underline the physiological and psychological beneficial effects obtained by reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. The individual who has a healthy weight benefits from many physiological advantages, from a cardiac, circulatory, energetic, motor, etc. point of view. From the psychological point of view, the individual who has a healthy weight avoids all the worries, loss of self-esteem and self-questioning, all usually linked to a physical look that he sees as being unpleasant and that is also being noticed by others. The individual who maintains a healthy weight and who keeps in good shape usually feels proud and self-confident; these feelings, among others, being linked to a beautiful, strong body.
Overweight and Its Consequences
Lots of people suffer from health problems related to overweight. Also, there are many men and women suffering from health problems caused by several deficiencies resulting from their cyclic attempts to loose weight by depriving themselves of nutritious food. We could add to this the effect, usually harmful, that being overweight has on the self-esteem and on the self-image.
Being overweight requires from the system considerable useless exertion. The heart must provide oxygen for all that surplus fat; the blood pressure increases; the digestive system gets forced to work considerably more; there is a loss of motility and the smallest effort cases shortness of breath; the resistance of the cells to blood sugar increases (which can lead to diabetes); etc.
There is an easy way to quickly verify whether you have an overweight problem or not. You simply have to compare your waist and hips measurements. Follow the next steps:
- Measure around the waist at the level of the navel with a measuring tape.
- Then, measure around the hips at the largest point.
- Then, divide the number for the waistline by the one for the hips.
Results
- For men, the result obtained should not be above 0.95.
- For women, the result obtained should not be above 0.80.
- Analysis: the more the result is above the norm, the more there is a surplus of fat.
Thinness and Its Consequences
We seldom talk about people who too thin, because they are usually seen as being lucky, since they can eat whatever they want without the risk of gaining weight. However, there are numerous thin people who suffer from multiple deficiencies. Sometimes, they are people who are not eating sufficiently, frequently, people who have bad eating habits and almost always, people who do not properly assimilate their foods. Moreover, thin people are generally nervous, agitated and with very little inclination towards muscular exercises.
Thinness can be caused for several health problems such as a lack of energy or of physical endurance, a feeling of fragility, an incapacity to maintain a sufficient percentage of body fats and numerous deficiencies.
