Woman Body Types

It's easy to see a celebrity and wish you looked just like her, but woman body types are not all the same. Don't bother envying someone else, because you are you, and the best way to lose weight varies from one person to another.

What body type are you?

Before we get into the theories described in Dr. Abravanel’s Body Type Diet And Lifetime Nutrition Plan, let's gain a better understanding of the traditional approach to woman body types.

The apple body shape stores fat around the middle of the body including the abdomen and chest. Typically, more men have the apple shape than women. However, as women age they tend to transform into an apple shape, especially after reaching menopause. This is because the decreased presence of female hormones makes their shape become "more male." Another factor for older women is stress. Studies show that belly fat develops on individuals who are under long-term stress. Why does stress make apples gain more weight? It is linked to cortisol, a hormone released during times of stress. In the case of apple shapes, high levels of cortisol encourage body fat to accumulate around the midsection.

This accumulation of fat should be addressed through diet and exercise. When you carry body fat around your midsection it increases your risk for a number of health issues, including:

• Coronary heart disease
• Diabetes
• Gall bladder disease
• High blood pressure
• Stroke

If you are an apple-shaped woman, take note. Transforming your body shape is not as difficult as you might think. Simply eat a sensible diet, become more active with regular exercise, and initiate stress-reduction techniques to get your cortisol under control. Interestingly, apple-shaped women run more health risks than pear-shaped women, but they can loose the fat easier by following a sensible diet and exercising.

That's right, pear-shaped women have a harder time shedding the fat, which collects on the hips and thighs, compared to their apple-shaped counterparts. In fact, the extra lower body weight you carry, the harder it is to lose. The closer you get to your ideal weight the easier it is to lose that lower body weight. If you are pear-shaped and want to lose weight it's important to follow a healthy diet and cardio exercise routine, which includes interval training. Cardio exercises are designed to help burn lower body fat and should be done for 45 to 60 minutes.

The Body Type Diet takes a whole new look at not only the different shapes of women, but it also examines the why behind the shape. It's tied to the woman's metabolism. In fact, the diet claims, "your shape is a signal of the type of metabolism you have."

The premise for this diet is that woman body types depend on the four major glands. Whichever one of these glands is the strongest in your particular metabolism, will dictate your body type. These glands include:

• Thyroid gland
• Adrenal glands
• Pituitary gland
• Gonads or sex glands

The Body Type Diet helps you to identify the foods that overstimulate your dominant gland, and to learn how to avoid these foods. The basic principles behind this diet are designed to rest your overstimulated dominant gland by eating less of the foods that stimulate it. At the same time, your diet should include more foods that feed your less active glands. This gives your dominant gland a chance to recover, and in the process, eliminate those food cravings that sabotage your best dieting plans.

Whether you go with the standard apple or pear shape way of looking at body types, or you relate better to the Body Type Diet way of looking at you shape, you can rest assured that your body shape will dictate what kind of diet is best for you to achieve the perfect body.

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