Maintaining a healthy weight can pose a series of challenges for both men and women. Imposed ideas of beauty, comparisons to friends, models in magazines and movies can create a sense of self-removed acceptance that does not comply with the reflection in a mirror. Lately, companies have been campaigning towards more realistic definitions of beauty that includes all shapes and sizes due to the movement of body activists who refuse to conform to impossible and unrealistic photo-shopped images.
To help determine a healthy body weight there are a couple of tools that can be considered: Body Mass Index (BMI) is the standard, and surveying your energy levels. These are indicative of helping to understand low, middle, and high body masses. Genetics, structural body frame and expenditure of energy all factor in and may not be fully accounted for by reviewing only one source.
…oft times thirst can be misinterpreted as hunger.
Water intake is essential for proper metabolic activity and oft times thirst can be misinterpreted as hunger. Lifestyle Naturopathy encourages clients to drink a full two glasses of room temperature water upon awakening to start the day’s hydration. Meal replacement powders and bars can serve a purpose if used to prevent the skipping of a meal and can be a good start-up towards changing habits and preparing more nutritious meals (transitioning from sugar dense breakfast cereals to morning smoothies to slow-cooked steel-cut oats). It’s important to bring in daily caloric portions throughout the day and refrain from heavy meals for easier digestion and usage by the body.
Lifestyle plays an integral role: habits, stress management, including proper sleep, and exercise are key in the day-to-day. Exercise regimes ought to be fun and can vary in intensity as well as type. Weight-bearing exercises offer muscle formation and toning versus that of cardiovascular fitness, which offers the benefits of heart and immune-system support. It is important to note that muscle weighs more than fat.
Friends that support healthy eating habits, exercise and refrain from excesses themselves (alcohol consumption, smoking, overworking and so forth) help to give encouragement when feeling tempted to give up. Rewarding yourself can be achieved by choosing foodstuffs of high quality such as organic fruits and delicious raw desserts.
Friends that support healthy eating habits… give encouragement when feeling tempted to give up.
Seek long term eating patterns over diets. High protein and low carbohydrates may not serve the best interests of all. Paleo based food choices, vegan and vegetarian ethics, fasting (including intermittent fasting) each carry certain positives but host an array of risks also. Blood type genotyping can better help understanding individual phenotyping and said information can help in making choices (i.e: Eat Right for Your Type).
Lastly, packing and bagging homemade food can easily trump the vast selection of meals available for purchase for nutrition value. Interested in learning more? Make an appointment!
