Unfolding today’s topic with these two short, real life stories.
Story No. 1
Those were the warm and sunny summers of Germany. The inviting azure skies, added to the newly married couple’s enthusiasm, both of whom were bitten hard by the travel bug. After having lived in this part of the globe for more than 4 years, they wished to discover and explore its beautiful alpine meadows, the vast expanse of its numerous vineyards and scale the heights of the Austrian Alps. They rented a car from a renowned car rental company and set sail on their road trip, well equipped with good hiking boots and the likes.
They started early and by 10 am had to stop over at a gas station. Lazying around a bit over a cup of coffee seemed a good decision, once the car was filed to the brim. The long drive was resumed, only to experience an abrupt complete shutdown of the car engine, just a few yards away from the gas station. With what sounded like an unsatisfied grunt, the engine refused to budge. Something had gone drastically wrong and it did not take much time for this bright software engineer couple, to figure out the cause. For a moment they felt lost as they had erroneously filled in petrol in the diesel vehicle; however, much to their relief help arrived soon, in the form of another car from the car rental company. The sick car got towed away and for these lucky love birds, they were spared from any extra fine, even though they were prepared for the consequences.
Story No. 2
A ten year old girl would always get fascinated to see her beautiful teenage sister, pampering herself with special soaps and facial creams. The mischievous child would be on a look out to try out the soap and the lotions. Any golden chance of working a rich lather of the perfumed soap on her tender skin, much to her puzzlement, always left behind this inexplicable tightness and stretching. The elder sister (to the dismay of the youngster), would then keep the soap away from her reach. It was much later that as a grown up girl, she understood the reason of the side effect. She felt thankful to her sister for having saved her flawless young skin, from any further damage.
Well, now let us analyze the two cases.
The striking similarity that we can draw from these two instances is that in both the cases there were two types of cars and skin. One was diesel run and the other was a petrol car; the elder sister had an oily skin, whereas the little girl had a normal skin.
Would you agree that when it comes to our body, all of us belong to different Body Types? Therefore, what suits one might not suit the other! More often than not, we remain unaware about this fact and end up solving our health related issues, with treatments which might not suit our body type.
Let us try and understand the types that our body can be divided into, based upon the different body parts, its nature and its functions:
1. Skin
- Normal
- Oily
- Dry
- Combination(T-Zone)
- Sensitive
2. Hair Type
- Normal, Oily, Dry
- Hair Texture- Straight, Wavy, Curly, Coily
3. Nutritional Type
- Protein Type– The individuals who fall in this category are more inclined towards having to go in for more of protein intake. A typical ratio might be 40 percent protein and 30 percent each of fats and carbohydrates, but the amounts could easily shift to 50 percent fats and as little as 10 percent carbohydrates depending on individual genetic requirements.
- Carb Type– Carb type individuals normally feel best when the majority of their food is carbohydrate. However, just as we only have one word for snow while the Eskimos have many more, we only have one word for carbs, while there are actually different types. There is a major difference between vegetables, grains, and starches, yet they are all referenced as “carbs.”
- Mixed Type- As the name suggests, the individuals who are in this category are combination of both the above nutrition types.
(The future blogs will touch upon it all, in detail.)
4.Your Body Type
- This depends upon which of the four major glands are strongest in your metabolism. The body has four major glands: the thyroid gland, the adrenal glands, the pituitary gland and gonads or sex glands. type of metabolism. We can recognize the Body Type based on the shape, because each Body Type has its own special shape. But our Body Type has a more important reality. In fact, our shape is a signal of the type of metabolism we have. (CREDIT-http://www.bodytypes.com/Body_Type_System/What_is_a_body_type.html)
5. Three Body Types- Based upon the fat content and the muscle mass
There are three basic human body types: the endomorph, characterized by a preponderance of body fat; the mesomorph, marked by a well-developed musculature; and the ectomorph, distinguished by a lack of much fat or muscle tissue (CREDIT- http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/becker3.htm)
Ectomorph
- Narrow hips and clavicles
- Small joints (wrist/ankles)
- Thin build
- Stringy muscle bellies
- Long limbs
Mesomorph
- Wide clavicles
- Narrow waist
- Thinner joints
- Long and round muscle bellies
Endomorph
- Blocky
- Thick rib cage
- Wide/thicker joints
- Hips as wide (or wider)
than clavicles - Shorter limbs
6. Acidity-Following are the two major disorders
- Hypoacidity
- Hyperacidity
7. Thyroid- There could be the following two major disorders
- Hypothyroidism
- Hyperthyroidism
To summarize our today’s topic on the Body Types, a strong point to ponder upon is that whenever we decide to go in for any Health & Wellness and Beauty related treatments, we would gain more by adhering to, what best suits our Body Type.
In the forthcoming blogs, we would be focusing upon the different aspects that would encompass- what, when, which, where and why of these subtopics.
Being aware about all of these facts, when coupled with the best suited exercises would make your own reflection smile back at you, with a renewed positive energy.
