Do you every find yourself wondering why you have to cut carbs out of your diet but your friend gets to indulge in them and not put on any weight?
This is most probably because each body works in a different way; from burning fat to absorbing nutrients.
If you want to start to eat right for your shape, you’ll find that the key is to implement achievable, simple practices and embrace nutrition, instead of fad diets. This will enable you to become more in tune with your body, helping you to achieve balance. Once you have found this equilibrium your body will be the size and shape you were always meant to be.
The ancient healing system of Ayurveda is an Indian philosophy, which can be applied to the way we eat and live. Through nutrition, yoga, and meditation, this practice focuses on treating the individual as a whole rather than a specific issue or problem such as just getting rid of belly or arm fat. This allows you to achieve balance and good health, not only in your physical body but also in your mind and spirit.
You don’t have to strictly follow these tips. But, it is incredible to notice how just a few small changes to your diet and daily routine, can make a huge difference to how you feel. You’ll notice that your skin starts to develop a glow, your digestion improves and you’ll experience more energy than ever.
The basis of your body shape is one way that you can use to identify what changes need to be made.
So, what’s your body shape?
Banana
If your body resembles a banana, you have a linear body shape. You are lucky enough to find it hard to put on weight in most instances. Bananas should opt for heavier fruits, nourishing vegetables like sweet potato and oily and heavy foods (yes, they are your friends, not your enemy). These sorts of food groups will help eliminate toxins from the body which banana body shapes tend to produce. Eating heavy foods will benefit you, but you also need to do heating exercises, otherwise the build-up of toxins will make your body unbalanced. Heating exercises that work well for you include weight training and heating yoga poses, such as plank (caturanga dandasana).
Pear
Pear shaped? You have a strong, athletic body that represents fire and strength. Unfortunately, our society is fiery by nature, so you can be thrown out of balance easily leading to weight gain from stress and overeating. To overcome this, I suggest adopting a cooling diet with loads of fresh, raw vegetables, fruits and plenty of water. You should also incorporate green vegetable juices into your diet as it will help oxygenate your blood to assist with getting rid of toxins. You should integrate swimming, walking, gentle jogging and any long-distance activities like hiking to become leaner and lose weight.
Apple
Apples tend to be middle heavy. So, you’ll need to adopt new lifestyle habits that boost your metabolism, burn fat around the middle and improve your digestion. You should eat apples or other foods that are light in nature such as broccoli and kale. Grapefruits and lemons are also essential as their acidity will aid detoxification and help boost your circulation. Vinyasa Yoga flow, which incorporates twisting poses like revolved triangle pose (pareevrtta trikona) and high-intensity exercises are perfect for you. They’ll help digestion and shed the extra weight around the belly.
Hourglass
If you have the ideal body shape, also known as the hourglass figure, you can sometimes experience weight gain in the wrong areas, like your back, shoulders, and thighs. You’re a combination of pear and apple body shapes, so it is really important that you balance the two through your diet and exercise. Fruits, such as fresh apricots, goji berries and strawberries will assist in keeping your body balanced. Raw vegetables help do the same. Strength training and grounding yoga that incorporates chair pose (utkatasana) help work the whole body so fat and toxins don’t build up in your upper and lower halves.
BUT don’t forget to compliment healthy living with the right natural supplements
While the shape of your body is a good starting point to a healthy life, dry skin, dark bags under your eyes and breakouts are clear signs that your lifestyle isn’t agreeing with you. I take SOUTHERNATURE Omega 3 Concentrate daily to support my general wellbeing.
My final tip is to let go of comparing yourself to others and make the right choices for your own body. Tune into your internal intelligence as that’s where the right answers lie.
