Apples and Pears and Health
We all carry our excess fat a little differently. One person may become a thunder thighs with a large butt and big thighs like a pear, while the next person carries it all in the middle, like an apple on a stick.
Well it seems the pear-shaped women are at a health advantage over the apple shaped women. Apple shaped women, who carry the excess weight in their abs and middle are at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes and other health problems. The problem seems to be that the fat accumulates around the internal organs and prevents their bodies from functioning as well as possible. The pear shaped women don’t have this problem because of course their are no internal organs in our butts and thighs!
To determine if you are an apple or a pear, you must compute your waist-hip ratio. Divide your waist in inches by your hips in inces and if the result is o.8 or less you are considered to be a pear. If the result is more than 0.8 then you are an apple shape. For example a 28 inch waist divided by a 38 inch hip is 0.73 a pear, while a 32 inch waist divided by the same 38 inch hip is 0.84 or an apple.
While a pear may lament her big butt and thunder thighs it is just a body image problem, while the apple is facing some serious health risks. Exercise and a wise diet are crucial if you are apple shaped and losing even as little as 2 inches off your waist can improve your health risks. If you are an apple, increase your cardio and concentrate on consuming a diet rich in fiber by consuming more fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes, and lean protien sources such as fish and skinless chicken.
November 4th, 2005 at 4:04 pm
[…] A recent editorial in the Lancet has suggested that the best test for obesity, at least when it comes to predicting heart attacks is not BMI, or body mass index, but rather it is the ratio measurement of your waist to your hips. See a previous article I wrote about this very subject here previous article The bottom line is that larger waists are bad for your health and larger hips with smaller waists are healthier. Larger waists indicate a higher percentage of abdominal fat which also means more fat around your internal organs. Fat in your butt and thighs does not affect your internal organs since there are no internal organs in your butt or thighs! A worldwide study found that the waist-hip ratio was an important sign of heart attack risk in men and women, young or old. The study included more than 27000 people in 52 countries. The waist-hip ratio showed a stronger link to heart attacks than the BMI measurement in all eight ethnic groups studied. Read more about the study here www.foxnews.com […]