Dr FTSE tells us that his BMI, using the little gadget on this page, is 27.4. This puts him in the overweight range. Following some of my tips will help him get down to the healthy range which is 18.5 to 25. A BMI of 30 or more indicates obesity.
BMI is a good rule of thumb, because it takes account of your height. It is not perfect, but if you are under or over the normal, you should be examining your diet, and maybe talking to a nurse at your health centre. Another really useful rule of thumb is waist circumference. Read more.
A waist circumference greater than 80cm (32in) for women and 94cm (37in) for men puts you at risk of health problems and a measurement of more than 88cm (35in) for women and 102cm (40in) for men is worth seeing your health centre about. The risk is coronary heart disease and more generally, metabolic syndrome.
Keeping an eye on these 2 numbers and changing your eating behaviour so that you get into the normal range will make a big difference to your overall wellbeing.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Tuesday 27 October 2009
Body makeovers on the telly
I was watching Gok on the telly the other day. He is just great. Maybe because he was once fat himself. But what I really like about him is that he accepts his women as they are. He knows we come in all shapes and sizes, and helps his women to not only come to terms with the reality, but to feel really good. This must be the goal. It is always very interesting to learn about the range of undergarments available for special occasions. Certainly a well-fitting bra makes all the difference.
Trinny and Susannah were always extolling the virtues of concrete knickers, and eventually, they became easy to find. They too accepted us lumps, bumps and wrinkles, and helped us to understand what clothes suit what shapes, rather than requiring us to fit the clothes. So I like them too.
But I am not so sure about Look Ten Years Younger, even though Nicky has wonderful specs. She has some good messages, but I feel they are lost because she goes for cosmetic surgery. This causes in my view 2 problems.
1. All my problems will be solved if I have cosmetic surgery.
2. I don't have to do anything myself, the surgeon will take over responsibility.
Getting thin will not make us happier. Learning to be happy as we are, lumps and bumps and all, might mean we could be happy when we are thinner. But just being thin does not make us happy. We still have the same problems after the knife. We cannot leave the responsibility for feeling good about ourselves to other people.
But Nicky does talk sense about getting our hair looking nice and generally taking care.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Trinny and Susannah were always extolling the virtues of concrete knickers, and eventually, they became easy to find. They too accepted us lumps, bumps and wrinkles, and helped us to understand what clothes suit what shapes, rather than requiring us to fit the clothes. So I like them too.
But I am not so sure about Look Ten Years Younger, even though Nicky has wonderful specs. She has some good messages, but I feel they are lost because she goes for cosmetic surgery. This causes in my view 2 problems.
1. All my problems will be solved if I have cosmetic surgery.
2. I don't have to do anything myself, the surgeon will take over responsibility.
Getting thin will not make us happier. Learning to be happy as we are, lumps and bumps and all, might mean we could be happy when we are thinner. But just being thin does not make us happy. We still have the same problems after the knife. We cannot leave the responsibility for feeling good about ourselves to other people.
But Nicky does talk sense about getting our hair looking nice and generally taking care.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Thursday 15 October 2009
Body Image and Western culture
Why do we all want to be thin? It was not always so. Just after the war, women wanted to look fatter, and could buy thigh and bottom boosters, as well as stuffing hankies down their bras.
Western culture exerts pressure on women to conform to the current fashionable body shape, even though women have always come in all shapes and sizes. This pressure leads to unhappiness.
Research carried out by Northumbria University showed how Western culture is starting to put pressure on South African women to conform to Western ideals of beauty and the preferred body shape. These pressures were identified as coming from the pressure to please men. In the past, South African women had to be fat in order for their husbands and fathers to demonstrate their prosperity. Now, they can choose their size. So in one way, the report suggests, this is a sign of empowerment. On the other hand, the women also say that they want to be thin for their menfolk, who are also developing preferences for the Western ideal. The women said they wanted to be like the women in the adverts.
Striving after unachievable ideals of body shape only make us unhappy. When we are unhappy, we eat to comfort ourselves. Try hypnotherapy and break free.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Western culture exerts pressure on women to conform to the current fashionable body shape, even though women have always come in all shapes and sizes. This pressure leads to unhappiness.
Research carried out by Northumbria University showed how Western culture is starting to put pressure on South African women to conform to Western ideals of beauty and the preferred body shape. These pressures were identified as coming from the pressure to please men. In the past, South African women had to be fat in order for their husbands and fathers to demonstrate their prosperity. Now, they can choose their size. So in one way, the report suggests, this is a sign of empowerment. On the other hand, the women also say that they want to be thin for their menfolk, who are also developing preferences for the Western ideal. The women said they wanted to be like the women in the adverts.
Striving after unachievable ideals of body shape only make us unhappy. When we are unhappy, we eat to comfort ourselves. Try hypnotherapy and break free.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Why are the French so slim?
French people are really keen on food (so am I!) and they spend 135 minutes a day eating. In Britain, its about 85 minutes, and in the USA about 75 minutes. This is from an OECD report. And yet the French are generally of healthy proportions. What is going on here?
Well, the French still eat at the table, and they concentrate on their food while they are eating. They talk about it with their dinner companions. They eat in a slow and calm way, taking their time. As a result, they are aware of when they are feeling full. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is happy with its meal. Then they stop eating, and continue with the conversation.
The British and Americans are spending less time eating, but managing to munch many more calories in this shorter time. Britain and the USA are in the top 3 overweight nations. Americans eat in front of the telly, and the trigger to stop eating is when the show is over.
To help you manage your own eating, work out what it is that triggers you to stop eating.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Well, the French still eat at the table, and they concentrate on their food while they are eating. They talk about it with their dinner companions. They eat in a slow and calm way, taking their time. As a result, they are aware of when they are feeling full. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register that your stomach is happy with its meal. Then they stop eating, and continue with the conversation.
The British and Americans are spending less time eating, but managing to munch many more calories in this shorter time. Britain and the USA are in the top 3 overweight nations. Americans eat in front of the telly, and the trigger to stop eating is when the show is over.
To help you manage your own eating, work out what it is that triggers you to stop eating.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Tuesday 6 October 2009
Don't drink your calories
The excellent Dr Sharma of the University of Alberta has pointed to research from Purdue University which shows that calories taken in a drink do not register with our brains as a meal. We feel just as hungry as if we had taken no calories at all. Some of these drinks can be as much as 200 calories - 10% of our daily allowance.
For calories to register, they need to be in solid food.
If you are wanting to lose weight, the easiest thing to give up is calorie filled drinks, such as fizzy drinks, and it could help you lose one pound a week.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
For calories to register, they need to be in solid food.
If you are wanting to lose weight, the easiest thing to give up is calorie filled drinks, such as fizzy drinks, and it could help you lose one pound a week.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Saturday 3 October 2009
Body image
Even among women with normal body shape and weight, physical appearance is the factor which shows the strongest relationship with self-esteem (Alice Penner, Louis Gleghorn, Body Image and Self esteem in normal weight women, 1989). So that means if you have any disquiet about your body, then you can expect to feel bad in some way.
In our society, women are required to be slim. This was not always so. In Rubens' day, women were attractive when they were plump and curvy. While what is fashionable in terms of women's bodies changes over time, women's actual body shapes remain the same. Women come in all shapes and sizes. Does that affect your love life? That might be an important question. Well, walk around the supermarket and have a look at the couples and families who are shopping. Married women come in all shapes and sizes.
Australian researchers Williamson & Delin (The development of body size dissatisfaction in primary school children, 1998) showed that girls as young as five show a clear preference for smaller body sizes and were already dissatisfied with their bodies. That can only be the result of the complex and constant barrage of information from the media, their friends, and other social pressures about what women should look like.
Hypnotherapy can help to refocus body image and come to terms with what is normal. Don't forget, fashion photography is an art form, we are not supposed to take it seriously. And even the stars have to be airbrushed. (see my blog of 4 August 2009)
Dieting just to achieve a socially acceptable shape makes us ill. Hypnotherapy can help.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
In our society, women are required to be slim. This was not always so. In Rubens' day, women were attractive when they were plump and curvy. While what is fashionable in terms of women's bodies changes over time, women's actual body shapes remain the same. Women come in all shapes and sizes. Does that affect your love life? That might be an important question. Well, walk around the supermarket and have a look at the couples and families who are shopping. Married women come in all shapes and sizes.
Australian researchers Williamson & Delin (The development of body size dissatisfaction in primary school children, 1998) showed that girls as young as five show a clear preference for smaller body sizes and were already dissatisfied with their bodies. That can only be the result of the complex and constant barrage of information from the media, their friends, and other social pressures about what women should look like.
Hypnotherapy can help to refocus body image and come to terms with what is normal. Don't forget, fashion photography is an art form, we are not supposed to take it seriously. And even the stars have to be airbrushed. (see my blog of 4 August 2009)
Dieting just to achieve a socially acceptable shape makes us ill. Hypnotherapy can help.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Friday 2 October 2009
Earlier this month scientists at the University of Edinburgh reported that a protein, invadolysin, which they discovered a few years ago, might be involved in how we store fat in our bodies. When it is disabled, fat storage is impaired. So that line of research looks promising.
Other research from the University of Missouri shows that sitting down makes you fat and that standing can help with keeping your weight down. Obvious?
Well, the research shows that lipase, an enzyme which absorbs into our muscles the fat which is circulating in the blood stream (which comes from digestion), operates when you are standing or moving, but almost shuts down when you are seated. So when you are sitting, the fat goes into storage, rather than to the muscles where it can be used. Worse, it can stay in the blood vessels and can clog the arteries.
So stand or move about whenever possible, actively trying to reduce chair time.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
Other research from the University of Missouri shows that sitting down makes you fat and that standing can help with keeping your weight down. Obvious?
Well, the research shows that lipase, an enzyme which absorbs into our muscles the fat which is circulating in the blood stream (which comes from digestion), operates when you are standing or moving, but almost shuts down when you are seated. So when you are sitting, the fat goes into storage, rather than to the muscles where it can be used. Worse, it can stay in the blood vessels and can clog the arteries.
So stand or move about whenever possible, actively trying to reduce chair time.
www.carolinebrowntherapy.com
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