More Chiropractic Care Articles
Metabolic Body Types and Your Health
If you look at the adult population we see a wide range of shapes and sizes. Some people are tall, some medium and some small. Average male adults vary in height from 5 foot to 6 foot 10 inches. Women average 4 foot 10 inches to 6 foot 2 inches. People have varying skeletal frame sizes, from thin boned to thick boned.
When people seek out medical advice for pain reduction and weight loss, these different constitutional body types have an impact on whether the weight loss program and improvement in health will be successful.
Your genes determine what body type you are and also form the basis for your metabolic body type and individuality. In Ayurvedic medicine they are known as kapha, pita, and vata. We classify them as endomorphic, mesomorphic and ectomorphic.
In Applied Kinesiology (AK) research many chiropractors look at the structural, chemical, and psychological triad of health when assessing and evaluating a medical condition. For example, if you have a history of headaches, migraines or tension headaches come to mind.
In an AK analysis, we will consider possible chemical stressors (e.g. food allergies, toxins, hormone imbalances), structural stressors (perhaps over-activity at the fitness club, or increasing the mileage in your weekly running program), or emotional stressors (overload with work/home obligations). Any and all of these factors may contribute to the headache pattern of the patient.
Proper healthy food intake is fundamental in reducing neuromuscular pain and moving on to optimum health. Chiropractors excel in structural corrections, but your diet also varies and is very important in reducing the negative effects of stress. Planning a diet incorporates many factors.
Cut out the obvious: refined sugar and artificial sweeteners, alcohol, excess coffee, and processed foods.
Develop a program that considers your metabolic body type.
Determine and remove foods you are allergic to.
Eat the right combination of acid/alkaline foods daily.
AK chiropractors determine what type of metabolic body type you are which reflects a particular balance of your dominant endocrinological system. This is demonstrated by your constitutional physical development, such as size and shape of your torso, rib angles, extremities (hands), body prominences. Emotional tendencies and food preferences are also important factors in dietary selection.
In AK research, there are four metabolic body type categories, separated by the dominant endocrine gland: pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and gonadal. By design we each have a dominant gland with the other three as secondary considerations.
There are predictable lifestyle health risks with each body type, as well as specific food intolerances and allergies, emotional and mental habits and weight gain patterns.
Once the patient’s metabolic body type is matched with the proper lifestyle recommendations, the imbalances can be corrected successfully. Then food allergies can be properly addressed, and the body’s acid/alkaline pH will fall into line, allowing amazing health changes to occur. Each metabolic body type has a basic diet and should be followed for life.
