November 1998

Body Type Dieting and Exercise

We all know people (if we’re not one ourselves) who have dieted and exercised for years , only to see little change on the scale. Common sense tells us that not all diets are good for everyone, and if you’ve been reading my past newsletters, you know that not all exercise is good for every body all the time. The good news is I have just studied with Dr. Carolyn Mein. I was partly drawn to her work because her book, Different Bodies, Different Diets, has been endorsed by Dr. David Hawkins, M.D., a veritable genius who pioneered the field of nutrition with two-time Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling. Dr. Hawkins also endorsed my book, Healing Depression: A Guide to Making Intelligent Choices about Treating Depression (Sante Fe, N.M.: Heartsfire Books, 1997), so I knew there must be something special about her work. Drawing upon 20 years of experience in chiropractic, acupuncture, clinical nutrition, bio-nutrition and applied kinesiology, Dr. Mein has devised a system of 25 body types, each named by the dominant gland. For each type, she recommends foods to eat when healthy, as well as programs to follow to lose or gain weight, including recommended types and time of exercise.

In the field of nutrition, one of the most important concepts is biochemical individuality. For example, if you are a Gallbladder type, you may gain weight if your fat intake falls below 30 percent of your total diet. Medulla types bulk up with conventional exercise – unless they work out for three hours a day. Others who consume typical diet fare like raw veggies and cottage cheese find the weight coming off their upper body but slowly accumulating around the hips and thighs. Thyroid types gain if they eat fruit two times a day or more. You can discover your type based on the actual shape of your body, especially where you tend to gain weight. All clients with specific health challenges can ask me for a referral to a trained nutritionist.

How Does Body Typing Work?

Since your body type is something that you are born with, it has a “blueprint” for how you gain weight and what you must do to take it off. Most people can stay on conventional diets only a week or so before their body chemistry begins to rebel. Dr. Mein’s thesis is that food your body is not able to digest or metabolize well ends up stored as fat. Pancreas types, for example, tend to store their fat in flabby arms, while other types who are challenged by carbohydrate metabolism tend to develop big bellies. By knowing your body type, you can improve your appetite, or help curb the tendency to eat certain foods at times when they are not supportive.

 Dr. Mein says there are five body types that must exercise regularly, even if weight loss is not a priority - Adrenal types, Lymph types, Nervous System, Eye, and Thymus types. Understanding ourselves on this purely physical level can give us tremendous insights into other aspect of our lives. For example, Walter Rush and I are both Lymph body types – we need a minimum of one hour of exercise every other day to meet our need for constant mental and physical stimulation. No wonder we work as personal fitness trainers! Of course, studies show that the most effective way to lose weight and to keep it off is by eating right and exercising. But do you know when the best time for you to exercise? Many types do best in the morning to get their sluggish metabolisms fired up for the day – especially Pancreas and Spleen types.

While weight training builds the lean muscle mass on which 75 percent of our metabolim is based, some types, such as the Skin body type, may see very little muscle definition no matter how hard they train due to their body chemistry. Others get best results with yoga or Tai Chi.

TV, Traveling, and Seminars

I just returned from New Mexico, where I was taped for four segments of Creative Living, a national PBS show broadcast in the U.S., South Africa, and China. As many of you know, I am a national fitness spokesperson for Johnson and Johnson, so I talked about exercise for people with diabetes, nutrition to regulate blood sugar levels and control food cravings, yoga to heal back aches, as well as my book, Healing Depression. I will let you know when the shows will air over the next 12 months.

In November, I go to Ventura, California, to teach another seminar on my book – the same one I have taught in New York, Denver, Salt Lake, and Atlanta. For more information about personal training, Brain Gym, Touch for Health, Shaklee nutrition, Acumen heart rate monitors, yoga classes, or how you can become healthier and happier with Total Fitness, call Catherine Carrigan, A.C.E. trainer, 770-590-7282 or 770-365-9615, email Daylilly@aol.com, or check out http://totalfitness.net.

 For further information about how you can benefit from body type dieting, Acumen heart rate monitors, Shaklee nutrition, Brain Gym, Touch for Health, yoga, or personal fitness training, feel free to contact me.

Web page: www.totalfitness.net