Nutrition Facts and Health Blog

While attaining the perfect figure and retaining a slender frame was the ‘in’ thing, today ‘size zero’ has gained prominence. Not just young women, but also young adolescents are cutting down on junk and trying to be anorexic only to attain size zero. The media encourages this and if this trend continues, by the end of a decade, a curvaceous figure will be the exaggeration of a poet, which will adorn the pages of a novel!

While aiming for a slender frame is acceptable, aiming for ‘size zero’ can be detrimental to health. The human body needs fats for stamina to perform strenuous work; it also needs minerals, carbohydrates, vitamins, starch, proteins for cell growth etc. Cutting down on food to maintain a thin frame amounts to cutting down on growth.

The fact is that models and women in tinsel world exercise and follow a correct diet pattern. What the layman gets to see is a figure whose flaws are well camouflaged. A model may work hard to shed weight for a particular role, but the moment the assignment goes on air, she would go back to her usual diet. However, her fans will languish with the idea of aiming for an anorexic figure.

Teenagers are known to get depressed and even suffer from clinical depression when their natural disposition is to gain weight. Every age, especially the growing years need proper nutrition. Despite regaining lost weight, the onus of a sick body remains to haunt a woman during her reproductive age. Infertility in women, the inability to retain the fetus, menstrual problems, lack of stamina, thinning of bones, hair-fall, sagging of facial muscles etc all have a bearing on ones diet during the growing years. While most women may long for size zero, not all will also want stunted growth. Women also want a striking height. But if size zero is the aim, then young women will have to compromise on their overall growth, especially on their height.

What Men Want

Now, if you ask the opposite gender for whom women take great pains to look great, then no man wants to date a woman sans her curves. Men enjoy a woman for her beautiful body, her curvaceous frame and her softness. Sans these, a woman is akin to a man. Of course not all women are well-endowed. But, creating a curvaceous figure is easy and worth all the effort. At the end of the day, a man would want to feel softness and relax on a woman’s ample lap or bosom.

Baby Comfort
As a mother a woman’s figure was also meant to protect a baby and nourish a fetus. No baby would feel comfortable being cradled in bony arms that poke the soft baby skin.
The onus of throwing light on fitness instead of body-image alone rests with parents and teachers. Shifting focus from looks to manners or gentleness should be the keyword. A woman who loves her curves builds a good personality and oozes with confidence. Oprah Winfrey is a plus size woman who is far more appealing and famous than any model with a size zero body!

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This guest article has been contributed by:-
As an avid blogger and fitness enthusiast Sandra Wade likes to share her views on fitness, diet pills like proactol and the effects it can have on your body.

Doctors use several equations to calculate how many calories a person should eat each day to maintain a stable weight. The most precise ones include height, weight, age, sex, activity level, and stressors like an injury or disease. The simplest way to estimate your daily target for calories is to multiply your weights in pounds by :-

* 12 if you are sedentary (little or no exercise)
* 13.5 if you are somewhat active (light exercise one to three days a week)
* 15.5 if you are moderately active (moderate exercise like brisk walking – you break into sweat – three to five days a week)
* 17 if you are highly active (vigorous exercise or sports six to seven days a week)
* 19 if you are highly active (daily vigorous exercise or sports and a physical job)

For example, a somewhat active person who weighs 45 pounds (66 Kg) needs about 1950 calories a day (145 times 13.5) to keep a steady weight.

To lose weight, start by reducing your intake by 250 calories per day. That’s one can of cola and two butter cookies, or 50 gms of potato chips. If you keep that up for a year, you could shed 20 pounds. Add in more exercise, and you could make it 30 pounds.