Posted on: March 16, 2007
The Skinny on Being Thin
Big or small, bad health can plague any body type. So don’t be so smug if you’re slight, here’s what you need to know about staying lean right.
By Lisa Bertagnoli
CTW Features
They are objects of envy, those people who breakfast on donuts and dine on french fries, limit their exercise to typing, yet don’t seem to gain an ounce.
Ah, but those barely there looks deceive.
“Weight is not always a good predictor of health,” says David Grotto, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association and director of nutrition at The Block Center, a cancer-care center in Chicago. To start, a person whose weight falls within the “ideal” range might well be carrying around too much fat and not enough lean tissue.
As for those donuts and french fries, “time catches up with people” in the form of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other ailments, Grotto says.
The message from experts is clear: While thin people might be able to get away with eating junk food and avoiding exercise, they shouldn’t. Exercise and a healthful diet – the two major components of well-being – provide the same benefits for thin people as they do for any other segment of the population.
To start, physical activity helps build and maintain muscle mass, decreases risk for injury, lowers “bad” and raises “good” cholesterol, and works like insulin to help prevent diabetes, a growing epidemic in the United States.
“Exercise tunes your body,” Cotton says. “It’s the tune-up that prevents generative diseases.”
Low energy; chronic constipation; the inability to climb stairs, lift a gallon of milk or perform other easy exercises without huffing and puffing; difficulty sleeping and even chronic irritation should all serve as signs to thin people that a tune-up is in order, Grotto says. But thin people, especially women, often have issues when it comes to working out, says Mike Divello, director of personal training for Bally Total Fitness, a health club chain.
“Many times women are concerned because they don’t want to look bulky,” Divello says. That shouldn’t be a concern because most women don’t produce enough testosterone to bulk up like a man, Divello explains.
Women who do sport bulky muscles, for example, tennis star Serena Williams, look that way thanks to a rigorous training schedule.
On the contrary, women (and men) should strive to build lean tissue because lean muscle means a higher resting metabolic rate. In other words, the more muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn, even when you’re sitting in front of the TV.
Divello points out that muscular strength is only one component of a well-rounded exercise program. Improving cardiovascular endurance is another. To do so, you need to exercise (run, jog, walk, swim) hard enough to raise your heart rate to within 55 percent to 90 percent of its maximum. To calculate that maximum, subtract your age from 220. Such activity should take place three to five times a week.
So should strength training, beginning with weights light enough to lift eight to 12 times. Let muscle groups rest for 48 hours between workouts, Divello says. As for flexibility, stretch three to five times a week when muscles are warm, not cold, and hold each stretch for 10 to 30 seconds. Hold each stretch – don’t bounce.
As for a healthful diet, well, carrots and broccoli probably look a little lame to a person who can scarf french fries with no ill effects. As tasty as a french fry-and-donut diet may be, it lacks the nutrients of a diet based on whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and healthful fats such as are found in nuts and nut oils, fish and olive oils, Grotto says. Such a diet contains vitamins and minerals as well as phytochemicals, anti-inflammatory and cancer-fighting substances found in brightly colored plant foods.
“Eat like a rainbow,” advises Grotto (and the multi-colored sprinklings on iced donuts do not count). Red peppers, bananas, broccoli, red cabbage – the brighter and deeper the color, the more nutritious the food. White counts as a color, too, so load up on onions, garlic and cauliflower.
Stay hydrated, Grotto advises. “There’s no substitute for good, clean water,” he says. Sleep enough: Research shows that people who don’t sleep enough are at a higher risk of death than those who do, Grotto says.
