What Is Your Body Type?

This might sound like shapes on a color recognition chart – in fact one of them represents your body type.

Forget euphemisms such as « pear-shaped » or « hour glass », these color-coded shapes are the expert classifications for the four basic forms the hu­man body takes.

Cer­tain body types do not metabolize food as well as others. The best way to delay aging depends on whether you are a « red oval », « green square » , « yellow rectangle » or « white circle ».

If you look at your body type and your skin type and you eat accordingly, you can age well with no intervention.

The principles apply equally to men, women and children. The one to envy is the yellow rectangle: they can eat all day but will never gain weight, have a long torso, lean legs, slum face and a skinny bone structure. Diet has a big impact on the aging process.

If your body gets off bal­ance it affects your entire metabolism. It affects your entire body functions and that can cause inflammatory conditions in certain parts of your body and maybe lead to chronic diseases.

If your body gets off bal­ance it affects your entire metabolism. It affects your entire body functions and that can cause inflammatory conditions in certain parts of your body and maybe lead to chronic diseases.

White circles are the big­gest of the four body types -usually round, prone to put­ting on weight easily, and with sluggish lymphatic sys­tems and metabolism. These body types often look puffier because they retain a lot of fluid – and they are naturally attracted to sugar. Their sister figure, the red oval, sweats and blushes easily and although their me­tabolism isn’t as slow as a white circle, they tend to overeat and overdrink.

Ovals and circles should replace coffee once or twice a day with ginseng, green or hawthorn flower tea, in­crease their consumption of potassium, garlic, celery and onion, never mix proteins and slow sugars in the same meal nor eat fruit, including toma­toes, with other food.

A typical breakfast should include rye bread and fresh berries, fresh salmon or chick­en with green vegetables for lunch, and white meat and vegetables for dinner.

Cheese is considered poison. To fight the aging process, the green squares and yellow rectangles should do at least five minutes of stretching, breathing exercises or yoga each day-and 20 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of muscle-building exercises three times a week.

They should eat whole­grain cereals or oatmeal for breakfast, berries an hour later, followed by a lunch of green salad, low-fat cheese, a small piece of chicken and some plain yoghurt.

Vegetable soup, pasta Napolitana, salmon or chicken, and lots of vegetables are recommended for dinner.

The green squares, how­ever, need more antioxidants than any other body type. Exfoliation and monthly microdermabrasion is good for green squares who are prone to stretch marks and benefit from blood stimulat­ing treatments· like collagen.

When it comes to skin care, although red ovals are predisposed to red­ness, they are unlikely to wrinkle and should avoid anti-wrinkle creams.

Yellow rectangles are best served by yoga, meditation, reading and massage, while white circles naturally have supple skin.