Slim But Sickly!

The common idea is that any kind of slim is healthy. So most people keep slim or workout hard to be slim. But slim per se is not always healthy. Nor is it fit. Some guys look fat but they're actually healthy, even if you checked their blood chem and other health tests. This is not to say that fat is healthy, though. I'm just saying that health is not in the eye of the beholder. It's in the medical examination results.

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash.

And most times, being slim can mean a lot of health woes disguised in a seemingly innocent body. It can mean malnutrition, a hidden illness, TB, obesophobia or pocrescophobia which makes you overfast, or worst of all, visceral fat--fat that cannot be seen on the surface but lodges deep in the body, usually around organs which makes it so dangerous.

Slim But Fat

You can be slim but fat--fat on the inside. It's much worse if you have a slim upper body but protruding tummy. It can mean insulin resistance that results to the storage of fats in the tummy because the body is unable to burn them. This is especially so if you eat more carbs and sugars than protein and fibers. I've seen lots of people avoid eating meat and animal fat and replace that with noodles and pasta, and replace rice with bread, not knowing this will just make matters worse.

You have to get a lean, muscular body to get rid of body fat and manage your weight, and you need protein rich foods to get a lean, muscular body. A slim, unsculpted body deprived of protein is not healthy. It's as bad as being overweight and getting an out-of-control bulging tummy. Thus, dieting and aerobics alone (running, jogging, dancing, or what-have-you) won't do the trick---it will not make you healthy, fit or burn visceral fats. 

What you need, aside from protein and fiber-rich diet and aerobics, is weight training to shape up your body and put on lean muscles. Among good weight training or resistance training are barbells, push-ups, pull-ups, and squats. I consider bending bar as a good resistance training, especially if you bend and release the bar slowly to challenge the muscles. 

Skinny

Skinny is the last thing in our minds. We don't want that. Skinny can be nothing more than extreme malnutrition. What we want is lean, muscular body for men and lean body with toned muscles for women. If you starve yourself for weeks, eating an extreme minimum and abusing yourself with vices and an unhealthy lifestyle, you'd look like soldiers in concentration camps during Word War II. They were reduced to skin and bones, and that was due to malnutrition. You'd lose lots of body fats that way, but weight loss is not our only goal. We want to lose weight the healthy way.

Slim But Sickly

Slim but sickly--nobody wants that. But with wrong concepts and practices about weight loss and weight management, you're likely to end up slim but sickly. This body condition simply means your body lacks sufficient nutrition, especially the micro nutrients, aside from lacking proper exercise and eating habits. 

The number one micro nutrient you need is Vitamin C. If you lack this, you become sickly, whether you are slim, fat or muscular. Vitamin C supplements are good but natural is what I prefer. Eat more Vitamin C rich foods and opt for fresh sour fruits like strawberries, kalamansi, lemon, guyabano, guava, and mangosteen, to name a few. Banana is a very good source, but opt for the less ripe variety. Trying some supplements over the counter is not a bad idea, but seek your doctor's approval first. 

Remember, lack of exercise also makes you sickly, not just Vitamin C lack. It's so easy to catch colds and the flu if you lack both weights and aerobics exercises. In short, if your muscles, circulatory system and lungs and heart are not challenged on a regular basis. Going for early morning brisk walks is so good to strengthen the immune system, especially if you do it in wooded areas for fresh air or along the seashore for more negative ions. 

Do breathing exercises right after a thunderstorm. Plenty of negative ions.

Others Offer Weight Loss Alone

A lot of weight loss supps claim to give you health once you lose weight their way. They assume that losing weight automatically means good health. A lot of weight loss supplements are purgative, leaving you with less good bacteria or probiotics in your digestive system, particularly in your colon, and that's really bad! It makes you very susceptible to diseases, even deadly diseases like colon cancer. No kidding. Look it up yourself on Google.

Besides, purgative supplements dehydrate you and make you look dry, wrinkled, and aged like raisins. Only wine looks good being aged. And they punish you a lot, making weight loss a pain in the neck. Imagine making you skip meals or making you say good bye to your favorite dessert all the days of your good life on earth. Worse, making you take meal substitutes. A lot of meal substitutes are full of carbs and sugar. Dieting folks like eating oatmeal with fruits because "experts" say they're good for losing weight. They add that oatmeal is good as a meal replacement. 

Well, make sure your oatmeal is the kind you have to cook, with the grains and fibers all intact. Don't opt for instant oatmeal which has almost zero fibers and nutrition, leaving you with nothing but more carbs. And if you have to put in some fruit, choose strawberry or other berries. You may also use banana as topping but choose that not-so-ripe banana.

Pu Er Tea and Probiotics

Pu Er tea and probiotics, along with the green tea, are proven effective health and weight loss supplements for ages, used by early folks in their regular diets so that they live long on earth, often to a hundred years. They are also powerful immune boosters. By the way, genuine Pu Er tea is hard to come by now a days, says tea experts. If you try to look for it yourself you might end up with fake ones--costly but with zero effect.

I take ginger tea with green tea now and then for fat burning, detox, and immune boosting. Sometimes, I mix in some turmeric, but don't take turmeric regularly, especially if you're taking blood thinning medications. Ginger and green tea are harmless, but do consult your medical doctor first. 

Sodium Ascorbate Fat Burning Remedy

Sodium ascorbate is non-acidic Vitamin C. It helps metabolize more fat, especially around the waist, while it toughens your resistance against ailments, fights weakness often associated with weight loss, and ups your immune system so you can keep up with your weight loss without getting sick. Wrong weight loss often ends you up getting sick. 

So there you have it--easy ways to slim down without being sickly, and without getting fat on the inside while looking slim on the outside. 

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