Health Habits

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Posts Tagged ‘attractiveness’

What does Healthy Look Like?

November 19th, 2009

According to research out of the UK, the color of a person’s skin affects how healthy and therefore how attractive they appear.

And since the color of a person’s skin is directly influenced by the quality of their diet, the researchers concluded that your diet may be crucial to achieving the most desirable complexion and therefore maximizing your attractiveness.

So, it’s true…you are what you eat.

Or, in this case, you’re as attractive as you eat.

Note - Researchers were looking exclusively at Caucasian test subjects. The research was not concerned with racially differentiated skin colors.

The Study

Using specialist computer software, a total of 54 Caucasian participants of both sexes were asked to manipulate the skin color of male and female Caucasian faces to make them look as healthy as possible. They chose to increase the rosiness, yellowness and brightness of the skin.

“Most previous work on faces has focused on the shape of the face or the texture of the skin, but one of the most variable characteristics of the face is skin color,” said Dr. Ian Stephen who is now at the University of Bristol.

“We knew from our previous work that people who have more blood and more oxygen color in their skins looked healthy, and so we decided to see what other colors affect health perceptions.

Skin that is slightly flushed with blood and full of oxygen suggests a strong heart and lungs, supporting the study’s findings that rosier skin appeared healthy. Smokers and people with diabetes or heart disease have fewer blood vessels in their skin, and so skin would appear less rosy.

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The preference for more golden or ‘yellow-toned’ skin as healthier might be explained by the ‘carotenoid pigments’ that we get from the fruit and vegetables in our diet. These plant pigments are powerful antioxidants that soak up dangerous compounds produced when the body combats disease. They are also important for our immune and reproductive systems and may help prevent cancer.

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They are the same dietary pigments that brightly colored birds and fish use to show off their healthiness and attract mates, and the researchers think that similar biological mechanisms may be at work in humans.

“In the West we often think that sun tanning is the best way to improve the color of your skin,” said Ian Stephen, “but our research suggests that living a healthy lifestyle with a good diet might actually be better.”

Melanin, the pigment that causes the tan color when skin is exposed to the sun makes the skin darker and more yellow, but participants in the study chose to make skin lighter and more yellow to make it look healthier.

Conclusion

Beauty = Health

And until all of us start carrying our health records around with us, we will have to rely on our ancient “lizard brains” to determine if another person looks healthy and therefore attractive.

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Physical Attraction, Sexiness and Health…The Female Edition

December 22nd, 2008

Karolina Kurkova

What makes a woman sexy?

According to Wikipedia, physical attractiveness is the perception of the physical traits of an individual human person as pleasing or beautiful. It can include various implications, such as sexual attractiveness and physique and blah, blah, blah, blah and blah.

Who would have thought that a discussion of what makes a woman sexy could be this boring? But wait, it gets better.

Judgment of attractiveness of physical traits is:

partly universal to all human cultures
partly dependent on culture or society or time period, and
partly a matter of individual subjective preference

So, what part is universal to all human cultures?

That’s what we’re really talking about.

Personally, I couldn’t care less about your “individual subjective preferences” I know a guy with a serious thing about feet.

But somehow, I don’t think most people are going nuts about Karolina Kurkova’s little piggies….but then again

And, in regards to culture, society and time period: like it or not, American/Western culture has spread all around the globe. Individual languages and cultures are being swallowed up each and every day. The same probably holds true for our global definition of sexiness.

So, I ask again, what makes a woman sexy?

According to the sexperts:

It all comes down to makin’ babies. Somewhere deep in our ancient, lizard brains, there is a blueprint for the ultimate Baby Mama.

And that blueprint includes:

Facial Symmetry – a marker of good health
Full lips – a marker of youth
Waist to Hip Ratio – more good health
Upper Arm Circumference – granny arms do not qualify as sexy
Body Mass proportion – another marker of good health
Smooth Skin – youth & health
Clear Eyes – youth & health
Lustrous Hair – youth & health
Muscle Tone – youth & health
Breast Size – there are a whole hosts of theories on this one
Erect Posture – another health marker
Height – men prefer women shorter than themselves…must be an ego thing

2008 World’s Sexiest Women

(according to E!)

1. Karolina Kurkova

Waist to Hip Ratio -

2. Bar Rafaeli

Erect Posture -

3. Angelina Jolie

Facial Symmetry -

4. Gisele Bundchen

Clear Eyes -

5. Scarlett Johansson

Breast size -

6. Adriana Lima

Full Lips -

7. Heidi Klum

Muscle Tone -

8. Penelope Cruz

Smooth Skin -

9. Manuela Arcuri

Body Mass proportion -

10. Shakira

Lustrous Hair -

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And what does all of this have to do with health & fitness?

Glad you asked

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When it comes to physical attractiveness, none of these women are relying on just one of characteristics listed above. They pretty much won the genetic lottery as it applies to physical beauty.

But, like all of us, they will get older.

And since so much of beauty is tied to the appearance of youth and health, unless they work at it, their beauty will fade.

And what about us mere mortals?

We all weren’t born to be fashion models or sex symbols.

True, but you can all take advantage of the new research being done to keep us looking better, feeling better and living longer than ever before.

And in the next few posts, I will outline some of that research and show you how you can incorporate it into your lifestyle.

Stay tuned.

(and ladies…I will be doing a Male Edition)

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