There are numerous schools of thought that suggest that “dominant” glands will effect our body shape. These ideas are promoted by some fitness trainers and diet gurus. The four glands that are most commonly talked about are:

• pituitary (generalized thickening)
• thyroid (narrow/streamlined)
• adrenals (large upper body/small pelvis)
• gonads or ovaries (pear shaped with large hips and pelvis)

Along with these theories are numerous diet recommendations that will supposedly help people to reshape their body.

What I find interesting is how varied the diet recommendations are from the different proponents of these theories. A “dominant” pituitary gland in one person would still produce the same hormones as those in another person, so why the different recommendations?

AND, the other thing I find fascinating is why men are excluded by many of these theories. Men have body shapes and glands so why is all this marketed to women?

Like a lot of faddish solutions, there may be a glimmer of truth behind this sort of thing (they are somewhere in the ballpark). Even though body shape can tell us a lot about a person’s overall health, the “eat for your body shape” fad has drawn the wrong conclusions.

For example - and this is just one of many - a woman who has Polycystic Ovarian Disease will often times have a pear shaped body, but this isn’t caused by a “dominant” gland. It’s caused by an unbalanced gland that’s either producing too much or too little of the necessary hormones.

And, I suspect that this is the case with all of these theories and all of these glands. They aren’t “dominant.” They’re unbalanced from poor nutrition in the first place! AND, unbalanced glands can have a multitude of effects on the body, including body shape. But I’m not so sure the solutions being promoted by fitness people are accurate or healthy.

What a person needs to do more than “eat for their body shape” is to be sure they’re getting the proper amounts of all the essential nutrients - mainly the essential fatty acids. It’s also wise to eat whole foods (instead of processed foods), fruits and vegetables (instead of high glycemic carbohydrates), drink more water and EXERCISE regularly.

Sometimes I think it’s human nature to make things more difficult than they really need to be. The whole “eat for your body shape” movement is one of these examples. Whether a person is A shaped, V shaped or O shaped makes no difference when they’re exercising and following basic, simple and sound nutritional principals.

After all, no one was meant to eat ice cream and chips, white bread and lattes, sit in traffic, at their desk or on the couch everyday for their entire life. These habits have more of an effect on our body shape than anything else.