Perception versus Reality

I spend a lot of time thinking (and getting frustrated) about the many perceptions that society tells us are healthy and attractive. Standing in line at the grocery store alone bombards us with fitness magazines showing a front cover image of a man or woman with 6-pack abs. I also recently read something about how the big thing for young girls is for your thighs not to touch. (Say what?!?! I can't remember my thighs ever NOT touching!) Key point here: Things like this are terrible determining factors for health! 
Let's take the 6-pack abs. This is truly not natural for the vast majority of people, especially women. For many people to get there, they have to have some very specific things going on with their diet, their exercise and sometimes even have pharmaceutical help. To achieve anything unnatural in nature becomes very complex. 

However, avoiding obesity, diabetes, and disease is very natural. Our genes and our bodies seek homeostasis. This can be seen in every generation that has ever lived, up until approximately the last 50 years. Since the 1950s, the number of people with diabetes in the US has skyrocketed 500%; and we have gone from approximately 13% of obese adults to around 35%, just since the 1960s. This tells me that this slimmer, healthier state has to be simple; it is what everybody just did, and what our bodies innately desire! It does not become complicated until we start viewing things that are unnatural as natural (ie: 6 pack abs) and when we continue to try to live in an artificial world. 
Since the dawn of time, people managed to avoid these issues without things like prescriptions, dieting and gimmicks. If it truly was hard, we would have become extinct! The question we may need to ask is why did it become complex? This is a perfect example of the difference between simple and easy. We all know how to not get lung cancer, just don't smoke. Simple. But quitting smoking? This is not easy! I know this from first-hand experience.
I once heard a blogger named Jonathan Bailor say that: the real issue is that it is hard in our modern world to see the simplicity that lies at the heart of health. Take the world around us, which tells us "everything in moderation." But where do we draw the line? I am more inclined to agree with Oscar Wilde on this moderation subject:

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess."

What I like to talk about and what we teach at Eupraxia is the smartest and safest way to obtain overall health. I have said it before, and I will say it again. You do not have to be perfect to be healthy! Start with some simple shifts, empower yourself with knowledge and get your body moving! 
It makes me so sad to see someone making healthy choices in the kitchen, and getting fit and strong from their workouts, then being disappointed with results because they are comparing themselves to a fitness model, or because they are dwelling on that extra 10-20 pounds or 2% points of body fat. If this is your situation then congratulations, you have already succeeded!
If you live a smart and healthy lifestyle, you are going to have more muscle than any BMI chart or desirable weight graph can tell you, and it would be in your best interest just to throw those away. They are irrelevant to the lifestyle I advocate, the lifestyle we teach at Eupraxia, and letting someone tell you what your "correct weight" is can do more damage to your health than good. Who decides what an appropriate weight is? If you want to use a measure, go by your pants size, your energy level, and whether or not you can keep up with your kids or grand-kids. Don't focus on that last 10 pounds! Don't work so hard to be healthy, fit and strong only to be discouraged by the extra weight you think you have to loose! 
Please comment or Facebook me anytime. Until then dear readers, stay healthy!
~Lindsay