Health Over Appearance

I recently saw a poster that said “Food doesn’t taste as good as skinny feels!” My initial thought was “Who would live by this ridiculous concept?”  I was appalled by the thought of women actually seeing this message and living by it.  Imagine a young girl reading this and then her whole view of eating and body image is destroyed.  To me this is promoting an obstructed idea of what skinny looks and feels like compared to actually leading a healthy lifestyle.

Being healthy and being skinny are two completely different things.  Restricting yourself from eating because you are afraid of it making you look bigger is not the mindset to have.  Focusing on fueling your body and getting moving should be more important than how you look in the mirror.  By changing to a healthy lifestyle and the  right food intake, you will see that change in appearance.  By doing so this way it will be a change that not only makes you look better but it will make you FEEL better.  Less stress and more happiness will be a result of treating your body right.

A healthy lifestyle is not just about how you look in the reflection of the mirror, but it is how you change your view of yourself and making that change so that you can live longer and complete different tasks with better ease.  Making the change to better yourself is also the process of learning to love yourself.  I believe this is one of the reasons that specific poster was made, there is not enough self love in the world.  How are we supposed to love others if we do not know how to love ourselves?

Restricting food intake is not the best way to get results.  It weakens the body and immune system, increases fatigue and stress and leads to the obsession over being skinny.  You are literally diminishing your body from the nutrients it needs in order to work properly.  Instead of not eating, incorporate more fruits and vegetables in your diet and eat six smalls meals throughout the day to keep up your metabolism.  Also if your new to getting into shape start off with thirty minutes of walking everyday.  You will see a new found energy in just a few weeks of continuous healthy choices.  (And if you want to eat that burger or cookie or whatever, then do it! It is not going to alter your healthy lifestyle routine.)

Looking good will never make you feel as well as living a healthy life will.

Megan