Moderation

Day 9 - 31 Day Challenge
(To read from the beginning, click here)

Food and Health (The way I understand it)

When most people think of eating a healthy diet, they think that means no more desserts or sweets ever again.  If I thought I could never eat chocolate or a doughnut ever again, I'm not sure I wouldn't start a secret stockpile to nibble on in moments of great (or minimal) stress.

Healthy eating should begin and end in moderation.  One cannot eat only vegetables, or sustain themselves only on juice for long periods of time.  I love meat of all sorts, but would miss a nice salad, if I was living on nothing but bacon and steaks.  Fruits, vegetables, nuts, meat, breads, milk - all have a part in our nutritional needs at some point in our lives.

Newborns are sustained solely on milk.  As we grow, we need more variety in our diets to nurture the growth that must take place. Can you imagine a teenage boy eating or drinking only milk? I don't know anyone who would think that was healthy.

These fad diets that encourage eliminating all protein or all carbohydrates or all fats are crazy.  Our bodies are made to be fueled by carbs AND fats so that proteins can strengthen us.  Vegetables and fruits are needed to provide nutrients to aid in growth and protect our immune systems.

I was getting my hair done one time and I heard some of the beauticians talking.  One of the girls was talking about how she had done two things to improve her health: 1) quit smoking (Yay!!) 2) started a juicing diet (Uh-oh).  She had gone the whole morning without smoking and cravings were not bad.  I hope she stuck to this one and managed to kick the cigarettes out of her life.

The juicing thing is a whole other story.  For the next month, she would only drink her meals.  All fruits and veggies would be squeezed into liquid form before being consumed.  Whoa! She wouldn't chew anything for 30 days? I do not know much about juicing, but this doesn't seem safe.  I welcome any polite input here from those who have done this.  I don't know if the diet this girl was using was one of her own inventions or a plan she was following from someone else.  These are the only details I know about what she was doing.

Moderation.  If you feel the need to live off liquids for a couple of days, fine.  Don't try to live that way as a lifestyle.  Juicing concentrates the nutrients of the fruits and veggies, but there are so many other vitamins and minerals our bodies need!  Did you know juicing removes the beneficial fiber from the food? Going without fiber for long periods of time will do an unpleasant number on your tummy and the rest of your digestive system.

The plan I will be following (starting tomorrow morning!) separates fats and carbs while greatly reducing processed sugar.  I still get to eat carbs and fats, just not in the same meal.  I can still have sweets and desserts, just not every meal.  Moderation.

The same can be said about alcohol.  I had seen reports that a glass of wine a day is good for you.  Moderation.  One glass does not mean one bottle a day.  If you're going to have more than one glass, don't have more than one glass every night of the week.  Moderation.

Exercise too.  Start out at a pace or distance that will challenge you, but not discourage you.   I made the mistake of thinking because I was able to manage a 9 mile bike ride that I could easily handle a 26 mile journey later the same week.  I could barely walk when I got off my bike.  I seriously looked around for someone to help me load my torture device bicycle onto the rack on the back of the car.  I was in pain.  I forgot moderation.  I needed to work my way up to 26 miles instead of jumping off the deep end of sanity.

Now that our camping trip is over and my mental and emotional health has been improved, I am ready to work my way to better health steadily improving in different areas over time.  Moderation.

Are you with me? Let's do this.