“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” Buddha

Voices ring in our ears every day. There are new sites, new fads, new articles, new findings. Your sister insists that fat will kill you, your boss tells you to stay away from carbs, you heard from a vegan that eating too much protein will put your body into ketosis and give you diseases – who do we listen to?

First and foremost, your most vital ally in navigating your nutritional needs is your own instinct. Something that is often sadly brushed aside the minute a new “study” is released that disagrees with your common sense. It may be true that certain kinds of mice are able to survive on an all-sugar diet and not gain any weight, but how exactly was that study carried out? How long was it running for? Is everything about the number of pounds on the scale – would those little mice develop diseases as they age? Is any of this even relevant to humans? Such an article will be read by Sally Blogger, and the words will be twisted a bit. Those twisted words are repeated, and repeated, until suddenly, some crackpot mumbo-jumbo about an all-sugar diet is in your favorite fitness magazine, causing you to actually consider something that is likely unhealthy, uncomfortable, and downright disgusting…sound familiar?

It is relentlessly tempting to want to try the new “best” thing, particularly when everything that you have tried thus far hasn’t worked for you. Maybe eating all meat will do it! Only fruit and vegetables! Cabbage soup and celery! Here’s a fact for you: approximately 95% of people who lose weight gain it back, often with more included, within 5 years.¹ Why is this? It’s unlikely that the diets magically stopped working. The problem is that, as humans of the current millennium, we have the desire for immediate results. Everywhere we turn, immediate satisfaction is at the tips of our fingers – food, fun, information, people, resources of every kind. According to speed specialists at Google and Microsoft, people are less likely to visit a site if it takes more than 250 milliseconds for a page to load – to put that in perspective, it takes approximately 400ms for us to blink!² We have become accustomed to a new way of living, one that is lavish to a staggering degree. Naturally, we are disappointed when our prehistorically-designed bodies can’t keep up with our minds.

After reading article after article, purporting the benefits of every type of diet, it becomes clear that two things work: exercise and calorie restriction. Period. What you eat and what you do, together, are what will make the difference to your weight and health. Yes, you can probably lose a lot of weight in a short period of time on a fad diet – but what are you training your body to do? Are you developing good habits that will last you a lifetime? Does your body feel nourished, healthy? In a desperate swat at having an “ideal” body, we easily forget that our actualideal body will come to us with regular exercise and healthy eating. That’s it. Regular exercise and healthy eating. We hear it every day. Over and over. To the point that we ignore it. Simply living healthfully is not enough – we want to look like fitness models now. We want to have a tiny waist, six pack abs, and a firm butt. We desire these aesthetic benefits of fitness that are not necessarily signifiers of health. Maybe a regular eating and exercise regime won’t cause an obvious change in two weeks. Maybe even two months. Maybe even six. However, if you keep at it, you will be healthier. Your body will become more efficient at burning fat and gaining muscle. You will improve your cardiovascular health, your mental health, and your energy. You will prevent diseases, muscle loss, mood swings…the list goes on. Your problem is not your body. Your problem is not your love handles, or  your cellulite, your skin, your stomach or your boobs. Your problem is your self-esteem. An extreme diet will only lower that, and that is the last thing that you need. So, follow your instincts. When you are feeling lethargic, go outside and do something. If you are feeling full, don’t stuff dessert down your throat. If you are having cravings, actually fulfill them with nutritious foods, like fruits and vegetables. Be a human being, be free, be active, eat real food. Health will follow. Self-confidence will follow. Listen to your instincts.

“Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be.” Alan Watts

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1. Freedman, M. R.; King, J.; and Kennedy, E. (2001). Popular Diets: A Scientific Review. Obesity Research 9 (Suppl. 1):1S-40S.

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/technology/impatient-web-users-flee-slow-loading-sites.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0