There is the grapefruit diet, the cookie diet, the cabbage soup diet, the no carb diet, the all carb diet. There are pills that claim to rev your metabolism to that of a 17-year-old. There are liquid concoctions that promise to Roto-Rooter your entire 22 feet of intestines in three days so not one chocolate chip cookie, of the twelve you ate, can reside there and cause you grief. What causes us to seek extreme measures? Most likely, it’s all the promises of rapid weight loss. I mean, who is going to purchase a diet book on how to lose 12 pounds in a year? Perhaps, in a slower paced culture, a monthly loss of 1 pound of body fat would seem like a great goal. But for us living in this culture at this time…it’s not quick enough. On the television show, The Biggest Loser, contestants have 12-pound weight losses each week!**** We have expectations of instant reward. And so we seek to find the quick fix. And we are driven to extremes even when they compromise our total health.
I read an interview recently with a former contestant from The Biggest Loser. She had lost over 100 pounds while filming the show. When asked about her daily routine while on the show, she talked of days filled with hardcore exercise – to the point of getting up in the middle of the night to exercise on the elliptical machine while others were sleeping. She continued that extreme behavior at home, after the filming was over, and is now compelled to spend 4 hours a day at the gym. Somewhere in her efforts to achieve a healthy lifestyle of proper nutrition and exercise, she stepped over the line into extreme living which has thrown her life out of balance.
Equally extreme and out-of-balance is the opposite compulsion... “I’m not going to exercise at all. I don’t have time. I have more important things to do…”
In our rapidly progressive world of instant everything, it requires purposeful choices to step back and look for balance. I often see tendencies in myself toward extremes – whether it be working too many hours, expecting perfection in my world, looking at the negatives instead of the positives…. And through the years, I’ve looked for my own quick fixes that have never delivered any long term benefits.
What I’m learning in this midlife season is that if we truly want to seek total health in all areas of our lives – body, soul, spirit – then we must do some self-examination and kill the extremes that distract us. As important as it is to exercise our bodies, it is also vital to our health that we exercise the fruits and gifts of the Spirit. As important as it is to feed our soul and spirit with the Word of God, it is also important to take care of the temple – our physical body – that houses the soul and spirit.
I encourage you to spend some time in prayer and reflection as we examine our lives for extremes. And then let’s prayerfully commit to eliminate them in favor of balanced, total health.
In the next post, I will talk about my own struggle with finding balance in the area of physical exercise. I will share my current exercise regimen with lots of ideas and tips for women in my age group to create a healthy plan.
Be Blessed!
Cheryl
****Most early, large weight losses during extreme dieting are the result of fluid loss due to a sudden decrease in refined carbohydrates. One gram of carbohydrate holds on to 3 grams of water.
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