On Living Healthy. And Keeping My Sanity.

It's age, I guess.  Maturity.

The older (more mature) I get, the more focused I have become on living healthier.  There are an infinite number of ways I can improve the way I treat my body...the foods I eat, the environment I expose it to, the exercise I get, etc.

And by infinite I mean an OVERWHELMING number of ways I should be living healthier.

Big.  Fat.  Sigh.

The list of things to not do or eat is long.  And the more research I do, the longer the list gets.   And it makes my brain hurt.  It is my responsibility to take care of my body the best I can.  But where do I draw the line on obsessive behavior regarding being healthy?

That sort of sounds absurd.  Like, "Can a person be too concerned about health?"

I believe the answer is yes. 


Back in October I attended the True Woman Conference.  One of the speakers was Bob Lepine.  His subject was 'Food, Beauty and Control' and I learned so many things from his wisdom.  Here's one thing I took away:

• Wise, healthy eating and living is good stewardship.  But there can come a point when the obsession with health can become 'unhealthy'.  An idol even.

Yikes!  I had never really considered that.  But looking back on some of my obsessive behaviors (about health), I can totally see it.  When I get focused on a certain subject, I spend lots of time researching (too much sometimes).  I get overwhelmed with the informatation overload and my PP (procrastination/perfectionism) brain shuts down.
The feeling that if I'm going to do it, I must do it completely and perfectly takes over.  And the misconception that if I don't, I'm a failure.

It is not possible to do everything the healthy way.  There are too many variables.  Too many conflicting opinions about what is healthy and what isn't.  If we look hard enough, we can find discouraging information about every 'healthy' subject out there.  Too much of this, too little of that and we're screwed basically.  I appreciate the information available, but it can be too much of a good thing.

Here's my point:
I will continue to aim for healthier living, because it IS my responsibility to take care of my body.  And I will strive to not become obsessive about health. 

Because the fact of the matter is this...
God is always in control.  Even if I screw everything up, he can turn it all around.  (This is NOT a free pass to behave irresponsibly!)