The struggle for “weight loss” and “fitness” goals is often really just a struggle for body image approval and self-love in my opinion. One only needs to take a look around social media and see the endless self-portraits of “progress” photos and selfie’s to see that far too many people feel inclined to show off weight loss and lean bodies as an indicator of health.
While some of us may be able to see through this and recognise the true motivating factor in the over-glorification of the “documentary of getting lean”, there are way MORE people who are unknowingly being misled about the true state of what is is to be FIT and HEALTHY.
For the general public it can be hard to grasp onto reality as athlete’s and ‘role model’s’ claim to have perfect lives and eat organic and are happy 24/7. When people look up to someone who is lean and claiming to be happy all the time they then instantly connect that to be happy and healthy you need to have abs and be lean which is so mis-leading.
Many of the misled are young women and women who are already struggling with depression or body image issues as they are witnessing this mainstream distortion between body image, beauty and true inner health. They are then inclined to follow in their “idols” footsteps in then obsessing over food, diet, and body image without gaining inner peace and self acceptance and truly understanding their own personal ‘WHY’. This is a large scale health tragedy unfolding for our youth and for those that are not strong enough to see through the images and claims of perfection.
They are unaware that beauty and fitness is generated from the inside out, in order to love and nurture your body in any shape or form you need self acceptance and love. Your health should not be dictated by the way you look, your health is based on your lifestyle, your mindset, your belief system and your ability to accept yourself for who you are. You should not be aiming to deprive yourself to look a certain way or lose persecutive of what reality actually is, you should be striving for all over health and wellbeing meaning nurturing your 4 bodies- emotional, spiritual, mental and physical.
The fact is, when we women learn to completely love and accept ourselves in any physical condition or season of life, our motivation to create change will manifest itself from a much healthier place. We are then able to set health goals according to what our bodies and spirits actually NEED rather than falling prey to what our flesh tells us we WANT.
When are you going to stop admiring people who glorify extreme dieting? Dieting is NOT sexy or healthy! Yes it takes a lot of willpower to get super lean and ripped but is this admirable when you don’t know the true underlying motivation of every individual? What is willpower if willpower can actually set you up for a very unhealthy relationship with food and ‘normal living’. When you ‘diet’ you are actually engaging in self- deprivation, denying yourself of your body’s NATURAL cravings and needs. The cravings are there as signals. And it’s the “signalling” that needs to be addressed by examining your lifestyle and approach to diet and nutrition.
You see, hunger is so much more than a physical feeling. It’s a highly emotional and even social cue from your body that you simply can not just “master” without acknowledging it’s divine intelligence. So these people that you may be admiring for submitting themselves to this relentless cycle of dieting could very well be modelling a very dysfunctional and disconnected relationship with food. They are setting themselves up for the ultimate “diet deprivation backlash” and you can bet they WON’T be glorifying that all over social media when it happens.
Stop thinking that you need to follow a diet or have abs to be happy. You can wish and compare all you want, that will get you all of nowhere and could set you up for a very unhealthy journey! Don’t take a lot of what you see and read as hearsay, a lot of it is just there for self gratification and not to help the general public. Trust a few and do your own thing, believe what you need to to be YOUR best and to nurture your spirit! Eat real real food to nourish your body, stop counting calories and obsessing over food, dieting and the scales. The reflection you see looking back at you is a reflection of what you think of yourself not what you put in your mouth!
Juz xx