Previous to Monday, I have most certainly been off track. Fortunately, one of my current jobs is as a dance teacher, so I can't afford not to exercise. However, my eating habits were horrendous!
It all started with a box of softees... You know, the Entemann's donuts? Someone gave me a box of those suckers last Wednesday... Now, even though I live with other people, who I know snacked on the donuts, there is still no excuse for the amount I ate.
One morning, in a rush, my entire breakfast consisted of a doughnut and a chug of soy milk.
Poor body.
I know she's mad at me. In fact, I have often wondered, if my body could speak, what would it say?
in regards to last week, I imagine it would go like this:
"What the hell is this? Another doughnut!!! What am I supposed to do with that Leslie? I am still trying to work out the last one you forced down my throat. Are you trying to kill us? I'm not particularly in the mood to die today. And where's the water? I am so thirsty that I should just shut down on your behind. Ungrateful heifer. Here I am, doing the best that I can to carry your heavy self around, AND keep you doing what you do. What thanks do I get? A doughnut. Some H2O would have been nice. Maybe some spinach... but no... you want to start the day off with a doughnut! Oh sure, maybe you and the Brain are happy. What about me? Why must you make my job so difficult? You know what? Lights out for you!"
And that's exactly what happens. When I don't eat right, my energy dies. I mean, really, it just flat-lines.
And if I was listening, I probably would have heard my body's plea. But instead.. I snacked yet another doughnut. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think that a single doughnut is the end of me, although my body would probably beg to differ. However, many donuts, in a short span of time, coupled with the overall lack of other nutritional sources (I wasn't eating much of anything), just did my poor body no good.
I am probably not the only person not to listen to my body. I think many people ignore the body's basic cry for help. Even those we would call "fit." We ignore our body's cry for nutrition, for rest, for movement, for healing... So many basic needs that we deny ourselves.
Why?
Why do humans think it's ok to ignore the single most important responsibility to a successful life? Name me one thing you can do without your body....
Don't worry... I'll wait...
I didn't think so... So WHY do we mistreat them so? Not exercising. Not resting. Not letting ourselves heal from injury. Eating crappy foods. Yes, people say its ok to have sweets in moderation, but please.. tell me ONE physiological benefit from eating... say... a doughnut. Just one...
Again... think on it... I'll wait...
More importantly, when we don't do these things, we wonder why we suffer from exhaustion, chronic dis-ease, fatigue, memory loss, sluggish brains, headaches, rapid aging, frequent injury, etc. There's no one to blame for this but us. And even with all the medical help in the world, there's no one that can fix us, but us.
Quit trying to out-logic your body. Chances are, you are the one being illogical. Not the body. It's only telling you what you need. You can't win by trying to reason that you don't really need it.
In my case, my body was fed up with the nutritional malarkey I was feeding it for the week. And what did my body do? "Showed out," as the old folks say. I was overly tired in my dance classes. I was in a grumpy mood, I slept too much, I didnt get as much work done as I wanted, which created anxiety, which added to my stress, which beat my body up even more, because my poorly fed body wasn't functioning at optimal levels, so it didnt have the energy to battle the stress. This resulted in headaches, which led to me taking painkillers.
Now, all of that might have possibly been avoided, if I had just laid off the doughnuts, and ate some nutrient-dense foods.
"That's what I'VE been saying. You take care of me, I'll take care of you."
Ok body... I hear you.
It all started with a box of softees... You know, the Entemann's donuts? Someone gave me a box of those suckers last Wednesday... Now, even though I live with other people, who I know snacked on the donuts, there is still no excuse for the amount I ate.
One morning, in a rush, my entire breakfast consisted of a doughnut and a chug of soy milk.
Poor body.
I know she's mad at me. In fact, I have often wondered, if my body could speak, what would it say?
in regards to last week, I imagine it would go like this:
"What the hell is this? Another doughnut!!! What am I supposed to do with that Leslie? I am still trying to work out the last one you forced down my throat. Are you trying to kill us? I'm not particularly in the mood to die today. And where's the water? I am so thirsty that I should just shut down on your behind. Ungrateful heifer. Here I am, doing the best that I can to carry your heavy self around, AND keep you doing what you do. What thanks do I get? A doughnut. Some H2O would have been nice. Maybe some spinach... but no... you want to start the day off with a doughnut! Oh sure, maybe you and the Brain are happy. What about me? Why must you make my job so difficult? You know what? Lights out for you!"
And that's exactly what happens. When I don't eat right, my energy dies. I mean, really, it just flat-lines.
And if I was listening, I probably would have heard my body's plea. But instead.. I snacked yet another doughnut. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think that a single doughnut is the end of me, although my body would probably beg to differ. However, many donuts, in a short span of time, coupled with the overall lack of other nutritional sources (I wasn't eating much of anything), just did my poor body no good.
I am probably not the only person not to listen to my body. I think many people ignore the body's basic cry for help. Even those we would call "fit." We ignore our body's cry for nutrition, for rest, for movement, for healing... So many basic needs that we deny ourselves.
Why?
Why do humans think it's ok to ignore the single most important responsibility to a successful life? Name me one thing you can do without your body....
Don't worry... I'll wait...
I didn't think so... So WHY do we mistreat them so? Not exercising. Not resting. Not letting ourselves heal from injury. Eating crappy foods. Yes, people say its ok to have sweets in moderation, but please.. tell me ONE physiological benefit from eating... say... a doughnut. Just one...
Again... think on it... I'll wait...
More importantly, when we don't do these things, we wonder why we suffer from exhaustion, chronic dis-ease, fatigue, memory loss, sluggish brains, headaches, rapid aging, frequent injury, etc. There's no one to blame for this but us. And even with all the medical help in the world, there's no one that can fix us, but us.
Quit trying to out-logic your body. Chances are, you are the one being illogical. Not the body. It's only telling you what you need. You can't win by trying to reason that you don't really need it.
In my case, my body was fed up with the nutritional malarkey I was feeding it for the week. And what did my body do? "Showed out," as the old folks say. I was overly tired in my dance classes. I was in a grumpy mood, I slept too much, I didnt get as much work done as I wanted, which created anxiety, which added to my stress, which beat my body up even more, because my poorly fed body wasn't functioning at optimal levels, so it didnt have the energy to battle the stress. This resulted in headaches, which led to me taking painkillers.
Now, all of that might have possibly been avoided, if I had just laid off the doughnuts, and ate some nutrient-dense foods.
"That's what I'VE been saying. You take care of me, I'll take care of you."
Ok body... I hear you.
Amen to this whole post.
ReplyDeleteI read a really dope quote the other day, "Nothing tastes as good as thin feels."
I don't really think it's the thin...I think it's the feeling of abundance that comes with eating right. I always feel lighter the next morning after a day of salads.
My body is pissed at me right now too. Had ribs/fries last night.
Sigh.
-Riv