moderation in all things...

even in female body shapes.


















What is healthy?
Healthy is not a super skinny fashionista subsisting on coffee and celery alone. Healthy is not an overly obese diva dining each day on pastries and McD's.
Obviously, the average woman doesn't have the time or the money to invest in a Janet Jackson six-pack. That type of cosmetic "health" is unattainable and unnecessary.
So then what is the ideal?
What is the goal?

Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what the healthy version of me looked like, or how that healthy me felt. On June 2nd, I signed on to SparkPeople. In two months, my entire view of health and beauty has been transformed. It's difficult to appropriately describe, but my thoughts and feelings are so changed. It's like I've switched from PC to Mac - my operating system is so much more stable and better looking too! (he he ... such a Mac geek)

And now I know.
Healthy me is strong and sexy - in body and mind.
She's satisfied, not stuffed.
She has energy, and she wants to move!
After so long, she is confident and content.
Healthy me has achieved equilibrium.

So for me, health is balance and moderation.
Health is a bit too much and a bit too little, equalizing over time.
Health is not substituting a cup of coffee for a well-balanced lunch.
Health is not mindlessly consuming two pieces of pie during one episode of Grey's.

Maybe it's post-Atkins trauma. Maybe it's our societal system gently balancing after rebounding from extreme to extreme. That could be wishful thinking, but it does seem society's ideals regarding health are undergoing change. Super Size Me received a lot of attention when it was released. Dove's latest marketing campaign includes healthy images of women in their underwear. Catwalk organizers in Spain are banning unhealthy models from their runways. The epidemic of childhood obesity; the dangers of our dependence on carbonated beverages; criticism of the sedentary nature of our current lifestyles; these have all been hitting the news in the last few weeks. Perhaps this health revolution will be more moderate than the fitness craze of the 80s. Maybe the trend of lifestyle change over diet will be more than a passing fad. Moderation is so much more sustainable.