Finding Balance

Photo by Meredith Farmer.

Tomorrow is a new day! It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!

Sounds familiar, right?

It can be easy to get down on ourselves when we slip up with our diet and fitness routines. Heaven knows I am FAR less than perfect when it comes to being healthy every second of every day. Nobody’s perfect. I think that once in a while we even need those days where we give our body a break and cave into our indulgences. The real test though is seeing if we’re able to pick up again the next day and keep going towards our goals.

Some people use “Cheat Days” strategically in their diets to keep themselves from going crazy and quitting entirely. While I don’t necessarily like the term cheat, I do like to put certain days on my calendar where I know I’m going to get the chance to enjoy foods that I don’t normally have on a daily basis. Sure, this is technically the same thing but I don’t like to think of myself as “cheating” when I’m doing something that I feel is perfectly acceptable and NORMAL. I look forward to these days where I can loosen the reigns a bit and it makes it easier for me to eat healthfully during the week when I know I’ll get to enjoy a treat at a certain restaurant coming up or a special meal with my family.

One thing I’ve found to be pretty interesting however, is that when I’m really in the zone diet-wise and eating foods that fuel my body properly, I stop craving sugary junk and other foods that are super greasy or high in sodium. I even start craving things that are better for me in lieu of the “junk.” That’s not to say that I’ve stopped having cravings for things like Shamrock Shakes all together but I no longer feel the need have something like that every single day. (And really, do we really want to live in a world without Shamrock Shakes?)  I just think it’s so interesting though that when you start treating your body a healthful way it really starts responding in a manner that it didn’t before. That’s human biology for you.

I guess what I’m saying is remember to be nice to yourselves- within reason. People throw the word “moderation” around a lot but sometimes we need to stop and think about what it really means. I’ve written about rewarding ourselves with food  before and the slippery slope that can start, but sometimes being too hard on ourselves can be just as harmful. It seems that I’m always trying to find balance in my life and diet has been at the forefront for me lately.

How do you balance the “good” with the “bad” in your diet? What does moderation mean to you?