LOSE 50 POUNDS IN 3 WEEKS AND EAT ALL THE THINGS YOU LOVE!!!!
Have you ever heard something like that before? Or maybe you've heard this one...
I'm going on a diet and exercise more when the new year starts!
I believe most people look upon the New Year with anticipation of starting fresh and gaining a new outlook. Among the popular resolutions in America, statistics show these two are at the top:
Lose Weight
Get Fit
On the surface, they sound great! What's not to like about being physically stronger with more endurance for your day... but why don't we keep these resolutions? So many of us drop our new goals within the first month or so, leaving our new juicers under the counter and our gym enrollments unused. Americans spend millions and millions of dollars on diet pills, exercise equipment, health programs, etc. -- so many promising programs, so much merchandise -- to experience only fleeting results.
So is it our lack of commitment, or are we buying into extravagant nonsense? I think it's both, but is it biblical to exercise and diet?
The Bible is filled with references regarding food and physical strength. Within the short verses describing the Proverbs 31 woman, food is referenced three times* and physical strength twice**. The Lord created us to eat and be active! When we keep food and exercise in balance, then we can enjoy all the good things the Lord gives us! He desires this balance in our lives so that we can be efficient for the tasks He has planned for us!
I was once a ballet dancer. I had the blessing of dancing at schools that didn't emphasize weight. Many professional ballet schools routinely weigh their dancers which can push girls to become anorexic or bulimic. Unfortunately, I still observed many young women waste away to unhealthy weights in order to be "beautiful." You do feel vulnerable and conscious when you are in a room in only tights, leotards, and ballet skirts. I was never tempted to become too thin, because I loved junk food too much. I was a "sweetaholic" and my unhealthy balance was the overindulgence of sugar. I would eat what I wanted, then feel guilty because of my unwise choices. I'd try a diet for a few days, only with the hope that someday I could eat the same junk food again. It didn't work.
Silk and Purple will never tell you to go on a diet.
DIETS DON'T WORK!
They may for a short time, but not for life. We will always tell you to choose a healthy lifestyle! Healthy lifestyles are not for quick weight loss and not for achieving Olympian bodies. Healthy lifestyles are little choices 365 days of the year. It's not about depriving yourself of what you crave; it's about changing what you crave! The Lord has given us so many wonderful selections of food! Think about food tasting and looking all the same. He decided to bless us with food that brings health, with bodies, when fit, that can accomplish much upon this earth.
Choosing a healthy lifestyle is just that easy and just that hard, because we live in a culture with over-refined, over-processed, and over-commercialized foods.
I'm no expert, but here are seven things that help me keep a healthy lifestyle.
1. Drink water
2. Eat raw foods
3. Go organic (one food at a time)
4. Keep active (dancing, gardening, walking, and scrubbing)
5. Eat good fats and wholesome protein
6. Avoid sugar
7. Take wholefood concentrate supplements
(If I can't read what is on the ingredients label of a food product, then I don't buy it.)
You might be thinking to yourself, "I'm not over- or underweight, and I seem to be fit. How does this apply to me?"
As young ladies, we have our whole lives ahead of us! Let's try to minister to our bodies by building them up before we are trying to repair decaying ones. If we want to be effective for Christ, we cannot abuse ourselves now, thinking we will feel great when we are old.
Elyse will continue to post about healthy living choices to help us all! My prayer is that we will take baby steps and crave more than food and healthy bodies, but that we will crave our Lord and the richness of His grace!
The Bible is filled with references regarding food and physical strength. Within the short verses describing the Proverbs 31 woman, food is referenced three times* and physical strength twice**. The Lord created us to eat and be active! When we keep food and exercise in balance, then we can enjoy all the good things the Lord gives us! He desires this balance in our lives so that we can be efficient for the tasks He has planned for us!
I was once a ballet dancer. I had the blessing of dancing at schools that didn't emphasize weight. Many professional ballet schools routinely weigh their dancers which can push girls to become anorexic or bulimic. Unfortunately, I still observed many young women waste away to unhealthy weights in order to be "beautiful." You do feel vulnerable and conscious when you are in a room in only tights, leotards, and ballet skirts. I was never tempted to become too thin, because I loved junk food too much. I was a "sweetaholic" and my unhealthy balance was the overindulgence of sugar. I would eat what I wanted, then feel guilty because of my unwise choices. I'd try a diet for a few days, only with the hope that someday I could eat the same junk food again. It didn't work.
Silk and Purple will never tell you to go on a diet.
DIETS DON'T WORK!
They may for a short time, but not for life. We will always tell you to choose a healthy lifestyle! Healthy lifestyles are not for quick weight loss and not for achieving Olympian bodies. Healthy lifestyles are little choices 365 days of the year. It's not about depriving yourself of what you crave; it's about changing what you crave! The Lord has given us so many wonderful selections of food! Think about food tasting and looking all the same. He decided to bless us with food that brings health, with bodies, when fit, that can accomplish much upon this earth.
Choosing a healthy lifestyle is just that easy and just that hard, because we live in a culture with over-refined, over-processed, and over-commercialized foods.
I'm no expert, but here are seven things that help me keep a healthy lifestyle.
1. Drink water
2. Eat raw foods
3. Go organic (one food at a time)
4. Keep active (dancing, gardening, walking, and scrubbing)
5. Eat good fats and wholesome protein
6. Avoid sugar
7. Take wholefood concentrate supplements
(If I can't read what is on the ingredients label of a food product, then I don't buy it.)
You might be thinking to yourself, "I'm not over- or underweight, and I seem to be fit. How does this apply to me?"
As young ladies, we have our whole lives ahead of us! Let's try to minister to our bodies by building them up before we are trying to repair decaying ones. If we want to be effective for Christ, we cannot abuse ourselves now, thinking we will feel great when we are old.
Elyse will continue to post about healthy living choices to help us all! My prayer is that we will take baby steps and crave more than food and healthy bodies, but that we will crave our Lord and the richness of His grace!
*Proverbs 31:14,15,16
**Proverbs 31:17,25
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