On a Soapbox

I'm gonna get on a soapbox here for a minute.

I'm not one to usually do so, as I hate confrontation and I hate stepping on people's toes. But I've seen a lot of things circling around online, and I've heard and had a lot of conversations recently with people about health and exercise...and I feel like something needs to be said that keeps being avoided in these conversations.

But first, here's a little background information.

For those that don't know, I decided to get healthy last year. I've been struggling with chronic neck and back pain for three years now. I have undergone many different tests and procedures and seen lots of different specialists to try and fix what's wrong...and nothing has worked. So I decided to look online and see if there were other things I could do to help myself out. One of the things I discovered was that certain foods that we eat can aggravate or create inflammation in the body. Some of the biggest culprits were preservatives and ingredients found in processed and fast foods. Too much processed sugar and fatty foods can be bad as well. So, I made the decision to change my eating habits to try and improve my condition.

As a result, I was able to lose some weight over a period of six months.

I wasn't perfect in my eating habits and I definitely "cheated" quite a bit, but I stayed away from the majority of the foods that could possibly make me feel worse.

I never looked at it as a diet. I never felt like I was depriving myself of anything. I just replaced some of my favorite foods (Jack in the Box tacos, Coke, ice cream) with some that were a lot better for me (fish, green tea, fruit).

I consulted one of my friends, who is a personal trainer and who has studied a lot about nutrition, on some things I should incorporate into my diet that would be good for my body. I learned to love eating healthier foods and noticed a lot of positive side effects in my life.

Unfortunately, my new healthy habits did not take away my chronic pain and mobility issues.

Since then, I've discovered essential oils and found some that have helped so much with my pain. I used to take 600 mg of ibuprofen every night before bed, just so I could fall asleep comfortably. Now, I just rub on some oils and I'm good to go.

The essential oils company has a candida cleanse program, that is also supposed to help get rid of inflammation in the body. You pair the pills with a strict diet to see if you can get rid of a possible candida overgrowth in your body. Since I thought my pain might be associated with candida, I decided to give it a shot.

Notice anything here? My purpose for changing my eating habits had nothing to do with wanting to be a certain size or wanting to look a certain way. It had everything to do with wanting to be a healthier, pain-free person (of which the latter I still haven't achieved).

Time to get on the soapbox.

I'm seeing a lot of stuff circling around about these "magic" shakes that will help you lose weight or these exercise programs that are supposed to make you look like a body builder. And while all of those things are fine and dandy if you're into that sort of thing, there is a huge problem that I see and hear when most people talk about them: it's all about image.

We live in a world where everyone shares everything on social media. I know way more about people then I would like to. Including oftentimes what they've eaten that day, if they're angry with their spouse, if their cat ruined their new curtains...again, and even the new shoes they just got on clearance. Don't get me wrong, I care about people and I care about what's happening in their lives...but our oversharing on social media can get a bit out of hand.

And one of those areas I feel we have to be extra careful about is concerning our health and our weight. Hear me out: I'm not saying I don't care if you're trying to live a healthier lifestyle, because I do. I'm all about taking care of our bodies, as the Bible calls them our temples, because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. It's important that we take care of ourselves so we can be useful for doing what God has called us to do. What I am saying is that we need to be careful that our desire to be healthy does not become an unhealthy obsession...and that we aren't making people feel bad about themselves.

When I first started to change the way I was eating last year, I used this app to track all the food I was eating. I made sure to enter everything in so I could see that I was eating the right amount of calories and to make sure I wasn't having too much fat or sugar each day. While it was incredibly helpful for me to be able to see all of that, it became too much after awhile. I started worrying more about numbers than about being healthy. So I had to take a step back and stop using it. I had been eating differently for a few months at that point, so I was pretty good at discerning what foods were best and which ones weren't. And let me tell you, it was so freeing not to have to worry about entering in every last food item I ate each day.

I also made a point not to share too much with people about what I was doing. Not because I wasn't excited about getting healthier and taking better care of my body, because I was, but because I didn't want it to be about me. People started to notice that I was losing weight and would make comments. And while of course those comments made me feel good, I didn't want those comments to fuel my life. My only goal was to be healthier to try and help myself feel better and I didn't want people's praise to make me lose sight of that.

I've heard some comments lately from people around me about how they are "fat" or they feel like they need to lose "xx" lbs because they are so "overweight". And while people always say those kinds of things, it makes me nervous when it comes from young girls or after someone's had a conversation with a person who's on a diet. We compare ourselves pretty harshly to those around us; it's human nature. If I'm feeling insecure about myself and a friend tells me that she's never had a zit in her life, it's gonna sting a little and make me feel like crap because I'm 29 and still get zits. If I'm feeling unloved and I overhear someone talking about how happy they are to have lost 5 lbs when they are way tiny to begin with, it just might make me decide I'm fat and need to stop eating for a few weeks to get rid of all this "extra weight" I'm carrying.

I know we can't control other people's actions and I know that sometimes our excitement or passion can make people feel bad without us meaning for that to happen...but we need to be conscience of the people around us. We do need to think when we are in a group of people talking about an accomplishment of any kind, am I going to make someone feel bad for saying this? Our words can wound someone or make someone's mood change in an instant, and we need to be aware of what we are saying.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made...whether we weigh 500 lbs or whether we have skin that never stops breaking out. We are fearfully and wonderfully made...whether our pants still fit or whether we made a big mistake at work. We are fearfully and wonderfully made...whether we feel like we are the ugliest person on the planet or whether we have a bad hair day. We are fearfully and wonderfully made...whether we exercise or not. We are fearfully and wonderfully made...even if we eat McDonald's 24/7.

I'm not trying to call anyone out or make anyone feel bad, as I am so guilty of these things myself. I am sorry for making anyone feel less than because their accomplishments in life might be different than mine...or because I'm excited about something good in my life that you might still be struggling with. I just think we need to think about our audience before we post things on social media. Is it wise to discuss weight loss with young, impressionable girls? Is it ok to make people feel bad because they don't eat healthy foods or exercise as much as we do?

Some things are better left unsaid. And even better, some things are better left off Facebook.