Making your body the solution...

Wow...the last post elicited a lot of off-line discussion and, let's face it, feelings about our *body issues* are often times lurking right under the surface. And conversations about body issues can be difficult because not everyone shares the same *problems* or *issues* but I think it's safe to say that many of us struggle and we probably have more in common than we might think. Unless you are in a room full of runners and you are most decidedly NOT a runner. That happened last Wednesday at a nutrition seminar I attended but, still, I'm pretty fit and care about exercise and so do the runners. And we had a lot of the same questions about nutrition so, see? Common ground.

Which brings me to the solutions part. What is the solution, exactly? How do you get there? What happens when you get "there"? Where is "there"? Okay, here's the thing. "There" doesn't really exist as an end point. Like, oh, I lost X pounds and wore that cute black dress to my high school reunion/wore a tankini in Hawaii/looked good on my wedding day and now I'm done. "There" is every day, eating as healthfully as possible, being active and not getting down on yourself for not looking like someone you saw on the front cover of a magazine. The good news is that every day you get another chance to do the right thing by your body and eat right, get some exercise and try not to get overly stressed. The bad news is that sometimes that is very hard. And when you are in a stressful time period, say in school or working on some crazy project at work or taking care of ailing parents or whatever, it is really hard to do the things we know are good for us. But that's life. Life is frequently complicated and hard and you find yourself managing the chaos some days better than others. That being said, here's what I've found to be helpful along the way:

* Remember that magazine covers are photoshopped--extensively
* Remember that the people on said covers are usually celebrities with wads of cash to spend on personal trainers and chefs and, whatever, their job is to look good, ergo they work out a lot and eat lots of brown rice and 4 oz of boneless, skinless chicken breast dinners (the exception being "fitness models" who also work out a lot but are not necessarily celebrities)
* Remember that even celebrities with spectacular bodies are photoshopped
* Find exercise/activities that you enjoy so you'll be more likely to want to do them and be active
* Even if you can't afford/don't want to join a gym, you can use workout DVDs at home with some hand weights, resistance bands and a squishy yoga mat if you have hardwood floors. That's what I did and I'm still doing it. It's pretty cheap ($10 for a DVD from amazon.com) and you can work out in the privacy of your own home
* The library often has workout DVDs you can check out to see if you like them enough to buy them and there are free workouts and videos on the internets
* Practice mindful eating which means limit distractions (this is difficult, I know, and I am a hard-core newspaper reader while I eat), take 20 minutes to eat (yes, 20 minutes) and cook as many whole foods as you can in your own kitchen
* Ignore the hype about super foods, supplements, blah, blah, blah. It's a lot of marketing and usually not a lot of good science. Eat a well-balanced diet with lots of food diversity and generally you'll be okay. This advice obviously does not apply to those trying to conceive, currently pregnant or breast feeding, immune compromised or under a doctor's supervision for a health problem.
* Read the labels of every single item you put in your grocery cart. Minimally processed foods are best
* Read up. I recommend Marion Nestle, Spark People and reputable websites run by the NIH and Mayo Clinic
* Pat yourself on the back. Repeat