For many people skinny means healthy and fit and fat means unhealthy and unfit.
This post is about understanding what healthy means and not a body positivity post
I hear naturally slim people say ‘I don’t need to exercise; I don’t need to eat right. I’m not fat’.
And I feel concerned because I have watched these wonderful people succumb to ill health frequently because they neglected self care because of the erroneous thinking –‘I’m not fat so I don’t need all that healthy living stuff’.
There’s a difference between being skinny and being healthy and strong.
Yes, you may be naturally skinny but sorry to burst your bubble that doesn’t make you healthy.
Eating all you want and not putting on a Kilo is a genetic miracle but that doesn’t make you healthy
A healthy lifestyle and its side effect of being healthy, is something you do consciously to improve your health, irrespective of your gene.
Although, sometimes you may need to build on your own genetic gift or you may see areas for further and consistent improvement.
I have seen a lot of skinny friends who take their skinny gene for granted, recklessly ignore their nutrition, fitness and health and end up with Type 2 Diabetes. Being skinny doesn’t protect you from that; it’s a choice you make.
Ulcerative colitis is one of the health battles you may face because you don’t eat as much and as frequently as you should. And it’s not because you don’t like food, but because your body in trying to maintain balance makes food unappetizing. Anemia from losing blood each month and not having a good nutrition strategy is also major health issue.
Other health challenges include irregular bowel movement and ascent weakness …….. These issues are not limited to people who want to lose weight.
If being skinny doesn’t mean healthy what then does being healthy mean?
According to The McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois, wellness is:
“A state of optimal well-being that is oriented toward maximizing an individual’s potential. This is a life-long process of moving towards enhancing your physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and environmental well-being.”
In other words, being healthy does not result from random acts of healthy living or what your body type bestows to you. It’s something you do regularly to enhance your life.
One of the steps include letting go of certain misconceptions like – ‘I’m slim so I’m healthy. I don’t need to take care of myself’ or eating donuts sprinkled with sugar will make you unhealthy.
Remember we’re talking about lifelong process. It follows that if you make it a daily habit of eating donuts sprinkled with sugar, smoking, not exercising and having a toxic mind, instead of enhancing your life, you will actually diminish it.
But, if you live a healthy lifestyle of balanced and strategic nutrition irrespective of your gene, exercise in a way that enhances your life and helps you achieve your goal and still eat your donut sprinkled with sugar once in a short while, you’ll be enhancing your life.
Being healthy is not only about your physical look, it includes your mental – psychological, emotional spiritual and social well being.
It is the way your body adapts to new threats and infirmities.
What does your body do in the face of threats, does it put up a fight and stand or does it crumble immediately at the first sign of a threat?
Stop taking your health for granted because you have a fast metabolism, that is not what being healthy is about. It’s the sum total of the little healthy actions you take each day which adds up over time for a nourished, strong and healthy body.
It also means minimizing anything that is not conducive to your health or is likely to cause harm to your health. That includes psychological, physical and social harm.
6 things that will improve your health:
- Eat a balanced and tasty, nutritious diet
- Engage in exercise you love regularly. Work with a coach to prepare an exercise program that is customized to suit your preference, body type and goal.
- Learn to rest, meditate and be more mindful
- Learn to manage stress
- Make out time for self care and check up with your Doctor regularly.
Above all try and do just 1 thing every day that will enhance your health and not diminish it. It can be as little as taking 5 minutes every day to just be quiet and reconnect to yourself spiritually and mentally in meditation.
You’ll be surprised at the difference 5 minutes of quietness will make in your life and body; how in tune you’ll be with yourself. The little things you may have been overlooking in you self care will become clear to you and you’ll have the clarity to focus and choose the best path for your body and life.
Join my 4 weeks coaching plan, specifically for the skinny to add healthy weight, live a healthier life and build curves and start building a healthier and stronger body.
What do you think about being naturally skinny and healthy? Let me know your thoughts by commenting below