A Life in Balance

I view extremism of any type as detrimental.  Religion, nutrition, training, tv-watching, poker, yoga, almost anything when over done or over used can hold negative consequences.  

Life should be about moderation, and finding the balance that works for you and helps propel you towards your goals, aspirations, and happiness.

All too often I see people taking a very dogmatic approach to their training and nutrition.  I probably notice it more because of the fact that I’m in the field, and dogmatism, preaching, and absolutism drives me crazy.  Becoming healthy, improving your nutrition, getting fit, these all require moderation and balance. However there is a very critical key to achieving balance and that is to understand that everyone’s is DIFFERENT.  That’s the key!  One-size does NOT fit all in this case.

The best way to achieve your own personal balance is to deploy the 80:20 rule.  Strive to eat the best you can the majority of the time and enjoy the indulgent periods without guilt, remorse or penance. 

If like me you listen to your body and are aware of its likes and dislikes and what makes it feel best you are well on your way to understanding your personal balance and moderation point.

Moderation is equally as critical to your movement and I constantly tell my clients to back off their training.  We all need to rest!!

If you’re training all the time and smashing yourself, you need to rest.   If you do yoga all the time, you could probably use some strength work. If you crossfit, you could likely use another well designed strength training program, focusing on any one thing to the exclusion of all others is not constructive. Find some moderation so you don’t push yourself too far in any direction, because eventually your body will push back and force you to deal with pain or systemic disorders, which unfortunately we see all too often.

I do very strongly believe that nutrition, thoughts, movement, and rest, are the foundations for your overall well-being, but I’ve also got some underlying chronic issues that make it necessary for me to be much more aware of those foundations and take better care of myself than the average person.  If I don’t, I find I don’t enjoy my life as much.  So again, my balance is different than your balance.

Just consider what you could scale back on, that may not be contributing to your aspirations or goals.  What should you ramp up and be more pro-active about to start getting more from your life?  What could you just relax about?  What are you obsessing about?

A few foundational basics of moderation:

• Eat real food most of the time

• Move your body, and improve the way it moves!

• Sleep.  You could probably use more sleep than you get.

• Drink Water.  Seriously, we could all drink more water.

• Don’t party too hard all the time.  

• Drink good coffee.

• Don’t waste too much of your life watching TV.  

• Focus on the things that make you happy.  At night, think of what made you happy that day or what you’re grateful for.  Your thoughts and mindset strongly impact your physiology… do not underestimate it’s potential.  Be Happy!

• Eat Ice Cream occasionally.  

• Get out in nature.

Find your moderation that helps you feel your best, and helps you do what you enjoy in life. Yes, do not get me wrong, there are absolutely times in life for extremism, but don’t keep that up for too long.  For example, if you’re celiac, don’t eat gluten!  If you’re recovering from some chronic inflammatory disease you should probably not eat grains and limit consumption of processed foods.  If you’ve got low-back issues, you need to be far more diligent with your training.  But when these extremes are alleviated, find that balance again, that works for you, still allows you to indulge in the finer things in life, and enjoy it!

Cris Mills, Momentum for Life