Avoiding Extremes

I've noticed that some people tend to take things to extremes when it comes to certain aspects of their life. This mentality can spill over into health and fitness if a person obsesses over their appearance too much.

If a little of something is good, then alot must be better, right? Not necessarily. That mentality can back fire on you when it comes to supplements, nutrition, weight loss, exercise, and body image.

Water and sunlight are essential to our health, but people can get extreme and even get too much of these necessities too. I've seen some sun worshipers who's damaged skin makes them look much older than they really and in some cases they look more like a baseball mitt than a person.

Some people are extreme when it comes to nutrition and make blanket statements that completely vilify entire food groups. For years society tried to avoid "fat" in their diet since it was labeled as being so bad. You've probably seen others do the same thing with carbohydrates too. 

Other people say you should NEVER eat refined sugar, white flour, high fructose corn syrup, or even cooked food. They may have valid points with some these statements, but that might be a little too stringent for most people and nobody likes being told what to do by the food police.

Some promote certain foods as being perfect and would bestow sainthood on them if it were their choice. Broccoli, blueberries, almonds, quinoa, etc. are amazing foods and very healthy, but they are not the end all of nutrition. No one single food is going to be the answer to your problems, but rather one of many pieces to the puzzle.

It's obvious that exercise is good for you, but some fitness enthusiasts take it too far and turn it into an obsession. Exercise addiction can be a real problem for some people.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so people will all have different opinions when it comes to what is too fat, too muscular, too skinny, or too tan,  Everyone should have their own personalized fitness goals and ideals, but if you find that 99% of the population can't relate to your health habits and that you are coming off as a little extreme, then it might be a good idea to re-evaluate things. Balance, variety, moderation and common sense should apply to all aspects of your life, not just your nutrition.