THIS is why exercise is more important than diet 💥
Because it changes YOU ✨🌀🌍
Good morning, sunshine! Happy Thursday and thank you for opening this message! 💛
Let me just say right off the bat, my purpose in writing to you today is not advocate for any specific forms of exercise or diets.
But hopefully my unpopular opinion in the subject-line (ha!) has got you thinking on this topic that is also VERY relevant to Network Spinal and the care that I provide for you at New Day.
Have you ever heard it said that for losing weight, “diet is more important than exercise”?
As you can probably already guess, it DRIVES ME CRAZY when I hear people say this and then see people utilizing this advice in their lives 🤪😱
First of all, there’s the “for losing weight” part of it. Whether that caveat is said or unsaid, for most people who are talking about diet being more important than exercise, weight loss is the implied outcome.
For today, I’ll mostly leave “for losing weight” aside. Suffice it to say that I think that this is ultimately too narrow a focus and that’s why with that focus results can be short-lived 🛑
The part I want to talk about today, and the part of this sentiment that I think is the most problematic, is this mechanistic, reductionistic, small-picture “calories in, calories out” model for making changes in your health
You know– the one where you (and your ego!) exert massive control over the amounts and types of food that you consume as a linear pathway to (supposed) guaranteed success (in the short-term) 😰
All of this while leaving your life, your personality, and your energy state and physiology basically untouched. In other words, you change the content, but the CONTEXT doesn’t get to change much at all 😰😱😭🙏
Andy, on the move! 😻
Now, I understand that it sounds like I’m bagging on healthy eating 😂
I’m definitely PRO healthy eating! Giving our bodies the proper nutrients to use as building blocks for regrowing and transforming us is also very important!
But context is DECISIVE. And by this I mean, what kind of environment is the food you eat entering into? 🙋♀️
The reason I think working out is potentially so much more important in the big picture of your health is that it has the bigger likelihood of changing YOU 💥
🏋️♀️ The YOU that the food enters into as it makes its way through your digestive tract and is metabolized by your body.
🏋️♀️ The YOU that structures your life in such a way that exercise and movement are prioritized.
🏋️♀️ The YOU that gains energy, confidence, and connection to and awareness of your body.
🏋️♀️ The YOU that benefits in brain and nervous system health through focus, coordination, and hormonal health.
🏋️♀️ And yes, even the YOU the chooses what foods you eat and when 💥💥💥💥
In my opinion, the person you become (physiologically, anatomically, and in life), and the relationship with yourself that you develop are going to do much more for you and the big picture of your health and life than reducing, controlling, and rearranging the contents of your diet.
And this transformational result can be the case even for people who start out exercising thinking of it merely as a way to burn off the food they just ate 😂 #truestory
So why am I talking about diet and exercise? Besides the fact that seeing people obsess over food for a (short term) goal of weight loss is (obviously) a HUGE peeve of mine? 😊
I am a long-time fitness and exercise enthusiast. This is Tracy Anderson– one of my fitness gurus! Definitely check her stuff out if you’re looking for something new and stimulating ✨
There are major parallels between the benefits of exercise and the benefits of Network Spinal chiropractic ✨✨✨
NO, Network Spinal and exercise are not the same in terms of what they are doing and the benefits. Both are needed and one does not substitute for the other.
But similarly, I sometimes see newer clients sometimes approaching care with me in the same way they would approach food on a diet (carefully and with small, controlled amounts and with a very narrow sense of the desired outcome)
And that’s ok– especially at first. I can meet you where you’re at! But I want you to know that I always have a big picture in mind ☀️
My care works, ultimately, because it changes YOU.
The you who is functioning, focusing, feeling, noticing, feeling or not feeling pain, connecting, relaxing, working out, reacting to stress, sleeping or not sleeping, responding to life, and choosing and not choosing foods. And the you who is in a relationship with your evolving self 🌀☀️💗💥🌍✨☀️
That is the power of focusing on the nervous system.
There is actually even research that shows that people who engage in Network Spinal care over time gravitate toward healthier choices in life, which amplifies the initial benefits of the care itself.
If you stick with this process, you might even start to find that the reasons you first started Network Spinal care and the benefits you first started getting turn out to be more like side-benefits to the big picture 😊
Thank you for reading and indulging my unpopular opinion, sunshine! I’d be interested to hear your opinion on this topic at your adjustments today, Saturday, and beyond 💖
