Gut Lessons

Our bodies are forgiving.

I am realizing this more and more with each year that i live and put more food into my mouth. Our bodies can handle quite a bit in fact. There are some bodies that can go for 60 or 7o years on a diet of grease and saturated fat . .and never choose to rebel until then. Today i woke up and was amazed at this fact. Just the simple fact that our bodies can heal from the poor diets that we choose to feed it. And they can heal so beautifully and quickly, if we give them the proper nutrients. This thought came upon me, because i was thinking of how drastically different my diet is today from when i was growing up. I sometimes have to sit back and laugh at myself when i think of how many turkey sandwiches and spaghettio's i would eat. It was my favorite thing to eat after swim practice in the summer. Or how about good old McDonald's again . . .earlier i divulged my obsession with the sweet and sour sauce, but how do you think i got addicted to that stuff? Yep, i was a big fan of the chicken nuggets as well. I remember my sister and I fighting over who got to open up the 20 piece box first and choose which ones to devour.

So i never went hungry as a child, that's for certain. I was always happy and full. But now, I can't even stand the smell of fast food. And spaghettio's? Haven't touched the stuff since i was 12. But my body has been enjoying the whole grains, veggies, and beans i have been giving it, and the fruit . .i love the fruit. I just guess what I'm trying to say is that everyone has their memories of the food they grew up with and how yummy it was, but most people i know don't still eat like that. They tastes have changed or simply, the fact that they are now adults and have more control about who buys the groceries. But our bodies, they adapt from the poor diets we may have had as children and learn to run off of the food we choose to eat instead.

So the next time i do want to remember my days of spaghettio's or indulge in a little fast food. I should have no concerns that my body will handle the food just fine. It may not like it. It may grumble, it may rage as the sodium and high fructose corn syrup enter my stomach again. Or maybe it might say, " AH yes . . I remember this . . . .where have you been?"

You see, I'm pretty sure my body likes the food i give it now better. How do i know? Well i feel better, lighter, my skin is clearer, i lost weight, my blood pressure went down; stuff like that. But how do I really know if my body misses any of my old food obsessions that looking back, i think were so "BAD?" I guess that in writing this, i cant say for sure. What i do know, is that the body is adaptable and it will use whatever we feed it for fuel. It will make the best of the environments we choose to place it in. Our bodies will always try to find a balance for us to live in, regardless of what we may be supplying it with.

I think we all should marvel at that more. Or at least I'm going to, because i don't give my body enough credit for what it is capable of doing. And i certainly don't listen to its messages enough.

So who knew? Our own bodies can be the best teachers of adaptability and forgiveness. And all we have to do is listen and eat.