Listening to Our Bodies

I spent yesterday afternoon and evening with my almost-3 year old grandchildren (twins). It's always fun spending time with Olivia and Zachary, and they are two busy little people!

Zachary has a broken right clavicle due to an older boy who jumped on him in a mall play area last week, and it was fascinating to watch him. He is always on the go and refuses to wear a sling, but he is managing pretty well. He almost instinctively guards his arm, and he has altered some of his activities to favor his injury. I watched him roll down a hill (he's an almost-3 year old boy, after all!) and instead of rolling down in the normal way, he sort of rolled from hip to hip while keeping his upper body upright. He walks and runs with his arm held close to his body, and he chose to throw a frisbee with his other arm, so his aim was a little off.

Interesting to me was that nobody had to teach him to be careful with his arm - what he was doing was in direct response to what his body told him (through pain) that he needed to do. He is listening to his body and making accommodations as required, then he just keeps on doing what 3-year old little boys do.

Watching Zachary made me wonder what happens to us as we age that makes us stop listening to our bodies? What happens to move us from being protective of our body, from almost instinctively responding to our body's cues, to being self-destructive and seemingly oblivious to what we're doing due to bad habits? I don't have an answer to that question - wish I did! I think the answer is probably incredibly complex and undoubtedly a bit different for each of us.

I do know that shortly after starting on Take Shape for Life/Medifast 5&1, I started listening to my body again - really listening. I once again became aware of when I was hungry and when I wasn't, and I was able to distinguish between physical and emotional hunger. As I began providing proper nourishment to my body and I rediscovered energy I thought was gone forever, I once again marveled at my body's ability to recover, even after years of abuse. Getting into an exercise routine after years of inactivity made my body talk rather sternly to me for a few days :-), but soon I started to see muscles firming up and enjoyed the rush of a good workout.

Our bodies were created with a wonderful ability to heal. If you doubt that, pay attention the next time you cut yourself :-). When we begin to do the right things for our bodies, when we begin to listen to our bodies, it's amazing to see how fast things change. I've known several people who have seen dramatic improvement in lab work - cholesterol and blood sugar - within a few weeks of starting on the plan, blood pressures often return to normal, and people are often able to reduce or get off of a variety of medications. All of this happens to people who may have been overweight and on medications for years, and it happens quickly.

To begin a return to a healthier life, all we have to do is choose to stay on plan - open 5 packets and eat a lean and green. How simple, and how amazing!

Are you listening to your body today? If you listen carefully, I think you'll hear it say "stay on plan" :-)