Everyone is looking for ways to improve their body and health. It is a continuous process often lined with failed attempts and disappointment. Some are even going to vicious extremes to lose weight. A few seek a healthier body and lifestyle, but most are seeking to attain unrealistic standards to please others. They chase fads such as the “thigh gap” or “Barbie body.” A lifestyle change can be detrimental when fueled by the wrong intentions. Here are a few tips for getting healthy the right way:

• Seek to honor God with your body: This is the absolute key to living a healthy lifestyle. If you don’t live to honor the Father, then you are getting in shape for the wrong reasons. If you get in shape to look like a model, then you will be severely disappointed every time. We should be getting healthy because our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit and created to honor Him.
• Stay away from harmful substances: You do not need diet pills or drinks to get healthy. These supplements are often full of harmful chemicals and loads of caffeine that not only make you feel jittery, but they could actually kill you. Pumping your body full of harmful chemicals is never the answer.
• Stay away from ridiculous diets: Any diet that doesn’t include all food groups just isn’t going to work. Especially the ones that only include liquids. You never want to deprive your body of specific nutrients in order to lose weight. Diets, such as those that attempt to remove carbs, are extremely harmful and cause you to gain weight back at an alarming rate after the diet. Your body was created to use nutrients from all six nutrient groups: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, water, vitamins, and minerals. When you deprive your body of one or more for the purpose of weight loss, you do more damage than good.
• Never starve yourself or purge: Depriving yourself of food is extremely dangerous and could result in major medical issues or even kill you. Throwing up is also extremely dangerous. Both deprive your body of valuable nutrients necessary to sustain life. You were created for a divine purpose, so you need to be at your very best.
• Exercise: Healthy exercise not only helps you lose weight, but it also makes you feel better all around. Exercise gives you a boost of endorphins and lifts your mood. It is essential for a healthy lifestyle.
• Maintain a Balanced Diet: Your diet should include all food groups to be truly healthy. Diets that are too restrictive do not produce lasting results. They are not maintainable. They are not realistic. They are not healthy. Find a plan that you can stick with and get all of the necessary nutrients.
• Love yourself: You are beautiful. You are wonderfully made. You are awesome. You are enough. You don’t need to lose twenty pounds or have a thigh gap to be loveable or valuable. You are loved just as you are. You are a child of the King. Live to please Him and not them.