The Struggle

My daughter likes to say "the struggle is real" when she can't get something right. Can't put her shoe on with arms full, gum stuck in her hair, tripping over piles of laundry...the struggle is real. I often find myself saying the same thing only about more serious matters, like developing a wise eating lifestyle.
There is a lot of talk in the nutrition/psychology world about the problems with "dieting" because numerous studies and research has shown that a body will binge after a diet. Experts are saying you shouldn't call refraining from eating unhealthful foods a "diet" (some are saying don't diet at all) because your body will feel deprived and later compensate. You can't fight the instinctual survival urge to eat for pleasure as often as you can, so don't make yourself feel bad for doing so. It makes sense that they would say this because if eating certain foods make you feel ashamed, your fear responses kick in and causes digestive problems. Besides, no lasting or positive change comes from feeling guilt and shame. Excessive and extreme dieting (like eating disorders) cause just as many problems if not more as overeating food corruptions. Low blood sugar and organ failure because of starvation can have a lifetime negative effect. That is all true.
But it is also true that if you eat whatever you want because you think it's better than feeling shame and guilt you can have food related illnesses and problems with obesity. Generations of people have been trying to balance the need for food, the urge to overeat, and the tendency to become overweight, sick, and tired if we don't get the balance right. The same experts that are saying "don't diet it doesn't work it just puts you in a stress response" are also saying "put in the time and work necessary to eat right and exercise and love yourself." They have standards, methods, techniques they have found work for healthful living. But we can't call it dieting? The struggle is real.
So what do we call it? I have opted to call it an optimal diet lifestyle. It requires work and being selective and trusting my body. I have seen positive outcomes. Yet I still get the feeling from people that I'm depriving myself and my children for living this standard. We are trying to protect our bodies from the harm of over-consuming sugar and instead are being "shamed" for seeing certain food eating practices as harmful. I guess it helps others feel less shame if they go to the effort of socially demonstrating that it is NOT harmful.
Social expectations and psychological shame aside, experience was my teacher and God my director. I ate whatever I wanted for years without worrying about being overweight (because I didn't gain weight), but my health problems stacked one on top of the other until at 33 I was miserable. God answered my prayer by directing me to consequences of eating the way I was, so I started to intervene with my "diet." I had to learn that I do need to "deprive" myself of some foods in order to salvage my health. It doesn't mean others are "bad" because they don't, it doesn't mean I'm "bad" for having certain food standards. It simply means I have learned there are consequences to certain eating behaviors and I've tried to find a solution that works for me. I share it with others in case it works for them.
There seems to be a core struggle just surviving in a fallen world that, like my teenager's problems, have little to do with right or wrong and have a lot to do with just living. I'm not scared of the word diet because I'm not forcing myself to do something I don't really want to do. The foods God created are satisfying and joyful to eat! Call having food standards what you will, it does not need to be accompanied with guilt and shame and self pity. I have gratitude and joy for the knowledge God has given me to live my life without fatigue, head aches, dizzy spells, ulcers, cysts, colds, constipation, depression, and insomnia.
I still don't follow my optimal diet lifestyle all the time. I'm not always patient, or kind, or brave, or grateful. I know once I've been given knowledge for me that certain behaviors are right or wrong I am accountable. We fail we try again, we fail we try again. That is how we learn. I long ago let go of excessive guilt because I know my Savior will make up for my errors, because I am trying and I love Him, and I testify that he is real. I have never met with Him, I have not seen angels, but I have felt His love, and been led by the Holy Ghost to know He lives. I am eternally grateful for His sacrifice for me and all God's children. All my writing, work, and service and struggle have been in an effort to point to and show my deep love for Jesus Christ.