Is there such a thing as being too healthy? In our crazy diet and image obsessed culture, it can be easy to take a good thing of being healthy too far, and get out of balance. Whether it's to do with your weight, your nutrition, or how you exercise, it's possible for a healthy positive to turn into a negative.

Focusing on eating healthy can itself become an obsession and turn into orthorexia, an eating disorder that focuses on strict rules and fear of unhealthy food. Focusing too much on exercise can turn into an exercise addiction, overtraining, and hypothalamic amenorrhea. And lastly, focusing on being "in shape" for whatever reason, (mostly appearance and approval), can lead to unhealthy mindsets that lead to anxiety, obsessive compulsion, and eating disorders.

So, how do we know when we have gone to the extreme? We are essentially “too healthy” when a healthy lifestyle stops being about health, and it becomes more about rules and restrictions, and when the motive becomes how we look, and our body shape and size, and control.

Do you Identify with these Behaviors? I know I have been guilty of being out of balance myself many times in my own life, and looking back it can be hard to recognize. Often times we feel that we are doing the "right things" when it comes to exercising a lot and eating healthy, but if we examine our motives and our heart, we can often identify feelings of anxiety and extremes.

So how do we know when we are out of balance with our approach to health? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Mental & Emotional Symptoms:

• Do you find it hard to take rest days, and do you feel guilty when you do?
• Do you exercise despite feeling exhausted, stressed, or overtrained?
• Do you feel like you have to exercise to burn off calories?
• Do you find yourself going back and forth between diets?
• Do you have an all or nothing approach?
• Does the idea of not following an exercise/eating plan or program scare you?
• Do you let yourself eat when you are truly hungry?

Physical Symptoms:

• You are tired all the time
• You need caffeine
• You are cold all of the time
• You are always sore
• You are sick often
• You don't have a regular period, and/or your hormones are out of whack
• You can't sleep at night
• You have frequent injuries
• You always feel anxious and stressed

Can You Relate?

If any of these symptoms ring true for you, it is so wonderful and important to take the first step and recognize you are in an unhealthy place, or may be traveling down the road to one. It can seem daunting to think about making changes or going a different direction, but the good news is, there is a safe middle of the road balance that is just around the corner! Although it may seem scary to "give up control" with your current habits, when we look a little deeper, it is actually fear that is driving your current routine! Therefore, going a different direction will only bring freedom and lasting peace! It may seem difficult to see at the moment, but here are some practical demonstrations about how fear drives this type of behavior:

Motivated by Fear:

• You draw your worth and value from your appearance, size, or shape
• You are worn out after giving your strength time and attention to your food, fitness, appearance
• You are scared of gaining weight and always thinking about food/fitness/weight
• Your motive behind food/fitness is to control your body, and you never truly feel satisfied or free

Walking in Freedom:

• We eat because we are hungry, regardless of plans or rules
• We enjoy all and any type of food because we can
• We exercise to celebrate what our bodies can do to feel energized, strong, and healthy
• We plan to take rest because our bodies need it, and when we feel tired
• We accept and loving our bodies in every shape, size, and season
• We celebrate what our bodies can do, instead of what we perceive they are not
• We make health our #1 priority and motive behind our actions

How Do I Step Into Freedom?

How do we move from fear into freedom in our journey to health? It all starts with surrender to the one who made us! He wants us to live healthy and free, and when we invite Him into our situation, He will lead us to the best place for our bodies and health!

Here are Some Practical Steps You Can Take to Freedom Today:

• Choose Health- Start with make the choice to honor your body and health above all- no matter the cost!
• Repent- Break ties and agreements with lies you have believed, as well as images and thoughts that pull your heart in the wrong direction.
• Surrender. Ask God to come into your situation. It gives Him permission to work. ⁣
• Pray over your food, body, and mind each morning. Ask God to give you a desire to do what pleases Him and brings healing!
• Renew your mind daily with God's word (Romans 12:1-2). Ask Him to reveal your true identity, and meditate on the truths about your body, and how He designed it!

I pray this message is a blessing to you, and that instead of condemnation or shame, it brings light and leads you to freedom! There is always hope once we recognize we have a problem or are going down the wrong road, as we make the choice to turn another direction! If you feel in bondage or that you can't break free from a habit, mindset, or behavior today, I would challenge you to repent, breaking the agreement with that thing, and ask God into your situation through surrender. I also pray that Dashing Dish is a safe place for you to continue to learn what it means to pursue true health and balance!

xo Katie