Yoga Is For Everybody? Not Quite...

This 2-minute quiz shows you if yoga is for you. Or what you should do instead.

Healthy Is the New Skinny

Happiness | Lifestyle

I was once a nutrition expert for Crunch Fitness Hollywood, and a gorgeous woman came in to see me. She was already on the tiny side, but she asked me how she could lose 20 more pounds for a movie audition, fast.

The part didn’t call for her to look deathly small, she just thought she’d get hired if she was even thinner. I said, “Well, you could cut your leg off.” I was serious. I was also fired because of it.

The Obsession with Weight Loss

I’ve been in the fitness world for two decades, and I never stop hearing a common refrain: how can I lose more weight? Many of us Westerners have developed a ‘skinny’ fetish. Even I fell prey to that at one time.

I’m 135 pounds now, which looks right on my frame. But I’ve been both 160, and 115 pounds, at 5’8”, and with my medium build, I’m not meant to be that big…or that small. I got there by going through a horrible breakup, and not eating much for months.

Yet all I heard was “Oh my God! What did you do? Your body looks amazing.” Ummmmm, I’m starving and sad. But thanks.

Controlling Versus Nourishing Your Body

I see so many clients punishing themselves by overly restricting their diets, or going to yoga or the gym out of a suffocating need to control their bodies, instead of eating to nourish themselves with pleasure, or hitting the mat or spin class because of the pure joy and sensuality of being able to express oneself through movement.

These days we don’t enjoy; the workouts we hate and the moments we push ourselves into aggression are lost opportunities to look after ourselves as we are asking anyone else to do for us, and for themselves.

It’s time to practice what we preach, whether that’s getting off the couch and tossing the unhealthy habits, or pulling back from overwork on any level.

Feel as Good as You Look

These days, I’m an advocate for feeling as good as you look, which may mean thinner for some and juicier for others. But it means that you’ve become an advocate of Self, and along with it, a commitment to radical self-care.

We’re women and men. We are not clothes hangers. Fitness matters, but along with proper fitness comes a metabolism that works—a detoxified, clean system, and the energetic, sustainable glow that means that you’re as strong and healthy as you are toned and lean…for your frame, and your preferred lifestyle.

These days, I’m just as likely to have fries or glass of Pinot Noir as I am to drink the green juice. But I balance—I work out smarter, not harder, and I’m neither too heavy nor too light. I’m happy, I’m hot…and I’m free.

Healthy is the new skinny. Jump on board! This ride is way more fun.

Image credit: Tony Felgueiras / Yogi: Sadie Nardini

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