
Moderation: The Key to Everything
What if moderation was the key to everything from finances, food consumption, exercise, learning, sleep, stress, & even spirituality? This article could be a very quick article if we simply said that “moderation may be the key to everything” but lets dig deeper. If you are familiar with the story of the Three Little Bears where Goldilocks was trying out beds; one was to soft, one was too hard and one was perfect. The perfect bed represents moderation, a dichotomy between over consumption and under consumption or in the case of Goldilocks over stability (too hard) & under stability (too soft). In addition take a look at the story of the Three Little Pigs and realize that sometimes some things need to be ironclad. As the story goes the house’s made of sticks and straw were too easily knocked down but the house of brick stood the test of time.
What do these stories have to do with improving my health and fitness? Formal Fitness Training continues to try and find ways to improve all aspects of your life not just in health and fitness & sometimes that is best done through descriptive story representations.
For the case of this blog “Goldilocks” will represent moderation principles to improve your life and we will use the “Brick-house” from the Three Little Pigs to represent things that you must be diligent about.
Ready or not; here we go!
The Goldilocks section:
Here are the items where I believe that moderation is key. Caffeine, alcohol, stress, weight training, sleeping, “unhealthy” foods, splurging on something you desire, cardio, dieting & periods of excessive work. Caffeine seems to be good for you especially coffee with a few cups per day, but it is safe to say that ten cups per day may have some negative consequences. The same can be said with alcohol one or two drinks per day seem to be healthy based on research but five or six drinks every day per week may have some long term consequences. Now if you have caffeine sensitivities or alcohol abuse issues it may make sense to completely abstain.
Stress, less sleep and periods of excessive work can actually be a good thing if it gets you to your long-term goals but if done repeatedly could lead to health problems.
Unhealthy foods and splurging on something you want are OK if you do it a few times per month but with Amazon and everything at our fingertips we can get fast food and boxes delivered every day of the week we must pay attention to what we are doing & spending.
Weight training, cardio & dieting can get you to your goals and build a hard body but to me lifting weights should be no more than five days per week (same with cardio) and extreme dieting should only be utilized for a few weeks at a time to prevent plateaus and the risk of deteriorating metabolism and cellular health.
Everything will have a cause and effect so you must remember to balance things out if you decide you want to pursue any of these things in excess for a period of time making sure the long term consequence will not outweigh the short term gain or loss if you are talking about weight loss and dieting.
The Three Little Pigs section:
Now I will go into the things that I feel should be more fixed and not moderated. Water consumption, vitamin and mineral consumption, mental health, flexibility, learning, movement, & faith. Staying diligent with these should lead to an improved life.
These items require the “brick” mentality to help protect yourself from outside evils (sickness, dehydration, headaches, in-flexibility, lack of personal growth, stiff joints and ligaments, and frustration).
Drinking a gallon of clean water along with eating five to seven colors of fruits and vegetables per day will cover your water and vitamin & mineral part. Taking a walk each day and stretching after will take care of movement help with mental health and also contribute to flexibility. I believe that learning something new daily and believing in something greater than yourself is vital. Believe in something that makes you stronger spiritually! Combined with generally getting good sleep & minimizing stress will progress you to a well balanced life.
Is moderation the key to everything?
It certainly might be; this blog may shed some light on things you could be doing differently to create balance over time. Consistent efforts will lead to consistent results. Whether saving a few bucks per week for retirement, doing more physical activity or eating additional fruits and vegetables keep making those deposits and you will continue to earn the dividends & interest in your life as you continue to thrive!
Onward and upward always,
Mike