My chronic lack of motivation to wash my face at bedtime continued until I started working to lose weight. Now, I am a licensed nurse practitioner who specializes in weight loss, so my personal weight loss came naturally and easily. Riiiiight. It was as natural as my artificially colored red hair. I struggled to make progress and encountered the same setbacks my patients have described, until I discovered a secret sauce.

In my younger years I was able to take off on a jog or jump into a workout with little to no stretching, but as I have aged that has changed. In order to have adequate range of motion and prevent injuries I have to work on flexibility and mobility. That means I must stretch before and after I exercise. Skimping on stretching will mean I cannot move like I need to during the workout and I may find myself nursing a strain or cramp afterward. In fact, stretching has become more important than the workout itself, as I aim to protect my aging joints and maintain healthy bones.

What does spiritual health look like? I think it’s revealed in the same way physical health is: through our fitness, wellness, and capabilities. The physically fit individual can do what needs to be done, and feel well doing it. Practically speaking, the physically fit person can take out the garbage without feeling out of breath. So, the spiritually fit individual can do spiritual things and feel well doing them. They can live in this world but know they are not defined by it. They allow the Holy Spirit within them to be evident in their actions. They flex the spiritual muscles of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control because they have developed them through regular habits.

We have all lived through the diet fads over the years. First, fat was bad and we all avoided it. Then, the sugar and carbs we added to our low fat foods so they didn’t taste like cardboard got put on the naughty list and protein took the first chair. Although a more balanced diet seems to be coming back into favor, remnants of these fads still remain. Certainly one can see how confusion ensues after all this. As I meet with people to discuss weight loss there is one question I have to address repeatedly: Should I eat fruit? While I do not feel any food should be viewed as entirely “bad,” if there were naughty and nice lists for food, fruit would land toward the top of my nice list. The following are five reasons why we should stop hating on fruit.