Obsessing Over The Details…

Life is all about balance, and the further I go forward, the more I realise how important it is.

When changing to a new dietary regime, or incorporating more raw foods into our diets, sometimes we can get caught up in the little details instead of seeing the overall big picture – and this is where we can lose our balance and fall into stress.

I have had many a person who is in the transition phase of their dietary changes, call or e-mail about one small aspect that has them in a spin, obsessing about whether this one tiny element could be the culprit that ruins everything for them.

One instance that comes to mind is a lady who couldn’t decide whether to have a small amount of Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt in her diet.  She studied the research, looked up different literature, read books on the subject, and became more and more confused about the conflicting advice she found.  But instead of looking at the big picture of what role the salt would play in her whole diet and lifestyle (a pinch here and there in some raw food recipes), she was convinced that this one thing could have a potentially detrimental affect on her long term health and she HAD to know whether it was good for her or not…

Now this is a question that I think would be more suitable for a dedicated long-term purist to ask – and be able to gauge the answer from the state of his or her health and response to the addition or removal of this element in the diet.

However it is not really a question that needs to be obsessed over by someone in the throes of changing from a typically normal diet full of processed foods, lots of meat, bread and dairy, to one that is more healthful.  Let’s get the big changes out of the way first, before we worry about the minor details.

This is why my tagline is “Healing is a journey, not just a raw food diet” because there are so many factors that can impact our health, and I don’t believe that obsessing on the minor details is healthy.  At different stages of healing, deeper questions will need to be asked about what is appropriate at that level and for whatever signs and symptoms may be showing.

But on the whole, for most people, the drive for absolute perfection is only going to drive them crazy.

Look at the long term goals, but don’t be afraid of getting there step by step, rather than taking a giant leap that causes you to lose balance. Make changes bit by bit, use how your body feels as a guide along the way, and RELAX, stress can kill you, you know!

Leisa