Chapter Four
Your Body
Out of Your Control and You Can Influence
Your mind lives in your physical body.
The physical bodies that people are born with vary quite a bit. Your physical traits are also partly predetermined and partly able to be influenced.
Some physical traits that are predetermined and out of your control are:
- Your height
- Your bone and frame size
- Your skin and eye colors
- Your facial features
- The "given" part of your metabolism
- Your predispositions to some health conditions
Throughout your life, you can influence your predetermined physical traits with:
- Your eating habits - which influence your health
- Your exercise habits - which modify your "given" metabolism
- Cosmetic enhancements and surgeries
- The style of clothing you wear
- The care you take of yourself concerning potential health conditions
You may be genetically prone to develop a particular illness. This is called a predisposition. However, whether or not you actually develop that illness, and whether or not you can manage it if you do develop it, might be at least partly influenced by your diet and the care you take of your body. Some factors that influence your health are the types and amounts of food you consume and your activity level. Other factors that can negatively affect your health include excessive exposure to direct sunlight and/or harmful chemicals, smoking, drug usage, excessive alcohol consumption, etc.
Certain people have medical conditions that may cause them to be heavier than their diets should otherwise result in. On the other hand, some people may be "given" higher metabolisms than others. However, muscle mass can increase your metabolism. Regardless of your metabolic rate, if you manage your food intake to be in proportion with the physical energy you exert each day, you'd likely be at an appropriate weight. This is true whether genetics makes your appropriate size a 2 or a 20. (Again, people with related medical conditions may be exceptions.) Lean - adequate muscle mass and minimal body fat - is healthy and attractive on any size person.
The body you're given and the ultimate potential of your mind may be predetermined and out of your control. However, what you do with what you're given is very much within your control.