[Michelle]

Could it be your body type is just such that your healthy weight is slightly above the weight charts?

Perhaps. But my body tells me she would feel better if I would let her be a little less leavy.

Healthy eating is something everyone should be doing, no matter our weight.

"Should" statements are always a problem because they thrust guilt and failure upon everyone who isn't doing that thing. They don't really help.

No, you still need basic nutrition. You could've been the happiest pirate sailing the high seas, but happy or not, most of them had scurvy from lack of vitamin C. A really optimistic & content young man in victorian England might feel happy with what the has, but if his job was to work in the mines through all daylight hours, he's sure to get rickets from lack of Vit D. The basic rules of nutrition apply to everyone.

Lots of junk foods are "fortified". "Basic nutrition" also comes in the form of a pill these days. People can keep themselves alive these days in many ways. Are they really healthy? Are they really living?

But most body builders also eat a high meat diet, which is strongly linked to high blood pressure. Salt intake is also a risk factor, which people overdo and not realize.

There are studies which claim the exact opposite. There are studies which have proven low carb high meat/fat diets in no way adversely affect cardiovascular health. No one has come up with a real answer yet.

For example, look at some of the extremist religions. The parents deny their kids basic things such as blood transfusions because the parents "love" the child and believe it'll earn the child a better place in heaven. What it ends up doing is killing, should Junior get in a car accident and lose a lot of blood.

I really try not to judge other people's choices, but it is clear that many people who believe they are acting in love simply aren't. Manipulation, fear, control are all things people like to label as love. In the end, real love does no harm so I'd have to say that the people in the above example are acting outside the boundaries of love.

I don't know. To some people, the path of least resistance is apathy and sloth. These are the people who don't want to try doing anything for fear of failing, claiming they just want to 'go with the flow'. Simply existing without taking an active role in one's own health and happiness seems like it could fail.

See, I'm someone who thinks it is absolutely okay for someone to lay around all the time if that brings them joy. Follow your bliss!

You seem to be saying if one has a great outlook, health will follow.

Absolutely not. Denial gets no one anywhere. I'm saying we should change our focus from fixing perceived outer problems and start from the inside out.