The body is the house of the self, the only thing we own. We decide how we treat it, if we nurture, caress and protect it, or if we abuse, poison and mistreat it. It is the only thing that will go with us when we leave. It is the only thing that carries us through life. It is not our enemy, but the only form of existence that we have, that we are bound to and that we can rely on. There is no mind without a body.
We have to deal with the body the way it is, the way we were born. The only problem is a unique human characteristic: we can harm ourselves on purpose. The mind makes the rules, and the body has to follow. The body will protest if we treat it badly, but if the mind is determined, there is nothing the body can do. But if we treat it right, it will thank us with all the energy that lives within it.
On the other hand, the body is not wise. It acts on impulse. If the mind does not give a direction, and the body takes over, we are unable to navigate through life. Because the body impulses are constantly changing. We become the slaves of our impulses, which might feel good on the short-run, but can harm us in a way that we cannot recover in the end.
So we are forced to decide all the time, what we allow us to do and what we better not do to protect us.