*The Route 56 Challenge: Day 29*
I often wonder why year after year, millions and millions of people continue to swing and miss with health and wellness. The news media strikes out over and over, too. People begin journeys into fitness with the best intentions and the commitment of a champion, but get lost down rabbit holes of trending exercise programming and painfully roller coaster-like diets of restriction. From my view, the answers to our health problems aren’t as complicated as we’re making them.
A few squats a day will keep the doctor away.
Society’s conversations regarding nutrition often focus on minor details that, considering the pandemic proportions of sickness and obesity in America, seem to be extremely frivolous and misguided. Common statements with regards to nutrition may sound like, “You know what I’m doing is, I’m really trying to cut back. I’m only doing skim milk in my coffee and I don’t snack as much.” To me, the idea that the problem with health in America is in chewing sugar-full gum, and drinking whole milk in our coffee is ridiculous.
Pandemic obesity is not a result of choosing whole eggs over egg whites. It’s not an issue of what size Frappuccino we’re ordering. And, picking white bread over whole wheat sure as hell isn’t what is keeping 190 million overweight.
Why are we willing to get weightless surgery, starve ourself on unrepeatable cleanses, and poke and prod for the next bit of weight-loss advice be we aren’t willing to do the simple, obvious things? Eat real food and stay moving. It never fails, and I’ll bet it will work as long as people are on this Earth.
Not only is the public is the worst “shape” it’s ever been in, we aren’t even taking responsibility for our condition. Let me ask you a question… considering that the first medical journal citing “Coronary thrombosis” (heart attack) was in 1912, how hereditary is your heart disease? Problems like heart disease (America’s #1 killer) are our problems in the truest sense, they aren’t simply the unavoidable facts of life. We have created them and it’s our responsibility to get rid of them.
American's want it "easier."
Maybe it’s not the public’s fault. Maybe they are too enamored with bad information and perception issues. Why then does the media, who have the resources to dig into research, miss the boat when it comes to nutrition, as well?
Why do articles like “Micro-size me, please!” even exist? The article is a treatise on calorie counting and portion control, specifically with regards to fast food restaurants. Guys… Really?
Does anyone else think we are missing the boat when we are theorizing just how much of this stuff we should eat? A McDonald’s Happy Meal is so far from being food that if defies decomposition. Yet, this article encourages folks to be wary that the super-sized meal “adds up to 1,350 calories, nearly 1.5 times the amount of the smaller, more sensible option.”
Yes, they in fact used the words..more sensible option. I would assume logic would defend an argument that less of something horrific is in fact better than more of something horrific, but why are we having this conversation in the first place? Drug rehab facilities don’t offer up advice about more “sensible” serving sizes of heroin for addicts for a reason.
Maybe the media doesn’t have control, either. I firmly believe that it starts at the top, and as long as the government has a foundation in nutrition that not only supports, but encourages a diet of nearly 30% grains, we have no chance. 70.9% of energy in the American diet comes from refrained grains, sugar, processed oils, and dairy. Much of which (except sugar) are within the U.S. My Plate guidelines.
I hope we don’t have to wait until I’m old enough to be President, to grow up as a country. At this rate, we will continue to look for the magic bullet to slim us down and keep us healthy. Cosmopolitan Magazine will continue to write articles like “7 Sneaky Ways to Kill Your Cravings,” because that’s the goal, right? Food is the enemy. Hunger is our biggest fear. God forbid we enjoy our food and have a relationship with it.
I’m coming for you America. I’m not very patient, either. The more we all play along with this perception that everything is OK, the more sick we will become. My suggestion is that we step away from trying to find all the tricks to looking slim and not dying, and start living and thriving the right way. It’s all right there in front of us, hidden in plain sight.
Clean it up!
Logan Gelbrich
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Sunday’s Workout:
-Rest Day-
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