Those who have worked with me know that I absolutely believe you must “use it or lose it.”  Daily exercise is important.  But I have also been saying for years that there is no amount of exercise that can make up for a poor diet.

The American diet is the worst diet it the entire world.  We know this.  There is data that proves this.  When other countries adopt an American diet, they start to have the same problems we have here:  obesity, heart disease, type II diabetes, cancer, depression, etc. 

A few years ago I took a class called The Economics of Obesity.  It was fascinating.  We examined when the weight and health of the nation took a huge downturn (or upturn in the case of our average weight.)  There is no one single thing that caused this change.  Rather, it was a variety of things.  For example, when women began entering the workforce they were no longer spending half the day in the kitchen preparing healthy meals from scratch.  Instead, they were turning to fast instant meals.  The TV Dinner became very popular.  And over the years food manufacturers came up with thousands of these  “instant” meals.  This was highly processed foodstuff full of preservatives to give it a long shelf life.  People were not eating fresh fruit and veggies anymore. Instead, they ate macaroni and cheese or microwave pizza.

The restaurant industry got onboard with fast food.  Drive thru’s became all the rage.  People wanted everything supersized and the industry responded.  The restaurant industry also discovered that 3 things could make people become addicted to their food:  Salt, Fat & Sugar.  That is why all the “best” items on a menu are loaded with this stuff.  They want you to become addicted and eat more and more.

 

All of this has lead to a country full of fat, sick people.  So now dieting is big business.  Illness is big business.  Look around you and what do you see?

The next time you are watching TV pay attention to the commercials.  Depending upon what time and what show you are watching, you will either see a bunch of commercials for; pizza and fast food, diets and diet products, and pharmaceuticals. 

 

Americans do not want to have to make changes in their diet or lifestyle.  They want a pill for everything.  Over weight, give me a pill.  Diabetes, give me a pill.  Hypertension, give me a pill.  Not sleeping, give me a pill.  It goes on and on.  We are a society of pill poppers.  And, if it can’t be fixed with a pill, then surely there is a quick surgery fix.  We want our instant gratification.  And it is killing us.

 

It is time for people to wake up and take back their health.  Each and every one of us has the power to change our health just by changing our eating habits.  We all have the power to be healthy.  Scientific data supports the theory that nearly every single health issue can be corrected by changing our diet.  Of course, there will be the rare occurrence when someone will have a genetic issue or a cancer that is not diet related, but it is the exception, not the rule.

 

I hear a lot of excuses as to why people can’t eat healthy.  The 2 most common are: 1) I don’t have time.  2) It’s too expensive.
Let’s look at these excuses.  Of course preparing healthy food will take a little longer than going to the drive thru, but look at the long-term results.  Weight control and good health should trump convenience any day of the week.  People don’t figure that out until it is too late.  If you really value your health, and the health of your family, you will find the time to shop for fresh food and prepare healthy meals for yourself and your family.

When people tell me it’s too expensive to eat healthy the first thing I want to know is how many prescription drugs do they take?  And how many over the counter drugs do they take?  And why are they taking these drugs?  Then, I want to know how much money they spend a month on all of these drugs?  Think about the tradeoff of the cost of healthy food vs. the medicine you buy to make you feel good or to control the health issues you have that are a result of your poor diet.  I’ll spend the money on healthy food, thank you very much.

In a country where healthcare is exorbitantly expensive don’t you think we should be trying harder to eat healthy and keep illness at bay?  It is up to the consumer to say, “No more.”  People need to take responsibility for their health and fitness.   They need to take responsibility for what they put in their mouth.  The only way we are going to accomplish this is to get back to eating whole, healthy food. 

 

Want to chat about this? 

Email me at fitgirl121@gmail.com