I think it would be safe to assume that most people understand the
importance of exercise and eating some sort of healthy diet to maintain their
overall health. I highly doubt anyone would argue that eating fast food, junk
food, and sitting on the couch is actually the best way to stay healthy. If
this is truly the case, then why is it so difficult for people to get in shape
and stay in shape? What is so strong to pull the majority of the population the
wrong way? And why isn’t it the other way around?
Imagine if everyone had a natural tendency to exercise and eat healthy
foods, and the less they paid attention to exercise and diet the more they
exercised, and the healthier their diets got? I see no reason why this couldn’t
be the case if our society were structured differently. What if you were given
tax breaks for keeping your blood cholesterol in a healthy range. What if you
were given some sort of bonus for eating all your fruits and vegetables in a
given week. And what if there was some sort of health savings plan that
rewarded you for every 30 minutes of exercise you did. This could get the whole
population healthy in a hurry. It would seem that the only real way to get
people to take action always come down to the bottom line, money.
This obviously isn’t the case so we need to deal with the society we are
currently living in. And make no mistake; this society is not designed to help
you out at all when it comes to getting in shape and staying in shape. Food
marketing, food laws, a lack of financial interest in exercising, and the
quickening pace of society make personal health and staying in shape one of the
biggest challenges in anyone’s life. It really seems like all the cards are
stacked against you. Think of how often you are tempted to indulge in unhealthy
foods in a day, and how little you are tempted to eat right and workout.
The amount of marketing and misinformation that we are exposed to in a
day make it next to impossible for most people to really understand what to
eat. Even people trained in nutrition still need to learn more than a
university degree has to offer before they can start making truly informed
choices about what to eat.
For starters most people in North America are faced with hundreds of food
marketing messages every day. We are also faced with an unlimited number of
food choices, most of which are not what I would consider healthy. The
situation doesn’t get any better when you look to the government for help. Most
government regulated health claims, and labeling claims are heavily lobbied
for, and do more to confuse the end consumer than educate them.
So as far as food goes, you’re basically left on your own to figure out
what you should and shouldn’t eat. To make a truly informed decision about food
you would need to be educated in all of the following fields, basic nutrition,
food processing, food marketing, food manufacturing, and the worst of all,
government regulation of food. This is an impossible task for most, leaving you
at the mercy of those who control each of these industries.
So where do you turn to for advice about what to eat? Certainly not the
food industry, as their main goal is profit, not your health. The government?
Nope, their hopelessly being lobbied and persuaded by industry to keep the
profit mill churning along. At best you will get a cryptic message that never
takes a stand one way or the other and ends up leaving the decision making and
responsibility for your health squarely on your shoulders. All the while
allowing the food industry to poke at you, and tease you and persuade you as
much as possible to eat more of their greatest new products.
John Barban is the
Author of the Adonis Index Workout, a specific method for building a guy’s body
into its most attractive shape: the shape women find attractive and that
creates social dominance with men. Go to Adonis Index Workout and
get started on your road to a perfectly proportioned body so start building the
body women want.
