It seems that the health of the United States has decreased quite dramatically over this last decade. This decline has likely been going on longer than that, however, we have slipped into a lousy way of taking care of ourselves properly. Our society is consumed with eating, almost as if it has become an overwhelming addiction. I suppose that eating is an addiction, because we regularly do consume food and drinks, however, it has fast become a huge issue. Every time I visit a restaurant, I am amazed at how big the serving sizes have become. How have we become so gluttonous as a species? While many parts of the world are still trying to find enough food to thrive? The priorities of our human population have certainly become misaligned. Overeating has never truly been viewed as a bad habit, especially if you compare it to drug and alcohol use; in essence, this indulgence with consumption of food has gone under the radar because of all the other major issues across the nation and the globe.
Other major problems with our food chain have recently come to light and has been adding to the addiction of consumption. Food companies have basically changed much of our food supply by tinkering with the genetics of food growth and adding ingredients that create an addiction to certain items. The biggest additives have been sugar and artificial sweeteners, which, are very addictive. The sad part about adding sugars to almost every food item that is processed, is that sugar is not a requirement for body nutrition. Our ancestors did not have sugar in their diets, and they did just fine, but now that we have had sugars in our food supply since our birth, we are now addicted to this substance. Try a diet without sugar sometime, and you will find out just how much sugar is included in foods, and how many items have sugar in them. I found out how terrible fructose and artificial sugars are when I watched a video by a well know scientist; basically, fructose is just as bad for you as going on an alcoholic drinking binge. The human body has no idea what to do with this substance, and results in insulin resistance and diabetes, to name a few health problems.
I could go on for awhile about the problems with our food supply, however, I wanted to get to the meaning behind the title of this article: “Is Good Health Simpler Than We Thought?”. The picture I included at the top of this article is from the refrigerator in my home. My stepson was informed by his doctor that he should concentrate on losing some weight; when he came home, he wrote the simple statement “No Eaty Too Muchy” on the habit tracking calendar. I really began to think about this simple sentence and wondered why we are making weight management so hard. In the mind of a young teenager, it is just simple math, just eat less food! I fully understand that what someone eats is important, but certainly eating less can clearly help us maintain a healthy weight. Why do we have to indulge in complicated and expensive diet plans and programs when we can just reduce how much we eat? It also does not hurt to get a new pair of walking or running shoes and actually use them for the intended purpose. A person does not have to spend a lot of money on a trainer and a gym to improve their health; studies have been conducted that demonstrate the enormous health benefits to just getting out a walking for a couple of hours a week!
I am not trying to drive anyone out of business, because I am a fitness trainer as well; however, let’s get back to the simplicity of health, eat less, exercise more, and pay attention to wha you are eating. I am certain that you will totally be amazed at the results of this teenager mindset for losing weight!
