The Media Loves Confusion!

This is a great little blog post from a trainer I've learned so much from and admire greatly.

Well said.

http://brettklika.com/the-media-loves-confusion/

The Media Loves Confusion
Brett Klika C.S.C.S.

Take health information, for example.
One week eggs give you atomic cancer, the next they are the perfect protein.  Dr. Cooper told us to run all day every day at a low intensity, now we’re supposed to sprint and lift weights or our bones may disintegrate.
According to the Journal of American Medical Association, over 1/3 of us have become obese trying to keep up with the information roller coaster.
Following the above statistic, about 35% of Americans are at significantly greater risk of a variety of health problems and a decreased quality of life due to excess bodyweight.
What’s to blame? Is it the eggs?  It must be the meat.  The wrong workout routine? Ah yes, gluten was sent from the planet GLUH-TON 4 to kill us all!
Just for a moment, let’s call of the dogs and apply some common sense to the problem.
Research on the human genome suggests our DNA and resulting physiological and metabolic make-up hasn’t changed from the earliest recovered samples, estimated to be about 40,000 years old.
Despite skyscrapers, automobiles, cell phones, and Hot Pockets, our physiology is designed to work the same way as the earliest humans.  Are we using and fueling our machine the way is was designed to be used and fueled?
Anthropologists estimate our hunger-gatherer relatives walked and moved about 13+ miles a day to get food and avoid being eaten by bears.  According to the Archives of Internal Medicine, the average American is completely inactive for 11 hours per day.  35% of Americans lead completely inactive lifestyles; about 35% of Americans are obese.  Hmmm.
One doesn’t need to be a PhD to see the disconnect here.
We have a body that is designed to move, but we don’t.  Sitting more than 11 hours a day appears to increase the likelihood of death and disease by about 40%.  Our physiology needs to hunt and gather.  We sit and, well, sit.
It appears that in contrast to ancient man, we should be fearing chairs more than bears.
From a nutritional standpoint, our ancestors ate food to fuel physical work.  Researchers claim they appeared to have a palate, enjoying certain foods over others. Food was used ceremonially and even consumed during leisure.  However, the relative scarcity of food and the reliance on quality energy for daily survival created a natural balance between fuel supply, quality, and demand.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Americans eat more calories per day than we ever have, despite having low demands for fuel due to inactivity.   Again, a blatant disconnect.
Of more concern than total calories is where these calories come from.  The USDA estimates we consume about 3 pounds of sugar per person per week! Seriously! (I won a bet with my wife on that one! She said there was no way that could be true! Look it up!) Sugar, void of nutritional value, makes up 1/3 of our plate every time we eat.
Our genome requires foods with a high nutritional value for our physiological systems to work correctly.  Again, we’re not providing it with that.  Would we be here today if thousands of years ago 1/3 of our diet was maple syrup?
Our survival circuitry wants us to move and consume quality fuel. Create a lifestyle where you move more.  Make it a priority to take stairs, go for walks, and stand up.  Do all of the above quickly and for a sustained amount of time whenever possible.  Eat as many foods as you can that don’t have added ingredients like sugar and other stuff you can’t pronounce.  Better yet, grow whatever you are able to.  If you don’t know what something is, don’t eat it.
Create less confusion by using more common sense!