Our Convenient Lives

I was on my elliptical this morning sweating away and bouncing to my music when I thought of Oprah. Oprah has said many times how she hates exercise but has to do it to stay thin. Guests on her show have had the same opinion - that exercise is to be despised and grudgingly completed in order to be healthy.

While I don't dispute that exercise is important to being healthy, I do disagree with the idea that it should be hated. Our bodies seem to be made to move. Throughout our history we can be found walking, hunting and building. We used our bodies daily. There was little rest or relaxation. With industrialization came convenience. Suddenly things could be made without using as much of our physical selves. We could use transportation different than our feet and hunting became less and less of a necessity and more and more of a sport. Now enter the twentieth century. We don't walk very far, we drive. Our jobs are not physically demanding, they are desk jobs. And of course there are jobs out there that make people sweat - mine is one of them. But by far and large we have built a world of convenience where we don't have to exert any energy to get things done.

Food has also changed drastically. We used to eat fresh meat, fruit and vegetables. Baked items were generally made at home with ingredients that are natural like flour, sugar and eggs. Now baked goods are purchased in a grocery store with ingredients that are almost unpronounceable. All kinds of natural ingredients are removed from items to make them fat free or low sodium. But then the manufacturers add ingredients so the fat free items still feel good in our mouths and the low sodium stuff still tastes good. But...is this real food? Or is it just a compilation of chemicals made into something we are told to eat? And what does our body do with all this fake food? It tries to run efficiently of course, but often fails and diseases arrive and take hold.

So here we are in the twenty-first century eating fake food and moving far less. No wonder the population is getting more obese. We are slowly destroying ourselves by ignoring our body's basic needs for food and movement.

In my opinion, any food with unnatural ingredients should be sold under a label that says it's imitation food. That way people are fully aware that they are eating something that isn't food, that the body doesn't process easily and that could harm us. All diet foods fall into this category as they are nothing but man-made chemicals with a bit of real food added in.

And back to exercise - our bodies are designed to move and we have created an environment that makes movement unnecessary. Instead of hating the idea of sweating - why not just try moving more that you do right now? Although increasing your heart rate is very important, simply moving more than usual will have tremendous results. Associate exercise with pleasure. Find something enjoyable and do it. I like my elliptical. It's low impact and has programmed intensity changes. I also love walking and swimming. Is there anything you like to do? Anything at all? Instead of thinking of exercise as a hateful chore, try thinking of it as something that could bring you pleasure. Try new things and see what you like.

Just my two cents.