Are we getting fatter or are we fat? The response is ‘ Yes’
Why are we getting fat or overweight? We are getting fatter than what we were decades/ centuries ago, due to poor diet and lack of physical activity.
The role of health professionals, government, etc is to educate, not regulate and force someone to lead the lives that we know is better for them. It is equivalent to the rebellious teenager. The harder you push, the more they pull away. The health professionals have a responsibility to provide healthy alternatives, but we cannot bully society. There will always be a segment of the population that will defy logic and sit on the couch with a bag of chips in one hand and a giant soda in the other.
We need to get people more interested in eating better and exercising regularly. In this internet-driven, Facebook-posting, Tweeting, instant gratification world that we live in, we need to get people to focus on the immediate benefits of losing weight. Trying to convince someone that they need to lose weight or they will suffer from heart disease or diabetes somewhere down the road just does not connect with a lot of people. Most people live for now and do not think or plan ahead. And let’s face it; most of us have the attention span of a two-year old.
Quick weight loss should not be and cannot be done, as it is not healthy for any person. Weight loss should be by change in life style, more particularly one’s diet and exercise.
When you have the immediate after-work out effect, you also have the day to day benefit. You not only feel physically better, but mentally as well. There is no bigger motivator than feeling good about yourself. It is very empowering. And when you couple the exercise by starting to change their eating habits, any guilty feelings start to fade away.
You will experience less stress or at least report being able to deal with it better. Besides, you should get a better night’s sleep. Regular physical activity has been shown to improve sleep patterns.
If we focus on some of the more intangibles, the weight loss will come along with time and lead to a healthier society. So can we agree to drop the stats and studies laced with medical jargon and just focus on benefits that anyone can relate to?
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