No blog post next week, I will be on vacation swimming and hiking.
When I was in college, I took a course on Anthropology and discovered that hunter/ gatherers were lazy. They did not work 40 hour weeks.
"Experts" often give us their opinion that Our Great American Obesity Epidemic is caused by too little activity. We are not moving the way our hunter/gather ancestors did. Except that the activity levels of Hunter/Gatherers and westerners use are apparently the same.
Despite spending their days trekking long distances to forage for wild plants and game, the Hadza burned no more calories each day than adults in the U.S. and Europe. The team ran several analyses accounting for the effects of body weight, body fat percentage, age, and gender. In all analyses, daily energy expenditure among the Hadza hunter-gatherers was indistinguishable from that of Westerners.
Meanwhile Lancet is saying the exact opposite, people aren't exercising enough in the Americas and Europe and it's spreading. Soon people in third world countries might become fat. Oh nos! Maybe they even start having a higher life expectancy. We don't want that to happen!
Despite mentioning both studies, I am not advocating decreasing anyone's activity level. I am merely trying to show two things: one is that the OMG obesity alarmists don't necessarily know what is good or bad for you. To them all fat people are the same regardless of their health or fittness. The second is they don't really know how much exercise is good for you. When I took a class with Ragen Chastain she mentioned how some days you have a lot of energy for exercise and some days you don't. And it's true. Some days I like to walk from the subway (anywhere from 1-3 mile trek depending on the stop) and I can cover those three miles like it's nothing, other days, even the one mile can give me trouble (For me activity later depends a lot of the weather and the amount of sleep). I mentioned a few weeks ago that a small percent of the population doesn't benefit from exercise.
According to an article on Alternet focusing on fitness may be no better than focusing on impossible beauty ideals and may be a class issue (i.e. fitness is for the rich only.)
Beyond body image, there’s also the issue of class and money. Within the pages of fitness publications are hundreds of advertisements for products that we’re told will solve our body woes and make us instantly healthier. The imagery is familiar: the woman who’s ever-so-lightly tanned, blonde-ponytailed, free of body hair, and toting an expensive gym bag full of color-coordinated gear, her legs and abs tightened by hours of private training sessions, Zumba and Pilates. Above all, you know she is upper-class.
I have mentioned before about the victimization of fat people especially poor fat people as people who are too stupid to understand fitness and nutrition. I have also mentioned that I eat fresh organic local vegetables because I can afford them and I get in my most activity during vacation. Everyone has been given a different body and can has their own limit. Not everyone's limits the same. But if we can't exchange body acceptance for healthism.
Oh, and speaking of OMG, I saw a sign on the subway about a new revolution in dieting. It's everything the experts don't want you to know. You should take cold baths, drink black coffee, skip breakfast and in six weeks you will lose 20 lbs.
I'm sure if you follow this diet, you will lose weight. Just as I and 95% of other dieters lose weight in the beginning. Losing weight was never a problem. The first twenty pounds came off quickly until my body said "What the fuck are you doing?"
Even the author of these book has claimed this is not life style changes but merely just to lose weight quick. (BTW, I am not mentioning this book by name because I don't want to give it publicity).
It will be quick and as will the weight regain plus more.
To me and anyone who accepts their size big or small, we will look at this and say it's another crappy fad diet, the same as all the others, but the book is marketed to teens and young adults who have the highest rates of eating disorders which makes it not just a piece of crap but dangerous.
I understand experts may say different things and they may not not what is good and bad for us, but I don't think we as individuals know either. We know what our bodies want, but we don't always know what our bodies need. Sometimes I feel like working out and sometimes I don't. Sometimes when I don't and I feel sluggish, I start anyway and then I suddenly become more into it. Those are often the best times for me because it pulls me out of a sluggish/couch potato feeling. Some days it doesn't happen though and I quit for that day. Either way, I try to stay pretty active. I have a physically demanding job that requires fast walking, heavy lifting, and absolutely no sitting or standing still. There's never a day at work where I don't sweat, so I consider that part of my daily workout. I also do hoop dancing, zumba, and my own work outs I do privately. I don't diet or do anything to lose weight, but I do these to stay healthy. I don't exactly know how much exercise is best for me either, but I take comfort in knowing every little bit is better than nothing.
Posted by: Ashley | July 30, 2012 at 10:17 PM
When I saw the title of your post, my first reaction was, "Is there such a thing as an INTELLIGENT weight loss diet?" I haven't seen such a creature :)
Posted by: Jeanne Courtney | August 12, 2012 at 03:29 AM