Its said that you are what you eat. While I have long told my customers that if that is true then the last thing you should want to be is cheap, fast and easy.
I know, from my own personal experience, that despite what “experts” may say, when I eat better food choices I not only feel better but I look better too. For many who come to us as clients their main goal is to lose weight. While I agree that losing weight is a healthy choice for many and also comes with its own set of psychologically beneficial returns, is losing weight the be all and end all goal of an eating plan?
I think its important that health and fitness be recognised as two facets to an intelligent eating plan. Health refers to how often someone is sick, the condition of their skin, hair and nails. It is linked with lifestyle factors such as the amount of alcohol drunk, hour slept each night and overall training versus recovery strategies. Fitness, on the other hand, refers only to specific muscular traits that the body can exhibit – speed, power, strength, aerobic endurance, etc. It is entirely possible that single mindedly pursuing fitness will not lead to health. For an example, check out this post: http://relentlesspt.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/weekend-with-a-world-champ/ It details a weekend I spent with an Australian sporting hero, Rob de Castella. Rob was quite open about how despite being fitter when racing, he now considers himself to be healthier. This has come about through a combination of diet and exercise changes of the years.
Looking at some of the popular “diets” around it seems that all modern culture cares about is the end result.
Take the Lemon Detox Diet as an example (Please note, I hate, absolutely hate, giving any more press to bad ideas, but there is simply no other way…): It’s main premise is that if you drink their drink for a period of 7-14 days you’ll lose weight. I don’t know why people seem to think that this is so gosh darn clever – I can personally guarantee you that if you don’t eat for 7-14 days you will lose weight! I’m going to call this the Andrew Read POW Diet.
Just so everyone can get an idea of what can eventually occur if calories are restricted for long periods of time, check out some of these problems which were found in service men who had indeed been interred in a POW camp during any war since WWII:
- “Mussulman” – atrophied body, loss of muscle tissue, sores, ulcers, limited or no growth of hair or nails.
- Beri beri – inflammation of feet, nerve inflammation, optic atrophy (reduced eye sight and ability to operate the eyes), heart disease leading to death.
- Liver damage led by change in fatty acid profiles in the liver, higher incidence of hepatitis, cirrhosis and even gynecomastia (growth of breast tissue).
- Extreme dermatitis.
- Lowering of primary sex hormones leading to “castration syndrome”.
- Increased incidences of intestinal and stomach parasites.
Now, I’m not suggesting that some of these things, such as the intestinal bugs, weren’t also caused by the squalid conditions that people were forced to live in, but in my opinion it is pretty clear to see that a diet that just focuses on calorie restriction is not such a smart way to go. Yet, this is precisely what the manufacturers and marketers of the Lemon Detox Diet have done. They produce a cheap citric based potion to drink and people lose weight.
But is it healthy?
There are many famous diets that all seem to work – if followed correctly the victim will lose weight. But at what cost? I can personally say that the idea of lowering my testosterone output bothers me, as does ending up with any kind of skin problem such as ulcerated sores simply from trying to have a six-pack.
Like with most things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. A diet that promises astonishing weight loss results in the short term can not be healthy for you in the long term. If you are what you eat the choice is simple. I want to be fresh, healthy and free of chemicals. I don’t want to be starved, laced with a deadly cocktail of chemicals, cheap and convenient.
For the next instalment on this series you’ll have to go to www.ptreference.comto read all about the chemicals that are in the foods we eat, why some foods should always be bought organically and why grass fed, free range beef is the healthiest thing you can put in your body.
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