Why aren't North Americans Healthy?
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Why Aren't We Healthy?
Why Aren't North Americans Healthy?
We all know about diet and exercise, don't we? We have
access to a wealth of health information, to exercise equipment and programs of
every imaginable variety, and to healthy food in abundance. So why are
so many of us getting fatter and
more out of shape? No doubt you’ve heard this
statement before: “It’s not about the weight – it’s about being strong and
healthy.” Most people would agree with that statement on an intellectual
basis, but many can't bring themselves to really believe it their heart or
to trust in it as a basis
for daily living.
For most
of us, being healthy
means being at some socially acceptable weight, or fitting into some socially
acceptable (often a too small) size of clothing. For us, a successful
self-image doesn't entail being strong and healthy, it
entails being thin. It doesn't mean trusting in our
body to assume the shape it's meant to assume, it means forcing our body to fit
into a socially determined mold. Many times, we have learned from others,
including our parents, unhelpful messages about food, dieting, the body,
sexuality, beauty, or self-image. And so,
surrounded by bad habits, negative messages, fast food and constant temptation as North Americans are,
our self-image often becomes wrapped up with destructive
living habits, guilt and
negativity. We come to think that we're weak or bad, and that
the only people who can look really good have money, a personal trainer and
nothing else to do all day.
We still want to feel good about ourselves, though, and so,
frustrated, depressed and
confused, we try one quick diet or piece of exercise
equipment after another – thrilling to our brief success
and then plummeting when the trick doesn’t last. We give up dairy products,
carbohydrates, meat, protein, salt, fat, sugar. We eat soup for a week. We eat
nothing but pineapple for a week. We drink “diet” drinks for breakfast
or lunch
and munch on “diet” bars for snacks. We count calories (as best we can). We buy
more books and exercise equipment. When our body says, “I’m
hungry,” we don’t feed it. When it says, “I’m full,” we give it dessert. When it
says, “I want a carrot,” we give it popcorn or a "diet" bar. When it says, “I’m thirsty for
water,” we give it a soft drink. When it wants to work out, we sit down to read
or watch television. When we look at it in the mirror, we criticize it and call
it fat. “I need to work out more,” we say, but then we don’t – or we start off
too quickly and end up hurting ourselves.
For
so many of us, the thinking in
our head about our food, our exercise, our bodies, and our lifestyle is all
wrong – it’s designed to fail us completely, and the lessons that we teach our
children will eventually fail them, too.
Sometimes, a few of
us do manage to develop a proper lifestyle and thought process that keeps us fit and healthy for the rest of
our lives. But lots of us sink into lifestyles
and ways of thinking that are so bad
for us, we end up developing eating
disorders, smoking habits or addictions to “diet” products. And
too many of us,
according to recent statistics, just keep getting bigger, fatter and less
healthy.
Why
don’t the most popular diets and exercise programs work for me? Am I just
weak-willed?
Here’s the truth. Dieting
doesn’t make you healthy – it usually doesn’t even make you thinner. The faddish
diets and exercise programs don’t work for all of us – and we suspect they don’t
work for most of us – because they aren’t what our bodies want and need.
As a society, we
have learned to not trust our bodies because we’ve allowed society to choose an
unhealthy definition of “attractive.” That means that most of us will either be
“successful” and unhealthy, or we’ll be “unsuccessful” and unhappy. Fortunately, we
each have the power to resist what society dictates,
and we can become beautiful AND healthy AND strong AND happy on our own terms.
Here’s another
truth. It isn’t about the weight. It isn’t about the clothes. It’s about eating
properly, exercising sufficiently, and then trusting your body to be whatever it
needs to be.
Resist what the
world tells you is OK for you. What does the world know about you and your body?
Do you want to be a size 6? A size 4?
A size 0? Why? Who chose
this number for you? It’s entirely possible that your body can’t be a size 6 and
be healthy. Maybe your body – when it’s as fit and healthy as it can be – really
needs to be a size 8. Maybe once you’ve lifted weights and strengthened your
arms, your body needs to wear a size 36C bra, not a 34B. A well-muscled body
will be bigger than a skinny body – it also will be healthier, stronger and...as
attractive as you allow yourself to think it is. Trust your body to know what
size you need to be – and trust it to look good when it gets there.
