I am currently sitting in a hospital waiting room. The condition of the people I am surrounded by is genuinely frightening to me. Everywhere I look I see obesity, poor posture and bad skin – and that’s just the children.
A cheeky live-wire, no more than 18 months, has a mouth that is surrounded with red blotches. Her mother, who must weigh in excess of 120 kilos, has a scar on her chest that looks to me like the aftermath of open heart surgery. If I had to guess her age, I’d say that she is about 23.
What disturbs me even more is that I am willing to bet I am the only person here who has noticed the full extent of the poor health currently on display. Herein lies a fundamental reason behind ‘the problem’ as I see it – a combination of hoodwinking and subliminal conditioning by the powers of commercialism (in particular those behind the food, pharmaceutical and indeed health and fitness industries) and our own human predisposition to the twin-sins of complacency and apathy has given life to a blind acceptance of our circumstances. Indeed, in many cases, these barely register, as individuals spend their entire lives oblivious to the harm that their diet and lifestyle choices cause them. After all, why go against the flow when it’s more comfortable to be swept along by what is deemed to be ‘normal’?
In a minute, my name will be called and I will be sat down by the charmingly avuncular yet formal ophthalmologist that I have been seeing for the past two and a half years. In his soft Irish tones, he will inform me that the recurrent corneal erosion syndrome that afflicts my right eye is incurable. Bummer – when it flares up, which is at least once a week, it hurts like a hell. However, as unpleasant as that is, it’s a manageable condition. I comfort myself with the knowledge that it was the result of an injury and that nothing I could’ve done would have altered the way it’s panned out – it is good for the soul, I think, to accept things that we have no control over. However, a certain unease takes a hold as the following idea forms “Sure. But what about when we accept the things that hurt us that we DO have the power to control?”
Here’s a list of scenarios that happen with such ubiquitous regularity in our ‘advanced’ 2013 universe that they can be categorised as ‘normal’ (and therefore acceptable – in the true sense of that word):
Generations of people raised, in the main, on artificial, processed, heavily contaminated food that is full of sugar – normal.
A 10 year old football and X-Box enthusiast (guess which one he spends more time playing..) walking around with stooped shoulders – normal.
A morbidly obese young woman giving birth after a planned pregnancy – normal.
The copious consumption of disease and social breakdown creating alcohol as an accepted part of the fabric of our culture – normal.
Millions of adults and children inhaling the toxic fumes of tobacco every day – normal.
(At the risk of labouring the point!) Children ‘nourished’ with oven cooked frozen garbage and sugary drinks containing a zillion weird ingredients – normal.
Increases in cases of diabetes and heart disease – normal.
Father of three having a triple bypass at 50 – normal.
Mental illness, depression and suicide rates at an all time high – normal.
Everybody knowing at least one person who has had or died from cancer – normal.
There is of course a yin to this yang – the obsession with aesthetics that confuses itself with the pursuit of ‘health’:
Quick-fix, extreme measures such as drastically calorie restricted, metabolism destroying diets – normal.
Women walking around with painfully thin limbs – normal.
Men taking steroids – normal.
The proliferation of eating disorders – normal.
The sad irony here is that those who focus on being healthy, strong and athletic end up looking fantastic anyway – the human body at its peak wouldn’t look any other way.
This is not to point the finger of blame or attempt to create feelings of shame, inadequacy or indeed offence. It is merely an OBSERVATION. An observation that, in my opinion, needs to be made by more people and screamed from every rooftop. These things are surely intrinsically linked – it can not be by chance that the corrosion of our quality of nutrition, movement and emotional well-being (‘stress’ – does that word mean something to you?) has coincided with the corrosion of human health as a whole.
The public consciousness is, by and large, oblivious to the bigger picture. It reminds me of the brilliant science fiction film ‘The Matrix’ where the human race is enslaved by machines and ‘pacified’ through the transmission into each human mind of a false reality. As long as the mind is unaware of the awful truth it blindly accepts the illusion and lives in contentment. However, ‘unplug’ that mind from it’s pseudo-bliss and it becomes able to take responsibility and fight for it’s right to a free life lived on it’s own terms. Science fiction, it seems, is an artistic take on science fact.
Which brings me to my next and most important point. My attempt to ‘unplug’ you from ‘The Matrix’:
Your mind may be living in the fantasy of a world where the accumulative effect of your daily lifestyle choices have no repercussions but your body isn’t.
An awakening of consciousness is what’s required – awareness being the all-important first step. Next comes education. The information is out there but it’s buried beneath the multiple layers of misinformation and ridiculous misnomers that have lodged themselves in conventional media and public information sources over many, many years. Much of it is based on flawed, archaic science. Much of it is pure jibber-jabber nonsense. The effect is an extended menu of incorrect practices and philosophies for the health-conscious to choose from/waste their precious time and effort following. Not good! Here’s a few to start you thinking:
The false belief that performing cardio is the most effective way to train for fat-loss.
The ‘more is better ethos’ e.g. “I did an hour on the treadmill, then did 200 bodyweight squats, 100 crunches and then finished with 30 minutes on the stepper. Slim and sexy body here I come. Woohoo!” Hmmm…
Women scared of using weights because they think they will turn into Arnie.
Endless abdominal work – sit-ups, crunches, dumbass machines that claim to melt away belly flab – in the vain hope that it will ‘tone up’ the midriff.
‘Whole grains’ are good for you and the human body needs them. (tell that to any number of indigenous people around the globe whose diet is free from ‘whole grains’ and yet are in better health than you)
Drinking fruit juice is a great way to get your full quota of antioxidants (aye, a great way to load yourself up with huge amounts of damaging sugar too)
Dietary fat, not sugar, is responsible for high levels of body fat – could this be the biggest misnomer of them all?
‘Low fat’ food options are good for you and will help you become slim – as above!
The ‘X’ Diet and ‘X’ training programme worked for ‘X’ so it will work for me too.
As I mentioned earlier, this article is, in the main, merely an observation – a vignette of why I have chosen my career and how I define it’s purpose. Have I behaved in any of the ways I have described? You bet I have and still do. It’s an awakening to the observation that I’m advocating not living like a monk from this day forward. Where that can lead is, I believe, incredibly far-reaching in it’s power to bend and shape our futures – physically, emotionally and mentally. And if, like me, you believe in that sort of thing, in a spiritual sense too.
Learn how to heal, protect and nourish yourself with the astonishing myriad of benefits that come from moving, eating and living well – it will be the single best lifestyle choice you will ever make.