Misconception of Healthy Living: “If I exercise I can eat whatever I want”

 

 

Live up to your full potential!

 

Have you ever heard someone say, “I exercise so that I can eat whatever I want.” I used to say this all the time and feel really cool that I could say that… and that I could eat whatever I want.

Surprisingly… and I say that as sarcastically as possible….I found out that eating whatever you want, as long as eating whatever you want includes lots of sugar and refined carbohydrates, and really reaching your full potential is not possible.

Over the years, exercise has been at the top of the list of things Americans need to do more of. So much so, that people are really starting to “get it”. People in America have learned how to exercise and they know they need to get it done. The exercise part is the easy part to most people’s minds. The eating part, that’s where it gets confusing. All the information we receive about health makes us think that if we only exercise a little more, all our problems will be solved.

I don’t want to discourage anyone at all by creating thoughts that just beginning to exercise won’t do you any good. Exercise is an amazing thing you can do for your body and it is absolutely necessary for healthy living and I am all for baby steps. My point here is that a lot of times I hear and see with clients and in the media that exercise is the end all, be all of losing weight, getting healthy, and feeling great. And it’s just not. Most people start with exercise, stop there, and then get frustrated when they aren’t seeing results.

Sure you can start exercising more, and you might lose some weight, and feel a little better, but in the end, what are most people doing by just exercising more? They are masking the real problem: they need to eat real, clean foods. Exercise is only becoming another excuse to pile on to people’s reasoning for not cleaning up the rest of their unhealthy habits.

The eating part of the equation is the real hard part for people. Eating in this country has become one of the hardest things to do and the more I encounter people the more I realize that most people have no idea how to put together even a semi-healthy meal or if they do they perceive it to be almost impossible to do. Most people have no idea about inflammatory and allergenic foods and how they are affecting their bodies. Most people have no idea that eating things with gluten is like eating poison ivy.

The diet and weight loss industry lies to you, weird! They try to make you believe that there is an easy way out of having to eat more vegetables, and cook your own meals at home so that you know your food contains only clean and wholesome foods. They try to sell you a quick fix and I am here to tell you the truth which is THERE IS NO QUICK FIX! THERE IS NO EASY WAY OUT. This is why the diet and weight loss industry makes billions of dollars every year, because they feed into this impossible thought… with short cuts.

If you want to truly be healthy and live up to your highest potential you must make changes in your food choices. One piece of candy DOES matter. A little bit of white bread DOES matter. It doesn’t matter how much exercise you do afterwards because it’s not about calories, it’s about the quality of your food and the damage being done to your intestines and to the rest of your body in turn.

Think about it this way, If you witnessed a self proclaimed vegan “taste” a bit of your steak and brush it off as, “Oh it doesn’t matter, it was only a bite” what would go through your mind?

The difference I see in clients who begin an exercise program and also begin to make healthier food choices by kicking out inflammatory and allergenic foods is GINORMOUS! And odd enough, the more changes my clients make, the better results they get. This is especially important for those of us looking to lose that 5-10 pounds we just can’t seem to lose. I have news for you, exercise isn’t the answer; CLEAN UNPROCESSED FOOD IS!

So the real question is: what is the most important thing to you? Simply looking good, or being able to walk around the planet feeling energized, powerful, happy, and creative? And what would you say if I told you that the latter choices would bring you the first choice by default. It’s your choice.