On 2013 New Years Resolutions for Health and Fitness

Originally I intended to catch up with my introductory blog entry or get caught up on a topic stemming from events of last year.  But, when I walked into to break room at lunch today and saw an advert for new weight-loss program (for a significant amount of $$) focused on supplements, meal-replacements and "specially formulated" but secret tablets to prevent the body from sorting fat I changed my mind...on to a new topic very relevant to the start of a new year where many people make resolutions to lose weight and get into better shape.

Across the general US population, some 2/3 of us are either overweight, obese or just out of shape. Shockingly, here in Colorado the latest stat is 1 in 2 adults is overweight or obese!!! The stats on children isn't point to things improving but getting worse in years to come.

Not surprisingly, fitness and weight-loss products/programs are BIG business and one sees advertisements and infomercials at all different times of day.  Programs offer big results, often with little to no effort and can cost a small fortune.  As I have learned over the past few months and years, there is a LOT of bad information out there fraught with half-truths, unsubstantiated claims, out right lies and products that are plain unhealthy for the body.  Not only does our government allow such claims by products, the government often puts out it's own incomplete, misrepresented or contradictory information.

 Health products frequently offer franchisee deals where one can save some money on products if one also joins up as an independent consultant to then sell products to other people. 

Smells like a pyramid scheme to me, but that would be a different topic.

Products promising health through meal replacement, supplements slime the body, or short-term diets to slim you in weeks so long as you are on the diet.  Seems questions about what happens AFTER you stop taking the smoothie or supplement or go back to your usual diet habits go unanswered -- maybe because we all already know the answer whether we admit it or not.

Buddha is quoted as saying 'Believe nothing merely because you have been told it.' 

That should go doubly when the words or claims in question come from someone trying to sell you something!  

I would suggest, just as I would to in person to a friend, neighbor or co-worker that if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is.  Who among us would honestly believe that a magic pill or concoction is an elixir of fitness and that we might lose troublesome weight without doing anything differently than we have done for years?  We might delude ourselves into wish or hoping it to be so, but to believe it enough to shell out some serious cash?  REALLY? 

Fact of the matter is, that with some basic (and FREE) behavior changes we can actually shape up and lose some weight without going to extreme measures.  A huge contributor to the state of weight health in the West is directly attributed to DIET.  And by diet I mean the noun, not the verb 'to diet'.

Simply eating more natural foods, less processed foods and skipping meals out altogether will produce noticeable results in as little as 30 days.  Don't believe it because I said it (or because leading nutritional experts say it too!) -- try it for yourself.  30 days of healthy eating.  Nothing to lose for trying.  You have to eat anyway, right?

According to references like Forks Over Knives, when eating a plant-based, whole foods diet you can stop wasting time counting calories, grams of fat, etc. and just enjoy eating! 

So to you the reader, I'd challenge you to try for 30 - 60 days changing the habits that perhaps placed you in the 50% overweight/obese category of the population.  It isn't hard.  Perhaps a little less convenient making some meals from actual ingredients rather than popping something frozen in the microwave, but that little extra time may just avoid the REALLY INCONVENIENT heart-attack or Type-2 diabetes down the road.

Don't expect perfection of yourself or kick yourself for an indulgence now and then.  It's when we operate from a perspective of denial that we most feel the urge to binge....

None of got into the current health, financial or whatever shape we are in overnight or in a few weeks or months.  Expecting to undo years worth of build-up won't happen overnight or in a few weeks no matter what someone promises.  A day, a week, a month at a time.  Yeah, there will be ups and downs along the way but that is life - roll with it!  But don't NOT do what is good for you just because it's challenging......