If you could just "buy" health and fitness that would be one thing, but you can't. Having money can certainly makes it easier to eat better and get fit. Even with a personal chef and personal trainer, the fitness attained by the rich is not "better"; the rich don't get "more" healthy. The rich get the same health and fitness as anyone else, it just cost them more money. You can't pay someone to eat right and work out FOR you. Rich or poor you have to do the work yourself. In this way at least, health and fitness is an equalizer.
Great physical health and fitness must be earned. Hard work and sacrifice is the only currency Hard work, sacrifice and the will to overcome a lifetime of psychological conditioning, ignore social stigma and withstand the tsunami of advertising. And he can't be a man if he doesn't eat the same fiber bars as me. (apologies to Mr. Jagger)
America is fat and unhealthy. Access to nutritional education and the lack of a desire to change is the problem.
I have a mind set that tells me feeding my body nutritious food is somehow a punishment. In my twisted mind saying "no" to food that is terrible for my health is "sacrifice". It would never occur to most people (it never did to me at least) to stop eating harmful things because it was a good thing for me. I just lamented that I couldn't eat the tasty poison. I was always willing to trade momentary pleasure for long term pain. As long as I can feel good NOW, I don't care about later.
But there's good news. Access to the information necessary to be healthy is available to everyone, the food is available to everyone, exercise is available to everyone. The bad news is the desire is not available to everyone.
What seems to be lost in our current society is the idea of sacrifice being a good thing. That's what happens when the salesmen run the world, (said the salesman). Sacrifice is a hard sell. Made me think of a Stan Ridgeway song Click Here
Why buy into sacrifice and hard work when the guy across the street is selling this stuff you can sprinkle on your food that will make you thin no matter what you eat? Click here for Sensa! Everything is easy terms, no effort, no money down, send no money now, but wait there's more. You don't need to sacrifice, in fact buy my diet plan and you'll lose weight and eat as much as you want! Just 4 easy payments of $23.95.
Planning meals that are healthy is hard, well harder than rolling thru McDonald. Drinking water is less satisfying than drinking a soda with all the sugar salt and caffeine. But it is worth it right? Good health is priceless.
But is it really sacrifice? I like Brussels Sprouts and Kale. I like having energy. I like feeling good after a meal. Louis CK really summed this idea up in a bit:
Louie's Dr. asks him: "How soon into a meal do you typically feel full and stop eating?" Louie responds " I don't stop eating when I'm full, the meal isn't OVER when I'm full, the meal isn't over until I hate myself"
I used to hate myself 3 or 4 times a day.
The truth is I am miserable when I give into every desire. Oh sure, while giving in and feeding the desire I feel that momentary "high". But just moments later I feel terrible. If I can just take a moment and say "no", I may feel bad for a second but then I feel wonderful afterword.
The equation I'm looking for is: short term pain for LONG term pleasure. The childish life I have lived, feeding every desire, stuffing my face with every bad thing frankly, is embarrassing.
In fact anyone morbidly obese should be personally ashamed of the bad behavior they exhibit. I'm not saying be ashamed of who you are, be ashamed of the choices you made. I made thousands of bad choices on the way to morbid obesity. If you're 100+ pounds over weight like me and have a list of excuses about it (like me).... I call bullshit (on you and me) . Time to stop letting a child manage your health and let a grown up take over. I did. So I have that going for me, which is nice.
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