Are your diet and exercise levels inadequate?
Are you struggling with mountains of information about diet and exercise? You are not alone out there.
Have you ever wondered about this beautiful country and where we are headed? What are its’ strengths? Its’ weaknesses? Its’ strengths are many; too numerous to mention – wonderful people, beautiful scenery; and the list goes on. Our strengths should always be our main focus. Remain positive and keep moving forwards.
However, we must be honest with ourselves. We do have a couple of weaknesses and we need to fix them so that we can keep moving forwards. Unfortunately, one of these is now of epidemic proportions and we MUST start fixing it now.
I have been involved with health and fitness nearly all my life and have been a physical education teacher for thirty-five years. Lately, I have noticed an alarming trend amongst our children. This trend has been manifested, in many cases, by the society in which we live today.
We have forgotten how to look after ourselves. Physically, spiritually and mentally. Our diets are rubbish and we have lost the ability to move on a regular basis. This applies to many Australians in many age categories. The category that should cause the most concern is our under twenties – our children. If we cannot instil good exercise and eating habits into our children NOW, then the future is bleak. Associated with good exercise and eating habits comes feelings of positive mental and physical self-worth. Fix this, and the future looks bright. We simply cannot bury our head in the sand any longer.
Diet, weight and exercise are shoved in our faces daily by various media outlets. This percentage is this; that percentage is that; this is the best diet; this is the best form of exercise; if you buy this fitness/diet related product then all your problems will be solved in an instant.
Why complicate something that is so simple? None of this is rocket science. We all have the means, in some way, shape or form, to access basic information about these things. We don’t have to spend a truck load of money to achieve simple goals. Many of us don’t have a truck load of money to spend in the first place. Let’s keep it simple, cheap and inexpensive.
We need to be educated. Education comes in many forms – mentors, coaches, school, television, radio, newspaper, billboards – and the list goes on. Then, we need to have the means to help put this education into practice. Again, none of this is rocket science and need not be complicated. It HAS to be like this, otherwise it won’t happen. When it all boils down to it, the human being is a relatively simple creature.
Our body was put on this earth to perform many tasks and achieve many things. We cannot complete most of these things without movement. Our body was meant to move. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter how it moves; but, it must move. Unfortunately, we now find ourselves in a predominantly sedentary society. Why move when we can watch one more reality TV episode or play one more app driven game on our mobile device? To move would take too much effort, too much work, little gratification, when I can easily progress to the next level of whatever game I am playing. WE ARE ACTIVELY PROMOTING A SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE.
Our public health bill for diseases of physical inactivity has blown out to billions of dollars. THIS IS A FACT. This is unacceptable. A simple change of habit for many people will see this drastically reduce. Everything from cardio vascular disease, through Type 2 Diabetes, to simple muscle and joint aches and pains can, in many cases, be attributed to poor diet and physical inactivity. Again, many of these are occurring in our under twenty age group. UNBELIEVABLE.
NOW is the time to act. Get off your backside, think twice before you tip that can of soft drink or beer down your throat or pull up at the fast food outlet for dinner because you are too busy to find a healthy alternative. Promote this to our children; be the role model that you are supposed to be as a parent or significant other in a child’s life.
It’s not rocket science. ACT NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.
Nick Byron
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