MOVEMENT IS MEDICINE: S.A.D. (+) Sedentarism is Sickness

The (S.A.D) Standard American Diet combined with inactive sedentary living is causing an increase in lifestyle-related disease. This sickness is at an all-time high and continues to climb at an alarming rate. [i]

The projected metabolic future is bleak. [ii]

We truly are in unprecedented times.

Unless we do something to radically change there will be many losses and deaths. These devastating consequences are completely avoidable.

We can change the future, if we want to change.

Prevention is the future of healthcare and arguably always the best intervention.

WHICH SIDE OF HISTORY DO YOU WANT TO BE ON?

How did we get here? It’s helpful to know where we came from in an effort to get our health back and understand why things are this way.

BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE

You probably don’t know how to breathe and move well.

It isn’t your fault.
We escaped the food chain.
We aren’t hunter-gatherers anymore.

The incandescent light bulb took our sun away.

Cars took our legs away.

Factory farming took our compassion away.

We traded our connection to the earth and each other for the sake of convenience.

Smart phones took our sleep away.

We live in an artificial environment that we weren’t designed for.

Our hunter-gatherer ancestors moved much more than we do.

The men, women and children of that era walked, migrated, foraged and hunted.
They did various activities in all sorts of positions, durations and intensities.

They were active because their lives depended on it.
We’ve forgotten that our lives depend on activity too.

We need a renaissance.

We need a revolutionary return to activity if we are to thrive. [iii]

We are endurance creatures.
The heart is a muscle.
We used to use it a lot more.

Now we’ve escaped the lion only to fall prey to our own sedentary lifestyles.

It’s the ultimate paradox. Now we kill ourselves with abundance where before we used to scavenge and starve. Sadly, many still starve today, but we the fortunate, choose a new death. The death of overconsumption. And it isn’t just calories.

It’s information, stimulation, and intensity. Overload.

Excess.

We used to dance by the fire.

After long days of hunting the festivities would commence.
We would give thanks for the animal we killed.
We shared a sacred communion: tribe.

Now we never celebrate the life we take.

Factory farming, The Western Diet, and fast food is our new fire,
and it will ignite the whole planet.

We will find a way to destroy ourselves because nothing else can.
We will explode with diseases; man-made by our own hands to mouth.

And it makes sense.

Food scientists got too good.

Man-made replaced what nature gave.

Food became too cheap, and palatable couldn’t stand a chance against hyperpalatable. [iv]

And if we had all the slaughtered animals we needed to eat forever, then why would we move?

We needn’t hunt anymore. Sit still, my child. We must rest and preserve our energy for when the next famine comes. Then we will need to hunt. Except we don’t scavenge, search and stalk anymore. We are stuck in a perpetual feast.

Our biology betrays us because we escaped a system that it is still stuck in.

Here’s the quintessential question: how will you compensate for this?
What will you do to turn the tide? Your answers and actions are paramount.

The projected metabolic health of this country [v] [vi] and world as we westernize it is bleak.

And frankly, most people don’t care or don’t know.

It’s the dance of ignorance and apathy that pervades our society. Babies in Mexico drink Coca-Cola in bottles while we import nearly 70% of their produce. Samoans are even more unhealthy than us- because we force them to buy our turkey tails and various processed hyperpalatable foods. Insulin is more expensive in the U.S. than in any other country and continues to rise. [vii]

There’s big money to be made in lifestyle-related diseases.

Prevention and investing in health: hiring a personal trainer for 10 grand?
Paying the cost for neglecting health: getting your chest cut open for 100,000 plus?

It’s anything but grand.

Since heart disease is the leading cause of death killing 1 in 4 people [viii] which category do you think is the more popular “choice.”

Would you rather invest in your health today,
or pay the cost tomorrow?

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure.”

What are you choosing by the activities you do and the foods you eat?
What is the metabolic future you would hope for for your children?

As childhood obesity along with type 2 diabetes in children and youth continues to rise [ix] we will need more than mere whim of hope if true transformation is to take place.

We need awareness, education and strategic action.

Will we turn the tide? Can there be enough help to change the multifaceted issue of obesity and lifestyle related disease? What can you do in your life and sphere of influence?

Do you want to change?

Remember that famous Stanford marshmallow experiment on delayed gratification? [x]

Is the instant gratification of the one marshmallow really worth it?

What if that 1 marshmallow is the unhealthy foods you eat and the inactive lifestyle you live, and the 2 marshmallows you don’t get are the greatly increased quality and quantity of life in your later years?

Are the tradeoffs worth the 30-40+ years of life and all that could have been?

WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Will you pledge allegiance to your old behaviors or step out, seek help and pave a new path?

Much like The Matrix, I was born into the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet, appropriately sad for short because it is).

But I escaped it.

I overcame addictions, hardships and tragic loss that sickness so readily provided.
I found physicality and better sources of dopamine.

Movement became a medicine to help heal my body as well as my mental health. [xi]
I trained my tastes and nurtured my being.

I connected the dots to see all the pain lifestyle-related disease caused me.

And it’s coming for us all if we aren’t careful. The lacerations it leaves are life-taking and lasting. Tragically, many wear its scars, and many more will be afflicted by them.

What marks do you want to bare?

Trace your steps. Find your whys. Be the change. Take ownership. And choose.

Choose life today and life tomorrow. Choose a brighter future for our children and the Nations.

The metabolic health of our world depends on you.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.
It’s not.” ― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax.

If you want to take your body back and get control of your health we are here to help!

Nutritional Mastery Coaching can help you:

• Learn to eat better, without dieting or feeling deprived.
• Get active and moving no matter what shape you’re in.
• Produce lifelong change inside and out for a brighter healthier future.

Yes, the projected metabolic health of our nation looks despairing, but together we can change that.

Which side of history do you want to be on? You can choose your destiny and we can navigate you through your journey back to health.

We’d love to learn more about you and your story.

Schedule your complementary consultation to learn more about our coaching services.

LET’S CONNECT.

Download my FREE REPORT: The Top Ten Secrets Keeping 90% of Men and Women From Losing Weight and Keeping It Off That The Fake Fitness Industry Won’t Tell You.

[i] Aguilar M, Bhuket T, Torres S, Liu B, Wong RJ. Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome in the United States, 2003-2012. JAMA. 2015;313(19):1973–1974. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.4260

[ii] Isomaa  B, Almgren  P, Tuomi  T,  et al.  Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with the metabolic syndrome.  Diabetes Care. 2001;24(4):683-689.

[iii] O’Keefe JH, Vogel R, Lavie CJ, Cordain L. Achieving hunter-gatherer fitness in the 21(st) century: back to the future. Am J Med. 2010;123(12):1082-1086. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2010.04.026

[iv] N Gearhardt, Ashley, et al. “The addiction potential of hyperpalatable foods.” Current drug abuse reviews 4.3 (2011): 140-145.

[v] Ward, Zachary J., et al. “Projected US state-level prevalence of adult obesity and severe obesity.” New England Journal of Medicine 381.25 (2019): 2440-2450.

[vi] Rowley, William R. et al. “Diabetes 2030: Insights from Yesterday, Today, and Future Trends.” Population Health Management 20.1 (2017): 6–12. PMC. Web. 25 Jan. 2018.

[vii] Hirsch, Irl B. “Insulin in America: A Right or a Privilege?.” Diabetes spectrum : a publication of the American Diabetes Association vol. 29,3 (2016): 130-2. doi:10.2337/diaspect.29.3.130

[viii] CDC, NCHS. Underlying Cause of Death 1999-2013 on CDC WONDER Online Database, released 2015. Data are from the Multiple Cause of Death Files, 1999-2013, as compiled from data provided by the 57 vital statistics jurisdictions through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program. Accessed Feb. 3, 2015.

[ix] Ogden  CL, Carroll  MD, Kit  BK, Flegal  KM.  Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012.  JAMA. 2014;311(8):806-814.

[x] Mischel, Walter; Ebbesen, Ebbe B. (1970). “Attention In Delay Of Gratification”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 16 (2): 329–337. doi:10.1037/h0029815. ISSN 0022-3514.

[xi] Harris, Marc Ashley. “The relationship between physical inactivity and mental wellbeing: Findings from a gamification-based community-wide physical activity intervention.” Health psychology open vol. 5,1 2055102917753853. 16 Jan. 2018, doi:10.1177/2055102917753853