The truth about diet, exercise and why we’re all fatter than our grandparents!

No Pain, All Gain

by Joan Breibart

Corporate food giants and commercial diet companies would certainly prefer to keep it quiet, but the latest American study now proves that increased intake – eating too much – is responsible for the current epidemic of obesity. In other words, we can’t blame decreased physical activity, too much time in front of the computer or even a fat gene for our expanding waistlines, just years of overeating! Of course, try telling that to Fast Food Chain CEOs and see how far science will get you. When interviewed about super sizing just last year, they claimed that Americans “need to increase their exercise, not decrease what goes into their mouths.” In other words, they were saying obesity is not their fault.

But is it?

Can exercise compensate for overeating? The answer is no, yet for some reason, we think that we can burn off any extra calories we take in with a half hour on the treadmill. To understand why we feel this way, we need to go back nearly 40 years – to the beginning of the exercise biz. Before 1970, “working out” didn’t exist in our culture. Then (while the majority of Americans were still slim), aerobics was sold as the cure-all for weight, health, wealth and whatever else you desired. And the idea caught on….

Twenty years later, the exercise revolution was in full force, and a multi-million (now billion!) dollar fitness industry was thriving. Whether sweating to the oldies, stepping off and on Reebok’s plastic board or spending hours on the cross trainer, we were convinced that feeling the burn was the key to a slender, sexy body. Yet, we were bigger than ever and experiencing unprecedented injuries to our knees, feet and hips. Here we were told that we’d all be lean, healthy and sexy – not worn out and heavier! What’s wrong with this picture?!

The truth is simple – and biological. Intense activity makes people hungry! Since we worked out so hard, we felt we deserved to eat and eat and eat. Which brings us to the real issue, figures don’t lie, but liars do figure…

Certainly, in a controlled study, researchers could prove that an hour of running or aerobics burned up a certain number of calories. But since they didn’t go home with the subjects, they didn’t see them eat twice what they should consume. Nor did they follow them for years and observe how their joints gave out. Of course, this is all logical, but we all know that logic isn’t useful when you’re trying to sell people something – in this case, sex appeal. So what happened was that exercise as a category was oversold in some ways – burn calories to look like a supermodel! – but it was undersold in the areas where it can really make a difference!

Running requires a runner’s body. You can’t have legs like six feet tall Giselle if you’re five foot two. However, moderate, flexibility enhancing exercise improves appearance, enhances body function and increases awareness, which all affect everything in life… not just how much we eat! The major reason why Pilates was ignored for decades was its limited calorie burning impact. No one thought about the improved strength and mobility (no matter what your natural body type) or the fact that it doesn’t increase your appetite!

It’s clear now that food is the culprit for American weight gain and exercising alone can’t cure our obesity. But in addition to rethinking how much you eat and how you eat it, there are simple ways to move that will help you burn calories efficiently – without stress and over-exertion. As part of the Diet Directives plan, we’ll teach you how to get moving in your daily life… You may annoy your sedentary friends (I admit it, overweight people often tell me to sit still), but you will see the difference.

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