Uncommon Sense
Joel Peterson – Level 5 Personal Trainer Apple Athletic Club
Is the lack of proper information standing in your way of perfect health? I believe for most of us that is precisely what holds us back. There are so many “voices” out there and so little real, useful information. Why is that?
Voices in our Head
Have you noticed that almost all of these “voices” have something to sell you? And what about the media information machine from which we get much of our health information? Do they have agendas that are not necessarily in our best interest? Their existence relies on advertisers, and most of them are food companies, drug companies, chemical companies and other large conglomerates with massive money in the game.
I’m wary whenever someone monetarily benefits from giving me advice. The shifting of “credible” information from one opinion to another is, to say the least, confusing. One expert touts that, “Eggs are harmful,” one day and another expert touts that, “Eggs full of health” the next day. You hear that, “Coconut oil is bad for you,” today and then tomorrow you hear that, “Coconut oil is healthy”.
What about that “low fat diet” that we’ve been told will help us lose weight? How’s that working for you? Since that information has been made gospel we have gone from overweight to obese with the horrifying effect of its corresponding diseases.
So, what’s going on here and who do we listen to? Many of us simply give up before we start amid all the confusing information and impossible programs to commit to. So, what are we missing? I firmly believe it comes down to two words: COMMON SENSE.
Common Sense
Allow me to use an analogy to illustrate my point regarding common sense. Let’s take a closer look and actually study a living creature, let’s say a monkey. It moves around all day getting natural exercise. It eats fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc., and sometimes a little fresh meat. Now, take that same monkey and put it in a cage where he has little movement and perpetrates stress. Let’s feed him chemically laden processed food such as cereal, soda pop, donuts, potato chips, candy bars, canned fruits and vegetables and loads of sugar. We’ll salt everything and feed him everything else that is unnatural to his diet. What do you think will happen to this monkey? Is there any possible way it could maintain health? Of course not! It will acquire all of the diseases humans are now experiencing. Heart disease, diabetes, cancer, obesity and the list go on and on. Would you subject this monkey to this kind of fate? Certainly not! It would be cruel.
Now, go look in your pantry and fridge. What did you find? Now, go look at your computer chair and the sofa where you watch TV and think of all the idle hours you’ve spent there. Since you know what the fate of the monkey will be, why would you think we humans will escape the same fate? We can’t and that’s why we are a very unhealthy species here in the United States and the Western World.
Uncommon Sense
Since common sense is now next to extinct when it comes to being healthy, we need uncommon sense. We need to move quickly if we are to survive this barrage of food-like products chemically laden with pesticides, fungicides, herbicides and altered with harmful ingredients to “trick our taste buds into thinking its real, nourishing food. Uncommon sense says that we, as living beings, cannot expect good health as long as we are eating dead foods. Living cells require living food, not dead, processed and altered slop!
So here’s the real problem. Not many of us can eat a diet of 100% pure natural food. I’ve tried and I can’t do it, period. I’ve quit trying. Am I defeated? Not by a long shot. I adhere to what I call the 80-20 rule. If 80% of what I consume is fresh, real and unprocessed close to the earth food, I really don’t care about the other 20%. However, there are few foods I will not eat in the 20% category.
I look at it this way, if I give my body everything it needs for good health every day, the 20% is just “fun food” and safe to eat. Unfortunately, most folks use the opposite approach – 20% healthy and 80% junk. With my 80/20 rule, I have a realistic approach to eating and nutrition. I don’t deprive myself of comfort foods or the Fourth of July hot dog. I can enjoy them without any guilty feelings.
In a future article I will show you how I get 8 servings of raw fruits and vegetables, two servings of raw nuts, the “healthy fats” and many other wholesome foods vital to good health each and every day. It takes me 15 minutes to prepare and clean up and best of all, it tastes great. You guessed it, it’s a shake.
My own creation now being used daily by dozens of my clients with great success. The fact that I can maintain 205 pounds at 10% body fat (that’s really good) on this 80-20 diet shows it can work for weight loss, which makes sense. Healthy food is typically not calorie dense and is filling and full of fiber. Now, if you think I burn zillions of calories your wrong. I exercise 4 days a week for about 45 minutes a session. I just work out smart.
Stay tuned to these posts and I will help you on your journey to good health a step at a time. Next week I’ll give you the shake breakdown and some tips on skin care. Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle happens.