This piece is meant to address the challenges in committing to a path of health. Health and fitness are closely related, but it is important to remember that there is a clear distinction.
You can be healthy without being “fit”, and the opposite is also true. If this is hard to believe, consider the following scenarios. It’s quite easy to be fit, without being healthy. Take someone who has *abused* anabolic steroids across their career, or powerlifter who has sacrificed all dietary guidelines for the “gains”. It’s sad to think about the array of regular people (not professional athletes) who have sacrificed their joints, cardiovascular health, and a variety of other important bodily system in the pursuit of a singular goal. A sumo wrestler could certainly overpower most people, but I’d also be willing to bet his/her HDL/LDL levels, insulin response, and blood pressure are off the charts. Health is the cumulation of the function (or dysfunction) of the organs, joints, muscles, and various bodily systems. Fitness could be generally defined as the process of utilizing, training, and conditioning the various energy systems to respond to increasing stimuli.
A notable and controversial aspect of Crossfit is their long-standing commitment to offer a tangible definition of fitness. And for all of the internet weightlifting coaches out there who dedicate YouTube channels to bashing on Crossfit, the organization frequently relies on the scientific method to create quantifiable analyses. Most critics will attack the culture and community surrounding it, but at the end of the day Crossfit is evolving into the cumulation of decades of cross-disciplinary athletic research. Again, this is my perspective of Crossfit from the top down. I’m not addressing the internal politics of Crossfit HQ, or the backyard Crossfit coach who lacks the confidence or knowledge to address faulty movement patterns during a workout.
So the next time you want to delete your Instagram account after seeing #fitfam everywhere, realize that it is possible to be healthy without ever stepping foot inside a gym. Most people I know just want help taking the first step. For example, doing yoga at home can increase your focus, flexibility, core strength, and confidence, preparing you for any kind of physical endeavor. My hips are as stiff as a board, as are most men who spend their time under heavy weight or who sit for most of the day. But I still get many benefits from yoga, and look forward to seeing the ways that it facilitates reaching my various goals. Admittedly, I first started to explore yoga because I needed more mobility for olympic lifting. A few years under a heavy barbell, combined with Crossfit and cross-training, seriously tightened up the majority of my musculature and fascia. In the words of Nahko Bear, “the body talks and meditation helps”. Find a yoga studio or teacher that understands the history and science behind it, and ideally has a basic understanding of kinesiology/physiology.
But here is the bad news regarding the dichotomy between fitness and health. For the majority of the population, simply picking one over the other is not possible. To think of it directly, each stimulus and environment that the human body is exposed to will either improve or decrease “health”. Most of the things offered in the grocery store decrease your health. In fact, nearly any food item you’ve seen a commercial for is probably bad for you. Think of all the Kelloggs & General Mills sponsored commercials. Well, eating a stack of Ego Waffles with Cinnamon Toast Crunch may not intuitively feel like a healthy choice, but hey, it’s part of a complete breakfast! Have a piece of fruit with some Egos, and voila, you now have a healthy breakfast! This is the marketing message spread by the masses and it is downright false.
The body is astoundingly successful at auto-regulation and maintaining homeostasis. To see examples of how finite this process really is, just glance at the array of life-altering conditions that occur due to a mere fluctuation in the production, re-uptake, or regulation of a hormone. The distinction between Type I and Type II diabetes is a great example. Both are life-long conditions that are connected to insulin. Type I is quite rare, and is a result of the body failing to naturally produce insulin. However, Type II (hypoglycemia) is essentially the poster-child for what the Western Diet does to the human body. Type II diabetes is the result of eating foods that spike your insulin too quickly, or release too much insulin at once. Protein and fat cause mild bumps in your insulin release, but it’s really carbohydrates that cause insulin problems. Sugar and high fructose corn syrup spike insulin faster than any other substance known to man. The fact that it’s still a legal ingredient is purely related to financial gain.
Sadly, although the FDA propagates a variety of factually invalid statements, the concept of “dessert in moderation” is not a joke. There is now scholarly work aiming to prove that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, and that alone should at least be a *small* warning sign. Marketing tells the consumer that there are an infinite array of problems with your body and your health, and that the solution lies in their product or service. Buzzwords like “gluten-free”, “paleo”, “light”, and “cleanse” dominate the nutrition world. Disclosure: I am not a nutritionist. But if you are consulting with a health professional about dietary changes, cutting out sugar is the most important step to improve every aspect of you life. You’ll even sleep better. Also, the Paleolithic diet refers to a specific diet popularized by Loren Cordain, and it only takes a quick Google search to find out what truly constitutes Paleo.
You are better off eating that 4×4 at In-N-Out than a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and humans have been drinking alcohol since the dawn of time. I’m not up on a high horse- I’ve crushed my fair share of dessert. Have a glass of wine, whiskey, whatever. But adding high fructose corn syrup, food dye, and a variety of other chemical additives is a recent development used to increase profit and decrease costs of manufacturing for the companies that want your money.
Life is about exploration and learning, and I promise anyone can adjust their lifestyle to enjoy their guilty pleasures. The takeaway is that if you pick one dietary component to focus on (that will have the greatest rewards in how you look and feel) start with sugar.
You can understand how the Atkins diet skyrocketed in popularity several years ago. The extremes on both sides of the spectrum become clear. Eating a huge bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch every day isn’t the best for your body, but going no-carb and eating bacon with every meal isn’t a good choice either. Find the middle ground that works for you. Most athletes need carbs for optimal performance, and a quick experiment would prove this to be true. If you’ve followed a demanding fitness regimen for a while, cut out carbs for two week, notice the decrease in energy, add them back into your diet, and watch your numbers go up…
Now back to my thesis. Don’t let anyone tell you there is only one way to do something when it comes to your body. Mainstream media, along with dozens of billion dollar industries, rely on making women feel that they are inferior. I’ll save the analysis of the situation for another day because it could easily comprise an entire series of posts and most men are far too willing to offer their expert opinion when it comes to the lived experience of women. There are so many genetic and environmental factors that change the way we eat, breathe, feel, and move. The evolution of the internet allows free research on any topic imaginable. This isn’t the case in many areas around the world. But for the majority of the U.S. citizens internet access is easy, and (I believe) should be viewed as the most impactful creation of our life time. We are the first generation that can Google a topic. Reflect on this mind-boggling opportunity for a second.
Anyway, don’t let my words and thoughts be the end of your lifestyle exploration. Try different things, get outside and play, enjoy your food. I went surfing for my second time ever, during high tide of the coast of Mexico last month. Needless to say, I felt like a fish out of water, but it challenged me and grew my love for yet another discipline that pushes the capabilities of your body and mind.
*The content of this piece is my opinion, but I did my best to include a variety of interesting links to build on your curiosity. I’m truly passionate about a massively diverse array of topics, and I’ll do my best to keep these pieces cohesive and coherent. Loved the article? Think I came across as a condescending egotist? Let me know either way! I will continue to write on Medium across a slew of topics, and look forward to engaging with new perspectives.
Thoughts and Musings 