The key to a healthy life

My morning cuppa in Hastings Street was going down a treat. All was well with the world, nothing was bothering me.

Then a group of plumpish forty/fifty-somethings arrived at the next table, clad in lycra, puffing and panting, perspiring from their beach exertions.
``Dunno about you lot,’’ whined one of them. ``But I ain’t losing a whole lot of weight from all this running.’’

Well, sister, I have news for you. There’s no doubt that exercise is great for your overall health and well-being (reducing the risk of serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer and so on), but exercise alone won’t remove those excess kilos. The reality is that the biggest contributor to weight loss is sensible, balanced eating and drinking. And rewarding yourself with a breakfast of bacon and eggs after your morning’s work-out isn’t going to help, either.

I’m sure there’ll be an outcry at my comments, but I will persevere. While a good dose of exercise might trim a kilo here and there, by putting the emphasis on physical activity to achieve weight loss we are running the risk of not tackling the root cause: diet.

As I said, I am not against exercise. For several years I have spent between one and two hours a day giving my body a work-out, an occasional morning jog, always a stiff walk, and sometimes a swim.

But I’ll let you into a secret: my daily exercise regime hasn’t made a jot of difference to my weight. Like the rest of the human race, my body weight goes up and down according to what I eat and drink. Like everyone else, I love a pig-out from time to time, but I pay a price for this and as soon as possible I have to get back on the straight and narrow.

At my age, I’m not worth bothering about. It’s our future generations we need to be concerned with. Like America, Australia has created a generation of obese youngsters. So what do we do about it? Numerous Government and community programs have been initiated to get our overweight kids off the couch and off to the playing fields to get them moving again. That’s great news. However, building health strategies exclusively around exercise misses the point: educating children to embark on a balanced, sensible diet will be far more effective. It’s no good blaming kids for their obesity. As adults, we have failed them.

Some years ago one of my sons had Saturday morning golf lessons at a Sunshine Coast course. Great idea! Except that after their outdoor activity he and his club-swinging mates were lined up in front of the fridge in the clubhouse and told they could take their pick from Coca-Cola and Fanta as a reward for their endeavours. There was not a bottle of water in sight!

It reminded me of my squash-playing days in the UK long ago. I was amazed to watch other guys pushing their bodies to the limit for several hours, then go to the bar afterwards and drink half a dozen pints of beer.

As parents we have a responsibility to ensure that our kids don’t make the stupid eating and drinking mistakes we have.

source: noosa-journal.whereilive