Dietary Enigmas
asking questions about our diet
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Health Vs Fitness: Have we got it right
I was talking with a friend and colleague yesterday who brought my attention to this interesting article. That then sparked another thought that has been bugging me for the last couple of years. I work in the area of preventative health using all possible means. So often I am talking with a client who says ‘this therapist says they have the whole answer to my problem’ - another says that xyz therapy can cure everything’ - frankly they are displaying the same behaviour as an ostrich - sticking its head in the sand.
Get it and get it once and for all NO THERAPY HAS THE UNIVERSAL ANSWER. Stop trying to score points of each other - work together - treat everyone as an individual and don’t be so arrogant as to think you have all the answers all the time. At risk of offending ‘Classically Trained Homeopaths’ some of them are among the worst offenders in the business while some have moved on and into integrative health-care. This article is all about Fitness ‘therapists’ having all the answers - fitness is related to health but unless we address the dietary issues as well as exercise we are not serving people well.
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Trehalose - the safe sugarPrivate gyms are reaping the benefits from obesity health scares but are doing little to help fight the epidemic, a report has said.
Obesity figures are still growing despite the UK’s booming gym industry, according to research by an academic at the University of Leicester.
Dr Jennifer Smith Maguire’s study found private gyms were mostly used by richer members of society.
This left the less well-off struggling for help to combat weight problems.
The gyms also promoted exercise not as a part of everyday life but as something to be “squeezed” into the daily routine.
The focus was placed on looking healthy for image and not health reasons, the study added.
“The commercial fitness industry benefits from the scientific legitimacy and political urgency bestowed on population health issues such as inactivity and obesity,” Dr Maguire said.
“But it is ill-equipped to address those issues for a number of reasons.
“In the US, for example, half of commercial health club members are in the top 20% of income earners.
“At the top end of the market, high income earners can afford excellent services and an ‘enlightened’ approach to fitness.
“But at the bottom end of the market, middle and lower income earners can afford fewer and lower quality services and a ‘factory’ approach to fitness.
“And at the very bottom, excluded altogether from the market, are those individuals most likely to be inactive and obese.”
Last month, a Government report warned more than half of adults and a quarter of children would be dangerously overweight by 2050.
Obesity is projected to cost the country £45bn a year by 2050. By then, only 10% of men and 15% of women will be the right weight for their height.
Fred Turok, chairman of the Fitness Industry Association, rejected the study, saying the industry was uniquely placed to help solve the UK’s escalating public health crisis.
But he called on the Government to lead work on balancing the need for exercise with education programmes on the food we eat.
He said: “The industry has the expertise, the resources and the capability to help address the current public health crisis, but it can only work with those who choose to do something about their condition.”
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