Day 104 - Distinction in Diet vs. Exercise

If you haven't already, I strongly suggest you check out Yoni Freedhoff's blog Weighty Matters.

About Yoni: Family doc, Assistant Prof. at the University of Ottawa, and founder of Ottawa's Bariatric Medical Institute - a multi-disciplinary, ethical, evidence-based nutrition and weight management centre. Nowadays I'm more likely to stop drugs than start them, and love going to work in the morning.

One of his recent blogs discusses the topic that "Weight is food. Health is fitness." I have discussed this topic before, although not everyone reads my blog, so hopefully Yoni's readers will also get the hint.

In other words, for proper weight management, diet is the key. Sure, exercise helps, in some ways, to maintain a healthy weight, but in general, the obesity epidemic is not due to the fact that we are moving less, but that we are consuming more.

On the flip side of this coin, exercise is health. Don't lie to yourself and think that exercise is not needed for a healthy lifestyle, because it is absolutely necessary. Just remember that exercise keeps the machine (your body) running smoothly while the fuel (food) you put into the machine, is what (primarily) keeps the weight at a proper level.

What I personally get a kick out of is the constant "promise" nearly everyone in the fitness industry touts. I personally see advertisements from personal trainers all the time promising that their fitness program will help folks "lose weight in 4 weeks, guaranteed!"

I am sure many of you have heard of these sayings before, but just in case you haven't, here are a few "sayings" tossed around in the health and fitness industry that are spot-on with this information:

"Abs are made in the kitchen."

"You can't out-work a bad diet."

Quote of the day:
"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true."
~ Leon J. Suenes