Fitness is Science, Not Religion (part 2)
Before the clock runs out on this earthy, sciencey, hope-changey day, I want to post something I've been thinking about for a while. When it comes to health and fitness, there seems to be a lot of religiosity out there.
It's funny how much people will wrap their identity and belief system around what they eat. My high-school-aged niece is a vegetarian, as a matter of conscience. I respect that. At her age, I was an everything-tarian (actually, who am I kidding? I still am). For her, what she eats is tied to her love of animals and her value system. The same can be said of folks who eat Kosher, or Halal, or us Catholics, on occasional Fridays, in early spring, when we don't forget...
But now it's starting to go the other way. Paleo is huge right now. Cleanses are all the rage. Mediterranean, Intermittent Fasting, The Whole 30, and a half-dozen other diets that are enjoying their day in the sun. The weird thing is how eager the followers of these plans are to turn their diet (sorry, "lifestyle") into a religion.
There's an old joke that every religion has one belief in common: that they are the ones with the right answer. Nowadays, we see the same phenomenon in the grocery store, where Paleo cavemen strut the aisles with carts full of bone broth, looking down their noses at the Atkins bars, while Vegans make gagging motions behind their backs. The writers of these books and podcasts take on the status of cult leaders, with legions of followers repeating their wisdom.
The same can be said of exercise. CrossFit and Yoga are famously cult-ish, but other sports can be just as bad. I once went on a Hash House Harrier run, and by the end of the night I thought I'd been sworn into a secret society.
(Full disclosure here: as a rower, a member of Vinnie Tortorich's NSNG group, and a practitioner of Staring Strength, I am a prime example of the problem I'm describing. But I must get some points for at least being aware of the irony, right?)
We all need to take a breath. I get it -- food is life, and life is... well, that's pretty much all there is. But then again, it's only food, people! As Dr. Jason Fung, author of The Obesity Code said in an interview, "I really don't give a damn what you eat." If eating 20 Twinkies a day makes you healthy and helps you lose weight, go for it. But be conscious of what you're eating and how it effects your body, and respect that.
That's why I love Fung's book. He gives an excellent overview of what the science tells us about health and weight loss, but he's also willing to say "we don't really know" when the science is incomplete. Genetics? Calories? Hormones? Sleep deprivation? Toxins? It's probably a little of everything, he says.
At the end of the day, it's an n=1 experiment. All that you can do is try different things and see what works for you. So go out, eat something that makes you feel good, and then get over your bad self.
It's funny how much people will wrap their identity and belief system around what they eat. My high-school-aged niece is a vegetarian, as a matter of conscience. I respect that. At her age, I was an everything-tarian (actually, who am I kidding? I still am). For her, what she eats is tied to her love of animals and her value system. The same can be said of folks who eat Kosher, or Halal, or us Catholics, on occasional Fridays, in early spring, when we don't forget...
But now it's starting to go the other way. Paleo is huge right now. Cleanses are all the rage. Mediterranean, Intermittent Fasting, The Whole 30, and a half-dozen other diets that are enjoying their day in the sun. The weird thing is how eager the followers of these plans are to turn their diet (sorry, "lifestyle") into a religion.
There's an old joke that every religion has one belief in common: that they are the ones with the right answer. Nowadays, we see the same phenomenon in the grocery store, where Paleo cavemen strut the aisles with carts full of bone broth, looking down their noses at the Atkins bars, while Vegans make gagging motions behind their backs. The writers of these books and podcasts take on the status of cult leaders, with legions of followers repeating their wisdom.
The same can be said of exercise. CrossFit and Yoga are famously cult-ish, but other sports can be just as bad. I once went on a Hash House Harrier run, and by the end of the night I thought I'd been sworn into a secret society.
(Full disclosure here: as a rower, a member of Vinnie Tortorich's NSNG group, and a practitioner of Staring Strength, I am a prime example of the problem I'm describing. But I must get some points for at least being aware of the irony, right?)
We all need to take a breath. I get it -- food is life, and life is... well, that's pretty much all there is. But then again, it's only food, people! As Dr. Jason Fung, author of The Obesity Code said in an interview, "I really don't give a damn what you eat." If eating 20 Twinkies a day makes you healthy and helps you lose weight, go for it. But be conscious of what you're eating and how it effects your body, and respect that.
That's why I love Fung's book. He gives an excellent overview of what the science tells us about health and weight loss, but he's also willing to say "we don't really know" when the science is incomplete. Genetics? Calories? Hormones? Sleep deprivation? Toxins? It's probably a little of everything, he says.
At the end of the day, it's an n=1 experiment. All that you can do is try different things and see what works for you. So go out, eat something that makes you feel good, and then get over your bad self.
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