Whats making us fat

Since this is a new blog, i want you to understand who i am.  I am a certified nutrition coach, certified personal trainer, and newly minted Level 1 CF instructor.  Health and fitness isn't just a passing fad.  This is not a stage of life i am ever going to grow out of.  It was inspired by sports as a youth and continued through my college football years and into owning my own health and nutrition store called Max Muscle Cool Springs.  I didn't get hear because of amazing genetics.  Both my parents are 5'6" and most of my family has battled weight and eating issues for their entire lives, me included.  That is my background.  I tend to learn from mistakes i have made and the mistakes of those who i care about.  What i have seen for the recent past is people blaming what makes our society overweight on fast food, diet soda, processed food, etc.  While those are factors that play in, there is a much more important aspect of our being over weight that people don't account for.  I have two words that some people might stop reading after i write them.  They are uneducated and lazy.  These two factors play in more than all the diet soda in the world.

    Lets start with the harder one.  Being uneducated is more of a rationalization than anything else.  Its turning a blind eye to something that is as easy as reading a book.  There are so many books and websites that it can be overwhelming.  So, lets start with the value of food.  When i first started my nutrition journey, i didn't know how many calories were in anything.  I relied on www.thedailyplate.com and I WROTE EVERYTHING DOWN.  If you can see it, you can understand it.  Know that an egg white is 16 calories and a whole egg is 70 - 80 calories.  The information is out there or you can come in to Max Muscle and talk about food with a certified nutrition coach.  There are people who want to help you reach your goals out there.

     This feeds into the second word.  I have seen and heard every excuse out there.  They range from I'm big boned to I didn't have anything else, to all i have is fast food as an option.  Look, i understand that healthy food isn't always as desirable as a big mac (i shutter) but i like the fact that i am giving myself the best chance possible to live a long and healthy life.  What more can I ask for?  No, i don't want people to eat chicken and vegetables every meal.  No, you don't have to eat foods you hate.  No, you don't have to give up Italian, Mexican, etc but you do have to understand that you cannot live off that and get everything your body normally gets from whole food.  Normally, since i own a nutrition store, id be elated people eat horribly because you would need calcium, multi-vitamin, fish oils, vitamin d, etc, etc but the key isn't making a dollar on you for one visit and never making a change.  The key is to make sure you aren't lazy and understand that going the path of taking medication to control your HDL/LDL and triglycerides as well as high blood pressure, and insulin for your diabetes can be avoided!  It can be and what is horrible is that we can tell people, if you don't stop eating white bread/flour/sugar/ processed foods, you may loose a leg to diabetes, people still wont change. 

    This is your call to action.  If you are in the group above take a long look at your life.  I am not telling you you need to eat like a professional athlete or an Olympian but eating healthy is 75% to 85% of health.  Try small steps and make changes.  The rest of your life is waiting for you to enjoy.