Natural and sustainable health

There have been a couple of recent reports in Sydney Morning Herald that I found interesting:

1. Processed meats cause cancer and red meat probably does too: World Health Organisation (http://www.smh.com.au/world/processed-meats-cause-cancer-and-red-meat-probably-does-too-world-health-organisation-20151026-gkj2pf.html )
2. Is this the optimal exercise for staying slim? (Conclusion: They then compared the waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) data of the people and found that those who regularly walked were leaner.) http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/is-this-the-optimal-exercise-for-staying-slim-20151111-gkw5eb.html )

When it comes to health and fitness, we have to ask two important questions:

1. the fastest way to achieve the goals
2. are the results sustainable

Many have gone through some big swings, from one extreme to the other and found themselves going around the circles, like some of the ‘Biggest losers’. 

What history tells us

If we turn around and have a look where are from and where we are heading to historically, we might be able to see the imbalances in our lives. Our history tells us that our ancestors’ main staple food was vegetarian and periodically consumed meat when the hunting was successful. This periodical meat consumption provided us with the necessary protein and other essential nutrients such as iron. Overweight almost did not exist due to their active life style and diet and theist mortalities were mainly caused by infections. Since farming was industrialised in modern history, fast produced meat is readily available and has been consumed in an unprecedented scale. We have invented this whole class of what we call ‘life style related conditions’, such as cancers and cardio-vascular diseases. They are the leading killers of our modern society – we are being killed by what we have produced and the rates are on the raise. 

We then rush to the gym (one of the fastest growing industry currently) trying to burn off what we have consumed. This high speed energy burning unfortunately can only last - once the mill stops, everything bounces back.

Mother nature provides

I am not suggesting here that the history should be turned back and we should all go to live in the bush, hunt and gather. Living a more balanced life style is however not that impossible: walk more instead of drive, replace part of the meat diet with vegetables, or even add a few cups of green tea a day to your diet will yield many benefits.