I'm writing this blog post from inside the ACSM Northwest chapter annual conference. That's the American College of Sports Medicine, for those keeping score at home. We just heard a keynote by a famous researcher and scientist, Dr. Steven Blair google him). The crux of his talk - and I'm drastically oversimplifying of course - was that we've spent so much time and energy on diet in this country as the way to prevent obesity, when in fact the science shows that exercise is much more effective. Now, I can't honestly claim that I know enough to know whether what he's saying is true. He's got a lot of science to back up his claims, that's for sure - and a sterling reputation. All I can really add to the discussion is my own personal experience, which is this: I have, in my life, had periods where I cared very much about my nutrition. I have denied myself food, denied myself processed foods. I've also had times when I just let myself go. And the same is true for exercise: at times in my life, I've been an exercise fiend, and at other times, I've been a slob. And for me, personally, the answer is startlingly clear: my body doesn't care what I eat. It responds almost exclusively to two things: my exercise level, and my stress level. When I am stressed and sedentary, I feel lousy. When I work out and chill out, I get fit. End of story.
When I focus on diet, it feels so negative. It's all about what I can't do, and what I'm denying myself. I've tried all kinds of different diets, many of which were specifically designed to keep me from feeling like I'm denying myself anything, and none of them work. They all feel like a prison. Conversely, exercise makes me feel amazing - capable, full of motion and energy and possibilities. It's all about what I can do, and what I can accomplish. Diets stress me out. Exercise calms me down.
And yet - as Dr. Blair showed - we spend so much more time in this country on diet than we do on exercise. He did a simple search of fitness and obesity on the web and found about a million hits. Diet and obesity? 70 million hits. Similarly, he searched PubMed for scholarly articles. Fitness and obesity was about 2500 articles, while diet and obesity was over 45,000.
The plain and simple fact is that the most healthy I have ever felt was on my bike trip last summer, when I rode my bike an average of 55-60 miles a day and regularly ate whatever the hell I felt like: McDonalds, candy bars, and yes, fruits and veggies as well.
Am I suggesting that a diet of McDs and candy is a good way to live life? No, absolutely not. There's a baseline of nutritional awareness that you must have. But when it comes to feeling alive, capable and full of energy, that has so much more to do with how I choose to spend my time than what I put in my mouth.