Healthy Living: What the fitness industry doesn’t tell you
Hey there! The article you’re about to read is a summary of what I covered in Episode 3 of The Modern Z podcast. If you like this post and are more interested, feel free to check out the full version here. Enjoy!
Sustainability. The buzzword of recent years that many of us associate with global warming and energy consumption. We often talk about everyday habits we can adopt to be more sustainable in our day to day living. We emphasise the importance of education and awareness, with the hopes of a collective change in human behavior. But sustainability is more than just a mere discussion about polluting nations, renewable energy sources and veganism. There’s more to it, particularly on the….individual level.
The 21st century has gifted us with countless technological advancements, but not without a cost. As we evolved from apes into humans, our ancestors back in the Upper Palaeolithic period used their anthropomorphic characteristics to gain a genetic advantage when it came to the laws of the jungle. Eventually, Homo sapiens prevailed at the top of nature’s food chain. To be fair, they didn’t have the internet, or high paying jobs to focus on. Surviving out in the wild and looking after their tribe and families, was their full time job.
Today, the truth of the matter is that exercising or even moving around, is somewhat of a hobby for those who take out time out of their seemingly busy lives. It’s about time that we finally open our minds to the true potential of our physiology. Sustainability… it starts with us.
Organic vs. Non-Organic
No discussion about sustainability is complete without food. Yet, the internet is full of myths and misconceptions surrounding food and nutrition. Today, a vast majority of Gen Z individuals and millennials, seem to have a good idea about different macronutrients in foods, carbs, fats and protein. Over the years, I’ve learned the importance of organic foods and food sourcing. These elements, along with having local and responsible growth of food is paramount when it comes to sustainability and well-being.
Organic farming involves the growth and production of agricultural foods, without the use of synthetic chemicals such as fungicides, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and genetically-modified organisms (GMOs). With livestock, this includes keeping poultry chickens out in the open, rather than in tightly packed cages and coops. The term used is pasture-raised free range chicken, or eggs. This essentially means that the chickens are fed non-GMO grains or food and are raised in an ethical manner, in the absence of growth inducing drugs, steroids, antibiotics or hormones.
This also applies to red meat and cattle. The industrialisation of the dairy industry in the 1950s resulted in manufacturers housing cows in large warehouses, injecting them with hormones and antibiotics to increase milk production. All these chemicals have high concentrations of nitrates, sulphur, and bacteria that are toxic to our bodies, even potentially carcinogenic. There are two terms in biology known as bioaccumulation, and biomagnification. In a nutshell, the synthetic chemicals that a plant or an animal is fed or injected with, builds up over time. As we consume it, the chemicals stored within the food ends up in our systems as well, which can be detrimental to our well-being. The toxins in these foods affect our energy levels, further leading to lethargy, tiredness, forgetfulness and brain fog to name a few.
Cows are naturally meant to roam freely and feed on grass. Therefore, organic, grass-fed red meat and dairy is what is desirable for us. Secondly, with organic food it is important to understand what goes on inside our bodies. When we consume chemical containing processed foods, our intestine and digestive system is forced to work more than required. This is because these foods are not naturally occurring substances, therefore our body must use more energy to digest and break them down.
The Saturated Fat Myth
In the 1960s, when the food industry was starting to commercialise, food manufacturers with products containing high amounts of sugar found a way to sell more products. These companies propagated the idea that consuming high amounts of fat, specifically saturated fat, is linked with heart disease, high cholesterol, blood pressure and obesity. They used observational studies that involved people who ate certain foods such as processed red meats, hamburgers and hot dogs, with high rates of the aforementioned conditions.
The caveat however, is that the research didn’t account for any other habits the individuals may have such as smoking, drinking or drug abuse. Furthermore, the relationship between the two variables was found to be a correlation, not a causation. For the next 50 years, these companies proceeded to sell low fat, high sugar products in the name of being healthy. The result? A spike in obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
Good sources of saturated fats such as coconut oil, ghee or clarified butter, grass-fed red meat and dairy have been shown to increase levels of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), or the good cholesterol in our bodies.
With food intake, the proportion of different food groups largely depends on occupation and lifestyle. An endurance athlete who is training for a marathon would need to consume carbohydrates, so the proportion would increase. It is important that we as humans consume what is good for the intestine, and see how our bodies respond to those foods. From there, we can move onto deciding what food groups to consume, and in what proportions.
For the majority of people who live a regular lifestyle with no vigorous physical activity, the first step is to get a solid understanding of food. Is sugar bad for us? Is excess fat bad for us? It depends.
Striving for Longevity
For me, fitness is not a six-pack on my torso, or a profile full of shirtless gym selfies. For me, fitness is being sustainable; being able to live a long, healthy and happy life to my utmost potential. Life and death, both are inevitable phenomenons, but the journey between them is in our hands. Living sustainably is not a privilege, it’s a choice.
Make your choice. For your life now, and tomorrow.
If you’re a student, nervous about the future, worried about your thoughts, or overwhelmed with your beliefs, you’re not alone. The Modern Z is a blog and podcast channel dedicated to providing university students and gen Z individuals with a platform to share ideas, stories and experiences that we can relate to and resonate with.
The Modern Z website.
Podcast link for this episode (available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify)
