Let’s make our day a little harder
Today’s modern society has developed an environment often referred to as “obesogenic” in which it’s almost inevitable that many will suffer from weight gain through excessive body fat.
This is especially true in more urban and built-up areas which obviously house the majority of the population.
The “obesogenic environment” refers to the role our environment plays in both the availability of food and the impact upon our physical activity.
We humans have been on the planet for an awful long time and for the vast majority of that time we have evolved in challenging habitats with unpredictable nutrition and a need to be active on a daily basis.
We live at the sharp end of human development, but our ancestors evolved in much more difficult times and we have inherited bodies which are designed for a harsher existence.
We are designed to cope with longer periods without food and as a result we are hard wired to seek out high calorie nutrition.
Our taste buds, gut and brain chemistry react well to sugar, fat and salt and drive a desire for overconsumption.
Once that adaptation is placed in an environment where highly processed calorie dense food is available on every street corner, it’s no shock that we are suffering from an obesity epidemic in both adults and children.
Just check out the range of food our teenagers purchase at lunch time before heading back to school.
High calorie and highly processed sandwich, crisps, fizzy drink and perhaps a chocolate bar is certainly not an uncommon sight.
Our ability to store excess body fat in times of plenty is indeed a survival strategy, but this evolution was designed to cause modest increases in weight which would inevitably drop again in lean times.
When the body is overloaded through obesity, we lose efficiency of movement and develop chronic joint damage, further reducing our ability to maintain a healthy weight.
Today we tend to drive or use public transport instead of using our own legs and energy systems, leading to a substantial drop in daily energy expenditure.
Add to this the fact that we are living longer due to medical advances and we face the perfect storm of an ageing population with low activity rates, poor nutrition and a home environment that encourages less activity at every turn.
I’m not telling you that we need to start behaving like a caveman to maintain a good weight, feel strong and be healthy.
However, we can all try to be more mobile and look out for the traps the environment has laid out for us.
To correct our current slide into obesity we need more people, more active, more often.
We can start by maintaining 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week including two days of resistance training.
You may have heard the saying “use it or lose it”. This is especially true as we age so let’s not wait to do something about it and accept the walking aid as an inevitable outcome.
Leave the car at home for short journeys, park a little further from work and walk or get off the bus a stop early.
Playing with grandkids, a walk with the family or spending some time gardening will all accomplish the “use it” part of the equation.
For more guidance on how you can increase your daily energy expenditure and improve your nutrition why not visit www.lornhealthyoptions. co.uk and self-refer to our Thrive programme.