FIT and HEALTHY

Good morning! I hope everyone had a fun and restful weekend.

Have you ever seen someone and thought, “Man, that person is fit”?? Have you ever been to a restaurant and thought “I’ll get the salad since that’s healthy”??

After writing last week’s blog, I wanted to follow the theme of defining certain terms. It seems that society uses certain terms loosely which has devalued the meaning of these words!

FIT and HEALTHY

The words “fit” and “healthy” carry absolutely no real weight anymore. As we talked last week, someone who looks “fit” might have 80% clogged arteries, does that really make them fit?? Or how about that person who looks “fit” but has terrible low back pain due to an under-active core?

Did you know that eggs are not legally allowed to be marketed as “healthy”? So when someone says, “I had a healthy breakfast, I had two eggs and some avocado.” It’s a pretty good breakfast but according to FDA, it’s not technically a healthy one.

Another misconception is that salad is “healthy”. This one always makes me chuckle a little because as if all salad is exactly the same, so the generic SALAD is healthy… Mixed field greens with vegetables and a modest amount of a oil based dressing can be filled with nutrients and a great choice for a lunch. However, iceberg lettuce under a bed of heavy, creamy Ranch dressing is not.

So let’s talk about terms that we can use to have the same understanding of what we’re talking about and we can be on the same page:

Instead of saying “fit”, we can say that the woman looks “strong” or “has a lot of endurance”.

Instead of saying “healthy”, we can say “nutrient dense”, or something more specific like “low calorie”, “high fiber”, “no refined sugar”, “low saturated fat”, “vegan”, etc.

I think when people use the word “healthy” as a way to describe a food choice, they are trying to describe the nutrient density- how much nutrients are in a particular food. And in that case, “nutrient dense” and “healthy” are great synonyms!

Maybe the biggest problem is when people use these words to describe the absence of something. The absence of carbohydrates doesn’t make something healthy. The absence of body fat doesn’t make someone fit. These words require the presence of something else. Being healthy requires plentiful nutrients. Being fit requires an underlying strength or endurance.

I’m going to repeat that because that is a very important idea:

The absence of carbohydrates doesn’t make something healthy, plentiful nutrients does.

The absence of body fat doesn’t make someone fit, strength and endurance does.

So we’ve redefined “Fit” and “Healthy” for you so I encourage you to ask more questions when these words come up and to buy organic when you can. I also hope that you feel inspired to use more accurate terms and maybe you’ll even look a little closer on the food labels to see what is in the food you’re eating!

Have a great week filled with delicious and nutrient dense foods, moderate to vigorous exercise and lots of laughs.

Check back for more soon!