Diet and Exercise are scientific issues, they both create biological changes in humans. Things that effect humans on a biological level are in the realm of science and medicine. The mechanisms by which diet and exercise change people are extensively studied and are readily available for examination. For example, the role of insulin in regard to fat storage and fat burning is widely known and understood. The action of insulin in regard to the 3 types of diets is essentially what distinguishes all of the thousands of "diets" in the world from each other. There is a cohesive scientific understanding about this matter. Calorie restriction diets such as Weight Watchers do not try to lower insulin levels but instead rely upon energy balance (fewer calories consumed versus calories burned) to effect weight loss.
Carbohydrate restricted diets such as Atkins, The Zone, and the Paleo Diet rely upon limiting insulin levels to lower fat storage and increase fat burning to effect a net loss in fat. Diets such as Eat Stop Eat and other forms of intermittent fasting rely upon periods of simply not eating to lower insulin levels and to promote a hormonal profile that increases fat loss. The underlying science of diet is not so complex or mysterious for many people to understand. You do not need to have specific training in nutrition to have a reasonable understanding of the science involved. If you have some understanding, you are not overwhelmed by the marketing of these diets. Calorie restriction diets have notable downsides, rebound (regain of fat lost), loss of lean tissue, lowering of metabolic rate, and "diet obsession".
Carbohydrate restricted diets have downsides, creation of carbohydrate craving (binge eating of carbohydrates), lowering of metabolic rate, and a rebound tendency (less than from Calorie Restricted diets). Intermittent fasting diets also have as a downside, the discomfort symptoms from periods of fasting such as lightheadedness and irritability and hunger pains along with overeating behaviors when the fast is broken. This can result in a situation of no net energy deficit (no fat loss). Intermittent fasting does have other important health benefits besides fat loss. Armed with the above information one can make rational decisions about diet (fat loss). The body of evidence is building to create a consensus that intermittent fasting may prove to be the "solution" at the end of the trail for fat loss. Recent studies in regard to dramatic increases in hGH levels when fasting are propelling a mass reexamination of the benefits of fasting even with fat loss considerations set aside.
However, the overwhelming number of people make their diet decisions without any consideration of the above science. Failure rates have been unaffected by advances in scientific understanding. This is a problem. Health officials are reluctant to take any firm stands lest they be seen as promoting some particular business entity. The net effect has been to leave the public completely vulnerable to market manipulations. i.e. "Diet Confusion". Obesity rates have skyrocketed, obviously, the same old approaches are not working. Now, let's examine exercise.
Exercise is absolutely a medical and scientific issue. Exercise is NOT a recreational issue. Without medically sound exercise, the probability of osteoporosis, type II diabetes, joint replacement, immobility, constant pain, obesity. lowered immune response and even depression all go up. The seriousness of these maladies precludes the consideration of exercise as a simple recreational choice. Medically sound exercise is an effective method to dramatically lower the chances of having the above afflictions. The main point is that exercise and diet are way too serious an issue to be trivialized into some decision based upon "feel good" thinking. The wrong diet and exercise decisions can waste as much as 15 hours per week and still not get any significant result. As a culture, we need to replace "dong something" with doing the right thing.
Contact us. We can teach you.
Thomas Pinson
The Structural Development Team
http://StructuralDevelopment.com
