Activitybased Lifestyle

I managed to run 60 minutes on my treadmill this morning. After work, I proceeded to the gym for weight training. It wasn't too bad. I did not feel pooped during my working hours and I even successfully limited myself to salad for my lunch (which did not help later as I got ready for the gym. ) I had to take a quick bite (1 slice pizza) from the hospital cafeteria before I proceeded to Bally. I was that hungry. It was a good work-out.

Then the hours came fast. I ate tilapia, rice for dinner. Checked email and web surfed a little. Drove to the library to drop some books long overdue. Called a friend to wish him Happy Birthday. Posted a blog in another site. Now I am firing this blog with fingers and brain that are both tired and sleepy. I am trying to write my thoughts on health and fitness. I am aware that most of us have already 'preconceived notions' on how to manage our bodies. And I am not writing this to come up with some wonderful theories about health, we all know most of those theories. The sad thing however is that, we know the principles but we don't have the will. The hardest thing in achieving good health and fitness is the discipline to do it.

And we ask so many questions about it, for example, why are good foods bad? Why bad foods good? Why weren't we, humans created by God, designed to eat as much sweet and fat as we could instead of fibers and right combination of pyramid food?

I've attended one seminar a few years back which had a Cardiologist explain to me why this is so. Man, according to him was designed as a hunter whose appetite is more of a vegetarian than carnivorous. Homo sapien at the beginning of time, was supposed to wake up in the morning and get moving immediately to look for food. In other words, man, at the start of day, needs moving or exercising or playing or...ok, working. Man is not meant to stay put and linger and listen to Ipod doing nothing. This MD also explained to me why we're not allowed to eat what we think was perfect food for us - again - our Creator did not originally intend us to be the way we want ourselves to be. Our teeth do not have enough incisors that are required to tear meat. If we do, we just need to bite a cow and tear it apart, bypassing a grill that makes meat 'softer' for our teeth to grind. At the beginning of time, our bodies were meant to eat more fibers, grains and protein in a pyramidal form. It means our primitive ancestors have adapted their bodies and needs to what was available in their surroundings. I assume the easiest ingredients to satisfy themselves in those days were fruits, grains and veggies. These were abundant and there was less competition over them. But with meat and protein, it was harder to acquire that. First, protein sources (meaning animals) were hard to hunt and there was lots of competition over them.

Maybe that's the reason why our bodies are now ok to eat an unlimited amount of grains and veggies and fruits (plant-based food) but less of fat and protein based food (animals, some nuts). Also, ours body systems were designed to binge. In primitive times, when food was scarce, we had to eat as much as we could because we did not know when the next meal would come. Binging was a protective mechanism against starvation. That 'binging' is still present in us nowadays. Sensing food releases a lot of dopamine in our brains that keeps reminding us to keep eating because we might starve later.

What then, to me is the healthy lifestyle I seek? I am seeking a return to my primitive self, not my modern self. I want to wake up to move and to eat according to what God had designed me to eat.