For decades, we have listened to the nation’s health experts tell us:
- what to eat,
- what not to eat,
- how much to eat,
- how much exercise we need,
- what type of exercise we need….
And, after all of that advice, we have become a nation world afflicted with runaway obesity, diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, cancer, etc…
And yet, when we want to improve our health or reduce our waistlines, we still turn to the experts.
Why?
Everyday I meet people who are trying to get into shape. For years, they have been trying to follow the rules laid down by the experts.
- They followed the food pyramid
- They cut the fat out of their diets
- They did their 20 minutes of fat-burning cardio
- They choked down their egg white omelettes
- They ate their fiber
And they watched their backsides get wider and their blood pressure rise higher and higher.
It’s time for a change.
The status quo is broken.
The top-down approach doesn’t work.
But with the technology available today, we don’t need to rely solely on that expert advice from up above.
We can connect those people who are desperate to transform their bodies with those people willing to help.
We can create a tribe of people devoted to health, fitness and each other.
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This has taken on new urgency for me, because I just discovered that the dress I’m supposed to wear for my friend’s wedding is really tight. So unless I can get them to exchange it, or order me a size bigger (which I don’t know if they’ll have time for), I have a month to lose possible a dress size.
Not sure how this is going to happen. :-/
Ugh. Possible = possibly. You’d think I’d learn to spell check things better by now.
I couldn’t agree more!
We can’t rely on the experts to lead us by the hands to get healthier and fitter!
Cheers!
I replied to Brit via email
DR
I totally agree. I was reading some articles in the NY Times written by so-called experts and all I could think is that what they were saying was total codswallop. Yet still people listen to them and still they get fatter. It is so depressing.
So, what is the best way to get our message out and drown out these so-called experts?
I think that one way to drown out the experts is to use social media to connect the people interested in improving their health with those people who have something to offer.
The experts have served as the middle man for too long. They take scientific research, blend it with political rhetoric & modify it to suit various lobby groups and then present it to the public as a fait accomplit.
Social media could allow us to eliminate the middle man and bring together health researcher, grassroots health/fitness professional & those people who want to be healthier.
Obviously, as one of those health & fitness professionals, I am biased. But, at least I am willing to admit it.
One website that almost gets it right is SparkPeople.
My main complaint with SparkPeople is that it still operates with a top-down type of structure.
The gurus at sparkpeople tell their users what to do. I think that a better model would involve a conversation between interested parties instead of a lecture
DR, you are right that the system is broken and that too many people at the top are simply informing people rather than creating an environment where people feel motivated and incentivized to be more healthy. One approach Switch2Health is trying out is rewarding individuals for physical activity.