Food is Energy!

http://byuhealth100.blogspot.com/2011/05/food-is-energy.html
-> This is a blog for my "Intro to Public Health" class.

          We had to use stickers that said, "This is Public Health" and label it to something that's public health to us. I wanted to do a picture of me lifting and have the sticker somewhere but I didn't think it would deliver as strong as a message as this picture (notice the Lucky Charms and Panda Express Sauce). Anyways this link will take you to my post. Quite controversial to many people who are all about "healthy eating." Why do you suppose I put it that way? Because healthy eating all depends on context.

           The conversations I have day to day with health are very.....minimal. I really wish I could talk about it more than I do. I am a huge proponent of "good health" and again you may ask me, what is this "good health" that you speak of.

          I set my status on Facebook the other day to this:

Good health is: "A state of complete physical, mental, and    social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity"

         Without throwing out my own say as to what "good health" was, I used this definition (I thought it was very through). Pretty lofty health goal I would say. 

          Context was a word I mentioned earlier. People in this world have been gifted with preferences, appetites, opinions, you name it! We all advocate something that makes us feel great or secure. Once we have our "ah-ha" moments and discover new things to advocate or love; we want everyone to enjoy it also! We are interesting creatures who digest and regurgitate information repeatedly by what we say, do, and even by appearance. One individual is a vegan, another is a meat-lover. Another advocates to eat only foods that can be gathered or hunted for; another believes and loves food delivery. Some of us just do these things or a mixture because we just don't think about it when in fact others obsess about it.

          Hypothetical situation: you order a "meaty" pizza. Good friend comes over and they begins to tell you how their doctor has advised them to quit eating greasy/fatty foods because their cholesterol levels are too high and so is their blood pressure. Door bell rings; you go and retrieve that hot-n-ready meat loaded pizza and it's warm to the touch and smells as if it were baked fresh. You sit down and sink your teeth into the soft doughy pizza and allow the hot melted cheese on your tongue in combination with the salty meat excite your taste buds (are you grossed out or are you hungry now?). Your friend than exclaims, "You should really consider what your eating too; that's really fatty..." Now things just got awkward and the context of this situation needs to be taken into consideration...

          A little science for everyone; did you know your body loves fats and needs fats? Did you know that fats are what makes up part of the cells of your body? Did you know both saturated/unsaturated fats are good for you? Did you know having body fat keeps you warm? Did you know that fats provide energy? Did you know that fat simply makes you happy? 

          Can you see that all these questions I just imposed weren't to make you think I'm treating you like a fool or to even correct you? These statements are actually intended for you to question them and to think logically for just one second. Your right, these answers or "facts" I gave you all deserve....what? Let's say it together people, CONTEXT. A person with "bad cholesterol" or "high-blood pressure" may not need that pizza. Why is that? Perhaps they sit around all day and they have no idea how to cut back on their caloric value so what do they do? They wipe out all fast-food options than in their mind they slap a label on fast-foods which reads, "UNHEALTHY.... BAD FOR HEART....EVIL...FATTY...GROSS." Now this person has created an alienation from fast-food within their minds because they have proposed a hypothesis: "Fast-food is causing me to have bad-health and by removing it completely from my life, I will be healthy again." I have no idea what or how they contrived the thought but it worked out to something like this. 

          Now this person loses weight, resets all things that were amiss with their body, become more active, and WALLA; "I'm not fat and unhealthy anymore!" Than for some reason the hypothesis becomes validated true in their minds in which they jump to believing a law has been discovered and MUST be adhered to: Fast-food makes you fat and it should be done away with. That simple huh?

         Context people. Your no longer "fat" or "unhealthy" you "over-zealous" McDonald's hater because you began to incorporate more whole foods into your diet which in fact brings more satiety and less calorie consumption. As you advanced on your adventure to prove fast-food is "evil" you became super-active and passionate over daily activity and you even began to count calories! In combination with all these "great things" you even began taking a daily-vitamin and incorporated EFA's and other great micro/macro nutrients that your body needed. Now that you have arrived at your goal; you strictly shop for only "organic foods" and NEVER EVER touch fast-food. You are a advocate of whole-foods and do everything in your power to stop this "fast-food epidemic" simply because a hypothesis without context was validated "true" in your mind. Well done by the way, now look at all your friends, family, and acquaintances behind you that you just steam rolled over.

   -->Notice my emphasis with quotation marks in this last paragraph? I use these quotation marks to prove my point of "Context." Forget if it wasn't "grammatically correct" it's my blog and I make my own laws! I defy proper grammar in my blog. This is my Contextual World.

         So what's my point??? The point is this: Must I say more?

• Just because you discover something great and wonderful for you it may not be for everyone. Sorry to break it to ya. Do share your passion thou with kindness, tactfulness, and not like some fanatic preaching the only way to enter the Halls of Valhalla is by some magical fat-free cake!

•  Calorie Tracking, Over-feeding/Under-feeding, Weight Training, Endurance Training, Incline/Decline, WHATEVER -> all has Context

•  All food be it; fast, slow, hot, cold, spicy, clean, dirty, etc. will in fact be converted into some form of energy in your body or can cause some form of double-dragon.

  

  Context of Lighting on my status: I look ok....

  
  
  

   

  

  Context of Lighting in this picture: I look even better