In a society that lives on media, surrounded by a wealth of information, you would think that being healthy is the easiest thing ever right? Fancy eating something different? google it. Fancy a new work out? google it. Want inspiration? Google it or buy a fitness magazine. Heck their is Instagram, facebook, twitter and numerous other sites you can visit for information.
But what happens when you scratch beneath the surface? When instead of inspiration or something new, you want facts and solid, reliable information? Well, so far my answer is. Confusion.
Since the beginning of the year i have been trying to get healthy, to be in the best shape possible. So far I have learnt this means eating the same boring food over and over again. Getting so bored you fall off the wagon and eat your way through a large bag of crisps, several cakes and innumerable chocolate bars. Not exactly conducive to the task of becoming the best possible version of me.
So I started reading around 'macros', how much protein, carbs and fat i need to consume on a daily basis. How to calculate this. When to eat. You name it. And frankly, every single website I go to tells me something different. Some say you have to be completely organic, others say the answer relies on taking supplements with every meal. The problem here is the overwhelming amount of information. But not only is there 'too much' but we the readers, actually don't know how reliable the websites are.
So I went back to meal hunting, and realised basically i need to live off salads all year round to lose weight. Anything that sounds nice and different has ingredients that are either impossible to get hold of, or cost a blinking fortune (on a student budget here, my favourite shops are lidl and wilko).
So i want to be healthy, but what is healthy? Surely eating right is only one part of it (though i realise a big part of it) i exercise a lot and am not seeing many changes. So what makes us healthy? A BMI of 18.5-25? A waist to hip ratio of 0.8 or less? These things are taken as gosiple. But the latest research tells us this may not be so. And perhaps rightly. I'm sure we all know a person that is pretty muscluar, but by conventional measurments would be classes over weight. I have a friend who is a personal trainer, he is quite the specimen of fitness. With a BMI very close to 25 he is techinically 'healthy' yet the doctor (without really noting how he looks or his job) has told him to lose 11kg. Erm yeah, do-able if we chop of a leg...
All this information overload has left me questioning what it actually is to be healthy. How easy it is in a modern day to be the healthy individual? I'm finding it very hard. The information is conflicting and overwhelming. All this superfood non-sense. Just tell me, healthy or not? Sadly until I figure this all out, I think my goal of losing weight and being the healty, toned individaul i want will stay off piste.
