As I pulled out of the driveway this morning, I was ripped from my peaceful reality by the sight of a freshly mangled possum, it's jaw ripped away and it's eyeballs ejected from their sockets like Maverick & Goose from the ill fated F-15 in Top Gun. Very graphic. Very vivid. And the next thought I had was of my wife and three year old daughter pulling from the driveway minutes behind me and being confronted by the same spray of entrails I had just seen. There were bound to be questions from our little chatter box in the back seat.

Until now, we've been able to get away with telling her that every dead animal on the road was sleeping. No doubt she considered it an odd place for these cuddly creatures to curl up for a nap, but she continued to believe our lies. Good girl. But this morning seemed different to me somehow. Can we really try to pass off this destroyed pile of meat as a sleeping animal? Closed eyes tend to be the instant association kids make with sleep. So what's the association with eyeballs that are blown from the head due to the crushing force of an SUV? Today's discovery has taken my timetable for the "death" conversation and bumped it up by at least 3-5 years. On second thought, she's just not ready. I've got it: I'll tell her that all of the flattened squirrels and chipmunks, all of the bloated raccoons and groundhogs, and all of the contorted and backwards bent deer she see on the side of the road are actually…..asleep. I love you Elsa.

-Love Daddy

Here's a link to a great article by Dr. David Servan-Schreiber about the various benefits of exercise, particularly as it relates to depression and anxiety. His most recent book (Anticancer: A New Way of Life) is also worth a read. It chronicles his journey through brain cancer and discusses how important the role of physical and emotional health were to his recovery. Enjoy.

http://www.oprah.com/health/Health-Benefits-of-Exercise-Health-and-Happiness_1/1

--Nicole 

My primary intent here is to put to bed, once and for all, this notion that there is a simple, singular solution to achieving and maintaining overall health and fitness. I guess I'm responding more to the mass media approach to fitness which makes absurd promises with pills, abdominal contraptions, boot camps, food deliveries and fasts. The sooner it becomes profitable to tell the truth about health and fitness, the sooner we'll start to see our sky rocketing obesity rates reverse, and come back down to earth.

Cheap and easy is the consumer model(a lot for a little): Cheap overseas labor, huge U.S. demand, the expansion of our disposable society and of course,  shopping clubs like B.J.'s and Cotsco, which have cemented "buying in bulk" into the consumer lexicon. Regrettably, when it comes to health and fitness products available for mass consumption, the choices range from superficially effective to outright fraudulent. The vast majority of these "solutions" are steeped in highly stylized and misleading imagery, B/C-list celebrity endorsements and mail order deception. So what's missing? Well, putting aside profit motive for a moment, I believe what's missing is hard truth. Like so many problems we encounter personally and as a society, we tend not to confront them until they have gotten so severe that the potential for reversal is eclipsed by the sheer scope of the problem. In certain instances, the problems are irreversible. But with respect to fitness, nutrition and maintaining a healthy body weight, there are almost always solutions, you just need to know which ones are viable.

So, are the hard truths cheap and easy? You tell me. Do you have access to whole foods instead of processed foods? Probably. Remember, in addition to fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fresh meats and dairy, whole foods do include many packaged and frozen products. Just read the ingredients and say no to additives, preservatives and sugar substitutes. And no, this doesn't mean you have to shop exclusively at specialty markets, which indeed can get expensive. Stop & Shop will do. Do you have access to outdoor space? Terrific. Studies show that exercising outdoors versus indoors, in addition to allowing for a great cardiovascular workout, also helps mitigate symptoms of depression. As a bonus, your body just happens to be the perfect type of weighted resistance needed for outdoor strength training. You just need to know which exercises to do(another blog post). How's your sleep environment? So much of the progress we make in the areas of nutrition and fitness can be strained, or completely undone by poor sleeping habits. Sleep is the ultimate time out for our bodies. The period of sustained rest allows important metabolic and recovery processes to occur, essentially completing, or at the very least maintaining, the work you did earlier that day. 

Nutrition, cardiovascular work, strength training and sleep. Can these components be delivered in the form of a pill, which is essentially a modified dose of speed? No.  Will having food delivered every day compensate for the 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular work we should be doing everyday? No. Will the abdominal lounge chair alone help you make the right decisions at the super market? Nope. So you see, while the pursuit of health and fitness does not have to be costly, it is by no means easy. And anyone who says it is is either oblivious, or has an agenda. So arm yourself with knowledge and a healthy dose of skepticism when navigating the "cheap and easy" world of fitness fixes. Getting healthy and staying healthy is work.

I mentioned profitability earlier in the post because very often in the consumer realm, profitability equals credibility. What's missing in many instances, of course, is viability. The best selling and most recognizable health and fitness products/methods tend to quickly recede into obsolescence because they do not address the core components of long term commitment, sustainability, and yes, lifestyle change. It's like trying to plug the hole in your boat with cotton balls. They will rarely, if ever staunch the flow of water, but they are plentiful, cheap and will momentarily put you at ease. Meanwhile, you're a moment closer to going under. 

-B