After a date night this week my husband and I were strolling around town and ended up in the Sunshine Pharmacy on Main St. in Telluride. (That is the great excitement around here folks!) While he was making an antibiotic ointment purchase (’cause my kids keep getting ouchies in the playground,) I was hanging at the magazine rack. I was drawn in by the silly graphic (shown below) and cover article on TIME magazine :
“Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin”
by John Cloud, Sunday, August 09, 2009.
Do you ever notice how great you feel after a workout, but also how starving? The TIME article addresses how exercise stimulates hunger. So many people don’t see physical results and changes from their ambitious exercise because they have poor food choices following intense exercise.
It was not a profound article in any sense. It stated the obvious: there needs to be a mindful proportion of calories in and calories burned daily. In order to have a fit, tight body we need to strike a balance of proper exercise and a clean, healthy diet. Hours on the treadmill will not make up for a diet ridden with processed, highly sugared, salted, fatty, artificial foods. The article reinforces the MarlaMeridith.com Lifestyle that I inspire.
The author talks about how his intense workout regime has limited visual results. He admits to taking in empty calories in the form of junky, high calorie food “rewards.” John Cloud questions if it is worth it for us to exercise.
The bottom line is exercise alone will not keep you healthy and lean. It is all about finding a balance. The body is a fine tuned machine. We need daily mindful eating and exercise behaviors to keep us feeling mentally and physically fit and fabulous!
(By the way: Don’t let this TIME article mislead you into thinking you will only get those sugary/fatty cravings and reward instincts from exercise alone. We crave foods based on all kinds of emotions from sleep deprivation, overall stress, routine changes, vacations etc. It is proven over and over again how beneficial exercise is for mind and body!)
Please view related FFC Post:
The Art of the Mini Meal
