A paradox of sorts?

A few years ago, while I was working as an instructor at a fitness facility, one of the staff members (during a staff meeting) said that "perception is the reality." That "what others perceive is what it is." Such premises got me a bit confused at the moment. I couldn't comprehend how is it that a health professional would say something like that. Why? Because perception is not reality.

By definition, perception is 'what somebody thinks something or someone is,' whereas the reality is 'what something or someone really is". Go ahead and google it.
As an example, and bringing the topic to a more health and fitness related level; let's say that you see a person with a great body (you know, marked abs, defined muscles, very lean, and fitting perfectly in her clothes). Right away, for most people, such person is healthy. However, the reality can be another. Perhaps that person looks like that because she is using drugs, or because she went through surgery, or it could be that she is a model and her job requires her to look like that, but she is mentally unstable. The point is that what we see is not necessarily what it is.

As a physical educator, through education and experience (personal, and professional) I have learned that what we usually see out there when it comes to miracle diets and exercise programs, is not reality but rather an elaborate image to get you to buy something. 

Weight loss pills, shakes, and exercise programs are promising to "transform your body" or getting you into a "new you" will go to any extent to get you drinking their kool-aid. And they will hire models to show you their abs and butts to convince you that what they are teaching you is how you can get. They create a perception. 

On the other hand, the reality is another. These companies and programs will not show you that those models got to look how they look by other means. Extreme dangerous diets and supplements (which have killed many), surgery (which have also killed or left many in dysfunction), many many years of training (which is not bad, but years of exercise cannot translate into 30 days or six months). They will not show you the hours of photoshopping that photographers or graphic artist go through to make these people look "disproportionately perfect." Check out this video, and you'll get the idea: https://youtu.be/2Zw634ZZiek

With this, I want to help you understand that not everything that shines is gold, that there is no such thing as the best. "The best workout," "The best exercise," "The seven best things you can do this year to be healthy".... and so on.

All of these "best" things that we see everywhere are just illusions that we develop in our minds as a result of constant media bombardment. 
We sometimes see these things as the best because a person of influence said so. That is called Influencer Marketing ("Influencer Marketing." Wikipedia, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influencer_marketing.) How do I know? I might have done an M.B.A. in Marketing in another (professional) life.

That same "professional" from the first example, during another meeting, took out a rack of pills from a bag and started taking them (7 different supplement pills...SEVEN), and then she said "This is breakfast. I take these every day, and I don't have to think about food". This time I was amazed. "How?" I asked myself. "How is it that someone who promotes health could do such a thing, and also ask their clients to do the same?" But then it dawned on me. That person was living in a health paradox.

A paradox is a self-contradictory and false proposition (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/paradox). In health and fitness, this would translate into thinking that a supplement can be taken in place of food and believe that the body (and every other issue that a person might have) will be fixed. Or thinking that skinny people are healthy, or that eating vegetables alone will lead to better health.

There is much research, and proof, showing that taking supplements irresponsibly, engaging in restrictive diets, performing extreme exercises created for athletes; and getting involved in specific practices just because someone else did and "it worked for them" has lead to serious harm... including death!

We must understand that health is a state that comprises different components, which are physical, social, spiritual, psychological, and intellectual. We also MUST comprehend that although without a body we cannot exist and we need to pay a lot of attention to the physical aspect, no one component of health is more important than the others and that to be healthy we must work all of them simultaneously.

A great example would be a person who wants to lose weight. That person needs to understand that such weight didn't get there by magic. That it may have gotten there because of anxiety eating (psychological), lack of nutritional or physical education knowledge (intellectual). Maybe because of very little physical activity due to injury (physical), too much junk food with friends and family because that is what they like (social), or because she or he never thought of being capable of being healthy (spiritual). Or it could have been a combination of various, if not all of those. 

Now ask yourself: Can a diet fix all that? How about a pill? Would eating as the Chinese do help you be healthier? If your issue is psychological; how starving to lose weight will help? If your friend got leaner with the help of an extreme transformational program and "it worked"; does that means that it will help you? And how are you sure that your friend is healthy?

Now, I am not trying to get you confused (although I know you might be). What I want you to understand is that being healthy is not as simple as losing 10 pounds, or lifting 300kg, or doing the 'sexy body beach transformation extreme challenge.' That even for something as seemingly straightforward as dropping 2 inches to be able to fit in those sexy pants, there are many things to consider for you to be ready to the sustain that size (if that is your intention). 

Before you decide to believe that losing weight will help you look better, you check all of the things that are required for such intention. A smile and a right attitude towards life make anyone look better, more than being able to wear a g-string or showing a six pack, believe me.  

Do not fall into a paradox. Next time you consider engaging in health practices seek assistance from a real professional or reliable literature. Here are a few tips to help you determine what's real and what's not:

1. Make sure that the "pro" or the research you are seeking information from are not guaranteeing anything. No one can ensure health through a single method in any specific amount of time. That takes time and just like anything else in life; there are ups and downs, setbacks, and stones on the road and so forth.

2. Make sure that your sources are not selling you anything miraculous that get you there and make you stay there for the rest of your life. Health is not a destination but a journey, and each person has a different path. And when you get to your individual (intended) optimal health, you still need to work to maintain it or get to a next stage. Also, understand that the concept of optimal health changes as you age and change lifestyles.  

3. Make sure your sources are not offering you pills, detoxes, cleanses, shakes, or programs in which you pay and become part of some secret group.

4. Make sure that your sources offer consultation that will take you step by step according to your unique needs and intentions, that they ask questions that are related to you and only you.

For more information on how I can help you reach your goals healthily and safely, through my online fitness coaching program, visit my website at www.quantumfithealth.com, contact me at info@quantumfithealth.com to receive a free (no-commitment) consultation.