All About "That"

My wife and I had lunch with some old friends that we hadn't seen for a few years. We all highlighted what had transpired in our lives and what we're planning now. Me: Uh, let's see:in a couple of days run the Bolder-Boulder, then go back home for a month to finish my job, move to Oregon, and maybe write a book.

"A book about what?" our female friend asked.

"About wellness." I told them about a Wellness Club we formed at work and how we had learned so much about diet, exercise, and health during the past year. And about every one's individual struggle to lose weight, get more fit, whatever.

The woman raised her eyebrows and said, "Everybody knows all about that and what we should do. We just don't do it." I conceded she had a point about motivation, but looking at her I had to wonder if that's really true, that is, if we all really know what we should do. Though she's a good friend from our past, I definitely didn't think she knew what she should do.  She proudly explained that she and her husband had spent $1500 on a vibrating platform that enables you to get a total body workout in 10 minutes. But I had to wonder. Up in years, she had a nasal cannula connected to a portable oxygen  bottle. In the more than a decade I'd known her, never had she exercised much.

The truth is that most of us don't know very much about "that." Many know more about how to operate a cell phone than what to eat to stay healthy. Actually, most people - educated or not, rich or not, young or old, etc. - know little about the food they put into their mouths or what happens to it once it enters their bodies. What they do know, they get from cereal commercials and FDA propoganda.

Once you start to learn about food, it can be very surprising. Take carbohydrates for example. I thought I know quite a bit about that macro nutrient until I tried to understand why so many low carb advocates, like those who've gone Paleo, are slimmer and still have high energy levels. Remember the gospel of carbo-loading for endurance athletes? It sold lots of pizza and sugary-gels, although it's mainly a myth, a harmful one.

Learning all about "that" actually starts with dispelling some of those myths, like the one that low fat, high carb diets are good for you. Or that you have to run marathons to be fit.

I saw a reference to a book about carbs, published in 2011, by Jeff Volek, PhD, and Steven Phinney, MD, called "The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living."  It had received praise from Dr. Michael Eades, the well-known author of books about high-protein diets. He had paid it the highest possible compliment, saying it was the book he wished he'd written because of its scientific rigor.

I happened to be in Denver at a huge Barnes and Noble and went to the diet and health section to find a copy, but there was none to be found. Instead, what was on the shelves were books like "I Can Make You Hot: The Supermodel Diet." Dumb, and useless for a TOJ.

But I was able to get the Volek and Phinney book on my Kindle. I'm finally learning about the nitty-gritty of carbs." The research is all there and well explained. It's a great book about "that."