While exercise is essential for our health and offers plenty of health benefits, unfortunately, you cannot exercise your way out of a bad diet. Many people think that the problem with unhealthy food is merely about the consumption of excess calories that lead to weight gain. However, food contains much more than just nutrients and calories. It can contain harmful toxins which can be added to food in the form of food colourings, flavouring and enhancers.
The food you eat–such as commercially reared chicken – could also contain antibiotics and hormones that affect health negatively. Sadly, not any harmful substance is simply removed from the body when you exercise.Besides, some foods cause harmful changes in the body such as storage of fat in your belly and liver, changes in hormones, suppression of immunity and inflammation.
While it is true that exercise may reduce the impact of these negative changes, exercise doesn’t stop them from happening and on its own cannot undo all the harmful effects of an unhealthy diet. We also need to appreciate that all the cells in our body are made from the food we eat. If we eat unhealthy food, our cells will be made from these same foods. We are what we eat: if we eat junk food, our cells will be made from these same cells. What do you think happens to the cake, fried chips and chicken, sausages and sugar-filled pastries you eat? They become every part of you – your heart, your brain, your lungs, your muscles and yes, even your reproductive cells that will go on to become your future children.
So, while exercise is a vital habit to develop and maintain, it should never be seen as a substitute, alternative or compensation for an unhealthy diet.
I hope we are all able to make time for exercise. We should target to get at least three hours of exercise each week. At least two hours for cardio exercise – anything that gets your heart rate up like walking, running, skipping, dancing or aerobics and at least one hour for strength and stretching exercises such as sit-ups, pushups, crunches, squats and muscle stretches. It is okay to break these down into shorter periods of twenty to thirty minutes.
By Dr. Paul Kasenene
