It’s complicated

Being healthy and fit shouldn’t be so complicated. However, there are a few misconceptions about health and fitness that won’t seem to go away. A common misconception is the that being thin equals being healthy. Another, that if you are fit, you are healthy, and you can eat whatever you like. 

These are fallacies.

Being thin and exercising doesn’t mean you can’t have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or have a heart attack. Bob Harper is the latest proof. For those of you don’t know Bob Harper, he was one of the trainers on the popular (but cringe worthy) The Biggest Loser. Along with Jillian Michaels, he bullied, threatened and abused the contestants into losing weight on national television. It was everything I detest about the fitness industry, and reality television, in one hour of misery.

I am sorry to say that Bob Harper suffered a heart attack a few days ago.

He wasn’t overweight and looked fit, although looks can be deceiving. He said he had a family history of heart disease. 

Having a family history of heart disease does not mean that you will have heart disease too. Lifestyle choices make all the difference. You may need to be more careful with your diet, sleep, stress, than someone who doesn’t have a family history, but you are not destined to have heart disease.

Fitness is only part of the solution. If you want to prevent disease you need to eat well. 

Heart disease is a choice.

Blood cholesterol is a factor. By age 10 almost all kids have fatty streaks in their arteries and plaques have formed by the age of twenty.

Bob Harper said he ate eggs and chicken daily. To lower your cholesterol through diet you need to avoid, trans fats, saturated fats and cholesterol. Eggs and chicken are the top food sources of cholesterol in the American diet.

Any trans or saturated fat intake above ZERO increases cholesterol levels. If you have a family history of heart disease you should not be consuming these.

What about exercise? To raise your good cholesterol through exercise you had better be diligent. At least 5-7 days per week of 55-90% of your Target Heart Rate. It would be much easier, and more effective to improve your heart health, by changing your diet. 

I don’t know anything about Bob Harper’s personal exercise program, but I do know he eats eggs and chicken daily. Maybe he also took supplements to stay lean, another factor when considering how he had a heart attack at 51. 

He works in the high stress, entertainment industry. He has immense pressure to look good and now he is lucky enough to be the living proof, that how you look doesn’t equal health.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla