(repost from 02 Nov 2023)
Hey Team!
Something really interesting happened to me this week and I wanted to share it with you because it gave me a lesson worth sharing.
I was waiting for my weekly pre-order grocery shop to arrive to the parking bay outside my local store. There was only one other person waiting and her and I chatted politely for a few minutes before the groceries carts arrived in tow of a young woman clearly very busy and flustered with other orders on her list.
After a moment of checking out the contents of the order presented to me I realised she had switched mine and the other woman’s orders. I looked inside some of the bags and saw packets upon packets of sweets, biscuits, ready made meals as well bottles of soft drink and a few different types of cereals. What I did not see was a single vegetable of lean meat variety in this shop.
I knew immediately this is not the order my wife had placed for me to pick up, it hardly contained a nutrient dense food product in the whole cart. I was horrified at the contents to be honest.
I heard a a laugh and a “hello” to my right and looked up to see the other lady who had been waiting for her shop working toward me with another grocery cart. She said “I think you have my shopping there, this one is waaaaay too healthy for me haha!”
I looked into this cart and saw a multitude of colourful produce and lean meats, the only foods that were packaged were the likes of ancient grain pastas and the “special treat” we get the kids: sugar free cereal 😉 “Yep this is mine alright” I said.
We had a laugh for a moment and swapped carts. As she was leaving the other lady said to me “I’d bloody die if I ate all that, hmpf, way too healthy for me love haha”. As I unpacked my groceries into the car I thought to myself, I am really worried about how little that person may know about the damage all that food is doing to her body and her life!
You see it was a good reminder of something. “Ignorance is bliss” … right?
Wrong!
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In the 2021-22 financial year, Australia spent an average of $9,365 per person on healthcare – AIHW October 2023. That’s over $185 p/week.
A group class gym membership with Coaching at a worthwhile facility should cost around $50-70 per week.
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Just because you can’t see the side affects of eating these “delicious and easy” foods right away, doesn’t mean they aren’t slowly adding fat tissue that we all dislike and also literally poisoning you in the process. If you can’t interpret the ingredient labels or maybe just don’t care, you’ll miss the screaming evidence that says “DO NOT EAT ME”.
This person is unconcerned with the lack of nutrients in her food and more concerned how delicious it tastes, because she can’t immediately see the affects of her calorie spending. There is no one and nothing that can immediately say to her, “hey, you know this packaged sugary goodness is actually reducing your life expectancy and happiness right?”
“You might be suppressing that ghrelin hormone and lifting some endorphins levels to feel better for 5 minutes but you’ll be back at the fridge shortly with cravings because you aren’t satiated and rapidly increasing levels of insulin and oestrogen. Oh by the way while your cortisol levels should be slowly decreasing as you approach bedtime they’ll remain nice and steady interrupting your sleep all night!
Knowledge is power team! There are indeed a few things we can do to help us make better decisions with our food shopping.
The easiest and best! Get educated. Google some of your favourite brands and read what’s in them. Then google those ingredients + the word metabolism or side effects. This could be overwhelming but I want you to know what you’re putting in your body!
Better yet again, hire a Coach and let them help you with their years of experience and wealth of knowledge.
Before buying anything from the middle isles of the grocery store, ask yourself a few questions:
- Why is this product in a box with sexy marketing all over it? How come this thing can sit on the shelf for so long without expiring and isn’t refrigerated like the whole foods around the perimeter of the store? Is there an alternative I could buy that has less sugar and more whole ingredients in it? Do my friends that exercise regularly and look great eat this thing? If not, why not!?
- Choose the right company. Maybe you should have someone in your life that asks those questions and challenges you like we spoke about earlier. If not, why not become that person yourself!?
- Order online in the comfort of your home AFTER you’ve eaten a meal. You’ll be less likely to make impulsive buying decisions based on your appetite if you’re satiated and not walking around the store in person (this obviously wasn’t practised by our friend in question).
Please don’t think I am demonising this woman, 67% of Australian adults were obese in a 2017-18 survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare so it is fair to say there is a huge lack of education on food and diet out there. But that’s no excuse and I do care.
We shouldn’t be waiting for our Doctor to say oh by the way here is the latest pathology going on inside your body right now and here’s the medication you need to take to treat it. Or worse, we don’t want to hear about the other horror stories that result from years of treating your body like a garbage disposal.
Hire a Coach before you book a GP appointment. Then tell the GP what you’re up to!
Let’s help each other, our peer groups and build a more powerful future for our kids. Ignorance is not bliss team!
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See you in the gym soon to talk fitness, recovery and nutrition!
– Coach Zak