THE BIGGEST THREAT TO OUR HEALTH AND HOW WE CAN RENEW OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS IT.

Katsumi Sakamoto

The year 2020 came to teach us humans to take better care of our health. Due to a full-scale pandemic, we had to avoid contact with loved ones, with anyone for that matter, we started to wear masks, shops were closed, some places adopted curfew times, others ordered a whole lockdown…

The whole World stopped because of a tiny little, lethal, virus that according to studies could only be fought by social distancing and personal hygiene. So, we have learned to wash our hands all the time…

The consequences are still being counted but, at least now, we have a vaccine against it! They were horrible times; we have lost too many souls during this pandemic that has yet to end. We are exhausted and devastated! What if I told you there is a bigger health problem out there? One that nobody is talking about. One that, in the same amount of time that Covid-19 killed 1.5 million people, managed to kill almost double that number? Unfortunately, this problem is real, and it’s called obesity.

In 2019 a study estimated that as many as 2.8 million people die every year from obesityrelated diseases. And still, no one is talking about this… The reasons for this problem to be neglected could go as far as involving the powerful food and pharmaceutical industries, so it is not going to be discussed in this article.

What I will talk about here is simple and practical ways we can start to put up a fight against such a strong enemy. In this case, we must start with our eating habits! In a world

“... it is impossible not to enjoy physical activities! Once you have found the right one for you!”

that is offering us more and more junk food ready to be consumed, we need to be more conscious of what type of food we are putting on our tables.

A great way to explain this, is to make a comparison between a brand new, luxurious car and our bodies... If you ever bought a Ferrari, for example, would you fill it with any kind of fuel or would you look for the absolute best one to make sure the performance of your new “baby” wouldn’t be affected, and you could get the most out of it? I will guess you went for the latter…

Our bodies are exactly the same! We need quality fuel to make sure our performance is the best possible one! And here I will include physical, intellectual and emotional performances.

So, what is a quality fuel for our bodies? Here is where most people give up trying, because they believe it’s going to be too complicated and they must choose amongst several options of different diets they don’t understand anything about! I can assure you, it’s much simpler than that.

A quality fuel, or quality food, can be described in the simplest form as: non-processed and as colourful as possible. To make it even simpler for you to follow, let’s use the Harvard Plate as a guideline. The Nutrition Department at Harvard University came up with this great model of a plate...it should consist of 50% vegetables and fruits, 25% carbohydrates and 25% protein. If you start applying this division during your meals, it is certain that you will be moving in the right direction. Another very important point to consider in this fight against obesity is how sedentary we, as a species, have become with all the developments in technology we have witnessed along our history. A lot of us don’t move nearly as much as we should! If we use official data from the UK Government as an example, we know that 1 in 3 of men and 1 in 2 of women are not active enough for good health.

Again, a possible solution to help with this issue is much simpler than people tend to believe. When we think about physical activity, it is easy to imagine a gym full of people working out, a field with sports teams running on or even triathletes completing the most demanding of races… It is also very easy to get overwhelmed by these thoughts and give up before even trying anything!

The good news in this case is that it is physiologically impossible for any human being not to enjoy physical activities. And you might be thinking: “but I hate exercising”. And I will guarantee that you don’t hate exercising, you just haven’t found the type of exercising you enjoy yet. When we engage in any sort of physical activity, our bodies produce chemicals called endorphins, which could be described as “happy hormones”. So, like I have said, it is impossible not to enjoy physical activities! Once you have found the right one for you!

The exercise activity doesn’t have to be anything complex. You don’t need to get a gym membership or hire a personal trainer. Physical activity could be as simple as walking the dog

for 30 minutes in the park, playing with your children in the garden, or going for a swim in a nearby lake. If you prefer, you can go dancing with your partner, you can make the decision to start parking the car a little further away from your destination or taking the stairs instead of the lift… Just get moving and you’ll start to feel the differences not just in your body, but in your mind as well.

There are other factors that could influence this war, such as the amount and quality of your sleeping patterns and your mindset towards all of this. But if you begin by just being conscious of the food that’s on your plate, and the amount of movement you do during the day, you can consider yourself to be one more soldier in this fight to bring obesity down.

Start today, and your personal renewal will begin immediately and the growth that you fear – around the waistline – will not be the cause of your ill health once you have your Ferrari purring on the right fuel for your body. I love sharing this philosophy that has been a focal point of my life since I did exactly that, made a powerful choice to improve my health. I know what it feels like to be sedentary and craving processed foods. I also know the pain that came with that lifestyle, seeing poor skin, painful joints, poor digestion. I cannot imagine going back to that negative state; I feel I have renewed my life simply by renewing how I feed my body with a variety of exercise and good colourful food.

The key to success is to have a community around you who are invested in your success, who believe in you, and want you to see and experience what is possible. Being part of the Collaboration Global community allows me to help many as well as enjoy them supporting me as I grow in my mission.

You can contact Katsumi at:

Email: katsumi@kcsnaturalfitness.com Telephone: +55 11 95494-5063 Website: www.kcsnaturalfitness.com