Is Nutrition More Important than Fitness? How Not Moving Enough Affects our Health

So in the realm of health, who rules as the king? Nutrition or Fitness?

By now, most of us probably have heard someone using fitness as an excuse for eating whatever they want. They've said this by equating the amount of calories or fat from a slice of cake or pie to the number of laps on the track.

That thought pattern has a problem, but I'll explain that later.

On the flip side, others will even go as far as to say their healthy diet is all they need to keep them healthy. They'll use their high-protein or low-calorie food choices as an excuse to avoid working out or going to the gym. These are the ones we've heard saying they hate exercise.

You might even be one of them.

The truth is, both nutrition and fitness are important when it comes to taking care of our health. Just not equally.

That's right. Nutrition alone can't fix all of your health problems. Fitness alone either can't fix all of your health issues.

So then whose healthier? Who will avoid chronic disease or degenerative health problems the longest? The person who works out religiously and eats practically whatever they want? Or the health food nut who sits all day eating celery sticks with low-fat dressing?

I'll give you a clue by using this car analogy.

If you own a classic car and want to take care of it as best as possible, you would probably fill it with only the highest quality oil and fuel, right? Wax it, and keep it clean too? But if you rarely or never take it out for a drive and just let it sit in your garage for weeks on end, in hopes of "preserving" it, there's a good chance your classic car will get ruined. That's right, because Not using your car doesn't mean it becomes maintenance-free.

Below are just a few things that can happen from Not driving your car.

Your battery can lose its charge
Tires can get dented and go flat
Fluids and oils can pool and get stale
Air conditioning seals can dry out
Gasoline can go bad

And what is surprisingly true for cars is also true for humans.

Richard Bach was spot on when he termed the phrase "use it or lose it." He was referring to the loss of cognitive abilities of not using our brains. The "use it or lose it" saying is now one of the most popular principles of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is our brain's capacity to grow and evolve in response to our experiences. The saying also holds for the body as well. No matter how much healthy food we put into our mouth, our muscles will atrophy or weaken for simply lack of use. But that's not all. Below is a list of other things that can happen to our body, fairly quickly, when we don't move enough.

Increases the risk of life-threatening conditions such as heart disease
Increases the risk of osteoporosis
Increases the risk of thrombophlebitis (blood clots and inflammation)
Causes chronic pain, which is inflammation
Creates imbalances and dysfunction in the body
Compromises the immune system
The lymphatic system becomes stagnant
Your joints stiffen up, making it harder to move later
You burn fewer calories, which downshifts your metabolism
Anxiety and depression begin to kick in

"The muscles that were in an elongated position will become used to this and want to stay elongated. The muscles that were in a shortened position will become used to this and will want to remain shortened. As a result, your body essentially becomes dysfunctional," says Dr. Alex Tauberg, chiropractor and owner of Chiropractor Pittsburgh.

This is now known in the West as Sitting Disease. But it isn't an actual medical diagnosis more than a term used in the medical community to describe our modern-day lifestyle. Sitting Disease is associated with metabolic syndrome and connected to at least 34 chronic diseases including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and even cancer.

A fairly new study published in March of 2022 by the Slovenian Journal of Public Health, titled Physical Inactivity, the Human Health's Greatest Enemy, confirmed this fact. It stated that physical activity is more important for human health than ever before. Most of the science research we have emphasizes the positive effects of being active. Now we have a study that states the exact opposite.

So basically, by sitting still for too long and too often, we can "cause" our own death. From literally doing nothing.

Even if we workout consistently, we need to check ourselves and listen to our body because modern-day inactivity has skyrocketed. Practically everyone nowadays has a smartphone, including our kids. In fact, the younger you are, the more time you spend on apps. On average, people have 40 apps on their phones, more if you are a millennial. Apps have replaced how we do things, or not do things to be more clear. And it's killing us.

How so? Ok, I'll spell it out.

For one, we don't have to make dinner anymore. We can just download an app that can deliver it right to our door. Food delivery has grown in popularity because of our addiction to apps.

But even if you prefer to make dinner, you still might be tempted to utilize another app that can do the shopping for you.

Or maybe you want to do shopping but don't feel like driving.

Then maybe after dinner, you don't feel like doing those chores around the house.

Well, there's an app for those too. And don't get me started on smart homes lol.

There are even apps to guide you in working out so you don't have to get out of bed!

A study done in the UK published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found that sedentary behavior in children and young adults, aged 17 to 24, increased the size of their hearts by as much as 40%!

It shouldn't take a study to realize that our health becomes compromised when we stay idle. We've all felt those ill effects of sitting for too long, such as driving on a long road trip. We feel it deep in our joints and muscles when we finally get up. It simply doesn't take long to feel "old." Uncomfortable imbalances start taking a toll on our bodies in as little as one hour.

Increasingly prolonged periods of physical inactivity are insidiously and aggressively taking over modern people’s lives – at school, at work, at home, even at leisure. A 50% decrease in moderate and vigorous physical activity, along with an additional 50% increase in physical inactivity have been reported, leading to the most sedentary period in human history!

From a nutritional standpoint, it can take years and even decades for cancer, heart disease, and metabolic diseases to show up as a result of eating a diet rich in fat, salt, refined sugars, and cholesterol. But it takes only hours to feel the effects of being idle for too long.

So does that justify getting away with eating rich processed foods more often? Absolutely not. This is because the longer we gorge on unhealthy food choices, either temporarily or permanently, the longer it can take to reverse its consequences.

And, the longer it will take to reach our fitness goals, especially weight gain.

But almost instantly, the effects of eating a high-fat and processed food diet can negatively impact our mood and energy! And who wants that even for an hour much less for a day?

The sedentary person not only becomes a victim to his own sluggishness, he becomes a prime target for low self-esteem, over sensitivity, and panic attacks.

But if you choose to stay on some version of the Standard American diet, staying active throughout the day can help minimize its effects. But only for so long.

Even the Bible was clear about an "easy and effortless" way of life, which is the definition of convenience. Convenience is the purpose of our apps. Don't get me wrong, apps can be super helpful, and even life-saving, especially for those who truly need them. But it's as though we intentionally make ourselves helpless and handicapped for the sake of convenience.

I love what Proverbs says about this:

Proverbs 6:9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep?

Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute.

Each time we sacrifice doing things physically, one small surrender at a time, we become more and more like the sluggard, who is habitually inactive or lazy. Those who work hard consistently usually become successful in one way or another. Just listen to any successful person's testimony of how they persevered to get where they are. Michael Jordan, Tony Robbins, and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few.

God rewards hard work. Not only with health and well-being, if that's what we're aiming at, but with authority and honor. This is because God considers physical labor wise. The science proves it is, both for physically and mentally. And according to the Bible, for spiritual reasons too if we seek Him.

Then the answer becomes obvious. Fitness is king. Being physically active regularly is extremely important. We can probably get away with poor food choices for a little while, but we cannot get away with being inactive for even a short period of time. Prolonged disuse of our muscles leads to learned non-use. We might postpone the short and long-term effects of a bad diet by staying physically active depending on our current health status. Being young is more forgiving. But as we get older, the ugly truth of eating wrong will eventually show up. A bad diet will catch up with you, even if slowly.

To conclude, exercise and movement are too critical and expensive to forget about. If you have a desk job, as many of us do these days, it doesn't have to be done sitting down. We can remind ourselves (with an app! lol) to get up every 30 minutes. We don't have to work out all day, just take time to stretch, or take a walk whenever possible. As long as we are mindful of this critical component of health and do something about it, we can succeed.

Written by Lupita Ronquillo for Vegan Health and Yoga

Sources:

Sitting Disease: Is Nutrition More Important than Fitness?

So in the realm of health, who rules as the king? Nutrition or Fitness?

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