You Can't Handle the Truth!

Famous line from a pretty good movie, A Few Good Men. Famous, and probably true. Many of us can't handle the truth. Especially when it comes to health and fitness. We would rather embrace a lie than grab hold to the truth. Why is this?

Before I answer this, let me give you some examples of what I am talking about:

Lie: If you skip breakfast you will get fat.

Lie: If you eat breakfast you will get fat.

Lie: You have no business strength training if you can't touch your toes. 

Lie: Olympic weight lifting is the best way to train if you want to run faster.

Lie: If you want to continue to improve and get stronger, you have to introduce lots of variety into your training.

Lie: If you eat after midnight, you will turn into a gremlin.

You get the point. Maybe? There is a whole lot of misinformation out there. The more complex and complicated the information seems, the more we are ready to believe it. After all, complicated information has to be correct. Look at all the thought and research that goes behind it. 

Many moons ago, I received a degree in Statistics. If I learned one thing in college, it was that you can prove anything you want to prove by adding variables, massaging numbers, and muddying the waters. You can makes things complicated to prove a point. But the point is only true in that particular angle with all those particular variables. In other words, you can "prove" anything with partial truths. However, a partial truth is not the truth. Partial truths are lies. Look at the first two examples I gave as lies, they are partial truths depending on how they are viewed and applied. But the truth is, they are simply not whole truths. 

There is a very deep rabbit hole that we could go down here, but I don't want to type a novel, or bore you to tears. So, I will just keep this simple.

And that is the point: Truth is simple. It is not complicated. Truth is usually so simple, we dismiss it. This is ironic too, as most of us have always been told to follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid), yet most all of us are drawn to the complicated like moths to a flame.  

Here are some simple truths:

1. The body was not made to be broken.

2. Crawling is foundational strength training. It ties the body together.

3. All muscles in your body are connected to your vestibular system. You should probably move your head often.

4. Your body needs carbohydrates, specifically sugars. Get over it. That is truth. 

5. Farmers keep the world alive. Paleo people (and I love you all) espouse that agriculture is the downfall of man, yet if it were not for farmers, they would not enjoy all that coconut oil, almond butter, and avocados they love to eat.  

6. We were not made to sit for hours at a time, at least not in comfortable chairs. 

7. You were literally made to move. Movement nourishes your brain and your body.

8. If you want to have beautiful muscles, you have to use them regularly.

9. Saturated fat is not evil. You need it.

10. Man overcomplicates almost everything. If it seems logical and smart, like say boat shaped shoes that are patterned after barefoot running tribes in Africa, you can bet that it is foolishness. Our design in perfect.

Again, these are just simple truths. And that is the truth - simple. We just need to breathe (with our diaphragms), take a step back and look at everything around us. The truth will speak to us if we listen.

We just make things too complicated, and it imprisons us. The truth, the simple truth, really is freeing. Can you handle it? Can you handle the truth?