There are a lot of ridiculous things that go viral on the internet, but perhaps one of the most ridiculous – and I say this without a hint of hyperbole – is a recent blog post by a student at Colorado College which slammed the school’s efforts to create a healthy campus community as ‘body shaming.’
You can find the post here. However, I should warn you, it’s quite long and makes about as much sense as a football bat. In fact, were I to find out that the author was actually a satirist I wouldn’t be surprised.
For those who have opted not to read here’s a quick executive summary:
The location of the school at a high altitude is body shaming.
The fitness center which includes both a cardio area and a weight room is body shaming.
The mere existence of clubs, teams, and groups that encourage outdoor activities is body shaming.
The program that encourages students to take only food that they will finish when dining in the cafeteria, is body shaming.
And well, it goes on like that for a while.
Ridiculous blog posts and op/eds about body shaming are a near daily occurrence in the digital universe, probably because they aren’t taken seriously anywhere else.
Don’t believe me? See for yourself.
The Internet’s Shameful Role in propagating body shaming.
Body shaming needs to stop.
Vogue Williams ‘exhausted‘ by online body shaming.
Ariel Winter calls out body-shaming bullies.
Ban on body-shaming ads puts Protein World in spotlight again
Protein World is back with a new body shaming ad – and it’s more sexist than ever
Blah, blah, blah, yes Virginia everything is body shaming! Anyway you get it.
It’s an outrageous trend that I have to assume has been fueled by helicopter parents. The same parents who handed their kids trophies without making them compete for anything. The ones that then refused to let their kids play football because they live under the delusion that elementary school kids, struggling to move at more than a trot because they’re wrapped in 20-lbs of protective gear, can somehow develop CTE – just like the pros!
Well now those kids are in college, and a lifetime of scoreless little league games is rearing its ugly head in the form of young adults who live in fear of judgement, and the most basic concepts of human physiology.
Somehow it’s become the norm to believe that your body is perfect even if the opposite is true.
It’s absolutely absurd. If someone refused to keep up with current events, read books, or generally display any intellectual curiosity whatsoever we wouldn’t call it “moron shaming” to refer to that person as an idiot. Likewise, if a person lives above their means and wastes their rent money on impulse buys and luxuries, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would accuse you of “finance shaming” for criticizing their behavior.
Why then do we give those who neglect their physical wellbeing a free pass? And why has it become fashionable of late to go a step further and criticize those of us who do take care of ourselves for engaging in ‘fat shaming’ or ‘body shaming?’
It makes no sense. None! Especially when you consider the relatively simple solution.
It doesn’t require any fancy diet plans or pills, and you don’t need to sign up for hundreds of dollars’ worth of personal training either. All you have to do is eat less garbage and engage in more physical activity.
Eating less garbage is simple. Drop the bread, sugar, trans fats, and processed food from your diet and replace it with anything that falls into the ‘Green Faces’ category – if it’s green (anything that came from the earth – fruits, veggies, nuts, etc.) or had a face (meat and fish) then dig in. If it didn’t, then stay away.
Former fat guy Chris Shugart is now a regular contributor to T-Nation, which may be the best training and nutrition site on the entire web. He’s put together a comprehensive guide to healthy eating along with recipes that a 5-year-old could follow.
It’s that simple. Stop eating junk and get moving.
As far as the ‘moving’ part is concerned, just find something you enjoy and get after it.
My particular poison is weightlifting, but do what suits you and do it on a regular basis. You can run, swim, walk, perform bodyweight circuits, row, join an intramural sports league, hike, perform manual labor, anything, it’s up to you.
For those who want to follow my lead and start tossing around some iron, then Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe is a great way to get going. And you can find a million more lifting programs all over the web for free.
Want to mix in some outdoor activity? Checkout this sweet guide to getting shredded with sprints.
The bottom line is, with the amount of information available on the internet today, anyone can get in shape and stay fit for a lifetime. Do so and you will feel better, look better, have better focus, energy, and a higher sex drive than ever before – who wouldn’t want that? So do yourself and the people who care about you a big favor; RSVP ‘hell no’ to the pity party and hit the gym instead, your body will thank you.
[revad2]
