Exercise Isn’t the Answer

You can’t outrun a bad diet, or so claim three members of the cardiology department at Frimley Park Hospital in an editorial that was recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.”In the past 30 years, as obesity has rocketed, there has been little change in physical activity levels in the Western population,” they write. “This places the blame for our expanding waistlines directly on the type and amount of calories consumed.”

But who is to blame for this misconception? If you ask the authors, it’s the food industry’s powerful public relations teams. While exercise can produce a number of benefits, without restricting calories, weight loss isn’t one of them. “Regular physical activity reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia and some cancers by at least 30%,” the authors claim. “However, physical activity does not promote weight loss.” 

Instead, the team recommends the best thing a person can do for their overall health, as well as their weight, is reduce their calorie intake, especially when it comes to sugar, and restrict  carbohydrates. The authors acknowledge that this may be easier said than done, given the current overarching belief that carbohydrates are good for us. “The celebrity endorsements might need to be tweaked, the authors say, and certainly the way foods are advertised and, perhaps, created, need to be shifted,” Senior Forbes Contributor Alice Walton writes.