What you can do: From individual action to community change
What can you do?
While legal and political change typically requires the participation of a large number of people, or substantial funding for lobbying outside of parliament and facilitating voter votes, there are still examples of individuals or small groups exerting influence. For instance, Carole Carson, a resident of Nevada County, went from 182 pounds to 120 pounds, and described her transformation in the local newspaper. She inspired 13,000 residents of her town to participate in an eight-week fitness program known as the Nevada County Fat "Melting" Contest.
Local businesses participated in the program: fitness centers offered two-month memberships, restaurants offered "fat melting" menus, and spas (originally referring to thermal baths, with origins dating back to ancient Roman hot springs; while spas have become a popular health and beauty treatment, hydrotherapy remains their most common form) provided free services as a reward for those who lost the most weight. Participants were divided into five groups, encouraging each other. After eight weeks, 1061 people had lost a total of approximately 4 tons of weight.
In an area of Oakland, California, students from two colleges are working to improve nutrition in the community. One student said, "In Oakland, the leading cause of death isn't homicide, it's heart disease... You can find a fast-food restaurant every five minutes, but a grocery store is twenty minutes away... We know we eat pretty badly. How can we help the community eat better?"
He and his classmate Ed James wanted to offer a healthy alternative to fast food. They received funding from the county public health department and hired four high school students to sell homemade food at a nearby farmers market, including chicken and green vegetable sandwiches with fruit salad and freshly squeezed lemonade. They are planning to expand the program to six recreation centers.
Whether you're advocating for walkable school buses for your teachers' and parents' associations or school principals, lobbying for fitness activities during work hours, or writing to legislators to suggest creating a community that fosters physical and intellectual development, it requires a radical reversal of the unhealthy trends that have taken hold over the past 50 years. Nostalgia for the "good old days" is futile and insufficient, and few are willing to give up their garage door openers, TV remotes, or the convenience of drive-thru meals while working overtime.
Therefore, we must find new ways to create an environment where it's easier to eat appropriately portioned and healthy food, and where it's easier to increase physical activity in our daily lives. A culture that discourages smoking has already formed. While increasing physical and mental development is more complex, the dire consequences of doing nothing compel us to make changes.
Increase your physical intelligence
Body intelligence can be complex. It's much simpler to think of weight control through the lens of dieting; you just need to cut out carbohydrates or fats from your diet, and you'll lose weight and achieve pleasure, health, and satisfaction. Contrary to this unrealistic and overly simplistic view, increasing body intelligence involves many factors. You need to be aware of your unique dietary beliefs and behaviors, your body image, and your physical activity levels.
Determine whether your eating is influenced by external stimuli, mood changes, hunger, or pleasure, so that you can make conscious decisions and gain control.
To objectively evaluate your body, you need to consider your genetic makeup, your experiences during childhood and adolescence, and current societal perceptions of beauty. This will help you set an objective weight goal and avoid factors that are detrimental to long-term weight control.
Find out why you don't want to exercise, and use that information to help you find enjoyable activities and incorporate them into your daily life so you can experience the joy of physical activity.
While weight management from a bodily-intelligence perspective is more complex, it offers more freedom than dieting. Your weight is not determined by how well you perform on a diet; it is determined by the interplay between your genetic makeup, external environment, and your bodily-intelligence. As your bodily-intelligence increases, you'll realize that your genetic makeup sets a range for your weight loss and body shape, a range you cannot exceed.
Recognizing this, you'll set an objective goal that, even if you don't achieve the socially accepted ideal body shape, will still allow you to lose weight, improve your health, and feel better about your body. With bodily intelligence, you'll become aware of the influences from your social and daily environment. Recognizing this, you can minimize eating caused by external factors and emotions, without feeling hungry, while still enjoying the pleasure that eating brings.