MY HIDDEN AGENDA: A HEALTH CRUSADE!

I understand that, in the early days of AA, John D. Rockefeller agreed to finance it if two conditions were met: 1. the would keep an anonymous status, and 2. they wouldn’t advertise or try to make money off of it. I wish there were a group for people trying to get and stay fit. [Hi! My name is "Juice", and I’m out of shape. I eat bad things, and I don’t exercise. ("Hi, Juice!")] But the principle is not the same. You work the 12 steps in AA to maintain abstinence. I know there are Overeaters Anonymous groups who work the same 12 steps, but another part of the equation gets lost. 121 Steppers use a positive program to elicit a negative result (not drinking, not eating to excess). The part that requires you to take positive action by exercising and then blend this exercise with nutrition to keep a fit profile for yourself gets lost in the shuffle. So while the fellowship is fine, the 12 Step model will not work, in and of itself to promote and maintain and fitness.

So then I reflect on Weight Watchers, an organization which has shown considerable success helping people lose weight and maintain weight loss. It, too, relies on group effort and fellowship to promote their goal. But here again, an important part of the equation—exercise—is missing. Remember CONSTANT READER explaining in another blog entry how she lost the weight through Weight Watchers yet used the fitness boot camp experience to get herself in shape?

So what’s next?

In another blog entry, I talked about Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer and the three elements which must be there for dogs: exercise, discipline, and affection. And I postulated that those three things are good for humans, too. And here I do the math. AA equals discipline (abstinence) and affection (fellowship and positive regard). WW equals discipline (working the points to create and maintain healthy weight loss) and affection (sharing positive results and praise from fellow WWers). In both cases humans are shorting themselves on exercise, and evidently we’re foisting this on our children, too, as gym classes and exercise programs (other than extracurricular activities) are being cut severely in our public schools, putting them and ourselves on a lower plane than healthy dogs! Think this is an exaggeration? Consider that 33% of all Americans fit in to the Obese category while another 33% fall into the Overweight category, making a full two-thirds of us heavier than we should be!

So you might say the idea I have here is borrowed from AA, WW, and the Dog Whisperer: Apply discipline to your lives to abstain from eating unhealthy food and maintain a sensible exercise program while sharing information with each other about the process—the good, the bad, and the ugly—so we can all reach the goal together.

So now you know my total agenda, I hope you tune in next time for the next exciting episode of...

THE JUICED AVENGER!