I’ve always been skeptical of “fitness.”
Health, I understand. When I was single, I never ate out and generally avoided processed foods. And now that I am married, I make our meals from scratch with wholesome ingredients. We walk a lot.
I have friends who believed they were intolerant to gluten until they stopped wearing polyester. Now they can enjoy bread without issues.
In other words, we try to maintain our health — the fundamental well-being of our bodies, minds, and souls.
But to me the word “fitness” often points to just another way to objectify the human body — to see it as a tool. Fit for what? For being a model? For being more attractive as a wife and more efficient as a mother?
We should eat less and exercise more, the books and videos tell us.
Doing so will regulate our hormones and make everybody love us more. We’ll get a slimmer waistline and stronger arms. We’ll be “sexier” and “healthier,” and we’ll feel good about it. We’ll eat more protein. We’ll invest in gym equipment. We’ll start taking supplements and maybe selling them — as long as we’re achieving peak health, we might as well make a little money off our friends!
And we’ll go through…
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