The Government's confusing recommendations

Last week, I lectured on the differences between exercise and activity (and there are plenty) for a local city Wellness program. One of the questions I was asked is why there have been all these different target goals published by the CDC. 30 minutes of exercise per day -- 10,000 steps per day -- accumulating 150 minutes of exercise per week -- it can all be very confusing.

In all my lectures, I encourage participants to ask questions but this is the first time anyone had asked me to explain which goal was better (there is an answer to that -- 10k steps) and why there were so many different goals.

Now...I try not to be a nag. If you've followed me for a while, you know I do have a tendency to get up on my soapbox from time to time. So out came to soapbox along with the answer. The answer to the participant's question is: We are not moving as much as we should. The government doesn't know how to motivate us to take care of ourselves. And because of these two things, they are taking good ideas, throwing them to the wall to see which ones will stick with people.

Their eating recommendations are like that too. There are a million ways to eat that are just as good as another -- our problem (unlike exercise) is that we're just doing too much eating (of everything!) Cutting back (9 bites a day) will let you lose weight. You won't have to give up your favorites -- just eat less of them and you won't need to worry about what science says you "should eat" and "shouldn't eat".