Last night's episode, as far as nutrition and exercise information, was actually pretty good.
But there is an ongoing issue that's been bothering me that, since the"meat" of the program was great, I'd like to use this post to address.
Waste.
While the contestants' waists are shrinking, the waste on the set seems to be accumulating!
NBC made a huge deal recently about promoting cleaner, greener living. They flew their Today Show people to the ends of the earth to report on global warming issues in Africa, Central America, and Australia.
While back at home, on the Biggest Loser set, they're concocting obsessive story lines that include putting the contestants in a room filled with donuts and sweets, which are likely to be pitched in the garbage once they've fulfilled their purpose as a prop.
Last night it was Thanksgiving dinner. An entire Thanksgiving dinner was cooked--and then not used--because it was unhealthy. What the…?!?!?!? You can't justify it by telling me it was later used to feed the crew, because then you're going to have to convince me that THAT double standard is ok?!?!?
A little plug for inCYST here: We focus on cleaner, greener living that turns around and helps you achieve a healthier weight. One participant in last month's class reported sleeping better within days of trying what she learned in class. Another wrote yesterday and shared within the 2 months since she's been coming…she's lost 10 pounds.
We haven't discussed calories once. In fact, we're not even focusing on food recommendations in class until this coming week.
It just really bothers me that all this wasteful living is being promoted as"healthy". But then we're also told that wasteful living makes the planet unhealthy.
So…what's the point of being healthy if it costs you the planet you live on?
I don't think it would be that hard to integrate the two concepts. In fact, I recently did some calculations for my newsletter to get YOU started on your own cleaner, greener program.
Did you know that walking one mile daily:
As one person
Burns about 10 1/2 pounds of fat
Saves 18 gallons of gasoline
Keeps 360 pounds of carbon out of the atmosphere
Keeps about $81 in your bank account
As a country
Burns about 1,199,286 tons of fat
Saves 4,140,000,000 gallons of gasoline
(that’s 98,571,429 barrels of oil!)
Keeps 41.4 million tons of carbon out of the atmosphere
Gives Americans $18,630,000,000 to spend on something other than gasoline.
Note: I did these calculations with the following assumptions, and I did them when gas was about $4.25 per gallon. So they will fluctuate based on the car you drive and the price of gas. But the calculations about how much fat is burned…stay the same.
230,000,000 adult Americans
100 calories burned per mile walked
3,500 calories per pound
20 miles per gallon fuel efficiency
42 gallons of gas per barrel of oil
20 pounds of carbon per gallon of gasoline
I think it's time we send the writers of Biggest Loser their own challenge:
Let's see how much budgetary"fat" you can cut and how much"green" living education you can integrate into your program. You won't just succeed in making healthier contestants and viewers, but the entire planet might breathe more easily as well.