Enough with the Granola Bars; Focus on Function to Stay Healthy

Have you checked out the granola bar section at your local grocery store lately?

It’s home to seemingly endless brands and varieties of packaged energy bars, each marketed as something amazing that will revolutionize your fitness and performance. And it seems like every time you revisit that section, more and more brands and flavors and types of bars have popped up. Makes you wonder how people manged to stay fit when their nuts, oats, and fruit were separate instead of smashed together.

Energy simply equals calories, and most of the time we would be better off getting our calories from other portable foods. An apple or a handful of nuts would not only be healthier but less expensive too. Of course, our sweet tooth play a role in this decision as well.

Now, I don’t have anything against an occasional granola bar. But their overabundance illustrates a phenomenon that I’ve noticed. Our society often focuses on one simple aspect of wellness to an extreme (leading to, for instance, hundreds of types of granola bars all designed to essentially do the same thing: provide easy, on-the-go calories) while paying little attention to things that would help us be healthier and more functional humans overall.

I have observed, and continue to observe daily in a variety of environments, that people do not know how to preserve the overall mechanical health of their joints and soft tissue. As a society we do not talk enough about the importance of good body mechanics in jobs that we do and in daily tasks. We aren’t being trained to walk correctly, sit correctly, stand correctly, or organize our bodies well so that we can protect our mechanical function.

People do cardio to get their heart and lungs strong, lift weight to build muscle, make sure they eat enough granola bars so they don’t run out of energy, try to get the magical 10,000 steps a day, but they often move without a clue as to the quality of their movement. So while they are working so hard to get healthier, they are also wearing down their knees, hips, backs, shoulders, necks, feet.

People spend a good portion of their lives at their jobs, but don’t know that there are correct ways to organize and use their bodies at that job so that they won’t eventually have to take extended time off because of repetitive stress injuries.

It’s like taking care of a car’s engine but letting the body rust and parts fall of the frame. That would be ridiculous, right? You aren’t going far with a car like that. But that’s how many of us are treating our bodies. We’re focusing on granola bars when we should be having conversations about the best positions and movements for each job, exercise routine, and daily activity that we do.

If you know how to move the right way, and how to be still in the right way, you will be able to keep your joints and soft tissues healthy. You will be able to stay fit for work, engage in activities you enjoy, and avoid mechanical pain long-term. No granola bars required!

Are you confident that you have the knowledge to move, work, and live well? If not, contact me, and let’s get started on giving you the tools to keep your body moving well for life.