Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Rewarding Exercise with Food is a Rampant Part of the Problem

3 little words that we often say before that extra indulgent meal or treat,
"Because I exercised"
And even if somehow you personally don't reward your sweat with food, given there are advertising campaigns speaking to the phenomenon like the one up above, I'm pretty sure you're in the minority.

If people burned large numbers of calories through physical activity you wouldn't be reading this right now as our species, one that evolved in times of extreme dietary and caloric insecurity, simply wouldn't have made it if hunting and gathering burned significant calories. Our caloric efficiency evolved out of very real necessity.

Oh, and it's not just advertisers getting in on this, it's everywhere - even children's hospital's as evidenced by this 2nd Annual Running Room race to benefit Edmonton's Stollery Children's Hospital. It's called the 2nd Annual Fun Run for Pie, and it targets young children and families with its 5km and 1km walk or run courses.

So what's a Pie Run? It's a run where,
"Every walker and runner will be rewarded with a slice of pie, complete with your choice of whip cream and/or vanilla ice cream."
Oh, and don't worry, if your child doesn't happen to like pie as,
"for those kids who do not like pie we will have delicious cupcakes and a topping bar for the ice cream."
And if you think for a moment this run's an exception, you'd be very, very wrong as my quick Google image search proved.

[Thanks to my friend, pharmacist Tony Nickonchuk, for sending along the Saucony ad and to RN and Kinesiologist Jennifer Bothe for sending along the Edmonton race link]