Real Life Wellness: How your TV is making you fat

By Bill Hemmer
Last week I gave you another addition of why I think that failure is an important part of Real Life. This week I’m going to start talking about how our everyday lifestyle has led us to the battle against the bulge.

I don’t know about you, but I think T.V. is mental chewing gum. You can sit there and channel surf for hours and you forget about everything else around you. I could drop a bomb 4 feet away from some people when they are watching their favorite show and they wouldn’t even flinch. It’s like they’re in a trance or something.

I’m sure those people aren’t the Lone Rangers on this. I suspect people everywhere take a time out to come home and unwind by watching a little T.V. I have no problem with a half hour or even an hour after your daily grind to let yourself rest a little bit. It’s when T.V. becomes a bigger part of your life that I begin to have a problem. Sitting there mindlessly looking at the T.V. won’t help you on your Real Life Wellness journey.

Most of us are guilty about watching too much T.V.  Believe me, I know how easy it is to rationalize and tell yourself you have had a tough day and you just want to relax when you get home. And I think the same rule should hold true for adults as it does for kids. A half hour to at most an hour of T.V. per day should allow yourself some quality relaxation time to unwind and help your mental outlook.

So why do I think T.V. makes you fat? Three main reasons. First, I have never known anybody burning a lot of calories while they are sitting in front of a T.V. screen. Second, many people have a tendency to snack or even eat meals in front of a T.V. screen. And lastly, the advertisement and media spin that is placed on T.V. to shape the way you think about food is very strong and harmful to your Real Life.

The first reason seems quite obvious, but it is the most common reason that T.V. makes you fat. Forty or fifty years ago kids came home from school and went outside to play with their friends. They rode their bikes, played ball in the yard, threw rocks (I did that a lot), you get my point, they were active. They were outside burning calories and keeping their body strong. But as T.V. continued to rise in popularity, the overall activity level of people began to decline. And it continues to get worse today.

Next week I’m going to discuss the other 2 reasons why I think T.V. has made us fat and then give you some ideas and some specific ways to help control this battle and win. Talk to you next week.