Why not be Healthy?

For several years, I was obsessed with size. Most bodybuilders are. In an article that I wrote called “Expect Pain”, I stated that,

“You have a drive as primitive as life itself to be physically dominant but until you can master your senses and rise above the burn you will never be a bodybuilder, you will just be a guy who lifts weights.”  

Though the urge to be large, intimidating and physically dominant still lingers with me, it is no longer the overwhelming necessity that it once was and for once I am able to relax a few moments and ask myself “is it worth it?”

Intellectually, size for the sake of size alone defies logic. Even as “natural bodybuilders”, we play a mental game in which we deceive ourselves by thinking that, just because we do not use steroids or other performance enhancing drugs in order to obtain our physique goals, that we are somehow healthier than our enhanced counterparts.

Perhaps we are, but I would suggest that many of our enhanced brothers have done a lot of research, considerably more than most of us do regarding so called “natural” supplements, and are not only aware of the risk, but how to minimize them as well. By no means am I suggesting that steroids are safe. My views on this subject are well documented and I would not have spent several years building a website dedicated to Natural Bodybuilding if I were ambivalent on the subject. I am only suggesting that we so called “natural” athletes are often self deluded hypocrites in that we often do very little, if any, research into the supplements that we put into our bodies.

If there is one thing that I have learned from reading food labels, its that, just because something is legal doesn’t mean that it is natural or safe. The FDA allows small quantities of known toxins, carcinogenic or otherwise, into common food items believing that the low level of exposure is an acceptable risk. But ask yourself this, do you know someone who has, or has had cancer?

The answer is yes, you do, and so does everyone else. Cancer has become so common that companies which market drugs for chemotherapy are now marketing chemicals on prime time television. Hello! Am I the only one who finds this alarming? Think about it, smiling, determined faces on television (paid actors) who confidently state what drugs they prefer when on chemotherapy. Cancer has become so common that we just accept it. Cancer is not only a disease, its big business folks, and the pharmaceuticals, FDA included, are counting on you to do your part by rolling over and playing dead.

I’m asking you, I’m begging you, read the label. There is a reason that our hospitals are overflowing, that health care cost are enormous, and that drug companies are amongst the largest sponsors of television and print advertising.

I have made a conscious decision to move beyond appearance and actually embrace the substance. In other words, if you’re going to look healthy, why not go the extra mile and actually be healthy?

To be continued,,,,,,