Vinodh:

"Why we have got deviated so much from attaining health through exercise and nutrition?"

Too broad a stroke; not sure who this "we" you are referring to!

Obviously, not everyone has taken leave of their senses and abandoned their personal responsibility and looking to blame someone else! 

"Who is responsible for this deviation..."

No one else but themselves - those who overindulge and try to look for someone else to blame for their unwillingness to use their commonsense...

Here's a question for you - in this day and age of easy access to information, irrespective of how many shills try to convince you to gorge as much and as often as you can, do nothing to work off the excess calories, and swallow a magic pill they have for you, would you believe it? And if you do, who is responsible - you or the shill?

Dear Vinodh Rajkumar, 

Interesting question, but I would like to give the following hint first:

In history of exercise physiology is often forgotten that Susruta of ancient India [600 B.C.] was the first physician to prescribe moderate daily exercise for health reasons. He promoted dietary changes and daily exercise of moderate intensity such as brisk walking to minimize the consequences of diabetes and obesity (Tipton, 2008).

Tipton CM. Susruta of India, an unrecognized contributor to the history of exercise physiology. J Appl Physiol 2008;104(6):1553-1556. http://jap.physiology.org/content/104/6/1553.full.pdf+html

Best regards from Germany,

Martin

Thanks a lot, dear Martin. Yes, i have mentioned about Susruta in my literature reviews of previous research works. Nevertheless, in the current scenario, we have deeper understanding of each and every exercise, nutrition and the medical problems caused by lack of sufficient physical activity and unhealthy lifestyle. On the other hand, is the society confident enough to deal with all medical issues only through medicines and surgeries?

Dear Vinodh,

Here are some interesting current papers on topic of your question:

Hesketh KR, Lakshman R, van Sluijs EMF. Barriers and facilitators to young children's physical activity and sedentary behaviour: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative literature. Obes Rev 2017;18(9):987-1017. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.12562/epdf

Lindsay AC, Greaney ML, Wallington SF, Mesa T, Salas CF. A review of early influences on physical activity and sedentary behaviors of preschool-age children in high-income countries. J Spec Pediatr Nurs 2017 Jul;22(3). doi: 10.1111/jspn.12182. Epub 2017 Apr 13. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jspn.12182/abstract

Harrison F, Goodman A, van Sluijs EMF, Andersen LB, Cardon G, Davey R, Janz KF, Kriemler S, Molloy L, Page AS, Pate R, Puder JJ, Sardinha LB, Timperio A, Wedderkopp N, Jones AP; on behalf the ICAD collaborators. Weather and children's physical activity; how and why do relationships vary between countries? Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2017;14(1):74. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5450267/pdf/12966_2017_Article_526.pdf

Nicklas T, Liu Y, Giovanni M, Jahns L, Tucker K, Laugero K, Bogle M, Chester D. Association between barriers and facilitators to meeting the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and body weight status of caregiver-child dyads: the Healthy Eating and Lifestyle for Total Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr 2016;104(1):143-54. http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/104/1/143.full.pdf+html

Phulkerd S, Lawrence M, Vandevijvere S, Sacks G, Worsley A, Tangcharoensathien V. A review of methods and tools to assess the implementation of government policies to create healthy food environments for preventing obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases. Implement Sci 2016;11:15. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4743239/pdf/13012_2016_Article_379.pdf

Mackenbach JD, Lakerveld J, Van Lenthe FJ, Teixeira PJ, Compernolle S, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Charreire H, Oppert JM, Bárdos H, Glonti K, Rutter H, McKee M, Nijpels G, Brug J. Interactions of individual perceived barriers and neighbourhood destinations with obesity-related behaviours in Europe. Obes Rev 2016;17 Suppl 1:68-80. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295099736_Interactions_of_individual_perceived_barriers_and_neighbourhood_destinations_with_obesity-related_behaviours_in_Europe

Mazarello Paes V, Ong KK, Lakshman R. Factors influencing obesogenic dietary intake in young children (0-6 years): systematic review of qualitative evidence. BMJ Open 2015;5(9):e007396. http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/5/9/e007396.full.pdf

Teixeira PJ, Carraça EV, Marques MM, Rutter H, Oppert JM, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Lakerveld J, Brug J. Successful behavior change in obesity interventions in adults: a systematic review of self-regulation mediators. BMC Med 2015;13:84. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4408562/pdf/12916_2015_Article_323.pdf

Jilcott Pitts SB, Keyserling TC, Johnston LF, Smith TW, McGuirt JT, Evenson KR, Rafferty AP, Gizlice Z, Garcia BA, Ammerman AS. Associations between neighborhood-level factors related to a healthful lifestyle and dietary intake, physical activity, and support for obesity prevention polices among rural adults. J Community Health 2015;40(2):276-84. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4320021/pdf/nihms619339.pdf

Alizadeh L, Salehi L. Older People's Perspectives on Health, Physical Activity and Nutritional Behaviors. Health Promot Perspect 2015;5(4):288-95. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772799/pdf/HPP-5-288.pdf

All the best,

Martin 

Article Interactions of individual perceived barriers and neighbourh...

 Vinodh:

"Why we have got deviated so much from attaining health through exercise and nutrition?"

Too broad a stroke; not sure who this "we" you are referring to!

Obviously, not everyone has taken leave of their senses and abandoned their personal responsibility and looking to blame someone else! 

"Who is responsible for this deviation..."

No one else but themselves - those who overindulge and try to look for someone else to blame for their unwillingness to use their commonsense...

Here's a question for you - in this day and age of easy access to information, irrespective of how many shills try to convince you to gorge as much and as often as you can, do nothing to work off the excess calories, and swallow a magic pill they have for you, would you believe it? And if you do, who is responsible - you or the shill?

 Dear Tausif, in my practice i am frequently noticing various clients with any non-communicable disease have been displaying far better exercise tolerance and physical efficiency than clients with normal values found in lab investigations. It is quite confusing 😇. But despite their heightened physical efficiency, such clients are also so scared of withdrawing medicines though they have never revisited their Doctor who diagnosed their clinical problem about a decade or two decades ago during the first consultation.

Vinodh, I think we have deviated from using exercise as an agent of good health because we are so busy nowadays, and do not have time to do proper exercise. With that said, however, many people DO exercise regularly and as a result are more physically fit than those who do not exercise. 

Outdoor exercise, such as walking, is also good for the mind (which in turn influences the body) and people have also drifted away from this simple indulgement because there are so many other activities competing for their mental attention: video games, television, email and so forth.  They engage the mind and seem to fulfill a need, but in excess they are not good for the mind. 

It is also true that many important diseases nowadays are not strongly mitigated by exercise.  Many cancers are not strongly associated with exercising;  sexually-transmitted diseases; hepatitis, influenza and others cannot really be prevented by exercise or cured by it.   However, the big diseases of history, heart disease and diabetes, can be greatly helped by exercise, although people tend not to think in terms of prevention, only cure.   

Any positive trend to be set needs team work. Currently, the scenario in India is just accidently choose any exercise degree or nutrition degree only when there is no option due to lowered scores in high school (lower than what is needed for MBBS degree). When large number of students choose these degrees with sincerity, we can relate it as a big positive change. 

Though there has been zero assistance and encouragement for research works, I have been trying my best to give contributions with an unstoppable objective (an example given below).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308972849_Gravitational_Torque_Deficiency_Syndrome_GTDS_A_prospective_clinical_terminology_-_Part_1

Article Gravitational Torque Deficiency Syndrome (GTDS) : A prospect...

(Opinion) That is a really interesting thought. Exercise is good for health and we actually feel really good when we do it. So why don't we do it?! For me, the answer is simple, the human nature does not work that way. I tend to believe that humans, as any other animal, spend energy (or used to) in just three things 1) reproduction, 2) hunting, and 3) running away from predators. It seems to me that exercise is just not our thing. Our brains were kind of designed to make us feel lazy and save energy. Regarding the bad nutrition, we actually would not need that much exercise if our diet was free of so much industrialized food. This is just a opinion though. Best regards!

Even in the modern life, though we are not dwelling in forest, we still need the fitness for fight or flight because dangers are in different form. Sedentary life is the most dangerous of all. DIET - Diet Improves Exercise Tolerance.

I cannot keep myself out of this interesting debate on Diet & Exercise.

I think it is important to understand that if humans were bicycles, Diet and Physical activity would be the two tyres. It has always been a delicate balance between the two that has kept us alive. 

I replaced physical activity for Exercise in my example because exercise is something modern humans do in parks and gym.

What humans have been doing for millions of years of evolution is physical activity as rightly pointed out by Diulian for 1) Reproduction, 2) Arranging for food, and 3) Running from danger.

Out of these 3 the foremost and sole reason for our existence on this earth has been Reproduction. All species need to reproduce to survive on this planet. To be able to reproduce, we needed to be safe from dangers and we needed food to live long enough to be able to reproduce. 

For the nature, role of the adults of any species is over once their offspring's are old enough to reproduce further. For humans this occurs at around an age of 45 years which is also the age of menopause in females. The life expectancy of humans has always been around 45-50 years and this was true till 70 years back. 

Since this discussion is about modern day humans, let us apply the basic principles of nature and reproduction to modern humans. 

1) modern humans reproduce 10 years later than earlier humans, thanks to contraceptives, financial instability, career issues, compatibility issues and so on.

2) same sex marriages have been witnessed for the first time in human history in such proportions. This clearly defies the basic need of nature from humans that is reproduction.

3) most people maintain themselves till they marry and have kids. I have seen most people go out of shape very soon after their marriage. This clearly tells us that need for reproduction is the driving force for physical activity and diet control among the youth. 

4) modern humans have one life partner and follow one child norm. Our ancestors had to remain fit to have multiple life partners and numerous children and to be able to control them.

Morden humans have become machines and are drifting away slowly from their natural need of reproduction unlike any other species on this planet.

Diminishing needs of reproduction lead to diminishing needs for physical activity and physical fitness. Easy availability of modern food for the modern humans adds fuel to this problem.

This is a great discussion. There are additional factors:

NUTRITION-RELATED

(1) Consumerism and unprecedented promotion of unhealthy foods (fast food restaurant growth)

(2) Profiteering results in shelving unhealthy (yet high profit foods such as candy, fatty foods) at eye-level shelvsm

(3) deceptive food labeling

(4) Promotion of body images through electronic media (models) not achievable by common people, many of whom give up on getting ideal bosies,

(5) Fatalism (have to die anyway)

(6) Adulteration of traditionally healthy foods (and rising cost of organic foods),

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

(7) Increasing divide between haves and have-nots; flight of capital and poor (unfair) land use planning in poverty stricken areas,

(8) Increasing urbanization and lack of walkable spaces.

(9) Overpopulation leading to lack of activity space,

(10) Decreasing social support yet increasing materialism (leaving little time for physical activity).

(11) AND MANY ADDITIONAL PERSONALITY RELATED FACTORS (increasing stress levels; poor health status and disability)