Interview with the Editor of Men's Fitness

Pretty good interview with a guy who edited Men's Health and Men's Fitness. Louis offers some insight into his thoughts on training and nutrition along with some tidbits about the magizine biz both pro and con.

A paleontologist friend of mine, John Williams at SMU, told me something I’d never heard before: He said that humans are by far the fattest and least muscular primates, and the theory is that this is because of our brains. They’re so much bigger than other primate brains, and require so much more fuel to keep them working. Thus, our bodies need to store fat, and they’re damned good at it.

Looking at it that way, it’s a wonder anyone is thin, given that food is so cheap and abundant. This is kind of my soapbox issue, so I’ll throw this in here:

I think we’re making a huge, huge mistake in this country by talking about the obesity epidemic as a disease that people catch because they’re lazy. If I could single-handedly change the tone, I’d start by saying that fat happens. For some people, it’s perfectly natural to overeat when food is available.

But, because we all now understand how dangerous it is to have this excess weight, we have to work together on a solution. So let’s collectively find ways to eat less and exercise more. Let’s get the Coke machines out of schools and make PE a bigger priority. Let’s make it easier for kids to walk to school. Let’s change the work culture a little, build more corporate gyms, encourage people to take workout breaks.

And on the diet side, let’s focus on the positive instead of the punitive. Instead of telling people to eat less, let’s focus on eating strategically. Every guy reading T-Nation knows how important it is to time meals for the effects he wants. We need to get that message out to everyone else.