This is the motto of the nicest gym in Barcelona, the Equinox of Spain. With hundreds of classes to chose from, state of the art equipment and well informed instructors, one feels at right at home. Since everything was “closed on Sunday”and I couldn’t shop for groceries, I would enjoy my Monday morning breakfast at the gym.

I was a little dismayed when I saw the selection posted outside. The picture offered a special, a croissant and coffee (with sugar, free of charge) is €2.50.
If they didn’t feel like indulging, they could opt for the panini, with white bread, cheese and cured meat. Breakfast of champions.

While I think it’s absurd that a gym, a mecca helping others to “eat well”,  offers such selection, I believe in choice and free market. So I neglected the offer for the “daily special” and asked for a smoothie. They don’t make them. Salad? No. Protein Shake? The waitress referred me to the industrial, highly processed, chemical composition. The truth is that this and a few pieces of fruit was all they offered.

It’s deeply saddens me that confused societies exist with this at their foundation. Health is so dramatically undervalued in our lives that it’s a disgrace that the places that should be on the cutting edge of change are the perputrators of the problem. Isn’t a world where it’s not uncommon for 50% of the population is obese enough for people to wake up? Where new diseases like Type 2 Diabetes are flourishing and cancer is rampant?

It’s only half of the problem that the “healthy” places offer such a terrible selection of food, but the bigger, more absurd half if that I’m likely the only one complaining about it!
Market reflects demand.

Or does it? The inclination from the clueless individual is to think that it’s somehow a sacrifice to drink green juice instead of eat a croissant, when in reality it’s their body that has habituated to the wrong substance. They don’t even know what it’s like to feel energetic, lean, alert. They exist in their mediocre state of lethargy, thinking that it’s normal to need stimulating like caffeine to stay alert and alcohol to relax.
With great power comes great responsibility. The owners of institutions like gyms who are beacons of health have a duty to inform the public. They should suggestively educate the public on healthy alternatives to dated practices of breakfast.
Part of Europe’s charm lies in tradition. But some things are better with change. We don’t live in a world where wheat needs to be a staple because of troubled economic times. People can afford organic green juice. If they think they can’t, it’s time for people to re prioritize how they spend their money and augment the importance of health to a core value in their lives.

Let’s encourage those institutions near us to uphold their responsibility to serve the public interest and encourage a healthy lifestyle for the future.