In the end, people didn’t evolve to sit around and eat cookies (diet or otherwise). Our ancestors moved: they ran, walked long distances, climbed, hunted, swam, gathered and carried heavy weights. They had to, as their survival depended on it. Likewise, their food was high-quality: nuts/seeds, herbs, fruit/berries, insects/grubs, shellfish/fish and game.

“Diet” and “exercise” are inherent to who we are as a species. The farther a program strays from this basic reality, the greater the likelihood that it will (ultimately) fail.

You’re analogy is right on. People expect to work hard for an education, if they want to attain a degree. That degree will usually help them succeed in life.

Yet to put that same effort into nutrition, exercise and diet to help them live that life longer, isn’t worth the effort.

I personally would like to live as long as I can. If that means making time and putting in the effort for diet and excercise, I’m in.

NOT.

As you and I both know, there is one hell of a lot to learn about nutrition, diet, supplementation and exercise (strength and cardio).

It’s a lot like going to college and getting a degree. It takes work and study over a prolonged period to earn a diploma. People understand up front that it’s a process. It can’t be rushed, if the credential is to mean anything at all. Establishing a foundation of knowledge and building on it takes TIME. Schools that offer “quickie” degrees and give credit for “life experience” are rightly known (and scorned) as “diploma mills.” Likewise, the folks who obtain such degrees are typically viewed with suspicion, since only a hack would try to take a shortcut to professional respectability.

Same deal with making substantial changes to your body and lifestyle: it can’t be done in a half-assed way. As the saying goes, “anything worth doing, is worth doing well.” Understanding what all the variables are and how to manipulate them to your advantage is a SKILL that has to be learned… both through study and one hell of a lot of trial and error.

To expect maximal results from minimal efforts is the same sort of wishful thinking that drives people to blow money on lottery tickets. Sure, every once in a while, somebody wins big, but for every winner, there are millions of losers.

They do not dedicate themselves enough to change their diet and start to exercise.