Practical Health Is Good Health In Action
Are you hurting yourself or are you helping yourself in the choices you make?
That is the question.
Are you going to ridiculous extremes and being unnecessarily hard on yourself?
That is the other question.
When it comes to health, there are any number of things you may be doing that can either be beneficial or detrimental to you, to your health and well-being.
But if you make conscious choices rather than just accept things unthinkingly, you can go far toward improving your long term health rather than destroying it.
Those choices are up to you.
There are a lot of things out there that can hurt you.
Everything from germs, to asbestos, to mercury, to lead, to smoking, to radiation.
By now, most of us are aware of these things.
But people still smoke.
And people still live carelessly in too many ways.
Most accidents can be helped.
As can most of the things that can badly effect our overall health.
To paraphrase Mark Twain:
'Suppose you were an idiot... And supposed you smoked cigarettes... But I repeat myself.'
The same thing can be applied to things such as drunk driving.
But it can also be applied to more subtle things like consuming an excess of certain food substances or food additives.
To paraphrase Twain, again...
'Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you consumed soft drinks laden with high fructose corn syrup...'
Well pretty soon that becomes just about as redundant.
The stuff is not good for you, and you aught to know it if you didn't know it by now. Still, the average American drinks gallons of the stuff each year?
Our lives are determined by the choices we make.
And unless it's genetic in nature, so is our health.
Now you don't have to be a health nut and you don't have to be a fanatic. And heaven knows there are health nut fanatics out there who do little more than turn people off who might otherwise see the benefit of some of what they propound if it was more practical and less pontificated upon from a purist's point of view.
I'm not a fanatic and I'm not a purist. I eat meat and I drink coffee. I sometimes even drink wine.
Take caffeine. For decades people have harped about caffeine, but it's not going to kill you. Studies have shown that the equivalent of six cups of coffee per day has no effect on the blood pressure of half the sample studied, and only a very slight effect on the rest. In the meantime, coffee is loaded with healthful antioxidants, and is the richest source of antioxidants most people consume all day long. After all, it is derived from a berry, and even health zealots say berries are good for you.
I use some things it would probably be better to avoid, but there are some things I avoid almost completely, such as sugar. I say almost, because I like ice cream during the summer months and it contains sugar. However I don't compound that transgression by choosing a brand made with artificial ingredients and if I decide to indulge myself on a hot summer day, choose a brand such as Bryer's because it's not chemically laden and uses real ingredients such as real milk and sugar rather than the kinds of chemical substitutes, including high fructose corn syrup, that go into most other brands.
If you can't enjoy life at least a little, there is little point in extending it.
I also avoid processed foods. They are notably devoid of nutrients and read like the contents of an alien's chemistry set.
All of my parents and grandparents lived into their 80's and 90's eating good old-fashioned home cooked meals. And I am probably one of very few people left in America who has NEVER eaten any pizza, not even a bite. The old meat, potatoes, vegetable or salad still works for me, even if I have to prepare it myself. Every supermarket has a cereal isle a mile long. In Wal-Mart they are two miles long and run on both sides of the isle. Still, the only cereal I will eat is oatmeal, the old fashioned kind. And yes, I microwave it. Being practical works both ways! As a kid I was served a lot of old fashioned oatmeal for breakfast by both my long-lived mother and long-lived grandmother. Now I use it as a bed time snack.
When I was a kid we played with chemistry sets that, in addition to the chemicals, contained asbestos enmeshed in wire gauze for heating beakers. We also played with lead soldiers we poured ourselves, and used lead fishing sinkers and rubbed mercury onto silver dimes with our fingers to make them shine. Today, I don't see those types of chemistry sets and the government warns and protects against asbestos, lead, and mercury while it allows us to eat foods that are loaded with chemicals after the nutrients have been removed. That most of the silver has been taken out of our coins and replaced with elements of lesser value is more than an analogy.
Soy is pushed by vegetarians, but it's not good for you. It's used in baby formulas and a lot else. Still, the only vegetarian I have known looked pale and pasty, like a vampire in need of a transfusion. I guess he also stayed out of the sunshine. He did not look well.
(Actually I have met other vegetarians, but this one stood out.)
I hope all of this has given you some insight into what is practical in practice and practical as in sensible when applied to your health. If you make things too hard, you may not do anything at all. Basically, choose nutritious foods over processed substitutes and avoid additives as well as products containing high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and soy.
And avoid chlorinated and fluoridated water when you can.
I will be expanding on some of this in the future.
© 2008 Lawrence Stepanowicz, ND