In a classic French exchange, Mixdorf's & my last few posts have been tangentally related to one anothers' posts for the past couple of days. Thanks for the wonderful essay on locally-grown & non-bioengineered foods, PMix.
Part 1: Today's topic is about health, longevity, & quality of life; but specifically (and in relation to Mixdorf's post) about the stuff we put in our bodies. I'd gone along for a number of years confident in my general level of health, but always more or less trusting that my physical well-being was in top-notch condition due to my age, level of fitness (as an off-and-on runner and generally active individual), my leanness, and maybe some sort of genetic predisposition for health (though with diabetic family members and a grandfather that died of a heart attack, that belief may be somewhat misplaced). This sort of faith in those factors that were part of my natural lifestyle (e.g. didn't require any sort of change or uncomfortable effort on my part) carried me through college and quite a few beyond. I knew that cholesterol, fat, sugars, etc. were bad, but I always assumed that my intake was moderate enough and/or my positive traits & habits (above) would cancel out their negative effects. Especially after I became a vegetarian; surely, that alone would render all the rest of those concerns moot! I skated through many years without a worry.
Just a few years back, though, I started to have a little more consciousness about some of those heath factors I could control. Maybe it had to do with my dad's recurring skin tumors (I started using sunscreen, though not religiously), my personal weight gain of 20 lbs over my college weight (cutting down consciously on sweets), and so on. But I never really learned a whole lot about how all those health dangers were related. After Lucy was born, Sharon made the commitment to buy organic or at least natural groceries, shopping exclusively at the local co-op. It was something that we both were excited to do, for all the societal & ecological concerns that Mixdorf mentions. But even more of a reason to transition was to keep Lucy from getting all that unnatural crap in her body at an early age. Even if we couldn't adhere absolutely to a natural diet for ourselves, we were determined to provide that for Lucy. But I think my overall condition has improved in that time. Other than a clean bill of health at my latest checkup (blood pressure fine, "bad cholesterol" fine, etc.; though, curiously, "good cholesterol" level a little low, though-more on that later), it's been tough to gague the exact health benefits of my diet from the past couple of years; though I have had a distinct decrease in number of canker sores, a chronic affliction from which I have suffered all my life.
It all leads me to this. We've probably all tried out "longevity calculators" before; and most of them turn out to be seriously simplified and to suffer from the "well duh!" syndrome. But this particular one is by far the most comprehensive and meaningful one I've ever taken. Make sure you have the time to answer quite a number of questions, as well as the time to read the very informative discussion of your lifestyle afterwards. Things went very well for me in the test, though there are a few lifestyle changes I simply need to make. Most of them are things I already do, but I simply need to do them more consistently: sunscreen, regular exercise, better sleep habits, better job spacing out meals/eating, and switching from coffee to tea as a daily drink. Maybe this particular web tool won't be a motivator for anyone else in the way it was for me to make those last few changes we know we need to make but are afraid to; but I hope there is something in your lives that will be.
Part 2: Some of the information they gave regarding fats & cholesterol, as well as a concern over my low HDL ("good cholesterol") finally induced me to investigate the phenomenon more. How could that level be low if I'm a vegetarian, and how could I raise it? Well, I couldn't have designed a better answer in my wildest dreams.: consume more alcohol & peanut butter. A wonderful and quite funny answer, but I found some amazing truths & history behind it.
The medical community has known for quite some time that a drink or two of alcohol a day has myriad health benefits, but has generally agreed that doctors could never get away with specifically endorsing the consumption of alcohol due to the dangers of alcoholism & overconsumption of alcohol. But the history of fat in this country is interesting as well: to summarize, our country developed a saturated fat scare some time ago, and decided to start offering unsaturated fats as an alternative. Unfortunately, the unsaturated fats would get rancid after just a few days, so they created the process of "hydrogenization," which created an entirely new substance, far worse than saturated fats ever were: trans-fatty acids, which have the double boner of both decreasing "good" (HDL) cholesterol and increasing the "bad" (LDL). And the substance was so simple, cheap, and useful (how does this relate to, like, half the posts Mixdorf & me have about the corporatization of the world?), that these major food manufacturers realized they could put it in nearly everything. The result is entire generations of people in this country destined to grow up fat and be at a great risk for heart disease.
Never before have I been so commited to staying away from processed foods. Rather than a "nameless fear," I now know the facts behind hydrogenization. Who knows what yet uncovered dangers are lurking in our society's addiction to "nutrasweet" (what the hell?) and many other substitutes for natural ingredients? Sure, I'll have a lapse here and there, but I know what I need to do and why.
This is a post of links and links and links. So I will not seek out the link to the recent MPR story about a group of people in northern MN that agreed, for one year, to only buy products that were produced within 250 miles of where they lived (with just a few exceptions: coffee, salt, etc). But it was pretty cool. Benefits are that products locally produced are often in a more natural state, support local economies, and require less energy consumption due to the decreased need transportation. If you can incorporate this practice into your lifestyle in whatever measure is within your means, the effects are only good, good, good; for yourself and the rest of society.
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5 comments:
I managed 94, although there were some holes in my answers. I haven't had my cholesterol checked in quite a few years, though at the time it was low, almost too low, like Dan.
Well-not sure if you "bad" cholesterol can be too low.
I assumed a huge part of my "95" was the fact that I had a grandparent that lived past 98. Apparently not. Maybe a huge part of it is simply the year we were born (e.g. taking into account project trend for life expectancy by the time we get into our advanced years).
Some interesting stuff-almost too much-in their recap, huh?
Fer sure.
Haven't taken the test yet, not sure I will, but a few notes on me.
My biggest health problem, obviously, is my weight. My total cholesterol is consistently around 150, with good cholesterol being almost double the recommended, and the bad being about half. My blood pressure has tended to be slightly high when they check it at the beginning of my visits, but in the normal range if they check it at the end of my check-up. This makes sense, as my doctors visits are almost always right after work, and the most stressful part of my day is in the last 45 minutes of my shift. So, while it is really not a big concern, I blame my blood pressure on my job.
But what about my weight? I eat much better, and exercise much more than I ever did in college, and yet I have gained since then. So, I blame my job for this as well. With all of the studies that have come out lately linking sleep and weight, I really think that this is the problem.
My best summer for eating and exercise was 1 BE (2004). I was biking an average of 20 miles five to six days a week, and I don't own a road bike. I was also making a concerted effort to limit my caloric intake. I was consistently eating/drinking about 1500 calories a day, slightly higher on the weekends. I did lose weight, but not much, about 8 pounds over three months.
So, everything that I would like to see change points back to my job.
BE=Before Elsa?
I know what I have to do; only, I'm afraid to do it...
(Elijah Wood's Frodo-FotR)
Looks like someone's got a packaged, ribboned, & bowed resolution sitting on a silver platter.
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