Stuff You Know Already

There is lots of stuff we have known a long time. We make choices based on what we know and it is always just up to us to choose right. That we are bombarded with advertising that wants us to stray is nothing but a convenient excuse. Every day we get up and make thousands of choices. They are ours and we own them.

When I was no older than 10 the news would warn us that we ate too much red meat and that was in the early 70's when beef was still mostly grass fed and pasture raised. Now the factory farms have the cattle eating GMO corn and even beef which jacks up the triglycerides in the meat and - in turn - your blood. That was before the factory farmed meat accounted for 70% of the antibiotic use in the US which we now know has been one of the factors leading to super bugs that are antibiotic resistant.

We knew back then that sugar was to be used sparingly. There was the risk of tooth decay and other issues. What we didn't know was that it was the leading cause of arterial degradation. We knew it was bad for diabetics, but we didn't know that it causes diabetes. And that was sugar - not high fructose corn syrup which is much, much worse for us than cane sugar.

We knew that too much starchy food made you fat. We weren't always hip to the places carbs were and that there were simple and complex carbs and how easy it is to avoid the simple ones and how necessary the complex ones are since they also tend to be a great source of fiber.

Now, we have know excuses. You have to live like the Unabomber to not know these facts.

The decisions we make based on those facts are life and death decisions. The trick is they are quality of life and dignity of death decisions. Those are the decisions that are harder to stick with because the involve the future almost more than they do the present.

Things like "If I eat this white bread now I will likely need to take blood pressure meds like my folks do now." don't easily form in your mind. They should because that is your link to and way out of the "family history" of this and that. We have family histories of ways to eat and exercise. They are real and are finally being pointed to in studies. They are not as much genetic as environmental.

So every day is another chance to decide to live as well as you can and to eventually die with as much dignity as possible. It's that easy. If you want to take so many prescriptions that you need the little pill boxes with the days split out to keep it all straight then eat whatever you want and forgo exercise. While you're at it be intolerant of others and never accept any responsibility when you can find a great excuse.

If, on the other hand, you want to skip the pills and chronic disease be honest with yourself every day. Eat to nourish yourself and exercise to renew yourself. Find common ground with people - especially those with seemingly different views - and look for solutions instead of excuses.

We are all works in progress with huge potential for great and terrible things. It is up to us to decide.

Be very well and more soon....