Eating Healthy Is Overrated

by | Jun 12, 2021 | Health, Life

Let me make several points very clear before we get into the heart of this article. I am not saying eating healthy is a bad thing, because it’s obvious that everyone should do such. But for many people, such as myself, that’s never going to happen. I want people to know there are other factors, which in my opinion, are every bit as important as one’s diet, possibly more important. Don’t beat yourself up if you have poor eating habits, try to make up for it in other ways.

Next, this article is not based on science, it’s nothing more than my personal opinion. So please don’t refer me to scientific data proving a certain type of diet is better or healthier for you. That’s a given, nobody’s disagreeing with that premise. From my perspective, lifestyle choices are every bit as important as what you eat. I’m talking about regular exercise, which everyone in the field of medical science agrees pays huge dividends. Did you know that most surveys reveal approximately only one out of four Americans participates in a regular exercise program? That’s hard to believe.

But there’s a lot more than exercise, such as avoiding alcohol, cigarettes, and prescription drugs. Yes I said prescription drugs. Americans are like junkies, strung out on array of prescription drugs. All one has to do is listen to those never-ending drug commercials on TV when they get to the disclaimer. This drug can cause strokes, tumors, heart attacks, and on rare occasions, even death. Why would anyone voluntarily choose to take a prescription drug with so many negative possibilities? Yes, I realize that for people with certain health conditions, they must take some prescription drugs. However, I am talking about the millions of Americans who see a drug commercial and ask or demand that their doctor orders a prescription for the drug they saw on TV. Why do you think drug companies spend millions of dollars on this type of advertising? If you watch those commercials, the message is very clear. Take this drug and your life will become better in so many ways.

Before I leave this subject, allow me to summarize an article I read a few years go. It was written by physician who talked about the perils of prescription drugs. He described the following scenario for many of his patients. He said I prescribe prescription A for one of my patients. About 3 months later, I have to prescribe prescription B to treat the side effects of prescription A. Fast forward another 3 months, and then I have to prescribe prescription C for her, which counters the side effects of taking the combination of prescriptions A & B. He said it’s a never-ending cycle, which I’m sure which enriches America’s drug companies, but it probably creates more health issues than it resolves.

We all know that breathing in cigarette smoke is extremely harmful, but let’s talk briefly about alcohol, something most Americans regularly consume. Multiple studies revealed the kind of damage alcohol does to your body and possibly your brain. The type of alcohol (beer, wine, whiskey) is irrelevant. All forms are harmful when regularly consuming alcohol. By the way, I don’t believe the claims that a certain level of alcohol consumption is actually good for you.

Let’s move on to the subject of one’s diet. As for me, I’m the role model for everything doctors tell you to avoid. My lifetime diet primarily consists of burgers, fries, steaks, chicken, Italian food, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, and cake. Hmmmmmm, I’m getting hungry just thinking about the above. I know, you’re probably thinking I’m 50 pounds overweight, can barely buckle up my belt, and I’m burdened with an array of medical issues. You would be wrong. I’m about 5 to 6 pounds overweight, which isn’t too bad for a guy my age. But here’s the good news. With exception of allergy medicine, I do NOT take any prescription drugs!

I never smoked, I never drank any form of alcohol, and I’ve been physically fit my entire life. I try to make it to the gym every morning. Five days a week, I do cardio, and twice a week, even though I hate it, I do circuit weights. No, I’m not training for the Olympics, I do just enough to maintain a decent level of fitness. When my father was my age, he could barely walk up a flight of stairs, while I take them two at a time. I have yet to meet a woman who can outlast me on the dance floor. I’m LOL. I can still go to a dance club and dance the night away. If disco would somehow make a comeback, I would be so happy.

Every year I go for my annual physical. Last year, my blood pressure was almost the same as it was 25 years ago. My cholesterol is slightly elevated, and my triglycerides are way too high. That’s the price I pay for eating so many cookies and lots of ice cream and cake. Yesterday I went to the Cheesecake Factory and couldn’t decide between Chocolate Oriole or Hershey’s chocolate cheesecake. But have no fear, I knew whatever I chose would be delicious. I just had to work a little harder in the gym this morning.

I know several people who eat a very healthy diet, but they still suffer form an array of health issues. It could be genetics, or maybe it’s a combination of a lack of exercise, too much alcohol, and/or a reliance upon prescription drugs. From my perspective, the good eaters I referred to are proof that a healthy diet isn’t enough. I’m sure everyone will probably think my next comment is nothing more than wishful thinking, and you’re probably right. Eating healthy is a good thing, but it may be overrated. Despite what so many scientists tell us, I think one can make up for a poor diet with an array of lifestyle choices which I described above. I want to believe those lifestyle choices may be more important than a healthy diet, but who am I to counter what the world of science tells us.

Alcohol Damages Brain Cells (Gray Matter)

by | May 21, 2021 | Health

No Amount of Alcohol is Good For You

Scientists have known for decades that drinking alcohol destroys brain cells (the gray matter used for thinking and logic). Here are the results of major study in the UK. Virtually all of the information below comes from the NPR and CNN websites. There is no such thing as a “safe” level of drinking, with increased consumption of alcohol associated with poorer brain health, according to a new study.

In an observational study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, researchers from the University of Oxford studied the relationship between the self-reported alcohol intake of some 25,000 people in the UK, and their brain scans. The researchers noted that drinking had an effect on the brain’s gray matter, regions in the brain that make up “important bits where information is processed,” according to lead author Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at Oxford. “The more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter,” Topiwala said via email. “Brain volume reduces with age and more severely with dementia. Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing,” she explained.

“While alcohol only made a small contribution to this (0.8%), it was a greater contribution than other ‘modifiable’ risk factors,” she said, explaining that modifiable risk factors are “ones you can do something about, in contrast to aging,” Type of alcohol doesn’t matter”. The team also investigated whether certain drinking patterns, beverage types and other health conditions made a difference to the impact of alcohol on brain health. They found that there was no “safe” level of drinking. meaning that consuming any amount of alcohol was worse than not drinking it. They also found no evidence that the type of drink, such as wine, spirits or beer, affected the harm done to the brain. 

Keep in mind that certain characteristics, such as high blood pressure, obesity, or binge-drinking, could put people at higher risk, researchers added. “So many people drink ‘moderately,’ and think this is either harmless or even protective,” Topiwala told CNN via email. “As we have yet to find a ‘cure’ for neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, knowing about factors that can prevent brain harm is important for public health,” she added.

No safe limit
The risks of alcohol have long been known: Previous studies have found there’s no amount of liquor, wine, or beer that is safe for your overall health.  Alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016, accounting for nearly one in 10 deaths, according to a study published in the Lancet in 2018. “While we can’t yet say for sure whether there is ‘no safe level’ of alcohol regarding brain health at the moment, it has been known for decades that heavy drinking is bad for brain health,“ Sadie Boniface, head of research at the UK’s Institute of Alcohol Studies, told CNN via email. “We also shouldn’t forget alcohol affects all parts of the body and there are multiple health risks,” said Boniface, who was not associated with the University of Oxford study.

Tony Rao, a visiting clinical fellow in Old Age Psychiatry at King’s College London, told CNN that given the large sample size, it was unlikely the study’s findings could have arisen by chance. Rao said the study replicates previous research that has shown there is no safe limit in the level of alcohol consumption for its role in damage to the structure and function of the human brain. “Previous research revealed subtle changes, which demonstrate damage to the brain, can present in ways that are not immediately detectable on routine testing of intellectual function and can progress unchecked until they present with more noticeable changes in memory,” he said. “Even at levels of low-risk drinking,” he said, “there is evidence that alcohol consumption plays a larger role in damage to the brain than previously thought. The (Oxford) study found that this role was greater than many other modifiable risk factors, such as smoking.”

“The interaction with high blood pressure and obesity on increasing the damage done by alcohol to the brain emphasizes the wider role of diet and lifestyle in maintaining brain health,” he added. “Our results show that the safest level of drinking is none,” the report states. “This level is in conflict with most health guidelines, which espouse health benefits associated with consuming up to two drinks per day.”

The study looked at a broad range of risks posed by alcohol consumption, including diseases, driving accidents and self-harm. According to the report, alcohol led to 2.8 million deaths in 2016. It was the leading risk factor for disease worldwide, the study found, accounting for almost 10 percent of deaths among those ages 15 to 49.

Obviously, people will not stop drinking because it’s a lifelong habit. But hopefully, studies like this will motivate them to reduce the amount of alcohol they consume.

Trump and the Covid-19 Pandemic

by | Jul 11, 2020 | Health, Life, Politics

Donald Trump had an opportunity to do what normal American presidents do in a national crisis, and that is, bring the country together. The President is in a unique position where he/she can rally our people, get us unified so we can fight a battle against our enemy as one nation. That’s exactly what happened against the Nazis and Japanese in WW II. But true to form, Trump made the Corona Virus a political issue with him at the center. Are you surprised? In his small mind, Trump thought he could handle the crisis by making a series of unsubstantiated claims. In other words, ignore science in an attempt to make himself look good and pretend he had everything under control. But there was just one big problem, the virus wasn’t listening to him.

Remember when Trump made the following brilliant comment?

  • The virus is a Democratic Hoax
  • The virus is under “Tremendous Control”
  • Everything will return to normal by Easter Sunday
  • Drink bleach as a preventive measure for Covid-19
  • If you get the virus, take hydroxychloroquine.

If the above wasn’t bad enough, Trump compounded the problem by turning Covid-19 into a political issue, as opposed to a national health crisis. Trump, and then his political ally, Fox, manipulated the issue of social distancing and wearing masks. Instead of perceiving them as common-sense techniques to slow down the spread of the deadly virus, Trump and his allies turned them into phony constitutional issues. That’s right, the government has no right to make you wear a mask during pandemic or to prevent large groups of people from getting together.  As a result, millions of Americans who reside in the alternate reality of Trump World, defied the advice of scientists and doctors, making the crisis far worse than it needed to be.Trump didn’t stop there.

He sees his number one hope for re-election in the state of our economy. Therefore, instead of closing down major components of the economy as recommended by our health experts from the CDC, Trump encouraged governors to open up their states for normal business. We saw what happened. Instead of the spread of the virus slowing down, it intensified and set records in many states during early July.

Trump’s approval ratings for Covid-19 are horrendous, will Americans remember when election day arrives in November?

Trump World Opposes Masks During the Pandemic

by | Jun 28, 2020 | Health, Politics

Trump World makes up the biggest CULT of our lifetime. His members are dedicated to their Supreme Leader, which means they defend everything he says or does, and I mean everything. The Supreme Leader is never wrong.  Their number one job is protecting and/or defending their leader. Everything he says or does is right, and anyone who disagrees with their leader, criticizes him, or investigates Trump, becomes the arch enemy of the cult. They will then begin a process of systematic attacks on anyone who does the above.

Trump has made one mistake after another with Covid-19. He claimed the virus was “Under Tremendous Control”, he said everything would return to normal by Easter, he recommended people swallow bleach, and then advised those with the virus to take hydroxychloroquine, despite all the medical evidence proving that was hazardous to one’s health. Even after all of those grievous errors/mistakes on the part of Trump, in his cult, he never made a single mistake. That brings us to the subject of masks in Florida.

Florida was on the national news this week because a large group of angry, vocal residents were yelling and screaming at the Palm Beach County Council,  which was preparing to make masks mandatory whenever a resident is inside a facility open to the public. People in Trump World live in an alternate reality bubble, where the truth and facts are irrelevant. They eat up one conspiracy story and lie after another from the Fox Propaganda Network. The latest right-wing propaganda circulating throughout Trump’s Cult is the bizarre idea that requiring the wearing of a mask isn’t a safety issue in the middle of a pandemic, it’s a violation of your constitutional rights. Since Trump never wears a mask, his cult members must insist upon doing the same. The people protesting the new law in Palm Beach County, FL are Trump Lovers. They see everything which happens from the perspective of how it impacts their Supreme Leader. And if Trump is telling them they shouldn’t wear masks, then who does the Palm Beach County government think they are?

Incredibly, they were also convinced by right wing propaganda that wearing a mask is hazardous to your health. Are they serious? All the doctors and nurses in America’s hospitals, who were risking their lives by treating and taking care of Covid-19 patients, were wrong to wear masks? Trump World is telling them that is dangerous to their health. At the Palm Beach County council meeting, one woman was screaming at the doctor who recommended the mask rule, alleging he’s not a real doctor and should resign. Keep in mind, that woman is dumber than dirt, yet she was preaching pseudo-science to a physician, because she heard it on Fox.

Of course, this issue goes way beyond wearing a mask indoors during a national pandemic. It illustrates the terrifying reality that about 35-40% of America listens to Fox and Trump every day. That means facts, logic, and the truth are totally irrelevant. They are people who will believe anything which supports their heavily bigoted view of the world. America is facing its most dangerous crisis of our lifetime.  Our democracy cannot make it through another four years of Donald Trump. Make sure you vote this November and ensure that your friends, relatives, and family members make it to the polls. This effort should concentrate on young people who only vote in relatively small numbers.