Your Health, and Variables that can Affect It

In my last post, I talked about variables related to photography.  One of those variables included health (yours and your subjects), because if either you or your subject is suffering from poor health, it is likely your photos will also suffer.  Below is only a partial list of things that can help you gain optimal health, or cause you to suffer from poor health.  But first, a little story about what lead me in the direction of optimal health.

When I was in my teens and twenties, my thinking was that I wanted to enjoy what I ate, and if it cost me a few years late in life, that was OK.  But I soon learned that eating unhealthy caused problems with my health, and therefore I was not happy, especially when I started having stomach aches every day.  That turned out to be an ulcer.  When I cut out hot dogs, packaged meats like bologna, salami, and other cold cuts, and soft drinks, the ulcer went away.  But a few years later I was diagnosed with nervous stomach, had lots of bloating and cramps and nausea - still no fun.  So I cut out everything that had sugar, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, or other chemicals, and my nervous stomach slowly disappeared.  And there were other benefits - I got a lot less colds and flu, and less severe when I did.  Then along the way, I added in vitamins and other supplements to fill in any gaps I was missing in my diet.  And now I almost never get sick.

What does the above have to do with dietary variables?  Pretty much everything.  By controlling the variables in the list below, there is a very good chance you can get similar results.  And there is the added benefit that when you are in good health you won't have to take prescription drugs, which have nasty side effects (including killing you).  Keep in mind one important thing - changing these variables and controlling them will NOT give you immediate results (my nervous stomach slowly faded away over a period of about 6 months, and has never come back again).  So don't give up.

Some of the variables that can affect your health:

1.  Quality of sleep
2.  Drugs (Prescription or otherwise)
3.  Your diet - what you eat as well as what you should avoid, and has its own list of variables
4.  Stress
5.  Vitamins and Supplements
6.  Lifestyle
7.  Exercise
8.  Environmental pollution
9.  Etc. (everything I've left out)

As far as dietary variables - eat healthy (whole foods, organic when possible) and take supplements.  Avoid GMO foods, sugar and artificial sweeteners, processed foods, soft drinks (including some of those masquerading as healthy), preservatives, artificial colors, and other chemicals that don't belong in your food.

Eliminate these variables, at least as many as you can, and start enjoying a healthy and happy life, which will lead to everything you do being that much better.  And if photography is one of the things you do, as you feel better and more energetic, your images will show it.

NOTE:  Please feel free to comment on anything on this blog.  If you have questions about photography or nutrition, I will do my best to answer in a future post, or point you to somewhere that can help.