My road to health started with the book, "Hunza Health Secrets for Long Life and Happiness."
Yes, there is a tie in to photography: when you are being photographed, health is extremely important to the outcome of the photos. After all, if you're not feeling well, you may be depressed about your health, have low energy, be pale, have skin problems, or any number of other things. It will show in your eyes and on your face and in your photos. Post processing can help the results, but it can't bring the life back into your eyes, and it can't improve your health!
Here are health rankings - for longevity, according to the United Nations, the U.S. is ranked 40th in the world and according to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), we are ranked 34th (out of either 193 or 198 countries listed respectively). The CIA ranks us at 51st. For health care systems, the U.S. ranked number 1 for expenditures, but 38th for health by the W.H.O., out of 190 countries.
Here is a chart showing rankings of 11 countries. The U.S. is 11th.
All the reasons for this are too complex to go into here. You may be thinking, well we're living longer than we did 100 years ago, but two reasons for this are less childhood deaths (which used to really lower the average age), and the use of more sterile conditions.
Why aren't we living healthier? Well, a lot of problems started happening around the same time as a lot of changes were made to our way of living. GMO foods were introduced, many mandatory vaccinations were added, fluoride was added to our drinking water (imagine if you took medicine like you take fluoride - with everyone ingesting different amounts depending on their lifestyle), prescription drugs started to be advertised on TV (only legal in U.S. and New Zealand), and chemicals and pesticides were added to our food. Next, add growth hormones and antibiotics fed to the animals we eat. Plus environmental toxins we are exposed to. Not to mention (oops, I just did) a poor diet, overeating and being overweight. I'm sure there are many more reasons (stress is a big one), but you probably get the idea. Too many variables to know for sure which item is responsible for which malady.
What are some of things that have happened around the same time as all the above have been introduced? Autism rates, obesity, and diabetes have skyrocketed. To counteract these problems, doctors give you drugs which may be worse than the problem you are taking them for (officially, 106,000 people die each year from properly prescribed prescription drugs; unofficially, that may be much higher as many deaths are attributed to other things that may have been caused by these drugs).
What about cancer? I keep hearing in the news that things are improving. But seeing all the people dying from cancer (including friends and family), it doesn't seem the media reports are right. A good friend of mine died from breast cancer, my father died from lung cancer, and several others I know have cancer. Most recently, L. Stephen Coles, M.D., PhD,, founder of Research Gerontology Group at UCLA, died from pancreatic cancer. So I did some research and found that the only drop in cancer rates since 1950 corresponded to the same drop in rates of people smoking. Discounting that change, the rate would have actually gone up. They tell us in the media that survival time after diagnosis is longer, so there is progress. Unfortunately, what they fail to tell us is the diagnosis is being made sooner, but your life is not extended past the point where it would have been. And, of course, they highlight the few successes. Natural remedies that might work, or that have helped some people, you can't get or won't hear about. If you have cancer, why aren't you allowed to try whatever you want? It's amazing that 45 years ago we landed men on the moon, we recently landed a satellite on a comet, we've figured out the human genome, and we have more powerful computers than ever, but still haven't made progress with a cure for cancer.
What can you do? If you value your health, do what they say in investing - do your due diligence, aka research. Talk to not only your doctor, but other health practitioners. Use the internet. Eat healthy, which means mostly organic, whole foods. Check labels. If you don't know what it is, don't eat it. Do not drink soft drinks. Stay away from sugar and artificial sweeteners. Exercise and take the right supplements (these will be somewhat different for each person). Avoid environmental toxins as much as possible. Keep in mind that when you start doing these things, your problems won't go away overnight. It takes time. You might even feel worse initially.
When I was younger, I used to think I could eat and do whatever I wanted to enjoy myself more - you know, hamburgers, hot dogs, Coke and Pepsi and other soft drinks, candy and sweets. If it knocked a couple of years off my life, at least I would enjoy my life more. Then I got an ulcer (so cut out the soft drinks and packaged meats) and a few years later a nervous stomach (aka irritable bowel syndrome or I.B.S. - constant stomach aches, nausea, pain and bloating). Thankfully I got those when I was young, because it taught me I would NOT enjoy life more by eating whatever I wanted. So I learned about nutrition, changed my diet, added supplements and not only did those problems go away, but so did many other problems. Some of these things took months to fade away, some took years, but they are gone.
Remember, if you keep doing what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you always got.
So please do your research, don't believe TV ads for drugs, and don't ask your doctor if this or that drug is right for you. Research it instead, read the pros and cons, and be informed. In a future post, I'll go into some more details.
Best of Health and Happiness for 2015!
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