Here's To Your Health

[jerry]

How do ya’ll keep yourselves healthy (assuming you do, of course)?

For me, it’s mainly diet and exercise, just what the doctor ordered.

Every day I eat an apple, a large bowl of oatmeal, a bowl of Fiber One & Total cereals mixed with dried cranberries or raisins, a cup of decaf green tea, and 1 gram of fish oil, plus regular food. I make most of my own bread, using at least three kinds of grain for each.
I drink at least eight 12oz glasses of water, besides whatever other fluids I drink with meals. Yeah, I pee a lot, which is good for you, especially if you are prone to kidney stones.
Skim milk only, decaf drinks only, except an occasional cola. No added sodium salt, very little sugar. Tabasco Sauce and lots of spices with most meals.

My property has a hilly path around it. Five laps on this path equals a mile, with at least 40% of it uphill. It's the same mathematically as walking to the top of a ten story building with 100' hallways between stairwells. I try to do this at least every other day, with no less than three laps every day.

There's a very sensitive set of balance scales in my bedroom. In fact, it's so sensitive that a single glass of water will make a level bar bump the top stop. After emptying everything that needs it and before dressing in the morning, I step onto the scales every day. If the bar bumps the top stop, I eat less that day and for every day that follows until it either levels or bumps bottom. If it bumps bottom, I re-level it, which assures I lose a little weight most days.

So far, so good. I feel great most of the time, with no stomach problems.

[Tommy Thompson]

Jerry, Belinda makes sure that we hardly ever eat any fried foods even though fried chicken is my favorite. She also throws in some vegetables to keep me in line. I very rarely drink sodas....sweet ice tea 99% of the time. Also, I've learned from watching the science channels that lean animals, and humans, tend to be less prone to disease. Years ago, after one of my divorces, I would forget to eat at times and that has stuck with me. I don't eat breakfast or lunch normally. It's usually just dinner only and not really that big of a meal at that.
As far as excercise...I get plenty when I'm working. I get a lot of bending over, lifting, climbing and walking just during a normal day.
I also never take ANY medication unless it's just plain serious. I'm a big believer that the body should heal itself. One of the biggest problems today is that too many people take too much medicine or use too much anti bacterial this and anti bacterial that and their bodies have no clue how to fight off infection or disease on their own. I haven't even had a cold this year while we know of one family group that we rarely see because they are ALWAYS sick with something.
Now if I could do something about all the aches and pains after all those years of construction work, I'd be ok. Tommy

[jerry]

Tommy, I agree fully about the medicine; people take way too much of it. I'm pretty well committed to a blood pressure medicine because mine was sky-high, but that's all. I dropped my heart medicine, aspirin, even vitamin capsules. They want me to take statins for cholesterol but I absolutely refuse.

Your body should get everything it needs from natural food in varying quantities, not measured daily doses of chemicals. In fact, only the body can heal itself anyway. Doctors just help the process along.

One day they will publicize the fact that some of these chemicals are causing Alzheimers and a lot of other stuff like arthritis and blood clots that you hear about so much lately. But for now, it would be bad for the pharm business.

[Garland]

When I went into the hospital two years ago (the first time in my life) the Doctor and nurse couldn't understand why I didn't have a suit case full of medicine. For the 67 years all I ever took was aspirin and only when I needed it. Now I take a medicine to help my liver get rid of excess body fluid. The strongest thing I ever took was some pain pills after an oral surgery a few weeks ago...I have to limit food to no or very little salt and no carbonated drinks or any with caffeine.

[larrywalker]

Jerry, sounds like you have a pretty good regimen down, of both food intake and exercise--have you lost weight since adopting this plan? I am jealous.

How do you get your fish oil---by capsule, or can you take a liquid? I still take major medicines--Atenolol for heart rythmn, Allopurinol for gout, Tricor for tryglecerides, a thyroid medicine, Prilosec, gish oil, vitamin D, and who knows what else--just typing all this wears me out.

[cbk]

I believe in the multivitamin, mineral pill. Why? Because most of our farm land's dirt has been depleted of the minerals it had in it at one time. Amazingly enough a study commissioned by Congress in the 1930's came up with that conclusion. Since most farmers only use NPK on their fields the minerals are not replaced. And since food grown in those fields can only soak up what is in the soil I think taking a vitamin/mineral pill is a good insurance policy.
People tend to trash the pharmacy industry now days. But there are people alive today because of the medicines they have produced. I'm not a big fan of popping pills, but if you need 'em to stay alive; go for it. My dear paternal grandmother died in her early 50's. I'm pretty sure that if the medicines that are available today were available back in 1948 she'd have lived a lot longer.
As the old saying goes, Don't cuss a farmer with you mouth full...or the pharmacy industry if your medications are extending your life!

[jerry]

Larry, over the last year I have lost about 30 pounds, then gained back about five. So far I'm holding that line very well, and plan to get into another losing cycle once all this dang holiday eating is over. The precision scale is critical to this process, as it takes a concerted effort with daily feedback.

The fish oil is in HUGE gelcaps that sometimes just won't go down; they seem to hang in some kind of pocket just north of my trachea. Usually I can get one down after eating something firm that dilates my lower throat a bit. The recommended dose is up to four grams a day, but I only take one, and always at different times of the day.

Chris, that's why I eat Total and Fiber One every day. Read the box sometime; Total has an average of 100% of most of the stuff you get in vitamin pills plus fiber, and F1 has 57% of the fiber we all need.

Yeah, if you need pills to stay alive, what's the downside of taking them? But so many are prescribed unneccesarily merely to satisfy some doctor's legal obligation to keep all your numbers within certain limits, or even because the patient insists on taking them whether needed or not.

[H Abiff]

I was afraid to mention it but after taking my 12 pills in the morning I am not hungry so don;t eat till in the afternoon. My midnight snack is another 12 pills. Doctor says that I will have to take them the rest of my life. Heart, circulation, sugar, prostrate...

[Tommy Thompson]

speaking of depleting the minerals out of the soil, I remember a special many years ago about a town somewhere in Europe or Russia where the longevity of the average person was over 100 years old. Their water came from a glacier that was full of minerals caused by the grinding of the glacier over the rocks.
Also, today they were discussing the massive amounts of antibiotics, pills, steroids and other stuff being given to livestock, chickens, pigs, etc. Animals consume 70% of the antibiotics sold in the USA. And people wonder why we are having more increases in autism and birth defects and such. Tommy

[jerry]

Some of the meat we eat was raised with growth hormones and other abnormal stuff. They think that's why so many teenagers, particularly girls, reach puberty several years earlier than others. Allegedly, a lot of these kids frequently ate fast food burgers, etc.

I rarely eat fast food anymore, maybe a Jack's burger once a month or less, and never a Big Mac. Nor do I eat french fries except for the frozen shoestrings I bake in my convection oven.

[larrywalker]

Dec 30, 2009 22:54:07 GMT -5 jerry said:

The fish oil is in HUGE gelcaps that sometimes just won't go down; they seem to hang in some kind of pocket just north of my trachea. .

I take the same ones Jerry, and have no trouble getting them down--the Allopurionol, for gout, is another story. The are a bit smaller than a dime, though thicker, but I choke on them almost evry morning.

[jerry]

When I was much younger I took Allopurinol for kidney stones (didn't work).

[cbk]

Tommy, I too have heard about what is call glacier milk. Thats the minerals that are ground up into the soil by the glaciers moving. People who live in those places and drink the water and eat the vegetables grown in the soil not only live long lives but seem to be very healthy well into their old age.
I love my meat and am really sorry that we've gone to such big commercial farming that animals have to be given antibiotics because there are so many of them together. It seems really counterproductive to good health. Fortunately I have a local cattle farmer who doesn't have that problem and who slaughters his beef locally at a small slaughter house. It taste wonderful and I know I'm not getting junk I don't want. Now to find a pork producer. I don't eat that much chicken because I really don't like it except fried. And that's not good for you.

[jb]

I watch everything I eat!

[kimstreety]

I am a creature of habit.....my weekday meals include: frozen pancakes and two pieces of pre cooked sausage for breakfast, frozen pizza pockets or bagel bites for lunch and whatever I decide to cook for dinner (I usually do a decent dinner...vegetables and such). I usually do not eat breakfast on Saturday and Sunday I usually have a biscuit with apple butter. Lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday vary. Up until about a year ago, I didn't snack often....after I quit smoking and started taking hormones, I now love to snack.
I take my hormone pill, calcium supplement, vitamin D, and a multi vitamin. Because I was off work last week and out of my routine, I missed taking my hormone pill for several days; I thought I might just stay off of them but constant hot flashes and a not so nice demeanor made me change my mind.
As for exercise, I guess that would come from house work, remodeling and such. Once I am home in the evenings, I rarely sit down except to eat dinner. I have gained several pounds since I stopped smoking and had a complete hysterectomy, but am currently fine with my present condition . I do not have a set of scales.....when my pants are too tight to button, it's time to cut back (or buy bigger pants).