Live a healthier you, eat right! That is the health claim that we most often see. We are told that by eating right, we will live longer. Besides the fact that it is a lie, because it only is a probability and no guarantee, it also doesn't tell us the rest of the story.
Let us pretend for a moment that it is true, and that I personally will live to a ripe 90-year-old. Why would I even want to do that? Today I live on a fixed income, I live paycheck to paycheck. There is nothing left after I pay the bills and buy groceries. If I want to eat right, then I need to add a higher percentage to my grocery bill. That much is an absolute fact. Ground beef is considerably cheaper than fish and chicken, as just only one example.
So now that I'm eating what the "experts" believe I should be eating, my funding is even worse. In fact, I may even be in the hole, but let's pretend that I am at least breaking even (however doubtful that would be). How exactly am I supposed to live after 65 then? There is absolutely NO money to put into any retirement. What I have spent on food to make me more healthy, now matters not. I will die of starvation instead.
The other side of the coin is why? How many times have we heard about taking chances in life? You'll often hear, "You only live once!" or "Live a little!" I do only have one life. I do not want my last thought, my dying realization, to be "I turned down that delicious meal for a raw vegetable last night!"
We do only live once. Do we really want to spend it worrying about calories, bad foods and so forth? If food tastes good, why not take advantage and live happily? What would I gain living to a ripe old age if I could not afford to live anyway? I don't want to die in absolute poverty. I'd rather die younger while still happy, than older and destitute.
Now the other thing I want to touch on before I sign off here, is that we must remember the many healthy folks that have died early deaths. I had a family member who was always on a strict and healthy diet. He jogged several miles a day and had enough money that he could see the best specialists in the world for doctors to help him maintain that health. Yet he died young, from an aneurysm rupture, this after his heart valve stopped working and was repaired. The man was plagued with coronary issues even though he was very diet and exercise conscious. I thought the promise was that he'd live longer?
To listen to health nuts telling us that we'll live to an older age because of diet and exercise is like listening to a palm reader. They have absolutely no idea whether or not you'll live longer and actually be healthier. They're looking at statistics, not at reality. Also these diets have all been "discovered" during one generation. Where is the proof, the elders that have been on these diets? There are none! They haven't aged well enough yet.
If you're in your 40s or better, you may remember when "experts" said it was unhealthy to eat butter. Now the experts are reversing that. The truth is that they really do not know! They have flip-flopped on so many claims that it is hard to keep up with what they're saying now.
The point is, that in the end, you have to decide for yourself if all of it is really worth it, and if what they say matters anyway.
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