What a surprise. Today I read that another of those scientific "studies" indicates that eating unprocessed red meat (hamburger, pork, roast beef, lamb) and processed meats (bacon, hot dogs, bologna, sausage) may increase a person's risk of premature death and raise their risk of death from heart disease and cancer. And that's not all. In the same newspaper it also said today that people who drink just one sugary drink a day, including soft drinks, fruit juice drinks and sports drinks have a bigger increase in a risk for heart attacks than those who don't drink them. Sigh, I feel feint and need a glass of water after reading about the latest "bad food".
But wait! Don't the experts studies also say that water is filled with carcinogens and can kill you too? I wonder if anything is safe to eat or drink these days? Maybe, but those studies are attempting to kill my enthusiasm for anything good tasting. And that's not healthy! Still, something that has good taste has got to be good to eat. Perhaps those studies and not our food are the real disease causing agents. I have a secret hope that everyone who participated in food study and died prematurely, not from twinkies and ice cream, but from the air he or she breathed breathed air. They have already told us a million times that breathing air is ingesting pollutants and that has been determined to cause early death too. So it's the air pollutants that are is killing us, not the food. Better for me to believe that than the food police. I just want to eat my donuts and other bad food in peace and confidence.
It's odd that so many things we like are said to be bad for us. Too many of the habits and behaviors that are good for our souls are being tabbed as bad for our hearts or some other body part. Life should be enjoyed, and I don't think a diet or organic tofu, or whatever they want me to eat, is going to be pleasurable for me. The minute you name a pleasurable activity today, they define it as bad. I don't want to be starved or killed by a menu of nasty tasting foods. I don't want to be run ragged by needless exercise.
I don't want to be on the trendy tract that people mindlessly board these days in order to conform to the "experts" latest declarations. Being human includes enjoying a variety of activities that involve risks of varying degrees. If we only cat out on the "approved ones" we don't really live life fully.
In all the hysteria to eat what is defined as "healthier" for the body we are losing the concept that feeding our bodies, souls and spirits with goodies is that which makes life more fun and more sensible for us to embrace. Eating a hamburger and french fries should not be a "risk", it should be a reward. In life, all that we do has some element of tradeoff. We give up something to get whatever it is we choose to do. I think the tradeoff of eating the foods we like, regardless whether they are "expert endorsed", has a rather low negative when compared to many other things we do- driving on a freeway, working in a job we hate, being married to the wrong person etc.
Perhaps the experts who warn us of "bad foods" don't understand the degree of risk involved in what they warn against is really quite low in the whole spectrum of risks. Scientists sometimes live in a bubble. They know a lot about their clinical world, but lack a broader understanding of the abstractions in life, those that make life more joyous. I think that tomorrow we should conduct an experiment on the scientists involved in those food studies. If we can get them out of their bubble, we should have their low fat foods and tofu confiscated and instead force them to eat a burger, fries and sugary lemonade drink for lunch.
They really do need a better diet..... for the sake of their souls!
No comments:
Post a Comment