Eat real food, get more rest, and move more

It's odd for me to enjoy podcasts (auditory processing), but I do. Since I got a smart phone, I use it more for podcasts than phone calls. Here's Bari Weiss (one of my favs) in a conversation with Dr. Casey Means, a Stanford trained physician who left the traditional medical system behind to solve the one problem that she says is going to ruin us all: bad food.

Honestly with Bari Weiss: Eating Ourselves to Death on Apple Podcasts

I've often wondered about the "equity" push in medicine and public health. A large number of health problems are caused by lifestyle--eating, drinking/drugs, exercise (or lack of) and sexual promiscuity. Like Covid. We knew 2.5 years ago obesity was a predictor of serious Covid complications, including death. But pushing pills and vax was the solution. What if "equity" is just one more way to kill off Americans, particularly minorities? (Someone out there hates BIPOC, and it isn't the Trumpsters).

Dr. Means in this podcast talks about all the body parts that go bad from poor nutrition, and particularly obesity. 4 out of 5 black women are obese or overweight. Body positivity can kill you and that's a hot trend. Healthy at any size is a lie. 93% of us have metabolic disfunction according to her even if we aren't obese. By the time you find out you're pre-diabetic, it may have been 10 years in the making. Is this all a part of Big Pharma profits? Which foods are really bad for you, according to Dr. Means? Fake meats (highly processed); seed oils; sugar. She approves of intermittent fasting.

Just bought Halloween Candy today. The first 4 ingredients in those little orange pumpkin candies are sugar, corn syrup, salt and honey. Now I'll have to hide it from me.

The Best and Worst Foods for Your Metabolic System – Dr. Casey Means - Levels (levelshealth.com)

Obesity not race is reflected in Covid deaths

Obesity, not race, is creating the unequal results for recovery from Covid19 and a higher death rate. Because blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be overweight, their illness and death rates are higher. But you'd have to go into the statistics or read the last paragraph of an article on "health disparities" to find that out. In 2017-2019

• 6 states had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among non-Hispanic White adults.
• 15 states had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among Hispanic adults.
• 34 states and the District of Columbia had an obesity prevalence of 35 percent or higher among non-Hispanic Black adults.

80% of Covid victims are overweight or obese, which leads to the other co-morbidities like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And the rate is also high for whites. My state, Ohio has 30-34% obesity rate, according to this CDC map. Very few articles report differences within a racial group and why. No way to make it all about race if the reporter/researcher reported the truth on lifestyle vs. race.

Almost 72% of Americans are overweight or obese according to USAFacts compared to about 14% in the early 1960s. Just a quick observation: we have more government involved in our food system, there are many more weight loss programs, and in the 70s more women began working outside the home causing the restaurant industry to boom and fewer meals at home.

https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html?

Covid: CDC study finds about 78% of people hospitalized were overweight or obese (cnbc.com)

https://usafacts.org/articles/obesity-rate-nearly-triples-united-states-over-last-50-years/?

The Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020--7 Critical Lessons

As of January 28, 2020 there were more than 4500 confirmed cases (98% in China) of a new virus that originated in the City of Wuhan, China and more than 100 deaths according to Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., global health expert at Georgetown University (and now an advisor to Biden). On January 30, 2020, when the U.S. had not yet reported a single death, President Trump closed travel into the U.S. from China. Powerful Democrats like Biden, Pelosi, and DeBlasio predictably called him racist and xenophobic. Since Trump is not a doctor, lawyer, or experienced in public health, he created a team and listened to advice from well established experts, with credentials just as good as Dr. Gostin. For weeks he was on TV with his advisers, but because he was hopeful and positive, the Democrat run media stomped their feet and insisted on gloom and doom (which we still get with the nightly news).
In JAMA Forum article Nov. 10, 2020 (v. 324, no. 18) Dr. Gostin published "The Great Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020--7 Critical Lessons." He's a lawyer who advises organizations like UN, WHO, and now Biden, and holds multiple international academic professorial appointments. If I were to criticize his lessons, I would be waved away like a gnat.

With distain he refers to "populist political leadership" right after acknowledging the remarkable development of clinical trials for a vaccine within 6 months of the virus being sequenced. He credits personal hygiene, physical distancing and masks to control virus particles so tiny that so far, no mask has been able to stop. Still, lesson 2 is a nation needs great leadership and public trust to beat such a challenge. Imagine public trust when 95% of the media report negatively or lie about dear "leader." Gostin seems to mean, any leader other than Trump could raise the public trust. Like someone who says, "Hey man, I'm here for ya."

And no article could be complete these days without a mea culpa for health inequities. When this article was in a first draft in the fall he knew, we all knew, old age and comorbidities were factors in death rates. Now I think the figure is about 50% elderly and 80% overweight or obese. Blacks and Hispanics have a higher rate of overweight and obesity than whites, who are obese, but less so. Life style strongly influences health--smoking, drinking, drugs, poor nutrition/too many calories, lack of exercise and sexual promiscuity. Dr. Michael Rosen of the Cleveland Clinic says 75% of chronic illnesses can be improved or cured by changing our lifestyles. The medical profession has not yet found a way to control our lifestyles, despite all the articles, TV ads, billboards, organizations and lectures. It's easier to just blame societal inequities.

In lesson 6 he mentions the horrifying disaster of the uneven lockdowns through the sweeping powers of local and state governments. He warns of usurpation of power under the pretext of a health crisis which threatens to erode democratic freedoms. Yet his only solution seems to be "the rule of law," by which I think he means federal, or even global. If you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, and his area of expertise is global law and institutions. So he really was unhappy when President Trump thought WHO mishandled or mislead other countries.

So his recommendations are choose "science," the rule of law, and equity. That would be transformational, he says.

A couples retreat

Believe it or not—I found this at a blog on a dairy site. I was reading an article on Oreo-Cowkies—Dutch Belted cattle—and noticed at the bottom there was a blog. https://www.progressivedairy.com/blogs/guest-blog/my-husband-and-i-held-our-own-couple-s-retreat-and-lived-to-tell-about-it   She bases her information and comments on the book “The One Thing.”

“When was the last time you sat down with your spouse without the TV on, without notifications on the phone buzzing nearby, with the kids in bed (or not home at all) and talked about any of the following:”

• What steps do we want to take to improve our spiritual life?
• How can we improve our eating habits?
• Do each of us get enough “me time” to decompress and destress?
• Is our marriage headed in the right direction?
• Do we support one another in front of our children?
• Do we need to think about helping aging parents?
• Are there any specific people we would like to get to know better this year?
• How often should we set money aside, and where should we put it?
• Have we reviewed our household budget?
• What causes are we passionate about?
• Do we feel useful in our work?
• What are the ultimate goals for the business?
• What are the key habits we want to develop this year as a family and as individuals?

When you’ve been married 60 years and your son has terminal brain cancer, somehow, none of the questions seem worth answering.  We’re eating poorly, our goals are to get to the end of the day, and there is no way to destress, even the tried and true like exercise (we both go to the fitness center).   And I have the feeling I’m going to continue to meet a lot of people I didn’t know before October 1.  However, my spiritual life is definitely improving—I spend more time in the Bible and reading theologians than I ever did.

Life expectancy at 75, or why are Hispanics living longer?

Bob senior (b. 1913) and sons shortly before his death at 93.

Life expectancy is usually given for birth year, but you can also figure it from current age. Hispanics in the U.S. have the highest life expectancy, then white non-Hispanic, then black non-Hispanic. This applies at birth and ages 65 and 75. So something other than income and government benefits is at work. Those in the upper ranges are all pre-War on Poverty and pre-126 wealth transfer programs. Based on the CDC figures, I think I’ll go with my Mom and Dad’s ages—88 and 89. My two grandfathers were around 93.  My husband’s father was 93.

 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/2011/022.pdf

"Hispanic" is a made up word to refer to people whose families come from a Spanish speaking country--Cuba, Mexico, South America (not sure if Brazilians are called Hispanic), etc. Generally, they are of European ancestry with a mix of Indian.

Divorce rates are lower; marriage rates are higher for Hispanic households. Hispanics are less likely to co-habit. Living together without marriage does not provide the health and wealth benefits of marriage. If it is an inter-ethnic marriage, those figures hold. Hispanic families are more likely to attend church than other groups. All these factors affect health (and wealth). However, more education = higher divorce rate. Since 2001 the largest minority in the U.S. population, Hispanics now have the highest college enrollment rate for freshmen since 2012, Will we see a lower life expectancy as they take on the culture of the majority?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/17404/Where-Hispanic-Americans-Stand-Religion-Politics.aspx

http://www.care2.com/causes/hispanic-college-enrollment-rate-is-higher-than-white-enrollment.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/05/sunday-review/why-everyone-seems-to-have-cancer.html

http://hispanics.barna.org/hispanic-priorities-marriage-family-and-youth/

How to be poor in the 2nd and 3rd quintile

Even from sound conservative sources I see comments like this, "No one who works full time should live in poverty." Well, think about that and the personal choices that people make, even those with good jobs and an education, that impoverish their families and soul. Sure, the "income" may put them in the 2nd or 3rd quintile, out of range of the census figures that describe poverty, but they've maxed out the credit cards, drinking and drugging, too many vacations, too many manicures and fashionable clothes. They've forgotten they could eat that $20 restaurant meal for $3 at home. No savings, no retirement fund, no money for the church. Yes indeed, you can work full time and be poor and miserable, and it's no one else's fault. No government program will force you to marry the mother of your children to protect them; no government program will force you to eat right and exercise (although it will spend millions to nag you).

Lifestyle choices condemn many to poverty.

Statistics run wild

Socialized or single payer health insurance will not change some health problems that are unique to the United States, says N. Gregory Mankiw in the New York Times.

For some clarity about life expectancy and health care let's look at research before Obamacare became the lightning rod. The murder rate, particularly among young black men, the obesity rate and lifestyle choices, traffic accidents, and our high immigration rates that include people with poor health, might indicate social patterns that need addressing, but they are not functions of the health care system.

Unfortunately, this bit of advice on health insurance was ignored. “Any reform should carefully focus on this group to avoid disrupting the vast majority for whom the system is working. We do not nationalize an industry simply because a small percentage of the work force is unemployed. Similarly, we should be wary of sweeping reforms of our health system if they are motivated by the fact that a small percentage of the population is uninsured.”

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2009/06/health-care-becker.html

"A study published in Lancet Oncology in 2007 calculates cancer survival rates for both men and women in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union as a whole. The study claims that the most important determinants of cancer survival are early diagnosis, early treatment, and access to the best drugs, and that the United States does very well on all three criteria. Early diagnosis helps survival, but it may also distort the comparisons of five or even ten-year survival rates. In any case, the calculated five-year survival rates are much better in the US: they are about 65% for both men and women, while they are much lower in the other countries, especially for men. These apparent advantages in cancer survival rates are large enough to be worth a lot to persons having access to the American health system. Several measures of the quality of life also favor the US. For example, hip and knee replacements, and cataract surgery, are far more readily available in the US than in Europe. The cancer survival and quality of life advantages enjoyed by US residents indicates that Americans get something for the large amount they spend on health care, but they do not indicate that the bang for the health buck is greater in the US, or even that the US health delivery system is reasonably efficient."

Arkansas man first convicted under hate crime law

The wildly ridiculous act which will cause much mischief down the road, "The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act" which was tacked onto a military appropriations bill in 2009 and signed by President Obama has claimed its first headline--a 19 year old arrested for doing something that is always a crime, but somehow based on the color of the skin of the perp and the 5 targets, becomes a worse crime. I mean, a 19 year old Mexican American chasing and threatening 5 Mexicans wouldn't have been a hate crime and the U.S. Dept. of Justice would have ignored it. Same with blacks--even though most heinous crimes against minorities, particularly women, are committed by members of that ethnic or racial group.

Crimes against Euro-Americans because of their skin color will not be called "hate crimes," even though that too happens. The President can refer to business men as "fat cat bankers" or Boston police as "stupid" even though he should know from history the first conjures an image of rich Jews and the second the working class Irish. Be assured, he will not be charged with a hate crime, no matter how often he alludes to wealthy white people as being evil and encourages groups like ACORN or SEIU to threaten them with physical harm.

This act was H.B. 1913 when it passed the house in 2009, and included about 30 protected sexual proclivities as "life style choices," such as asphyxophilia - sexual gratification derived from activities that involve oxygen deprivation through hanging, strangulation, or other means; coprophilia - sexual arousal associated with feces; gerontosexuality - distinct preference for sexual relationships primarily or exclusively with an elderly partner; pedophilia - Sexual activity with a prepubescent child; urophilia - sexual arousal associated with urine, and maybe 25 others. I'm not sure all those got included in the appropriations bill.

Really, someone drunk in a bar could tell a really smarmy joke expecting to get a laugh about the ex-Governor of California and his Guatemalan mistress and someone might call the police because it was a hate crime--intended to hurt or lead to violence of a protected class--Hispanic mistresses. When bizarre expansions of federal control and power can't pass the smell test (or the House), they can slip in as an appropriation--like this one.

Arkansas man first convicted under hate crime law | Arkansas Blog

The lies we believe

Lies have been in the news lately. How about those lies we tell ourselves? Dr. Chris Thurman has written a book, "The Lies We Believe" which he says are at the root of a lot of our personal problems and unhappiness. Give up those lies and you're on your way to . . . well, maybe a healthier life? My copy came from the church library and seems to be a 2nd ed., although it doesn't actually say that--a combination of the original book and workbook. It's a Christian book published by Thomas Nelson. As part of the "growthwork" he lists 30 lies, and the reader is to rate herself from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) avoiding if possible too many 4s which would sort of be fence sitting. These are the lies we believe, and the rest of the book explains how to recognize them in your thinking, and try to go for the truth. Because who wants a life based on lies? (Apparently a lot of people!)

1. I must be perfect.

2. I must have everyone's love and approval.

3. It is easier to avoid problems than to face them.

4. I can't be happy unless things go my way.

5. My unhappiness is someone else's fault.

6. You can have it all.

7. My worth is determined by my performance.

8. Life should be easy.

9. Life should be fair.

10. I shouldn't have to wait for what I want.

11. People are basically good.

12. All my marital problems are my spouse's fault.

13. If my marriage takes hard work, my spouse and I must not be right for each other.

14. My spouse can and should meet all of my emotional needs.

15. My spouse owes me for what I have done for him/her.

16. I shouldn't have to change who I am to make my marriage better.

17. My spouse should be like me.

18. I often make mountains out of molehills.

19. I often take things personally.

20. Things are black or white to me.

21. I often miss the forest for the trees.

22. The past predicts the future.

23. I often reason things out with my feelings rather than the facts.

24. God's love must be earned.

25. God hates the sin and the sinner.

26. Because I'm a Christian, God will protect me from pain and suffering.

27. All of my problems are caused by my sins.

28. It is my Christian duty to meet all the needs of others.

29. A good Christian doesn't feel angry, anxious, or depressed.

30. God can't use me unless I'm spiritually strong.

If you are not a Christian or even if you have no religious faith at all, you can probably substitute something that fits. Some of these don't sound like lies (18-21), but I'll read further to see how he explains that.

Also, if you're not married, or don't have significant problems in your marriage, I'm guessing you can fill in those with parents, siblings, friends or work colleages.

I see lies number 1-11 as those you believe when you're young--at least up to age 40. One day you wake up and realize . . . Life isn't fair, You can't have it all, Not everyone is going to love me and I really don't care, I can too be happy if I don't get my own way--in fact, I just might be happier, and People aren't basically good--some are real stinkers, some evil, and some are depraved and seem to have been so since the beginning.

There are other lies we buy into, especially when we're older. The ones about family and friends, for instance. This is not Thurman's list--just mine.

1. They had good parents, a great education and all the advantages--they shouldn't be acting this way (be in jail), (divorcing the wonderful long suffering spouse), (living in poverty), (failing at careers), etc.

2. I shouldn't be this sick--I've been very careful.

3. All you need to do is set limits.

4. If you expect the best, you'll get the best.

5. Other families don't have these problems.

6. Other people have more (better, richer, smarter, etc.) friends.

7. I don't have time to (fill in the blanks--read, play tennis, join a gourmet club, travel, knit, paints, etc.)

8. Everyone at church is a hypocrite.

9. Science has all the answers.

10. Poverty is the root cause of crime (assault, mental illness, terrorism, homelessness, abuse, etc.).

11. When I get that next promotion (car, house, outfit), I'll be happy.

12. I can fix other people.

13. If they had just listened to me. . . then. . .

14. If the pastor doesn't visit me in the hospital, the church call doesn't count.

15. I'm always the one who has to clean up the mess others make.

16. It's easier to lie than to tell the truth.

17. One more bite won't matter. . . I'll just even this up a bit.

And there are more--can you make your own list?

However, if you are over 60, it's the "shoulda coulda woulda's" that hobble us, more than the lies. I'll have to make a list of those.

Listen up, you overweight couch potatoes who voted for Obama

"Wednesday, the Senate Finance Committee approved a healthcare reform amendment that would penalize employees who are not following “healthy lifestyles” and participating in wellness programs. Employers will be allowed to raise healthcare premiums by as much as 50 percent for workers who are fat, smoke, don’t exercise, are noncompliant with preventive care, and not meeting certain health measures, such as lower cholesterol levels." Read the full story at Sandy's Junkfood Science.

Lifestyle modification and pseudoscience

As I've noted before, I can usually understand the opening sentences and summaries of medical articles, but I'm over my head with the details, statistics and funny upside down numbers. So when Mike Mitka wrote in the January 14 issue of JAMA that two major studies exploring the benefits of lifestyle modifications for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular events (FIT Heart and HF-ACTION) failed to demonstrate what the researchers had hoped for, I decided it was time to turn to Sandy Szwarc's JunkFood Science. Sandy's good at explaining why failed studies are still called a success and why ideology trumps science.

Me? I usually say follow the money, whether it's Congress and earmarks (pork), Al Gore and carbon credits, or the latest diet and exercise fad that lands an academic a USDA grant. I think Sandy may be saying something similar (without my politicking), but read her whole article, just to be sure.

"The preventive health movement has become a major industry, though, and the healthy eating and lifestyle ideology has been an easy one to sell. Just like alternative modalities, everyone wants to believe in a simple magical solution that can keep them well. Various dietary ideologies have come and gone through much of human history, all giving food more power than the evidence supports. But, beyond preventing deficiencies, which is easily achieved for most people by eating an unrestricted and varied diet, food is primarily sustenance, not magic. Humans around the world have eaten very differently, with no one food or way of eating itself related to longer life.

An interview

These questions came from Pauline at
Writing down the words.




1. If you had $1,000,000, what would you do with it?

Because of the economy, I think I’d go for venture capital and invest in a bright, young, hard working entrepreneur or two. This is the future of our country--small businesses create a lot of jobs. I’ve been quite discouraged over the years seeing what happens to endowments to churches and colleges. After the donor or family die off, the recipients start using it for whatever, no matter how careful the instructions. And that may not be all bad--you can’t control your good works from the grave!

2. What have you learned from your children? What do you think they've learned from you?

I learned children pop out of the womb fully made and ready to go with intelligence, personality, abilities, appearance, voice, body language, gifts and foibles already in place. B. C. (before children) I was a big believer that environment matters most. No longer. We are what we are. I’m awfully thankful to God for their presence in my life, and that they live right here in Columbus. They will often say something like, "My parents taught me. . ." or "I get that from Mom. . ." and occasionally they'll mention a grandparent as an influence, but frankly, I don't see a lot of resemblance. But how nice that they think so. My daughter is better about writing thank you notes than I am--she seems to remember when I held them hostage until the note to grandma was written. "Meanest mother in town," then.

3. What living famous person would you most like to have as a dinner guest, and why? What would you serve?

I would love to have Laura Bush at my dinner table--she could bring George if he’s free from speaking engagements. She’s a former librarian who never wanted the spot light (like many of us in that field) but learned the ropes in order to follow her husband. George is a recovering alcoholic and so that takes a special person to live with that--not too wimpy or controlling--because don’t we always think we know best--especially those of us who got the librarian genes? I'd serve warmed over politics with roast journalists on the side.

4. If you could re-do one thing in your life, what would it be?

Do-overs are hard to imagine because you might mess up something down the road, however, I don’t think this idea would. I took chemistry in college, and this past summer I took a class in geology, and found it really interesting, so I think for a non-scientist science requirement, that might have been interesting. Of course, then I wouldn’t have dated the chemistry lab assistant, but that didn’t go anywhere any way, so I doubt that would have messed up my future. Of course, I might have flirted with someone in geology class. . . and not transferred to the University of Illinois where I met my husband.

5. What are you most looking forward to when you are able to retire?

I’ve been retired since October 2000. I was quite concerned about it, so I looked ahead and did some planning. I even wrote a story about (My lost suitcase) and distributed it. I loved my job, it offered me great opportunities to publish, travel, and working with fascinating topics and people (and animals). But I haven’t missed it at all. I’ve done most of the things on my list to try except in-line skating and bird watching (although I sit on my deck and watch them). Blogging I didn’t know about (started in October 2003), but writing was on my list, so that worked out nicely.

* * *
Now, if you’d like to answer interview questions of my own devising:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick what they will be or I‘ll send this one.)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

HIV alarmism has fiscal and behavorial consequences

Sometimes, I don’t understand alarmists. On September 16, David R. Holtgrave, PhD Professor and Chair, Department of Health, Behavior & Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health testified before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Waxman, chair) on prevention funding for HIV/AIDS.

He began by reporting that the HIV incidence is higher than previously thought (55,000 or 56,000 instead of 40,000 infections per year) and is rising particularly among gay men. Shocking right? Probably that statement made the evening news, but not what followed. He then went on to report that “the HIV transmission rate dropped from 92.3 in 1980, to 31.2 in 1985, to 6.6 in 1991. It stayed at roughly this level until 1997 when, after the advent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the transmission rate went up temporarily to almost 7.5. Thereafter, it continued once again on a downward trend. In 2006, we estimate the transmission rate to be approximately just under 5.0 (4.98). This means that for every 100 persons living with HIV in the US, there are just under five new infections on average in a year. That also means that over 95% of persons living with HIV in the US are not transmitting the virus to someone else is a given year. Because the transmission rate is rather low in the US, it will be very challenging for the nation to push that transmission rate number down even further.”

I thought that sounded pretty good. Not only are infections down among gay men, but they have almost disappeared from the blood supply, from infants getting it from their mothers, and the IV drug users. So what’s the alarm? No one comes to a committee to say their funding needs are down. No, they need more funding to get that rate down to zero, as near as I can tell. Current funding for prevention is $18.6 billion, or $52,000 per infection NOT transmitted. And that saves on treatment money. Holtgrave was concerned that in real dollars, prevention funding was slipping since 2002 (Hmm, seems to coincide with Bush years even though transmission rates are down since the Clinton years.)

HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapy) works, abstinence works, keeping bi-sexual men away from women works, and reducing intravenous drug use works. However, after the advent of HAART transmission rates went back up--before that, the accomplishments were in behavior, not drug therapy. After HAART, it would seem gay and bi-sexual men thought they could go back to the fun, games and wild times of the 80s.

Here’s my idea for prevention. Let’s ask for a more responsibility and volunteerism from the gay community--the way it used to be when people were afraid of this disease. They are the best educated and wealthiest demographic in the country. They worked very hard 25 years ago to combat this disease, now it’s time for the younger generation of gays who never saw friends die or lifted a spoonful of soup to a wasted skeleton to step up and do the prevention thing, and not wait for the government to funnel even more money into their bad behavior and life style.

Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to do this

"Yesterday [July 20] the Trust for America's Health released their report Prevention for a Healthier America: Investments in Disease Prevention Yield Significant Savings, Stronger Communities. They found an investment of $10 per person per year (that would be 2.7 or 3 cents a day) in proven community-based programs that included ways to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, prevent smoking, and stop use of other products containing tobacco could save the United States more than $16 billion each year within the next five years. The ROI (return on investment) would be $5.60 for every dollar spent." Seen at the National Nurse Blog

Do you know of any community or private or personal program to increase exercise, stop smoking or lose weight that actually "works?" It has to be a personal decision, and some people have been dealt a bad set of genes and can't really do much. I read health and medical journals like an addiction, and I have yet to see one program succeed. And for all that, you would be, if it worked, adding years in the 80s and 90s, which would eat up any savings, because we've all been told how expensive end-of-life care is.

Do you know what I saw at the hospital on July 2-3 after my return from our fabulous Italy trip? A hierarchy of obesity among health care staff based on education, age and position. I was treated by two female doctors, both trim (and I suspect foreign). They were hospitalists, probably early 30s. The RNs were all attractive with normal BMI (if there is such a thing), but a little older and heavier than the hospitalists. The med techs were younger than the RNs and much heavier, some were obese. The food service women were older and much heavier than the med techs. The housekeeping staff, if foreign born were very thin, if American, extremely over weight.

I'm just saying, if nurses (or the office of a National Nurse) know what to do about unhealthy lifestyles, they can start letting hospital staff in on the secret. I have no idea who Trust for America's Health is, but a quick browse reads like a liberal lobbying group/think tank which will support itself on endless taxpayer and foundation grants and then become a regulatory agency with great power over our
lives.

Eat less, move more. Fight FEMA-tizing your health care.

There are worse things than modest women with long hair

What will HillaryCare do about this?

The big killers of Americans these days are our personal habits, choices and tastes. Smoking, drinking, over eating, over sitting. Will Hillary insist we mend our ways in order to reduce government health care costs after she extends it to all?

"Asian-American women have a life expectancy of almost 87 years; African-American men, 69 years. We have these facts on the authority of Eight Americas, a 2006 study by number crunchers at Harvard’s School of Public Health. Women in Stearns County, Minnesota, live about 22 years longer than men in southwest South Dakota, and 33 years longer than Native American men in six of that state’s counties. The gap between the highest and lowest life expectancies for U.S. race-county combinations is over 35 years. Some race-sex-county groups typically die in their nineties, others in their fifties. Some are healthier than the norm in Iceland, Europe, and Japan, others sicker than Nicaragua and Uzbekistan.

Factoring out wealth, race, and access to health insurance doesn’t eliminate most of these disparities. Low-income whites die four years sooner in Appalachia and the Mississippi Valley than they do farther north. The healthiest whites are low-income residents of the rural Northern Plains states. In the West, American Indians who remain on the reservation die much sooner than whites.

What accounts for these cavernous differences? Harvard dares to name six leading “risk factors” for the population as a whole—alcohol, tobacco, obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose—and reports that these factors correlate strongly with the spread in life expectancy across its Eight Americas. One of the study’s authors ventured to suggest, albeit only in an interview, that where you live may point, in turn, to ancestry, diet, exercise, and occupation." Article in City Journal

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Fat Grandmothers

I had none. I'm so fortunate that I had both my paternal and maternal grandparents in my life, and my great-grandparents lived just a few doors away when I was very young. My grandmothers weren't fat, or even plump or curvy. If your grandmother is a member of my generation, you probably can't say that.

Today I was reading "Aging, adiposity, and calorie restriction," by Luigi Fontana and Samuel Klein in the March 7, 2007 JAMA. It's a very cautious and conservative review of the literature from 1966 through December 2006 in PubMed (the largest and most famous medical literature database) which concludes from all the studies done on calorie restriction in the last 40 years that calorie restriction in adult men and women causes beneficial metabolic, hormonal, and functional changes, but (and here's the cautious part) the precise amount of calorie intake or body fat mass associated with optimal health and longevity in humans is not known. And after laying out all this fabulous research (139 citations), the authors take a buy-out and decide that because calorie restriction is difficult to maintain long-term, we might have to turn to a pharmacological agent for a solution. Cha-ching. There's no money in eating less, moving more.

That's what got me thinking about my grandmothers, both of whom lived to their late 80s. One was born in 1876 and the other in 1895, young enough to be the other's daughter (my great grandmother was born in 1873), a time when life expectancy at birth was about 45. Their generations benefited from better hygiene, but I doubt that either ever had a vaccination. It's possible that very late in life they might have had an antibiotic. I don't know much about their early lives, but given the times, I'm sure they were both breast fed by non-smoking mothers. They didn't give birth in hospitals. They both lived their childhood and early married life on farms a few miles from each other, but didn't work in the fields. Housework, however, was much more physical in those days. I use Grandma Mary's pressing irons as book-ends--they were heated on the cookstove and weigh 10-15 lbs. Water was pumped outside and carried in to be heated either in the stove or on it. Grandma Mary was wealthier than Grandma Bessie and did have a German woman as household help, but they would've worked side by side. And both gardened (potatoes, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, beans, turnips) and raised chickens for meat and eggs. Root crops could be stored, and beans and tomatoes were canned for winter, but table fare was pretty bland and boring. Both women baked their own bread. Beef was not on the table in either household. Grandma Mary rarely served meat, except chicken occasionally, and Grandma Bessie would have only had fatty pork, sausage, or a tough old chicken, too old to lay. Cows were for milk (cash crop) and butter (for cooking), and when you think about it, they were much more difficult to butcher for a single family than a pig or chicken. There wasn't even much in the way of fruit, maybe a few apples, grapes for juice or berries.

According to the authors, the first calorie restriction study was done in 1935 when it was discovered that limiting calories in lab rats increased their life span by 30-60%. Food shortages during WWII in some European countries were associated with a sharp decrease in coronary heart disease, and although this article didn't mention it, I've seen reports like that on breast cancer. Again, the authors use cautious language, but say "population studies suggest that lifestyle factors, such as sedentary lifestyle, dietary intake, and adiposity, are responsible for up to 70% of chronic disease and are a major contributor to reduced longevity. . . data suggest that a BMI at the low end of normal (18.5-24.9) is associated with optimal metabolic and cardiovascular health."