[Villages PL]

Whether it's cancer, heart disease, diabetes or a host of other degenerative diseases, no intervention works better than cutting back on calories. That's why, for example, Okinawans have only 6 breast cancer deaths per one hundred thousand people while Americans have 33. Prostate, 4 deaths vs. 28

This means eliminating high calorie processed foods. These are the foods that cause disease and eventually kill people.

This has been well documented with numerous studies that began in the 1930s.

Medical doctors won't cure you by prescribing drugs to cover up symptoms. It's all up to you and what foods you put in your mouth. Therefore, the best health care system in the world can't magically bestow good health upon their patients. You have to work for good health. You have to earn it. That's why I have always said that, when it comes to degenerative diseases, people usually get the health they are qualified for.

Do you know of any health strategy that's better than the one I outlined above?

[gomoho]

I'm glad you said "usually" 'cause sometimes you just draw a bad hand and have to do the best you can with what you've got.

[KeepingItReal]

Not worth posting, .....no medical experience or training ....just irritating...

[Applepie]

You know VP sometimes your comments really amaze me. My granddaughter developed a very aggressive and deadly form of bone cancer at the age of 13 months. Tell me did she deserve it! It must have been from all that mother's milk she drank.

[graciegirl]

Our daughter who weighed 115 pounds and ate very healthily and exercised...developed a very aggressive breast cancer at the age of 29.

I know VP's oft stated theory about genetics and what switches it on, but it doesn't line up with the information that I have read.

Yes it does help to keep your weight down, particularly in trying to prevent breast cancer because all tissue produces estrogen, it also is wise to avoid soy products because they mimic estrogen, not take birth control pills and Hormone Replacement Therapy. She took none of these.

I feel in my heart, due to what I have read with my eyes and processed with my brain that if every living soul followed VP's idea of what is healthy to eat and kept themselves as thin as he think is best,and exercised from childhood on....., that cancer and disease would still happen, maybe less, but it would STILL happen The Okinawans are pretty much a group without intermarriage, where we are the melting pot here in U.S. So genetics and other factors skew those numbers.

And I also feel in my bones that NOTHING will convince VP otherwise.

I think it is kind of him to worry so much about all of us.

[Happinow]

While I agree that the food we eat plays a large part of how healthy we are, there are other circumstances that may lead to poor health or worse. We can take care of our body by eating healthy and exercising but if the good Lord has another plan for us then it would be out of our control. I had a neighbor, 30 years old who ate well, jogged religiously and had a loving wife and kids. One morning he went out to jog and never came home. He collapsed of a heart attack. So, our destiny is not always in our control. His poor parents also lost his 17 and 18 year old sisters in a car crash. 3 children, 3 lives gone. Live each day to its fullest.

[Polar Bear]

VP, I don't know you that well yet. But I must say I simply don't understand the point of your post. It doesn't ask a question. It doesn't request information. It doesn't respond to someone else's point. It doesn't pose a topic for an exchange of opinions and information. It simply states as fact an opinion that is highly arguable and, in some cases, hurtful and offensive.

What's the point?

[skyc6]

Originally Posted by Polar Bear

VP, I don't know you that we'll yet. But I must say I simply don't understand the point of your post. It doesn't ask a question. It doesn't request information. It doesn't respond to someone else's point. It doesn't pose a topic for an exchange of opinions and information. It simply states as fact an opinion that is highly arguable and, in some cases, hurtful and offensive.

What's the point?

Good question! What is the point??
Eating is simply not the root of all evil.
Spending your days counting how many calories you can do without makes your world very small and closed in.

[l2ridehd]

I can find a scientific study to support EVERY point of view.

Red wine is good for you, or alcohol in any form is bad for you.
Coffee is complex and is good for you, or caffine is bad for you.
Raw sugar is the only sweetener that is good for you, or that all sugar and artificial substitutes are bad.
Eat only fruits and vegetables, or lack of protein in the form of meat or fish is bad.
Lower calories add years to our lives, or your better off with a high fat diet.
Olive oil is the only one to use, olive oil is bad
Carbohydrates are good, or they are bad

I can find a well done scientific study to support every one of those positions. About the only consistent message is exercise in most any form is good. Sedentary is bad.

I personally believe that any thing in moderation is good. Doing anything in excess is bad including eating a so called healthy vegan diet or exercising to extreme. A balance of everything including wine, fat, sugar, meat, fruit, vegetables, olive oil, fish, and most everything else is OK if done in moderation. I believe natural anything is better then processed anything, that true organic is better then any thing grown using pesticides, that exercise is any form is better then none, and that by trying and experiencing all that life has to offer is the very best path to health and happiness.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by gomoho

I'm glad you said "usually" 'cause sometimes you just draw a bad hand and have to do the best you can with what you've got.

Yes, I agree. Even among the Okinawans, who are the healtiest and longest lived people in the world, 6 out of 100,000 people die from breast cancer each year. That was in my opening post so I'm glad you understood that "usually" doesn't mean "always".

But what must you think when you read: 6 Okinawan breast cancer deaths per 100,000 people versus 33 in the U.S.?

Buy the way, I looked up the word "deserve" in the dictionary and it has multiple meanings, as one might expect. One implies punishment but then it said "qualified" and I think that word works better to express my point. So I went back and changed it to "qualified".

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by KeepingItReal

Good for you GOMOHO, well said! I had a niece that died at 22 with ovarian cancer, beautiful girl in college and a picture of health until 6 months before she died. Another niece at 14 required a kidney transplant donated from her mom and she too was a picture of health and not overweight. Doing well today but takes rejection medicine which has and continues to cause other health problems for her. Last thing needed is someone casting blame as if they have all the answers....and in my opinion neither of these got what they deserved.

That's why I went back and changed the word from "deserve" to "qualified". I had my first childhood asthma attack at age nine and almost died from it. But my main point is not what always happens to individuals, it's what usually happens when people live less than optimally healthy lifestyles. An important point is to look at the difference between one lifestyle and another such as Okinawa versus American. The Okinawans are known to "restrict" calories by not eating processed foods and by eating until they are 80% full. And there's a world of difference between their disease rates and ours.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by Applepie

You know VP sometimes your comments really amaze me. My granddaughter developed a very aggressive and deadly form of bone cancer at the age of 13 months. Tell me did she deserve it! It must have been from all that mother's milk she drank.

No, she didn't deserve it (the word has been changed to "qualified") because you have to more-or-less do something that you know runs contrairy to a healthy lifestyle. Obviously, at 13 months old she didn't choose a lifestyle.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I know VP's oft stated theory about genetics and what switches it on, but it doesn't line up with the information that I have read.

I don't think it's a theory when the CDC states that only about 4 to 6 percent of cancers are genetic. And I've read information from authoritative sources (doctors and professors) that put the general disease rate caused by genes at about 3%.

I feel in my heart, due to what I have read with my eyes and processed with my brain that if every living soul followed VP's idea of what is healthy to eat and kept themselves as thin as he think is best,and exercised from childhood on....., that cancer and disease would still happen, maybe less, but it would STILL happen

And my opening post proves it because I pointed out that there are 6 breast cancer deaths each year per 100,000 Okinawans.

The Okinawans are pretty much a group without intermarriage, where we are the melting pot here in U.S. So genetics and other factors skew those numbers.

No, genetics don't skew those numbers. Who told you that? Studies have been done to determine whether genes have anything to do with it. Over the years, many thousands of Japanese people have immigrated to the U.S..
The first generation tends to favor the Japanese lifestyle that they brought with them from Japan. But the second generation usually adopts the American lifestyle. And studies have shown that the rates of disease for them are the same as for all other Americans. It therefore proves that genes have nothing to do with it.

And I also feel in my bones that NOTHING will convince VP otherwise.

I'll keep an open mind. Can you point to any studies that show the Japanese are healthier because they are different genetically?

I think it is kind of him to worry so much about all of us.

Thank you, what I nice compliment! However, I'm sure there are many who will think I don't DESERVE it.

[Villages PL]

Originally Posted by Happinow

I had a neighbor, 30 years old who ate well, jogged religiously and had a loving wife and kids. One morning he went out to jog and never came home. He collapsed of a heart attack. So, our destiny is not always in our control.

I can only speak to the issue of the heart attack. Did he have a heart defect that he was born with? Who knows? When it happens to a neighbor, we often don't have access to all of the medical details. Often we think we know everything about someone when we don't. When I was young I took lots of unnecessary risks that not even my parents and siblings knew about, much less neighbors.

His death is one good reason why they say: "Before starting an exercise program, see your doctor."

[Whimsey]

Originally Posted by Happinow

While I agree that the food we eat plays a large part of how healthy we are, there are other circumstances that may lead to poor health or worse. We can take care of our body by eating healthy and exercising but if the good Lord has another plan for us then it would be out of our control. I had a neighbor, 30 years old who ate well, jogged religiously and had a loving wife and kids. One morning he went out to jog and never came home. He collapsed of a heart attack. So, our destiny is not always in our control. His poor parents also lost his 17 and 18 year old sisters in a car crash. 3 children, 3 lives gone. Live each day to its fullest.

I'm with Happinow. I firmly believe that sometimes the good Lord has different plans for us. You can live a really good healthy life and still die young. All part of that master plan !