Health advice — should we take it seriously

On any given day, we are bombarded with health advice. Do this, do that, avoid this, avoid that. Personally, I take it all with a grain of salt or throw caution to the wind altogether. I’m not into healthy living and yet I’m as healthy as a horse.

Everyone in my family was in top condition up to the day they died. Both grandfathers lived to the ripe age of 92, my paternal grandmother died when she was 68 (diabetes), maternal grandmother died at 91, mom at 84, dad at 88.

My maternal grandmother started working when she was 14. She married when she was 22 and shortly afterward she and her new husband started a business making shoes. Grandma worked eight hours a day, sitting hunched over her sewing machine stitching leather, while granddad sold the shoes on street corners.

The business went from strength to strength, grandpa opened a stall at various markets and later on opened up his own store. Grandma now spend on average 14 hours at her sewing machine and supervised three other workers. While all this was going on, she maintained a four-bedroomed house and managed to raise two daughters. She also survived two world wars.

Grandpa wasn’t the only one who worked long hours, everyone in the family did. Were they worried about their health? Not at all. They ate, drank and smoked, and lived without a care the in the world. Do you think they paid any attention to trans fat and saturated fat? Of course not, I doubt they knew what those fats were. Did they count calories? Get real, they probably would have burst out laughing if anyone suggested counting calories.

And it wasn’t just my parents and grandparents who never paid attention to their health, nobody did. Everyone ate what they liked, went to the pub on weekends, and smoked cigarettes, cigars, or a pipe. The majority of those people lived long healthy lives and died of old age.

Compare that lifestyle to today. Everyone has something to say about healthy living. Vitamin and mineral supplements are mass-produced. Gyms can charge outrageous fees to their members and self-help books sell like hotcakes. People need constant reminders that they are beautiful, that they are worthy, that they shouldn’t give up, that better times are to come.

I can only wonder what the older generation thinks of all this self-help and affirmations. They’re probably shaking their head in wonder and laugh at the silliness of it all. Back in their day, they were too busy working to give a second thought to self-help and affirmations. I can only imagine these people’s faces when they read affirmations such as:

I have the power to change my world I have much to celebrate about myself and my life I choose to stop apologizing for being me I let go of negative self-talk I believe in me I am deserving of happiness, love, peace, freedom, money and anything else I desire

If it was possible, I think they would be rolling around the floor laughing. They might say ‘Why don’t go out and get a job instead of wallowing in self-pity.’ I am deserving of happiness, love, peace, freedom, money, and anything else I desire … whoever heard of such nonsense.

The same with self-help books. Five ways to a happier marriage, three steps for a slimmer you, four steps to financial freedom … please, give me a break. Does anyone actually buy this garbage? For all we know these writers are three times divorced, severely overweight, with a credit card bill that would give you a heart attack.

Do you really need all that advice and affirmations or are you an adult who can take care of him/herself?

The same with depression. If people were feeling a little down, they called it having a ‘blue day’, but such days were few and far inbetween. Most folks were too busy working or raising families. While my grandmother only had two kids, it was not uncommon for families to have six kids or more. Do you think these women had time to stand in front of a mirror and chant … I have much to celebrate about myself and my life?

From morning until night they had their hands full keeping their houses clean, cooking meals, doing laundry, and ironing piles of clothes. When they had kids they actually raised them instead of dumping them on the parents, the in-laws, or a creche. They supervised their homework and played with them. They didn’t plonk them in front of the TV to entertain themselves so they had time to chat with their girlfriends. They didn’t let them go on the computer so they had some time for themselves. They didn’t leave them to their own devices. Moms and dads were involved in their kids’ lives.

I’m not saying that women should stay home with their kids, but please ladies, grow up. Don’t you really need self-help and affirmations to get through the day? Do you really believe everything those quacks tell you?

I asked my doctor once “Should we really pay attention to all the health advice?” to which she replied “In moderation, nothing will harm you, in excess everything will.”

Where it comes to life and how to live my favorite quote is that of Hunter S. Thompson … Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting “Holy shit, what a ride!”

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