Here are some helpful hints on how to remain healthy from a guy who loves sugar, salt, and fat.
One day about a month ago my calf swelled up. I mean really swelled up, and hurt. It was a spontaneous hematoma, probably having to do with an old logging injury and a little aspirin. A hematoma is (say this like Dracula) a pool of blood.
First word of advice: Don’t use aspirin unless your doctor tells you to. Second: If the loader operator is three truckloads behind, just leave.
I wouldn’t have missed out on the first half of summer if I knew these things 47 years and a month ago.
The “pandemic” inspired a lot of Google searches by the inquisitive problem solvers among us. We kept adding this or that vitamin until I thought food would soon be scorned as filling space where pills should be. Then suddenly something deep down inside said, “Food has vitamins. What are you doing?” Replacing pills with food then made me feel better.
As I see the numbers of vaccinated sick people and the numbers of adverse reactions to vaccines pile up, I feel even more strongly that I should have taken Dawn’s last name of Thomas instead of giving her Groszkruger. Doubting Thomas would be more accurate in these times than Pea Scruger, which is how Google translates Groszkruger. Fun, huh? If anyone out there knows what a pea scruger is let me know so I know what to do.
Anyway, a calf full of blood is really nothing compared to a lot of other people’s problems. I just wish it wasn’t so grueling being confined to the house with my leg above my heart through the summer weather. It reminds me of school, where all I wanted was out!
Here is some interesting information I’ve found in my idle time:
The tobacco companies swore up and down that smoking was good for us. I swear, some people don’t have the sense they were born with. Sunscreen companies base their profits on making the source of life on Earth (sunshine) a villain.
High vitamin D levels are associated with melanoma (skin cancer). But compared to all the diseases linked to low vitamin D levels I would say we’ve been misled. People with low vitamin D in their blood have significantly higher rates of virtually every disease you can think of: cancer, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, heart attack, stroke, depression, cognitive impairment, autoimmune conditions, and more.
Naturally we look toward pills. But wait. A study of nearly 26,000 people who received high doses of vitamin D supplements over five years showed no impact on rates of cancer, heart disease, or stroke. So relying on pills is not as effective as free sunshine.
It turns out vitamin D is really like a scale measuring sunlight exposure, one of the effects being an increase in beneficial nitric acid. Nitric acid lowers blood pressure. For every one person who dies from skin cancer, 80 die from cardiovascular diseases.
I also found it interesting that people with long term sun exposure actually have less melanoma. But those with intermittent exposure or sunburns (especially when young) are the ones with increased cancer risk.
To boil health down to simple good or bad foods or behavior, seems less effective than luck or moderation. But when making these important decisions “cui bono?” should be part of the mix. That is, “who benefits?”
Dawn says my tombstone will read, “Anything in Moderation.” This leg can’t get moderate soon enough for me.
Any arguments, compliments or additions are welcome through a letter to the editor, or to me at: 4selfgovernment@gmail.com. Past columns and other stuff is at www.alternativebyfritz.com.
