Margaret in GA Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 I totally agree with what you are saying OP, and I hear it from various people in my life, all of whom have terrible habits (one being my hubby). My response to the, "We gotta die sometime comment," is that it's not the dying part; it's the living part that's the issue. Are you really enjoying life when you're incapable of doing anything anymore? Furthermore, there are certainly things we cannot control. I can eat perfectly, exercise every day, and be totally diligent about eliminating all garbage from my life, and then get killed in an accident. That is certainly true, and it is certainly beyond my control. My diet and exercise, however, is totally WITHIN my control, so why not do what I can to make it the best it can be for my health? :iagree: I feel great. When I'm not exercising and eating right, I don't. Not everyone has that kind of metabolism. Some people can eat twinkies and feel fine. I can't eat junk food. Obviously, this thread has struck a nerve. I don't offer advice to people-- other than family. And I only do it in a non-judgmental way. You can believe it or not. What I can't stand is people who judge me. Example: I was at a wine tasting party a few months ago and when they passed around a plate of cheese and crackers, I politely declined. So, then the host says "I'm sure we can find celery in the kitchen or maybe find some bark in the backyard if you'd like that" :glare: huh? All I said was "No thanks". I didn't go on some sort of diatribe "I don't eat that crap, it's bad for you". Just said no. So, I must only eat bark. People get really offended if you don't eat the way they do. Margaret Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewellsmommy Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 but really....we all know that we'd be better off eating a salad than cheeseburger. OK, I am not at all trying to be a smart butt here, but I have actually seen an exception to this. I have come across salads at restaurants that are 1500-2000 calories :001_huh: and 85 carbs when the hamburger on the menu is half that. Now there is way more to health than calories, I know. But it also depends on what philosophy you subscribe to. i struggle with IR (and pcos) too and my obgyn put me on the atkins diet (this was 9 yrs ago). I had never been successful with traditional diets before. On atkins I lost weight and strangely enough brought my cholesterol down. I also was able to get pregnant. :D But, there was a person I was out with who tried to correct my eating. We were following 2 different schools of thought. I didn't consider her diet soda healthy but to her it was. I just nod and smile when people share their newest diet or justification for lack of one. Either way, it is a path people have to choose themselves and I try to not let it bother me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwilliams Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 So True!!! I have worked in a nursing home and currently work in home health.....I tell my husband who says the same line of dying happy that I will not tote his oxygen or push his w/c. And when we go on vacation and he cannot go somewhere because it is not handicapped accessible....He can just want in the RV for us to get back. He thinks I am joking because we are still young but I am not. I motivate myself to live healthy by having the goal of being active enough to keep up with my son in 20 years to go kayaking and hiking together!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 program will never work. I. DON'T. WANT. TO. PAY. FOR. OTHER. PEOPLE'S. STUPID. CHOICES. AND..... I. DON'T. WANT. YOU. OR. ANYONE. ELSE. TELLING. ME. HOW. TO. LIVE. I just couldn't resist. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I love food, but I find talking about what is good to eat and bad to eat just painfully tedious. I can easily imaging using that line just as a way to change the subject. Even though I tend to agree that it DOES matter what we eat - just just for health but for ethical and environmental reason and for our pocketbooks, I don't enjoy discussions about it in real life. On this forum, I sometimes do read those discussions though, and learn a lot. :iagree: Not to offend the OP -- but it is interesting she brought the topic up -- my dear MIL who lived her last 45 years (she is 74) as an avid health food person, she exercised, kept her weight in a healthy zone, took holistic supplements, never ate certain foods that were processed or with nitrates/chemicals, and so on -- was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma cancer this past Thanksgiving. She had one (out of 3 tumors) removed from her brain. We almost lost her a month ago. She has some neurological deficits from the surgery and Gamma Knife treatments as a result. We had a good long talk over Christmas. Over her past beliefs over what she used to "lecture" us as eating well and exercise. Basically, we buried the hatchet over that topic. ;) The whole family now agrees that the "food police" will not get us if we go to Whataburger for a meal. To live life like it was your last day. Who cares what others think? Enjoy life. If that means eating a chocolate sundae and being overweight, so be it. My MIL now regrets the harshness she disciplined her body into many (many) diets over the years and not enjoying life. For Christmas, I gave her a tin of POPPYCOCK and chocolate. (She loved it, btw.) Why am I rambling? Perhaps we get too caught up in our pet peeves and feel it is our duty to educate others. Who knows. I do know my MIL could not escape this Melanoma. She ended up having the same mutated gene my hubby has (he had Stage III cancer back in 1996 -- almost got his entire arm amputated) and it is genetic. What can you do about that? Back when she was a kid and teen -- no one thought sunshine was bad for you. It only takes a few sunburns as a child to lead to melanoma as an adult. OP -- let it go. Thanks for venting. You cannot lead a horse to water. Instead, be at peace and live life how you want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelissaCC Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 I hear you. I have a (non lifestyle acquired lung disease ie have never smoked) that means I spend a lot of time sitting in chest clinic waiting rooms, surrounded by people with diseases caused directly by their decision to smoke, and to continue to smoke, even though you'd have to live in a cave no to know quitting is a Good Thing. I get very angry that the health dollar is being used on treating their COPD or emphysema (sp?). That $ could go towards finding a cure for my own disease or helping all the children with cystic fybrosis live longer and healthier lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechWife Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Starting a new thread on this idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 program will never work. I. DON'T. WANT. TO. PAY. FOR. OTHER. PEOPLE'S. STUPID. CHOICES. If you have an insurance policy then the risks are averaged. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 If you have an insurance policy then the risks are averaged. Laura And I also have some choices about the type of coverage I choose. You left off my other comment about not wanting others trying to control my choices. These are dual ideas; they work together. Americans cannot tolerate newspaper stories about grossly over weight individuals suing the federal government because the government allowed them to get too fat. We will freak out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 And I also have some choices about the type of coverage I choose. You left off my other comment about not wanting others trying to control my choices. These are dual ideas; they work together. But as you do.... I live in a country with a national health service and no one controls my choices. Doctors here go through the same wearisome routine of suggesting that people choose healthier lifestyles, then picking up the pieces when they don't. I don't quite understand your next comment, "Americans cannot tolerate newspaper stories about grossly over weight individuals suing the federal government because the government allowed them to get too fat. We will freak out." Is this based on real happenings under national health services? Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy in NJ Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 (edited) But as you do.... I live in a country with a national health service and no one controls my choices. Doctors here go through the same wearisome routine of suggesting that people choose healthier lifestyles, then picking up the pieces when they don't. I don't quite understand your next comment, "Americans cannot tolerate newspaper stories about grossly over weight individuals suing the federal government because the government allowed them to get too fat. We will freak out." Is this based on real happenings under national health services? Laura I'm not suggesting that doctors control your choices. I'm saying that your fellow citizens may feel they have the right to comment on your personal life style choices because they are paying for your treatments. If we had an NHS in the US you can bet we'd have constant controversy over what should be a provided service. We have class issues in the US of A (I know, who would have thunk it?) The upper classes try to force policies "for our own good". The lower classes seek control via social policies. A NHS would ignite the culture war to end all culture wars. According to recent census information, for every pregancy in NYC 41% of them ended in abortion. Do you think most Americans would agree to pay for those abortions? Here's a quote by the late Christopher Lasch that sums it up: Upper-middle-class liberals, with their inability to grasp the importance of class differences in shaping attitudes toward life, fail to reckon with the class dimension of their obsession with health. They find it hard to understand why their hygienic conception of life fails to command universal enthusiasm. They have mounted a crusade to sanitize American society: to create a “smoke-free environment,” to censor hate speech, and at the same time, incongruously, to extend the range of personal choice to matters where most people feel the need to solid moral guidelines. When confronted with resistance to these initiatives, they betray the venomous hated that lies not far beneath the smiling face of upper-middle-class benevolence. Opposition makes humanitarians forget the liberal virtues they claims to uphold. They become petulant, self-righteous, and intolerant. In the heat of political controversy, they find it impossible to conceal their contempt for those who stubbornly refuse to see the light – those who “just don’t get it,” in the self-satisfied jargon of political rectitude. Here's the story about the Britain's fattest man who's currently suing the NHS: http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/ipswich_britain_s_fattest_man_paul_mason_to_sue_nhs_over_weight_gain_1_769531 Edited January 9, 2011 by Stacy in NJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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