To be honest, my health goal is quite modest. I accept dying; my goal is to hold off the grim reaper until I’m done living. There is, ahem, one other goal: to look good, even in death.
I’m not counting on modern medicine to save me (nor does this blog take the place of doctors, who we sometimes need). In truth, the killers who stalk us—heart disease, cancer, stroke, and so on—are mostly incurable. So here is an idea that has been largely ignored: prevention! Prevention is about lifestyle, mostly diet, but also work and rest (more about these later). We all know we should eat better but there is a mountain of confusion about what to eat. And old habits resist change. Saying is easy; doing is hard.
In the last century there was a great respect for science. Perhaps it was a misplaced trust because on subjects like eggs, or butter vs. margarine, the advice kept changing. To be blunt, science has over-promised and under-delivered. Important questions, like what to eat, still remain a puzzle.
So this blog offers an integrated approach we can use today: Combine incomplete science with knowledge from two venerable but neglected sources—tradition and scripture. Taken together, these three offer our best chance. In later postings we will dig into tradition and scripture. And we will share ideas on good-for-you food. As you will appreciate, this is a profoundly American approach.
So let the discussion begin. I will write twice a week, raise topics and offer ideas. You, the reader, can improve them with your comments. Together we will learn. If we learn well, I will publish it in a book. Question for today: Please share your biggest questions about health and nutrition.
One other request, share this with a friend. In the beginning we said changing one’s diet is hard. It is hard, but we are more likely to succeed if joined by our friends.
Note: This is a nonprofit blog; there will be no ads and nothing is for sale. Though an avid student of nutrition, I am neither doctor nor scientist and don’t pretend to be. In fact, that is my credential: I’m a private person studying a public puzzle: how to live. In my search I have read over a hundred books, plus many, many articles and studies. Whatever I have been able to learn, I freely offer for your consideration and comment.