This is a blow to those of us who hang on your every bite. I don't know how I feel...betrayed, perhaps. In the meantime and for the bleak solace of those of us who are left to carry on without notification of your meals, here's this thing I wrote for this thing I write:
I'm gonna die. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not even soon, if I can help it.
It happens to the best of us, and there's nothing we can do about it. And by death, we should include the condition of those who are alive, but whose quality of life has receded to the point of emptiness.
We more or less know how we're going to die...at least we can whittle it down to a short checklist. The 5 major causes of death (and decrepitude if you wanna go there) are:
- heart disease,
- cancer,
- lung disease such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis,
- stroke, and
- unintentional injuries such as those on roads or caused by medication overdoses.
Together, these five conditions cause almost two-thirds of all deaths in the country -- nearly 900,000 each year -- a third of which are fully preventable. This bears repeating:
Three hundred thousand extra people in the U.S.
die every year of one of the above preventable causes
none of which include old age.
The good news is that there is a way to prevent these preventable deaths. We can improve the quality of our years -- especially our final years -- by changing our daily routines. Not just for a week, but forever. Developing good habits (or shedding bad ones!) apparently has a huge effect on the quality and length of our lives. Your lifestyle, in effect, is your best preventive medicine.
Preventable deaths can be reduced by more than 80% by simply eating well, exercising, avoiding tobacco products, and being socially connected. Doctor David Katz summarizes the "lifestyle as medicine" philosophy by advocating for "Feet, Forks, Fingers. Sleep, Stress and Love".
Regular physical activity (feet) is associated with weight control, reduced inflammation, enhanced immune function and reduced cancer risk specifically. Optimal diet (forks) exerts far-ranging effects on every aspect of physiology, and similarly stands to reduce the risk of all chronic disease. Combine eating well and being active with a commitment to never hold a cigarette (fingers), and the risk of all chronic disease declines by roughly 80 percent.
Those are my top three, but the list of health promotion priorities very reasonably extends to three more. The quality and quantity of sleep has profound effects on psychology, immunology and neurology. A linkage to cancer risk is suggested by a rudimentary connection of these dots. Much the same is true of stress, which can contribute to hormonal imbalances and inflammation that propagate cancer -- or can be managed to prevent such effects.
And, finally, there is love. We are, from our earliest origins, social creatures much influenced by our relationships with others. While love may seem a "warm and fuzzy" topic, it is in fact the cold, hard scrutiny of clinical trials demonstrating that those with loving relationships are far less vulnerable to chronic disease and death than those without.All these things work on a spectrum, so that if you need to make small changes, you can reap small benefits on your way to a longer, healthier life.
So yeah, I'm gonna die. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not even soon, if I can help it.
But as long as I live, I'm gonna maximize my chances for living well.
