To be sick of being told everything's going to kill me?

[ThingsToDoWithStickyStars]

When life itself (with age and time) will do the job neatly enough!

I eat a good diet am very active, and am pretty happy with my lifestyle, but do notice with each year there's another thing I ought to be doing (or not doing), or something I should not be eating, eating more of, and so on. I can only do my best, and that's all I am prepared to do.

So recently my SIL has been 'doing research' and has altered all the family meals. It's going well, and it's their business, but she has been mailing me links to some miserable stuff, much of which I already had a decent knowledge of (ethics, environment), but much more that I wasn't aware of, too. I appreciate her advice, but some of it would be almost impossible to deal with, such as -

1. All wheat and grains, oats, barley, the lot are poisoned with pesticides which are known to be cancerous .

2. Almost all fruit and veg have dangerous levels of pesticides, yet not everything is available as organic in every town/supermarket/grocer, etc.

3. Crops from overseas that use toxic chemicals banned here are allowed to be sold within the UK when imported.

4. And from one article: "Pesticides appear in millions of different combinations and varying concentrations in our food so it’s simply impossible to design a system sophisticated enough to protect us from these chemical cocktails. The only way forward is to cut our overall pesticide use significantly".

And this is in addition to the plastics, pollution, and all the rest.

It's insane. I don't doubt it's true, but if you were to follow this to the letter you would be left with very little to eat. It would be impossible to avoid for the most part due to actually having a life (eating out, holidays, friends/families houses, school, etc).
I personally can't live like that, even though I am very mindful of what I consume, and I do wonder if such endless articles and reports are resulting in a good deal of neuroticism and fear.

Luckily my SIL isn't pushy, but she knows I love reading about food and nutrition, so probably thought I'd like to see it. Well, I wish I bloody hadn't .

Put plenty of Kerrygold real butter on your spuds.

Eat plenty of them spuds. Eat home made soda bread, it's gorgeous either brown or white. Just flour, salt, bicarb and buttermilk. So easy.

Eat cheese for the bones.

Eat full fat yogurt, with cultures for the gut. Eat fruit, frozen will do if stuck. Good to have in the freezer.

Eat veg, but just what you like. No point in feeling ugh trying to eat celery or coriander etc. if they make you feel sick.

Lean meat if you are carnivore, together with fresh or frozen fish (don't worry about the mercury, that's only in thermometers!). Salmon or oily fish at least once a week.

And some sweet treats like cake, muffins, scones (with cream and jam) once a week or so. Glass of wine now and then.

Life is for living. Avoid overeating and crap like crisps, sweets, and biscuits and takeaways/packaged convenience food every day.

That's all. Get the balance right and you'll be fine and contented. You could die crossing the road after all.

Since someone tried to mow me over at a zebra crossing recently, I will have to agree with you!

Just did a bit of googling and it seems many organic farms use pesticides that are natural yet still known to be potentially harmful. Apparently non organic farmers quit using them decades ago. It's difficult to get a full, detailed picture.

I already prefer wild fish and higher welfare chicken, but had been fine with my veg and grains being non organic. Some organic produce does seem to taste better, but not all.

@ThingsToDoWithStickyStars See, I told you so!😊Hope you weren't badly injured and are OK now.

Why did your doctor advise this?

We don't have the bread I like.... You can have any bread you want my love, your food choices don't need to be a group decision

Are you Irish? Kerrygold is the absolute tits!!!

Agree with all of this, also I'm really clumsy, I'm almost definitely dying in an unfortunate inexplicable accident

Yes!!

I'll add -
Babies should be eating solids at 4 months. No, 6 months.
Babies should be kept strictly off all foods known to cause an allergic reaction to anyone, ever, until after 12 months. No, actually you should introduce all the known allergens when baby is weaning.

Sadly, my DM took the no fat rule to heart back in the 70s and refuses to believe that doctors have changed their minds. She has made it well past 80 all the same...

Two grandparents (from both sides), my dad and 2 of his siblings all suffered from heart disease. All were slim, fit and not poor. I try to be mindful now that I am over 50 due to that. It isn't always lifestyle factors.

I do recall laughing when quite young that a quick heart attack would sweep me away in later years, as if 'later years' was forever away

I suppose, like the great Mrs Doyle said, "you laugh to hide the tears".

I think we should try and take care of our body as it’s the only one we’ve got, but focus on the stuff there’s clear evidence for, like taking regular exercise, eating vegetables, not getting too overweight or drinking too much, being sensible about sun exposure. Those things are hard enough in themselves!

While on the one hand I think it’s a good thing that people are concerned about issues like microplastics, we need to keep a sense of proportion. There are people around the world who will die young because they don’t have access to enough food or basic medical treatment. People don’t die because they buy the wrong kind of bread in the supermarket.

I agree.
It is easy to worry when you read legitimate reports about carcinogenic pesticides/herbicides though. We do need far more detail to be able to make up our minds. And even then, a totally organic lifestyle is almost impossible, even with money.

I did read a study that noted processed bread products had the lowest links to mortality, CVD and cancer risk, compared to all other processed products. If anyone would like the study link I can find it.

Because my bad cholesterol is 3.1 and it should be no higher than 1.8
Also my HbA1c is 7.6 (down from 8.1) and it shouldn’t be higher than 7.0
I have been T2 for over 20 years and have had awful reactions to 4 different statins so don’t take them.
I am trying a different cholesterol lowering medication and no side effects so hopefully that will help the cholesterol level.

I'm sorry to hear that. I hope the new medication works well for you. Sometimes medication is the wiser choice.

With veg pesticides, I found a genuine study years ago linked the Min of Ag. Veg are safe as pesticides sit on the surface (mostly) and can be washed off if they're even still on there. The only veg that tended to absorb them into the skin was carrots - so the advice was peel not just wash them. So I peel carrots, wash other veg, and don't worry about it.

Spot on. Was just going to say stress is the biggest killer. I've lost a few people in my life who were so health conscious but guess how stressed they were?
Plus genetics. You can't do much about that.

It's swings and roundabouts.
My sister is the most stressed, anxious person I have ever met and she is solid as a rock health wise, and over 60. It's as if she thrives on it.

I am not the same. Stress hurts me, and has lasting effects physically.

And bacon. Out of all the carcinogens out there, bacon is a good way to go.

We're not getting off the planet alive anyway, so live well enough to enjoy life, but don't stress the fine print so life feels too long