I was driving through Inman Square, a kind of trendy yet rough-around-the-collar area of Cambridge yesterday. While sitting in traffic on a main street filled with upscale grilles and Indian restaurants, I noticed one little hole-in-the-wall, advertising on a square white wooden sign “Dixie Barbeque”. Underneath that was its motto, in big letters: “Eat Well. Die Happy.”
I had to laugh. Very cute.
Somehow the slogan stayed with me, though, I think because it’s one of those cutesy slogans that really says much more than it may mean to say. It embodies a way of thinking that I’ve had thrown at me at various times: “Well, if I have to eat all those awful tasting vegetables to live another six months, I think I’ll just die six months sooner.”
The disconnect that gets overlooked is that we aren’t asked if we’d like to die peacefully in our sleep after one of those wonderful meals of barbequed ribs and, by the way, which night? No, there’s more often a fair amount of discomfort that comes before the dying, in the form of diabetes, hip operations, heart surgeries, and so on. I was talking with a man today who’s had his share of such maladies, a man now in his mid-sixties. Of course, no one would make the connection to his face between his kidney failure, hip surgeries, and prescription drug side effects—and his diet. He finally made the connection himself, after nearly dying…and then decidingto investigate bydoing a lot of reading. He’s been on a path of change over the last couple years, dispensing with many of the drugs and radically altering his diet. But it had to come from within him.
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There’s been lots of press of late about a cow in New Zealand that naturally produces skim milk. Various media have reported on efforts to breed the cow widely, since skim milk is so much in demand. And we’d be rid of all that awful fat. Might not be such a bad idea, presuming the milk could be sold raw. But, of course, that isn’t likely to happen any time soon.
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Why am I not surprised with Ron’s explanation of all the things that can be askew in medical test results? I think the key is to make the effort to discuss the test results with a physician. If the results are "normal," the typical scenario has the results being mailed, with perhaps something scrawled, "Looks good." Thanks for the advice.
I find the news of the NZ "skim milk" cow horrifying and hope it doesn’t turn into yet another commercial standard, like the dry, flavorless lean pork breeds that are ubiquitious in the markets/restaurants now. If I consume unprocessed whole milk now (in fact it is much higher in fat than the highly processed, standardised 3.5% "whole" milk , why would I want less milkfat? It’s wonderful stuff. The fat is where it’s at! In fact, I’d be surprised if industry really went for this, because I think skimming the higher value cream is a major profit maker.
Regarding medical tests, I have dropped the word "normal" in reference to them or at least put it in parentheses. I now use the term "within the reference range" or "above/below the reference range". What is normal for you isn’t normal for me, and vice versa. The reference ranges are good tools for comparison, but they aren’t infallible, nor are they "gospel". They vary from lab to lab, they change from time to time depending on the current standard of care (or medical politics, the economics of treating/not treating, or commercial interests, etc.), and they are sometimes quite controversial (the TSH reference range, for instance, is highly controversial and the upper reference range varies widely from lab to lab).
You didn’t mention this controversy, but it is one I have been wrestling with for the last year or two: blood tests vs. saliva testing for some measurements, because there is so much confusing and conflicting information. Saliva testing is gaining support and many (alternative types and outside the US) think it is superior to blood tests for some things, but others completely dismiss all saliva testing. But something about this issue sort if smells like the initial strong resistance to personal glucose meters and home pregnancy tests, resistance from the medical establishment to anything that gives someone else some power or control.