Talk about health

This time I've got no excuse. Time just seems to fly by and when I finish the things I have to do there's no time left to write these pieces.

Something that struck me the other day was to wonder whether people who are interested in health treat it just as they do the many cooking and gardening programmes on the TV. I enjoy watching these programmes and making mental notes to try to be a little more adventurous with my meal preparation. But when it comes to action, I slip easily into the rut of buying and preparing the same old ingredients to make the same old 'favourite' meals.

Don't get the idea that I do all the cooking in my house. Not by a long shot. But once or twice a week the evening meal is all my own work. The rest of the time, I make a reasonable bottle and dish washing assistant!!!

Gardening is slightly different - only slightly. I tend to do most of the physical part of gardening. The planting choices and garden design are done under the direction of my wife. But, here too I favour the routine type of gardening, rather than the adventurous way portrayed on the TV.

So, despite the raft of good advice and entertaining presentation, most of it goes through my mind and out the other side.

For me, health information is a different animal altogether. I listen carefully and analyse what I've been told. I look for the flaws and try to come to some sort of reasonable conclusion as to whether it is relevant to my situation. I make a note, physically or mentally, to research a little further to satisfy my curiosity. I consider if I could write an expanatory article about it, so making the point clearer to others. And if it might help my own health, I think how it might be incorporated into my life.

Now, this might seem a little grand to you, and as I read it it strikes me as a little pompous too. I am trying to say that I treat health info a little differently from other things that interest me. Is it because my training and experience is all health based, therefore I start off knowing some more that my friends and list members? Do I worry more about my health than you? Is that because you are perfectly healthy right now? If you were unwell, would you be looking for specific health information rather than general stuff that didn't relate to your problem?

If you happen to be struck down by some problem, I'm sure you (and I) would want to know as much as I can about it - causes and treatments, chances of control or cure, and so on. Therefore you would be on the lookout for help everywhere you could think of. Maybe, then general health information would only be of incidental interest.

Now more than ever, we expect to live for ever, we think there should be a cure for everything no matter how complex or severe the disease. And we're disappointed and distraught when a loved one dies or conventional medicine says it can do no more.

I think we should be a bit more realistic and accept that illness does indeed harm ond even kill a great many people every day. Conventional medicine does not have all the answers. Neither does alternative medicine. The best of both gets closer to cure.

If you don't take some advice about healthy living; if you let health information wash over and through you like those cooking and gardening programmes; and if you don't make small, subtle adjusments or even major changes to your life to improve your health and reduce your risks of disease; then you'll have little chance of sitting in a lovely garden or eating a healthful meal for as long as you can.

Good health is at the root of a long and fulfilling life. Don't let it pass you by because you couldn't be bothered. Try to make the changes you can. Get more information if you need it and take a moment to review your situation. As they say in the adverts, "because you're worth it!"

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