Government diet recommendations too extreme

People are tired of being admonished by experts on how to live our lives mainly because the experts advice is always geared to an optimum level. If scientists would come down to earth and give us sensible advice on how to eat and exercise, perhaps we would be more responsive to their advice. If someone told me I should eat 9 helpings of fruits and vegetables and get 90 minutes of vigorous exercise each day, I immediately would reject the advice as being too demanding and would go on with my normal routine. Why not just tell us to increase our intake of fruits and vegetables and get more exercise to be healthy and leave it at that?

The government's latest recommendations also may not lead to the results that we expect. Another study reported on the CBS Sunday Morning Show indicated that people who are moderately overweight live longer than all other types of people. In fact, according to the report, people who are skinny have the shortest live span. So why bother watching our diet or exercising?

Doctors commenting on the report said that the reason people who are overweight are living longer is because we have better medicine and improved technology to combat the adversive effects of being overweight. For example, there is medication for lowering cholesterol and for treating heart disease which are associated with being overweight. The conclusion is that even though overweight people may live longer, their quality of life may not be as good because of their limited activity.

So what is a person to do with all of this confusing and conflicting information? Personally, I think that we should try to just keep it simple in order to stay healthy. Everyone knows that by not smoking, limiting your alcoholic intake, getting some exercise each day and keeping from overeating, you may expect reasonable health.

I have had borderline high cholesterol most of my life and do not take medication. I had a heart scan performed 4 years ago and found that I had zero plaque in my arteries. Last year at my annual checkup my cholesterol was high again. I called the nurse about the report and she said I should have another heart scan which costs $400. I told her that I already had one taken and there was no evidence of plaque. She said it could have built up since then. I suspected this was a routine answer since the medical profession is not beyond recommending expensive procedures even though the procedures probably aren't necessary. I figured that if the first 60 years of my life did not create a plaque buildup in my heart, the next 3 years wouldn't either. While I may drop dead tomorrow, the point I am making is that even though a person's cholesterol is high, there are other things to be considered before deciding if it is necessary to take medication.

I am of the opinion that we are an over-medicated society. Want a different channel on the TV? Click a button. Want lower cholesterol and the promise of a healthier life? Pop a pill. Instant results is the name of the game. Anything that avoids physical effort is embraced. I know from past experience that my cholesterol fluctuates directly with my weight. If I want to lower my cholesterol, I need to lose weight, not take a pill. But that doesn't pay the bills for Bristol-Meyers.

The older generation today is taking medication for symptoms that are partly due to ignorance years ago of a healthy living style, smoking being one of the main problems. The one thing that our older generation did right, however, was to stay in shape. People as a whole worked much harder years ago than today's generation. People years ago did not have the luxury of free time to sit around and watch TV. Normal living kept them in shape. Life had a spontaneity to it that didn't include monitoring your diet.

My advice to the younger generation is to develop a healthy life style now by not smoking and by not drinking too much or overeating. By staying physically active and exercising regularly you shouldn't have to monitor your diet as the government suggests. Hopefully, developing a healthy life style when you are young will reduce the need for medication as you get older and the pharmaceutical companies can concentrate on drugs that will help treat or cure problems beyond our control.

In conclusion, if I were dispensing the government's advice I would say, "America, get up off your butt and stay active, work hard and you won't have to worry about what you eat."