Discussion Topic

We are our own worst enemies when it comes to what goes into our bodies, but we can be our best friend instead.  I find it personally interesting that the longest lived people on the planet are not from the high tech countries but from the more simple areas of the earth.  I think that we are close to having the technology to allow people to live much longer than they do now, unfortunately where the people live, that would benefit form that technology, is shortening their life spans.

I live in a small Kentucky town and the air is of course cleaner than it is in the middle of a large industrial city.  But when I do my miles along the road I can tell a difference in the quality of the air, here on the road over the air in the park or along the river.  The fresher cleaner air away from the road is better for breathing in, than the road air.  I know that I'm sucking in pollutions along with my air, but I don't want to wear a mask either, so I try to do most of my training in the more wooded areas.

When I have talked to people about giving up the chemical mix commonly referred to as soft drinks, I've actually heard this response, "I just can't drink water, there is no taste".  or "Oh I only drink the diet soft drinks", or even better still, "I need the caffeine to wake up and I don't want to drink coffee, because it's bad for you".  Hum, coffee naturally occurs in nature and the jury is still out whether it's a curse or a blessing.  I normally drink only water, coffee and occasionally a beer.  When I race distance I'll drink the sports drink to get the calories and electrolyte replacement.  I've done several marathons using the provided sports drink and unless I went under trained it has worked fine.

When I was a teenager, all my heroes smoked cigarettes.  A lot of them, like John Wayne, died of lung cancer.  But cigarettes are still legal, even though we know that they can kill us.  But at least they have a warning label so we can make an informed decision.  We don't have warning labels on a lot of things that should have them.  Even something as common as using hair spray is hazardous.  If your breathing in the spray.  You should go in another room and spray it while holding your breath and then go back in the bathroom to finish getting ready.

Please think about the products you frequently use and the food that you eat and try to make changes that will cut down on the amount of chemicals you injest.  Read labels and buy the product that has fewer ingredients, especially ingredients that are obviously chemicals.

Thanks for reading.

Dave