Saturday 18 July 2015

Are We Really What We Eat?

Don't ask me how or why but I seem to be following a health guru on Twitter. I’m almost becoming accustomed to the little stabs of fear his tweets evoke, as he expounds upon the dangers of a poor diet and how no amount of water and exercise can counterbalance them.

My diet is shockingly bad, there I've said it. I probably consume my own body weight in sugar on a daily basis. On the plus side, I don't eat fast food at all but that's not so impressive if I add that neither fresh fruit nor vegetables feature in my life on a regular basis either. I do drink lots of water and I exercise regularly. I think if I were to do an audit, however, things wouldn't look too good. 

I'm not a stupid woman, I know that I risk diabetes and my chances of triggering cancer are increased with poor lifestyle choices. My own dad died from cancer at 63 and my genetic make-up isn't exactly what you could call charmed. It's still not enough though to force me to assume responsibility for my own destiny. 

I think the reason for this is that deep down I'm not convinced that life isn't just a lottery and that won’t meet the same fate come what may. Lots of people I know, who do everything that’s supposed to be right, have still ended up with cancer whilst other people drink, smoke and don't give a damn but live to a ripe old age with no health problems whatsoever. 

Is this just a sense of denial, one of the clichés that we trot out in order to avoid making some tough choices? My Twitter guru would no doubt argue a big fat yes and offer up a mountain of proof that we are what we eat and we are all the engineers of our own bodies and health. But who really knows?

All I know for certain is that I am weak willed with an addiction to sugar. My fear of contracting a horrible disease seems to fade into the distance when faced with a bar of chocolate or a piece of cake. The harsh truth is that if I really have a stark choice between living a long, healthy life or chocolate, cake and gin (I know - I forgot to mention my weakness for alcohol), I'm not sure which one I would go for. 

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