Five Lessons for Health

On the 15th of July, I performed an impromptu speech at my local public speaking group regarding the main teachings I have learned from my job and research. Currently, I work in reablement support, helping people who have chronic diseases mitigate their symptoms through exercise and nutritional recommendation. Also, I write a few articles a month on topics I find interesting and important, with some of my favourites being "The Truth About Saturated Fat & Cholesterol", "SSRIs Don't Work", and "Burn Fat Smarter, Not Harder" (feel free to check these out later).

The speech got cut off at almost 8 minutes but I felt like I could have gone on for 20, leading me into this article idea.

From the few hundred patients we go through a week, and the variety of people I talk to, I can firmly say most of them overestimate what they know about nutrition. Most know something about protein being important for muscle building and carbohydrates can be used as energy, but that's about it. This, to me, shows how backwards our society is, leading me to my first lesson, physical health should always be the priority.

It is completely up to debate whether our physical health was a priority pre-millennia, but taking general per population statistics, we had lower chronic diseases, obesity rates, and more physical demand (due to occupation availability). However, our modern environment has caused an influx of physical issues, most of which, in my opinion, are self-inflicted. From the skyrocketing hormonal disorders in men and women, body fat related diseases, cardiac issues, and neurological disorders, it is obvious that something within our environment has changed. But, most will do no more than mention it being an issue. The majority of people will think about it every so often, realise it will have huge impacts on our society, but then move on.

Based on worldwide questionnaires, "personal health", that being your individual physical and mental health disregarding government and privatised healthcare, is consistently placed between spots 3-5 on the priority scale. If we were to include general healthcare, that being the inclusion of supplied and personal health, its location on the priority list does not change. This suggests that across cultures, people do not find their own health to be as important as financial insecurity and government performance.

I can completely understand why the majority list their priorities as such, but the way I like to phrase it is, you can survive without money, happiness and relationships. But once you lose your body or mind, you lose everything.

This disconnect and neglect of our bodies and mind stems from society's conveniences and distractions. For instance, before we had readily available food and water, if you got sick or injured, you would starve to death from lack of ability to forage and hunt. Therefore, it would have been the top priority without a doubt. However, currently, if we get sick or injured, we get given medication, rehabilitation and sent on the mend (if possible). Unfortunately, we have created a culture where physical impairments are expected to be recoverable through the modern healthcare system. Another of way of looking at it is, we no longer prevent diseases, we only react once the intruder has broken into the house. Instead of securing the doors, setting alarm systems and getting a guard dog, we leave the front door open with a bright LED sign saying "free electronics."

Lesson two stems more from my personal research instead of time at work, but still applies to both. And that is, selective manipulation exists everywhere. Whether you want to call me a tin foil hat abuser, or conspiracy theorist, it is without a doubt that the majority of exercise and nutritional related research is conflicted with researcher or sponsorship biases. Take the vegan activist Michael Greger, M.D. for instance. Whilst, from what I know, he does not have any sponsorship biases, it is obvious that his research and writings are filled with pre-determined thoughts. For someone of his intellect, referencing observational studies regarding red meat causing cancer and saturated fat causing heart attacks is not up to standard. However, it is not just the vegan researchers who do this. The same can be seen in proponents of keto, intermittent fasting, carnivore, and so on.

On the other hand, we have the malicious and intentional biases from some pharmaceutical and food companies. To put the extent of this into perspective, in the United States, the home of food and drug research, these companies are not required to release finished research to the public. This means a drug company could conduct multiple studies at the same time, researching the same outcome but only release the one that fits with their intention. A most notable case is the painkiller, Vioxx where clinical data risks were left unpublished, leading patients exposed to serious cardiovascular risks until eventual withdrawal.

Similarly, this can be seen with food and tobacco companies with the Philip Morris not releasing the carcinogenic properties inside their cigarettes. But if we were looking for a more modern example, Coca-Cola's privately funded academic researchers and non-profit groups who promoted lack of exercise, and not sugary beverages being the sole cause of obesity comes to mind. Internal emails between executives at the company showed coordinated attempts to shift the conversation of obesity away from sugar and soda and toward exercise. This strategy included selective promoting and releasing research that aligned with this message, and downplaying contrary evidence. In the end, Coca-Cola were exposed and it led to many resignations and scrutiny from the public and regulators.

This lesson is important because if someone wanted to head into nutritional understanding and education, they may end up believing the first thing they read because of how convincing it is written. But, I suggest that before you try to dive into the complexities, learn all the basics around nutrition. Not just this, but understand that there is no 'one size fits all' approach to food and exercise. Once this is grasped, actually reading into the research, not just skimming it, becomes far simpler, and makes sure you are not susceptible to hidden biases.

Arguably, the most important lesson I have found is, learning the basics is fundamental. Firstly, to understand this, you must comprehend what your goal is. No one in life has a nutritional goal of "get healthier". There is always a route you must take to reach this. For instance, someone's version of "get healthier" might be to reduce blood pressure, and another's could be gain muscle mass. There is no point in learning the overall basics to nutrition as, again, there is no 'one size fits all' approach. You must find your goal through your issues, and from there, you can learn the basics of your situation. But, unfortunately, this lesson goes heavily in hand with lesson two.

I understand that to someone from the outside it must feel impossible try and learn about a science with so much conflicting evidence. I know this because that was me a few years ago. I started with believing every piece of research I read because "it was science" so it must be true. In the end, the way I pieced fact from fiction (or at least I hope I have) is through taking everything with a pinch of salt, and trying to rebuttal everything I read. For instance, if I read a non-biased study suggesting saturated fat causes heart disease but I noticed this data was conducted through observation research, not experimental, I would try to understand the bodily mechanisms that caused this. This deeper understanding would tell me if saturated fat is a risk to our heart, or if that observational study was filled with confounding variables (hint: they're filled with confounding variables). Therefore, by defining your goals, which are usually based on symptoms, you can learn the fundamentals to your needs, cutting through all the information overload, becoming more confident in your decision making.

Lesson four comes down to your own locus of control. As with every convenience based society, culture of accountability shifts from internal locus of control to external. Due to readily available resources the local population tend to perceive less need for personal effort or direct actions to influence their outcomes. Not only does this help explain why dietary patterns have shifted from home-cooking whole foods to instant meals and takeaways, but it shows us why the neglect of preventative behaviours has been allowed to flourish. Therefore, my lesson is your health is your responsibility and problem.

At first, this may sound harsh as we know genetic predispositions can cause a number of difficulties. But for the majority of people, their condition was not inevitable, and was a direct result of decades of poor life choices. Also, when I say this, the intention is not to belittle or cause hardship. Instead, it is to emphasise the importance of looking after your health every single day, and if you do get sick, have the assertiveness to get the right checks, medications and mitigation systems.

Again, from the many people I have talked to, the majority of them have deep regret to how they lived, and would do anything to go back and change their diet, exercise routine, and priorities. Luckily for most, we have the ability to choose our outcomes. So, take a lesson from those you are pretending don't exist, and could never be you. Eat healthily. It doesn't have to be 100% of the time, but enough to get the benefits and reduce harsh conditions from forming. Also, exercise regularly. There is no need to follow NICE guidelines to the exact metrics, as again, there is no 'one size fits all'. Instead, find some time every day to do some physical activity such as walking outside, an indoor bike ride, a swim in the local leisure centre, or attend the public gym. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be something.

Finally, lesson five comes from people's obsession with complexity biases. Usually, when people get into something like the gym, they try to optimise absolutely everything. From the reps they do, exercise selections, and rest times, they try to make sure everything is optimal. And this can be seen in lots people who are trying to sort out their diet too. However, what most don't think about is the burnout effect. For instance, if you do not have a pure motivation which is fueled by a strong goal, you cannot be perfectly optimised. It is impossible to be 100% perfect without pure intention and reason. In fact, doing so will cause more harm to your motivations than doing nothing at all. So, instead of optimising everything, just do it to as near perfect you can whilst enjoying the things you enjoy. For example, you want to lose body fat but love going on a date night with your spouse every Friday night. If that's you, make sure on Monday to Friday, you follow a decent calorie ruling and eat whole foods with adequate levels micro and macronutrients. If you do this, you can enjoy the date night to its fullest and also save some space for Sunday, all whilst losing body fat. This same idea can be said for almost any goal. All you need to do is go back to lesson three and find your goal, motivations and intention, and then do it properly, not perfectly.

Overall, these five key lessons are what I have found to be the most important and influential teachings from the past year.

1. Physical health should be top priority

2. Selective manipulation exists everywhere

3. Learn the basics

4. Your health is your problem

5. Don't overcomplicate it

Not only have they enabled me to make more informed decisions on my physical health, but they have taught me so much about what people truly want in life, and how we have been (accidentally or purposefully) manipulated to become unhealthy and irresponsible with our own decision making.