Hop on the train that travels towards health

          Communicable diseases, which used to be the
scourge of mankind -- the black plague, cholera, diphtheria,
typhoid, scarlet fever, etc. -- have all but been
eradicated.  But another phalanx of diseases has quietly
moved in to take their place, lifestyle diseases, chief
among them circulatory problems and cancer.  Globally the
two groups account for nearly three-quarters of all deaths
in the so-called developed countries and for nearly half of
them in developing countries.  Here are a few more health
problems that deserve to be classed as lifestyle diseases:
diabetes, prostatitis, arthritis, ulcers and candidiasis.
          Less than two decades ago people who contended
that most of the diseases that plague humanity result from
faulty living were ridiculed as quacks.  But now the truth
won't be swept under the rug any more.  The World Health
Organization itself has come out very strongly in support of
a healthy lifestyle to keep disease at bay.
          And people are beginning to be aware of this basic
truth and to understand what they could and should do to
optimize their chances of growing old without running the
risk of being laid low by lifestyle diseases.  And yet a
strange urge to self-destruct seems to keep them from
translating this understanding into action.
          While there seem to be certain factors that
increase the risk of circulatory problems, among them lack
of exercise and a diet rich in saturated fats, and other
factors that increase the risk of cancer, among them smoking
and stress, it is probably true that measures which protect
against one group of diseases also protect against the
other.  The human organism is an indivisible whole.  What's
bad for the whole is bad for the parts and what's bad for
some parts is ultimately bad for all parts.  A truly
healthful lifestyle benefits all parts and protects all
parts from the ravages of disease.
          Lets make a bit of an inventory of measures --
some of them "do's" and some of them "do not's" -- that make
up a healthful lifestyle.  Good nutrition, adequate exercise
and avoiding avoidable toxins are probably the most
important ones.  Good nutrition reduced to simplest terms
means none of the non-foods such as soft drinks, imitation
fruit drinks, candy and other sweets; it means a diet that
eschews highly refined and/or processed foods such as white
flour and white-flour products, white sugar and foods
containing white sugar, and fatty foods; it means a diet
that leans heavily on fresh fruit and vegetables.  Meat,
yes, but in moderation, and lean meat rather than fat meat;
fish and chicken rather than beef and mutton;  meat that has
been boiled or steamed rather than fried or grilled.  Good
nutrition means eating slowly and chewing your food well.
And it means not drinking with your meals.  Drink half an
hour before you eat and don't drink again till half an hour
to an hour after you eat, according whether you have a light
or a heavy meal.  But do not drink while you eat, not even
water.
          Adequate exercise means, to begin with, aerobic
exercise; that is, exercise which involves the whole body or
at least large parts of the body.  Jogging, swimming,
bicycling, a brisk game of tennis or even just a brisk
walk -- these are forms of exercise that qualify as aerobic.
Adequate exercise means moreover regular exercise sustained
over moderately long periods of time.  Four fifteen-minute
jogging sessions a week,  five half-hour sessions a week of
brisk walking, a vigorous half-hour swim every other day --
anyone of these could be considered adequate exercise.  The
man who jogs five miles once in a blue moon probably does
himself more harm than good in that he demands vigorous
effort of his heart without ever giving it a chance to get
into good shape.
          Avoiding avoidable toxins means above all
abstaining from alcohol and nicotine, but it also means
staying away from coffee and tea.  The man who indulges in a
drag of the shisha every once in a while can hope to escape
the health-destroying effects of nicotine; he who smokes a
pack of cigarettes a day cannot.   A cup of tea or coffee as
an occasional treat may be defensible;  the habit of several
daily cups of either is not.  Most medical drugs fall into
the category of avoidable toxins.  It is grimly ironic that
the truly healthy don't consume drugs while those whose
health has broken down consume them liberally.  There is
virtually no medical drug that doesn't have undesirable side
effects.  A healthy organism would find it hard to cope with
them.  An organism weakened by disease would be weakened
further.  Drugs should be considered a last resort, when all
else has failed.  Chances are that, if you adopt a
reasonably healthy lifestyle, you won't need them in the
first place.
          I am looking at an article in a past issue of the
"National Geographic" (January 1972), which is about three
pockets of healthy people discovered by National Geographic
reporters -- a plateau in the Andes, the area around the
Caspian See in southern Russia and Hunzaland in north-
eastern Pakistan.  The article shows pictures of
centenarians still healthy and active.  It concludes that
the secret of their vigorous health is nothing more than a
healthy lifestyle.  Would you not like to be in the number
of those who live to a hundred and stay healthy all the way?
If so, place your bets on a healthy lifestyle.  While a
healthy lifestyle is no absolute guaranty that you will get
there, it enhances your chances of doing so appreciably.  
					Fe Leonor