My dad and I have many funny and amazing conversations some might say I am a lot like my dad some … may not. However, one thing my dad and me have in common is that we both smoke. (At this moment in time he had given up – I think) anyway, and as both smokers we often take a defensive stance when the constant opinion is said about how unhealthy smoking is.
As you well know, according to research heart disease is still the biggest killer in the UK
The growing problem with obesity in adults and children is equally as important. An example of my own child’s ignorance; He did pester me to give up smoking. So I have tried many times. He praised me for not smoking on this particular day. I had asked him before hand, why he doesn’t want mummy to smoke and true to form he stated, ‘it will give you cancer and you will die.’ In the next breath, can we go to Mac Donald’s? Imagine my frustration when I hear my child say, ‘don’t smoke because it will/can kill you.’ but scoffing down a big Mac and fries, clearly won’t. I am over weight and it is killing me daily, my body is shot to shit and I know it. I try so hard to develop a healthy life style, like most I am sure.
A lot of people might not see the difference I am trying to emphasize here.
Both my dad and I quickly ask the question...
Is there a, heart disease, stroke, clogged artery warning on a stick of butter? Is that not as dangerous to health as a pack of fags? Oh I don’t know! I am ranting!
But it did make me think while I stood in Tesco looking at cat food. The words ‘get the dry food as it is better for them.’ Was ringing around in my mind. Then I think, better for them how exactly? Will it help them concentrate at ‘cat school’? No wait it will help them get a better job? It will cause me less trips to the vets? The same way eating healthy, not smoking, drinking and doing drugs will prevent me from getting any kind of breast, ovarian, cervical, or brain cancer, dementia, Multiple sclerosis (MS) or Parkinson's disease!
Right of course.
It will help them have less stinky poop? Ohh I get it, they will live longer! I am prolonging their life by buying dry food and not wet food? Got it! Is that the same as you can’t mix your SMA baby milk and leave in the fridge for 24 hours now? You have to mix it before you feed your infant. Years passed and many a parent, me included, did in fact make bottles and they lasted 24 hours. Was that unhealthy for my child back then? If so who can I sue? Wet food for cats as been around for as long as I can remember so what is different now? Have they found out that wet food reduces the life span of a cat? Having taken some time to look up the main causes for cats to die, I can report that the main cause is trauma... then heart disease.
Cats also play the game of life with a fist full of chance. Just like us. But while I was in Tesco I did pick my children up some tasty treats and something nice for dinner. When I treat my children to occasion take away, Mac Donald’s, biscuit, sweet or treat am I then lessening their life span? I may well be rolling on about utter bollocks but I guess the question was in my head so I felt the need to get it out.
In an ideal world we would all eat right and live a healthy life style and this would be seen as having a better advantage of living longer. You would think. Sadly for me I am not sure it works as simple as that. I have seen smokers live into their late 80’s and non smokers, healthy people die before they hit 50. There is a grey area here for me. I guess I have managed to rationalise it by telling myself, you just don’t know when it is your time to go. (I need a map to the ideal world thank you very much...Oh I don’t know!)
Rant concluded at 10.30am
Mel
(References)The places I looked
This debate will never end...my smoking drinking step father died at 52. My smoking drinking grandmother is 94. But on balance it is a question of moderation in all things. Eat at McD's all the time and you will do a Spurlock, once a week is OK - as long as every other meal isn't also a takeaway/ ready meal etc. We know the drill - we know what is good for us. We also know that we like a lot of things that are not good for us. So we choose and we hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteYeah...i kinda agree with anon's response and a lot of what you say, however (yeah the horrible however) us humans tend to be drawn to that which is 'bad' in the eyes of the surrounding culture such as recreational drug use, porn, alcohol, public nudity etc or statistically 'bad' such as driving too fast without a seat belt on, sitting in the sun for too long, drinking a bottle of vodka a day or smoking.
ReplyDeleteYep there are exceptions to the rule and we hope/pray that we are one of them, but that hope is as slim as winning the lottery jackpot (dont ask me to provide EXACT stats!!). Hell I was one/still am one as I try desperately hard to finally give up the smokes. If you are in the same boat as me, best wishes ok?
Oh and BTW Im not a drug addicted, porn devouring, booze guzzling nudist...I was just using that for illustrative purposes hehe :)
Thank you so much for the great comments.
ReplyDeleteIt all feels like a massive hypercritical contradiction, don’t do that but you can do this but only ever so often, no you can have that but only if you do this too. This is good for you but only if you use it in this way. I understand that science is ever evolving and so they are finding new things out all the time. However, something things work because they work. (The baby milk issue for instance) if it is not broke, don’t fix it?
lol Dan... Only at the weekends?
It is about moderation, I guess - the problem is, if you really enjoy something, (like smoking, eating, drinking) it can very often be hard to practice moderation. And for me, that's been the great quest of my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I smoked, I smoked a million cigarettes. When I drink (I tend to want to get sloshed - but having a four year old has helped to reign this in! No one wants a headache in the morning with The Wiggles on in the background) and well, food. I have to go to my Weight Watcher meeting every week, or I get on this slippery slope of eating myself silly.
We have the double standard here in USA big time. Don't smoke - it'll kill you, but come visit our "all you can eat buffet!"
Sigh. Dry cat food? That's what i used to feed my kitty's and the vet scolded me telling me, "wet is the way to go." You can't win.