the BABY BOOMER BODY BOOK ©

THE COMPLETE HEALTH REFERENCE
FOR OUR GENERATION
BY
BRIAN PECK, M.D., DAAPM, BCFM, FAADEP

CHAPTER 30

A simple, uncluttered concept of what it takes to maintain basic health.  

The Beatles, our heroes, were describing a normal day, at least for them, when they wrote A Day In The Life. The problem is, everything we usually do is by its very definition normal, and normal is not necessarily good. Normal just means the most common way things are done. The word has no statistical or objective meaning. Normal is whatever one thinks it is. Just because you have always done something a certain way, does not make it right.

It is enough to make you nuts! Caffeine is good for you. No wait a minute; caffeine is bad for you. Vitamin C prevents cancer. Hold on; it seems that Vitamin C can accelerate hardening of the arteries. Running is a good form of cardiovascular exercise. On the other hand, running can eventually destroy your knees. Soy is good. Soy is bad. Et cetera…so on…ad infinitum.

On any given day, it seems that just about everything we do is either good or bad for us. The next day they change it all around. We drive ourselves crazy trying to do the right things to safeguard our health: eating right, exercising, vitamin supplements. The sheer magnitude of conflicting data makes it almost impossible to identify the right things to do. If you have your act together, if you have the temperament and will power to diet, supplement, and exercise on your own, and most of all, if you are omniscient, then you need not read any further. However, if you are seeking a simple, uncluttered concept of what it takes to maintain your basic health, read on.