Back at it! Topic: Scrutiny

OK, I'm back at it, and going to try to commit to this every morning, if nothing else, to purge my swelling brain!

It's every day that a newscaster illuminates us with the brilliance from some single study (backed by "who knows") that exercise abates hot flashes for women in menopause, eliminating or reducing fast food for kids helps battle childhood obesity, eating more fruits and vegetables may prevent many types of cancer, reducing calories to "within your normal limits" can yield weight loss, increasing exercise intensity can improve your fitness levels or better yet, improve insulin sensitivity and lessen (or dare I say it... CURE) Type 2 Diabetes), or that the phytonutrients and/or antioxidants in various types of fresh/whole foods can yield specific benefits to our bodies (beta carotene for eye health, lycopene for prostate health), etc., etc., etc.,

My comments: "No kidding!", "Duh", "And your point is...", "Don't we already know that?", "Didn't we learn that in kindergarten?"

Come on people. Why are fascinated that the most obvious things-the things we already KNOW we know-are good for us. And why do we swoon over "a university study" that tells us what we already know? Pull your shoulders back because you already know it, AND DO IT!

Better yet, why don't we crinkle our foreheads and cock our heads to the right in suspicion when we hear about a pharmaceutical industry-funded study that reveals a "magic bean" (a.k.a. a pill) can do one or any of the same things I mentioned above? Or that a supplement (funded by the company producing or selling the supplement, of course) containing an extract of, or derived from a natural food we could ingest, such as Vitamin C or Cinnamon, can cure...whatever...and we buy into it.

I think I started last year with "back to basics". That's what's going to improve our health and create overall wellness.

• Eat whole, natural foods.
• Eat only enough to satisfy your energy needs for the day.
• Eat a variety of foods to obtain the myriad of micronutrients offered to us by nature.
• Move. Be physically active. Sweat.
• Be an example for the young people in this country. Be healthy.

In a nutshell, be a critical thinker when listening to news related to health and nutrition, question everything then go find the answer (this would be called exercising your brain!), be smart when researching the answer (don't believe everything you read), be an example and eat healthily most of the time, and exercise.

It's not hard. We all know it. To quote Nike's cliche: Just do it!