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All That We "Knew" About Aging and Health May be WRONG

Coffee - Bad?

 Apparently, NOT.

This process has been going on for many years:

  • Some medical study is made about health.
  • Popularizers exaggerate the effects shown in the study, and inflate the core results into a program to improve/extend healthy lives.
  • Eventually, the government gets on board, and mandates changes to diet, exercise, medication regimens, or medical procedures.
  • After years of pushing the system on the general public, an honest re-evaluation of the effects is made, and - guess what? The advice is found to be completely wrong.
  • Repeat
  • Repeat
  • Repeat
Diet advice has gone from:
  • Calorie reduction
  • Exercise
  • Low-fat
  • High-carb
  • Low-carb
At the present, the low-carb forces appear to be on top. Never fear, they'll find out eventually that positive effects have been exaggerated, and the negatives minimized.

Same with exercise. I'm not against regular movement and activity. What I'm against is mandating the same thing for everyone. The down sides include:
  • Strain on joints - The Aerobic workouts were infamous for promoting injuries, using the words, "No Gain Without Pain".
  • Sudden heart attacks in the middle of exercising
  • Body image issues - for women, unhealthy thinness; for men, steroid abuse
  • Failure to modify exercise for difference in body type, physical condition, or disability
During this same time that the federal government has jumped into the Health Promotion Bandwagon, the American population has gone from a relatively healthy condition to overweight, sedentary, and abusing drugs at an ever-increasing rate.

Doesn't seem as though we need the Feds involved. We might do better on our own.
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