Bad Information

Be Aware (or Beware) of the information you are getting and where you are getting it from.  When you start to get healthier and really feel the effects of many small choices, you may be want to start making more lifestyle and activity choices.  Be careful where you are getting your information from.  The internet has some very valuable and reliable info (like this blog) and some terrible advice as well.  Your friends and loved ones also are great sources of information and they will also be terrible sources of information.

Let me illustrate this point with the story of some research I did last year about this time.  I was interested in learning more about eating seeds and the health benefits that they provide.  There is a wide variety of opinions about eating fruit seeds.  The opinions range from the medical community's stance that if you swallow a Apple seed you will likely survive, but should consider calling Poison Control to what I will call the "Hippy" position that seeds are very beneficial to overall health.  One belief is that Apricot seeds can cure cancer and on the other end of the spectrum I found that medical doctors called this belief foolishness.  One post said that if you eat a cup (8oz) of Apple seeds you will likely die.  I wholeheartedly agree with that, but if you eat a cup (8 oz) of tylenol you will also die.  Does that mean we should never take tylenol?

You will need to use some common sense and try things out for yourself.  I am not taking a position on the eating of seeds (I do regularly eat Apple seeds as part of my normal diet).  I am just using this example to illustrate the spectrum of information that you will receive when you begin to research on the internet and with friends and family.

If you have heard of a healthy habit or practice that seems a little odd, but it is something you would like to try, by all means give it a shot in moderation.  I have added coconut oil into my diet.  I really went at it this winter because it was supposed to fight infection and kill cold germs.  I didn't experience those benefits in a major way, but the whole jar only cost me about 15 bucks.  Experiment and learn what works for you.  Do it cheaply at first before making a major money commitment.  I am sure that some of the information you receive will be great, some will need to be discarded.

I would love to hear your stories about some things you have tried and that worked, or even that failed, as you try to make healthy decisions.  Have a great day, I am off to brew my green tea.