Prophylaxis: Harm Reduction from the dangers of living

[Jamshyd]

What do you folks do to keep dis-ease at bay?

I am not talking about life-etension/avoiding death.

I am talking about avoiding pain due to bodily dysfunction/infection through prevention.

It is sort of like drug HR - all drug use is harmful to a degree, but such harm can be minimized with proper use. Life is guaranteed to bring us pain - how do we minimize this?

Yes, I know that diet is the beginning of all this. So please do share specific dietary practices that you know to be prophylactic.

But yes - I just want to reiterate that my focus here is not preventing death, but preventing pain due to disease, whether it leads to death or not.

I find, far too often, that prophylactic discussions revolve around the prevention of cancer...etc. I am talking about preventing painful things like gallstones, skin sores, ...etc

And in case someone decides to say "opiates"... GTFO! .

 

[thujone]

i tend to look at the people around me and avoid their mistakes. a smoker friend got pleurisy, next day i put down the pack. my parents both had kidneystones, so instead of abusing coffee like they do i drink cocoa instead, loaded with potassium that prevents kidneystones. that aside i try not to eat too many foods that are manufactured rather than grown and keep it varied

 

[dokomo]

It seems to me that it is the simple things that end up being most important for this type of prevention.

A couple of things I do:

- Take really good vitamins. I take GNC essential greens vitapaks because they are independently tested to actually have what they say they do, and also for proper dissolution.

- Practice good hygiene. The easy basic stuff, brush teeth, shower daily, lotion for skin when needed.

- Good diet. I don't care what any other health nuts out there say, it IS difficult to eat healthy these days but these days I make a concerted effort to do it. I eat alot of boneless skinless chicken breasts, ground white turkey, etc that are really lean, good sources of protein. Even if you're out and have to get fast food, everywhere has grilled chicken sandwiches. Take the top bun off and you're golden. Of course fresh vegetables like spinach and other garden greens are essential too.

- Meditation. Whether you're religious or not, some kind of relaxation or meditation is absolutely great. I never was that kind of person that "meditated" or did yoga or anything (and actually thought it was mostly bullshit) but now looking back I can see that it has really improved my life. A little meditation can undo a days worth of stress in a short time.

 

[euphoria]

run a couple miles most days of the week, every day if i can.

drink a ton of water all day long.

 

[L2R]

i drink heaps of water and green tea.
i constantly make jokes about almost everything around me, but not inappropriately or rudely.
i give people the benefit of the doubt and CHOOSE to view reality with OPTIMISM.

people have always said i look young for my age. i think that my humour and optimism are directly responsible for this.

 

[dokomo]

i drink heaps of water and green tea.
i constantly make jokes about almost everything around me, but not inappropriately or rudely.
i give people the benefit of the doubt and CHOOSE to view reality with OPTIMISM.

people have always said i look young for my age. i think that my humour and optimism are directly responsible for this.

Positivity is good, but are you really talking about forcing optimism versus something like realism?

 

[L2R]

there's nothing forced about it. i let myself see things as a half full glass quite instinctively because i know, should something go wrong (like it seemingly does quite often) I am able to simply deal with it. in my time here, one of the greatest truths i've personally come across is: more often than not, not getting what you want becomes a great blessing.

so it's all good, mate.

also, what passes as "realism", both on the personal and political scales, is the opposite. It focuses on all that is wrong and could potentially be wrong in order to prepare, but this strongly exaggerates what seems to be wrong. The ability to deal with unpleasant situations with a little more preparation is not worth the everpresent pessimistic perspective required for such preparation imo.

 

[n3ophy7e]

^^ I agree IP, positivity and realism have a lot to answer for in the general health and wellbeing of a person

I don't have anything additional to add to what others have already offered, really. But I must emphasise the following:

*drink at least 2L of water a day
*engage in some form of exercise every day
*stick to a healthy balanced diet, high in lean meats, green vegetables and complex carbohydrates, with minimal simple sugars and saturated fats
*if you can, take a good quality multi-vitamin every day

And I'll also add the following:

*ensure you are getting enough fibre to maintain regularity (important for reducing the risk of bowel cancer )
*make sure you get regular health checks with your doctor including blood tests, prostate checks, PAP smears, etc.
*be aware of your family's disease history so you can be on alert for any early symptoms of these diseases.

I also don't smoke cigarettes. Really the only toxin that I frequently put in to my body is alcohol, and I'm working on drastically reducing that because I am well-aware of the associated health risks.

 

[dokomo]

there's nothing forced about it. i let myself see things as a half full glass quite instinctively because i know, should something go wrong (like it seemingly does quite often) I am able to simply deal with it. in my time here, one of the greatest truths i've personally come across is: more often than not, not getting what you want becomes a great blessing.

so it's all good, mate.

also, what passes as "realism", both on the personal and political scales, is the opposite. It focuses on all that is wrong and could potentially be wrong in order to prepare, but this strongly exaggerates what seems to be wrong. The ability to deal with unpleasant situations with a little more preparation is not worth the everpresent pessimistic perspective required for such preparation imo.

I see, I just don't understand because this has not been my experience in life. I consider myself a realist, but I share most of the qualities that you list above. In my experience it doesn't require a pessimistic outlook to prepare for the future, all it takes is a realistic acknowledgment of your possibilities, deciding what you want to happen, and simply making the choice to make that happen. This is all with the understanding that we cannot control everything and every outcome, and you have to be ok of that. Having realistic expectations, essentially.

My best friend is an "optimist" and his purely optimistic thinking and lack of considering those "pessimistic" future decisions has gotten him into a marriage that he doesnt want to be in among other really shitty life situations right now. Not thinking about, or somewhat planning for, the future because thats being "pessimistic" seems like somewhat of a cop-out to me.

 

[L2R]

Optimism isn't synonymous with carelessness. It looks like your friend takes optimism too far.

It seem that we are more alike than we thought, we just use different words to describe what we do.

 

[ranunky]

I brush my teeth sometimes, it stops my gums from getting sore.