Most of the Docs that I know do very little until the get into heart attack territory.
By that I mean until they hit their early 50's and start seeing their friends, mentors and colleagues dropping over or altering their life styles greatly because of heart disease.
Other than having a Cardiologist standing over you with a 3 foot long rod he's about to jam into a major blood vessel in your leg and worm up through your heart, few things are more frightening.
If that image alone is enough to scare you, go grab your fish oil bottle right now and you'll be doing something about it once you swallow those little golden capsules.
I saw a former partner of mine (we are still good friends) the other day and I must say he looked "Mahvelous".
Since the last time I saw him he dropped at least 30 pounds. He looked like a younger, trimmer version of his former self.
I asked him what happened.
"Had a scare," he said. "Wound up getting cathed (that big long hose up your blood vessel). They told me I had some blockages but they were not causing my chest pain.
They wanted to put me on a statin but I said, 'NO Way!'"
How's that for faith in the medical system? I didn't ask him how many statin prescriptions he's written in his life time.
Any who, all of this happened in the face of an email I got a few weeks ago that went like this:
"Doc, my husband and I are in our 50's, have heart disease and diabetes in our families and are both 30 pounds or so over weight.
I read you emails and blogs and I see all this great info about supplements diets, and exercise.
Our problem is we have a mutual friend who says that they have never proven any real health benefits to exercise. She thinks that most people are wasting their time. She is thin but smokes and drinks quite a bit.
Is their any proof that exercise really helps make you healthier or is she full of hot air?'
Carol J
The reason this one made the blog is that it brings up some very important issues one of which is that some people, perhaps a majority of people in this country, still do not exercise.
Here is my answer to Carol:
Carol, I think your friend is full of hot toxic air, namely tar and nicotine.
As a matter of fact I have a good nose for neurosis and I think your friend has a bit of an addictive personality and is trying to justify her smoking and drinking with a "it doesn't matter anyway" attitude.
I see this a lot among smokers and drinkers.
In other words, we call it denial. And stubbornness. Many people who are still smoking are still smoking to prove a point. They are tired of being told not to smoke and Dammit, no one is going to tell them what to do. They are defending their right to lung cancer and society's right to pay for it.
Another excuse I hear is the "My Dad smoked 'til he was 90 and didn't get lung cancer" excuse. No one is more shocked than these people when that ugly spot shows up on their chest film.
Alcoholism is even tougher so we won't touch that here, but be careful who you take your health advice from.
So now that we have scratched the surface of your question we have also used up the "eyeball time" your boss allows you at work, so we'll look at some specific evidence pro and con for exercise in the next post.
The answers will surprise you.
See you then,
The King of Pharmaceutical Grade Fish Oil
Dr Dave
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