Genes or choices?

Quite a few emails land in my box every week, I try and answer them all, eventually. I like to hear what you are getting up to, and it's nice that my blogging efforts are appreciated. I've picked this one out to reply here, I know who sent it but I shall leave the name off, I don't need to identify the writer.

Hi Ilona,

I am almost 4 1/2 years older than you are and I am wondering if your diet and lifestyle are keeping you off all medications?  I am pretty fit but have had to take a statin to control my cholesterol and now fosamax to help my bones.  I also take vitamins.  I am also warned that I am pre-diabetic.

I know you eat a vegetarian diet and I do not.  Also you walk SO far.  I do 2 miles every day but that's it.

I am not sure if it is your lifestyle or your genetics which keep you so healthy!

Thanks.

Hi. So I am 65 and you are 69, not much between us. It's difficult to say why one person appears to be healthy and another has problems, there are so many variables to be taken into consideration. I suspect that genetics do play a big part in our makeup, we can inherit the wrong genes from our parents and grandparents, but they are not the whole reason why we become ill. There has been talk in the press lately that people should take more responsibility for themselves, because self inflicted illnesses brought on by unhealthy lifestyles are costing the NHS millions. You only have to walk down the High Street in any town or city to see that there are more overweight people around these days, and that can't all be put down to genetics. True, some people may be prone to put on weight through some malfunction of certain organs in their body, and those people do genuinely need help from the medical profession, but now they are talking about offering gastric bands to more and more people as a cost cutting measure, meaning they won't have to spend so much money at a later date when people become incapacitated through excess weight.

Leaving all the genetic reasons aside why some people are not as healthy or more healthy than others, I believe the rest is down to lifestyle choices. You've heard the saying, 'You are what you eat', which makes sense to me. The body is like a car engine, you've got to put the right fuel and lubricants in to get optimum performance out of it. You've got to drive it right as well. If you thrash it around and neglect the servicing, you get a shit ride and eventually it will grind to a halt, just like a body would, given the same treatment.

Another factor which I think affects how the body performs is how you cope with the stresses and strains of every day living. Some people don't give a stuff about anything, they sail through life with apparently not a care in the world. Others will worry about every minor detail, however insignificant it is. I am somewhere in the middle, leaning more towards not giving a stuff. I have been a worrier in the past, worried what people think about me, not any more. That was when I was young, I am older now and more able to cope. I do think about what is happening to the world, the violence, the nastiness going on all around us, but I can't do anything about it so I try not to dwell on it, and can only hope that what goes round comes round.That might seem like a 'burying my head in the sand', attitude, but I think of it as self preservation.

Of course, mental attitude can also be linked to genetics. I think I take after my father, he had a carefree nature, if anything bothered him his answer was to go to the pub. Mum on the other hand was a worrier, oh my goodness did she worry. I'm not sure if that was what sent her to an early grave, but it couldn't have helped. Father died too early as well, but that was mainly through alcohol and tobacco abuse, something that won't affect me.

I believe that most of us, and I'm talking about able bodied here, have choices. We can choose what we put in our mouths, and we can choose whether to get up off our backsides. Nobody force feeds us with crap, it is all out there in the shops, we don't have to eat it. Nobody ties us to the settee and tells us to watch TV hour after hour, we can choose not to switch it on, or in my case, not to have a TV at all.

To sum up, I can fall off the wagon, I am not perfect. I can have a packet of crisps, or an ice cream or a choc bar, but to keep things in perspective, these are treats and not everyday food items. Remember the advert years ago, A Mars a day helps you work rest and play'. Ha, they got that wrong didn't they. They should make an up to day advert now, A Mars a day will make you fat, rot your teeth, give you spots, and bring on the diabetes.

Regarding my level of fitness, I was always active. I did a manual job for many years. As well as sitting in a lorry cab I also loaded and unloaded it. I physically lifted five hundred bicycles out of box trailers. I roped and sheeted wagon loads of timber or beer barrels. I chained massive lumps of machinery down on my low loader. I multi dropped fifty parcels, or catering deliveries a day. I delivered three piece suites and carpets to furniture shops. I was up and down inside tipper trailers pulling the fly sheet over and fastening it down. It was chuffin hard work, but now I am so grateful that I chose that career, and didn't opt for an office job.

Who knows what the future holds for me healthwise. I've tried my best, I won't worry about it now, just wait and see what cards I've been dealt. Keep on doing what I am doing. Try to keep to a healthy diet, try to keep busy, and keep on using my brain for as long as it functions. That's all I can do.
Thanks for reading. Going to get up off my backside now and go for a walk. Toodle pip.