3 Major Things You Can Do To Stop Killing Yourself Ever So Slowly

Our friends at FamilyDoctor.org tell us, the Top 10 Causes of Death (in order) include:

1. Heart Disease
2. Cancer
3. Chronic lower respiratory disease, primarily Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD
4. Stroke
5. Accidents (many are alcohol-related)
6. Alzheimer’s disease
7. Diabetes
8. Kidney disease
9. Flu and pneumonia
10. Intentional self-harm (suicide)

The top four of these diseases kill over 2 million Americans each year. We are all dying, some of us faster than others; and chances are one of these top ten diseases is eventually going to get us sooner or later. Our goal here at Great! All the Time! is to help you use your Greatness! to make death wait as long as possible. There are plenty of things you can do to stop yourself from dying from any of these Top 10 causes of death any sooner than you should.

Here are 3 of the most important ones:

1. If you smoke, then Quit Smoking! If you don’t smoke, then don’t start and stay the heck away from people who are smoking. Second hand smoke will kill you just as much as smoking by yourself.
2. Eat less CRAPF (the P is silent; the acronym refers to Commercially Refined And Processed Foods), fewer high-fat foods, and more fruits and vegetables.
3. Be more physically active.

Doing just one of these things will improve your health and reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

You know you should eat fewer low-nutritional-density (high-calories for little nutrition) foods, fewer high-fat foods and more fruits and vegetables, but do you know what’s wrong with CRAPF? (hint: the P is silent)

We all know high-calorie and high-fat foods are bad for us and fruits and vegetables are important sources of vitamins, minerals and fiber. To improve your eating habits, you’ll want to cut down on foods that are high in fat and calories, like sweetened soft drinks, teas, energy drinks, pizza, and hamburgers. By replacing those foods with healthier choices, like increasing your fruits and vegetables, you’ll get better nutritional density from the foods you eat. We all know this, too.

But what we don’t know is how much commercial refiners and processors of food strip away the nutritional elements of the foods they process. Why don’t we know this? Because the processing, the P part of the CRAPF cycle is silent.

The P in CRAPF is silent. Not only in the pronunciation of the acronym, but also in the refining and processing steps themselves. We, as food consumers, don’t see the refining and processing; we don’t hear it; and, because the refiners and processors add back so much sugar and other things to the foods they are refining and processing, we don’t taste the absence of the nutritional components of the food they push at us with billions of advertising dollars either.

Wise up! Stop eating this CRAPF (because the P is silent)!

1. Learn to enjoy more fruits and vegetables.
2. Learn how to prepare and cook your own food instead of letting commercial refiners and processors do it for you.
3. Learn how to pair your fruits and vegetables with small amounts of fresh, lean, unprocessed meat, chicken, or, even better, fish, reducing your animal protein intake to a condiment level instead of it being the entire entree.

Talk with your family doctor or a dietitian if you have questions about your diet or healthy eating for your family.

In the meantime, you GOTTABGATT! so go out there today and be Great! All the time!