Man Parts

Why is it that the topic of “men’s health” always seems to be a synonym for prostate health or erectile dysfunction? Yes, the prostate gland is important, but there is a whole MAN attached to it and his overall health is vital to the health of all his parts. Let’s look at a few things that are important to consider in whole-body health trajectories that don’t get much attention.

Building blocks: We all played with them as kids. You learned about how a wobbly foundation meant that your castle would fall over more easily than a well built one. You learned about how certain blocks fit together better than others. And you learned that using the bigger blocks on the bottom gave your castle more stability.

Translation: There are a few big pieces to focus on for overall health at the foundation level that will make all the difference in the stability and maintainability of health in the long run. The really cool thing is that all of these are under personal control, not the purview of the pharmaceutical companies or the medical community. In most cases, the biggest contributor to health or dis-ease is what we do (or don’t do) every day.

What to Eat? Start with less... Over-consumption of food and the development of obesity is one of the leading causes of all chronic dis-eases in the US and is directly implicated in the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction (ED), heart dis-ease, diabetes and more.

One of the greatest disservices perpetuated on the American public has been the idea that a low- or no-fat diet is somehow healthy. The key is the type of fat and where it comes from. You actually need some saturated fats along with essential fatty acids, but fake, damaged or contaminated fats are deadly. Low/non-fat conventional dairy products have been linked to prostate cancer, and high intakes of unprotected omega 3 fatty acids (i.e. not enough antioxidants) are linked to the development of BPH.

The same holds true for proteins, especially animal derived proteins. There are vast differences in health consequences between consuming organic, grass-fed, “happy” beef/dairy and commercial, feed-lot, grain (and “other”) fed beef/dairy. Our biggest problem, however, is likely to be highly processed carbohydrates including products made with refined sugars and flours, refined white rice, and starchy veggies that have been subjected to high heat. High-glycemic index carbohydrates (highly processed carbs and sugars) have been linked to prostate cancer and BPH. If I could make a one sentence recommendation for your overall health it would be this: Eat foods that were grown the way they were meant to live (organically) with the least amount of processing possible and prepared with care. If we all did this I would be willing to bet that 80% of our chronic health issues would magically disappear.

What to Drink: Simple, water. Those studies claiming that red wine is beneficial for heart dis-ease? Yeah, those have been found to be mostly false. Sorry. And beer is one of the worst things to indulge in daily, even more so than sodas which are looking worse and worse as the studies roll in. Coffee? Good news! One coffee drink per day is good for the liver and helps to prevent diabetes. The trick is to eliminate the sugar and only use organic grass-fed hormone-free whole milk or half and half. Soy milk? Let’s just say “don’t go there” and leave that for another discussion. Water. Clean, pure, non-distilled water.

What to Do: Another simple answer, move. If there were a medication that could provide all the benefits of exercise, MDs would be sued for malpractice if they didn’t prescribe it for everyone! Basically there are only benefits, even the side effects are beneficial! It’s no wonder because moving is what we were built to do. This modern age has seen a new ill health syndrome develop called SED or sedentary death syndrome. The less you move the greater your chances of early death or a long, drawn out, dis-ease riddled old age. And is it related to BPH, prostate cancer and ED? You bet. No surprise there. The research all shows that the better shape you’re in, the better ALL your man parts work! (And yes, the sex is better too...)

Get the gunk out. Get moving. Get serious about your health. Get REAL.

Storage Units: The Pathologies of Packing and Packing It On

It occurs to me that in this country we have parallel pathologies on the same trajectory to ill health. Have you noticed that nearly every community, no matter how small, has an extra “roll” around the edges of self-storage units? They are sprouting up everywhere. As a culture and a people we can’t seem to let go of “stuff”. We are on a path to collect stuff. We pass on our stuff to our kids and grandkids. We build whole new houses to put more and more stuff in. We forgo investing in businesses to help humanity in favor of the sure bet of building more storage units. We can’t seem to take responsibility for getting rid of the stuff that accumulates. Instead, we make excuses for the amount of stuff we have and stuff that stuff into bigger “clothes”. At the same time, as a people we are stuffing ourselves. We buy more and more low quality foods because we are lead to believe we can afford more of the cheap options. We eat more and more highly processed foods that put our bodies into storage mode. We trick our metabolism into wanting more and more calories so the body can create more storage units and we can buy bigger clothes. We then store the smaller sizes in the storage unit in the event that sometime in the future we will lose weight. The closer I look the more connected I believe these two pathologies are. 

Commonalities in development:

• Abdication of personal responsibility in favor of the “expert opinion” or “just take a pill”.
• The credit culture has eliminated anticipation and saving or working towards a desired goal. Waiting until you can actually afford something is seen as silly now. But because we can have whatever we want “now”, the thrill of the chase is eliminated, we grow weary of our new acquisition quickly, and fixate on the next “must have” item. Whether that is a Big Mac, a 65” TV or a Hummer.
• Dedication to the TV as evidenced by the ever expanding channels and the ever dumbing down of content (we now watch “reality TV” to see what life is like in the outside world).
• Reduction in interest in the physical environment and dissociation of humans from the environment to the point where children can’t recognize a vegetable or understand that chicken doesn’t just materialize in styrofoam and plastic wrap.
• Diminution of actual bodily movement -- the most used appendage seems to have become the thumb and some people manage to move little else. 
• Withdrawal from real human connection in favor of mass media entertainment and virtual worlds.
• Growing inability to communicate effectively which goes hand in hand with the last item.
• Oblivious disregard for personal impact on the environment. With no relationship there is no responsibility for one’s actions.
• Definition of success as accumulation and chronic overabundance, and the denial of the growing problem of excess. Belief that endless expansion is sustainable, but uncontrolled growth is abnormal growth. In cellular terms, this is cancer.
• Inability to find a starting point to make personal changes.
• Lack of tools to create and sustain lasting change.

Re-Style Your Lifestyle:

It's Spring Cleaning Time! Cleaning up and cleaning out your physical storage units has positive impact on many levels not the least of which is you may discover you don't really need most of what you've been storing. You can make money selling it off, or take a tax break for donating your "stuff" to charity. Hey, you may even discover you don't need to be paying rent on that storage unit at all! Now, with that extra money available, you can actually afford to invest in yourSelf. Now you can more easily get to work on your cellular storage units. Now you can afford to join the gym, sign up for Boot Camp, take a nutrition class, and/or upgrade your grocery choices...

More on this as the metaphor manifests... Get A Grip. Get Organized. Get REAL.