Who ever heard of a sprint marathon?

Ok, the title of this entry is a pertinent misnomer, so here we go...

If you live long enough you should have noticed by now that most of the nice tasting things are not good for your health. Cola drinks, candy bars, and spicy, highly seasoned foods are just a few.

Until we find that one of today's killer diseases (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular problems, etc) takes residence in our lives we persist in carrying our hope for health and longevity and our careless eating habits in the same basket.

You cannot have it both ways. Ignoring healthy lifestyle practices AND living life just for the fun of it don't co-exist for long. If you know you have predisposition to diabetes, for example, stop courting it!

None of us has a guarantee on longevity, but we need to purposefully avoid unhealthy eating habits, however tasty or popular the stuff is. It's not encouraging to me to continue ignoring "cause and effect" when I learn of the deaths of two Mcdonald's Corporation CEO's in quick succession. Jim Cantalupo, 60, died in April 2004 of a heart attack, and then his successor Charlie Bell, 44, of colorectal cancer in January 2005.

None of us can say the whoppers may have whopped, but studies after studies prove that fast foods and those life-terminating conditions go hand in hand.

If you are eating for the nice taste alone you are like a sprinter. Statistically, you enjoy life for ten seconds. If you are eating (primarily) to live and only eat what's good and healthy (including copius amounts of fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables), you are a marathoner. You are in the race for the long haul.

Longevity is not guaranteed in either case, but the odds are better that you will make it like an Okinawan, a Sardinian, or a Loma Linda Seventh-day Adventist. The good thing about the lifestyles and eating habits of these people (said to be the healthiest and live the longest) is that they mostly go to hospitals to visit others. They seldom get sick. They run the race to the finish, mostly without retiring hurt. And they prove that...

...there's no such thing as a sprint marathon in life's race. Are you going for the marathon, or the sprint?