Survival__ Structuring Prosperity for Yourself and the Nation - Charles George Smith [180]
Thus it is critical to distinguish between what we could control if we chose to and what we cannot control. We cannot control our genetic propensities for longevity or disease, but research suggests that our health and longevity are roughly one-third heredity and two-thirds lifestyle (diet and activity).
The classic proof of this is the Pima Indians of the southwest U.S. Genetically identical Pima tribes inhabit the U.S. and Mexico; only the arbitrary national border divides the tribe. Unfortunately, the U.S. inhabitants eat an American diet, and thus they have extremely high rates of diabetes and related illnesses. Diabetes is essentially unknown amongst their Mexican brethren who consume a lower calorie traditional Mexican diet.
The heredity factor is identical in both groups, so the overwhelming influence of lifestyle is evident.
According to Dr. James Marks, a former Assistant Surgeon General and now senior vice president at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, no more than 15 percent of preventable mortality is linked to health care. Ultimately, No one can save us from ourselves except ourselves.
In reaching an integrated understanding of food, diet, activity and health, we become aware of how we cede control over our own lives and full-spectrum prosperity in the simple acts of buying unhealthy products and absorbing mass-media propaganda and marketing.
No one can save us from ourselves except ourselves; self-defeating and self-destructive behavior is only within our control and no one else's. Ultimately, no one can make us do anything; we make our own decisions. An integrated understanding includes an adult understanding and accountability.
If I watch hours of network/cable TV every day then I have ceded a considerable amount of my attention and productive time to what a handful of global mass-media corporations deem "newsworthy" or "entertaining," along with the advertisements and marketing which enriches them at the expense of my productive time. I have thus surrendered control of my productive time to these corporations.
The goal of an integrated understanding is to make a realistic assessment of what serves your best interests and what does not serve your best interests, and then act on that awareness.
Health is perhaps the most important aspect of what I term full-spectrum prosperity because if we lose or degrade our health then we can no logner work as long and effectively, nor can we enjoy the pursuit of happiness as vigorously.
Thus the integrated understanding of food/diet/cooking/activity/health is integral to full-spectrum prosperity. No amount of money or technology can restore health once it has been squandered, and "prosperity" loses meaning when health has been lost.
The causal chain connecting growing food, diet, nutrition, cooking, activity and health is just one example of an integrated understanding.
At a minimum, we should each seek an understanding of the FEW essentials (food, energy, water) in our home region and the nation's interlocking political and financial power structure--the goal of this book.
In seeking to understand energy, it means having some grasp of the inherent ambiguity of "proven reserves" (i.e. knowing this number is manipulated for political purposes); knowing what open-pit coal mines and tar-sands mining operations look like; understanding the concept of energy density and "equivalent barrels of oil" so apples-to-apples comparisons can be made, the total energy consumed by the nation and the world at large, etc.
Such a working knowledge is readily available from the Web or books. Without this basic grasp of the physical realities of energy, then a citizen is easily misled by propaganda which exploits their ignorance. For instance: "We have enough shale oil to last 400 years."
Really? How much energy does it take to produce a barrel of light crude oil from tons of shale?