Life styles of human being have changed hugely over the past two
centuries. This started about two hundred years ago with industrial
revolution. Use of oil and energy created another big change because
these changed the pace of life fto very fast. These changes provided a
lot of conveniences and luxuries but they have also changed our eating
habits, which has adversely affected our health because our genes have
been used to what our ancestors were used to for thousands of years.
These conveniences have caused unintended consequences because of
sedentary life style hence increasing risks to human health.
Let us see some of the changes that have damaged our health:
Over Abundance of Calories and Carbohydrates:
Few thousand years ago our ancestors lived on hunted food and gathered wild plants vegetables. This consisted mostly of protein and fat. Agricultural revolution brought us abundance of carbohydrate in our diet. High fructose corn syrup was added only 50 years ago. This is causing increased disease load in people with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Lack of Exercises:
Cars and means of communications are added to our lives just about 100 years ago. Fastest means of transport was horse or camel until then. Now we have become sedentary and non-active with cars and airplanes. Remote-controls fax and internet has made us even worse. Our daily walking used lot of calories in past, which has disappeared and those who are conscious of it now need gyms to work out.
Lack of sunshine and Vitamin D:
With facilities of air conditioning and fast transport our exposure to sun has been severely curtailed. In developed world a substantial percentage of us are hence Vitamin D deficient. This is causing a number of illnesses like depression, Alzheimer’s and cancers. Pundits say that Vitamin D is not only a vitamin but an enzyme that works on every cell of the body.
Radiation:
Our experimentation with radiation is also only about a century old when we started finding the radioactive isotopes. Our experience of radiation started with bombing of Japan in WWII and then three accidents in nuclear reactors since then. With such minimal experience we are thinking to embark on having major part of our need of electricity with nuclear power plants, which is frightening.
Genetically Modified (GM) foods:
We have embarked on this without enough experience and we do not know how it may hurt us. We need to know its long term implications before it is allowed universally.
Hormone supported animal rearing:
Major part of our meat and chicken now comes from farms where hormones and unknown chemical feed stocks are used to fatten the birds and animals. These substances are consumed by us every day with our food.
Chemicals and fertilizers:
These are now major industries to provide us food. The chemicals in the form of fertilizers and pesticides are ingested by us with our food on daily basis. Aside from that the chemicals produced in industries as by-products are disposed in water channels eventually consumed by humans through fish meals.
Possible ways to avoid damage to our health:
Let us see some of the changes that have damaged our health:
Over Abundance of Calories and Carbohydrates:
Few thousand years ago our ancestors lived on hunted food and gathered wild plants vegetables. This consisted mostly of protein and fat. Agricultural revolution brought us abundance of carbohydrate in our diet. High fructose corn syrup was added only 50 years ago. This is causing increased disease load in people with diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Lack of Exercises:
Cars and means of communications are added to our lives just about 100 years ago. Fastest means of transport was horse or camel until then. Now we have become sedentary and non-active with cars and airplanes. Remote-controls fax and internet has made us even worse. Our daily walking used lot of calories in past, which has disappeared and those who are conscious of it now need gyms to work out.
Lack of sunshine and Vitamin D:
With facilities of air conditioning and fast transport our exposure to sun has been severely curtailed. In developed world a substantial percentage of us are hence Vitamin D deficient. This is causing a number of illnesses like depression, Alzheimer’s and cancers. Pundits say that Vitamin D is not only a vitamin but an enzyme that works on every cell of the body.
Radiation:
Our experimentation with radiation is also only about a century old when we started finding the radioactive isotopes. Our experience of radiation started with bombing of Japan in WWII and then three accidents in nuclear reactors since then. With such minimal experience we are thinking to embark on having major part of our need of electricity with nuclear power plants, which is frightening.
Genetically Modified (GM) foods:
We have embarked on this without enough experience and we do not know how it may hurt us. We need to know its long term implications before it is allowed universally.
Hormone supported animal rearing:
Major part of our meat and chicken now comes from farms where hormones and unknown chemical feed stocks are used to fatten the birds and animals. These substances are consumed by us every day with our food.
Chemicals and fertilizers:
These are now major industries to provide us food. The chemicals in the form of fertilizers and pesticides are ingested by us with our food on daily basis. Aside from that the chemicals produced in industries as by-products are disposed in water channels eventually consumed by humans through fish meals.
Possible ways to avoid damage to our health:
- We should avoid excessive calories and carbohydrate to avoid diseases.
- We all need to exercise regularly to keep fit, burn calories and avoid insulin resistance.
- We need to make our own natural Vitamin D by exposing ourselves to sunlight for a few hours a day.
- It is wrong to allow something in our food like GM foods, about which we do not know enough. We must discourage its use until we are sure.
- Natural and synthetic chemicals are growing in number by millions. We should restrict use of unknown chemicals and of those known to hurt.
- Radiation is a new issue from last century. We have accepted its use despite that we know it causes cancer. We need to have more information about it.
