I stumble across documentaries and whatnot all the time- if I don't have something to keep my mind active at work besides the generally mundane tasks that consume my week, I would lose my mind.

Most people I know don't really care to learn about all the ways our modern society is slowly killing us, and ignorance is bliss to a certain extent. Panicking and worrying yourself to death would probably the opposite end of that spectrum. Whenever I learn about something in my daily life that nobody ever told me was dangerous, I try to at least learn what I can do to limit my exposure. I find this stuff interesting and compelling, thought it was worth its own thread...

Here's one I ran across today. Pretty interesting:

Good video. My quick advice for healthy living is to give up all processed food, or at least as much as possible.


You may also be interested in this article:

The Scary New Evidence on BPA-Free Plastics
----> http://www.motherjones.com/environme...e-plastic-safe

Seems like every day there is something discovered to be hazardous to our health that at one time was thought to be good for us or our safety. I try to stay away from chemicals as much as possible - threw away most of the cleaning stuff I had long ago and started using a vinegar and water mix instead.

Have you ever seen Food Inc.?

It's funny you mentioned cleaning with vinegar and water. Have you ever looked into the many uses of hydrogen peroxide? It's amazing the things that can be done with it. I have such a horrible memory but there was one about cleaning and it was apparently the best disinfectant. Let me research it again and I will get back to this thread, might be something worth looking into for you guys as well.

Life expectancy in the US in the year 1900 was around 47 years old. Last year its around 78 years on average. Point is, while there are bad things out there that COULD be slowly killing you, overall all those things put together (better pre natal care, antibiotics, vehicle safety, water quality, treated sewage and the list goes on) has dramatically increased our life span.

My philosophy on living the best and highest quality of life possible? One word: Moderation. Want to eat doughnuts? Eat one not a dozen. Want to eat meat? Mix it up and eat all kinds, not just red. Want to exercise? Great idea just don't run a marathon every day or you won't have any joints left. Want a drink? Drink a few beers instead of a liter of Vodka every now and then. Moderation is my story and I'm sticking to it lol.

That's boring.

I'm an engineer, what do you expect?

This is an interesting documentary on the dangers of bottled water to people and the environment, but mostly on people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72MCumz5lq4

I would 'like' every post on here so far but that would be obnoxious. You all posted some great links and insight!

My friends think some of my habits are a little weird, but then again I watch my roommate microwave his TV dinners every night with the plastic melting into his food and wonder about his sanity.

@1engineer you're right on; moderation is key with everything. Is that tasty greasy burger with fries once or twice a week gonna kill you? probably not, but I've slowly realized that we are up to our eyeballs in toxins and unhealthy habits and we wonder why nearly half of our population is expected to develop cancer within their lifetimes, while the going rate was around 7% at the turn of the last century. Not sure about the exact source of those numbers, but its right around those percentages.


Great question: why do we typically keep our cleaning chemicals in the same area we cook our food and bathe?? And store raid and mouse/rat poison in the garage right next to the cupboards with canned food...what?

You guys are right- I started cleaning everything with vinegar and baking soda, and it scours off soap scum, food scraps, burned food on the grill and oven, etc etc. Its cheap and you don't have to spray everything with lysol or bleach.

That documentary was pretty eye opening. Growing up I was exposed a little bit more to butchering animals and what it takes to actually deliver food to the table, but factory ranching and agriculture is a totally diseased and disgusting industry.

Another huge takeaway I got from that documentary; does anyone else have a problem with the face that monsanto genetically modified a version of soybean so they can spray their crops with Round Up? Blew me away that round up is basically a watered down version of agent orange.

@BrianSD_42 , thanks for the BPA article. Reminded me of why I'm buying a reverse osmosis filter for under the kitchen sink. Anyone ever wonder about fluoridated drinking water?

I'm not going to try to change your mind about anything but my opinion on cancer, at least in North America, is simply increased age. If the people back in the 19th century would have lived longer they would have developed it too. I also think cancer killed a lot of people back then but our knowledge of the body was so primitive that it was misdiagnosed. Japanese have the longest life expectancy and always have. In 1900 it was 6 years longer on average and in 2000 it was 4 years longer than us.

The most important thing is not how long we live but the quality of life we have while on this planet. Let's face it - nobody gets out of here alive. Some last longer and some don't. I know people who smoke 3 packs a day and are fine up in their 80's. A friend of mine's child died of cancer at 4 years old. Genetics play a huge role in this too.

Environmental exposure (like your cleaning chemicals) is not good, but in the greater scheme of things it is nowhere near as bad as sitting behind a desk all day and then going home and laying on a couch and then going to bed, all the while drinking Coke and eating Doritos. That's what will kill you faster than Scrubbing Bubbles or DEET will. Just my .02.

but seriously though, I agree. unless you spray the scrubbing bubbles on your doritos and mix the DEET with that classic coke?

One of my all time favorite quotes:

We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing ~ George Bernard Shaw

Gotta keep moving.

@MyHigh , thought I would repost this here haha:
"What do you guys think about fruit and veggies?

Is the recent push to buy organic stemming from the grocers to fear us into purchasing the more expensive produce, or are the chemicals and pesticides used in contemporary produce truly endangering our health. I guess, what would be healthier, eating the right amount of mainstream produce or eating less organic veggies considering the price difference, let's say eating on a budget?


My Ma taught me this little saying when buying produce, it has to do with the stickers placed on them "9 is Devine, 4 is a bore" 9 being organic while 4 being regular. Which these numbers would be the first in a series on the sticker."

I've debated the whole organic thing and how some produce companies definitely do take advantage of it. I think that by and large, you are getting better quality produce than the stuff injected with hormones, antibiotics and insecticides. There have been studies that show organic produce grows healthier and larger than their counterparts.

Personally, the farmers markets in the summer around here bring in produce that is nearly twice the size of the store bought stuff. Even in the store, the organic asparagus is much larger(and waay more expensive) and the broccoli I picked up on Monday were seriously like little trees.

As far as whether you can get away with regular veggies and whatnot, I found this pretty useful:
The dirty dozen and clean 15 of produce | Need to Know | PBS

Produce with uniform skins-apples, mangoes, grapes, etc are easier to wash clean than the leafy stuff that is more likely to absorb the pesticides. If you want to mix and match to suit your budget, that link is a great resource.

You want to eat as LITTLE of any food that contains residual pesticides as possible.

Pesticides, like lead, mercury and Uranium don't leave the body. They build up over time and cause all kinds of problems.