How Can People Be Healthy Even When They Don't Eat A Healthy Diet?

[Curt :-)]

This is an odd question, one that has had me wondering for some time now.

How do people who have terrible diets and lifestyles remain, at least for a portion of their lives, in good health?

Let me clarify that, yes, of course, their poor practices will likely one day catch up on them. And when I say "good health" I am not suggesting that they are in a superior physical state, just that they possess a strong libido, high energy, mental clarity, good mood/motivation, and are not overweight or under-muscled.

I have several friends who possess all these qualities, yet subsist on beer, cigarettes, junk food, big nights out and bad sleeping habits. I am talking about people in their 20's and 30's. I don't have friends in their 40's (I assume things start to south by then?).

I posed this question on another forum and the responses were just stupid: "They're just lying about having a high libido to sound cool", "Show me the research that a ***t diet causes good health!". Um, what?

Looking forward to hearing from you guys

Curt

 

[j.]

If they have really good thyroid function, maybe inherited from their parents, I think only a really big stress combined with a bad diet can knock them young quickly while they're young.

 

[Suikerbuik]

Interesting question, can't agree more with what j. said. It certainly depends what you inherit (epi-, genetics, hormone levels, microbiome, nutrient profile,... ) most of these already start in mom's tummy (her health is a Major factor), and also the physical environment in which someone grew up in early ages.

It's without question the big stress that ruins health fast, but the human body is extremely flexible and adaptive and is able to deal with very long ongoing low stress, especially in early ages (until 30 imo).

But my definition of health is already different than yours.. I find it really difficult to judge about health based on ostenation. Many people, although they seem to function well, are suffering - they just don't know the signs we know now.

 

[Ben]

Young people are most often healthy. But people gain weight and lose muscle as they age, get sexual dysfunctions, lose spirit and just want to "get by", develop diseases, and lose any hope of success because most people aren't satisfied when they grow old and regret they didn't take more risks or be heroic when they were young. But young people have hope for success, and they are physiologically healthier. RP said optimism includes a willingness to assimilate new information and adjust behavior accordingly (yes, from someone's sig), but a lot of people lie to themselves, live in denial, and accept things at face value. Lying to oneself and repressing the truth produces background stress and also requires effort.

While I have had hypothyroidism since a young age, the amount of spirit I always had indicates I had a lot of energy in a certain system since a young age, so lack of energy can be specific or general (like thyroid function). I still have health problems like acne, dandruff, and rosacea, but apparently my energy went for spirit. I'd rather have that than appear to be healthy like others but try to fit in and not stand up for myself.

 

[charlie]

Do you know that these unhealthy eaters are truly healthy?

 

[Curt :-)]

@Charlie, I'm not saying these kind of people are particularly healthy, and as Suikerbuik suggested, "health" is a subjective term. But regardless, I think being happy, energized, productive and at least appearing (aesthetically) to be in good health is just about all one could ask for. What more could you want?

I'm just spitballing here:
- People like this seem of a very calm/positive nature. Perhaps low mental/emotional stress helps promote health moreso than one would expect? Of course, this may just the effects of a proper functioning thyroid.
- People that eat "junk food" may eat a lot of sugar, and not so much fat. In Aus, crappy diets tend to be full of carbs, not so much bad fats. z
- Non-health conscious people often go long periods of time without eating (as they just don't think about food). This is anti-thyroid, I know, but according to some other schools of thought, this can promote detoxification and good health.

 

[Ben]

- People like this seem of a very calm/positive nature. Perhaps low mental/emotional stress helps promote health moreso than one would expect? Of course, this may just the effects of a proper functioning thyroid.

When people have low-stress personalities, their cortisol is "naturally" low and results in better thyroid function for example. But the drawback is that high-stress personalities are more attracted to healthy dieting, while the low-stress personality would be kind of reckless and neglect their health. An example of this is that men with higher testosterone (which reduces HPA axis activity) smoke and drink more and get into more accidents, but suffer from less heart disease and live longer. A high-stress personality can choose to turn into a low-stress personality if importance of personality on health is realized, since such a personality is likely to care about health. It's a slow process, but possible.

 

[j.]

Maybe the cause and effect is the other way around. Good hormonal profile lets people relax.

 

[Ben]

Maybe the cause and effect is the other way around. Good hormonal profile lets people relax.

RP thinks it goes both ways. I also think it goes both ways.

 

[j.]

Maybe the cause and effect is the other way around. Good hormonal profile lets people relax.

RP thinks it goes both ways. I also think it goes both ways.

Probably, but people who had bad hormonal profile from childhood might've never had a chance to develop a relaxed personality, or don't have a memory of what is like to be that way to have it as a goal.

 

[solaire_of_astora]

I tend to believe that people who are vibrant despite having a stressful diet or lifestyle, are such because they inherited a good "hormonal profile". They may have also had a really good childhood.

I think that you can also inherit more of one parent's "hormonal profile" than another;s. I tend to be anxious and weak whereas my dad is resilient and calm.

 

[seeyeff]

I'm sure you can think of some examples of people who don't eat a healthy diet but still have better health somehow.

Some people would say that these healthy people have good genetics, but what are those genetics actually doing that is producing the good health?

Or, simply think of your own youthful health. I know for sure that I was not eating a healthy diet when I was younger but I had better health, energy, full head o' hair, etc.

It obviously wasn't diet that was the source of my good health, so what was? Is it just youthful hormones?

What is it about the youthful biological state that promotes health and vitality so robustly?

 

[halken]

Loneliness and lack of interdependency.

 

[XPlus]

When I approach these ideas, I mainly think of prenatal imprinting.

Someone whose parents (including grandparents and ancestors) were less stressed through out their life is likely to endure more stress than someone whose parents went through a lot of stress: contraceptive pills, environmental toxins, excess PUFAs, radiation, inadequate breastfeeding, vaccinations, living in the dark, excess O2, malnutrition, excessive physical and emotional stress. This epigentic deterioration can possibly be carried out from one generation to the next, leaving the next generation even weaker.

Also, the behavioral patterns expressed towards diet and lifestyle of those less stressed individuals are likely to be better. For example, an obese person may have the tendency to eat a lot of starch and PUFA, while they're pushed to eat more salad and calorie-restrict simultaneously. In contrast, a slim person is likely to favor, milk, cornflakes, red meat, soda, all while not be pushed to eat raw vegetables and go on a diet.

 

[onioneyedox]

I believe state of mind has lot to do with it, childhood environment plays big role on that of course. Maybe some people are more oblivious physiological stressors also, due to their genetics or w/e.

I believe most people should be able (minus odd extreme cases) to live relatively healthy and energetic lives at least to their 40's in almost any diet if they are otherwise able to live stress free life. Maybe later very bad diet will wear anyone out.

Pboy wrote good post here viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6562&start=30#p79589

 

[jyb]

When I approach these ideas, I mainly think of prenatal imprinting.

I agree. If you are born with a more resistant "system", it seems like you can eat trash with much less negative consequences. It's like you're absorbing whatever nutrients there is from food, but also able to heal from its contaminants. In terms of pufa, this might involve having a metabolism such that it burns them right away and avoids storing them.

This seems to be the only explanation for me. I see many people is excellent health who eat average diets and have never heard of liver/oysters nor pufa avoidance. If I ate their diets for just 1 diet...I might already notice negative consequences. And I think this points to me having sub-optimal health rather than them being special. I mean, is it reasonable to break down after just 1 day? Surely we are meant to be much more resistant.

 

[cantstoppeating]

I'm sure you can think of some examples of people who don't eat a healthy diet but still have better health somehow.

Some people would say that these healthy people have good genetics, but what are those genetics actually doing that is producing the good health?

Or, simply think of your own youthful health. I know for sure that I was not eating a healthy diet when I was younger but I had better health, energy, full head o' hair, etc.

It obviously wasn't diet that was the source of my good health, so what was? Is it just youthful hormones?

What is it about the youthful biological state that promotes health and vitality so robustly?

Yes, it's largely the youth associated hormones and largely because it takes time for the damage to accumulate.

During early to mid twenties is when we first experience the dramatic decline in health and with it the symptoms like balding, poor libido and energy.

As far as the body is concerned, mid-twenties is when it's time to start shutting down -- a decline in all sorts of good hormones occurs with the toll of bad childhood eating habits becoming apparent.

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

Ya they're probably not constantly stressing about the details - including diet. So they recover faster and have less stress.

 

[seeyeff]

epigentic deterioration can possibly be carried out from one generation to the next, leaving the next generation even weaker.

Interesting. I wonder what the mechanism for this could be...

So if a child develops in sub-optimal circumstances (nutrition, environment, etc.) then it will effectively put a permanent limit on healthiness? In other words, the child of a malnourished mother is screwed, no matter the potential of his DNA.

So even if the future has nothing but Genetically-Modified Humans, with no more congenital disease or genetic health limitations, it would still be necessary to have good nutrition to enable good health? The body can grow and be healthy unless it has the raw materials, like a plant that cannot grow without soil, air and sunshine.

There seems to be a contradiction here though: can a robust genetics overcome poor nutrition, or will poor nutrition hamper the robust genetics. I guess both are true?

 

[seeyeff]

I believe state of mind has lot to do with it

Ya they're probably not constantly stressing about the details - including diet. So they recover faster and have less stress.

I think that psychology can have an effect on health, but I don't think that mental state is the cause of declining health.

If being oblivious caused good health virtually everyone would have good health.

I think it's the other way around. Declining health causes stress and worry because people don't want their health to decline and they want to do what they can to reverse it.

In other words, if everyone was lean and fit and energetic and healthy, very few people would still want to research and implement the ideal diet. Probably the only people left would be those concerned about the ethical and environmental effects of certain diets.

I know if I wasn't trying to improve my health via diet, I would just eat whatever I wanted and not think about it. And I bet that would be true of most people.