10 Common Health Tips to Ignore
Hey, if you like any of these items, that's great. To each their own. For me, these tiresome tips to live healthier should be shelved post-haste.
1. Take a cold shower.
I have a better idea. You take a cold shower. I'll take a nice, hot, relaxing shower while you shiver and suffer.
2. Wear sunscreen.
Most people don't get enough sunlight on their skin. It's nature's way to provide the best Vitamin D (much better than supplements), enliven the mind, awaken the senses, and reduce depression.
There's a limit, of course. For instance, I live in Arizona, so there is a good deal of sunlight here; therefore, if I'm going to be out longer than one hour, I put on sunscreen (35-50 SPF).
3. Cure (fill-in-the-blank disease) with essential oils.
Sure they smell nice (sometimes...sometimes not), but show me one study (or even one person) that displays evidence essential oils do anything but waste your money.
4. Exercise to eat what you want.
Running is perhaps the most efficient form of cardiovascular exercise to burn calories, and at best you're burning between 80-150 calories per mile (depending on gender, age, weight, height, etc.). That doughnut you can't keep your hands off of? It's 600 calories. One doughnut.
5. Eat soy.
Soy contains phytoestrogens, which reduces testosterone; some studies suggest it is correlated with cancer.
6. Eat more whole grains.
While I'm not entirely anti-grains, I believe most people consume too much of it. Too much means higher inflammation which leads to all sorts of health issues.
7. Use Q-Tips to clean your ears.
No. You risk pushing the wax back in your ear and causing ear damage. Not to mention the damage you might cause if you push the thing in too far (ouch!). The ears naturally clean themselves, and the earwax you so want to remove is there to help protect your ear canal.
8. Eat 4-6 small meals per day.
This nonsense was popularized in the 90s by strength supplement companies that wanted to encourage their consumers to purchase more of their meal replacement products. The human body isn't designed to eat that much food or to eat that often.
9. Megadose Vitamin C to prevent getting a cold.
This old myth has long since been debunked (of course, the supplement companies that sell Vitamin C keep pushing it in their ads). It might help reduce symptoms, at best, but it won't prevent you from getting the virus.
10. Follow any health advice that celebrities are peddling.
Gwyneth Paltrow believes in getting stung by bees to reduce inflammation. Shailene Woodley suggests eating clay to reduce metals in the body. Demi Moore uses leeches (leeches!) to detoxify. Need I continue?
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