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My cousin is 65 years old, he has been a smoker for the last 45 years, all his life he has eaten, and *continues* to eat the unhealthiest foods on a regular basis - full of grease, fat and processed foods - eggs, sausages and bacon for breakfast, fatty Indian and Thai curries, red meat etc. for lunch and dinner. I mean he eats without restriction - when and how much he wants without a care in the world, doing this for over 40 YEARS!!! He drinks alcohol but only 2 or 3 times a week in moderation - this is the only thing he does in moderation. However he has 3-4 cans of cola a day (total of 170g of refined sugar!!! ), infact he had 2 cans just over a period of 4 hrs when I was visiting him which made ME cringe but he was totally oblivious to that fact...
He has always lead a super sedentary life, his only exercise is getting in his car and going to the grocery store. He is fairly overweight but not obese.
Despite all this abuse to his system for 45 years of his life, he seems to be in good health and has made it to 65 years of age without any health issues. He says he feels great. His argument is that if he makes it another 5 years to 70 he would've lived his life to the fullest and really wouldn't have regrets because he ate and drank what he wanted all his life as opposed to severely limiting the enjoyment of his life to just gain 5 or 10 years more in life expectancy.
My question - with his lifestyle I am even surprised he is in such good health at 65 and looks like 70 will be not an issue. Is this due to genetics?
Oh, and he has had very elevated levels of cholesterol since his mid 30s, his attitude - Skrew my cholesterol levels they have always been high and I am still standing
We hear so much about the detrimental effects of bad food but is it exaggerated? Perhaps the body can take a lot more abuse than we imagine...or perhaps this is only in some people with certain genes? I mean, with his lifestyle per the medical community this guy should've had a heart attack 10 years ago but who knows how these things really work...
Of course genetics is a big part of it, and other environmental factors we don't understand.
Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer. Why is that? Likely genetics.
Unfortunately, he is the example that people point to and say.... "if he can do it, I can too...."
But for most of us, we would not be so lucky.
It is also possible that he may be eating a lower carb, but high fat/protein diet. We are starting to learn that this sort of diet may not be as bad as we thought in the past.
When my Dad was on the Atkin's diet - he ate bacon/eggs/sausage every day for breakfast, and the weight MELTED off. And his cholesterol dropped!
What's silly is the guy you described knows he has high cholesterol. Ok... if you don't want to change your diet, there's a medicine that would only cost $5 per month that could extend his life and prevent a heart attack. So I call him shortsighted, and a bad example for that reason.
But hey.... what a nice life to eat anything/everything that you enjoy! Eating is one of life's simple pleasures.
What's silly is the guy you described knows he has high cholesterol. Ok... if you don't want to change your diet, there's a medicine that would only cost $5 per month that could extend his life and prevent a heart attack. So I call him shortsighted, and a bad example for that reason.
If you watch the ads for that medicine carefully, you'll see that they don't actually claim to be able to do that--only to lower your numbers, with the implication being that lowering your numbers will do that. Not buying.
But back to the OP: " I mean, with his lifestyle per the medical community this guy should've had a heart attack 10 years ago but who knows how these things really work..." Exactly so. I've known people in their 60's who were massively obese and didn't have diabetes yet either, and folks in their 30's who are thin and do have type II, so who knows how that works? It doesn't seem fair does it, but they have their own battles elsewhere. And not wishing harm on your relative, but he may not die as quickly and easily as he hopes--I've seen people linger on in ICU for months and wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. My ex's grandpa used to say that if he had known he was going to get this old, he'd have taken better care of himself.
I am sure if this guy went to the doctor and had a physical he would be presented with a lot of health problems and would be considered a ticking time bomb. He may make it to 70 he may not. He may have a heart attack or stroke at anytime. He is on his way for getting emphysema and cancer. One thing is for certain this person does not know what it feels like to wake up in the morning and feel good. I am sure feeling like crap is his baseline.
If you watch the ads for that medicine carefully, you'll see that they don't actually claim to be able to do that--only to lower your numbers, with the implication being that lowering your numbers will do that. Not buying.
.
You use ads as your source of medical information? That's your mistake...
I use the published clinical trials. Statins will increase your chance of heart attack and stroke, and in some populations..... dramatically. It is also now showing that it decreases rates of several kinds of cancer, and even some bizarre things.... like increases your rate of recovery from the flu!
And of course we don't know what this guys cholesterol levels look like. Maybe he has some crazy genetic advantage so that even though his diet seems decadent, his cholesterol is low! Again, as I mentioned.... Atkin's type diets have been shown to do this. We don't know enough about the OP's friend to guess..
I am currently debating whether I should take a statin myself, even though I have no history of heart disease or stroke. These are the clinical trials they are doing now... to see if statins prevent first stroke/heart attack etc.. in people with normal cholesterol. We already know that if you have normal cholesterol and you have a stroke/heart attack, by taking a statin (which pushes your cholesterol even LOWER in the "normal" range...) you will have fewer subsequent strokes/heart attacks.
My friend's mom never smoked, never drank, ate healthy and died of cervical cancer last year. It can happen to anyone whether they have a healthy lifestyle or not. She was 61 years old. It's the luck of the draw.
I am currently debating whether I should take a statin myself, even though I have no history of heart disease or stroke. These are the clinical trials they are doing now... to see if statins prevent first stroke/heart attack etc.. in people with normal cholesterol. We already know that if you have normal cholesterol and you have a stroke/heart attack, by taking a statin (which pushes your cholesterol even LOWER in the "normal" range...) you will have fewer subsequent strokes/heart attacks.
My cousin is 65 years old, he has been a smoker for the last 45 years, all his life he has eaten, and *continues* to eat the unhealthiest foods on a regular basis - full of grease, fat and processed foods - eggs, sausages and bacon for breakfast, fatty Indian and Thai curries, red meat etc. for lunch and dinner. I mean he eats without restriction - when and how much he wants without a care in the world, doing this for over 40 YEARS!!! He drinks alcohol but only 2 or 3 times a week in moderation - this is the only thing he does in moderation. However he has 3-4 cans of cola a day (total of 170g of refined sugar!!! ), infact he had 2 cans just over a period of 4 hrs when I was visiting him which made ME cringe but he was totally oblivious to that fact...
He has always lead a super sedentary life, his only exercise is getting in his car and going to the grocery store. He is fairly overweight but not obese.
Despite all this abuse to his system for 45 years of his life, he seems to be in good health and has made it to 65 years of age without any health issues. He says he feels great. His argument is that if he makes it another 5 years to 70 he would've lived his life to the fullest and really wouldn't have regrets because he ate and drank what he wanted all his life as opposed to severely limiting the enjoyment of his life to just gain 5 or 10 years more in life expectancy.
My question - with his lifestyle I am even surprised he is in such good health at 65 and looks like 70 will be not an issue. Is this due to genetics?
Oh, and he has had very elevated levels of cholesterol since his mid 30s, his attitude - Skrew my cholesterol levels they have always been high and I am still standing
We hear so much about the detrimental effects of bad food but is it exaggerated? Perhaps the body can take a lot more abuse than we imagine...or perhaps this is only in some people with certain genes? I mean, with his lifestyle per the medical community this guy should've had a heart attack 10 years ago but who knows how these things really work...
Anyway, thanks for reading!
Elevated cholesterol levels since you were in your 30s is not normal or what I would call unaffected. He has been doing this lifestyle so long he doesn't even know what "great" feels like. When you feel "great" you won't be just sitting around all the time or you would go bezerk with the pent up energy of being healthy.
I agree...ticking time bomb. The early stages of his condition are "silent" and lead up to serious health problems. He needs to wise up as 66 is actually the common age for most men's first heart attacks. It happens younger too but most people I knew it hit them 55-65. I hear it feels like a MAC truck bursting out of your chest. That can't be good.
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), infact he had 2 cans just over a period of 4 hrs when I was visiting him which made ME cringe but he was totally oblivious to that fact...
