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Comment by 908B64B197 | Hacker News Reader

I don't think people realize how relatively easy it is today to have a healthy lifestyle.

Don't smoke, don't vape, drink a little and cook at home. There has never been a better availability of fresh produce everywhere in America and they have never been as cheap at they are. The big killers today are cardiac diseases, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. All of these three are mostly preventable.

An early 20's guy who follow these basic recommendations can be pretty certain to have a pretty nice quality of life.

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>An early 20's guy who follow these basic recommendations can be pretty certain to have a pretty nice quality of life.

This is both delusional and horrible in the sense of being victim blaming. No amount of eating healthy and doing regular exercise helps you when bad luck gets hold of you. Lower probability of having a problem is flipping continents away from "pretty certain." Children's cancer wards exist.

> when bad luck gets hold of you

> Children's cancer wards exist.

They definitely do, and this is pure bad-luck. But go to a hospital today and take a look at the patient census: a great percentage of them have completely preventable diseases with the knowledge we have today. They (born in the 40's) didn't stand a chance as they lived through the rise of fast food and got hooked on cigarettes while it was believed to be safe. But it doesn't have to be the same for kids today.

>> basic recommendations can be pretty certain to have a pretty nice quality of life.

> This is both delusional and horrible in the sense of being victim blaming.

> when bad luck gets hold of you.

Bad luck can take you out when you're 5, as you mentioned, so I'm not sure what the point is in this conversation about statistically beneficial behavior.

Eating healthy, drinking in low amounts (including none) will put you in a bell curve of longevity leaning into the 70s and 80s, not give you a 100% certainty (this is the obvious interpretation of "pretty certain"). "bad luck", as you put it, takes you out of the normal distribution into a tail. What you mean by "delusional" or "victim blaming" isn't clear, as it does not apply, in context.

If by "pretty certain" you mean "not remotely certain" then sure. Empathy is a thing. I am having empathy with your lack of it and seeing how it could be due to your good health right now and lack of exposure to disease in your family. I wish you all the best with that continuing.

>> Lower probability of having a problem is flipping continents away from "pretty certain."

>> delusional and horrible in the sense of being victim blaming.

Sadly, one day, statistically speaking, you /will/ understand someone calling this attitude out without needing any empathy. If you're lucky it will be your own health rather than the more likely case of someone very close whom you love.

Definitely I recommend everyone try to follow healthy behaviors to reduce their chances of having particular health problems.

Until the stresses of life make you vulnerable, and you get depressed or anxious, start drinking heavily, start eating a terrible diet, and stop exercising, which ruins your health progress

> There has never been a better availability of fresh produce everywhere in America and they have never been as cheap at they are.

Sort of. Most grocery store produce in the US will have several days of shipping time and shelf time before being purchased, followed by additional storage time in refrigerators or fruit baskets. Additionally nutrient losses can be incurred when cooking with heat, which is also more frequent in modernity.

This can still result in substantial nutritional decline, and is often very significant in vitamins (especially vitamin C) that oxidize readily.

https://fruitandvegetable.ucdavis.edu/files/197179.pdf

>drink a little

Absolutely not. That one study you're thinking about is confounded by having a social life, which is indeed healthy. Drinking alcohol is horrible for health.

Also if you don't leave your house, you reduce your odds of having an accident. If you don't move inside the house, you reduce your odds of slipping and hurting yourself.

If you want to have a cigarette, please go and do. If you are smoking 2 packs a day, you probably should change your job or country. But living a sterile life is death itself.

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