#20 - Risk And Reward
Last week I learned that toilet paper, paper towels, and contact lenses all have BPA’s, PFAS’s, and probably some other toxin that violates California’s Prop 65.
I aim to be health conscious with my best efforts, but it all just feels overwhelming.
In a world where everything causes cancer, is it even possible to be “healthy”?
Sometimes it feels like the more you learn, the less happy you become.
Maybe that’s what God meant by telling Adam and Eve to avoid the tree of knowledge.
Seriously, there was a time where I could eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast, Frosted Flakes for lunch, and have pizza for dinner with a soda and couldn’t be happier.
And now, well… gluten, pesticides, preservatives, seed oils, food dyes, added sugars, micro plastics, global warming, child labor… You know.
With health being weaponized it’s hard to know who to trust.
I tend to air on the side of “If it wasn’t here a hundred years ago, it shouldn’t be in me”.
But the reality is that it’s not that simple. The things we invent do have benefits.
Take contact lenses for example. Sure, they may be slowly leeching into my bloodstream and killing me softly, but they gave me a life I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Sports, activity, and physical movement are one of the greatest joys of my life. And they don’t mix well with coke-bottle-thick glasses or rec specs.
I’m working to wear them less by training my eyesight and doing more stuff sans eyewear. But will I still wear contact lenses until a better option pops up? Yup.
(And, no, eye surgery for my pupil problems isn’t effective yet. I already checked!)
“Healthy” is an illusive measurement. But it’s just one factor. We also need to factor in the risk/reward ratio as well.
The reality is that we just don’t know how problematic this stuff is. Are phthalates, glyphosate, and Red-40 going to end human civilization?
I guess we’re going to find out… And even if they “stop” using these things, they’ll just replace it with something else that gives you cancer. Which we’ll find out in 20 years.
Ultimately, you have to protect yourself, limit exposure to the uncertainties, and make the best decisions you can. It’s a lot of work, unfortunately. But the alternative sucks.
These are three heuristic razors I use to keep my life a little simpler…
Binary, this-or-that decisions are straightforward. If you can narrow down the parameters to one metric, it’s easy. For example, organic or regular? Organic.
Insomuch as you can, don’t let money be the deciding factor. If there is a meaningful health/quality/utility difference, go with the higher value one.
Choosing where to spend money is an issue of priorities. And most people are irrational with their spending. Zoom out and refocus on what really matters.
Up front, systems choices are simple. Install a water filter, shower filter, air filter, etc.
This takes the mental load out of each decision. Just live normally letting the automated system work.
Boundary decisions work well too. Choosing to eliminate certain things all together works well when they’re obviously detrimental.
Like smoking cigarettes - it’s not really a decision, even if someone offers you one. These are boundaries… Part of your identity.
And then there is the rest of life.
There is no such thing as perfect. Besides, the “perfect” routine we live now will fall victim to two inevitable outcomes:
We learn something new about a thing we should be doing.
We learn something new about a thing we shouldn’t be doing.
You’ll drop the “perfect” ball eventually, so go ahead and preemptively set it down.
That doesn’t mean you don’t try though.
Make your home a fortress. Figure out the boundaries, the binaries, and the systems that will make as many decisions easy for you as possible.
Then, when you go out to eat occasionally, travel, or go to a party and have a slice of cake (God forbid!), you can enjoy it knowing that you’ve got the bases covered.