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During last July’s 5.8 earthquake, 3-year-old Bronwyn told her 1-year-old sister, “We’re going for a wiggle.” READ MORE
Mother Knows Best
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The older I get, the more skeptical I become of the so-called experts. Especially when it comes to taking care of my family's health. Seems like just as I start acting on their advice, they back off their original recommendations, sometimes making a complete reversal. It's hard to know whom to trust. Take for example the "square" meal concept we were brought up with. Remember the four basic food groups? We were taught to eat evenly from each group, right? "That's old school," I'm told by my kids who brought home the new food "pyramid." It recommends a different approach - eating more of some foods and less of others. Just as I said, "OK, I can do that," they changed their minds again. Nutritionists are now rethinking the pyramid, suggesting that maybe those eight servings of grains are loading us with too many carbs, making us fat. I think I first became suspicious of such expert advice while sitting in the dentist's chair. Always leery of X-rays, I'm continually told that a little zap of radiation isn't any more harmful than an hour in the sun. This, I'm told, as the X-ray tech lays sheets of lead over my body, gets a verbal waiver that I'm not pregnant, and jumps behind an X-ray-proof wall. And I'm thinking, as I'm being zapped by these "harmless" rays, that an hour in the sun these days isn't the smartest thing you can do either. Maybe I should have gargled with sunscreen. Or not. Have you heard the latest? After preaching to my kids about protecting themselves with sunscreen to avoid skin cancer, I read that scientists are now pondering whether or not we're getting ENOUGH sun. What!?!?! Those who don't get enough of the sun's rays and who don't take in enough vitamin D may be facing a greater risk of colon, prostate and ovarian cancer down the road. Jeez. I feed my family salmon at least once a week. After all, any in-the-know, health-conscious person seeks out sources of Omega-3 fatty acids - that miracle oil that is said to protect against cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Then, Newsweek does a story on how we might be harming ourselves by eating too much salmon. Since the demand has increased so much - we all listened to the experts and are eating 20 percent more salmon each year- we're no longer getting those healthy, robust, upstream swimmers we think we are. Instead, we're eating "farmed salmon" fed with antibiotics and other stuff we try to stay away from. And then there's mercury. I won't even go there. How many of you are stupefied by the new recommendations AGAINST hormone replacement therapy? HRT will cure what ails you, right? That's what all the docs have said for years. It's the menopause miracle, right? Wrong-o. Now, we know that the risks might outweigh the benefits. Is there a class-action suit brewing out there along with my green tea, which by the way, I've been drinking faithfully because it's said to reduce cancer risk? It'll probably be off the market next week. Can you even imagine what the women who had their breasts removed when they were told that they were genetically predisposed to breast cancer are thinking? A couple of years later and doctors are now saying the role of the so-called bad genes may have actually been exaggerated. Mammogram once a year, or not? I'm confused. Coffee is bad for us. Wait! What day is it? Now it's OK. And those eight glasses of water you've drowned yourself in for years may actually not be necessary. Experts are now warning that too much water isn't a good thing either, saying that part of our recommended fluid intake can come from food. I predict that all the running around in circles these researchers are doing will result in them throwing up their hands and saying just what my mom has been saying all along. Too little isn't enough. A lot is too much. "Everything in moderation." Perhaps a new spin on another phrase Mom used to say is in order. Maybe it should be,"If you can't say anything RIGHT, don't say it at all." Now excuse me while I holler to my kids to wipe off the sunscreen I slathered on their faces. "But kids, don't wipe it ALL off!" Kimberly A. Porrazzo is an author and columnist. She lives in Lake Forest with her husband and two sons. She can be reached at: kimberlyporrazzo@cox.net. |
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