During the first three hours, John Robbins, an expert on the dietary link with the environment and health, discussed how we can increase our health and extend our life spans. The heir to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream fortune, Robbins said he walked away from it, as he came to believe that sugary deserts are one of the contributors to bad diets.
He noted that a lot of health problem stem from "unnatural" ways of living, such as overeating and consuming processed foods. "We've made excess into a religion," he said of Americans. One of the surprises of his research into cultures known for their longevity, was the importance of love and healthy relationships. Loneliness and negative interactions can depress the functioning of the body's systems and lead to poor health, Robbins reported.
Among his recommendations:
- Throw out food in your home that is inconsistent with your well being.
- Challenge your body with exercisethat is appropriate for you.
- Eat less meat, choose wild fish over farmed, and if you eat chicken, make sure it's free range.
- To save money on higher quality foods, shop at food co-ops and buy in bulk.
- Tune in to your body for signals about your diet.
- Avoid saturated fat; Good supplements: DHA/EPA, B12, B6, Folic Acid.
In the last hour, George went to Open Lines. One caller spoke of a "tiny town" in Wisconsin, which supposedly had small houses for midgets. For more on this topic, see The Legend of Midgetville.