Nanny state

[karen2205]

Apologies for spamminess today.

I've been intending to post something along these lines for a few days and it didn't sound right the last time I wrote it. I was being silly and wondering what our lives would be like if we all followed all of the government's/non-governmental bodies' recommendations on how we ought to live our lives, and if we did how much time we'd have left.

So

We 'should':
Eat at least five pieces of fruit and veg per day (http://www.5aday.nhs.uk/)
Keep our BMI between 20-25.
Do some amount of exercise - can't remember what the current recommendations are - 20 mins 3 times/week?
Eat less salt
Care for our feet as per (http://www.feetforlife.org/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=1061&d=11&h=24&f=46) and (http://www.feetforlife.org/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=78&d=96&h=24&f=46&dateformat=%25e-%25h-%25y)
Visit a dentist every six months
Brush teeth twice per day
Drink no more than 21 (women) or 24 (men) units of alcohol per week
Not binge drink, smoke, take illegal drugs
Visit an optician every two years.
Women - have a smear test every three years (ish).

Anyone want to expand on this....?

Prevention of abcesses - wash daily with soap and water, dental stuff covered elsewhere (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=3§ionId=1527)
Prevention of acne - wash face with gentle cleansing solution, remove make-up before going to bed, wash hands before touching face (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=4§ionId=1125)
Prevention of arthritis - keep weight within 'healthy' BMI range, do weight bearing exercise (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=32§ionId=71)
Prevention of B12 deficiency - take B12 suppplements if you're veggie and don't eat eggs or are vegan (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=42§ionId=3321)
Prevention of back pain (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=234§ionId=1426)
Prevention of bad breath (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=185§ionId=3305)
Prevention of bladder infections (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=637§ionId=3485)
Prevention of bladder stones - drinking water, low calcium diet (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=544§ionId=2999)
Prevention of blisters (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=52§ionId=4303)
Prevention of blood poisioning (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=542§ionId=2987) - though antiseptics not recommened during first aid courses.
Prevention of hypertension (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=203§ionId=646)
Prevention of bursitis (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=70§ionId=4376)
Prevention of cancer (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=72§ionId=1822)
Prevention of carbon-monoxide poisioning (http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.aspx?articleId=417§ionId=2212)

Comments

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Eat less sugar
Eat less saturated fat, almost no trans fat
eat a certain number of calories/day (possibly N/A because BMI is already mentioned)
maintain a certain waist-to-hip ratio
Drink enough water
mammograms where applicable

I think current recommendations re: exercise might be something like 30 minutes/day but I'm not sure

[evath.livejournal.com]

My un researched opinion is...

The 5-a-day think is a uk idea, I'm sure I've seen 10-a-day etc. in other countries. Also some many things are excluded from the 5-a-day it seems silly. (Bananas and Potatoes are the two I recall). However this obviously doesn't apply to all. Potatoes basically are just high in carbs and hence make you put weight on and bananas a good source of potassium. Peter Andre however will explain the effects of Banana overdoes another time :)

As for the drink no more then x thing, and don't binge drink. Just don't drink if you want to be safe. This again depends what you drink, Guiness will stretch your stomach at that rate and make you put weigh on before you have a drinking issue. The effects of drinking too complex for a simple limit, also bindge drinking is less harmful to the liver, though drinking till you vomit increase throat cancer instead.

The optician point not nessicarilly correct for people with contacts/glasses. But they should get reminders.

Eat Less salt, again depends on what you eat normally, you can eat too little salt. I just don't cook with salt since I've never got it around, which leads problems too.

Brushing teeth is again diet dependant, but I personally don't see an issue with it. Always nice to brush your teeth beforing going out in the evening though. *hint* to people who probably won't read this.

For exercise, join a gym with some sort of check up of to keep you in line then forget about the BMI, and exercise stuff. I don't do this but all BMI does is give some people over confidence with eating habits, and other dieting via starving.

I just try to each home cooked food, take the stairs not the lift (6 floors), and drink sensibly. Though my drinking has been almost zero for the last 8 months. Well I don't always take the stairs :D

Then again I have a job which does involve sitting at a computer, which is probably the biggest issue of all.

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

My un researched opinion

...isn't government advice.

Are you a non-governmental body? :-)

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

floss daily

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

Being far more of a statist than most - even socialist by some definitions - I shall limit myself to saying that that all sounds like very reasonable advice. I agree with the general principle; when you get all the recommendations together then it clearly will be overwhelming, but what you have there sounds like excellent general philosophy to me. :-)

[karen2205]

At the minute I'm not questioning the reasonableness of the advice, I'm simply trying to compile a list of what *all* the advice is.

[nyecamden.livejournal.com]

This sounds like good advice to me; if you integrate it within your lifestyle, it doesn't take any extra time IMO. But don't listen to me; I used to work in the health food trade.

[hsenag.livejournal.com]

There must be some official advice somewhere about women examining their breasts for lumps (and men their testicles?)

[pne.livejournal.com]

There must be some official advice somewhere about women examining their breasts for lumps

So I would imagine.

I certainly vaguely recally hearing offical-oid encouragement to that effect here in Germany (along the lines of "check your breasts every x days/weeks/months for lumps if you're over y years of age")

(and men their testicles?)

Never heard any advice in that area.

[leora.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's important. Men should check their testicles once a month, or so I was told for frequency. Same issue, check and make sure there are no weird lumps, nothing changed. It can help catch testicular cancer early, and as with any cancer, the earlier it is caught, the better the likely outcome.

On a side note, I am making an effort, with doctor's knowledge and agreement, to try to get more salt in my diet. The eat less depends entirely on how much you already get.

[karen2205]

Sort of - http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/