Toxic chemicals or toxic minds

You know, I often get tired of reading the same old posts about about seed oils, artificial colorings, PFAS and other supposedly quite dangerous chemicals that are destroying human health. There is a lot of focus on micro-harms, without equal acceptance that what is actually harmful is macro-harms — you know the hundred pounds of fats and sugars you eat over the year, the hundreds of cigarettes you smoked in past year or the lack of steps and exercise over the year.

I often point out days don’t really matter. Weeks slightly more, but years and especially decades are far more important. I think people like to point to short term events and acute hazards because it’s makes excuses for more systematic and more problematic behavior. It’s a lot easier to avoid seed oils and Teflon pans then to eat whole fruits and vegatables, and only eat meat sparingly, especially in contemporary society. It’s easy to stimgimize smokers and acts the others do, then take responsibility for own every day choices.