A Vital Health Warning… From 1954
Dear Natural Health Solutions Reader,
Today, gangs of random, self-appointed fitness gurus crowd the airwaves and Interwebs, hawking a variety of exercise gadgets and workout DVDs.
These folks seem friendly, and their promises are seductive: “washboard” abdominals, “shredded” thighs, and “buns of steel.”
Sadly, I doubt any of it delivers. Yard sales in my neighborhood feature this stuff by the bushel at deep discounts.
So let’s look instead to the 1950s, when America had exactly one nationwide fitness celebrity — a genial, jumpsuited Californian named Jack LaLanne.
He never promised metallic body parts, just a healthier, better-looking, happier you.
Jack’s long been a hero of mine. Unfortunately, a quick friends-and-family survey suggests that today, few people under 40, and none under 30, have heard of the fellow.
Too bad, as he led a rip-roaring life full of prodigious physical feats. Typically, at age 70 in 1984, he swam 1.5 miles, handcuffed and shackled, towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen’s Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary.
He remained hale and hearty, pursuing vigorous workouts, until his death at 96 in January of 2011.
Most remarkably, unlike many modern fitness celebs, LaLanne wasn’t just a photogenic musclehead. He was a serious student of nutrition. Much of what he said about how to eat is just as valuable today as it was in the Eisenhower era.
Perhaps even more so.
So please take a moment to click and listen to Jack’s advice on a particularly pernicious dietary threat to health. There’s no date on this clip, but it was most likely made sometime in 1954.
Truths like this are timeless. Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU2JV4dlvzM
Sincerely,
Brad Lemley
Natural Health Solutions
