Common sense health advice (Rant warning)

I've been reading The White House Cookbook I told you about the other day.
In the back, there is a section titled, "Health Suggestions".
There is quite an essay about "How Colds are Caught".
"The fact is, and ought to be more generally understood, that nearly every cold is contracted indoors, and is not directly due to the cold outside, but to the heat inside."
I always thought that was true.

Here's one of my favorite sections:

LEANNESS
"Is caused generally by lack of power in the digestive organs to digest and assimilate the fat-producing elements of food. First restore, digestion, take plenty of sleep, drink all the water the stomach will bear in the morning on rising, take moderate exercise in the open air, eat oatmeal cracked wheat, Graham mush, baked sweet apples, roasted and broiled beef; cultivate jolly people, and bathe daily."

I LOVE THAT -- practical, reasonable and you don't need to by $500 worth of magic pills or go to meetings for it to work.

Here's another good one:

HOW TO KEEP WELL

Don't sleep in a draught (I'm guessing that means draft)
Don't go to be with cold feet
Don't stand over hot-air registers
Don't eat what you do not need, just to save it
Don't try to get cool too quickly after exercising
Don't sleep in a room without ventilation of some kind
Don't stuff a cold lest you should be next obliged to starve a fever
Don't sit in a damp or chilly room without a fire
Don't try to get along without flannel underclothing in the winter.

Again, good common sense. I read in a book somewhere that at no other time in our history have we known more about how to take care of ourselves and yet, at no other time in our history have we be LESS healthy. We've put too much attention, I think, on taking care of our outsides, when we should be taking care of our insides.
I had a long conversation with a friend today. She told me how she hides in the house and avoids going out in public because she's too fat. I've been there. I've done that.
Here's what I've learned. Life is too short to live in fear of a negative comment. As much as negative comments hurt, I've found a way to calm that hurt: I live my life.
I stopped hiding. I am who I am. I look how I look. If I just hid I'd miss out on so much. So I jump in with both feet.
I do the things I enjoy with people I love. I eat foods I love and that nourish and strengthen my body.
Have I lost weight? Well, no. I will, when my body catches up to my mind.
In the meantime, I refuse to sell my soul or my health for a pants size. I'm not sedentary. I stay busy and "cultivate jolly people".
I am beautiful because I was created that way and because I have a strong and healthy body, not because I can fit into some piece of trendy clothing. I'm well.
Afterall,some of my favorite underwear is flannel.