[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]
A Candle In A Dark Week
Unless you hitched a ride on NASA’s Lunar Orbiter, you’ve heard the news.
In a single day, we lost two people that almost everyone in this country, if not this world, felt as if they knew personally.
In the same week, there was a candle flickering in the darkness.
A candle fueled by science. By research.
By hope.
We lost Farrah Fawcett to cancer. But this week a promising new cancer drug has a large number of folks highly optimistic.
And of course we lost Michael Jackson. We don’t know why yet. I wonder if we ever will.
But still, the candle burns.
The light here is a light of reckoning. A light that says, “You are but dust in the wind.” To dust, we return.
In a sense, at least.
You are also the stuff of stars.
I’m not talking about movie stars — I mean literal stars.
The inspiration for this article comes from one of my personal heroes, Carl Sagan. In his brilliant book, A Demon-Haunted World, Carl brings is wit, intelligence and sobriety to bear on the candle in the dark — science.
Science has helped liberate us from the dark ages, literally.
Science has cured more people in a single generation than all the wars in “history” have taken. Can you believe it?
During this dark week, science enabled us to launch the most sophisticated lunar probe in history to the moon.
And science will eventually find a cure for that monster we call cancer.
But science may never find a cure for what killed the King of Pop.
You see, I don’t think it is as simple as it seems. It may be. Who knows. But I think Jackson died of loneliness and self-abuse.
It just took time.
That, combined with stress (the number-one killer in the world) is enough to do anyone in.
The candle in the dark? Managing your health is really under your control… more than you think. That includes your mind.
Not totally, but in a few years, who knows.
That’s a candle that burns bright to me.
Brighter than the sun.
A bit of honesty:
My first thought upon hearing Jackson died was, “Wow. Too young. How?”
I’ve always recognized his contribution to music, but I’ve never been “attached” as a fan per-se.
When Kurt Cobain died, I cried. When Gene Roddenberry died, I cried. I cry every time I watch the end of “Contact” that just says, “For Carl.”
When Michael died, I shook my head in disbelief, skepticism, and reflection.
My candle was burning at both ends, I suppose.
How fragile we are. Yet, like Sagan loved to say, we are all “starstuff.” Literally.
Every atom in your body with the exception of hydrogen can be traced to a red star, billions of years old.
That makes me hang my head in utter awe. How beautiful, yet how chaotic our universe and our lives seem to be.
The reason I do what I do is not to try and extend “just years” to your life — it’s to help you make your life the best it can be.
To extend the healthy, happy, joyful aspects of your life.
To give you the candle in the dark called “self-management”.
Your time can come in a snap of a finger. In a breath, your light can go out.
But until then, I urge you to fight the good fight.
And keep your candle lit for all the world to see.
Fit Bits: This Will Kill You. Really.
Inflammation.
That’s the ticket. That’s the answer.
That’s what you must address if you want to live a longer and more productive, healthy life. No ifs, ands or buts.
Inflammation is caused by insulin resistance, among other things.
I’ve decided to share this week’s Fit Bits with you in an entertaining video I made called “Low Carb Lunacy.”
Get ready for the facts like you’ve never seen them before…
Please press the Play button to start the video. Thanks!
P.S. For those of you who really want to take charge of your health, I do encourage you to adopt a dietary plan you can live with. The best I know of is found below.
The Every Other Day Diet 
Lose Weight. Lower Inflammation!
