This was originally meant to be in the Zach's Sex Life [link was outdated] thread at the forums for Guidelines for Sub-editors, but I figured it belonged on its own tangent. And yes it's long but I'd like to also discuss the possibility of us having a Health Section in h2g2 somewhere¹. A place where people could share and discuss facts and opinions on how people can improve and keep their health.

We were talking about my sex life in the other thread. Long story. Considering my present medical condition it's probably for the best. If I tried I'd probably break something and end up talking to doctors again.

And yeah I know I've said privately that I wanted to keep my medical condition quiet, but I used to keep an online journal on the Internet and was certaintly not quiet about my life there. I don't see why I should stop that just because I'm a sub-editor. Besides we Sub-editors shouldn't feel we need to hide anything from our ''field researcher brethren''. Well, unless Mark says it's important because it's not ready yet and they're still workin' on [insert top secret confidential h2g2 topic that's gonna make h2g2 even more hoopy than it already is just as soon as they're finished here]. I mean h2g2 is both a vehicle for informative proliferation of ..stuff, and also a community. Communities share informative stuff with each other. The one is as important as the other.

It's a bit embarrassing sometimes to talk about certain things, but that hasn't stopped me before. Besides, what I learn can help other people, and vice versa. Some immature people will insultingly make fun of my predicament, but I've been a social pinata before. I can handle it.

Let me get on my soapbox for a moment because I think this is important. And the reason I think it's important is because what I'm facing right now medically speaking is what killed my father a year ago. And the symptoms he had, started at about my age, but he didn't take them seriously, and they did him in.

I'm deadly serious about this. I love my father, but I don't want to go out the same way he did.

If you don't think your health is that big a deal, like I used to think, and you think you can live forever, you're wrong. The fast food and other stuff that most of us eat all the time without thinking about it really should be taken more in moderation. Otherwise it'll catch up with you, and probably sooner than you think.

I mean I used to eat at restaurants practically daily. I hate cooking. However, that food is designed to make money. It's not necessarily designed to insure you're healthy and full of life. That's your responsibility: not McDonalds. And even when you eat at a restaurant, what you choose can make the difference. Try the grilled chicken instead of the hamburger, and cut back on the fried foods a bit.

Otherwise, you'll end up where I am now. My diet at present consists of a LOT of water, apples, bananas, saltine crackers, toast and jelly, popsicles, rice cakes, apple butter, a little peanut butter... and so far that's about it. And I plan to do this for the foreseeable future. I mean.. it's working. What originally scared me into seeing a doctor is getting better very quickly, I'm losing weight (lost five pounds in less than a week), I feel better, and it's just a good idea to give one's digestive system a rest every few decades or so.

No red meat. No egg yolks. No dairy anything. For the past year I've been following that regimen, but I didn't take it seriously enough.

I'll add other stuff maybe in a few weeks, because you really can't live on just water and crackers, but the thing is moderation. You shouldn't eat beef EVERY day. Red meat is VERY hard on your digestive system. It is perhaps one of the hardest substances for the human body to digest.. well, not including stuff you shouldn't eat like bubble gum, pen tops, or anything a two year old can get in their mouth.

And if you get pains now and then in your gut, you really should see a doctor. You shouldn't just dismiss them until it's almost too late. Even if it turns out to just be gas, at least then you'll know. And doctors are there to prevent our bodies from getting into trouble. They're not just there to put us back together when our bodies start to break down.

So consciously consider what you eat and think about maybe cutting back a bit. Put more fruits in your diet and less spicy stuff or heavy foods that are harder for your body to digest. If you drink carbonated beverages daily, consider picking up some bottled water a few times a week instead. You don't have to literally take it out of your diet like I have to now. Just cut back a bit. Try more variety.

If you don't, you'll end up with a balding doctor sticking his fingers up your butt to tell you that this complicated thingamajigger just turned blue which is a really bad thing to have happen when you're only 31. It's not fun. I mean yeah it's funny when it happens to someone else, but it's scary if it IS happening to YOU. So watch what you eat, please. This way you can keep coming back to h2g2. We like having you around.

I can't guarantee it yet, but maybe soon I can be a person who can honestly say that treating your body in a healthy way can vastly improve your sex life.

But my sex life belongs in the other thread. =) And no, it doesn't have anything to do with doctors sticking things up my butt. =P