​Our great intellect has been largely shaped by the quest for food. A cow only needs enough smarts to graze what's underfoot. The apex predator—clawless, fangless man—needed cunning, memory, logic, and analytical thought to survive.
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Today, the spear and arrow have been replaced by the grocery cart—requiring few smarts to push, but great cunning to fill wisely. If health matters, the hunt isn’t over; it has simply moved to the aisles.
 
We can no longer rely solely on instinct, senses, and trust. The healthy natural choices once laid out before us in the wild have been replaced with endless options—many of them hazardous. More options mean greater intelligence is now required, not less.
 
The same brainpower that created this modern food predicament must now be used to navigate it. Endless choices, beguiling marketing, and our innate sweet tooth make it a constant battle.
 
A baseline of common sense is critical. Health is not a doctor’s visit, cholesterol check, mammogram, vaccine, counting calories, or religiously taking prescriptions. Nor is it found living indoors without sunlight, breathing polluted air, sitting most of the day, snacking on processed trinkets, or nursing soft drinks from plastic bottles.

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​We are genetically wired for a different life: one spent outdoors in clean air, moving, challenged both physically and mentally, in the sunshine, socializing pleasantly, resting deeply, and eating fresh, natural foods in variety.
 
Modern inventions—electricity, plows, hammer mills, video games, and cozy homes—haven't changed that blueprint. Ignoring it won't doom us immediately, but over time, it breeds dis-ease: our genes are not at ease with the modern lifestyle.
 
As obvious as all this sounds, it's difficult to apply because our bodies are resilient, and that resilience lets us get away with cheating--for a while.
 
If every poor choice delivered an immediate electric shock, most of humanity’s problems would vanish overnight. Instead, we have free will and life demands intelligent foresight: the ability to predict consequences that might not materialize for years, even decades.
 
But foresight is hard. We're mentally lazy, pleasure-driven, experts at self-justification, and we like to gamble against the odds.
 
Consider the daily threats: processed additive-laden foods tainted with herbicides and pesticides, smog, water pollution, radiation, building materials that off-gas toxins, and sedentary living. These are proven health hazards. Yet they persist because their damage is usually slow, silent, and cumulative.
 
And then there's Uncle Josh: robust at ninety-four, despite smoking cigars, chewing tobacco, and swilling whiskey since he was sixteen. Or the classmate at the reunion—glued to her phone, living on junk food and soda—who still looks healthier than you, in spite of your tofu and jazzercise. Or the NBA All-Star, fueled by fast food and candy bars, yet a paragon of fitness.
 
Such exceptions become our excuses. But that’s like justifying drunk driving because some drunks manage decades without crashing. Surviving stupidity doesn't make it smart—or safe.
 
Consider the extraordinary case of a man who survived a suicide attempt with a nail gun. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed a two-inch nail embedded in the center of his brain—twelve years after he fired it between his eyes. He was, according to reports, doing "just fine."

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​If a human can survive with a nail in the brain, it's certainly possible to survive smoking, sloth, junk food, and environmental toxins—for a time. But counting on luck is no plan for health.
 
For most of us, if health is the goal, the better course is to weigh the odds in our favor.
Use your brain (minus the nails) to exercise foresight, judgment, and common sense.