Globally

I consider myself very accepting of behaviors cultivated by other people. I don't like preaching to people about what they should be doing, health wise. It's hard for me to walk over to a person, especially a friend whom you respect, and tell them: "Hey! You need to watch what you eat. You can't just keep eating frozen dinners…" or "Listen. I don't think it's safe to smoke as often as you do."

The first topic, diet and weight, is especially touchy. Either you're eating too much or you're not eating enough. A lot of my female friends seem to have actual eating problems, but how do you tell someone to stop worrying about how much they weigh? If I remember psychology correctly, anorexia, full-on, actual anorexia, is a devilish, tricky thing to treat. Perhaps equally uncomfortable is telling someone they should be more selective with what they choose to cram into their mouths. Fat isn't necessarily bad. I don't subscribe to the notion that the less fat you have, the better. But I do think if you're going to eat a ton of food, it might as well have "good" fats in it. That's why you shouldn't eat frozen dinners. The amount of saturated fat in prepared foods is horrendous. And saturated fat is bad for you.

The second topic, however, is interesting. I still don't fully understand why people smoke cigarettes. I've probably had about ten to twenty cigarettes in my entire life and I don't think they have ever done anything for me. I know they're bad for me, every student in the United States probably knows that they're bad for the human body. But in medical school, you get even more details about the absolutely horrible things cigarettes can do to your entire body. 

So why do people smoke? It will kill you. But it's a pleasure not reserved for just a few. Almost anyone can afford to smoke enough to kill themselves. It may be one of the world's greatest equalizers. Which should be depressing, alarming, and troublesome from a global health standpoint… The World Health Organization has some data points of the most common causes of death in both the Developing and Developed worlds. Diseases springing from polluted water? Developing world. Diseases spewing from eating too much? Developed world. Diseases arising from cigarette smoking? The entire planet. 

Fun stuff, global health. Does it help remind us that we are all very much the same when we realize that a sizable amount of deaths result from a vice? 

And as a physician, how much vice can you allow before your professional duties outweigh interpersonal courtesies?