What Do Diet, Exercise, Animal Rights, And Plantar Fasciitis Treatment Have In Common? Awareness Is Key!

Willbe, happy in the wetlands on the North Carolina Coast. Photo by Amanda.

“The benefits of the use of animals in medical research are obvious and quantifiable. From heart transplants, scans for improved prenatal diagnostic techniques, blood transfusions and anticoagulants to medication for high blood pressure, asthma and major depressive disease – most of us have benefited from the use of animals in some form.” Dr Obaro Evuarherhe

Human awareness evolves, one epiphany at a time, if you’re lucky.

I was watching Willbe, rooting around in the undergrowth the other day, having a great time, and I thought, “Boy, it would be the same if I was watching a companion pig, or a companion chicken or companion rat. Life, enjoying life!” Except I would be encouraged by ‘Western Society’ to not to include Willbe, or the lab rat, in my diet.

Local tomatoes and cucumber on FitOldDog’s home-made bread (I did miss making bread on Paleo!), with a little olive oil and sea salt (well, accidentally, lots of sea salt!). Photo by FitOldDog.

It’s fascinating to look back and see how my blog, of over 1,000 posts, has evolved during the past five years, and my diet along with it!

Blogging is an odd pastime, but an excellent place to explore your business hopes and dreams, as you go from one dead end to another – that’s the life of the entrepreneur. But then, you meet fascinating people, a number of which have led me by the nose to becoming first a paleo diet enthusiast, then vegetarian, and now a rather increasingly rabid vegan and animal rights advocate.

You cannot change the world, you can only change yourself, and time rushes on.

I tried to bring awareness to the treatment of plantar fasciitis, with little or no success. What was I up against? Huge marketing budgets for toys with no logical therapeutic basis (with one exception, the ASTRO, which is buried in lots of nonsense in our online plantar fasciitis treatment interactive map – see if you can find it).

The challenge? Ethical marketing!

“Fortunately for Liviya, animal research provided a new chance at life.”

This is also true of animal experimentation, as there are clearly places that animal research is the lesser of two evils. Marketing is critical, or such work will be inappropriately delayed by pictures of cute rabbits. Scientists are finally fighting back with pictures of cute little girls saved by animal research.

It would also help if those scientists moved to a vegan diet. It would be great PR guys, and it would show that you really care about the animal rights.

That said, such research should be done only when all other avenues have been explored – for instance, never undertake a biological research experiment without first exploring the issues with the aid of mathematical models (there’s that pesky cute rabbit again – I wonder what his/her/it’s name is?).

At the end of the day, awareness is key for all aspects of a healthy life, but how do we become aware of that which we are unaware (hell, I’m going vegan at age 72).

Took me long enough!