We can adapt this adage to our health. How many have been told to avoid caffeine? I and many, many more were born with a heart condition called Mitral Valve Prolapse. It's hardly life threatening, but medical experts do advise those who have any heart condition to avoid caffeine. That would mean drinking caffeine free colas and coffee as well as avoiding chocolate. Do I do this? With the exception of coffee which I can't stand, no. And you can't make me...
In the medical world, it's called non-compliance and physicians and nurses are some of the worst patients. Go figure.
Why am I writing about this today? Earlier I was at a local mini-mart behind a relatively young couple, say 30ish. Both the man and woman had their arms loaded down with six packs of vodka laced drinks, which is certainly legal in Florence and their constitutional right to do. The unusual aspect of the scene was that the woman was purchasing a two liter bottle of Pepsi...Diet Pepsi...but not the kind of Diet Pepsi I had in my hand. No, she was purchasing the caffeine free product. I don't know what the woman's medical condition was. She could have been purchasing it for a relative or even a child at home, but the odds are that she was buying it for herself.
Yes, a small amount of alcohol can be beneficial to the human body, but most pluses have even stronger minuses. Is this going to discourage anyone from consuming alcoholic potables? Probably not, but you've got to admit seeing anyone with such large quantities of alcohol and then making an attempt to control their caffeine intake is humorous to say the least.
If you don't drink or smoke, don't start. It doesn't make you look cool, and even if your friends call you a dork, you can laugh at them at their funeral.
