July 2025 – InspireGrowth

Stop Chasing Your Tail: The Food-Health Connection

A playful dog spinning on green grass with the text 'I’ve Almost Got It!!' above.

What do many of the world’s populations have in common with dogs?

Hint: I’m not talking about cute faces, that humans and dogs are mammals, or that we both express emotions.

Anyone who has dogs has likely seen them do this crazy and funny thing where they run around in circles chasing their tails. When it occurs only occasionally, it’s so amusing and always puts a smile on my face.

Why do dogs chase their tails? Most of the time, especially with puppies, it’s just for their entertainment. Of course, there could be serious reasons why dogs chase their tails, especially if the behavior occurs frequently.

And there’s the commonality between dogs and countless people. Many of us spend our days chasing our own tails when it comes to health. We may waste time, money, and energy trying to become healthy and make no progress. In fact, many times we move backward.

Here are a few quick stories to illustrate:

Jack wakes up, takes his medications for cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure. He then stops at a drive-thru on his way to work and buys his bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich.

Jill comes to the ER for chest pain. Her blood pressure is high, and her EKG is abnormal. After being in the ER for a few hours, she’s hungry and sends her husband out to buy her a double cheeseburger, fries, and cola.

Mary just heard that her friend Georgie had a heart attack. Georgie is only 41 years old. Wondering what she can do to prevent the same fate for herself, she is thinking about asking her doctor to prescribe her a cholesterol medication.

These are excellent demonstrations of the infamous sport of tail-chasing. We take our medications as directed by our doctors, but then eat damaging foods. We develop symptoms of diseases and then eat the very foods that likely caused those diseases. We hear that our friends are getting sick and give serious consideration to medication, but almost no consideration to food.

We are chasing our tails, my friends.

And many times, it’s not our fault. Many of us, including doctors, are unaware of the profound connection between food and health. Many of us may not know how to take the first steps to better health. Even worse, many of us may not even know that we have a choice.

I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU DEFINITELY HAVE A CHOICE.

The best way to enjoy better health is to take charge and become proactive. And the best way to start being proactive is to expand your awareness by learning more about the deep connection between food and health.

I’m going to help you kick-start your food education right now—risk-free and at no cost to you.

Here is the first and most essential piece of nutritional knowledge you will need (brace yourself for a truth-bomb):

The eating patterns that have been proven to be most effective at preventing chronic diseases, promoting weight loss, and maintaining optimal health are those that contain an abundance of whole plant foods and a low (or zero) intake of red meat and processed foods.

Yes, you absolutely do have a choice. You can eat your way to disease, or you can eat your way to fantastic health and vitality.

You don’t have to chase your tail anymore.

If you’re interested in bringing this type of message to a wider audience, I speak regularly on topics related to health and wellness. You can learn more about my talks at https://stevepiriano.life/speaking/

I also explore similar topics more deeply in my books, which you can find at https://stevepiriano.life/books/ if you’d like to dive in.

Consequences

One day, a few summers ago, I was driving a friend home. He happened to be very hungry, so I stopped at a pizzeria where he bought a meatball parm hero that he began eating on the drive. At one point, he took a bite, and a small piece of meatball, along with some sauce and oil, dropped out of the sandwich and onto his shirt. He immediately tried wiping it off with a napkin and was understandably upset because he thought his shirt might be permanently stained.

As I glanced over at him, a thought popped into my head. Yes, he was justifiably concerned that his shirt might be ruined. However, what about the other consequences of that meatball hero? He was eating a sandwich filled with sodium, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Although these substances would increase his risk of developing diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, he did not seem disturbed about these potential health outcomes. Why was that? Why was he more concerned about what the sandwich did to his shirt than what it could potentially do to his health?

The major reason lies in the various types of consequences. His stained shirt was an immediate consequence. It happened at the time he was eating it, was quite obvious, and thus connected to the sandwich. However, the possible adverse health consequences mentioned are not so apparent. If they are going to occur, they will likely not arise for five, ten, or even twenty years. Those would be considered delayed consequences, occurring so far into the future that it would be exceedingly difficult to link them to the sandwich.

Immediate consequences clearly have an enormous difference in impact compared to delayed consequences. Let’s imagine that the opposite was possible for a moment—that immediately after eating the sandwich, my friend suffered a heart attack. If this were the case, I could pretty much guarantee that he would never eat a meatball parm hero again.

I realize that I’ve made a bit of a stretch here. Eating a single unhealthy meal is not going to have unfavorable health effects, even after years have passed. However, consistently consuming unhealthy foods will absolutely increase the risk of poor health. Just because the consequences do not appear instantly does not imply that they will never manifest. The impact of each meal will add up over time until the outcomes become apparent.

Please remember the difference between immediate and delayed consequences and their importance in your life—just some food for thought (pun intended).

Do you engage in any regular behaviors that may lead to unwanted consequences for you or your loved ones?

I also explore similar topics more deeply in my books, which you can find at https://stevepiriano.life/books/ if you’d like to dive in.

Backward

Some things in life are best done backward.

A few things that come to mind are:

An illustration of two legs performing the moonwalk dance move, with musical notes on a yellow background.

A digital countdown timer displaying 003 days, 22 hours, 29 minutes, and 57 seconds against a bright orange background with the word 'Countdowns' at the top.

A cheerleader performing a backflip on a sports field with an orange background and bold text that says 'Backflips'.

A close-up of a mechanical component being analyzed with a 3D scanner, alongside a computer displaying related software for reverse engineering.

There are also actions performed by probably millions of people every day that are backward as well.

However, unlike the above examples where being backward makes sense, the behaviors in question unfortunately do not serve the greater good for so many.

What practices am I referring to?

I’ll illustrate by telling you that I know a few people who eat foods such as bacon, burgers, and steaks, and then take their medications for high cholesterol.

A hamburger stacked with layers of bacon, cheese, lettuce, and tomato, accompanied by a colorful assortment of pills and medications below.

Eating foods that raise cholesterol and then taking medication to lower it is counterintuitive and, in a sense, backward. It would seem more rational to avoid foods that will increase your cholesterol rather than taking medications to lower it.

If you do take cholesterol medication at your doctor’s recommendation, you must know that high cholesterol can be dangerous. It would follow that you would also avoid foods that can lead to this unhealthy state.

However, I can understand why people knowingly eat the foods they realize are causing them harm and then take pills in an attempt to minimize that harm. Simply put, they enjoy the foods and feel great when eating them. That is totally understandable. If I enjoyed certain foods, I would absolutely want to keep eating them.

If you enjoy something, you will want to keep doing it, whether it’s jogging or smoking.

Please understand that you can still eat delicious AND healthy foods that you would enjoy immensely. Whole, plant-based foods are prime examples. This is entirely your choice, if and whenever you are ready. It is up to you whether or not you want to change how you live and eat, how much disease risk you are willing to tolerate, and whether or not you wish to take prescription medications for the rest of your life. Your lifestyle is not carved in stone—it can be changed if you genuinely desire and see good reason for it. That last part is key—if you do see good reason to change your lifestyle, then you will develop the motivation to do so.

When it comes to your health, you absolutely have choices. One of my leading wishes is that you are aware that these choices exist and that you can change your life whenever you are ready. So, if and when that time arrives for you to move forward with your health, I wish you great success!

I also explore similar topics more deeply in my books, which you can find at https://stevepiriano.life/books/ if you’d like to dive in.