why people from old times were healthier!!

yes that is my question ,why people from old times were healthier, like my grandma, she is so healthy and she is like 70 she does not take a single Rx, I ask her and she told me that the best medicine is in front of our eyes and we dont believe it. she told me taht since she was a little girl she eat everything natural, that in her country (Peru) were she is from and me too, everything is natural that they dont have the money for pesticides or chemical to put in fruits and vegetables,so is more natural and healthier, the chickens eat only lettuce , no like here, that all the foods are process
and i was thinking that make sense. I came to this country when I was 19 yrs , I was healthy, skinny, no medical problems at all. 2 yrs later in this country  went to the doctor  and told me i have allergies and gave medicine for that, and I start taking that medicine every time the season change, a year later I was diagnose whit acid reflux, medicine for that I took that medicine for years and later I developed migraine I took medicine for that and years later developed Fibromyalgia again the gave me a bunch of medicine i got tired and every time I ask the doctor what I can eat ,what is the cure they dont know...Dont you guys see a patern here while a took medicine for this and that I always developed a new disease, Im still thinking the pharmaceutical companies they just want us to be seek all the time so the can make money...I just to tell my grandma when she tried to give some natural herbs ,that wasnt aproved for the FDA she will laugh at me and tolme in my times it was no FDA and people just to be healthier. And Im proving to myself she is right ,the other day I got sick with the throat infection and I went to the Doctor of course medicine antibiotics. I didnt take it because they gave me so many antibiotics before that Im resistant to 2 types now. I said ill try the natural way. so I call in sick  drink my hot teas, natural orange juice, hot lemonades sleep ,sleep and sleep and yeap it work I was fine in 3 days while the Doctor told me Ill be fine in 10days. so from now on I prefer to ask my grandma than a DOCTOR...  

[patsy10]

I have met many older adults who are also very healthy.  They all grew up on farms here in the US.  I think it's because there were not chemicals, additives, antibiotics, processed foods like there is now.  People ate the meat they raised on their farms (grass,hay fed cows).  They drank whole milk, ate butter and still were healthier than many younger people I know.  

[PlateletGal]

I agree ! They also didn't have pesticides sprayed all over their foods. From what I'm reading, vegetables that our grandparents ate, had more nutrients than the vegetables we eat today. Now imagine what the vegetables will be like when our grandchildren are eating them. Yikes !

This is probably the reason why my husband & I decided to grow some of our own vegetables.

[wonko]

It does seem that many environmentally based illnesses are also the most mysterious and/or contested.  The difficulty in diagnosing these illnesses, and the many unknowns faced in treating them, probably contributes to many of these diseases being chronic.

I have Lyme, and though I sometimes don't think of it that way, (especially since I am an avid INDOORS woman and don't recall a tick bite in my life!) I did get sick from a bug.

When I was sick and still undiagnosed, I had very similar thoughts:  None of my ancestors had suffered the strange symptoms that were ruining my life.  They also ate and lived very differently.  I did make efforts to "clean up" my lifestyle by eliminating/reducing potentially harmful habits/foods, and also made efforts to start being more active when well enough to do so.  It really made me look at my life, much of which was spent sitting working on computers while sipping diet soda and eating take-out.

Based on my own experience and conjecture, I also think that once you become ill with CFS or Lyme or Fibro, your resistance gets worn down and you may become more sensitive to your environment.  Before all of this happened to me, I had no idea how to even imagine being in these shoes.  Now, I'm working on learning to better listen to my body, avoiding what makes me feel worse, and embracing what makes me feel better.

[PlateletGal]

What I found shocking is an article about how many chemicals in our laundry detergents have been BANNED in Europe ! And unlike Europe, these companies who make our laundry detergent, do not legally have to list all of the chemicals used on their label (check your bottles, folks!)

[VaBreeze]

Our ancestors did not live in the age of industry, as we must.  They didn't have as many vehicles on the streets; as many businesses polluting their waterways and air...so there were many differences in that era compared to current times.

Lyme is most likely a man-made disease.  They are also leaning towards this not only being transmitted by ticks, but by fleas and other biting insects that have fed off the infected.  We now have heavy spraying due to mosquitos (when I grew up you never saw one during the daytime) and all of our foods are treated to look pretty on the market...not to mention being genetically-modified.

This isn't just in the US...as i'm sure that Peru itself has made advances in industry and population.  Unfortunately, we live in a world of greed where money talks and empathy walks.

[ott70]

Lack of nutrients in the soil would be one thing that is different now than the old days. As PlateletGal states, veggies have less nutrients and that would be a result of the soil they grow from.