Health vices ... how bad *are* they?

So, you smoked a little pot in the dorm room in college. You might have taken a few over-the-counter diet pills in your early 20's to lose that little squish. You probably even binge drank a couple of times at your friends' weddings. How bad could these things really be for you, though? An MSNBC report shows that most of these health vices are actually pretty forgivable - just as long as you're not doing it all the time.

*Pot: regrettable - "We used to think that marijuana was safe, but it contains many of the same cancer-producing chemicals as cigarette smoke and has the same health-harming effects," says Diane Stover, MD, chief of pulmonary service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

*Too Much Coffee: forgettable - Under six (yes, 6) cups a day shows no link between heart disease or cancer, so you’re probably doing just fine if you’re just a “regular” coffee drinker. More than 300mg of caffeine without enough calcium could put you at risk for bone loss though, so be sure you’re getting enough milk in your coffee.

*Sunburns: regrettable - Unfortunately, all that sun you got in Cancun that one spring break is regrettable. Scientists still haven’t been able to give a specific measure of UV exposure that causes skin cancer, so former sun worshippers need to be aware that they need yearly screenings, daily sunscreen and sun avoidance if possible.

*Loud Concerts: regrettable - loud noises destroy the cells in your ear so slowly you’ll not even notice it, but by the time you’re a senior citizen you may be part of one-third of Americans who live with hearing loss. “The golden rule: “If you’re in a noisy room where you have to raise your voice to be heard by someone three feet away, then it’s too loud.” Greg Flamme, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of speech pathology and audiology at Western Michigan University.

*Fast Food: forgivable - unlike smoking the damage that fast food can do (which studies have shown can be almost instant!) can be reversed. Another general rule: “As long as it took for you to get to an unhealthy state, that's about how long it takes to become disease free.” With a proper diet and a moderate amount of exercise, fast food sins can be washed away.

*Alcohol: forgivable - the major organs affected by drinking (the brain, liver and pancreas) are “fairly resilient,” which means that moderate drinking may be forgivable. Heavy drinkers (four or more drinks daily for a long period of time) may need to ask their physician for an alanine transaminase/aminotransferase (ALT) test which will test for liver damage.

*Yo-Yo Dieting: forgivable - “yo-yo dieting” is normally classified as losing/gaining ten pounds at least five times in your life (I assume they mean the same ten pounds) and there is no definitive evidence this could be harmful to your body.

*Fasting: forgettable - while not regrettable, fasting does not rid your body of toxins or result in any sort of lasting weight loss, so what are the positives of not eating for a week?

*OTC Diet Pills: forgivable - in most cases, the chemicals in over-the-counter diet aids leave your body relatively quickly so they are forgivable, but while they are in your body, they do wreak havoc. Just a few years ago, the FDA banned ephedra – a leading ingredient in most OTC diet pills because of two deaths, four heart attacks, nine strokes and a seizure. Like fasting, I don’t know that OTC diet pills are worth any short-term weight loss.

*Unprotected Sex: forgivable - I disagree with this opinion. There are unforgiving sexually transmitted infections; HIV, AIDS, HPV, all incurable and very unforgiving. Your best bet is to have protected sex with fewer partners or unprotected sex within a safe and mutually monogamous relationship. It’s always important, too, to be absolutely honest with your doctor about the number of partners and number of times of unprotected sex.

Are there other health vices out there that you might be worried about? Let me know your thoughts so I can do some research!