The best Doctors in the world are Doctor Diet, Doctor Quiet and Dr. Merryman.
–Jonathan Swift
Did you see the exciting news? Obesity is now a disease! O Happy Day! Our problems are solved.
Category: Science
Pardon Me; Your Bias is Showing 2
I would remind you to notice where the claim of consensus is invoked. Consensus is invoked only in situations where the science is not solid enough. Nobody says the consensus of scientists agrees that E=mc2. Nobody says the consensus is that the sun is 93 million miles away. It would never occur to anyone to speak that way.
― Michael Crichton
In the previous post I got all worked up over a news article claiming that eating red meat raises the risk of developing diabetes. I may still be slightly worked up, so you might want to go have some chocolate and get back to me tomorrow.
The article was biased from the outset, was not a real “study” at all, relied on notoriously inaccurate data, and ignored important variables altogether. Not to mention that no hypothesis was formed for the purpose of testing and truth-finding. No, we skipped that inconvenient step completely and just jumped to calling it a full-fledged theory and telling everyone how to eat based upon it.
Continue reading Pardon Me; Your Bias is Showing 2
Calories In, Calories Out
If the mind, that rules the body, ever so far forgets itself as to trample on its slave, the slave is never generous enough to forgive the injury, but will rise and smite the oppressor.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
If you’re not familiar with the term “calories in, calories out,” or CICO, it refers to the dearly held belief that somehow the laws of thermodynamics demand that if we eat X number of calories (energy in) and expend Y number of calories (energy out) that our weight will change by Z according to how much we over- or under- ate our caloric needs. This formula is trotted out as the ultimate answer for obesity.
And it’s idiotic.
A Mess of Greens
I don’t want any vegetables, thank you. I paid for the cow to eat them for me.
–Doug Copeland
I’m going to say some things about vegetables now. It might hurt their feelings, but I’m not going to say it to their faces. I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t repeat it to your asparagus, either. Hang on, here we go:
Bad News With Benefits
Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.
–Lao Tzu
Have you been waiting for the other shoe to drop? Well don’t worry: it won’t. This bad news is some of the easiest bad news you’ll ever get.
Eating this way–avoiding grains, sugars, vegetables oils, and excessive amounts of fruit, while embracing real animal fat, meat, and other fresh, real foods–has been one of the easiest things I’ve ever done.
It was certainly easier than spending half my life kneading my “healthy” whole wheat bread dough.
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
A ship is safe in port, but that’s not what ships are built for.
–Grace Hopper
I’m putting my money where my mouth is. I’m stuffing myself with saturated fat and finding my lipid profile is improved and my blood pressure is down. Weight is melting off and my shape is changing.
But I’m only eating when I’m hungry.
On an active day that ends up being around 1500 calories. On a sedentary day, I can easily eat 1000 or less. On a really active day, I might eat well over 2000.
Ask Me How It Happened 