I’m going to have to try this. I had a bout for several weeks in the spring when I thought I was having hip problems on the left side, but I’m pretty sure it was just nerve issues. It cleared up finally, but I wake up with a sore and stiff lower back every morning, despite a newish mattress, and I had some twinges on the right side a few days ago.
Category Archives: Health
Vegan Diets
Removing refined carbohydrates, such as sugar, flours, fruit juice, and cereals, makes ANY diet healthier. This is the most likely reason why plant-based diets appear healthier than meat-based diets in some clinical studies. All of the studies I’m aware of claiming that plant-based diets are superior to omnivorous diets suffer from the same tragic flaw. Researchers conducting these studies NEVER simply ask people to remove animal foods from their diet. They always change more than just that single variable—such as lowering fat content or adding exercise—and they always instruct people in the plant-based group to eliminate refined carbohydrates and processed foods. In almost every case, these special “plant-based” diets are then compared to a junky omnivorous diet loaded with sweets, baked goods and manufactured foodstuffs.
This is not a fair fight. How do we know whether it was the removal of the meat, refined carbs, industrially-produced oils, or artificial additives that was responsible for the benefits? I’ve engaged in countless social media conversations with plant-based diet experts in which I politely ask for scientific evidence that simply removing animal foods from the diet—without making any other changes—results in health benefits. None of them have ever been able to cite a single article for me.
The amount of junk science in nutrition studies is just appalling.
Health Care
Yes, access to it is limited by overregulation:
The problem is that healthcare consumers have limited options. At the two ends of the spectrum, they can see a licensed doctor, or they can do it themselves. One option is extremely expensive, time-consuming, and reliable, and the other is free and still time-consuming but not as reliable. In between, there are few other choices. It’s possible to use a service like Teladoc or visit a drugstore clinic in some areas for minor issues like strep throat, an earache, or a sprained ankle, but in the absence of the current system of occupational licensing, there’d be a much broader continuum of possibilities between my unlettered amateur visits to Dr. Google and visits to an actual doctor’s office.
The problem is compounded by the fact that we pay for health-care via “insurance” coverage, which isn’t really insurance but just prepaid health-care. This system requires lots and lots of rules about what can and can’t be covered and what constitutes medicine. The entire healthcare market would function much more efficiently if there were more options. For treating a lot of conditions, you don’t need someone who went to four years of medical school and worked through a grueling residency. Better to save that talent for more challenging stuff and allow people to seek marginal improvements over DIY diagnosis.
But instead, we’re forced to buy “insurance” that isn’t really insurance, and they’ve totally destroyed the concept of insurance.
The Tea Party
Jim Antle says that the Republicans have repealed and replaced it. It was another victory for the statists.
Guess we need to primary some of them next year.
[Later-afternoon update]
Arizona resident Bob Zimmerman is less than impressed with his senior senator. Emphasis on the “senior.”
CRISPR
The first human embryos have been edited in the US.
[Update a couple minutes later]
New gene editing screening does thousands of genes at for cancer, and will scale to entire genome.
Aging
How close are we to defeating it?
There are no laws of physics that require it. I’ve been taking NAD+.
[Update early afternoon]
This is interesting. Patients on an anti-cancer drug with gray hair see it turn dark again.
Soylent
She tried it. As she writes, it not only didn’t end well, it didn’t even begin well. Cruel, but hilarious.
Saturated Fat
The tide continues to turn.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Why are doctors so stupid?
Basically, when they do have any time to keep up with the literature, much of it remains bogus.
Active Shooters
Here’s news you can use: Everything you know about them is wrong. As was the case with Columbine and other places, idiotic advice from clueless people in charge helps increase the carnage. Which is part of the disaster that is American public education.
Your First Two Weeks Of Strength Training
I really need to start doing this.