Intake of saturated fat not associated with an increased risk of heart disease

Re:Intake of saturated fat not associated with an increased ... by gregwebs on Friday January 15, 2010 @03:47PM (#1055854)

I am glad we are very like-minded, but I will continue to focus on the few differences:

  The point is, this is why people have doctors who went to medical school.

The average doctor knows very little about nutrition and exercise. They are lucky to spend a week's worth of time on it in medical school and generally just repeat what they have been told on the subject. Following your doctor's advice on these issues is a sure way to ruin your health.

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Re:Intake of saturated fat not associated with an increased ... by frossie on Friday January 15, 2010 @10:12PM (#1056405)

Following your doctor's advice on these issues is a sure way to ruin your health.

I actually don't agree with that. While I am willing to believe that the average doctor's understanding of nutrition is incomplete, I doubt the average punter's is any better.

Most people I personally know that "self-medicate" with advice they found on the Internet or read from some popular pseudo-science book seem to be engaging in magical thinking, and/or doing a great job ruining their own health by themselves. Perhaps you run with a more informed crowd.

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Re:Intake of saturated fat not associated with an increased ... by gregwebs on Saturday January 16, 2010 @02:38PM (#1057355)

I agree that this is a big problem. However, there aren't just 2 alternatives: your doctor's pseudo science or somebody else. Another alternative is to not listen to any advice at all and just eat what you want. America might actually be much healthier today if the government (including through doctors) never started pushing their nutritional advice on us.

I do agree that taking responsibility for your own health is a difficult, time consuming task that may be highly wasted if one can't distinguish between valid and invalid information. I wish I could figure out a way to help people with this process. If I show someone scientifically dense information their eyes glaze over.

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