I read a recent story by Julia Llewellyn Smith about John Yudkin, an early proponent of the theory that sugar (not fat) is likely to be the main culprit behind many modern diseases. It contained the following paragraph: “One of the problems with the anti-sugar message — then and now — is how depressing it […]
Mark Sisson is the author of The Primal Blueprint, and the blog Mark’s Daily Apple. His blog is a great reference, and I like his work. However, I take exception to the article he posted this week entitled Do You Really Need to Eat Vegetables to Be Healthy? Although he admits at the end that […]
How a scientist interprets outcomes often depends on whether she thinks the outcome should be good or bad. Cortisol levels make a good example. In the context of low carb, ketogenic diets, the finding of slightly higher cortisol levels have been interpreted as a warning sign. In a recent post on our blog, Zooko and […]
(Related post: Red Light, Green Light: responses to cortisol levels in keto vs. longevity research) One of the myths surrounding ketogenic diets comes from misunderstanding the role of cortisol — the “stress hormone”. In a previous post, we addressed one of the arguments behind this myth: the idea that to activate gluconeogenesis (to make glucose […]
We humans are storytellers. When we want something to be memorable and meaningful, we make it into a story that can be interpreted causally. Our brains are just made that way [1], [2]. That may be why adding dramatic anecdotes to a book or article can make it more popular and persuasive than sticking solely […]