<p>@ Shrinkrap- </p>
<p>The term idiot was used in a sardonic way, as when someone refers to a group of people he is part of as ‘the gang of idiots’ or some such, it is meant sardonically. My main point was in this case at doctors dispensing advice in areas where they haven’t kept up. For example, I am in the age group where heart issues start becoming a focus, and I still hear doctors telling patients that the big thing is to eat a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, because that is the contributing factor to heart disease (which major studies now say basically is bs, which was first shown decades ago in the Framingham study, or telling patients that their LDL/HDL ratio is off and take niacin, both of which have been shown to be false (niacin does change the ratio, brings it into the good range, but apparently doesn’t help heart health, not surprisingly, just read a piece by an MD who is also a fitness expert who said that LDL particles are the real factor, that HDL/LDL ratio sometimes reflects the particles, other times doesn’t; an oh, yeah, cited several big studies that said high carb diets cause the particle count to skyrocket…). </p>
<p>I understand doctors can’t know everything, and I understand that, any more than I understand every facet of the financial industry, I don’t, what bothers me is the doctors giving advice without having checked up on what is going on. I understand how pig headed patients are, and I think a doctor has a duty to try and get patients who are in serious danger of diabetes and heart risk and such, to change their lifestyle, and I think it is wonderful that doctors are referring patients to nutritionists, whom I may personally not agree with, but are professionals. I have a lot of respect for integrative doctors like Andrew Weill, because they seem a lot more open minded then standard practitioners (example, integrative doctors have been telling their patients on statins to take Coq10, because statins wipe out coq10 levels, last time I went to my cardiologist last year, he said “Coq10 is not standard protocol”…um, the heart needs coq10, the vitamin package he recommended I take has…ta da, coq10 in it…)…</p>
<p>In terms of where I am getting this, I tend to read when studies come out and are written up, plus for nutrition stuff I am fond of Dr. John Berardi up at Precision Nutrition, he is a Phd in Nutrition who reads the literature, and among other things, is pragmatic and willing to talk about when things change and his own views change, and why…among other things, he promotes the idea that there is not one diet or fitness plan that works for everyone, as opposed to someone telling patients that the only way to lose fat and weight is to do an hour of cardio a day or to go on a 1000 calorie a day diet, both of which are dubious to say the least…Like I said, I respect experts and I respect the training that goes into that, what I don’t respect is rigid thinking or clinging to any one orthodoxy, or giving advice as if they know when they should say “you know, I think you may benefit from talking to a nutritionist about finding a dietary plan that works for youi”. And yeah, I know, I give advice, but I am also very, very careful to say I am not an expert, that what I know is either because it worked for me or because of what I have read, I don’t claim to be an expert, which is different than when someone relies on a doctor. </p>