something the docs say is bad but you aren’t convinced?

[Vidya]

On Jimmy Kimmel, Dr. Oz said Q-Tips should be used only to clean the outer ear. i’ve read articles on the net too that suggest using it inside the ear canal only does further damage, by forcing the inner wax further inside.

I tried what Dr. Oz suggested, and used the tip of my little finger covered with a soft cloth. He suggested hanky, I used a softer cloth.

It worked fine for some weeks but eventually I still felt wax was stuck in and could only be removed by the cotton swab.

Do you use Q-Tips? If they’re as bad as the docs say they are, how come so many people use them? i’ve never heard of anyone damaging their ears with them. have you?

Are there other things the docs say are bad but you aren’t convinced?

[Jeff Tanyard]

I agree with Dr. Oz.  It's a bad idea to stick small objects in your ear.  Only insert things--like ear plugs--that can only go in so far.

I use a tissue on my finger like he says.  I do it after my shower when I've got some water already in my ears.

For cleaning my ears deep down where the finger can't reach, I use a rubber syringe similar to this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Hand-Bulb-Ear-Syringes-oz/dp/B000LX4L4M/

Use warm water, not hot or cold.  Don't try to use the syringe to suck the wax out; only use it to squirt water in.  The water will dissolve the wax.  It takes a few minutes, though, so be patient and just keep squirting water in.  You'll want to lean over the sink when you do this, obviously, with your head tilted so the water runs out.  When you get to the point where no more wax is running out, the water is draining out of your ear quickly, and you can hear clearly, then you're good to go.  Use a tissue to wipe the excess water--and specks of wax that stuck to your skin--out of your ears.

Hope that helps.

Now, on to the question...

Are there other things the docs say are bad but you aren’t convinced?

Plenty.  Dietary fat and red meat, for example.
 

[notthatamanda]

I'm pretty sure the 10+ diet supplements Dr. Oz has endorsed over the years are all bullsh*t.

I wish medical decisions were completely binary but the truth is the human body is pretty complicated. The pediatricians seem to be in CYA mode but my doctors I've been pretty happy with so far, conahura, knock wood.

I use q-tips. When I was a kid we got the inside of our ears cleaned whether we liked it or not. The way we fought it could definitely have resulted in some ear damage. There used to be q-tips that were thicker at the stick end so you couldn't insert them too deep unless you really jammed them in.

[Vidya]

I’ve read some people consider Dr. Oz a charlatan, but that doesn't mean he isn’t right about some things. I think i’ll try to use a hanky from now on.

[notthatamanda]

He could be right about a lot of things, but I hold him accountable for profiting off the crap supplements.

I like to dry the water inside my ears with my hair dryer. Going outside with water in your ears when it's subfreezing out feels lousy. Good luck with your hanky.

[Maggie Ann]

It's not really the docs. It's the scientists. What's good this year is bad the next and back to good the year after that. I don't trust scientists and haven't for a long time.

[David VanDyke]

Doctors, especially in the US, always hew to the safest course when dispensing advice, in order to protect themselves from litigation. There will always be a minority of people who misuse a tool like a Q-tip.

But the thing wouldn't be made the way it is if it wasn't (secretly) intended to stick into your ear. I've done it for decades with only one case of impacted ear wax, which may well have happened anyway.

Bottom line: develop some common sense.

[notthatamanda]

It's not really the docs. It's the scientists. What's good this year is bad the next and back to good the year after that. I don't trust scientists and haven't for a long time.

Oh dear. I love science very much. I don't trust the click bait articles on the internet which cherry pick which facts and sentences from scientific studies to scream about. IMHO science is the search for the pure truth. As technology advances, we will be able to know more and previously drawn conclusions may be proven wrong. I don't have a problem with that. A good scientist would rather have their conclusion be proven wrong by thorough unbiased experimentation than lie about it. But scientists are people and ego is a thing. No one is infallible.

[angela]

When Nina Teicholz was writing her book about dietary fat, and how the public had been sold a deadly lie (that saturated animal fat was bad for us), and learned what measures were taken to hide the truth, it shook her faith in everything.

I feel that way a lot, and it's unsettling.

But now I know that anything I think I know might be wrong. It's one thing to claim you question everything, but it's another thing to actually question everything.

Good science can be trusted. It's all we've got. It's the bad science in disguise you gotta watch out for.

Most people are sheep. And that's not a bad thing. It simply is what it is. 50% of people have below-average skills. It's up to the sheepdogs to protect the herd from the wolves.

(I do realize the irony of talking about science as an author who writes about magic.)

[elleoco]

Well, I wear hearing aids, and believe me, they go farther into your ears than a piece of cloth over a finger can. And they are prescribed by - wait for it, doctors of audiology.

Yes, I use Q-tips.

[LilyBLily]

Custom ear protection also goes into your ear canal, but I have proof it's useless when used alone. Some people need hearing aids and others, like me, need ear protection because too much noise is painful. I no longer attend movies without wearing earplugs. I don't sit in the first rows at the opera or the symphony. I vacuum, shred papers, mow, chainsaw, hedge clip, weed whack, and do other noisy chores only while wearing heavy duty ear protection of the kind used by people firing guns or guiding airplanes--and I wear such protection on top of the earplugs. I use noise canceling headphones on airplanes. Too much noise really hurts.

I agree with David. Some people will be idiots about Q-tips, so everybody avoids litigation by telling us not to use them as they obviously are meant to be used. They'd be made in a different shape if they truly were meant to be used differently.

[dgcasey]

I use the bulb syringe thingy myself and it works a treat. I just do it when I'm in the shower and come out with ears as clean as a whistle. I only do it about once a week because I'm sure there are some beneficial bacteria in there and you don't want to wash them away completely. Also, switching the shower head to Pummel and turning your ears up to it will do a decent job of cleaning that stuff out.

[PJ Post]

Eggs are the worst!

I meant to say that they're a totally healthy source of protein.

Sorry folks, I really meant that the whites are good, the yolks are suicide on a plate.

My bad....turns out yolks are the bomb, totally good for us after all. Who knew?

So, so, so sorry...I had it right the first time: eggs are the worst!

Wait, what? Um...hang on a sec...eggs are....

Gluten is the worst!

[notthatamanda]

I believe the correct term is "Gluten is worse than smallpox."

Every time I buy a bag of gluten at the supermarket I get a comment. I usually say I'm off to rob a bank. I probably shouldn't say that.

[Maggie Ann]

Eggs are the worst!

I meant to say that they're a totally healthy source of protein.

Sorry folks, I really meant that the whites are good, the yolks are suicide on a plate.

My bad....turns out yolks are the bomb, totally good for us after all. Who knew?

So, so, so sorry...I had it right the first time: eggs are the worst!

Wait, what? Um...hang on a sec...eggs are....

Gluten is the worst!

Exactly!!! My dog loves the yolk, hates the white. I'll take his judgment, thank you.

Same with coffee, butter v margarine, half/half v. creamers.

[dgcasey]

butter v margarine,

If butter was good enough for Julia Child, it's good enough for me.   

[j tanner]

Exactly!!! My dog loves the yolk, hates the white. I'll take his judgment, thank you.

Your dog also loves dogcrap.

:popcorn:

 

Back on the original topic... I do know someone who actually injured herself with a Q-Tip. Her story goes like this. She was cleaning her ear safely after taking a shower. She got distracted, but left the Q-Tip inserted in her ear. She forgot about the Q-Tip in her ear. She never noticed it by looking on the mirror in front of her sink or anything while continuing to get ready. Her ear felt plugged up with water. She hit that ear (not the opposite ear) with the palm of her hand. This jammed the Q-Tip further into her ear, severely damaging her eardrum according to the doctor she had to immediately go see due to the pain.

That's her story and she's sticking to it. My interpretation of her story is she was cleaning her ear with a Q-Tip, jammed it in way too far and damaged her eardrum and then was too embarrassed about it to tell the truth and look dumb. So, yeah, mission accomplished!

[j tanner]

Eggs are the worst!

I meant to say that they're a totally healthy source of protein.

Sorry folks, I really meant that the whites are good, the yolks are suicide on a plate.

My bad....turns out yolks are the bomb, totally good for us after all. Who knew?

So, so, so sorry...I had it right the first time: eggs are the worst!

Wait, what? Um...hang on a sec...eggs are....

Gluten is the worst!

Ain't this the story of our lives with diet?

Saturated fats.
Food groups.
Red meat.
Coffee.
Wine.
Butter.
Grains.
How's bacon this week? Who the F knows...

[Gerri Attrick]

True story.

Years ago, when we were courting, I told my husband about an article I'd read called The Drinking Man's Diet. It was based on the Atkins, low-carb diet, and for him, it worked.

However, he loves his food and didn't stay on it for long. He also smoked.

21 years ago he had a massive heart attack (and 5 cardiac arrests!) Only modern technology and the speed of the paramedics saved him. He spent 10 days in ICU and another week on a hospital ward and after all that time on hospital food, left the place a shadow of his former self. (He'd lost close to 50lbs.)

Then he attended cardiac rehab sessions, where he was told to lay off the fats and major on the bread, potatoes, and pasta. As a result, his weight ballooned and inside a year he was diagnosed as having type-2 diabetes. Sheesh.

He's now 68 and still battling his excess weight.

[Maggie Ann]

True story.

Years ago, when we were courting, I told my husband about an article I'd read called The Drinking Man's Diet. It was based on the Atkins, low-carb diet, and for him, it worked.

However, he loves his food and didn't stay on it for long. He also smoked.

21 years ago he had a massive heart attack (and 5 cardiac arrests!) Only modern technology and the speed of the paramedics saved him. He spent 10 days in ICU and another week on a hospital ward and after all that time on hospital food, left the place a shadow of his former self. (He'd lost close to 50lbs.)

Then he attended cardiac rehab sessions, where he was told to lay off the fats and major on the bread, potatoes, and pasta. As a result, his weight ballooned and inside a year he was diagnosed as having type-2 diabetes. Sheesh.

He's now 68 and still battling his excess weight.

On the other hand, my DH didn't smoke, didn't eat red meat, exercised daily, barely drank, and had a massive heart attack. Dead at 53 right in the cardiac ICU.

[angela]

Sadly, sick people are profit centers for drugs and medical devices. Big hospitals aren't built, stocked, and staffed to help keep people out of hospitals.

If I could go back in time and warn my past self, I would say: Cut the snacks, the grains, the seed oils, and the sugar. Eat as much red meat as you can afford. Get off the cardio hamster wheel and lift some heavy things.

I liked pie, but pie didn't like me.

The hardest part of living a healthy lifestyle is, weirdly enough, not pushing away the pie. It's having everyone around you think you're giving up more than you're gaining. It's having people who've given up and given in to entropy lecture you about "everything in moderation! You gotta die of something!"

[dgcasey]

On the other hand, my DH didn't smoke, didn't eat red meat, exercised daily, barely drank, and had a massive heart attack. Dead at 53 right in the cardiac ICU.

There are days when I think it's just a crap shoot. There are tons of stories of very healthy, fit people dropping dead at what we consider very young ages. People like Jim Fixx, Miles Frost and a ton of others. I'd add Len Bias to this list, but he died of stupidity.

Sudden Cardiac Death is a very real thing and a lot of times it kills an otherwise healthy person without warning. I think this is where we get the sayings, "Live every day as if it were your last." If you have things you want to accomplish during your lifetime, it's best not to wait until you think you've reached the perfect time.

[Maggie Ann]

Sadly, sick people are profit centers for drugs and medical devices. Big hospitals aren't built, stocked, and staffed to help keep people out of hospitals.

If I could go back in time and warn my past self, I would say: Cut the snacks, the grains, the seed oils, and the sugar. Eat as much red meat as you can afford. Get off the cardio hamster wheel and lift some heavy things.

I liked pie, but pie didn't like me.

The hardest part of living a healthy lifestyle is, weirdly enough, not pushing away the pie. It's having everyone around you think you're giving up more than you're gaining. It's having people who've given up and given in to entropy lecture you about "everything in moderation! You gotta die of something!"

I have a hard time convincing people that I need to be on a high protein diet. After 75 years, I certainly know my body and it's needs. Now I just ignore them.

[idontknowyet]

Custom ear protection also goes into your ear canal, but I have proof it's useless when used alone. Some people need hearing aids and others, like me, need ear protection because too much noise is painful. I no longer attend movies without wearing earplugs. I don't sit in the first rows at the opera or the symphony. I vacuum, shred papers, mow, chainsaw, hedge clip, weed whack, and do other noisy chores only while wearing heavy duty ear protection of the kind used by people firing guns or guiding airplanes--and I wear such protection on top of the earplugs. I use noise canceling headphones on airplanes. Too much noise really hurts.

I agree with David. Some people will be idiots about Q-tips, so everybody avoids litigation by telling us not to use them as they obviously are meant to be used. They'd be made in a different shape if they truly were meant to be used differently.

Vented or non vented earplugs. Because it makes a difference. My sister uses the vented day to day, but the non vented allow her to do more.

[LilyBLily]

Never even heard of the vented before, but I don't think they'd be useful in my situation. I'm not swimming; I'm doing noisy things and trying to avoid the noise of them. I'll talk to someone about their efficacy.

[ingobernable]

I don't use Q-tips. I used them when I was a kid and absolutely hated it (didn't hurt myself or anything, just felt gross about it), but then as I got older I realized it was pointless and that my little finger and some paper can do the job just fine.

[idontknowyet]

Never even heard of the vented before, but I don't think they'd be useful in my situation. I'm not swimming; I'm doing noisy things and trying to avoid the noise of them. I'll talk to someone about their efficacy.

My sister uses vented with filters all day every day. She even sleeps in them. The non vented she uses for anything past day to day noises like movies, malls, lawn mowers any thing loud which she usually ends up stacking headphones with.

[LilyBLily]

As far as stupid official dietary ideas are concerned, I curse the day the U.S. government promulgated the idea that we should eat pasta--and have a meatless meal--at least one day a week. Until that time, pasta had never been anything I thought about. My mother occasionally served some spaghetti with our heavily meat-oriented meals, and even more occasionally made a cheese sauce for it. I never thought about it, and I seldom bought or ate it. She even more occasionally served canned spaghetti in sauce from a can; I detested it.

Along comes the government telling us we should eat this stuff, and I spent some time learning how to make my own marinara sauce from scratch (huge waste of time) and we began eating pasta. Now I'm hooked on the stuff; I think about it the way most people think about pizza: guilty pleasure. It's white poison, and I can buy an entire pound for 77 cents. (I've tried the whole wheat kind; it's gritty and gross.) Pasta, like rice, is for me merely an excuse to load up with butter and throw myself into a carb coma. I don't even keep rice in the house, for that reason. I occasionally buy some pasta with the same guilty feelings I have when I buy ice cream. (I buy a pizza maybe once or twice a year. I like it, but it's not on my craving horizon.)

Bottom line, by following the government's dietary advice, I added a new food addiction into my diet. I certainly did not need it. This is why today I will not listen to anything the government says about diet.

I listen even less to doctors, who are so blind and who follow medical fashion so blindly it is ridiculous. There is plenty of historical evidence that a high-protein and high-fat diet is healthier and keeps weight in control and keeps sugar in control, and so on, but the fat-shaming in our culture continues apace--much of it by doctors. The stupid advice to load up on carbs happens despite the fact that vast numbers of carb groceries are processed and contain poisons that mess with human metabolism and have in one generation turned us into the fattest people on the planet.       

Tl;dr: Yeah, this qualifies as a rant.

[notthatamanda]

I usually have cauliflower rice on hand so when I'm serving pasta I just have that.  I'm just short old and female and I don't need those calories. I like my bread just fine though. I adjusted to it no problem but it's not for everyone. For what it's worth I think the meatless days started during WW II when it really was about sending food to the troops.  They pushed cottage cheese a lot as a protein substitute during the war.

[Maggie Ann]

I usually have cauliflower rice on hand so when I'm serving pasta I just have that.  I'm just short old and female and I don't need those calories. I like my bread just fine though. I adjusted to it no problem but it's not for everyone. For what it's worth I think the meatless days started during WW II when it really was about sending food to the troops.  They pushed cottage cheese a lot as a protein substitute during the war.

Yes, that's true, but there has been a real push toward carbs in the last couple of decades. Somebody is always touting carbs to me. Sorry, folks. I know my body and I feel best on a high protein diet.

[She-la-te-da]

The stupid advice to load up on carbs happens despite the fact that vast numbers of carb groceries are processed and contain poisons that mess with human metabolism and have in one generation turned us into the fattest people on the planet.

This is so true. Years of eating "poor", having to fill up on carbs (they're good for you! HA), made me diabetic. I'm still struggling to get healthy again, because carbs are so bad for me. But, I like them. :(

The "food pyramid" is propaganda pushed by the people who make loads of money selling us cheap "food" and by the health care industry who make loads of money treating us when we get sick for eating all that crap.

Add on all the chemicals involved with our food -- from pesticides to preservatives, coloring and flavor enhancements -- and you've got a recipe for disaster.

[Maggie Ann]

The stupid advice to load up on carbs happens despite the fact that vast numbers of carb groceries are processed and contain poisons that mess with human metabolism and have in one generation turned us into the fattest people on the planet.

This is so true. Years of eating "poor", having to fill up on carbs (they're good for you! HA), made me diabetic. I'm still struggling to get healthy again, because carbs are so bad for me. But, I like them. :(

The "food pyramid" is propaganda pushed by the people who make loads of money selling us cheap "food" and by the health care industry who make loads of money treating us when we get sick for eating all that crap.

Add on all the chemicals involved with our food -- from pesticides to preservatives, coloring and flavor enhancements -- and you've got a recipe for disaster.

When I was in the hospital two years ago, I ordered a spinach/mushroom/cheese omelet for breakfast every day. Very yum. One day, they decided to put me on a diabetic diet and insisted I have a carb. I tried arguing, but it was no use and I gave in. Did I eat that English Muffin? Uh-uh. Love oatmeal, but I'm starving an hour later. Same with any kind of pasta unless I have meat with it. Those carbs just digest away on me and my blood sugar drops like a stone.

[angela]

...
Add on all the chemicals involved with our food -- from pesticides to preservatives, coloring and flavor enhancements -- and you've got a recipe for disaster.

It all started with the fear of saturated fat. Then we got the perfect storm of inflammatory seed oils, sugars, and all those "heart-healthy" (cough cough) whole grains. Here in Canada, the push for vegan diets is going strong, thanks to new marketing push from the Department of Agriculture. It's so sad. I don't know a healthy vegan. I know it's possible, but the ones I know all live off canola oil and sugar, in various shapes.

Good for you that you are now addressing the issue! You can do it!

There are so many benefits to quitting that crap. I had a bad sun sensitivity, and now it's just gone. Husband and I are seeing health improvements all the time. We're carnivore-ish. People think we're nuts, tut-tutting us about our red meat consumption as they kill themselves on poinson bran muffins. But I've reviewed the science, and I'm living the results.

[Maggie Ann]

...
Add on all the chemicals involved with our food -- from pesticides to preservatives, coloring and flavor enhancements -- and you've got a recipe for disaster.

It all started with the fear of saturated fat. Then we got the perfect storm of inflammatory seed oils, sugars, and all those "heart-healthy" (cough cough) whole grains.

Good for you that you are now addressing the issue! You can do it!

There are so many benefits to quitting that crap. I had a bad sun sensitivity, and now it's just gone. Husband and I are seeing health improvements all the time. We're carnivore-ish. People think we're nuts, tut-tutting us about our red meat consumption as they kill themselves on poinson bran muffins. But I've reviewed the science, and I'm living the results.

Bran muffins <shudder>

[angela]

Bran muffins <shudder>

To be honest, I always liked them. LOL. Probably because they're packed with sugar and you can lie to yourself that it's healthy. But I'm off the muffins now, I swear!

[LilyBLily]

I love cauliflower. At a chain restaurant, I was served cauliflower with enough gorgonzola mixed in with it to feed three people. It was a side dish, for crying out loud. Let me add chain restaurants to my list of things I hate. The portions are insane.

 

[Maggie Ann]

I love cauliflower. At a chain restaurant, I was served cauliflower with enough gorgonzola mixed in with it to feed three people. It was a side dish, for crying out loud. Let me add chain restaurants to my list of things I hate. The portions are insane.

I always get two more meals out of restaurant dinners.

[notthatamanda]

My new years resolution was to remember to bring my own Tupperware when we eat out, for leftovers.  Restaurant portions are ridiculous, unless you go somewhere very high end.

I'm kind of stunned about all the doctors/hospitals pushing carbs when people have diabetes. I've known about the glycemic index for more than twenty years and I'm not related to anyone diabetic (well, I expect that to change shortly but anyways).

We hear about the healthy plate here and that replaced the food pyramid a while ago.  Half your plate should be (non starchy) vegetables.

I make my husband muffins for his weekday breakfast. Cut way back on the sugar and load them up with fruit. Commercial produced muffins are ridiculous. Somehow a muffin just seems healthy than a donut, but the chains around here have to have their nutrition information displayed. At the largest donut chain most donuts are under 300 calories, some of the muffins are over 600.

[lea_owens]

Whatever you do - take care of your gut bugs and they'll take care of you. Stop eating whatever you want, and find out what they want you to eat. If they're happy, you'll have less colds and flus, less illness, and more overall happiness since the little blighters produce almost all of our 'feel good hormone' serotonin to reward us for feeding them properly.

What do they love? Pro-biotic foods for one. Like sauerkraut and high fibre foods. They're fine with a bit of meat since they evolved with us, but they're not overly rapt in really high meat diets. Raw vegetables like coleslaws are a favourite of theirs. We like to think we're such an evolved organism, superior to all others, but I suspect our gut bugs engineered us to ensure that they go on living - we are the bodies they built to ensure their survival. Take care of them.

[elleoco]

When I was in the hospital two years ago, I ordered a spinach/mushroom/cheese omelet for breakfast every day. Very yum. One day, they decided to put me on a diabetic diet and insisted I have a carb. I tried arguing, but it was no use and I gave in. Did I eat that English Muffin? Uh-uh. Love oatmeal, but I'm starving an hour later. Same with any kind of pasta unless I have meat with it. Those carbs just digest away on me and my blood sugar drops like a stone.

The part of your post I bolded confuses me. All the recommendations I got for diet include an avoidance of much in the way of carbs (my bloodwork showed me crossing into prediabetes range a couple years ago). So the literature the doctor gave me and my own further research says carbs raise blood sugar and should be minimized and stuff like cauliflower fakes should be substituted for rice and pasta (and IMO cauliflower is cauliflower and doesn't vaguely resemble rice or pasta no matter how cleverly disguised).

You guys are lucky in liking protein and veggies. Personally, I'd be happy living on a diet of bread and potatoes with nothing else but fruit. Fortunately for me, I've lowered my blood sugar quite a bit losing weight and exercising. I do what I can with diet, and I'm lucky I don't have a sweet tooth, but for me eating right sucks.

[Maggie Ann]

When I was in the hospital two years ago, I ordered a spinach/mushroom/cheese omelet for breakfast every day. Very yum. One day, they decided to put me on a diabetic diet and insisted I have a carb. I tried arguing, but it was no use and I gave in. Did I eat that English Muffin? Uh-uh. Love oatmeal, but I'm starving an hour later. Same with any kind of pasta unless I have meat with it. Those carbs just digest away on me and my blood sugar drops like a stone.

The part of your post I bolded confuses me. All the recommendations I got for diet include an avoidance of much in the way of carbs (my bloodwork showed me crossing into prediabetes range a couple years ago). So the literature the doctor gave me and my own further research says carbs raise blood sugar and should be minimized and stuff like cauliflower fakes should be substituted for rice and pasta (and IMO cauliflower is cauliflower and doesn't vaguely resemble rice or pasta no matter how cleverly disguised).

You guys are lucky in liking protein and veggies. Personally, I'd be happy living on a diet of bread and potatoes with nothing else but fruit. Fortunately for me, I've lowered my blood sugar quite a bit losing weight and exercising. I do what I can with diet, and I'm lucky I don't have a sweet tooth, but for me eating right sucks.

Yup, confused me, too. My family is heavily diabetic and I know a bit about it. Of course, this was the same hospital when I was 73 years old told me I had COPD and the flu, but I wasn't at risk. They sent me home. Ended up being admitted three days later.

When I was there recently and told them I had a temp of 102.6 or 102.7 every day, they said my thermometer wasn't accurate. So, I used the ear thermometer and it registered 102.6 and then the mouth thermometer (the supposedly accurate one), and it registered 102.7. By golly, they were right. Mine was off by .1. They sent me home with a prescription for regular strength Tylenol. I tore up the prescription and the discharge instructions.

Whatever you do - take care of your gut bugs and they'll take care of you. Stop eating whatever you want, and find out what they want you to eat. If they're happy, you'll have less colds and flus, less illness, and more overall happiness since the little blighters produce almost all of our 'feel good hormone' serotonin to reward us for feeding them properly.

What do they love? Pro-biotic foods for one. Like sauerkraut and high fibre foods. They're fine with a bit of meat since they evolved with us, but they're not overly rapt in really high meat diets. Raw vegetables like coleslaws are a favourite of theirs. We like to think we're such an evolved organism, superior to all others, but I suspect our gut bugs engineered us to ensure that they go on living - we are the bodies they built to ensure their survival. Take care of them.

My gut tells me to stay away from probiotics except for acidolphilus (sp?) I eat a lot of yogurt. Dannon Vanilla. If probiotics work for you, fantastic. But they put me in agony. And yes, I've tried them for a full two weeks and my gut still told me to cut it out.

I do like sauerkraut but I haven't had it for a long time. I stopped buying it because the kids hated it and just got out of the habit.

[angela]

The part of your post I bolded confuses me. All the recommendations I got for diet include an avoidance of much in the way of carbs (my bloodwork showed me crossing into prediabetes range a couple years ago). So the literature the doctor gave me and my own further research says carbs raise blood sugar and should be minimized and stuff like cauliflower fakes should be substituted for rice and pasta (and IMO cauliflower is cauliflower and doesn't vaguely resemble rice or pasta no matter how cleverly disguised).

You guys are lucky in liking protein and veggies. Personally, I'd be happy living on a diet of bread and potatoes with nothing else but fruit. Fortunately for me, I've lowered my blood sugar quite a bit losing weight and exercising. I do what I can with diet, and I'm lucky I don't have a sweet tooth, but for me eating right sucks.

I'm in Canada. Whenever one of my older diabetic or pre-diabetic family members goes into the hospital, they get fed plenty of toast, orange juice, pudding, etc. It's because the hospital's dietary guidelines come from groups with anti-meat religious beliefs (look into the origin of the Dietetics association) or the Department of Agriculture's food pyramid or plate or whatever bullsh*t they're calling it these days.

They don't build those giant hospitals to keep people out.

re: your diet sucking -- have you tried bacon? :-)  It's very nice, and you don't get sick of it.

By the way, I'm really glad to hear so many of my fellow authors are cutting the carbs! I'm around a lot of people who don't get it. I think indie authors are naturally suited to going against the mainstream sheep advice. :-) Go, you guys and gals!!

Rando health tips -- if you do better on high protein, you may have undermethylation issues. That's a portion of the population that benefits from some supplements. If you do well on a low-protein diet, you might be on the other end of the methylation spectrum. This is why there is no single diet that works perfectly for everyone. It's both genetic and epigenetic.

I'm an undermethylator (probably), so I take triphala nightly because it boosts glutathione. If I don't take it, I get tinnitus and low energy. I used to be against supplements, but now I understand it's more complicated. 

[notthatamanda]

Okay, well, I guess I'll stop being mad about the giant deductible on top of the giant premium my family pays for medical insurance since it comes with less antiquated advice. 

In the interest of transparency though I will say I do eat carbs. Mostly I try to avoid factory processed stuff that designed to keep you eating by putting in just enough flavor to be interesting but not enough to be satisfying. My kids will push food away and say "I'm full but they put crack in it, so take it away from me." I'm probably going to get a call from the school sooner or later on that.

I don't miss pasta when I substitute cauliflower rice for it. I never liked plain white rice anyway (risotto on the other hand...) so subing in cauliflower rice for that is a no brainer. I make most of our bread and baked goods and cut way back on the sugar in the dessert fixings. No pork here though, raised Jewish, it's my one concession in case I get up there and they look at me funny. We don't have an up there either, but I like to hedge my bets, I'm a hedge better (more transparency).

[AmHere]

[
I'm an undermethylator (probably), so I take triphala nightly because it boosts glutathione.

Is there a brand of triphala you would recommend?

[Tom Wood]

Homeopath horsesh*t peddler: "Well science doesn't know everything."
Science: "We know we don't know everything, otherwise we would stop."

[angela]

[
I'm an undermethylator (probably), so I take triphala nightly because it boosts glutathione.

Is there a brand of triphala you would recommend?

I buy the only kind they sell at the stores around here - Organic Traditions. If you've never taken it before, be warned it tastes terrible. Don't ruin a smoothie with it. I take a teaspoon in a bit of water before bed. For my fellow carnivore-ish folks, it is high in Vitamin C, so if you have any lingering worries about not guzzling orange juice from the Florida Citrus lobbying groups... here ya go.

I started the supplement after I read a book by an American neurologist who got sick herself and began looking into Ayurvedic medicine. Her name is Kulreet Chaudhary.

I know it's not cool to pay attention to any doctor who's written a book and been on Dr. Oz, but I was sick for a long time, and now I'm not, and it's only because I kept an open mind. :-) 

There are clinical studies showing triphala's effects on a bunch of things, including gum disease. (Reducing it!)

A lot of the stuff that works is crazy cheap and pretty easy. That's why you never hear about it. No profits for anyone else.

[Maggie Ann]

Angela, I do have a bit of bacon nearly every day. It is definitely yummy. But, years of conditioning against bacon fat makes it difficult to convince myself that bacon is good. I'm still fighting!

[dgcasey]

They don't build those giant hospitals to keep people out.

That's funny. We say the same thing about casinos here in Las Vegas. They don't build these billion dollar casino resorts to cater to the winners.   

[Vidya]

Angela, after reading your post I ordered this:

https://www.amazon.in/Jain-Triphala-Tablets-1000-Count/dp/B06Y6L2WZ5/ref=sr_1_30?keywords=Triphala&qid=1579022292&s=hpc&sr=1-30

yes, I ordered 1000 Triphala Tablets.

Then I asked a doc about them and she said they were very harmful. Her exact words were if you take them regularly, they’ll loosen the bowels. I guess she meant they would cause diarrhea if taken long term.

Now i’m afraid to take them. How long have you taken them and have you suffered any side effects? Does the Triphala I bought [see above] sound the same as what you’re taking?

I did take one tablet before consulting her. It had a laxatve effect but I didn't get a stomach ache as one reviewer complained he got.

I live in the home of Ayurveda but not everyone in India trusts Ayurvedic medicine. I’ve been told it can be harmful.

One doc told my mom once: “We can’t prescribe Ayurvedic medicine, only Allopathic.”

I suspect there’s some rule in India. Many docs distrust homeopathic medicine too.

Re high protein, i’ve read they inject hormones into chickens and livestock in the US to make them grow faster. And that can cause cancer. So isnt a high protein diet risky in that it might lead to cancer? Sure, there’s organic meat but that’s more expensive and I read once not all organic foods are truly free of chemicals.

I’d be very interested to read the responses of all of you on a high protein diet. don’t you worry about getting cancer from the meat? How much of fruits and veggies do you eat? I loathe veggies and should eat more but I can’t live without fruit. I crave at least one orange a day and some other fruit like papaya or mango when it’s in season.

and re bacon, isnt it processed meat and therefore carcinogenic?

[Maggie Ann]

I'm 75 and have been on a high protein diet most of my life. No cancer yet.

I do eat a lot of veggies because I love them but not fruit. I can eat bananas and there is a recipe for one ingredient banana ice cream on the Internet. It's really good.

I can't eat strawberries or melons because of the high sugar content. When I was in the hospital four years ago, they had these huge, fresh strawberries that I ordered twice a day. When I left the hospital, my sugar was 350. Of course, the chocolate cake might have had something to do with it. Went really well with the strawberries. But I've had the problem with strawberries before without the chocolate cake or any other sugar. Now I just don't eat them. Too much fruit will also give me diarrhea. So will veggies for that matter, but not nearly as bad as fruit.

You're not supposed to grill meat either because that's said to be carcinogenic. A friend of mine told her doctor that he'd left her nothing to eat but water.

Scientists are paid by big companies and in order to keep their grant money, they must come up with the results that company is looking for. Now if they come up with a cure for cancer or crohn's or alheimer's, I'll bow down to them.