As to the Covid vaccines, Scott Adams does seem to wriggle around a lot. But I think he missed the point. The issue is trust. Each of us can only be expert in a few things, and we rely on others for the rest. I'm an engineer, but when I have car trouble I go to my mechanic. He explains the problem and the suggested solution. If it makes sense to me I give the go ahead. But ultimately I need to have a mechanic that I trust, not because he is an expert, but because I find him trustworthy. A man can be great automotive expert while not being honest. So the issue with Covid is not scientific or medical expertise. I can accept that an expert is wrong in a particular instance, but so many of these scientific and medical experts were dishonest, and that I cannot accept. Life becomes tedious if everything has to be questioned because no expert can be trusted to be honest.
I agree with you 100 percent. We need to have experts we trust. Problem is, how do we find them. It's relatively easy with a mechanic. If he/she diagnoses what's wrong with your car and fixes it to your satisfaction, then trust is built. If it happens over and over again, then the trust grows. The problem is, how do you know at the first interaction?
I don't mean to be contrary but it isn't relatively easy with a mechanic. You don't know if the repair was necessary, and you don't know if the price was a fair one. (Replacing a component rather than fixing it.) So one relies on either a credential, a recommendation from a trusted source, or reputation (internet customer ratings). And all too often, we just learn from our own mistakes. Once bitten twice shy.
I personally felt blessed in this area concerning the covid situation and "experts." I have been plugged into the low-carb community for many years; I already knew of many doctors and data crunchers that I trusted. When I had inklings that something was wrong, and these same people from my low-carb community were having similar inklings, I knew I was on to something. Many of these doctors had already had issues with big food and big Pharma fighting them about diet/sugar/meds. I read the Lancet's BS paper on diet.
Ivor Cummins started talking about the Covid numbers almost immediately, how low the actual risk was. I already knew him from the low carb conferences and knew him to be smart and reasonable. Tim Noakes, too.
Dr. Eades, you talked years ago on your old blog about statins, and so did Dr. Malcolm Kendrick… you guys gave me a nice foundation of understanding how the drug company trials are spun. But most of all, when I heard they were going to warp-speed a vaccine, I knew that that wasn't possible. It simply takes time to see how human bodies react to a new drug or injectable. You can't get around that, even with "The Science." I knew there was no way they could proclaim with certainty that was safe without long-term data. The minute there was censorship, it was a slam dunk for me that something was seriously wrong. A doctor who defected from the Soviet Union back when wrote about how state control and censorship of doctors manifested. It was creepily familiar. (Russian Doctor by Vladimir Golyakhovsky)
A couple of people that I considered solid thinkers really surprised me during this whole thing. Scott Adams was one and Nassim Taleb was the other. I literally learned about iatrogenics from Taleb.
But so many people, so many of my friends and family aren't that curious, don't read as much, I think that the information you're getting is pure. They just simply can't believe that it wouldn't be.
Good point. There can also be a chain of trust. I switched to my mechanic because a good friend, (whom I trust to be a sensible and moral man) said he had used this mechanic for 20 years, had referred many people to him, and considered him trustworthy.
That's a great point about trust. I used to listen to Scott's podcast every day for several years -- until Covid struck, even suffering through his misunderstandings regarding the climate change "question." At one point he was having plumbers over to his house to fix a shower or something, and the "repairs" just went on and on, as the plumbers fixed what they thought was the issue, only to have another issue spring up, and then another surprise....and I thought at the time, "They're ripping him off. He's a rich guy who's not paying attention and he probably was a bit condescending, and now they just stuck him for three water heaters."
He trusted them for some reason, and then once he had decided that they were the experts, he turned his brain off. "How could I know better than them? I'll just trust them and move on." It's clear now, that he did the same with "Climate experts" ("How could NASA forget about the SUN?!?") And the Covid experts, too. And it's only natural to want to trust experts, we have to. But Scott's thing, which is how he is, is to rationalize that his trusting of experts is the SMARTEST thing to do, and we should all do it, and if you don't trust the biggest and most credentialed experts you're stupid.
Some of the "biggest and most credentialed experts" are the biggest rip off artists, while some are really good. It's hard to differentiate when you don't know or understand the business.
This was really brought home to me by a contractor I used to remodel a house in Montecito, CA years ago. Montecito is a wealthy enclave, and, as such, it is mark for shady contractors. Shady probably isn't the best word. The folks I'm talking about do good work, but they way overcharge for it. And the wealthy people don't know any better, so they pay up.
I hired a contractor to work for me on the major remodel His job was to hire and ride herd on the subcontractors and get me the best deals he could. We had a space that was a former laundry room we wanted to turn into a wine cellar. Our contractor met with a few subs, all of whom quoted what to him were outrageous prices. The lowest bid came in at about $5,000 as I recall. My guy says to the sub who submitted the bid. Look, it's going to take two guys two days to build this thing. You're going to have X dollars in materials. If you add all that up, it comes out to about $1,200 out of your pocket. We'll pay you $2,000 for the job. $800 profit is enough. The guy took the deal. And built us a fine wine cellar.
My issue with the whole Covid debacle (treatment, vax, safety protocols, etc.) was the censorship of dissenting viewpoints. THAT is what made me skeptical from day one. If a reputable doctor or research scientist can be canceled for not agreeing with Fauci, et al - that should raise concern. I'm still very worried about the fact that in many cases, it still doesn't. For example, we have strong evidence of vaccine damage, yet - we are still being told to vaccinate children. When does it end?
Regarding bots on social media churning out stuff about hospitals overflowing with covid cases and deaths.
I do agree that we’ve been subjected to an unprecedented level of propaganda via social media and knowing whether a post is by a real person is not easy but some of those doctors/nurses with horror stories may well have been real people telling the truth.
I have a friend who’s son is an ICU nurse. Being an ICU nurse he’s used to people dying and working in challenging situations. He has told me that there were so many people dying that the nurses used to take turns spending their shifts calling relatives (of course no visitors allowed) to tell them their loved one had died. There was a room for bodies because the mortuary was often full and couldn’t take any more. He said the hopelessness of the situation, of knowing that almost everyone put in a ventilator was going to die, has seriously effected his mental health.
Being a skeptic almost from the beginning (thanks Ivor Cummings!) I now realise that what was killing so many was the lack of treatments when people first had covid symptoms (prevented by governments preventing the use of repurposed drugs) and ventilating people because the Chinese said this was what should be done (!).
The whole covid thing has been one long nightmare of government and big pharma corruption. So many people dead who could have survived with early treatment. So many medical and nursing professionals extremely unhappy and mentally scarred.
Yep, very well put. As the released Twitter files show, the government was in it up to their eyes. Suppressing information, even information they knew and admitted to being true. It was a total travesty.
The burden was mainly on older folks. We haven't had a bad flu season in a while, so there were a lot of people still with us who wouldn't have been had the flu been really bad a year or two before. All these people got wiped out by the combination of Covid, lack of early treatment, and the mistaken notion that ventilators would help. Instead they killed. A really tragic situation.
IAre you the same person thst wrote the book: Protein Power”? If you are, thst book changed my life! I was struggling with type 1 juvenile diabetes and all the things you wrote about were exactly as I suspected from experimenting with myself but my doctor was completely wrong about all diabetes stuff and really didn’t know about anything about it. When I read your book? My whole life changed! That was in 1993! I’m now 59 and thriving even though I’ve been diabetic since I was 10. I was about 28 when I read your book! I’ve read it a few times over the years and I’m about ti start reading it now!
Thank you so much for replying! That is and was the best book regarding the subject of good health ! I have bought at least 50 copies and given them to friends as gifts. Thanks to you and your wife! 💕
I'm guessing that "trust the science" is a common phrase simply because there have been propaganda campaigns in the last 30+ years.
But I also know that without highly skilled medical attention, I would by now be blind in one eye from a detached retina, and separately, dead of sepsis (2 weeks with a burst appendix). And, following the advice in low carb movement, I'm a normal weight and stronger than I've ever been.
Yet the latter also pointed me to how the scientific authorities don't seem to "add up", and of course, what's said about human nature (from the fields of psychology) is that humans are prone to biases.
So life is complicated, and we're always in a difficult position when making choices. No easy answers.
Trust the science... well because it's meant to be self correcting... rational... but that self correction takes time, and anything which interferes with self correction is a big problem.
People far smarter and harder working than me do amazing things. And nobody is omniscient.
I agree. Trust the science. As long as it is allowed to be self-correcting, which it wasn't during the pandemic. Had it been, there would have been many fewer deaths, and fewer deaths in the future as a result of the vaccines.
Since I was one of those people who commented last week on what I think is misplaced confidence in Peter Zeihan analysis of the situation in Ukraine, I will respond to your question. I am not and was not suggesting that because I find Douglas Macgregor or Scott Ritter persuasive that therefore you should too. What I am suggesting is that you listen to what they have to say and then decide what you find to be more persuasive. Zeihan's views reflect the consensus view, and as you yourself have found, the consensus views on both nutrition and Covid Vaccinations, while persuasive at first, when examined more closely proved to be erroneous.
The same goes with your views on Putin. I found what Putin had to say persuasive. Perhaps you would not, but I am suggesting that perhaps you should listen and consider alternative explanations for events.
This what you yourself have long suggested in the other fields.
In the end reality is the final arbiter. Those I find persuasive predict Ukraine will have lost this war by Spring. Peter Zeihan seems to think that Ukraine can win, and that the German tanks will get there in time to change the outcome as part of some Spring offensive by the Ukrainians. Time will tell which prediction is closer to the truth.
As I mentioned to another commenter, I have listened to Doug Macgregor. But not Scott Ritter. I'll see what I can find on him. As I recall, Macgregor was predicting a quick victory by the Russians, which has still not taken place. I do think Russia will win if they are allowed. But the money the US has given Ukraine so far is more than the entire Russian defense budget, most of which was whittled away by graft (the Russian funds, not the US funds to Ukraine).
I haven't gone back and listened to Zeihan again, but as I recall, he thinks Russia will ultimately win--assuming the US doesn't send troops or become more involved--by throwing bodies at Ukraine. Which is how Russia typically wins wars. It keeps throwing bodies at the adversary until the adversary runs out of bodies to fight back. Problem now--according to Zeihan--is that there were only about 8M young men of military age in Russia. !00,000 have been killed so far, and a million of them have left Russia to avoid the draft. Still plenty of bodies to throw.
The list contained names of those who promoted "narratives consonant with Russian propaganda". It had either 70, 72, or 75 names on it, and was released on July 14, 2022. Glenn Greenwald was also on the list. Everyone citing it links to the Ukrainian website which has deleted it because of pushback about singling out journalists and members of Congress.
I recently saw a list of people that the Ukrainian government characterized as spreading Russian misinformation or something like that. The list included Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, John Mearsheimer, Douglas Macgregor, Scott Ritter, Rand Paul and a bunch of others. Although none on that list agrees completely with one another, they all dispute the Ukrainian/American narrative about the war. If I can find the list I will post it. (The Ukrainians apparently deleted the list from their website).
This is a PP2 comment. I would be interested in what changes in our nutritional requirements as we age. Peter Attia I think has written about a reduced need for protein as we get older, while others have said that our need increases because of a diminished metabolism. Also weight loss and physical fitness. I think you and your co-author have written about this, but I would like to know whether diet or other regimens need to be altered as we age.
I'm in the group who thinks we need a little more protein as we age. One of the things you want to avoid with aging is sarcopenia (loss of skeletal muscle). An increased intake of good quality protein can help. Resistance training helps even more.
You might want to include a bit about artificial sweeteners. Turns out that we have sweetness receptors all the way down our intestines - and these sweeteners increase insulin. An increase in insulin would likely increase fat storage, leading to an energy deficit - and hunger.
PP2.0 - that mention cheered me a lot; something to live for (I add not the only thing).
I ordered the Zeihan book because I too was impressed by his video explanations.
“Copy editors are the most anal creatures who draw breath”.
This reminds me of a book by an anthropologist friend. When she got the copy edit of her book back she was outraged to find that every time she had written something like “I found that …” the phrase had been changed to “It was found that …”. She was so depressed and it took a lot of argument to rectify.
We seem to have had a similar sars-cov-2 journey.
I too picked up the exaggeration from Michael Levitt in 2020 when he posted about the Diamond Princess outbreak.
“Then when the vaccines came on the scene, I was intrigued with them”. I knew the cell biology and genetics so I too thought them really clever. I took it that Pfizer was using mRNA as I know it. As I was over 80 when the rollout started in the UK I got the invite and took the first Pfizer shot first week of January 2021 and second 12 weeks later. I did not believe the hype about effectiveness but thought – it’s just mRNA that will do its job and be gone after a few minutes.
“The thing that really got me thinking was when I read the Japanese paper about the lipid nanoparticles from the vaccine ending up in various tissues throughout the body”.
Indeed, and the fact that the stuff was not mRNA as we know it but modified to last for months, and PEG. So that was the end of inoculations for me.
“How the Immune System Works” by Lauren Sompayrac, I bought the same book to get up to date! I had been rather shocked by some information presented on TV & Twitter by people who were labelled immunologists and virologists.
I too was disappointed by the Scott Adams response, it all seemed so disingenuous. I couldn’t connect with the view into life shown in the Dilbert cartoons.
Looks like we have followed basically the same path through all of this. I'm hoping PP 2.0 lives up to your expectations. Which is why I'm soliciting ideas. We have the basic framework laid out, but that's all about the stuff MD and I are interested in. I'm looking for feedback from potential readers to see what they really want.
Post the framework you have laid out, then there is something to tie suggestions to.
I have enjoyed the history & physiology you introduce into your talks and postings. I assumed you would have that sort of thing in the new book. I don't need convincing high protein/low carbohydrate is optimal for health. Others will need that reassurance: you know - won't my kidneys be destroyed stuff?
I have been taking amino acid supplements for a couple of years now. Perfect amino and optimal amino are the two brands I’ve used. Both are what they call MAP formulas (master amino profile), optimal ratios for utilization.
Just curious if you are aware or have an opinion on these?
I’m almost 61 years old and use them in conjunction with my workouts hoping to get optimal protein while keeping my muscle as long as possible....
I do have opinions on these amino acid supplements. In short, I think they're sort of a waste of money. The comments section isn't the place to go into all the whys and wherefores, so I'll devote a chunk of next week's Arrow into an in-depth explanation.
Doc, have you read this? There is some compelling research that support the use of EAA supplementation. A Guide to Amino Acid and Protein... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YZFDXL
Hey I just read an article on the PubMed website talking about how chromium helps you keep your muscles. Saw some other articles regarding that subject . ☯️
I'm curious as to why you consider Doug Macgregor the "de facto expert on UKR." I've watched a number of his appearances on this show and that. And watched a few longer videos. And read some of his stuff. Right from the start, he said Russia had a vastly superior military and was going to crush UKR right out of the gate. He's still saying it, and UKR is still hanging in there. Russia may well crush them, but will do so only by throwing bodies at the conflict. It's been apparent that their supposedly superior military is not up to snuff. Their equipment is inferior and hasn't been maintained. All as a consequence of widespread graft throughout.
I intended to include a section on the Project Veritas exposé in this week's Arrow, but I decided to wait to see how it played out. After thinking about it, it looked just a little too pat to me. I've since seen some info that appears to confirm that the guy from Pfizer is really who he says he is. What he said is the truth. There is regulatory capture. There is a revolving door between Big Pharma and the FDA. And that is good for Big Pharma, but bad for Americans, who look to the FDA to keep Big Pharma in check. Everything he said was true, but it seemed a bit contrived to me. We'll see.
I think Macgregor has said that when Russia first invaded, it wanted Ukraine to know that it considered them joining a military alliance hostile to them an existential threat. It didn't wish to conquer the country, just for it to remain neutral. (GHW Bush had assured the Russians that NATO would not expand toward the Russian border, but within ten years NATO began to expand into former Warshaw Pact countries.) But the US saw this as an opportunity to weaken Russia and cause the overthrow of Putin, and dissuaded the Ukrainians from engaging in any peace negotiations. This has created a proxy war between the US and Russia in which neither side feels it can back down. You say that certain things are apparent about Russia's military. I hope you realize that what you are hearing comes from only Ukrainian and American sources who have every reason to be dishonest. Many Americans and Ukrainians are getting rich on this war. Russia of today is not Russia of the 1990's, or even of ten years ago. This kind of arrogance about an enemies capabilities has not turned out well historically, and I don't think it will turn out well for us. But you seem to leave yourself an out, saying that if Russia crushes the Ukrainians it will do it by "throwing bodies at the conflict". Are you admitting that we might once again have gotten into a conflict we cannot win because we underestimated our adversary?
I view Doug MacGregor as a measured thinker, blending a broad grasp of military history with personal experience on the battlefield, later hobnobbing with the recent nabobs of the Pentagon. That's an almost unique blend of experience from to which to judge things. Given the way Putin did negotiate the Minsk Agreements, to envelop Russian sectors in East Ukraine, and did show restraint during the past year, MacGregor legitimately sees him with sympathy. And anyone who doubts the capability of the Russian bear - once aroused - may have dangerous armchair ideas.
The Veritas expose might be the inflection point wherein the health cartel in the US finally yields to something like ChatGPT, which has emerged as a new level of authority. The US bypassed socialist medicine and went straight to cartel services, housed within the A*A cabals. If physicians revert to being interventionists, and nutritionists and naturopaths are allowed their professions, then ChatGPT should become everyone's medical counsel, with the entire bricks and mortar hospital empires called into question. The real revolution will happen in the insurance industry.
Be careful with assuming ChatGPT is an objective guide to what's true. It's proproabalistic not deterministic so is making inferences from historic data, e.g. it makes fundamental mathematical errors. The developers of ChatGPT also seem to be biasing the weighting in favour of a specific agenda, ask it about statins for example to reveal its biases.
Regarding your rant. There was a significant layer of ice underneath the snow which made Wednesday, Thursday, and even Friday morning treacherous to drive. I drove on Thursday and Friday to work near love field. I hiked around Garland on Tues and Wednesday ~5 miles each day. Slick enough to wear crampons. Lots of ice in my observation. Major highways weren't too bad, but city of Garland did not touch neighborhoods or many city roads. That is where the danger was. Now my thoughts. I don't know anyone who is good at driving on ice with regular street tires. Also we don't see this type of weather enough to get good at driving in it, plus cars are too expensive to have to replace right now. Too much to risk if you don't have to go out. Thank you for your work. Look forward to next week's Arrow.
I was just curious if you'll be mentioning your ROS Theory of Obesity in PP 2.0..? As I recall in Protein Power you mentioned that many Egyptian mummies after undergoing autopsies were revealed to have evidence of CVD. As I recall, you attributed this to the fact that they most likely ate many carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, and bread (wheat) since it was easily grown in the fertile Nile Valley. Were you aware of the possibility that ancient Egypt may have been the birthplace of massed produced seed oils? http://sites.dlib.nyu.edu/viewer/books/isaw_basp000006/5
As to the Covid vaccines, Scott Adams does seem to wriggle around a lot. But I think he missed the point. The issue is trust. Each of us can only be expert in a few things, and we rely on others for the rest. I'm an engineer, but when I have car trouble I go to my mechanic. He explains the problem and the suggested solution. If it makes sense to me I give the go ahead. But ultimately I need to have a mechanic that I trust, not because he is an expert, but because I find him trustworthy. A man can be great automotive expert while not being honest. So the issue with Covid is not scientific or medical expertise. I can accept that an expert is wrong in a particular instance, but so many of these scientific and medical experts were dishonest, and that I cannot accept. Life becomes tedious if everything has to be questioned because no expert can be trusted to be honest.
I agree with you 100 percent. We need to have experts we trust. Problem is, how do we find them. It's relatively easy with a mechanic. If he/she diagnoses what's wrong with your car and fixes it to your satisfaction, then trust is built. If it happens over and over again, then the trust grows. The problem is, how do you know at the first interaction?
Maybe this is where being "interested in everything" is so particularly useful?
I don't mean to be contrary but it isn't relatively easy with a mechanic. You don't know if the repair was necessary, and you don't know if the price was a fair one. (Replacing a component rather than fixing it.) So one relies on either a credential, a recommendation from a trusted source, or reputation (internet customer ratings). And all too often, we just learn from our own mistakes. Once bitten twice shy.
I personally felt blessed in this area concerning the covid situation and "experts." I have been plugged into the low-carb community for many years; I already knew of many doctors and data crunchers that I trusted. When I had inklings that something was wrong, and these same people from my low-carb community were having similar inklings, I knew I was on to something. Many of these doctors had already had issues with big food and big Pharma fighting them about diet/sugar/meds. I read the Lancet's BS paper on diet.
Ivor Cummins started talking about the Covid numbers almost immediately, how low the actual risk was. I already knew him from the low carb conferences and knew him to be smart and reasonable. Tim Noakes, too.
Dr. Eades, you talked years ago on your old blog about statins, and so did Dr. Malcolm Kendrick… you guys gave me a nice foundation of understanding how the drug company trials are spun. But most of all, when I heard they were going to warp-speed a vaccine, I knew that that wasn't possible. It simply takes time to see how human bodies react to a new drug or injectable. You can't get around that, even with "The Science." I knew there was no way they could proclaim with certainty that was safe without long-term data. The minute there was censorship, it was a slam dunk for me that something was seriously wrong. A doctor who defected from the Soviet Union back when wrote about how state control and censorship of doctors manifested. It was creepily familiar. (Russian Doctor by Vladimir Golyakhovsky)
A couple of people that I considered solid thinkers really surprised me during this whole thing. Scott Adams was one and Nassim Taleb was the other. I literally learned about iatrogenics from Taleb.
But so many people, so many of my friends and family aren't that curious, don't read as much, I think that the information you're getting is pure. They just simply can't believe that it wouldn't be.
*they think the info they're getting is pure.
Good point. There can also be a chain of trust. I switched to my mechanic because a good friend, (whom I trust to be a sensible and moral man) said he had used this mechanic for 20 years, had referred many people to him, and considered him trustworthy.
That's a great point about trust. I used to listen to Scott's podcast every day for several years -- until Covid struck, even suffering through his misunderstandings regarding the climate change "question." At one point he was having plumbers over to his house to fix a shower or something, and the "repairs" just went on and on, as the plumbers fixed what they thought was the issue, only to have another issue spring up, and then another surprise....and I thought at the time, "They're ripping him off. He's a rich guy who's not paying attention and he probably was a bit condescending, and now they just stuck him for three water heaters."
He trusted them for some reason, and then once he had decided that they were the experts, he turned his brain off. "How could I know better than them? I'll just trust them and move on." It's clear now, that he did the same with "Climate experts" ("How could NASA forget about the SUN?!?") And the Covid experts, too. And it's only natural to want to trust experts, we have to. But Scott's thing, which is how he is, is to rationalize that his trusting of experts is the SMARTEST thing to do, and we should all do it, and if you don't trust the biggest and most credentialed experts you're stupid.
Some of the "biggest and most credentialed experts" are the biggest rip off artists, while some are really good. It's hard to differentiate when you don't know or understand the business.
This was really brought home to me by a contractor I used to remodel a house in Montecito, CA years ago. Montecito is a wealthy enclave, and, as such, it is mark for shady contractors. Shady probably isn't the best word. The folks I'm talking about do good work, but they way overcharge for it. And the wealthy people don't know any better, so they pay up.
I hired a contractor to work for me on the major remodel His job was to hire and ride herd on the subcontractors and get me the best deals he could. We had a space that was a former laundry room we wanted to turn into a wine cellar. Our contractor met with a few subs, all of whom quoted what to him were outrageous prices. The lowest bid came in at about $5,000 as I recall. My guy says to the sub who submitted the bid. Look, it's going to take two guys two days to build this thing. You're going to have X dollars in materials. If you add all that up, it comes out to about $1,200 out of your pocket. We'll pay you $2,000 for the job. $800 profit is enough. The guy took the deal. And built us a fine wine cellar.
That makes a lot of sense in regards to his comment about Isaac Newton. He’s not supposed to have to think.
My issue with the whole Covid debacle (treatment, vax, safety protocols, etc.) was the censorship of dissenting viewpoints. THAT is what made me skeptical from day one. If a reputable doctor or research scientist can be canceled for not agreeing with Fauci, et al - that should raise concern. I'm still very worried about the fact that in many cases, it still doesn't. For example, we have strong evidence of vaccine damage, yet - we are still being told to vaccinate children. When does it end?
Regarding bots on social media churning out stuff about hospitals overflowing with covid cases and deaths.
I do agree that we’ve been subjected to an unprecedented level of propaganda via social media and knowing whether a post is by a real person is not easy but some of those doctors/nurses with horror stories may well have been real people telling the truth.
I have a friend who’s son is an ICU nurse. Being an ICU nurse he’s used to people dying and working in challenging situations. He has told me that there were so many people dying that the nurses used to take turns spending their shifts calling relatives (of course no visitors allowed) to tell them their loved one had died. There was a room for bodies because the mortuary was often full and couldn’t take any more. He said the hopelessness of the situation, of knowing that almost everyone put in a ventilator was going to die, has seriously effected his mental health.
Being a skeptic almost from the beginning (thanks Ivor Cummings!) I now realise that what was killing so many was the lack of treatments when people first had covid symptoms (prevented by governments preventing the use of repurposed drugs) and ventilating people because the Chinese said this was what should be done (!).
The whole covid thing has been one long nightmare of government and big pharma corruption. So many people dead who could have survived with early treatment. So many medical and nursing professionals extremely unhappy and mentally scarred.
Yep, very well put. As the released Twitter files show, the government was in it up to their eyes. Suppressing information, even information they knew and admitted to being true. It was a total travesty.
The burden was mainly on older folks. We haven't had a bad flu season in a while, so there were a lot of people still with us who wouldn't have been had the flu been really bad a year or two before. All these people got wiped out by the combination of Covid, lack of early treatment, and the mistaken notion that ventilators would help. Instead they killed. A really tragic situation.
Hi
IAre you the same person thst wrote the book: Protein Power”? If you are, thst book changed my life! I was struggling with type 1 juvenile diabetes and all the things you wrote about were exactly as I suspected from experimenting with myself but my doctor was completely wrong about all diabetes stuff and really didn’t know about anything about it. When I read your book? My whole life changed! That was in 1993! I’m now 59 and thriving even though I’ve been diabetic since I was 10. I was about 28 when I read your book! I’ve read it a few times over the years and I’m about ti start reading it now!
I am indeed the author of Protein Power. Actually, the co-author. My wife and I wrote it together. I'm glad you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for replying! That is and was the best book regarding the subject of good health ! I have bought at least 50 copies and given them to friends as gifts. Thanks to you and your wife! 💕
Thank you for all your support. I hope you'll enjoy the new one as much when it finally hits the shelves.
I'm guessing that "trust the science" is a common phrase simply because there have been propaganda campaigns in the last 30+ years.
But I also know that without highly skilled medical attention, I would by now be blind in one eye from a detached retina, and separately, dead of sepsis (2 weeks with a burst appendix). And, following the advice in low carb movement, I'm a normal weight and stronger than I've ever been.
Yet the latter also pointed me to how the scientific authorities don't seem to "add up", and of course, what's said about human nature (from the fields of psychology) is that humans are prone to biases.
So life is complicated, and we're always in a difficult position when making choices. No easy answers.
Trust the science... well because it's meant to be self correcting... rational... but that self correction takes time, and anything which interferes with self correction is a big problem.
People far smarter and harder working than me do amazing things. And nobody is omniscient.
I agree. Trust the science. As long as it is allowed to be self-correcting, which it wasn't during the pandemic. Had it been, there would have been many fewer deaths, and fewer deaths in the future as a result of the vaccines.
Since I was one of those people who commented last week on what I think is misplaced confidence in Peter Zeihan analysis of the situation in Ukraine, I will respond to your question. I am not and was not suggesting that because I find Douglas Macgregor or Scott Ritter persuasive that therefore you should too. What I am suggesting is that you listen to what they have to say and then decide what you find to be more persuasive. Zeihan's views reflect the consensus view, and as you yourself have found, the consensus views on both nutrition and Covid Vaccinations, while persuasive at first, when examined more closely proved to be erroneous.
The same goes with your views on Putin. I found what Putin had to say persuasive. Perhaps you would not, but I am suggesting that perhaps you should listen and consider alternative explanations for events.
This what you yourself have long suggested in the other fields.
In the end reality is the final arbiter. Those I find persuasive predict Ukraine will have lost this war by Spring. Peter Zeihan seems to think that Ukraine can win, and that the German tanks will get there in time to change the outcome as part of some Spring offensive by the Ukrainians. Time will tell which prediction is closer to the truth.
As I mentioned to another commenter, I have listened to Doug Macgregor. But not Scott Ritter. I'll see what I can find on him. As I recall, Macgregor was predicting a quick victory by the Russians, which has still not taken place. I do think Russia will win if they are allowed. But the money the US has given Ukraine so far is more than the entire Russian defense budget, most of which was whittled away by graft (the Russian funds, not the US funds to Ukraine).
I haven't gone back and listened to Zeihan again, but as I recall, he thinks Russia will ultimately win--assuming the US doesn't send troops or become more involved--by throwing bodies at Ukraine. Which is how Russia typically wins wars. It keeps throwing bodies at the adversary until the adversary runs out of bodies to fight back. Problem now--according to Zeihan--is that there were only about 8M young men of military age in Russia. !00,000 have been killed so far, and a million of them have left Russia to avoid the draft. Still plenty of bodies to throw.
The list contained names of those who promoted "narratives consonant with Russian propaganda". It had either 70, 72, or 75 names on it, and was released on July 14, 2022. Glenn Greenwald was also on the list. Everyone citing it links to the Ukrainian website which has deleted it because of pushback about singling out journalists and members of Congress.
I recently saw a list of people that the Ukrainian government characterized as spreading Russian misinformation or something like that. The list included Tucker Carlson, Tulsi Gabbard, John Mearsheimer, Douglas Macgregor, Scott Ritter, Rand Paul and a bunch of others. Although none on that list agrees completely with one another, they all dispute the Ukrainian/American narrative about the war. If I can find the list I will post it. (The Ukrainians apparently deleted the list from their website).
V M
2 min ago
I agree 100%. It seems like the world is under Ukraine hypnosis like the Covidians.
Mind boggling.
This is a PP2 comment. I would be interested in what changes in our nutritional requirements as we age. Peter Attia I think has written about a reduced need for protein as we get older, while others have said that our need increases because of a diminished metabolism. Also weight loss and physical fitness. I think you and your co-author have written about this, but I would like to know whether diet or other regimens need to be altered as we age.
I'll add it to the list. Thanks.
I'm in the group who thinks we need a little more protein as we age. One of the things you want to avoid with aging is sarcopenia (loss of skeletal muscle). An increased intake of good quality protein can help. Resistance training helps even more.
You might want to include a bit about artificial sweeteners. Turns out that we have sweetness receptors all the way down our intestines - and these sweeteners increase insulin. An increase in insulin would likely increase fat storage, leading to an energy deficit - and hunger.
Artificial sweeteners are definitely included.
Protein Power was helpful for providing a basis for not trusting the medical industry which served us quite well with the Covid propaganda.
Thank you.
With Scott Adams I'm thinking it's more Gell-Mann Amnesia than Dunning-Kruger effect.
PP2.0 - that mention cheered me a lot; something to live for (I add not the only thing).
I ordered the Zeihan book because I too was impressed by his video explanations.
“Copy editors are the most anal creatures who draw breath”.
This reminds me of a book by an anthropologist friend. When she got the copy edit of her book back she was outraged to find that every time she had written something like “I found that …” the phrase had been changed to “It was found that …”. She was so depressed and it took a lot of argument to rectify.
We seem to have had a similar sars-cov-2 journey.
I too picked up the exaggeration from Michael Levitt in 2020 when he posted about the Diamond Princess outbreak.
“Then when the vaccines came on the scene, I was intrigued with them”. I knew the cell biology and genetics so I too thought them really clever. I took it that Pfizer was using mRNA as I know it. As I was over 80 when the rollout started in the UK I got the invite and took the first Pfizer shot first week of January 2021 and second 12 weeks later. I did not believe the hype about effectiveness but thought – it’s just mRNA that will do its job and be gone after a few minutes.
“The thing that really got me thinking was when I read the Japanese paper about the lipid nanoparticles from the vaccine ending up in various tissues throughout the body”.
Indeed, and the fact that the stuff was not mRNA as we know it but modified to last for months, and PEG. So that was the end of inoculations for me.
“How the Immune System Works” by Lauren Sompayrac, I bought the same book to get up to date! I had been rather shocked by some information presented on TV & Twitter by people who were labelled immunologists and virologists.
I too was disappointed by the Scott Adams response, it all seemed so disingenuous. I couldn’t connect with the view into life shown in the Dilbert cartoons.
Best wishes for speedy progress on PP2.0
Looks like we have followed basically the same path through all of this. I'm hoping PP 2.0 lives up to your expectations. Which is why I'm soliciting ideas. We have the basic framework laid out, but that's all about the stuff MD and I are interested in. I'm looking for feedback from potential readers to see what they really want.
Will it be an expansion of PP 1?
Post the framework you have laid out, then there is something to tie suggestions to.
I have enjoyed the history & physiology you introduce into your talks and postings. I assumed you would have that sort of thing in the new book. I don't need convincing high protein/low carbohydrate is optimal for health. Others will need that reassurance: you know - won't my kidneys be destroyed stuff?
I have been taking amino acid supplements for a couple of years now. Perfect amino and optimal amino are the two brands I’ve used. Both are what they call MAP formulas (master amino profile), optimal ratios for utilization.
Just curious if you are aware or have an opinion on these?
I’m almost 61 years old and use them in conjunction with my workouts hoping to get optimal protein while keeping my muscle as long as possible....
I do have opinions on these amino acid supplements. In short, I think they're sort of a waste of money. The comments section isn't the place to go into all the whys and wherefores, so I'll devote a chunk of next week's Arrow into an in-depth explanation.
Doc, have you read this? There is some compelling research that support the use of EAA supplementation. A Guide to Amino Acid and Protein... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YZFDXL
A Guide to Amino Acid and Protein Nutrition: Essential Amino Acid Solutions for Everyone (The EAASE Program) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071YZFDXL
Hey I just read an article on the PubMed website talking about how chromium helps you keep your muscles. Saw some other articles regarding that subject . ☯️
I do believe that Doug McGregor IS the de facto expert on UKR. And Russia is about to clean that up.
He has no illusions about the US, and did advise Trump (who did OK on UKR).
Veritas (Twitter) appears to have singlehandedly destroyed Pfizer. Could make criminal cartels illegal.
I'm curious as to why you consider Doug Macgregor the "de facto expert on UKR." I've watched a number of his appearances on this show and that. And watched a few longer videos. And read some of his stuff. Right from the start, he said Russia had a vastly superior military and was going to crush UKR right out of the gate. He's still saying it, and UKR is still hanging in there. Russia may well crush them, but will do so only by throwing bodies at the conflict. It's been apparent that their supposedly superior military is not up to snuff. Their equipment is inferior and hasn't been maintained. All as a consequence of widespread graft throughout.
I intended to include a section on the Project Veritas exposé in this week's Arrow, but I decided to wait to see how it played out. After thinking about it, it looked just a little too pat to me. I've since seen some info that appears to confirm that the guy from Pfizer is really who he says he is. What he said is the truth. There is regulatory capture. There is a revolving door between Big Pharma and the FDA. And that is good for Big Pharma, but bad for Americans, who look to the FDA to keep Big Pharma in check. Everything he said was true, but it seemed a bit contrived to me. We'll see.
I think Macgregor has said that when Russia first invaded, it wanted Ukraine to know that it considered them joining a military alliance hostile to them an existential threat. It didn't wish to conquer the country, just for it to remain neutral. (GHW Bush had assured the Russians that NATO would not expand toward the Russian border, but within ten years NATO began to expand into former Warshaw Pact countries.) But the US saw this as an opportunity to weaken Russia and cause the overthrow of Putin, and dissuaded the Ukrainians from engaging in any peace negotiations. This has created a proxy war between the US and Russia in which neither side feels it can back down. You say that certain things are apparent about Russia's military. I hope you realize that what you are hearing comes from only Ukrainian and American sources who have every reason to be dishonest. Many Americans and Ukrainians are getting rich on this war. Russia of today is not Russia of the 1990's, or even of ten years ago. This kind of arrogance about an enemies capabilities has not turned out well historically, and I don't think it will turn out well for us. But you seem to leave yourself an out, saying that if Russia crushes the Ukrainians it will do it by "throwing bodies at the conflict". Are you admitting that we might once again have gotten into a conflict we cannot win because we underestimated our adversary?
I view Doug MacGregor as a measured thinker, blending a broad grasp of military history with personal experience on the battlefield, later hobnobbing with the recent nabobs of the Pentagon. That's an almost unique blend of experience from to which to judge things. Given the way Putin did negotiate the Minsk Agreements, to envelop Russian sectors in East Ukraine, and did show restraint during the past year, MacGregor legitimately sees him with sympathy. And anyone who doubts the capability of the Russian bear - once aroused - may have dangerous armchair ideas.
The Veritas expose might be the inflection point wherein the health cartel in the US finally yields to something like ChatGPT, which has emerged as a new level of authority. The US bypassed socialist medicine and went straight to cartel services, housed within the A*A cabals. If physicians revert to being interventionists, and nutritionists and naturopaths are allowed their professions, then ChatGPT should become everyone's medical counsel, with the entire bricks and mortar hospital empires called into question. The real revolution will happen in the insurance industry.
Be careful with assuming ChatGPT is an objective guide to what's true. It's proproabalistic not deterministic so is making inferences from historic data, e.g. it makes fundamental mathematical errors. The developers of ChatGPT also seem to be biasing the weighting in favour of a specific agenda, ask it about statins for example to reveal its biases.
Yes, I see ChatGPT Medicine as the main battleground. But whose dataset? Not the Food Guide.
Methinks a coherent one based on LCHF will make its own friends, and become an 'authority'.
Regarding your rant. There was a significant layer of ice underneath the snow which made Wednesday, Thursday, and even Friday morning treacherous to drive. I drove on Thursday and Friday to work near love field. I hiked around Garland on Tues and Wednesday ~5 miles each day. Slick enough to wear crampons. Lots of ice in my observation. Major highways weren't too bad, but city of Garland did not touch neighborhoods or many city roads. That is where the danger was. Now my thoughts. I don't know anyone who is good at driving on ice with regular street tires. Also we don't see this type of weather enough to get good at driving in it, plus cars are too expensive to have to replace right now. Too much to risk if you don't have to go out. Thank you for your work. Look forward to next week's Arrow.
As for long covid... you may be interested in this story which just came out a couple of days ago:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-prevalence-covid-university-community.html
Hello Dr. Mike...
I was just curious if you'll be mentioning your ROS Theory of Obesity in PP 2.0..? As I recall in Protein Power you mentioned that many Egyptian mummies after undergoing autopsies were revealed to have evidence of CVD. As I recall, you attributed this to the fact that they most likely ate many carbohydrates, such as fruits, vegetables, and bread (wheat) since it was easily grown in the fertile Nile Valley. Were you aware of the possibility that ancient Egypt may have been the birthplace of massed produced seed oils? http://sites.dlib.nyu.edu/viewer/books/isaw_basp000006/5
After watching the clip of Scott Adams, my thought is Always Postpone Watching Videos by Time-Wasting Cartoonists.