Re: To scoff or not to scoff


"Quentin Grady" <quentin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:f095i3t2ud02rphlvqdbsb1k9cd3h05tem@xxxxxxxxxx
G'day G'day Folks,

Have you noticed how some people scoff more than others. It is
almost as if scoffing is their default response to any suggestion.
These people would make foundation members of the skeptics society.

Then at the other extreme there are people who believe what is
presented to them especially if it is in a sensational form.

Most people naturally fall somewhere between the extremes.

How do you feel about acupuncture?

Are you are a scoffer?
Perhaps you will go so far as to say it works by suggestion.

I believe accupuncture works for some people. But the thought of needless
in me doesn't sound like such fun. So I doubt I would ever have it done to
me. I have tried accupressure though and it does help me.

Are you a firm believer?

I am not necessarily a firm believer in anything. At times I might believe
in something but at other times I switch to something else. I am not a
religous person either.

Perhaps you are like me and recognise it can relieve pain better as it
happens with people who have the lowest scores for suggestibility and
also with cattle who aren't renowned for responding to hypnosis
On the other hand I don't subscribe to the elaborate details such as
acupuncture points. Acupuncture appears to work as well for pain
relief when the points aren't used. Whatever.

Now hypnosis... There's something I was very skepitcal about. Not only did
I think it didn't work, but I was SURE it wouldn't work for me. And yet I
decided to try it when I learned I was pregnant. I had been smoking for 27
years and could not give it up. Best I could do was cut back to 2
cigarettes per day, doled out a puff at a time. I didn't know what I was
going to do if the hypnosis didn't work because I'd tried for years to quit
and could not. The military offered us a cheap group session and I decided
to try it.

Even as the session unfolded, I was convinced it wouldn't work for me. The
hypnotist said it wouldn't work if we didn't truly want to quit smoking.
And deep down, I didn't want to quit. I loved cigarettes more than just
about anything else in the world. I knew I needed to quit but I didn't want
to.

I didn't feel any different while I was "under". Barely even remember that.
Went home and lit up a cigarette. Just like I'd been doing. Continued to
smoke that whole day, just lighting it, taking a puff and putting it out.
Just like I'd been doing. Chuckled to myself that the hypnosis hadn't
worked.

And then the next morning... Instead of getting up and lighting a
cigarette, I ate my breakfast. Went about my day. Then some time that
night I realized that not only had I not smoked at all, it hadn't even
crossed my mind to do so. So it worked.

While shopping in an organic supermarket I came across a book entitled
"Full of it" and subtitled "the shocking truth of about gluten".

"shocking" triggered my scoff reflex. So did "truth"
People who market the "truth" have a habit of leaving out some of it
as they push a particular biased view of reality.

Yep. And if I had seen that title an alarm bell would have gone off in my
mind. My daughter has a gluten allergy, among other things. So I tend to
hang out at celiac forums because she has to eat the same diet a celiac
would, even though a glutening for her does not necessarily bring on the
same symptoms or make her as sick as a celiac would get.

My opinion on the matter is, if you have an allergy or celiac, then gluten
is bad for you. But otherwise, it's not.

Never the less I decided to buy it. I realised I scoffed more than I
should about people who claimed gluten intolerance and lactose
intolerance.

Since I was a teen, I was told I had lactose intolerance. But now I know it
is a full out dairy allergy.

I believe there are allergies, intolerances and other medical conditions
that prevent you from eating certain foods. For instance, gall bladder
trouble means you need to eat a low fat diet. There is a diet for gout.
Stuff like that. I always believe someone if they say they can't eat
something. I am not in their body and I don't know what that food does to
them.

When people are ill their intestinal mucosa becomes inflamed and for a
while they become lactose intolerant. Of course on a world wide basis
most people are lactose intolerant. What gets me scoffing more than
perhaps I should is the people who read a book and become lactose
intolerant or have a friend who is lactose intolerant and they acquire
the same malfunction. Some things are fashionable. Well I felt I
owed it to read the evidence for widespread gluten sensitivity in the
general population and not to close my mind with a reflexive scoff.

I suppose that's true, but the more I read about dairy products, the more I
believe nobody really needs them.

The book is written by Dr Rodney Ford a pediatric gastroenterologist.
Is it relevant to diabetics? Well it might be. In one chapter on
zonulin, the hormone that controls the seams between cells in the gut
he mentions that it is common for diabetics to have increased levels
of zonulin which makes the gut more leaky. This means that when some
protein such as gliadin, a form of gluten, are only partly digested
they can pass through the gut wall into the blood stream. In
particular some polypeptides (short chains of amino acids of 4 to 8
amino acids long) can pass through. Some of these polypeptides are
gluteomorphines ie they have opiate like action. One can become
addicted to bread, thanks to the gluten. This doesn't happen to most
people. About ninety percent of people fully digest gluten so that
only harmless amino acids a present. Their gut walls are intact and
their response to bread is non-addictive. How addictive is bread?
Well that is something Dr Ford omits to mention.
Perhaps it would spoil his story.

I have heard of the leaky gut thing. Not sure I buy into that. And I don't
think bread is addictive to me. To some, yes. I tend not to be addicted to
foods. Now cigarettes... But I already said that.

Never the less it could be relevant to some T2 diabetics.
It could also explain why some T2 diabetics who make a dramatic shift
into leaving out bread, pasta and potatoes when first diagnosed
experience a dramatic improvements in feeling better. I'd assumed it
was from better blood glucose control. Now I'm open to the idea that
there might be a second reason supporting the first.

I hadn't thought of that. But also, celiac is an autoimmune disorder. I
have read that type 1's are prone to having celiac. But I wonder about type
2's? There sure do seem to be a lot of diabetics on the celiac forums.

When they are able to perform regular blood tests and work out
personal answers to the big questions like "How much grain is OK for
me?" "How much potato is OK for me?" they are likely to experience
what we often call, YMMV, Your mileage may vary.
Here is another reason why YMMV.

Yes.

There a lots of details in the book, much of it from recent research
ie post 2000 that is worthy of discussion and subjecting to LEAR or
some other critical thinking tool. However, my son would like to
spend some time with me and I'd like to spend time with him, so it
must wait.

Interesting. Another thing I've read recently is that antacids have been
linked to food allergies. Now I never took much in the way of antacids over
my lifetime, but I have to take them now because the GERD meds gave me such
terrible side effects. The theory is that the antacid prevents your stomach
from completely digesting the food and the body treats it as an allergen. I
will have to look into this more. The theory does seems to make sense to
me.


.

Relevant Pages

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