Myths of Health

No sooner then I start listening to my doctor do I find he is selling me snake oil. I've been measured to have elevated cholesterol (between normal and high) and told to do something about it. In a lot of places you find things about lowering cholesterol and its 'benefits.' For most of those years I ignored the doctors and said I felt fine (I was under 25 with no actual medical problems and still had well cut abs). Last year I decided to listen to my doctor and take steps to lower my cholesterol. No butter, low fat this and that, lean meats, olive oil etc. I had reasoned it was illogical not to eat a better diet since (presumably) my doctor was telling me these suggestions based on scientific facts. All the while I was wondering about a crucial question: "Elevated cholesterol compared to who?" Elevated is a comparative term and so what was the 'yard' stick they where using? I asked around to no avail. Last week I bough the Vol. 11 No.3 issue of Skeptic magazine and read the article "The Truth About Cholesterol" and was pissed!

Most of the articles talks about a book another doctor had wrote called "The Cholesterol Myths" and his brief work (that was published in a medical journal) on 'causal relations' with cholesterol. The simple examples where enough to deprogram my media-conditioned brain to be objective and scientific again. There are too many things to go into but it suffices to say that there is no statistically significant link between cholesterol and heart disease! In fact they really don't know what causes heart disease at all and most deaths due to heart disease are misdiagnosed since autopsies aren't always performed and heart disease is the default! Basically no medical scientist can say (based on actual evidence) that a junk food diet with a mulivitamin is any better than the fruits and vegetable diets being advocated (assuming the multivitamin is effectively absorbed and contains accurate representation of the vitamins). This really seems to be to much to be true (I can eat bacon), until you consider the latest review: obesity.

Yes the CDC (one of the only medical establishments where researchers can't line their pockets with private money, such as the diet industry worth ~43 billion) recently released a review article about the actual dangers of obesity and it basically says it ain't a problem. Obese people are just as likely to die from the same heath problems as non-obese people (with the exception of a possible link to diabetes, but it could be diabetes causes the obesity). Everything else is propaganda. The problem we have is there are smart people who believe strange things and are skilled at defending these beliefs.

Now what should I eat? Well I'm sticking with organic foods for the 'green' reasons and since I don't want to know what extra growth hormones/cannibalism/excessive antibiotics in my animal products or pesticides/insecticides will do to my body. Let the ignorant be the guinea pigs. I'll probably continue with my increased fruit/veggy diet since it will ensure proper vitamins, but no more low fat anything! I'm back on organic 2%, organic cheese etc... now what should I snack on ...

God and Free will

Most religious people I know assume god interacts with the world around us. The saying is, "The lord works in mysterious ways." It also come up that people say god works though people. The best example is the "head's" of the faiths (priests, pope, clerics etc). How can these people have free will and have god guiding them? Are they like a donkey following a carrot on a string, influenced by their surroundings to do things?
If god influences someone to do "good" ( meaningless word to me, see this post) then he could influence someone to do "evil." Usually religious people say the devil does the "evil" part. But why doesn't god do a better job? He is almighty and all-knowing! Or does god force people to act a certain way to affect others?

If people don't have free-will there is no hell since god made to play their role and so they can't be doing "evil" since they are doing god's will by rapeing/killing/torturing...

Another option is that we do have free will and god does not interfere, only observes. In this case he'd never send his son or visions or any other coercions since he'd have no reasons to stop coercing until god was like a child playing with an ant. All the people who wrote the bible and other books where just exercising their free will and it was taken too seriously.

This brings up a great point: the definition of existence. For physicists it a very concrete and simple idea: something exists if it interacts with everything else and can be interacted with. That means in the last option god doesn't exist.
So we are either: a play with god acting all roles (even me), a bunch of influenced beings by god changing other peoples behaviors and the universe around us or an imaginative primate who has created a belief to fill in some psychological need.