Today’s PrimalMed Prescription…Avoid the online Rabbit-holes!
Feed your brain with this crucial macronutrient…responsible INFORMATION!
“One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small.” - Grace Slick
The other day, a curious reader asked me about a certain supplement that he had read about online.
So here are my questions: Why do you think you need it? Is it safe? Is it being absorbed? OR is it really turning into expensive pee? What are you hoping to accomplish? Is there really a gap in your nutrient status that requires a supplement?
Remember, just like you can’t ‘outrun a bad diet,’ you also can’t ‘out-supplement a bad diet.’
But today’s post is not about supplements, but rather a starting point to consider the good, the bad and the ugly of today’s online information cornucopia.
I start with the opening line of the song ‘White Rabbit’ to introduce us to the wonderful world of information. TOO MUCH information.
Rabbit-holes don’t have anything to do with Metabolic Health…or do they?
I have often used the analogy that our body is a super-computer and we get to choose the software inputs. We often talk of these inputs as the ‘Pillars of Health,’ and focus firstly on lifestyle inputs, namely diet and exercise or more appropriately, nutrition and movement. We have discussed the importance of quality sleep, stress mitigation, and meaningful community. And then we seem to always circle back to those dietary macronutrients…namely, protein, fat, and carbs.
But what do we ‘feed’ our brain?
That macronutrient is…
INFORMATION. Responsible information!
It is the best of times. It is the worst of times. We live in the Internet Age where information flows freely up and down that superhighway. Information on all topics. But can TOO MUCH information and in particular, suspect information, be disabling rather than enabling?
Who is feeding us this macronutrient? And how are we consuming it?
When I open my iPad, I am greeted by dozens of news feeds (interesting how they are called ‘feeds’), and many feeds are conflicting, biased, based on opinion, and conflate the science.
Here is a smattering of some internet ‘wisdom’ on any given day:
Eat this, not that! (says who)?
Eggs will kill you! (I doubt it).
No wait…Eggs are nature’s multivitamin! (I tend to agree).
Running wrecks your knees! (depends…not unless they’re wrecked already).
No wait… running with weight bearing can actually promote healthy knee cartilage (that is the current wisdom).
Health and Wellness tips and advice you see on X, or TikTok, Instagram or FB or articles on Medium may have some thirst trap pix and quite frankly, the ‘expert advice’ is a coin toss. Many are biased and lead of course to the discount code for today’s must have supplement or product. They are usually not appropriate for seniors (unless you are on the AARP site). And some advice can be downright irresponsible and dangerous.
We live in the age of Dr. Google and the infinite streams of You Tube videos, where an innocent well intentioned search on a topic can soon lead to a time-suck fall down the proverbial rabbit-hole. And are you any smarter?
And to quote Grace Slick once again:
“And if you go chasing rabbits and you know you’re going to fall”…and a “Hookah smoking Caterpillar has given you the call,” then perhaps it’s time to take a step back and question:
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
We live in the age of User-generated content. That in itself is not a bad thing. Hundreds of platforms exist where anyone with a keypad and high speed internet connection can create, inform and educate. Substack newsletters included!
But the unintended consequence is that user generated content can lead to what I refer to as User-generated ‘EXPERTISE.’ Or should I say, a perceived level of confidence that is misguided. A lot of the information comes from folks who fall down rabbit-holes themselves, and armed with a little bit of knowledge that may not be evidence based or even accurate, over-estimate their confidence and soon fashion themselves as experts. Now to be fair, many posts and articles on Medium and FB and IG are accurate and sensible and responsible. But many are not.
Psychologists have searched for the answer as to how and why people come to claim ‘expertise’ in diverse fields of study such as politics, business, finance, medicine and nutrition after acquiring just a little bit of knowledge.
It is called The Dunning-Kruger effect.
READ MORE HERE and HERE and HERE! (3 links for you GOLD readers)!
See the above graph? It illustrates the long journey to competence and guru status, and the early over estimated level of confidence of the ‘know nothing’ influencers. Many are stuck at the peak of Mt. Stupid. You are, as David Dunning claims, ignorant of your ignorance. You think you are an expert.
In the age of online searches and education, one can acquire a little basic knowledge and thus quickly consider themselves very competent. Any student who strives to achieve a level of responsible competence must first learn what they don’t know and must leave the peak of “Mt Stupid.” Then and only then can one achieve a level of real expertise and slowly begin to climb that slope of enlightenment. It is up to US, the educated consumer, to read wisely and NOT fall into the rabbit-hole of misinformation peddled by those still atop Mt. Stupid.
Make no mistake, there is some good advice online by those that are unbiased and unaffiliated. They have put in their 10,000 hours. YOU get to decide what is rubbish and what makes sense!
How do you decide? Consider the source. How does the author or blogger stand to benefit? Is there an agenda? What are their credentials? Are their conclusions vetted or are they just using trendy buzzwords to grab eyeballs.
Remember…it’s not what you know or what you don’t know. It’s what you THINK you know when you really don’t, that is the danger zone.
Now to be clear. There is a difference between falling down a rabbit-hole and what we science geeks call…DOING A DEEP DIVE.
Seeking information is PRIMAL. It is ancestral. It was and is a survival mechanism. Exploration is innate. Primal man needed information to ensure that a tiger wasn’t outside the cave, or that an enemy wasn’t over the hill waiting to attack. Exploring and learning is the stuff that allows us to survive and THRIVE. It seems we can never have enough.
We at PrimalMed LOVE the deep dive. Date night at PrimalMed usually starts with us researching a topic on metabolic health and nutrition but we stay true and humble and realize that the path to doing, starts with knowing. The path to knowing starts with recognizing what we don’t know. We continue through the ‘Vally of Despair’ until we slowly, over many years, start to develop a level of enlightenment, and competence and then expertise.
Remember, most science is UNSETTLED.
Is Plant-based good? Is Carnivore good? Probably a little of both. We still don’t know. But there are plenty of on-line zealots on both sides of the aisle ready to sell you a plant-based shake or liver supplement. Yet another Netflix documentary touting a certain way of eating? Well, look who is funding the project, right? Look for bias. Look for vested interests.
I know three indisputable truths:
Don’t smoke.
Wear a seatbelt.
Don’t run with scissors.
Everything else is a hypothesis, an exercise in learning, unlearning and relearning.
So read the article. Be suspect. Read the source material. See if there is any bias. See if the hypothesis has any merit. See if it makes sense.
I mean…what would Nana say?
Remember, Nana never took a multivitamin. Her supplement of choice was called BREAKFAST. Real food. Eggs, salmon and some fruit and veggies. She never walked on a treadmill. She walked up and down Yellowstone Boulevard and carried ‘bundles.’ Now, some people do need vitamins and supplements (just like any pharmaceutical intervention). That is where an assessment from a professional Practitioner or RD has value.
Knowledge IS good. It is in our genes to seek information.
But remember to step back and see if your quest for knowledge is CONstructive or DEstructive. Are you any smarter? Where are you on the curve?
AND…does your never ending Google search lead to anxiety?
So if I am going to talk about Rabbit-holes, we gotta go to the SOURCE!
That’s what PrimalMed does, right?
Who here has read Alice in Wonderland? Raise your hands. Yes, I am referring to Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel, not the 2010 film starring Johnny Depp.
Below is the description that I found on, you guessed it, Amazon!
“Alice in Wonderland is an 1865 novel by English author Lewis Carroll. It tells of a young girl named Alice, who falls through a rabbit hole into a subterranean fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre.”
Alice didn’t have the internet to distract and confuse her. She followed the White Rabbit into that Rabbit-hole, where she met the Cheshire Cat and Mad Hatter…who led her astray.
This graphic was recently in the New York Times ‘Well’ section. Well done! Say NO to rabbit holes!
IT’S TIME FOR THE TL;DR !!!!
Behold the fourth macronutrient… responsible INFORMATION.
Control what you feed your mind.
Avoid the rabbit-holes.
Be suspect of the supremely overconfident gurus.
Listen to what the Dormouse said...”FEED your HEAD.”
If you think some advice smells fishy, then it probably is. Go ask Nana!
And if you don’t have a Nana, Go ask PrimalMed! We may not have all of the answers, but we can have a balanced non-biased discussion.
Relax. Take out your surrealistic pillow. Enjoy the music!
Ted Metzger, MD is a practicing board certified Radiologist as well as founder and owner of PrimalMed, LLC. PrimalMed educates and advocates on Metabolic Health and Wellness, as seen through the lens of a curious radiologist.
Ellen Metzger MS, RD - the other half of the PrimalMed team, is an Integrative Registered Dietitian, addressing ancestral and primal nutrition principles as drivers of metabolic health and wellness.
The information in this article is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. Consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in this article or on the PrimalMed website.
The Mount Stupid of the Dunning-Kruger effect was used by a number of commentators to describe Trump during his presidency. Interesting application in Today’s Prescription
I always thought it was a door mouse. Not a Dormouse. I learn so much from you!!!