#health

I am well aware that there are plenty of people who think Gary Taubes is bad at what he does---that his writing is too biased (such that it displays the same failings of fitting evidence to theory that he calls out in others), or that he is out-and-out untruthful, whatever.

On the other hand, I've now read all of his books regarding diet, and I find his writing to be open and honest about the possibility that he has incomplete or incorrect information, and that his hypothesis does seem to represent far simpler and more believable explanation for---to borrow one of his book titles---"why we get fat".

In the end, the arguments against his hypotheses remind me of epicycles, the ever more elaborate explanations for observable movement of the stars and planets in a geocentric model. They had to become more and more elaborate and complex because they were working from a flawed premise that was dictated and enforced by the power structures of the day (the Catholic Church in this case), that the solar system is geocentric, not heliocentric.

When I then consider the simple observation that over the course of my lifetime---which roughly corresponds to the rise of the low-fat approach to diet---my peers and my country have become enormously fat, and that I can easily observe in my own body the effects of consuming carbohydrates and especially sugar...well, "Eppur si muove."

All of that material is in his prior books, too; what distinguishes The Case Against Sugar is that it also goes into greater detail about the actions of the sugar industry---which shared both tactics and even actors with the tobacco industry. This new material is interesting...but at this moment in history, demonstrating the malfeasance of corporations and people in their employ is shooting fish in a barrel. It's also a little dispiriting.

So if you haven't read anything of his, I would stick with Why We Get Fat, which is short and to the point---an uplifting book trying to show a path forward. This is more like horror, showing the unfortunate things taking place around us.

The aftermath of having a vasectomy is like the moment 20 seconds after you've been kicked in the crotch--the point where the really serious nausea-inducing pain has passed and it's starting to fade into a dull ache--except it goes on for hours and hours.

At least, that's what I think it's like--I have to admit it's been a long time since I've gotten kicked in the crotch.

Almost exactly three years ago--shortly after getting back from my stint in DC--I got a physical. I wrote about it at the time because I found out I had a hernia. As I said in that article, the doctor didn't think it was a big deal, and so as much as it freaked me out, I didn't worry about it much.

A couple of months ago in a conversation, the subject of a friend's hernia came up, and I commented that I had one and it didn't seem to be that big a deal. A long discussion that made me feel more than a little green ensued, and I ended up convinced that I needed to get it fixed. But it's been a crazy couple of months, and I just haven't gotten around to it.

But I am now.

This is going to be the first time I've braved the wild world of serious health care, well, pretty much ever. I intend to document the process as I go. Maybe, just maybe it will go smoothly. I'm not holding my breath.

So a friend of mine and Anne's wanted to take a Tai Chi class at Inside/Out (where I teach yoga on Thursdays). This being one of the couple that we invited along to swing dance classes earlier this year, they invited us along to Tai Chi classes.

It's funny how much yoga stuff I have to not do to Tai Chi correctly--it's a much more relaxed, softer practice than yoga. So in that sense, it has been valuable to highlight habits I've acquired and make me think about them once again.

That said...I'm not feeling it. If everyone else is inclined to keep going, I suspect I'll do so--it's an hour, it's not without value, might as well--but I doubt I'll be arguing for it.

But if you find yoga to be too much like work, you might check it out.

So, Slashdot has an article about paint that will help you protect your wireless network. By lacing the paint with copper and aluminum fibers, they're hoping to create a simple Faraday Cage (hey, that's my first-ever link to wikipedia!), thereby reducing or eliminating the amount of RF passing through your walls.

Hope you don't watch broadcast television.

But, much more worryingly, am I the only one who remembers the decades of issues we've had in this country with lead paint--lead having been a great pigment for getting a nice bright white color--and small children eating the paint when it chipped off, and the neurological problems that that engendered, and at the same time remembering that copper can be poisonous, and aluminum may be connected with Alzheimer's (though Wikipedia's article on Aluminum suggests that that's been refuted)?

I have heard it suggested that Rome may have systematically poisoned itself into irrelevance when they lined the aqueducts with lead. Are we considering doing a similar job?

So, knowing that I was going to be suffering some bad allergies when I got back in town post-election, I made an appointment with my doctor, with the intention of reviewing the drugs I take for them (and the related asthma), but the doctor decided to turn it into a full physical checkup since, well, I hadn't had one in four years.

Heck, I haven't been to the doctor at all in two and a half years--I've been healthy.

So, anyway, I was kind of expecting some plaudits for having dropped 20 pounds and generally being in better health, plus some new drugs.

Instead, I found out I have a hernia.

Well, the doctor was complementary about the fact that I'd lost 20 pounds without resorting to diets and so forth, but it kinda paled in comparison to the fact that I have some surgery I need to schedule.

This has totally freaked me out.

I mean, intellectually, I know that as such things go, this is trivial, and, frankly, the doctor doesn't even seem to think there's any exceptional urgency--it's not large, I don't have any pain associated with it, etc.

Yet, I find myself vaguely nauseous every time I think about it. While I'd originally thought to wait until after the holidays to get it done, now I'm thinking I may need to get it over with sooner, just so I won't dwell on it.

Anyway, it's nothing major, but boy, this is not what I wanted to come home to.

I'll try and quit being a baby now.