Tag: philosophy

DFN – Food Vitals Webinar on 26 July 2021

One thing that psychology has taught us is that people do not make choices based on logic and evidence but feelings and emotions. Any basic marketing course teaches us to “sell the sizzle, not the sausage”.

Michael Greger has an incredible video about his grandmother Francis and John Robbins tells a deeply moving story about “The Pig Farmer”. Links to both are on my website. This is what changes people behaviour – not another journal reference or graph. I still cannot get through either without crying.

I have several testimonials from people who have transformed their lives – despite opposition from the medical profession.

On the 4th July 2019, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) published this news item as its top news story.

World Health Organisation’s recommendations on saturated fat are out of date, expert team says.

This article was based on an article, WHO draft guidelines on dietary saturated and trans fatty acids: time for a new approach? It was published in THE BMJ the previous day, written by Arne Astrup and 17 colleagues. These popular commentators are very well organised.

At the end of Astrup’s article, the evidence for including eggs, chocolate, cheese, and meat is listed, which matches the needs of their corporate sponsors.

No amount of bar graphs or references will compete with a picture of a delicious burger, complete with eggs and chips.

Dr Shireen Kassam is a Consultant Haematologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at King’s College Hospital, London with a specialist interest in the treatment of patients with lymphoma (cancer of the lymphatic system). She is also passionate about promoting plant-based nutrition for the prevention and reversal of chronic diseases and for maintaining optimal health after treatment for cancer.

When Shireen introduced herself at the beginning of her Food Vitals Webinar on 26th July 2021, she stated that she and her husband were vegan for over 7 years (which makes it about about 2014). At the end of her talk, she stated that her haematologist husband did not embrace her vegan lifestyle until after COVID-19 in March 2020 – some 4 years later, when his BMI was 30.2, weight was 87 kg, cholesterol 6.5 mmol/L and blood pressure 145/88.

If it takes a specialist medical doctor 4 years to embrace his wife’s lifestyle with all the evidence that she can present, then it does not bode very well for the rest of the population.
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11 August 2021
A True Quest for Truth Denies Nothing

A truly wise person is able to see the world exactly how it is – free from any filters or preferences, judgments or undue optimism or pessimism.

Almost the truth simply does not work.

A quest for truth is only valid is you are prepared to change your beliefs based on what you have found.

A quest for truth is only useful if you are prepared to take action on what you have discovered.

Deny nothing
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10 November 2019
Belief versus Truth

Stephen Colbert defined a new word: Truthiness, The belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.

A number of popular commentators write that we should trust our intuition (without explaining what that may be) rather than relying on what we read. Most of these commentators have written many, many books to tell us that we do not need these books.
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24 November 2018
About Richard Harding

I have been a lecturer in nutrition in Newcastle, Australia at WEA Hunter and has been involved in the design of nutrition courses for degree and diploma qualifications in Health Sciences.

I worked in the IT industry since the 1970s as a computer programmer, system designer and project manager for companies such as CBC Bank, National Australia Bank, Burroughs Australia and Unisys working on projects for ANZ Bank, State Bank of NSW, Health Insurance Commission (Medicare), NRMA, Reserve Bank of Australia, City Bank, North Power, Chase Manhattan Bank and ACIRL (Australian Coal Industry Research Laboratories).

I worked as the system manager for a large pathology business that had a network of 10 pathology laboratories, from Coffs Harbour in northern NSW to Sydney - a distance of 500 km (300 miles) which operated online 24 hours a day for 6 days a week.

My website consists of over 140 webpages and with more than 120,000 words. Most are related to health and nutrition with others relating to the environment, agriculture, philosophy and psychology. Many issues that the ancient Greeks wrestled with are still relevant today.
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2 July 2013