Why I started writing
This little newsletter started out as just a way to get a bunch of information to a small handful of people. I love sharing the things I've learned and am grateful for an audience with which to share them.
For the most part, it's been incredible. Through leaving a company I helped to get off the ground and deciding to further my own community and career, it's been uplifting. Through grieving the loss of my dearest friend last year, it helped to put my thoughts into words (and continues to). Through stepping away from social media to continue this brain healing journey after my last concussion, it's helped me to stay connected without a barrage of stimulating input.
So I wanted to say thank you for being a reader of this little piece of writing that I put out into the universe. I am truly grateful that you're here. As always, feel free to respond to or share these emails.
While I thoroughly enjoy writing this newsletter, writing off-the-cuff is not all rainbows and sunshine. I have had some ad hominem attacks in response to my emails - none prior to last year. I have found that these responses came when I shared information that did not directly follow the narrative presented to the public from the media (like this).
There is often a bit of cognitive dissonance to having beliefs challenged. I've experienced it myself on numerous occasions. But rather than consider the challenging thought, a frequent response to not having a fully formed rebuttal regarding the subject at hand is to attack the person presenting the information (hence the term argumentum ad hominem - like what you saw if you watched the painful interview on Joe Rogan's podcast with Chris Kresser and James Wilks - full podcast here).
With that being said, thank you for being here (however long you've been here) and thank you for your respectful responses.
The link below redirects to an article that points toward some of the things I shared last year that caused people to respond aggressively at the time. My hope is that continuing to question things rather than take them at face value will lead us to a more informed public and a healthier world. I will continue to do so even if and when it is painful.
The article below simply continues to ask questions and point out discrepancies that (IMO) ought to have been investigated previously.
I also want to return to a bit of the original intent of this newsletter: sharing tidbits of information I've learned. A few weeks ago at a continued education course I was assisting with, we had a guest lecturer come in to briefly address nutritional support for patients.
The man who spoke was Dr. David Seaman, whose nutritional guidance I've followed for over a decade because it is so incredible and well-researched. If you've heard me talk about an anti-inflammatory diet, it's because of David Seaman.
He shared several research articles that I found FASCINATING. One was linking metabolic syndrome with osteoarthritis. Along the same line was this article that stated, "There was an observed increased risk of incident heart failure and ischaemic heart disease in people with osteoarthritis compared with matched controls."
Yup, osteoarthritis, (usually just called "arthritis") which has long been considered a "wear and tear" condition, is actually associated with metabolic syndrome (which increases your risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes) and heart failure.
This helps to explain why we see sedentary individuals with arthritis - they have no "wear and tear" but their joints are still breaking down. This also explains why the advice to stop moving (with the exception of post-TBI, *ah hem*) is such bad advice for individuals with osteoarthritis.
If your joints hurt to move, see a doctor who will help you (like, oh, I don't know, a chiropractor). And decrease the inflammation you put into your body through your diet.
If you're not sure what to eat, start with these basics: vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts, and fish. Eat condiment sized portions of the rest (grains, dairy, sugars, etc).
Want to dive in to why it is you eat certain foods and retain emotional attachment to them, set up a call with Dr. Smith. She's an Eating Psychology practitioner and addresses both body image and your relationship with food. (You'd be surprised how much learning about your mindset around food can free you.)
xox
Lindsay