The Anti-Rules of Diet

Here’s a couple of rules, actually anti-rules, that I think people should take into consideration when following a diet. Add some of your own.

1) Don’t adulate some guru because he has fancy letters after his name, because such people often fall in love with their theories and can entice you into believing them.

Ray Peat is a case in point. Peatarians love to mention that he has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Oregon. Of course the educational background is important, however, it can also be a trap. If such a person falls in love with their theory and can impress people who don’t have that background with a number of studies, convoluted theories, etc. that’s trouble. Followers tend to forget their own experience having given over all their authority to the guru. They can be going through the roof, but ignore it, because “the Ray” says T3 was good for them.

Remember that Sartre, one of the most intelligent and learned man of letters of the 20th century, got duped and ended up defending Stalin. After that, he defended Mao and the Cultural Revolution. Interestingly Alain Badiou, a contemporary philosopher, is an apologist of the Cultural Revolution. Theories can seal you off from reality. Heidegger, arguably the most brilliant philosopher of the 20th century, became a Nazi. My point is this. Brilliance, advanced degrees can be helpful. They can also be a tool for self-deception and deception.

2) Don’t fall victim to the “enemy of my enemy is my friend” approach.

A lot of people have had some bad experiences with mainstream medicine. As a result, they fall into the trap of believing just about any guru who attacks and says the opposite of mainstream medicine. I don’t doubt that Ray Peat has some good ideas, however, a lot of people just go along with him because he appears to be such a contrarian. “The weirder the idea, the more hostile it is to mainstream medicine, the more true it must be” goes this train of thought. But it’s not ture. The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend.