Everyone is different Part 4, Fallacies and another rant!

Cont'd from Bray et al shows that a calorie *is* a calorie (where weight change is concerned).

The other day, an article about Ruth Frechman appeared in my Facebook News Feed.

See A nutritionist shares pictures of everything she eats in a day

The article (written by an editor, not a dietician) started "If you're trying to eat right, then following the diet of a nutritionist is probably a good start." This infers that everyone should eat the same diet and that diet is what Ruth Frechman ate on that particular day.

Uh, nope! This doesn't follow. The whole article is based on a non sequitur fallacy.

From the reactions on Facebook, you'd think that Ruth Frechman had just admitted to being a serial kitten-murderess. The link to the above article had the following accompanying text:-
"Imagine booking an appointment to see a nutritionist in the hope that it would improve your health and appearance...

And this haggard looking, snack-munching zombie greeted you at her office."
Dismissing someone's knowledge because of their diet and/or appearance is an ad hominem fallacy.

I posted the following status:-
"As I'm unable to leave comments on that News Feed item, I'm sharing it, with the following observations.
1. Dismissing a person's knowledge because of what they look like is an ad hominem fallacy.
2. Insults are scraping the bottom of the debating barrel. Stay classy!
3. The main reason people go to a dietician is because they are fatter than they want to be. If YOUR logic is that a person should look as though they're implementing their weight-loss knowledge and it works, would YOU get weight-loss advice from the man in the blue shirt?
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/sIrXqvtuBo4/maxresdefault.jpg
EDIT: Also https://igcdn-photos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/p640x640/11380280_1078302272204224_535077602_n.jpg"

Yesterday, the following post appeared in my News Feed:-
https://www.facebook.com/rannoch.donald/posts/10156093095785104
"In an article worthy of the Onion, Ruth Frechman provides conclusive proof that being a registered dietitian nutritionist means absolutely nothing. But wait...she is the author of that dietary classic "The Food Is My Friend Diet"

The very fact that this person has some degree of qualification and the implied authority that goes along with it suggests that we have reached the apex of nutritional stupidity and ignorance. The fact that Business Insider deem this worth sharing tells us they should stick to what they know.

So, join us as we snack on Popcorn, eat M&Ms, chug down fortified fruit juice, eat Quest bars and chewing gum...

There is an actual meal in there at one point, but it looks decidedly like something you might feed your dog, food is obviously not her friend, it's her fix.

Frechman, by her own account, seems to spend her days stressed, tired and hungry, and feels suitably entitled to share her own brand of self loathing with anyone who will part with the $.

Cut out the static. Learn to cook. Go for a walk. Breathe."

Uh, nope! We don't know how busy Ruth Frechman is, how much free time she has, what facilities she has for preparing meals and what foods she likes to eat. She's criticised for eating treats like popcorn and M&Ms, even though she's slim and apparently in good health.

Here's a link to her book:- http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Food-Is-Friend-Diet/dp/0984597913#reader_0984597913 Go to Page 33 and criticise THAT.

I can only conclude from some of the comments left on the above Facebook post that the world has a lot of judgemental arseholes.

A "discussion" with Dr. Garth Davis M.D.

I put "discussion" in quotes, for reasons which will become obvious.

The Pyramid of Disagreement. You should be using the top 3 levels at all times.

I've written this because Dr. Davis has blocked me from leaving comments on his Facebook page, and I really need to reply to his last reply to me.

See https://www.facebook.com/drgarth/posts/834305339923709
I was acutely aware as an omnivore, of "walking into the lion's den", by posting a dissenting comment on a vegan's thread, but it was necessary as I had evidence of harm of vegan diets. The evidence on Denise Minger's teeth is supported by her own blog. The evidence on Jay Dinshah's fatal heart attack at the age of 66 is supported by a YouTube video by Dr Michael Greger, the vegan M.D. Dr Greger's video showed evidence of other harms caused by vegan diets that were lacking in vegan DHA & Vitamin B12.

EDIT: Dr. Davis has deleted all of my comments. However, he hasn't deleted his replies to them.

It's impossible to prove a hypothesis, even with n=1,000,000, as the 1,000,001th subject could be the "Black Swan" that disproves it. On the other hand, it only takes 1 "Black Swan" to disprove it. Therefore, n=1 evidence of harm is sufficient to disprove a hypothesis that something is harmless. See Falsifiability.

I provided n=2 evidence of harm.

Dr Davis' last comment to me:-
" Nigel Kinbrum really? You are giving me a n of 2. There is no data that vegans teeth fall out. If she was vitamin K deficient then she was eating a crappy diet lacking greens. It so stupid it's just silly. I also laugh at the idea that authority is some how bad. I have written a book with thousands of references. I give lectures on the topic and have treated thousands of patients yet Denise knows more than me. Silly."

My reply:-
1. As stated above, an n of 2 is double the n needed to disprove your hypothesis that there is no evidence of harm for vegan diets. I'd already pointed that out to you in a previous comment that you've since deleted.

2. I said that Denise's teeth were disintegrating. I didn't say that they fell out. That's a strawman fallacy.

3. Greens contain phylloquinone (Vitamin K1), not menatetrenone (Vitamin K2). Only Vitamin K2 carboxylates osteocalcin in MGP's. The only vegan source of Vitamin K2 is Nattō, a.k.a. pungent beans in a snot sauce.

4. See 3. Denise Minger was not eating a "crappy diet". That's an extremely insulting & uninformed comment for a medical professional to make about someone.

5. I never claimed that authority is bad. When you say "I am an expert in "X", therefore I am never wrong about "X".", that's an "Appeal to authority" fallacy. Jeez!

6. See 5. I never claimed that Denise Minger knows more than you. That's another strawman fallacy.


So, there you have it. Comments will only be approved if they meet my Moderation Policy. As long as I am blocked from commenting on Dr. Davis' Facebook page, Dr. Davis is blocked from commenting on my blog.

Only me! You don't want to be doing logical fallacies like that!

There can be only one video...


Here's only me on 9.7.14, at the Trafalgar Inn Aldershot, just before karaoke.

Only me! 9.7.14.

EDIT: And here's only me on 10.7.14, at the Lion Brewery Ash, just before the jam session.

Only me! 10.7.14.

From Here are the results after one month on my high fat, lower protein, SAME carbohydrate intake:-

Fredrick Hahn said...
"I've said this to Nigel before Tom Traynor and he insists he doesn't want muscles.

But to be fair to Nigel, he can indeed be 100% correct and at the same time be a blubbery, weak, mess of a man. You can be a great lung cancer doctor and smoke..."

Tom Traynor said...
"NK LOOKS terrible!--soft, fat and weak--and drum roll: "Doesn't want any muscle". So he is an absolute FOOL, too (loss of muscle mass predicting mortality--among MANY other facets). That's all the "science" I need."

What I actually wrote:-
Nigel Kinbrum said...
"Considering my age (59.25), I'm in pretty good condition. I'm 6' tall and weigh 198lbs. I have *no* desire to have big muscles or a 6-pack. Each to their own."

Misquoting, or quoting out of context is a Straw man fallacy. Saying that a physical characteristic invalidates knowledge is an Ad Hominem fallacy. In addition, saying that a lack of relevant qualifications invalidates knowledge is an inverse Argument from authority fallacy. Repeated use of logical fallacies is intellectual dishonesty.